Tom Daley and the 2008 Olympic Games

It was back in February that I noted Plymouth diving sensation Tom Daley being selected for the 2008 Olympic Games in China. What made this item so newsworthy is the fact that Tom will be only 14 when he takes to the diving board at the Games. At the time of my original blog I assumed I was right in agreeing with the media in general that he would be the youngest person ever to compete from the UK. Not so apparently, I think a girl swimmer from the distant past has that honour.

A few days ago Tom added to his haul of medals with a gold in the European Championships at Eindhoven. Tom is doing his best to dampen expectations for this year's Olympics but wouldn't it be great if he was in the medals! He has intimated that the event will be used as good experience for London 2012.

This might be a good moment to express one or two thoughts from this non sporting blogger on the China Olympics:

• One positive from the Olympic Games jamboree is that various sports not really in the mainstream, such as diving, get showcased.
• It's in a few minority interest sports that this country tends to shine rather than the better known ones such as football or cricket.
• The upcoming Olympics is focusing extra attention on China particularly its poor human rights record. Of course it's the unrest in annexed Tibet which is making headlines now.
• The air pollution problems in the area where the Games are to be held are a headache for the authorities and expect further stories about this to be broadcast.

Mrs Sarkozy wearing sensible shoes

You won't normally find me commenting on what the fairer sex are wearing, partly because of the tremendous variety of clothing and footwear on offer and what is right for one lady can look awful on another. One of my aversions though is stiletto heels - it's one thing for a woman to wear shoes or boots occasionally with two or three inches of reasonably chunky heel but it's those spiky stilettos that I find really off putting. There are plenty of very smart reasonably flat shoes to choose from these days and why any woman would choose to wear stilettos all day every day is beyond my comprehension!

What has actually sparked this entry though is the visit this week of the French President and his wife to the UK. Perhaps unfortunately for a couple in the spotlight Carla Sokazy is about 4 inches taller than her husband. Whether this was the reason for her to wear either flat shoes or very low ones during the state visit so she wasn't towering too much over her husband I don't know. But to my mind she certainly looked attractive in her flat shoes and I really don't see the need to be wobbling around in bunion inducing heels.

Living here in a country area sensible footwear is to the fore. One of the good things I noticed about Dr Martens at their height of popularity was the fact that more women were combining fashion with practicality. Whereas it would be silly to say that 'docs' would suit everyone I think on the right woman they are brilliant. For those not into that make of footwear there are a plethora of alternative makes and styles which combine looks and comfort.

So well done Carla Sokazy for your choice of shoes. She has had rave reviews in the media with words like "chic" and "demure" being used a lot in relation to her dress sense and demeanour. Being the spouse of the leader of a country must be a very difficult job to take on and she appears to be taking to that very role with a degree of aplomb.

MSC Napoli - more delay on stern removal

My more recent entries on the Napoli had suggested that the remainder of the stern of the ship, still languishing off the Jurassic Coast near Branscombe, would have gone before the start of this summer. As you can see from the press release here issued yesterday by Fred Caygill of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency this is not now going to happen. I had thought in my ignorance that the stern section might have been lifted in one go as the salvors had entertained the possibility of doing that before the large accommodation block had been removed. Maybe the list of 40 degrees has put paid to any such notion. Whatever it appears that the MSC Napoli will still be present through the summer as they use controlled explosions to assist in the removal of the heavy components still to be removed from the stern section.

Now this final plan has come as something of a surprise and disappointment to me - I had thought that the stern section would have definitely gone before the main summer period but as I said I think the way it has heeled over must be a massive constraining factor in the removal process.

So what about the knock on effects resulting from this latest press-release? Firstly I think that the County Council had intended to get the Public Enquiry's hearings underway this summer but I can't imagine that this will happen now as surely they will want the removal to be completed first. Then there is the little matter of the effect on local tourism; I'm upbeat on this I have to say. We are told that the local beaches at least are monitored every day for anything coming ashore from Napoli so that the coast in that immediate vicinity should be kept in a pristine condition. I could be wrong but think that the ship's owners have this responsibility which should therefore reduce the cost on the public purse. The other point is that the presence of the stern section would I suggest be more of a draw for tourists rather than being a negative.

