In another life, I am a moaning old git, a phrase coined from a radio show I used to co-host, and my mainstream blog at rhemsworth.blogspot.com has actually now adopted this persona! So today I thought I would treat you all to my Christmas blog from that page....

Whilst the average person celebrates Christmas in what may be described as the 'normal way', how does an old git get his kicks at Christmas? Well there are a few ways I can think of...

1) Put some real fireworks in a Christmas cracker of someone you don't like
2) Record over the film they have just taped
3) Send them a lovely wrapped box of sod-all
4) Post them a Christmas card from a town a long way away with nothing written in it!
5) Ring them at 2 a.m. on Christmas morning so you make sure the kids are awake nice and early!
6) Send your mate a love-heart card from his 'girlfriend' Alison addressed to Mr & Mrs..... lol
7) Tell the kids you see in the street that you just saw Santa getting run over by a truck!
8) Tell your grandkids that's Santa's GPS failed to recognise their street
9) Start a turkey salmonella scare! Best done on December 23rd!!
10) Snore loudly (whether asleep or not) through the Christmas afternoon film!

Well there's a few ideas, feel free to add your own :)

Grumpy Christmas and a gittish new year to you all!

The Moaning Old Git

Police reports are now indicating that a Fireworks event at Taunton
Rugby Club may have caused the 'smoke NOT fog' seen on the M5 motorway
moments before the horrendous pile-up that has claimed the lives of 7
people.

The death toll, which although bad, is not as high as many had thought
after Police completed their search of burned-out cars, but they are now
indicating that evidence is pointing towards the public display as the
possible cause of the accident, the largest seen in the South West in
many years.

Sky News reports that whilst investigations are still at an early stage,
drivers reporting a 'thick fog' were possibly seeing bonfire smoke
instead. http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16104319

Is it time therefore to look again at the safety aspect of bonfires? I
myself have burned garden waste and caused terrible smoke on the farm
where I lived! Luckily there were no main roads nearby, but I have
driven through big clouds of smoke from people's bonfires in the past.
The fact that this particular bonfire party was so close to the busy M5
motorway posed additional dangers, as if the wind suddenly gets up or
changes direction that smoke is not controllable.

I don't want to be one of those 'health and safety' oinks who seeks to
ban fun on a large scale, but let's face it, this event celebrates the
work of a terrorist who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament!! (OK in truth it probably celebrates the fact thta he was thwarted but should it be 'celebrated' at all?)
Is it time to ban it? It also kills wildlife like hedgehogs who make
their homes in the wood of the fire prior to the event, and the
fireworks scare dogs and cats etc. I certainly could live without it!!

I wonder what Taunton Rugby Club officials must be thinking right now,
because if the blame for these loss of lives does fall at their feet,
this is something that the organisers will have to live with on their
conscience for the rest of their lives. Even though it has probably been
staged for years without anything like it happening before, and despite
the fact it may never happen again, would you want to organise it again
next year after this? I for one would not.

The Moaning Old Git

For this week's radio show, I am looking at the 'demise of the village
pub' and the change in the British pub throughout the country and
abroad. For this reason, I need to chat to some pub landlords/managers
past and present, so if you know of anyone that would like to be a guest
on the show (by phone), please put them in touch.

The village pub has suffered particularly over the past few years with
the recession, increasing beer prices, the drink-drive laws and the
anti-smoking legislation. People who used to drive out to village pubs,
are doing so less often to save money, and no longer spend so much money
in the restaurants on which so may village pubs relied. The result -
more and more village pubs closing down and being giving planning for
housing developments, and more pub landlords in the bankruptcy courts.

In the towns and cities, the many pubs are now having to compete with
the big chains such as Wetherspoons who offer cut-priced booze to
attract the punters. Where there was once a 'pub on every corner', in
some towns there are now only one or two pubs in the entire town centre.

Abroad, the holiday areas in places like Tenerife., were full of 'British pubs' but these too, seem to be in similar decline.

