Turner prizewinning sculptor, Gillian Wearing, has produced a statue entitled a Real Birmingham Family, to stand outside the city library in the Midlands capital.  It consists of four figures.  Two women, one heavily pregnant, are holding the hands of two small boys. It is based on the families of two sisters, presumably unmarried, who live in the area. With no man in sight, we assume that the only item missing from the sculpture is an icing syringe! It may also offer a business opportunity. Genus has built a muti-million pound business based on the artificial insemination of cows. How about a similar business to meet the needs of women who prefer insemination to men?  Suggestions for a name for the company would be welcomed.  PFD Ltd is the one we liked from regulars at the pub. Penis Free Delivery if you didn’t get it. 

    Interestingly, perhaps appropriately, the unveiling of the statue coincided with the opening of the first national sperm bank, also in Birmingham. We still believe the sperm bank should be in Newark!  As we honour with our poppies, the dead of World War 1, we can’t help wondering what they would have thought of ‘no man’s land’ as applied to modern Britain. They probably wouldn’t have understood it any more than us old gits do.

    America’s mid term elections produced the predicted result, with The Democrats receiving a shellacking.  The House of Representatives was already lost and The Senate followed suit.  The result will almost certainly be seen as a judgment on Obama’s policies. With almost two years left of his presidency, future legislation will be difficult, though Obama will still hold the power of veto.   Hopefully, it won’t interfere with Obama’s golf.  Rumours suggest he’s managed more rounds than Tiger Woods in the recent past.  In fairness, Tiger often has his hands too full to concentrate on his swing.

    Angela Merkel and David Cameron are finally taking positions on free movement across the EU, if we can believe their spokespersons.  Der Spiegel quotes government sources that suggest that Merkel thinks the UK has ‘neared the point of no return’ within the EU.  Now George Osborne says that the EU is not working for Britain.  Perhaps we’re reaching the stage where some cards might be laid on the table by the principals.  In the UK there is sufficient evidence to show that unlimited immigration is of considerable concern to the electorate; even our politicians are beginning to understand that at last.  Germany, with its low birth rate, encourages immigration.  However, Merkel can’t ignore the fact that The AfD won seats in regional parliament for the first time this year.  The AfD also look for change to the way the EU operates.  Maybe Merkel and Cameron will have more in common than they realize if voters raise their voices even higher.       

    Parisian, Josselin de Rocquemaurel, has a book to sell, but we don’t expect many sales in the UK.  After living here for 13 years he doesn’t seem to have enjoyed it very much.  His book, La Reine, la City et les Grenouilles (do your own translation) paints a picture of a person with much to criticize about the country he has chosen to live in.  His critical comments about unwelcoming people, cost of living and public services suggest dissatisfaction.  Then he calls England a French ‘border town’ due to the number of his compatriots who now live here.  Touché springs to mind!  Maybe it is French taxes and the left wing government in France that drives his compatriots across the channel for a better life.  City financier, Rocquemaurel, earns a big salary, the sort that François Hollande would be keen to decimate if Josselin returned to Paris, an unlikely event in our estimation.

    Yet another ‘no’ vote for Scotland and this one will really hurt.  Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible has named a Japanese single malt as the best in the world.  Whisky expert Murray sampled 4,700 different varieties to arrive at his conclusion.  They will have to beat his liver to death when he passes on!  Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013 has won the title.  I doubt Pam will stock it at the pub, and we’re not sure we could pronounce it after we’d had a couple.