The Napoli saga has plenty of life in it yet!

Helston Flora Dancers named

Following the rant in my last piece time to calm down a little methinks. So here is a nice gentle news story. The names of the lead couple at this year's Helston Flora Dance has been announced! I have to admit that I have yet to go to Helston to watch the event which is held on May 8th a week after Obby Oss day at Padstow. Yes I would like to see the Flora (or Furry) Dance, it's the sedate and pretty one compared with Padstow which is just full of raw energy! I have been to the latter and it is something to behold I can tell you and I can't imagine another place where you can see so many accordions, melodeons and drums! Very very stirring! Visit YouTube.com if you want to see video footage of either of these events.

Back to the Flora Dance in particular. There has to be some sort of committee to decide these things I guess, the first two couples in the main midday dance now know they have been selected for this honour. So the lead couple this year will be Duane Hocking and Naomi Clark, the second pair making up this first set being Robert George and Shelley Skewes. I suppose that after this foursome the remainder of the dancers will have to fight it out between themselves. Actually I shouldn't use the word 'fight', the dance is far too genteel for that!

Cigarettes may go under the counter

Before I start this rant let me make one thing clear: I don't smoke, never have smoked, never will smoke. When the smoking ban started last summer I rejoiced in the fact that my occasional foray into a local pub would not mean second hand smoking for me or my returning home smelling like a well used ashtray (having said that I have some understanding of those people who suggested that pubs for instance should have designated smoking areas, totally impractical I believe but nevertheless I have a little sympathy toward that viewpoint).

What has happened now though (rant begins here) is that the government have suggested the idea that pubs divest themselves of cigarette machines and that shops hide their fags under the counter. The reasoning we are told is that youngsters won't be so tempted to take to the dreaded weed. I want to know who has let the lunatics out of the asylum. The first point is that, for better or worse, the sale of tobacco products to people over a certain age is a legitimate activity. That being so surely the retailer has an absolute right to decide just where he or she puts these products. Have the thought police the remotest idea how the retail sector works? The answer appears to be "no". Go into a busy newsagent first thing in the morning and the last thing the assistant needs is to bend down and fumble around under the counter to give their customer twenty fags to go with the paper whereas at the moment they just have to reach a shelf behind them. And what about the cigarette kiosk at a supermarket? Are they supposed to have a blank wall behind them with their wares hidden from view. In a small shop or corner store there would have to be a considerable outlay too, in modifying the layout, for the hard pressed proprietor - are they supposed to pick up the tab?

We all know these days about the ruinous effects on health that smoking can bring. Drink alcohol to excess and one's life can be shortened. Using the same skewed logic then a supermarket should have kiosks with all their liquor out of sight and out of mind. I have seen no convincing evidence to suggest that young people seeing tobacco products on a shelf are any more likely to indulge than if they knew they were hidden under the counter. As for cigarette machines in pubs surely these establishments have suffered more than enough without this prohibition as well.

I was surprised to see that David Cameron has stated that the idea is one worth considering. Get into the higher echelons in politics and it seems reality and common sense are left behind.

Exeter Cathedral charge starts today

As I recorded here Exeter Cathedral have decided to charge people who visit this magnificent building and today is the day when you will have to start paying for the privilege. Although it might seem wrong to append any charge to those entering a church I do realise where they are coming from. Will there be an adverse reaction from tourists? I don't know. At least Exeter isn't the first cathedral to follow this path.

Bishop Bill Ind retires

One or two local stories of note concerning the Church of England on this Easter weekend. The first one of these is the fact that Rt Rev Bishop Bill Ind, affectionately referred to as "Bishop Bill", has retired from his position at Truro Cathedral. Many folk outside of Cornwall will have become familiar with Bishop Bill as he has been in the programmes 'A seaside parish' (centred on Boscastle) and 'An island parish' from the Isles of Scilly. In the former he was seen providing words of comfort to the villagers after the horrendous flood of August 2004. The Easter Day service at Truro Cathedral was one sensed an emotional occasion for him judging by the TV footage I've seen.

