The Randal Report

Visitors from Outer Space S01 E13

“YET ACROSS THE GULF OF SPACE, MINDS THAT ARE TO OUR MINDS, AS ARE TO THOSE OF THE BEASTS THAT PERISH, INTELLECTS VAST AND COOL AND UNSYMPATHETIC, REGARDED THIS EARTH WITH ENVIOUS EYES, AND SLOWLY AND SURELY DREW THEIR PLANS AGAINST US” H. G. WELLS (WAR OF THE WORLDS)
A SMALL CLUE AS TO TODAYS TOPIC! ALTHOUGH HUMANITY’S BELIEF IN ET LIFE FORMS DATES BACK TO THE TIMES OF ANCIENT GREECE, IT IS TRUE TO SAY THAT THE REAL FASCINATION FOR THIS SUBJECT WAS REKINDLED WHEN H. G. WELLS RELEASED HIS SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL IN 1897 ‘THE WAR OF THE WORLDS’ WHICH OF COURSE WAS ABOUT AN ALIEN INVASION OF THE EARTH.

Inflation & Cost of Living Crisis

IS BRITAIN PLC HEADING FOR DEEP TROUBLE?INFLATION, RECESSION AND MORE! WITH CHAOS AT THE AIRPORTS, DELAYS RENEWING PASSPORTS AND DRIVING LICENCES, AN ONGOING TRAIN AND TUBE STRIKE, UK INFLATION TOPPING 9% IN THE MOST RECENT FIGURES, POSSIBLE STRIKE ACTION BY TEACHERS AND NURSES AND MORE, HAS THIS GOVERNMENT SIMPLY RUN OUT OF IDEAS?ARE WE HEADING FOR RECESSION AND A REPEAT OF THE SEVENTIES, WITH SPIRALLING WAGE CLAIMS AND SPIRALLING INFLATION?IS BRITIAN PLC IN SERIOUS TROUBLE?

S01 E11 The Covid Special

Does anyone want to hazard a guess as to who got COVID the other week and delayed us getting a new episode out to you? 
 
Today we discuss where we are with the latest variant and the end of restrictions and mandates in the UK. Are things improving or are our government turning a blind eye to a worsening situation to save our ever more precarious economy?

Mental Health S01 E10

Until recently, the idea of talking about mental health in personal terms was quite rare, for the stigma attached to the health of the mind was so great, that the mere mention of it often resulted in friends giving you a wide berth and in the context of one’s professional life, often resulted in one being surreptitiously manoeuvred out of one’s job. Whilst attitudes have improved, with seemingly a greater understanding and sensitivity surrounding mental health issues, in my opinion, it still remains the reality in the commercial world, that most companies will still view those who are brave enough to talk about their own mental health struggles, as a liability and there is plenty of evidence to support this assertion. Whilst there has been a welcome change in the attitude of employers, I am less certain that it is but lip service being paid to matters of mental health and that real progress and substantive change is still to take place.

Randals Rant S01 E02 Supermarket

SUPERMARKET WOES I’m someone that generally goes to the supermarket every day, usually when it’s just opened, but I really get annoyed by other shoppers and their weird habits!

Cosmetic Surgery: Not So Normal

Once the preserve of fading Hollywood stars and retirees to Miami, it seems now that going under the knife, injecting paralysis inducing toxins and lip fillers all, in the pursuit of vanity, is nearly as common as brushing your teeth. I’m not adverse to a few enhancements, such as tattoos and piercings, you understand, which I consider to be an expression of one’s self, I’m not talking about those pop stars either, from the 70’s and 80’s that try desperately to cling onto the youthful look they once possessed, when topping the charts and mysteriously end up in a time warp of their best self from forty years past, dying what’s left of a pony tail and their beards, desperately trying to maintain their relevance rather than accepting that they will never be twenty again. I can’t work out whether or not they think they look good, if its some sort of delusion, caused by the quantity of drugs they consumed back in the day, but equally perplexed as to why their friends don’t take them to one side and say something!

The Monarchy : Will The Royals Survive?

With the controversy surrounding the actions of Prince Andrew and his association to a  convicted and now deceased sex trafficker, one Geoffrey Epstein, Prince Harry having more or less left the Royal family and the latest incarnation, the cash for honours charity probe, which could lead to the questioning of Prince Charles by the police, is the British Monarchy on its last legs and past it’s best before date.

The Ukraine Russian Conflict S01 E07

As Russia begins its invasion of the Ukraine, it is on this subject we will concentrate today and what that might mean for all of us in the days and weeks to come. Is the world on the brink of a protracted world war, is there shifting power that is creating an axis between Russia, China and other sympathetic countries.

Ending Covid Restrictions S01 E06

Today we talk about Covid-19 and the lifting of legal restrictions, such as the isolation rules if you display symptoms and of course, abandoning testing, which has been costing the tax payer some £2 billion per month. Since the start of the pandemic, some 160,000 people have died from the virus in the UK.
Whilst the death toll is clearly now falling, there were still over 1,000 deaths within 28 days of testing positive, between 14th and 20th February, which is still 52,000 fatalities per year. Although noted an increase in deaths mid-week back to around 165 over a 24 hour period.

Road Rules!

Cyclists, Pedestrians, Drivers; whomever you are, do we share our roads with the same consideration we once used to? Road rules; have they changed in the last 20 years, there used to be a tacit understanding between us, is this now lost?