'Tony, no one likes you and you do care'

According to interviews published in Sunday papers today Tony Blair is quoted as saying that only people in Britain didn't like him.

Surely, as our former prime minister Tony, we are the first people who should have liked (and respected) you. Sadly you let us down and now you float around the world earning lots of money for what you do best....talk the talk.

You took us to war on a lie and that will be a permanent cross for you to bear.

No matter how much money you will make, you screwed up your reputation which is a high price to pay.

National Lottery Winners: Office Statement

Last night we had to issue a statement via the Camelot Press Office to deny that we had won £2,507,394 in the Saturday lottery jackpot after receiving telephone calls of congratulations.

This is the official statement:

"David & Beryl Davis categorically deny that they were the owners of the winning tickets in tonight's draw - 1, 20, 28, 33, 40, 45 and the bonus number 35 - which produced 2 winners sharing total prize money of £5,014,788 and they request they people should respect their privacy by refraining from making telephone calls or writing letters.

"Mrs Davis confirms that she started to invest in the national lottery soon after it was launched on 19 November 1994 and to date has spent an average of £6 a week equating to £4,320; in return she has won £107.50 which she considers good value for money given the amount of pleasure and enjoyment she gets every Wednesday and Saturday night tearing up the tickets.

"She has refused many times to share the secret method she uses to select her numbers. All she is prepared to say it is based on a mathematical calculation using official national lottery number frequency statistics - most common lottery numbers, most overdue numbers and least often picked numbers. She discovered these statistics by accident and reveals they can be found here by anyone who is interested.

"Mr and Mrs Davis will continue to play the national lottery and promise all their family and friends that, if they ever become millionaire winners, they will certainly remember each and everyone of them who have wished them good luck over the years."

End Statement

Proof of global warming

If anyone had any doubt about global warming here's the proof, thanks to John Offerdahl

Climate change talks in Bushey Heath

Beryl: What's "global warming" all about?

David: You probably haven't heard but rising temperatures are damaging the Earth threatening the land, see and people's lives in the poorer countries. According to one group of scientists the cause is increased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (United States and China are the most guilty polluters) combined with anti-green human behaviour (flying, driving, and failure to recycle enough). There are other scientists with a smaller voice who claim that the rising temperatures have happened before and are a natural phenomenon.

Beryl: OK, I think I understand. So what was the purpose of the summit in Copenhagen, other than a visit to one of Europe's most boring capitals?

David: World leaders of 192 countries, plus 30,000 other officials and a slew of celebrities (Prince Charles et al) flew into town leaving a huge carbon footprint across the globe; they talked for 11 days and night at a cost of £130 million trying to achieve the impossible - a legally binding pact on limiting CO2 emissions, financing poor countries'climate change programmes and making sure that the actions of every nation were transparent and could be verified.

Beryl: What happened?

David: Not much. At the 11th hour the United States, China, India, Brazil and South Africa signed a non-legally binding protocol which set out what they would like to achieve by 2050 but little else...most other countries either opposed the protocol outright or at best gave it luke-warm support.

The television coverage was like watching a second rate Hollywood drama with lots of breathless people coming and going and popping up in front of the cameras with messages of hope and/or despair.

The parting shot was President Obama climbing aboard Airforce 1 on his way home after staying late to seal the non-deal....just like John Wayne riding off into the horizon.

Beryl: Is that it?

David: No, not quite. Such talks have been going on for 20 years or more and the next round will be in Mexico in 2010 but don't hold your breath that anything of real value and importance will come out of it.

Beryl: Thanks. Seems like a lot of hot air was wasted and couldn't they have found something better to do with the money?

David: You are being too rational.

Smile please 'Big Brother' Britain

Good morning, everyone.

We thought you might like to know that there is every chance when you next go out you will be caught on a CCTV camera no matter who are are or what you are doing.

In fact there are so many CCTV camera networks now operating in 'Big Brother' Britain, ostensibly to reduce crime, that each of us will be captured on average at least 300 days a day.

According to the latest statistics from the privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch there 60,000 of the cameras cameras are being operated by local authorities, a three-fold increase in 10 years.

Find out where the 10 most watched places are.

Their loss our gain

I more than Beryl really get mad at those of our '70 something' friends (and one in particular) who declare with disdain that they cannot be bothered with computers and that Internet is simply a waste of time.

Today we carried out a little experiment to prove that they just don't know what they're missing; here's what Beryl and I did between us:

• Visited Wales, the west coast of Ireland and Vienna searching for a week break location....eventually we ended up in Yorkshire where we booked a beautiful country house hotel and if the snow doesn't prevent us from travelling we hope to look at some properties;
• Checked that my parents' tombstones in Bushey Heath cemetery had been properly repaired, thanks to an online United Synagogue service;
• Renewed the annual road tax for our car; process took just 2 minutes instead of waiting in line at a local post office which is a 15 minute drive away;
• Kept up to date with the Copenhagen climate talks. What a shambles, not that we care much about the issue anyway;
• Reviewed our bank accounts. Wished we hadn't bothered;
• Searched and found one of Beryl's favourite cosmetics which she had been told by a store (wrongly) was no longer being produced;
• Made business appointments for January and February next year;
• Learned that Ad Age magazine had voted Edelman, the firm I helped to build, the PR agency of the decade. Quite an achievement.
• Compared the plusses and minuses of 5 different cameras....might buy a new one;
• Read synopses of the last top best selling books;
• Read headlines of the Financial Times, Daily Mail, International Herald Tribute and Wall Street Journal.

The Internet a waste of time? Trumps playing bridge and indoor door bowls.

Beryl lost an old friend today

Hoky first arrived in our family in 1992, abut the same time John Major shocked all the pollsters by leading the Conservatives to their fourth general election victory against all the odds but unlike the Tories, Hoky served us with perfection for the next 17 years.

Hoky was one in a million; in fact one in 22.5 million lightweight non-electric carpet sweepers; bought for £9.50 in John Lewis in Oxford Street it swept our Indian rugs in our Hyde Park apartment and was one of the few items which travelled with us to our new home in Bushey Heath in 2006.

Like us, Hoky quickly settled down to its new life in the country but then suddenly it started to slow down (like us); after many hundreds of hours of perfect sweeping in Beryl's skilful hands Hoky had lost the knack of picking up the minutest specks of dust and despite every attempt to resuscitate her faithful friend Beryl today sent it to the big broom cupboard in the sky.

But as one broom swept out of Beryl's life a new one arrived right on cue...its name is Gtech, a handsome black and silver model at the leading edge of electronic cordless sweeping technology. It can run for nearly an hour before it needs recharging (which is longer than Beryl).

Right now Beryl is practising with Gtech......I haven't seen her so happy in a long while.