Bishop Bill was well known for his sense of humour and very human touch. His will be a very difficult act to follow. I wish Bill Ind a long and happy retirement.

A couple of good Labour MPs

It might be thought from my last two entries on this blog that I can't find anything good to say about any Labour MPs. So let me redress the balance. In this past month there have been a couple of interesting divisions in the House of Commons and in each case we have seen a number of Labour MPs voting against the government line. The first of these was regarding the lack of a referendum on the 'Lisbon Treaty' whilst the other was a Tory motion concerning the impending Post Office closures. Two of the Labour rebels risking the wrath of their party in each of these votes were Frank Field and Kate Hoey. I have a lot of time for both these two MPs who strike me as people of principle and with a good measure of common sense. So many MPs can best be described as "lobby fodder" I'm afraid, just sheepishly following the party line.

If I lived in Birkenhead or Vauxhall I would be sorely tempted to vote for Mr Field or Ms Hoey because of the people they are rather than the party label to which they are attached.

Unbelievable response from the AA

This is a follow up to my "sensible question" piece last Thursday in which I lavished praise on Tory MP Robert Goodwill. It was all about the anomaly of a person receiving a driving ban and a prison sentence with at least some part of the ban running coincidentally with the time spent in custody. This piece here elaborates on the story and it is apparent that a lady called Jan Woodward has been campaigning on this issue; I am pleased that Mr Goodwill has brought this matter to the fore.

What has left me gobsmacked is the reaction of the AA to this issue. This is their take on it quoting directly from the BBC News website:
The AA said there was no need for bans to start automatically on release from prison.
A spokesman said: "When you're sentencing someone for a driving offence, you're sentencing someone to a prison sentence and a driving ban at the same time.
"You know they're going to prison, you know for how long, and you can impose the ban to reflect the length of the prison sentence as well as the length of the ban."

Permit me to comment on this load of absolute rubbish:

• If a person is sent to prison and banned for one and the same offence then it is important from the point of view of the victim or society in general to be satisfied that the offender is punished separately and adequately by the two elements of the judgment
• The length of the ban should entirely reflect the severity of the crime, the length of sentence is a separate issue that the court decides on
• Nobody can say with absolute certainty how long a person will stay in prison after being sentenced. The behaviour of the individual whilst 'inside' can affect the release date as can government policy eg current overcrowding in prisons might lead to earlier release than anticipated.
• Suppose for instance the driver gets a ban but no imprisonment for drunk driving. One month into the ban gets a prison sentence for a totally unrelated offence. Surely for the time that person is in gaol he or she should have the time of the ban suspended.
• I can't see any obvious logistical problem so far as the courts are concerned in starting the ban after prison release so why not just do it that way.

I don't pretend to be an expert on motoring law but do get annoyed when people like the AA spout the sort of nonsense they have done here.

A sensible question at PMQs

Sometimes on a Wednesday lunchtime I will watch Prime Ministers Questions (or PMQs for short). Not yesterday though because as I have just blogged I was out in the fresh air. By going to the 'Politics' page on the BBC News website it is possible to see a summary of the various matters raised during that half hour. It is easy to get preoccupied with the exchanges between Brown and Cameron and Brown and Clegg, good knockabout stuff maybe but all to do with points scoring. So it is always a relief when someone asks a jolly sensible question and at this PMQs there was one that was certainly worth airing.

Thank you then to Tory MP Robert Goodwill who I have just discovered represents Scarborough and Whitby. In essence he asked the PM why someone given a driving ban and then sent to prison for something else can use that time in prison towards the time they are banned from driving. Now I've noticed this before when someone gets a prison sentence say for dangerous driving but the length of the ban is incorporated in the time they are in gaol and have always thought "how ridiculous - that ban means nothing". What infuriates me is that this type of obvious anomaly hadn't previously been spotted. Well done to Mr Goodwill for putting this in the public arena.

