Ceridwenscauldron

The Home Office has decided to fund a Sky TV fly-on-the-wall documentary series on the Border Police. Shot at Dover and Heathrow this is to reassure the Daily Mail sorry us that the government has a grip on illegal immigration.

There are a number of things here that I have a problem with.

1. That's my (and your) tax money they are throwing away

2. They are throwing it away on a reality TV show that will only be watched by a few thousand people

3. My tax money is going into Rupert Murdoch's pocket

4. People's genuine misery is going to be exposed as entertainment for racists and xenophobes and I think that is just wrong

While I was filling in my tax return I had a browse through the robbing bastids Inland Revenue's website to see what I could claim back.

If you happen to be a member of professional society like the British Medical Association of the Design and Art Directors Association you can claim your membership fees against your tax. Many of these societies offer similar benefits to trade unions which is dandy for many people who are in high income jobs. However trade union dues to the likes of Unite or the USDAW are not.

Seems a bit unfair that the lower paid get stuffed like this.

However I was amused to see that members of the Guild of Beer Writers were entitled to claim. Just deserts for such a noble calling

It was with great sadness that we got up to leave Stockholm on Saturday. Mira was there at the bus garage to give us a goodbye hug and we were off. On the way to Skavska I kept an eye out for wildlife and was rewarded by seeing a roe deer munching on the grass verge.

At the airport after passing through the mercyfully quick security (no nonsense with shoes huzzah)we discovered that the area was in the grip of its annual Rhubarb Festival

Ignorant city boy that I am I didn't realise that Rhubarb is so versatile and you can even make rhubarb cocktails

However at nearly a tenner I thought I'd stick to the beer.

Now thanks to the Daily Mail's British government's refusal to treat us as adult Europeans we had to wait to be processed through the Swedish border before boarding our flight home unlike those happy folks on their way to Italy or Spain, but at least it did afford us the amusement of watching the Swedish border cops strolling through the airport in their combat fatigues swinging their datestamps in a heroic mannner.

The flight back was OK but at just over two hours in those seats I was was well pleased to get off. Typically when we got to the new expensively branded (with our tax money) UK Border there was a huge queue while passports were examined in great detail by now the expensively uniformed (with our tax money) UK Border Police.

Now I'd like to see the UK join the Schengen countries so we can travel without all this rubbish just like the Germans, French, Swedes and other Europeans can. Sweden can manage this with its generous social security system so why can't we?