Month: August 2023

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QUIZ QUESTIONS

Long car journey this bank holiday. try this quiz, can be done alternately!

  1. Name the 11 London Underground Lines
  2. List the 7 wonders of the ancient world
  3. List Football League Team suffixes (20?)
  4. Name the 14 countries in the Caribbean
  5. Signs of the zodiac -12
  6. Events in the decathlon
  7. Plantagenet kings of England
  8. Types of pasta
  9. Then depending on your interests cheeses, trees, dog breeds, fruit, although as these are open ended they can get a bit tedious – good for kids though.
  10. English counties that do not end in shire (15)
  11. 5 bridges over Thames in City of London
  12. List red white and blue flags

Answers provided on request!

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WEATHER

Records continue to tumble. A Swiss Met Office balloon reached its highest ever before being at 0C – at 5300 m. Southern Europe is braced for a new heat wave with temps above 40C. In Canada the military is sent to help fight the wildfire (Shoot them?) and 35000 have been placed under evacuation orders. Tropical Storm Hilary continues to bring copious rainfall, despite the wind speed falling, to s.California and Nevada. 15 natural disasters costing more than $1bilIion so far this year (another record) wonder what is happening elsewhere?

We know that governments can get their acts together when faced with catastrophe – in this country as a reaction. Corporations will have to take a hit, globalisation reassessed. Environmental damage costed and paid to a fund which could invest in insulation and green energy, local food production and scientific research.

To kick start this fund we could have a 90% tax on increases is net payments to executives (to include bonus and wage hikes).

Remember that we have not seen hikes in sea level yet – sea level rise + low pressure + high onshore winds could mean disasters across the world including the UK. 107.9 million people live within 1m of sea level, 431m within 6m. A refugee crisis in the making? When will London rebuild the Thames Barrier – starting the work is getting urgent!

Time for joined up thinking – get environmental groups, and people like Marcus Rashford and Jamie Oliver together with Dale Vince and Chris Packham, then Marina Purkiss and Gemma Forte and Zac Goldsmith (if he can leave racist comments aside!)..

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ELECTION MAP PREDICTIONS

This site raises lots of geographical questions

https://electionmaps.uk/nowcast

Firstly Scotland where the SNP look set to lose some seats back to Labour. No real surprises there as the SNP have been going through a bit of turmoil recently and have the problem of being in power for so long. Whilst large areas of Scotland were previously Labour, the growth in the demand for nationalism will not be sated with the feeling that Labour is Westminster.2! Labour will need strong energy policies to win back seats.

The north of England. Sunak seems to think that a right wing policy will sway the “red wall seats”. I am not convinced that racism and nationalism will triumph over the economy and environment! Then the heartland of the tories – Middle England. For sure the Lib-dems have made inroads in some safe tory seats. Whether this will be replicated in a general election will be interesting. Wales will presumably follow the normal pattern with PC in the north and Labour in the south. I cannot see many swinging to the tories here. And then the South West – maybe the most interesting? Large numbers of old duffers, but there has been demographic movement since the last election. More young people moving in. I am not sure how Brexit voters have reacted to terrace since? It has never been a unionised area so the independence could benefit the Lib Dems or even the greens who might do well in Bristol and Totnes? Will London continue to be pro-labour with Khan promoting the ELTZ’s? Personally I hope the motor heads are sent home to choke on their fumes.

Despite wishes for tactical voting it looks likely that this will have limited impact? TBH Starmer is promoting tactical voting as he is hardly promoting the socialism many believe Labour should be promoting.

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WILD WEATHER

Huge wild fires continue in Canada whilst further south Nevada braces itself for Storm Hilary which has brought floods to California and Mexico already. When will the climate deniers recognise the symptoms, how bad does it have to get? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-us-canada-66566483

Maybe when the insurance claims get so huge the corporations will take notice? Probably not – they will just move to less troubled climates. Will any government be brave enough to hold the executives of corporations causing climate disasters responsible? Huge fines and prison sentences are needed. The same for politicians who spread the lies and misinformation.

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FOOTBALL

A World Cup Final – well done the ladies. Some great games, goals and fouls! Just as it should be! It will be a while before the fan base fully develops due to the inherent sexism of our society. I would guess that 80-90% of fans at the Premier League this weekend were men? Men, many of whom will stop off at the pub before or after the game, and expect dinner when they get home to be put on the table and small children tired after an entertaining afternoon at the park or whatever! The women’s game will not get that following of women so will rely on the support of men?

I hope this is not too pessimistic of me? The quality is good and will improve with greater support and finance. How long before we see the Woman’s FACup at Wembley.