I don't have any strong allegiance to any political party being more interested in the worth of the individual MP. Robert Goodwill has a website here which is clear and user friendly. I'm particularly pleased to see that he is an MP who is connected with his area rather than someone parachuted in from afar and has a background in agriculture as well. From what I can see one of our better MPs.

A visit to the allotment and Easter date

Yesterday, especially the morning, was beautifully sunny in the Tamar Valley. Having to see someone in Luckett was a good reason to use my visit to that little village to spend an hour on the allotment there. My green fingered friend proceeded to plant some potatoes in a part of our land she had already dug whilst I removed some more of the brambles that had taken over much of the plot before our occupation. Then back home via the Rising Sun Nursery so my friend could buy some compost.

A contrast in the weather today - now grey and drab after yesterday's spring sunshine. The Met Office have been promising us something of an arctic blast over the Easter weekend which is very different to the really warm Easter we enjoyed last year. Of course Easter was much later then but the whole of April was really good weather wise, arguably the best month of the year in fact. Some consolation for us is the suggestion that we will get the best (or least bad) weather here in the southwest over the next few days. Interestingly this Easter is so early that a good many schools are waiting for another couple of weeks or so to have their 'Easter' holiday!

Some people might say that the Church should decree a fixed date for Easter rather than it being a movable feast. I like the present system: we don't know exactly when Christ rose from the dead so that it would be impossible to get a consensus on a fixed date. The way it is determined is worked out from the date of the Spring Equinox and the date of the Moon, more information on the internet I'm sure. It's very pleasing to me that in our materialistic world it is the natural order of things in the heavens that provides us with a date for the Easter Festival each year. Long may that continue even if it's freezing cold in March!

'Commoners Muck' play in my pub.

Today is St Patrick's Day; I don't have any Irish blood in me so it's not a fact I would normally mention on this blog. However I believe that David, landlord of a local pub, does have some Irish connection and he usually organises a celebration on or near the day. In this instance he arranged an evening of Irish music on Saturday played by Tavistock based band 'Commoners Muck' who happen to be on 'MySpace' here so that you can see who they are and listen to them playing a couple of samples of their music. It was a very pleasant evening but the small pub was quite crowded for the event and with fire lit and windows closed I was happy to get a blast of fresh air every time someone came in through the door!

They had played here before but I had always missed them. A couple of friends, Bill and Leslie, had recommended them and I was pleased to share their company for an enjoyable evening's entertainment.

Party gatecrashers in Bovey Tracey mayhem

For Sarah Brooks it was going to be a very special 18th birthday party at her parents home in Bovey Tracey, just off the eastern flank of Dartmoor. Sadly for her it was anything but as word got out about this event. Rather than just the 100 invited attendees Sarah's mother reckoned there were up to 2000 drunken party goers, far too many for the 4 employed doormen to control and the mob went on an orgy of destruction at the family's home at Colehayes Park.

What added to the anger of the Brooks family was an unbelievably crass announcement by a disc jockey called Pete Tong on a BBC Radio 1 programme. Apparently he does what they call a 'shout out' on his show announcing events that his listeners might want to go to. Although the BBC have been totally crass they have been giving full coverage on this story on radio, TV and the internet. It would appear that Tong did not say exactly where this party was but what he did say you can listen to here. The information evidently had been passed to him from a listener. Somehow it also got flagged up on the internet using one of the social networking sites I believe. What is ever so evident in this day and age is that information can be spread round very quickly and easily: think mobiles, think texting, think the internet. Remember just how quickly people descended on Branscombe when cargo from the MSC Napoli started coming ashore. The bush telegraph is very efficient , too efficient.

