This one looks like it may be rather windy! And with snow in Scotland and heavy rain in Wales! I suspect that we will have a blowy winter! Every 1C warmer = 7% more moisture in the atmosphere. So with global warming it will be wetter than the past average as a normal? And all those houses built on flood plains? The pumps in Worle and the levels maybe working overtime.
EXAMS
Labour Education Minister has said too much emphasis is put on exams. I totally agree. This is not to say that exams are irrelevant, but that other aspects are also very important. The exam system favours a certain proportion to the detriment of others. Society has undervalued other qualifications. the whole system is defiunct.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Much has been made of the lack of preparedness and warnings in the Valencia Region. But are we any better? Certainly the Met Office and Env. Agencies have plans and warnings but do they call wolf too often? And does anyone take any notice anyway? Parents evenings at school 10 years ago continued despite warnings and the evidence outside! During the Covid Crisis it was apparent that there was no locally based planning or organisation. The local council disappeared completely. New housing developments will/may excabated the situation. Locally I believe that a syatem for closing the road to Puxton should be an obvious duty for the council if weather warnings are issued. Churchill traffic lights are often flooded and new housing nearby may increase the problem. As an A road this situation needs attention urgently. Other problems seem to have been solved after floods about 10 years ago. However there are very local situations that can affect one or two houses – contingency plans need addressing.
HURRICANES
Sloppy journalism in the USA. Watching a weather forecast from Florida the presenter (presumably not a meteorologist) stated that the storm surge was caused by the winds blowing the water onshore. This may be a small part of the process but it is the fall in air pressure thatt has most impact. This effect is estimated at a 10 mm (0.39 in) increase in sea level for every millibar (hPa) drop in atmospheric pressure. The average for the Caribbean Sea is just over 1000mb, so Milton coming in at 900mb could see a potential surge of 10m – this is obviously too high and I am out of my scientific knowledge, I guess te surge also depends on how enclosed the area is and also on surrounding air pressure, and the shape of the shoreline and its depth close to the shore? Definitely out of my depth now!
HURRICANE MILTON
Hurricane Milton is turning into one of the most dangerous to hit the USA. Estimates of wind speeds upto 165mph, a storm surge of over 4m and nearly 500mm of rain could bring devastation to the Tampa region. The geographical extent of the hurricane is still being determined but it is thought it may broaden to several hundred miles which means that many will not have evacuated far enough! Petrol stations were also without fuel anyway! The area to the north of the expected path of Milton was affected by Helene anyway so there is probably still problems there. It is somewhat ironic that over 1000 flights have been cancelled (what clmate crisis!). So tonight will see landfall. Some questions I have! Will the Evergaldes be flooded? and if so is it likely that Alligators will become a problem in urban areas?
CLIMATE CRISIS
So BP and Shell are scaling back on green energy and increasing oil production – fucking stupid and greedy. Rivers world wide are drying up! Amazon, Ganges, Bramaputra and Mekong have all suffered lower than normal levels this year. As glaciers melt there will be a reduced flow from some of the rivers that are relied on by large numbers of humanity (rivers eminating from the Himalayas primarily, and then the Rockies and Andes).
A ski resort in France shuts as it cannot provide the snow, 3 die in Thai floods. Several hundred have already died in the USA. Will it be the insurance industry that leads us into action? When premiums go high that amybe when the government takes notice.
HURRICANES
3 Hurricanes are around at the same time which is bit of a record! Kirk is already well north and may bring non-hurricane winds to Europe (but is causing high surf and rip currents to Bermuda and beyond), Leslie is also faffing about in mid-Atlantic but may bring a storm surge to the Eastern seaboard of North America. Of most interest is Hurricane Milton which was an ‘enhanced’ tropical storm until it picked up energy from the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea (which is warmer than normal for the time of year (climate change). Milton will likely hit a similar area to Helene and will certainly add inches (USA!) to the rainfall already received. Latest predictions are that it will be south of the Florida pan handle, but will reach Category 2 or even 3 with a storm surge likely.
INTERNATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT
So a UN report criticises the UK for its racism in government, Parliament and the media.
It does not name names, but we can be clear that most, if not all the Tory candidates to suceed Sunak will be on the list along with Reform and most of the published and broadcast media, the Met Police and other public bodies. Labour should also be concerned – Starmers initial speech on Gaza was horrendous!
However racism has become so mainstream that even a family member can say “I am not racist but ….” with no sense of irony! I can give explanations for this but not excuses. For my parents generation (and their influence over my generations thinking) the war was a good reason for xenophobia. This was amplified by the media, controlled by the upper classes and rich who really only supported the war effort once it became apparant that Hitler would use (please do not fact check this – I can be as guilty as any of converting a random thought into fact! Was I thinking of Remains of the Day”). TV had the Black and White Minstral Show (although even in my pre-teens this was embarrassing) and then “some mothers do have them” which was funny, very racist and I (sounding like Donald Trump) sided with the long haired scoucer trade unionist).
So my generation were indoctrinated at every opportunity – no lessons about the slave trade for me, just hearing about our racist heroes of the past like ‘Clive of India’, Captain Cook, Drake and Churchill. No mention of Winston sending the troops in against strikers or his role in the Indian Famine. Signs were up in B&B “No blacks, Irish or queers”. A very intolerant society. But it also gave birth to the Sixties and rebellion against the conformity of austerity. Hippies opened their horizons whilst the Mods and Rockers craved for the lost norms of the past. Then along came the skinheads – a tribe for the failures and those failed by society. Being and acting like a moron became the norm for a sector of society. 30p Anderson and Farage and the others realise this is a fan ase neglected by the main parties. In the days before Thatcher when we had an industrial base these guys (and they are mainly men) had jobs in factories and identified with their trade union. As the Trade Unions lost membership so the football Ultras and yobo’s proliferated. As hooliganism was cut back on, then these people had no ideological home. Car theft also lost its shine as it became more difficult.
But my relative is not poor – home owning and well off. Former mod with a police record to prove it. He and I suspect his family have become radicalised by the media of the Mail, Sun, GB News etc. Their fear, bigotism and paranoia defies logical explanation. Their paucity of ideas and ideology craves a symbol to follow (Flag, badge, club) basically anything to hide the fact that they are pathetic morons who can only articulate their views via the sound bytes of the rich and wealthy.
FAKE NEWS AND THE FARAGE RIOTS
Much has been reported about the fake news that contributed to the riots. The BBC has investigated and can find no evidence that it was spread by Russia so that itself is fake news. I suspect that the rioters were just waiting for them to happen so they would have found an excuse anyway. I am sure they were not expecting to be arrested en masse and banged up for substantial periods of time!
WE HAVE A PROBLEM
and Houston cannot help! Supertanskii summed it up with Stochastic terrorism.
Farage and co are MP’s and are there to serve all the people, not just a few racist thugs. I will come clean here as I am guilty of similar double standards! I whole heartedly condemn Just Stop Oil disrupting traffic and everyday events ….. but support their concerns. However Farage did not even go that far – before the BUT came in that basically gave his support for the riots.