Recent Floods

I posted this in my.telegraph blog.

I have just been viewing a report on BBC 24 about the forthcoming review of the civic response to the recents floods in Yorkshire. In it the reporter repeated that the floods were unpredictable and extraordinary. The changing patterns of weather in this country make this trite remark sound very complacent. He also mentioned the flood defences or lack of them.

We would not need flood defences if we stopped building on flood plains, stopped paving and tarmacing every available surface, planted more trees and stopped clearing mature trees and finally where there are existing towns at risk they were protected by adequate flood drains under roads and pavements. Forty years ago when I lived in Johannesburg, SA, there were regular storms when an inch or more of rain fell in a an hour or so. The huge drains allowed the water to run off roadways almost as fast as it fell and there was never any risk of flooding to properties of any sort. We have to accept that the recent heavy rain is likely to be repeated on more or less regularly in the future and that building defensive wall to prevent floods will be a waste of time and money.

Good News?

There were two more hopeful news items recently. Gordon Brown inserted the word economic before the Israeli/ Palestinian roadmap. That does make sense. Until the Palestinians are given a chance economically there will never be peace. But we will have to wait and see.

Then I heard that the BBC will be looking to create better balance in all its output. Let’s hope that this means a balanced view of world news, not the present total preoccupation with what really amount to neighbourhood gossip. It would appear that first thing in the morning the newsroom chooses 3 or 4 pieces of tittle tattle and they become the news stories of the day on every BBC news channel. You have in the UK to wait for the World Service at 1.00 am to hear what has happened in the rest of the world.

Recent News

The principal excuse from government spokesmen commenting on the our poor showing in the recent Unicef report on children was that the data was out of date. It’s the excuse they make fro every derogatory report. In this case did they really believe that the public would say, “But, of course, in the last year or so I have noticed how suddenly all the young people look so happy and how they are suddenly so polite to others”. There are just one or two who have taken to shooting their peers in their own homes.

Jane Godley said something on Radio 4’s Saturday Live which made me think. She was talking about her husbands family using guns and hse stressed that they were not something they felt big or proud about carrying; they were just a tool, only to be fired in extreme situations. And that is the big difference with the young people in South London. Their guns define their status. They are their “emperor’s clothes”. And that is what makes them so dangerous.

US Ship Flag

The ship is now flying a flag….Wow did somebody important read my previous post?

US Ship Visits Madeira

Madeira suits us a holiday destination, a timeshare in the Royal Savoy Vacation Club, right at the sea, yet close by the amenities of Funchal itself. The weather at this time of year is balmy rather than hot, and so far there has been no rain. There is enough activity to be interesting without the crowds of young boisterous youngsters to make us oldies irritated.

 

An excursion on a large catamaran during which we saw pilot whales and dolphins was a memorable morning. The food has been good and the scenery is magnificent.

 

Anchored out in the bay is a sinister ship, an American military support vessel, its deck cargo shrouded in white canvas. There is little sign of life on board and there appears to be no traffic with the shore, although at night it is brightly lit. The locals say that similar ships are fairly regular visitors which often stay several weeks. Presumably there is some strategic significance in its presence here off out-of-the-way Madeira. What makes it sinister in my eyes is that it flies no flag. The smallest pleasure craft flies its national flag and navies have always gone into battle with ensigns aloft. In fact the lack of an ensign is regarded as a dubious ruse de guerre. But here we have an US Navy auxiliary ship reduced to skulking in friendly waters. Failure to reveal its true colours is not I think a matter of economic necessity for a cash-strapped Defense Department but rather some tactic in the War on Terror. Surely a great nation should not have to adopt the tactics of stealth and subterfuge practised by its enemies?

war on terror

Plane Theft

My wife had her mobile phone and camera stolen from her hold luggage on a journey from Lanzarote to Glasgow yesterday. She was complying with the restrictions on hand luggage like a good citizen. It begs the question what is the point of security in the cabin when the luggage in the hold is so vulnerable. Baggage handlers can hardly have been security checked if some in their midst are criminals.

The mobile phone company have been very good after interminable waits for attention, but they admitted to a huge increase in thefts of mobile phones from planes since the recent bomb scare.

Pensioner Terrorists

I suggested in a previous post that there was no such thing as an elderly suicide bomber, but it is often the mature extremist who influences youth to commit the atrocities. There is a report today of a resurgence of organised soccer violence here in Scotland. The participants are under 20s whereas there is evidence that the organisers are in their 40s.

If the middle-aged or elderly can influence young people to evil and violence, why cannot parents and teachers produce a more benign influence?

India Overtakes UK

I have just heard on the ITV News that India now has more investment in the UK than the UK has in India.  I think that is hugely significant.  Britain has always been a major exporter of capital; this would appear to be one of the factors in the long demise of British industry.  Now the tide is turning.

Major worries for the West are global warming and now the sideling of the West,  America and Europe, in world economic terms.

Man’s Cruelty

I have now got to the point where I cannot bear to watch the TV news. In a sense the nightly reporting from the frontline is an intrusion and a trivialisation of the suffering.

Man’s inhumanity to man.

This Depressing Government

I have been trying to think of any major program or initiative which this government has proposed which has come to a successful conclusion and so far I have failed.

Education, the NHS, Law and Order, police reform, welfare and benefits. None of these have really shown the improvements we were told would happen. And on top of that, we are involved in the disasters of Iraq and possibly Afghanistan with now an unpopular stance vis-a-vis Israel. The Daily Telegraph yougov poll must make dismal reading for our government, that is if Tony reads the papers on holiday, and the Israelis.

And many things are unravelling. The target of 50% of school leavers going to university has not been reached as young people have realised that many degrees are not worth the paper they are printed on. Far from guaranteeing better jobs, they are only guaranteed a large debt. For all the money poured in, education standards have improved only slightly.

The NHS was at one time underfunded by comparison with other countries, but with massive extra money it still does not compare for service with some European neighbours. By fudging the true cost of capital spending in PPP deals and the like, Gordon Brown has actually diverted those extra funds into paying the private partners’ dividends.

And recently it would seem that all sorts of government plans are being rolled back.