There was a time when the BBC really was thought to set an excellent example in behaviour and standards, very important in my opinion as it was the one very large organisation with which the population was regularly in contact. Those standards have slipped considerably over recent years I have to say and this unchecked announcement by Tong is completely unacceptable. Will the BBC just shrug their shoulders and leave Mr and Mrs Brooks to sort out the thousands of pounds damage to their home? I would make sure that Tong was reprimanded but these days it seems as if nobody has to carry the can about anything. While I'm having a go about the beeb I must mention the Radio Devon lunch time phone-in. Until relatively recently it was hosted by Justin Leigh who ran the programme in a very professional manner and couldn't be faulted. The presenter now is Michael Chequer, a very amiable chap but instead of taking a strictly neutral stance on the many controversial issues raised he is inclined to say "I have to agree with you" or words to that effect. Now he is not there to say that whatever his own feelings might be. It might seem that I am being just too picky but it's just a small illustration of the falling off of standards.

I fully appreciate that lifestyle is of a far more casual nature these days and that much of the BBC's output has to be unscripted so the maintenance of good standards becomes more difficult but our national broadcaster must lead the way in professionalism.

Barmy house prices

In Devon and Cornwall we are well used to certain properties commanding extreme prices. When that home is almost on the beach that price can go into the stratosphere and in one instance last week such a house for sale became the subject of a media story. This particular property is directly overlooking the lovely white sand of Porthmeor Beach at St Ives in the far west of Cornwall. Here then we have a two bed roomed semidetached house whose main aspect is north west. It is accessed up a longish staircase from a courtyard at the rear. There are balconies front and rear but each of these are for the two halves of the semi with a dividing rail in the middle. Thus you are not getting any degree of privacy when your neighbour is taking the sun. From the lower ground floor (garage level) it's possible to walk straight onto the beach, but watch out for rising sea levels if climate change takes hold!

The Estate Agent particulars are here if you are interested. Oh, and I almost forgot - the price for this 'des res' is a cool £1 million!!

Devon and Cornwall lifeboats on new stamps

A new set of British stamps was issued yesterday featuring 4 of the country's lifeboats and 2 of the coastguard helicopters. I'm pleased to say that one of them shows the lifeboat at Appledore in North Devon whilst on another there is a serious action shot of the St Ives lifeboat in Cornwall. One of the reasons for this particular choice of subject appears to be that it was about 100 years ago that the use of the Morse code SOS signal came into being.

I've just done a little bit of research on the origins of the SOS messaging. It's easy to think that it might have been the British who thought it up with those letters representing "Save our ship" or "Save our souls". Nothing of the sort apparently: it was the Germans who instigated the idea with three dots, three dashes, three dots and no gaps in between. It was at a later stage that a suitable choice of words was added to make it more memorable. So it was evidently pure good luck that a message such as "Save our ship" could be extrapolated from the original Morse.

Very cunningly and possibly overlooked the spacing of the perforations at top and bottom of these new stamps have re-created the famous sequence of dots and dashes. Clever stuff!

Missed the 2008 budget

So yesterday we had Alistair Darling's first budget. I have to say that on this occasion I didn't watch it, my excuse being that I genuinely had to be somewhere else at the time. But even if I had been in I'm not sure that I would have bothered to view it or listen on the radio. In the good old days of budgets there used to be a bit of fizz about them. Latterly we have had years of Gordon Brown delivering a cascade of statistics whilst repeatedly inferring that wasn't he a clever so and so in the running of the economy. There's been much comment about Darling's lacklustre style; I think Gordon Brown is happy with that because of the squeeze on the economy and lack of genuine good news: he wants to move on quickly from the decisions of this year's budget.

Because there wasn't scope for any decent handouts by Darling then it was easy for the opposition leaders to go after him. It used to be standard practice for the best bits to be kept to the very end so that the leader of the opposition could be wrong footed, the last mentioned really had to think on their feet and at great speed when the last two sentences of the Chancellor's speech might be say ... "From April the standard rate of income tax will be reduced by 2p in the pound. I commend this budget to the House" (Much waving of order papers on the government benches).

The thing that really gets me though is the deliberate slipping out of information prior to the event. In this instance the day before the budget the decision to postpone the hike of 2p in fuel tax was out in the public arena. I assume the idea was to get the motoring public in a reasonable frame of mind early to mitigate the sharp increases in road fund licence announced the following day. But it's the MPs in the House who should be informed first. It's interesting to note that another Labour Chancellor, Hugh Dalton, resigned after the 1947 budget when he let slip some information to a journalist prior to his speech. I believe very strongly that if you are making a speech to a group of people be they MPs, captains of industry, union leaders, whoever then those particular audiences should be the first to know what the orator says. These days it appears to be common practice for a precis of the subject matter to be trailed earlier so that for instance the 'Today' programme can discuss it before the audience has heard it! I find this to be grossly disrespectful to those who are going to listen to the speech.

