NICK CLEGG AN HIS MINIATURE SPHEROIDS

Made a mistake re Nick Clegg. He didn't turn up for the Primeminister's statement on the EU veto. An absence of political courage?

ALL AFGHANS JOIN THE TALIBAN

What total joy.
Wonders never ceasing.
The genius of our political masters.
The latest GREAT IDEA: to pay members of the Taliban £100 a month for not fighting. What a splendid recruiting slogan:JOIN US AND THE FOREIGNERS WILL PAY YOU!!!!!

CAMERON'S VETO

Bronchitis is depressing - but no where near as depressing as the celebratory baying of the Tory right wing at our isolation in Europe. What relief that Clegg has been forced finally to discover his political spheroids (small though they may be).

OLD MEN CAN'T WAIT

Banner for OLD MEN CAN'T WAIT
I am off to the NEC at Birmingham tomorrow for the UK's major motorcycle show and will be there all eight days signing books on the TRAVEL-DRI stand and on TOURATECH.

BOOK BIRTHING

I have been writing books for much of my adult life; yesterday was my first birthing experience.
Paddy Tyson of OVERLAND magazine drove me across the Welsh border to Pontypool where MWL Print Group was the midwife. Modern printing and binding machines produce with speed. Fascinating to watch books streaming out of the maw and into boxes...
And what instinct leads me to chat to the only man on the work floor who remembers fondly the Good Old Days of pre-Murdoch Fleet Street when the union ran a closed a shop?

SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP

Studying Republican contenders for the US Presidency:
Universal health care is sinful.
Water-boarding is moral.

Brit Political leaders boast of their ability to maintain the Special Relationship.

With these people?
Thank you, but I'd rather give it a miss...

TATA TAKEOVER UK GOVERNMENT

Tata bought loss-making Jaguar Land Rover from Ford in 2008.
Tata immediately invested in research and new models and a new engine plant.
Losses have been transformed into a billion pound profit for 2011.
Tata are recruiting 2,500 workers, all this in the midst of a recession.
HOW TO PERSUADE TATA TO TAKE OVER THE UK GOVERNMENT...?

JAMES MURDOCH, LIAR?

I wonder what percentage of people here in the UK believe James Murdoch is telling the truth or lying. I, of course, have no opinion....

HEY, WHAT DO YOU KNOW - TWO POLITICOS BEING HONEST!

Conversation between President Sarkozy and President Obama.
Sarkozy says of Israeli Premier Netanyahu: I cannot stand him. He's a liar.
Obama responds: You're fed up with him? I have to deal with him every day.

Press, radio, Tv report the conversation as a gaffe.

My question: Why is a truthful interchange a gaffe?

RANTING AND RAVING

I note, in rereading the last two posts, that I am in full rant mode.
A little rage of a morning gets the blood circulating so blame the climate: cold, damp, depressing...

DAVID MILLIBAND, INFANT CHASTISER OF THE WICKED

Ah, Milliband, Milliband...
So tardy in preaching the immorality prevalent in today's financial sector.
Thirteen years in Government, now leader of the Labour Party.
Thirteen years overseeing a massive widening of the chasm between rich and poor.
Thirteen years overseeing a culture of grotesque bonuses and executive salaries.
And now, at last, brave Milliband declares that politicians should listen to anti-banker protesters.
Listen?
In my youth, our leaders led rather than followed the whims of popular protest or the advice of a pollster. Left or Right, most were men of stature; they had achieved something before entering parliament. Conviction was their hallmark, and a desire to serve the nation.
For our present leaders, Left or Right, so young, so untested, politics is merely a career...

STILL IN THE GAME

Blair, Cameron, Milliband, seedlings reared in the same walled garden; such is modern politics: perhaps a short stint in PR, then special adviser to a Government minister of similar background and similar lack in experience or knowledge beyond the garden's walls. These are the leaders who dictate our foreign policy and order our military into war.
My elder brother, Antony Hornyold,is not a politician. He read history at Cambridge and has continued reading while travelling extensively, much of the time in military and Government service. He has gained a deep and extensive knowledge of that vast tract of nations stretching form the eastern Mediterranean coast to the Hindu Kush. His autobiography is published this week, Still In The Game.The book is available on Amazon. I doubt that any of our political masters will read it. More the pity. They might make fewer damn fool mistakes...

OLD MEN CAN'T WAIT

Finished checking proofs for Old Men Can't Wait. Goes to the printer next week. Copies will be available in time for the Motorcycle show at the NEC, Birmingham, next month.
I will be signing copies.

