“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

The right to bear arms in the USA is one held dear by millions of people and it is such a precious right that politicians dare not speak out against such a ridiculous theory. It has been proven that legalising guns will cause more gun deaths and in the US in particular it is a staggering amount.

American children are more at risk from firearms than the children of any other industrialized nation. In one year, firearms killed no children in Japan, 19 in Great Britain, 57 in Germany, 109 in France, 153 in Canada, and 5,285 in the United States. (Centers for Disease Control)

The statistic above is frightening to say the least and is clear proof that the idea of protecting oneself with a firearm can only lead to more violence. In the UK carrying a gun is illegal except under very exceptional circumstances and it shows in the amount of gun related crime which is so low as to barely register a blip on the crime statistics. The idea of owning a gun or having one in the house is absurd to most British people and I genuinely cannot see a day in which it will every become law.

There is an oddity in the statistic above in that Canadian gun crime is relatively low in comparison to the number of guns owned and in stark contrast to the statistics that come out of the US every year. Some of you reading this will have very strong views that are pro gun ownership and I for one would love to hear them. Without doubt many gun deaths are caused by firearms that are owned illegally but this is a cultural problem, not a legal one. Because gun ownership is so widespread it becomes part of life and thus more access equals more deaths whether they be by violence, suicide or accident.

In a civilised society there is absolutely no need for legal gun ownership and in my mind it is an indicator of an overly violent society. America is in fact not overly violent but the guns remain and the politicians are still too scared to tackle the issue. I’m not saying that guns would disappear overnight if made illegal but someone needs to take a stand on this issue and shout down the people who feel they have a ‘right to bear arms’- it may have been relevant when the Constitution was written but it most certainly is not today.

The tragic consequences of this policy were made all too obvious in Virginia yesterday and it is far from the first time something like this has happened. These people were just starting their lives and there is no excuse for what happened…

“There are approximately 192 million privately owned firearms in the U.S. –65 million of which are handguns. Police Foundations, 1996”

“In 1997, 32,436 Americans were killed with firearms-in homicides, suicides and accidents. In comparison, 33,651 Americans were killed in the Korean War and 58,148 Americans were killed in the Vietnam War. National Center for Health Statistics, 1997”

“More than 1.2 million elementary-aged, latch-key children have access to guns in their homes. Lee, Journal of the American Medical Association, 1990”

It’s been a while since I wrote an Outspoken article and even longer since I last went to America. Previous excursions have been to Los Angeles, Boston and New York and I was not impressed with any of those places. Orlando was different to the above for so many reasons and that was mainly because of its infrastructure which is amazing compared to what we see here in the UK.

On a Disney bus trip to one of their parks automatic sprinklers are spraying the grass by the roads for most of the journey, over in the UK we are facing a drought order because out water companies have never bothered to give us the infrastructure needed to cope with our population and the government continues to allow the building of houses in areas where the current energy and water supplies are already not adequate for their needs. Our water companies lose 30% of water by leakage alone.

No new water is ever created on earth and we wash in and drink the exact same water we did thousands of years ago (learnt that at Epcot:)).

The entire Disney set up is phenomenal- buses flow between each park and Disney hotel every 20 minutes and you never have to worry about getting from A to B. The staff are very polite (almost annoyingly so) and they do everything they can to help if you have a problem. Every person we met was polite and great to talk to apart from the occasional example such as the lady in one of the designated smoking areas who upon realising I was British asked me “If every one in the UK hates their President.” My affirmative response caused her to throw her cigarette down and stomp off (well, waddle actually) cursing and swearing…

The designated smoking areas are very annoying indeed. It’s quite hypocritical for the largest polluting nation in the world to make such a big deal about protecting people’s health when 4 and 5 litre cars are trundling down the roads, at about 10 miles an hour from what I could see, and causing many more times the damage that someone happening to walk past some cigarette smoke could ever do. I understand that people do not like other people’s smoke but it seems to be going too far now with regards to the anit-smoking brigade. Of course it kills but it is not illegal- make it illegal and every one would be happy, even us smokers.

America (well, Orlando at least) seems to be heading down a slippery slope with regards to health. I found it offensive when a HUGE person demands to get on a bus first because they are so fat they cannot walk and then claims to have a handicap. We saw a girl of about 13 years old who was extremely overweight with her parents who were both confined to those motorised vehicles Disney hires out by the dozen. What chance does she have? Children of 5 and 6 years old are put in hired strollers and walked around the parks- make them walk for Gods sake! They are children and it is teaching the exact wrong lesson at a very early age. I would guess that 1 in 5 people we saw was pretty overweight with about 1 in 10 deserved their own border patrol…

I know this sounds like I am mocking these people but they have to take some responsibility for this and so do the authorities- a BIG meal of burger and fries in Disney cost $5.00, a healthy small sandwich cost $8.99, a small tub of grapes and water melon was $4.49- not exactly encouraging healthy eating is it? We struggled to find healthy food in the hotel or the parks and carbonated drinks seemed to be the order of the day for everyone- buy a cup for $11 and you can kill yourself with Coke all week long for no extra money.