I don't know how recently this process started but I feel it is another manifestation of the lowered standards of public life.

Waitrose in the dock

Normally I think of 'Waitrose' as being the good guys amongst British supermarkets but they appear to be marketing certain products in a slightly controversial way. Outwardly they seem to be doing the right thing promoting food with labels like 'Gloucester Old Spot' (a traditional variety of pig) and beef from 'Hereford' cattle, historic British breeds. But all is not what it seems. In the small print it is evident that the meat is from cross bred animals so that one parent is indeed 'Gloucester Old Spot' or 'Hereford' for instance. What is raising the ire of some though is that a quick inspection of the product gives the impression that they are using pure bred animals rather than cross bred. It might be that Waitrose aren't doing anything illegal but I think they are being just a little too creative in their labelling.

BBC need to sack Jeremy Clarkson

Way back in December 2006 I wrote about the misuse of the 999 system. I also made the point in that piece about our police force having a bit of a blitz on people using mobiles while driving. And that led me to mention Jeremy Clarkson of 'Top Gear' infamy who sees absolutely nothing wrong in that practice. Now it's one thing being an idiot, another being a very dangerous idiot. I'm raising this matter now because a picture of Clarkson with a mobile phone to his ear whilst allegedly driving at 70 mph in his Mercedes was shown to me in today's Daily Mirror. To be honest I have seen Clarkson do a couple of non motoring programmes on the box and do a good job. But my rant is about him on 'Top Gear'. Even if 99.999% of viewers ignore his stupidity on that programme that still leaves a significant number of impressionable people who might try and copy his irresponsible behaviour. I'm not asking him to be politically correct (I don't like PC myself). However the BBC is paid for by the public and should not be tacitly condoning his dangerous attitudes to driving.

The BBC now needs to have the guts to show him the door.

Verdict on yesterday's storm

The Met Office had given us several days warning about a severe storm to hit the UK in the early hours of Monday morning and then again later in the day as a second front came through. It was evident that the winds in the southwest were going to be particularly severe; another fairly bad storm is forecast to give Scotland a beating during the next day or so but to have a lesser effect here. These days impending bad weather can get a lot of media hype and there have been occasions when a storm hasn't lived up to expectations as it were.

I think the Met Office had it about right this time. When the shipping forecast for your local area starts using words like "severe gale 9 to violent storm 11" you know it could get a bit draughty! The cocktail of gale force winds, low pressure (causing the sea to be higher than normal) and spring tides always meant that coastal communities would be under threat and localised flooding at places such as Perranporth, Flushing, Looe and Salcombe has occurred. Regarding my own village and many other places in Devon and Cornwall for that matter the direction of the wind can make a big difference. When the direction is south or slightly east of south the wind whistles through this gorge like valley and you know all about it! This time with a westerly component I thought it wasn't that bad but I did confine myself to the relative shelter of the village yesterday.

No mention of Slapton or Torcross in Devon's South Hams on the news. An easterly gale of the same proportions could have led to considerable problems there.

Did our old friend Piers Corbyn of Weatheraction.com see this storm coming? I'm afraid not! In fact for the 10th he had forecast it being cold with fog and frost and with a light northerly wind and much the same for a few days either side of this date! Piers theories regarding the interaction of sunspot/magnetic storm activity and our planet's climate does merit further consideration. Where I really take issue with him is then trying to deduce our day to day weather from this. Here we are into the second week of March and his forecasts have been consistently wrong in almost every respect since the start of the year. And not just this year but last Christmas as just one other example - then he talked about travel disruption and of course nothing very much out of the ordinary happened weather wise. If only he would separate climate from weather he would be more respected!