OVERLAND MAGAZINE

OVERLAND is a quarterly travel magazine publishing articles by experienced travelers of all ages and of how ever many sexes there are. Ted Simon is, in heart, an adolescent; Bridi, writing on Iran, is a barely post-teenage student reading Classics at UCL; I am a nearly octogenarian granddad.
OVERLAND is a magazine to collect, to show to friends who have never experienced the freedom offered those who travel by bike; the freedom to go where we wish, stop where and when we wish and at a price we can afford.
Though we travel by bike, OVERLAND is not a biker magazine (for all that technical stuff search elsewhere).
OVERLAND is much much more: it is a paean to the liberty of the open road and the joys of meeting new people, discovering new friends, experiencing new places.
Order it on the internet.

LT COLONEL IAN KINNEAR - A TRIBUTE

Lt. Colonel Ian Kinnear died last week and was cremated today. He was a fine loyal vital man possessed of an extraordinary enthusiasm for life and with a great laugh always near the surface however inhospitable the place or threatening the situation. Life was for living; time was for doing; negativity and pessimism were the enemy; as for naysayers for ever pleading difficulties, Ian rammed them out of the way.
Imagine him watching from above today’s pre-breakfast hunt for cufflinks, collar stud, black tie, lace for a black shoe not worn in a while. The hunt begins with the S word and progresses speedily to Where the F, followed by F it, F it, F it, with Ian up there watching and chuckling happily
The long-retired rugby player vainly struggling to button the top trouser button before discarding the suit in a rage, the broken finger nail as he tries to button his shirt collar round a neck that has gained an inch; leaving the collar undone, trousers bridged by a safety pin and the wife saying,
“You can’t go like that. You’re a bloody disgrace, that’s what you are.”
Ah, well, that’s life – or death.
And so we bid farewell to a man who has left us with treasured memories: husband, father, Scots engineer (always the best), cup-winning rugby coach, commanding officer and, in retirement, Hanley Swan’s rival to Halliburton - not bad for a single life and small wonder that mourners flew in from half way round the world, not in sadness but in celebration of what he was.
Meanwhile St Peter will give a sigh of relief: “Ian, we’ve been waiting for you. There’s a few things here need fixing...”
Ian, with a single glance, will recognise lack of maintenance as the sin. Imagine him humphing a couple of times while rolling up his sleeves. Miracles don’t happen; they must be worked for. Such is the consolation for those Ian has left behind: by the time it’s our turn, Heaven will be a better place.

GRANT JOHNSON, SUSAN JOHNSON

HU MEET AT RIPLEY
The Wehrmacht invaded Ripley last week. Old ladies and children trembled as BMWs thundered down the lanes. Serried ranks of khaki tents enveloped Lumb Farm pasture. Leather-uniformed storm troopers searched for prey. Wild men and women in war paint pranced before midnight flames. Beer got drunk in vast vatfulls.
Bedding in the rear of a Toyota Corolla is not for the faint-hearted - yet such was my fate.
No silver tepee this year and only one brief presentation before scurrying home to Herefordshire to watch our cricket club win the regional section of the Village Knockout competition.
However, and a big however, this post is a thank-you to the Wehrmacht's Generals, Susan and Grant Johnson, for having created the biker internet community, HORIZONS UNLIMITED.
We all, BMWs and otherwise, owe the Johnsons a debt of gratitude for bringing us together and enabling us to exchange information on every detail of motorcycle travel. Through Susan and Grant, I will have the support and friendship of fellow bikers world-wide as I set off round the world in celebration of my 80th year. Thank you indeed...
And thank you fellow bikers for a great weekend, especially Bill and wife for sharing lives with coffee and butties.
Cheers!

RABAGLIATI BENTLEY

PHOTO HOLDEN BENTLEY

A near neighbour, Bill Holden, has contacted me after reading OLD MAN ON A BIKE. He owns a Bentley identical in body and paintwork to the car my stepfather campaigned - see the Rabagliati Bentley on the web.

OFFAL

Gorgeous day. Am cooking lamb kidneys and mushrooms in a cream and Jerez sauce together with a risotto of baby broad beans and chives. My offal chum, Roger Gill, is coming to lunch. We shall eat in the garden.

HEAVEN

My study opens off the corridor by the front door. Both the door and my windows are open. I sit at my desk and breathe the scent of roses. Shade and sunlight on the trees continually shifts in the breeze. Herefordshire is heaven on such a day...

TEMPTATION

Clematis and roses surrounding my study window are a temptation to sit outside with a mug of coffee. A cold wind chases me back indoors.
Received my royalty statement from Harper Collins last week. Sold 1094 copies of Old Man On A Bike over the past six months - good considering the book has been out three years. Bad is a royalty of £0.50 per copy. Have decided to self publish the following two in the travel series as Ebooks, Kindle and audio plus a short print run. Emailing printers for quotes. Started with Thailand...