Margaret Thatcher, dementia and state funerals

Baroness Thatcher's daughter Carol has come out with a startling revelation in a new book being serialised in the Press: apparently Carol's mother is not only suffering from dementia but the condition first became apparent 8 years ago. Now I'm not a passionate fan of Margaret Thatcher but I do have a very healthy regard for her daughter to the same degree I fervently dislike Carol's twin brother Mark. Carol Thatcher comes over as someone I would feel very happy to converse with and I can imagine the great shock she got when she realised the nature of her mother's illness. Like her or loathe her, agree with her beliefs or not, there is no doubting that our former prime minister had a razor sharp brain at the height of her powers. The cruel aspect of dementia then is the effect it has on the victim's nearest and dearest. I suspect Carol thought long and hard about revealing this information to the public and it is good that it has come from her. As in the case of Ronald Reagan in the States one can expect this illness to become much more high profile as a result of someone of Margaret Thatcher's standing succumbing to it.

I remember an occasion some little while ago when I was asked to explain something about which by chance I knew a good deal to someone looking for advice. Now this other person would normally have been very much my intellectual superior and it came as a shock that trying to explain things in a way that an eight year old could comprehend wasn't doing the trick. So I can imagine the difficulty of living with a person who doesn't seem to be with it for much of the time must be incredibly stressful.

Prior to Carol Thatcher's revelation there had been talk about whether her mother should have a State Funeral when the time came. My answer on this one is "emphatically not!". The reasoning from my perspective is that an overwhelming consensus from the people of this country is needed if this is to take place. Now the lady still polarises opinion, sure she set this country on a different path but in itself that doesn't justify a state funeral. Politically one of the most significant events of the last century in Britain was our flirtation with socialism, this altered the balance between employer and employee, between the state and the individual but in our modern consumer driven society it was considered by the majority to have served its purpose and it became obvious to Tony Blair that Labour had to go against some of its root principles to get re-elected. Even if the majority (secretly) think what she did was right for Britain there are huge numbers of people who are still rankled by the word "Thatcher".

As to a state funeral for her then - no way!

Verdict on the Olympic Games

There is quite a lot I want to say on the subject of the Olympic Games just finished and on London 2012. I'm going to try something different here: I don't normally talk to myself but to make this blog entry more readable (hopefully!) I am going to pose myself a number of questions and come up with some considered but probably controversial answers. So here goes

Before we start on the Olympics Brian, what is your personal attitude to sport?

I have to admit, and I think I have stated this before on this blog, that I was and am an absolute duffer at sport. My hand to eye co-ordination is very poor which doesn't help. And sadly at school sports facilities were very poor indeed compared with today's expectations, my teachers did the best they could bless them but they were limited in what they could do. For the boys it was just soccer and cricket with a little bit of athletics squeezed in between those two sports. Much later in life I took to road running, competed in several races including I think it was four marathons. Never set the world on fire with my times but did boost my confidence and helped my physical fitness.

Of course a lot of non sporting people got glued to the TV watching the Olympics. Were you one of them?

Afraid not! I did watch the two diving events in which Tom Daley competed but that was about it. Saw many of the highlights on the news bulletins but that was as far as my interest went.

So you got fed up with the BBC's wall to wall coverage of the event.

Not at all. I'm not a slave to the TV and don't have a problem with blanket coverage of the event which after all is only for a period of just over two weeks once every four years. As is the way though of the BBC they have gone way over the top with the number of people they sent to China. Did they have to send some of their top newsreaders to be anchormen over there? That must have cost the licence payers a fortune.

The opening and closing sequences were spectacular by common agreement. What was your opinion of them?

I have to say that I saw neither of them (at the time of the opening of the Games I was returning from a funeral in Liskeard). But from the extracts on the news and reports in the media China evidently did a fantastic job. More importantly it would seem that the competitors were well provided for - at least there don't seem to be any adverse reports, none that I'm aware of anyway. All in all it appears that China did a brilliant job in staging the 2008 Games.