Police go after bad drivers again

On the second of November last year I had flagged up that Devon and Cornwall Police were targeting really bad drivers on our major roads using unmarked vehicles. This operation was going to be initially just for that month. It turned out to be a such a highly successful exercise that the police are doing the same this month. It also seems that people who have been caught on camera marginally exceeding the speed limit might well get a warning letter for the first 'offence' rather than a fine and points on their licence.

I don't have any personal axe to grind on this subject: I've never fallen foul of speed cameras although undoubtedly crept over the limit for a brief moment. It's always been the case with me that I am passionate about fairness and never more so than in the manner of punishment for driving offences. You hear of instances of people getting points for minor infringements of the speed limit whilst other downright reckless drivers get away with almost literally murder. So what is happening in my two counties now seems to be trying to get a much better balance, and not before time.

Some would say that if you observe all the speed limits then the static cameras won't catch you out. Point taken. One of the things I dislike about speed limits though is that generally they don't discriminate between differing circumstances. You might be in a 30 mph limit when it is perfectly OK to do 40 whilst on another occasion on the same road anything over 15 mph would be reckless. A good idea is speed limit signs around schools which flash at you when children are coming and going. Another point is that a driver who keeps checking his or her speedometer is averting their eyes from the road. Personally I try and get myself trained to the feel of the car when I'm doing 30 or 40 mph for instance and it's surprising how well you can get to judge speed. Having said that I'm surprised that nobody has invented a gizmo in which you can set a certain speed, say 30 mph. Flick a switch to make it live. Then if you go over that speed it flashes a light at you or emits a discreet 'beep'. But I've forgotten - I don't play music in my car, lots play their idea of music very loud and there's no way they would hear an audible warning!

Getting back to my main point, it's good to see the police going after the people who really are a danger on the road. Progress indeed.

Coastguards first ever strike

Last September and October saw me pen pieces about the National Coastwatch Institution whose website can be found here. They are a charity and act as eyes and ears around much of our coast and came into being as a result of a boating tragedy off the south coast of Cornwall. Of course we still have our paid coastguard service and these are the people who will respond to your 999 call. This week the coastguards went on a 24 hour stoppage, the first ever strike in their history. Hardly a hotbed of militancy they felt compelled to take action as they have seen their pay slip to the extent that those in the organisation on the lowest rates are only getting the national minimum wage! Understandably they would like some degree of parity with those manning control rooms in the other emergency services. It is an indictment of our country that we reward such people so badly.

I mentioned the National Coastwatch Institution as they are yet another set of people saving the country a ton of money. Many of their lookouts are the same buildings formerly used by the coastguards. With more people working part time or retiring early there is great scope for folk to do this sort of voluntary work which is usually on a part time basis. If it wasn't for the voluntary sector this country wouldn't be able to function. The point I really want to make here is that with so much of the coastguards earlier function being taken over by a voluntary organisation, the NCI, there is even less excuse not to pay the control room staff at such coordinating centres as Falmouth and Brixham a proper salary.

Shame on LibDem MPs

This past week has seen a vote in the House of Commons regarding the thorny matter of whether there should be a referendum on the the European Constitution (sorry I mean Lisbon Treaty). Largely due to the majority of LibDems abstaining the government carried the day with a very comfortable majority. Now I know that the LibDems had tried to instigate a referendum on the whole business of whether we should remain in Europe and that proposal had got short shrift but to have a three line whip to abstain from voting is totally unacceptable. Europe of course is a subject that divides all of the parties; in fact I can well remember at the time of Harold Wilson's referendum on Europe that right winger Enoch Powell and left winger Tony Benn were united in their opposition to the European ideal. You can hardly have got two more unlikely bedfellows than them!

To me for an MP not to vote one way or the other on such an important issue is a total cop out, a gross dereliction of their duty to their constituents in fact. Although I'm a pro referendum man I would have preferred the abstainers to have sided with the government rather than not vote at all. In Devon and Cornwall there were just two LibDem MPs who were principled enough to vote for a referendum. They were Richard Younger-Ross representing 'Teignbridge' and Andrew George whose patch is 'St Ives'. Well done gentlemen! You put your westcountry colleagues to shame.

