An Asian Christian woman living in London blogging about the everyday issues of religion

Monday 20 January 2014

The World's Wealth is Owned by 85 People. Can you believe this?

Working for the Few - Oxfam report



I know at least 85 people, whether they be friends, family, acquaintances, business colleagues, church friends or neighbours. Everyone must know at least 85 people, thanks to Facebook which allows people to augment their friendship base. If you then scale these 85 people up on a global platform is it not astonishing to think that most of the world's wealth is accumulated in their hands or, more to the point, in their bank accounts? 

According to an Oxfam report, these 85 people are as wealthy as the rest of the world's population.If you had to place everyone on a gigantic set of the scales of justice the 85 would be parachuted into the clouds within a milisecond against the combined weight of the 3.5 billion who inhabit Planet Earth. One would think that there would exist a law of natural justice which dictates that equity should be shared equally or, at the very least, equitably. How is it that in large parts of the world families sleep on pavements by the side of the road and children die of hunger while a small number of people who would not even fill a train from Leicester to Grimsby, as a wild example, have all the means to grow fatter and fatter? 

While the poor are villified for 'scrounging' off governments and depriving the rest of us hard working people off our due rewards, the super uber rich deprive all of us, hard working or not, by not paying taxes, by paying their workers low wages and by thrusting the cross of the free-market at the rest who dare to question excessive irresponsible capitalism. 

Monday 13 January 2014

Happy New Year Jokes

PARAPROSDOKIANS (Winston Churchill loved them) are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently humorous.
1. Where there's a will, I want to be in it.

2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it's still on my list.

3. Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

4. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.

5. We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

6. War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

7. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it
 in a fruit salad. 

8. They begin the evening news with 'Good Evening,' then proceed to tell you why it isn't.

9. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many
 is research.

10. Buses stop in bus stations. Trains stop in train stations. On my
 desk is a work station.

11. I thought I wanted a career. Turns out I just wanted paychecks.

12. In filling out an application, where it says, 'In case of
 emergency, notify:' I put 'DOCTOR.'

13. I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

14. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the
 street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

15. Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a
 successful man is usually another woman.

16. A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.

17. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute
 to skydive twice.

18. Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to
 live with.

19. There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so
 they can't get away.

20. I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not so sure.

21. You're never too old to learn something stupid.

22. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever
 you hit the target.

23. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

24. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

25. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than
 standing in a garage makes you a car.

26. Where there's a will, there are relatives.

Finally:

27. I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder
 for me to find one now.