So what are your thoughts? Has your 'local' closed down, or changed
beyond recognition? Have you become a regular at a pub-chain outlet such
as Wetherspoons? Do you still frequent a village pub? Do you live in a
village that no longer has a community pub? Perhaps your village pub has
survived by also becoming a Post Office and general store?  Let's have
your thoughts now by email please to hammer@thehammershow.co.uk

Ross Hemsworth
www.thehammershow.co.uk

Friday Sept 16th on my radio show, we discuss the sex industry and we want YOUR views...


Is society's view about the sex industry changing?

Do you believe prostitution should now be legalised?

Could the taxable income from legalised prostitution help towards the country's debts?

Could a legal system like that in Germany. monitor prostitutes and stop the spread of sexual diseases?

Is it ok to watch porn, and have YOU ever watched or taken part in a porn movie?

Perhaps you have made your own porn movie at home?


OR


Maybe you think the country's moral compass has already sunk way too low?

Perhaps your believe that watching porn can lead to sex crimes?

Do you believe that 'escorts' are just a way for prostitutes to charge more?

Is it time to clamp down on the sex industry completely?

Is the sex trade online gradually dying or at least losing its popularity?

Would you consider a period 'on the game' if your family was about to lose their home?


Let's start a mass-debate! :)    E-mail the show hammer@thehammershow.co.uk


Ross 'The Hammer' Hemsworth

The cheeky Cockney - Telling it like it is.

www.thehammershow.co.uk

I absolutely adore the traditional English Sunday roast with preferably roast pork or chicken and definitely Yorkshire puddings! (Although traditionally Yorkie puds only come with roast beef apparently!) The problem is, I'm not getting any :(

Our home runs on fuel oil and to save money with the ridiculous rising cost of fuel, we haven't topped up the empty tank since January. This means we have had to depend on electric hotplates and have been without an oven throughout this time :((

Last weekend at Oxon Hoath, I did get a partial roast dinner in that it was vegetarian! Nut roast replaced the meat but the potatoes were excellent! No Yorkies though.

As a kid, we had the traditional Sunday roast every weekend, varying the meats from week to week between Chicken, lamb, pork and beef.

Perhaps the universe is slowly telling me to turn to being a veggie!! lol

Ross Hemsworth
www.thehammershow.co.uk

Everywhere I look I see machines taking over jobs that were once done by people. Whether it be automated tills in the major supermarkets, or automated petrol pumps operated by credit/debit card. I thought I had seen it all until I came across this news story on a well known media website....

http://radiotoday.co.uk/2011/08/us-station-gets-artificial-intelligent-dj/

As someone who has worked in the media for many years, I have always had to fight hard to get jobs within radio as there are literally hundreds (even thousands) of applications for every on-air position that becomes available. However, of late, larger radio companies such as Heart FM have taken over our smaller local stations and many of the programmes are run by automation from a central studio, meaning a lot less presenters being needed, and even LESS jobs being available in this sector. So imagine my horror when I read of the new 'virtual presenter' being introduced.

I guess it was always on the cards, but I can't help wondering whether there will be jobs left for anyone at this rate?

Ross Hemsworth
www.rosshemsworth.com

I have talked on my blog before about compiling a biography with all the memoirs of what has been a roller-coaster ride of a life! But a thought occured to me this morning, wouldn't it be fun to take it 'on the road' as a one man show?

I have so much to talk about like, my time in the music & sports industries, managing well known celebrities, travelling the globe, my time in Japan with a band I managed, the paranormal years, the onset of Internet broadcasting, my entrepreneurial approach to my life, surviving ex wives etc etc!

Anyone who has ever seen any of my talks and presentations, know that I have a very witty and humourous delivery, and therefore I feel to put all of the above into a touring show in theatres etc, could be very popular.

There are so many exciting and mysterious things that have happened in my life that most of you don't know about, that I think I could easily entertain you all in a 90 minute show!

Hmmm, just food for thought!

Ross Hemsworth
www.rosshemsworth.com

For the past ten years I have been best known for my TV and radio programmes about the paranormal, UFO's, crop circles and conspiracies, so why have I chosen today to announce my 'retirement' from this genre?