Cornwall celebrates St Piran's Day

Yesterday the fifth of March was St Piran's Day. For those not in the know St Piran is perhaps the most prominent of Cornwall's many saints. According to legend St Piran was born in Ireland in the 6th century. He evidently fell out with the authorities over there because they tied a millstone round his neck according to one version of the story and heaved him over the cliff. This did not lead to his demise because he floated on the millstone across the sea to Cornwall to land near Perranporth. Not quite sure that I totally believe in this sequence of events! His flag of a white cross (representing Cornish tin) on a black background is the 'national' flag for Cornwall. During the day there are processions and music in different parts of the County; at Delaware School near here the children dance on that day, thanks I believe to Rosie's patient tuition. Needless to say it was always a day with plenty of alcohol consumption taking place!

A petition, now closed, had been put up on the Downing Street website to make 5th March a bank holiday for Cornwall. I would be quite happy to see that date substituted for the early May bank holiday if the powers that be thought that we shouldn't have an additional day off. I believe that having a bank holiday related to one's local culture can only be a good thing but I'm not holding my breath that anything will happen.

MSC Napoli inquiry started yesterday

A brief entry just to confirm that the official inquiry into the MSC Napoli events got going yesterday. This is the start of the evidence gathering part of the process, the hearings will start later. As yet the County Council hasn't officially appointed a chairman although I suspect they at least have a shortlist or even a specific person in mind.

Although what remains of 'Napoli' lying off the beach at Branscombe isn't due to be finally removed until next month she doesn't seem to be causing a problem at the moment. Local businesses, or some of them anyway, had expressed concern about the Napoli still being in evidence during the Easter holiday. Personally I think that it will be the last opportunity for many tourists to see her and I think her presence over that weekend will benefit rather than hinder the local economy. We shall soon see whether my guess is right!

100 years of our branch line

Following on from my entry of last Thursday we duly had the continuation of the celebration of the centenary of our branch line over the weekend. Fortuitously the opening of the complete line in 1908 was on March 2nd meaning that Sunday was the correct day thus enabling plenty of people to join in the fun. Inevitably with a packed weekend of events there was much I missed including the various activities on the Devon side at Bere Alston. I was pleased though to see the plaques unveiled at Gunnislake and at Calstock on Sunday morning and with 'The Rubber Band' (who else?) providing suitable music at each of these two stations.

There were substantial crowds of people at each occasion with much cheering when the train pulled in. At Gunnislake a donkey from the local donkey park turned up complete with panniers containing daffodils. There was also a box of open daffodils packed in the way they used to be and this was put on the train, a reminder of the thousands of boxes despatched on this line in the old days. Several people, particularly the ladies, came in period dress and I was persuaded to wear a blazer, white shirt and tie to which was added a colourful waistcoat, pocket watch and chain (thanks Ian!). Although the weather forecast had been somewhat dubious a few days before we actually got away with a dry day. Just as well for the musicians especially - we had a cunning backup plan to bring in a couple of gazebos if necessary for the band but I never had to activate this thank goodness!

In the afternoon I looked in on the exhibition at Calstock Village Hall where in addition to the Calstock Parish Archive the Callington Heritage Group and Stoke Climsland Parish Archive also put on displays. All three organisations did very well I thought with their information.

Back to 'The Rubber Band' for a moment. Although I thoroughly enjoy their get-togethers each month in the local pubs they are inevitably limited on those occasions by who is available to turn up. The result is that they don't always have the balance of instruments to get the ultimate sound. Not a problem for me, they are incredibly versatile and you can still get great pleasure from the way they play. But on Sunday with pretty well all members there including the three brass players the blend was absolutely superb and the quality of music out of this world. Apart from the instrumental stuff there was some singing including our Cornish National Anthem 'Trelawney' with banners aloft spelling out the words so no excuse for not joining in!! A footnote here: 'The Rubber Band' have just recorded their first CD! Not available yet but I look forward to reviewing it in due course!