I can only see this problem growing unless something is done about it very quickly. On another note the TV channels are great- lots of superb entertainment from the likes of Fox and hilarious news coverage. The religious channels out numbered all of the other genres on offer. One phone in made me laugh-

Caller: “My husband has left and I don’t know what to do?” Followed by a few sobs over the phone line.

Presenter: “Just think what Jesus went through for you and you will realise it’s all OK. Take Jesus to your heart and everything will be OK for you.” Followed by false concerned look.

I was in tears… through laughter.

A friend (American) emailed me the following comment- “Never liked the place–too fake and way too sugary. Probably an influence from my mom, she’s not a Disney fan. It just reeks of commercialism, as Disney does in general. You have to wonder how the influence of media and entertainment affects the whole of our culture“

I loved the falseness of it- I’m not comfortable in the real world and prefer a place like Orlando.

Everything else about Orlando was wonderful- beautiful weather, beautiful design (if a little man-made) and very friendly people who made the holiday worth every penny. As a general standard of living somewhere like Orlando provides a LOT to a young family and whilst my thoughts will be clouded by the fact I have just returned, the past week made me fall in love with America all over again… If I could get a Green Card I would seriousy consider living there, let’s just hope no one in Immigration reads this site:)

The past few weeks have been terrifying for most Londoners and anyone travelling to our capital city. I have to go there on Wednesday and really do not want to- I feel like most Brits in that we should just carry on as normal but it’s easier said than done with so many incidents occuring at this time.

The shooting of an innocent man last week has kept the news going for the terrorists and they must be loving every minute. It’s impossible to know at this time how justified the police were but these two comments on BBCi are both valid-

“The police had no option, the man could have been a suicide bomber. They could not afford to take chances with the lives of innocent people at stake. He should have obeyed the police when challenged.”

“What if this man did not understand English, and all he saw was 3 normally dressed large built men screaming, looking aggressive and running after him in a tube station? Put yourself in his position.”

It’s quite awful that the Police in the UK are having to use guns but understandable at the same time- to me there appears to be no way to stop these attacks happening. Relatively easy to plan, easy to execute and more and more people appear to be joining up to carry them out…

At the same time I feel that we are playing into the hands of the terrorists who find it all too easy to recruit young people and brainwash them into believing that the West is evil. Many of us think the West is evil at times so what chance do we have in the Middle East and Africa? It has been argued that they will find any excuse for the attacks and whilst that is true when you consider how many countries have been attacked we have done a lot of things to help breed this recruitment process.

Obviously Iraq is the big one and will continue to be. No matter how we justify it over 25,000 dead civilians will always be a good persuasive argument to use against young people. You know my views on the Iraq war but whatever side of the argument you are on you have to recognise that for extremists it is the oxygen they need.

Where we go from here is anyone’s guess- basically we are f*cked whatever we do. Too many people hate us even if the majority of our populations are not responsible for any wrong doing and they will continue to recruit and will continue to kill innocents.

In the UK we have been used to terrorism for many years and that side has died down somewhat- just imagine this telephone conversation-

“Hi Tony, it’s George. You have a domestic problem with the IRA- how about I speak to some people and sort that for you if you join us in Iraq?”

A colleague at work mentioned that to me the other day and it made me think- probably total rubbish but conspriacy theories are always good fun…

It’s all very depressing and will not be solved for many years to come. Any one have any better ideas of how to solve this mess?

So, the ban on hunting foxes with dogs has now come into force in England and Wales. There has been many demonstrations by the ‘hunting set’ over the past few months and many of these have been violent affairs.

These people are supposed to be the elite, or at least they think they are. They have shown themselves to be little more than a bunch of thugs in recent months who deserve little sympathy from people who have a genuine interest in stopping animal cruelty.

Personally I think fox hunting is a disgusting pastime and I have not heard one good argument for it since the debate began. The arguments will continue and the legal challenges will get more expensive but at least a few foxes will not die a horrible death in the meantime and hopefully a few of these people will lose the home comforts they don’t appreciate anyway.

Any views on fox hunting, or hunting in general?

My reason for being I will never understand

No point thinking about it

Better off with your head in the sand

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You judge me by the size of my house, the looks of my spouse

My bank account, clothes and voice

Like I ever had a choice

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The relentless and pointless accumulation of wealth

Get stressed, selfish and hurtful

Forget about your health

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Take a walk and see the have nots and the haves

The classy and the chavs

Material purchases everywhere

Is there anyone left who truly cares?