PS. This blog was initiated by Debs! I hope it is not seen as sexist

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COVID-19

It seems that there is a growth in people reporting Covid infection. How this will impact on society we wait and see. The Government has decided that only 65+ people are eligible for the latest jab. I do not know the cost, but it would seem sensible from a preventative health aspect to encourage a wider take up – perhaps subsidised vaccines for larger employers?

Herd immunity requires a large % of the population with immunity, research is needed to ensure that those infected in the past have knowledge of their immune systems rigorousness. A healthy nation is essential to bring down inflation.

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GAS MAIN

My road is being dug upland a new plastic gas main put in. The official line is that it is an update. But as my house is 1960’s I am surprised. One of the workmen told Aaron in the shop that it was so a switch to hydrogen could be made! This makes more sense as the cost must be huge- and there must be thousands of older estates not getting the update? I am not sure what the logistics of hydrogen are? Would they need to do the whole village? We are not used to long term planing in this country!

Indeed the plans for a clean up of rivers and lakes has just been delayed for a few years. The last review in 2016 found just 14% rivers in good health – surely it cannot have got worse? Meanwhile there have been 138 sewage leaks in the last 12 months in Whitehall and other government buildings across the country.

Tomatoes – now upto 5.3kg so far and a good crop of chillies. Apples looking good too. Some labels on – more tomorrow.

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WILDFIRES

Yellowknife, North Western Territories, Canada (pop 20000), evacuated, is added to the list of dangerous wild fires which seem to be affecting much of the northern hemisphere this summer. The cost in human life is rising, wildlife suffers untold damage, the economic cost is huge. Coping with the fires is difficult. So could more be done in prevention? In Hawaii imported and invasive grasses have been blamed together with a wet spring followed by drought and high winds.

Firstly we need to take action on climate change NOW. Things will only get worse so putting the country on a war footing against climate change is imperative.

Secondly I wonder whether we need a rethink of our attitude to nature. Water extraction from wetland areas is plain stupid. Should we encourage more herbivores? I love my herbs and mints, but would not complain too much if deer came off the hill for a snack if it prevented a wildfire? Do we need to increase coppicing in woodland areas to reduce the potential fuel. I know that overgrazing is harmful to the environment but reckon a plan could be worked out.

Thirdly – education – most fires are caused by people; some maliciously (law enforcement with harsh penalties?); but many through ignorance, the BBQ not properly extinguished, a cigarette end not disposed of properly, a bottle discarded as litter. The consequences of these actions needs to be core curriculum in schools.

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LONG TERM ILLNESS

The figure now stands at 2.5million. Surely this is a tragic waste of life. The system is broke – how many of these people could/would work if the system was more flexible? How many return to work too early because of the poverty sick pay of £1.10p per hour! How many are trapped by the under funding of the NHS causing rises in waiting times?

Regular pay rose by 7.8% excluding bonus’ . What rate of increase is offered to NHS workers? Inflation may have fallen to 6.9% but what is it since their last pay rise. And who gets a bonus anyway? Mainly the financial sector I believe? As I have said many times, the whole system is fucked!

Also in todays Guardian is an article about greedflation and how large companies and corporations are increasing profits (an wages at the top and dividends – all inflation increasing. Surely there is some clever person or AI that can produce a model that shows the impact on inflation of profits, wages, interest rates, rents, bonus payments, dividends, NHS expenditure, transport costs, food prices, deposit rates etc.. Move the slider left or right and it shows the impact.

We are told that the BoE has only one tool – interest rates, but this is not true. They could issue savings/education bonds matched to university fees for named children from birth, and open at anytime thereafter. Redeemable against uni fees and apprenticeship costs. They would suck money out of the economy, benefit future students and basically cost nothing other than the inflationary cost of rising fees? I know this benefits the rich and middle classes – but it could be set so that a percentage goes to subsidise poorer students with the contributions there to wing tax deductible. As you can tell I do not know what I am talking about! Just throwing ideas up!

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ATTACK-ATTACK-ATTACK

It is time to go on the attack by the opposition parties. This time do it right – not a grubby attack on Sunak personally. Take the moral high ground and spell out just how conservative policies, like Sunak’s trousers have come up short. The material here is massive. The economy, environment, NHS, water quality, inflation, Covid, PPS, HoL, MP’s 2nd wages, education, electric cars, North Sea Oil, social care, migration, food prices, world status, Afghanistan, world trade deals, food quality. Adverts online and in the papers could be numbered so like football cards they cold be collected.

The tories would obviously claim that under Labour it would be worse – an argument easily rebuffed – 14 years tories = decline in all areas. Compare the starting positions – how much debt is there, what is inflation, how many food banks (larders), repossessions, etc. Come clean on Brexit.

Many tories have ridiculed themselves with crass comments – these could also feature in the Panini Style attack cards.