Time the picketing strikers looked glum

Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) protest outside the Houses of Parliament in London (Image: GETTY)A lot of civil servants seem to have taken the job because it’s cushy and pays them a really good pension, not because they want to run the country in the most economic and best way for us, the people. Half of them should be sacked.In fact I think civil servants, the police and hospital staff should not be allowed to strike. But it looks like the unions are gathering to attempts their last chance.Yet the unions have managed to achieve nothing but ruin this country’s productivity. Obviously big companies would rather negotiate salaries with one organisation: fine, but who told unions they were in charge of dictating who could do what?People should have the right to be a union member but I do object to unions thinking they are in charge. They’re not.And here’s one last question: why do all these prats on picket line stand there smiling and laughing and looking to me as if they are in no way short of money?If you are going to go on a picket line, the least you could do is look miserable and down at heel. Otherwise, what’s the point?Heavens… we’ve just been tricked or treated for Halloween when the John Lewis Christmas ad is upon us.I haven’t been too captivated by the last two years’ efforts. The 2020 one was a sugarcoated Covid-free animated world and the 2021 epic had a boy discovering a little alien girl and introducing her to festive delights. All a bit too sugar-coated for me.But I was intrigued by this year’s, following a middle-aged man trying to learn how to skateboard. Only at the end do we see why, when a young girl arrives at his home clutching a skateboard. He’s a foster parent and he’s been trying to master the board so he can relate to his new charge.The fact that it’s not talking down to us and that it’s giving us a chance to think about things that matter at this particular time of year is great.I watched the first episode of I’m A Celebrity and what a boring load of drivel it was.I know that “reality” TV is heavily engineered as I spent four or five weeks in the Big Brother house… and it was a very long time. And the programme viewers saw on TV wasn’t anything like what I had thought I was saying.Even the belated entrance of shamed ex health minister Matt Hancock as a national hate figure didn’t really ignite my interest.But I’m sure watching him endure his fourth challenge and be covered in slime and pelted with feathers and custard probably made viewers who had suffered or lost relatives to Covid feel a shade better.There have been some ridiculous stories floating around recently, but this must be the pick of the bunch.Apparently now we should be sending trillions in reparations to countries that we have supposedly damaged because of the Industrial Revolution!True, Britain for the last few hundred years led the way to the future in the world.Our entrepreneurs and inventors pioneered steam engines, railway trains, metal technology and the like, as well as medical advances such as innoculation against smallpox.And these improvements were spread through the world, by our empire or because other nations copied us. So how are you going to decide who should get the reparations?Watching last week’s Prime Minister’s Question Time I was very impressed with our latest PM. I’ve been fairly critical in the past, but I am amazed and disturbed by the Socialists on the other side being obsessed by Rishi’s success.What is really worrying is their opposition to anyone’s success. Their continual wish to put down our Prime Minister for being rich thanks to his own efforts, or for that matter anyone else who has done well in life, is appalling.Labour’s HullWest MP KarlTurner, who, as soon as Rishi was confirmed as new PM called for a General Election, in particular seems to have it in for rich Rishi or anyone with money.I don’t understand it. People who are successful in life create more wealth by spending money. There is, after all, some sense in the much-derided trickle-down effect.