Parascience research has come a long way in those ten years, although many 'boo and spook' TV shows have actually made it a laughing stock to many, and if anything, have helped lose any credibility as a science it was gaining. Having had actual paranormal encounters myself, I have no doubt about the existence of 'ghosts' and an afterlife, but have also seen a lot of fakery and hoaxing going on!

As for UFO's and crop circles, more and more evidence is supporting the fact that all can be explained by rational means.

Last night I watched a TV programme showing interviews with people who actually worked on US 'black book' undercover projects at America's Area 51, whilst on online TV show has shown beyond reasonable doubt that crop circles are mostly (if not all) man made. What no aliens? The disclosure brigade will be very very disappointed. (Bear in mind, I myself was calling for the very same 'disclosure' just a short while back, but the difference was, I wanted the TRUTH not the story that many Exopolitics members seemed to THINK was the truth).

However, since undertaking this research and talking at conferences, all I seem to have done is LOSE money and met a lot of troublesome 'back-stabbers' along the way who call themselves spiritual people. Then of course there are those who think you are in it for the money and criticise your work and enjoy telling people this nonsense!

So today I have decided my future lays in other areas and I have decided to 'quit' talking at conferences and presenting radio and TV programmes on any kind of strange phenomena. So my last presentation will be at the fabulous Oxon Hoath country house retreat in Kent over the August Bank Holiday weekend. I hope a few of you may get down to see me and the last ever public viewing of my 'encounter with the strange entity at Rendlesham Forest'. (Note to ex wife - NO I am NOT getting a fee lol!)

Very few tickets remain at: - http://www.crystalskullconference.co.uk/

Thanks for everyone who has supported my work over the years, and I hope to see a few of you at the above event.

Ross

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13037808

A news report yesterday caught my attention, as it once again brought about much debate within legal circles and and law blogs.

Sacha Hall 22, from Essex, denied a charge of theft, which was left to lie on file, after taking 'thrown out' food items from a Tesco store, said to be worth a total of £215, which the supermarket had discarded after a power failure had spoiled large amounts of food."

It would appear that Ms Hall decided that the food had been thrown away by Tesco and it was therefore ok for her to take it rather than see it going to landfill. However, Tesco maintained it wasn't going to landfill and was indeed still on their property, with a view to being transported to a power plant where it would be used as fuel.

Ms Hall denied theft, but apparently admitted 'handling stolen goods', and may possible have recieved direction to go for the lesser plea.

According to the law in England and Wales: "A person commits theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it." But we should also take into account the 'dishonesty' factor here. Did Ms Hall act dishonestly or did she honestly believe the goods had been put out as rubbish and therefore not wanted, and did she therefore also believe that she could take them away without committing an offence? (See s2 of The Theft Act 1968). A precedent worth reading in this respect is that of R v Ghosh [1982] QB 1053, CA which you can find via a Google search.

Tesco were obviously of the opinion that Ms Hall had stolen goods that were still on their proerty, and that they say they had plans for.

I think the legal eagles will be having some fun with this one for a while, but meanwhile Ms Hall is suffering for what appeares on the face of it, to be something that she did without any thought of dishonesty, and to avoid what she believed to be, good food going to waste.

Ross Hemsworth

The more I look at obvious fake and hoax UFO pictures/videos and the more evidence I see from crop circle 'makers', the more I am starting to feel I am becoming a little skeptical!

I have already distanced myself from a great many conspiracy theories of late, and am now in real danger of becoming one of those people I have ridiculed in the past...a SKEPTIC!

Now don't get me wrong, there are still a great number of things I have witnessed during paranormal investigations that have persuaded me that we live in parallel dimensions, and that there is much we do not yet understand about the universe we live in, so I am not a full grown skeptic as yet, but I really am starting to doubt the existence of UFO's.

As for crop circles, it still puzzles me how such intricate patterns can be made by a small group of people in just a few hours of darkness, with sight only from ground level. Also, with so many crop circle 'watchers' around, how are they never spotted making their circles? Yet the evidence now seems to strongly suggest that these formations are nothing more than that, which in many ways is a shame, as I think we would all like to think they were messages from 'aliens'!

I'm still not a fan of Richard Wiseman or that idiot Randi though :)

Ross