But I believe that you were annoyed about the young girl singing at the opening. What was that about?

Too right I was! Not about the young lady herself. No it was the revelation during the Games that not only was she miming the song but in fact it was an entirely different girl who had recorded it! This other person we were told wasn't pretty enough to be seen singing. This out and out dishonesty really does anger me.

That small point apart you had no quarrel with China staging the Games?

Wrong! China should never have staged the Games at this time! One of the criteria as I understand it of China staging the Olympics this year was for them to do something about their record on human rights. They've done nothing. The International Olympics Committee should have insisted on seeing some evidence of improvement before giving China the Games. They didn't. Not that I expect that to weigh on the consciences of the IOC. The trouble is that the media (typically!) have been seduced by the show put on by China and are prepared to turn a blind eye to such matters. Shame on them!

Now then, what about the performance of Team GB? What's your opinion there?

A colossal achievement, no doubt about that. This country definitely needs something to smile about. What with terrible weather, a dire economic outlook and a government that is hardly functioning we have been in urgent need of some good news. Although fairly indifferent to national sport myself I do recognise its importance to the way the country feels about itself.

And we came fourth in the medal table!

Indeed we did! Interestingly not only fourth in terms of 'golds' but fourth also in the total number of medals gained, if that is the way you think our position ought to be assessed. I don't know how many of the World's nations competed but note that 87 countries all told finished with one or more medals, that was good to see! One other thing to mention - part way through the Games some Aussies were being interviewed and they all did Britain down saying they would finish above us. In the event Australia finished behind us (was it sixth place?). They'll be sore about that!

It sounds as if the members of Team GB are going to get showered with honours. That's a good thing isn't it?

No, its absolute rubbish! Apart from awards for extreme bravery such as the George Cross for instance which relate to a single episode gongs are normally reserved for those who have achieved something over a long period. If an individual brings back gold three or four times from successive Olympics then I don't have too much of a problem of them being rewarded. But it is patently stupid to go about things as is being suggested; if we had won only half the gold medals that we did would the successful entrants have been any less worthy of gaining honours? Of course not. But they wouldn't have because our overall total of medals wouldn't have been nearly so significant. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't our cricket team all get honours when we fairly narrowly beat Australia in England only to be absolutely torn apart by them when we went down under? No, once again the euphoria of the moment is likely to cause another ridiculous decision to be made.

How about Gordon Brown? He must be a happy man.

Gordon is genuinely enthusiastic about sport I think and really is pleased with the medal haul. Any prime minister would enjoy their moment in the limelight as a result of some sporting success. Brown has 1001 problems heading his way this autumn and I don't begrudge him this little bit of reflected glory - not that it had much to do with him!

So now on to London 2012. Something to look forward to?

Until recently I was 100% against the London Games. Now it is about ... 95% against (I must be mellowing in my old age!). Although I can't help thinking that the unbelievable amount of money spent on staging a Games could be much better employed elsewhere and a permanent venue (Athens?) could be used I do appreciate the excitement that will be engendered by London 2012 and the spin offs other parts of Britain will enjoy such as Olympic training camps for example.

Well there you have it, these are some of my thoughts. This has been good for me to use this technique on this entry to try and get some sort of balanced and coherent overview of the subject. Maybe I will try it again sometime!

Weather improves for bank holiday

So far this bank holiday weekend has been fairly good weatherwise. It was wet overnight but today things have improved and in fact this afternoon has been really pleasant. This quiet still weather which quite often seems to characterise the move from summer to autumn always goes down well with me. I certainly took advantage after lunch in getting some gardening done, for me the temperature for outside work was absolutely right. Yes I know with a bank holiday weekend one is supposed to drive miles and join everyone else doing the same thing. Now much though I like people I prefer them in small numbers unless going to an event where huge audiences are essential for viability and atmosphere, not that I can think of any such occasions that I would enjoy.

Of course this long weekend and the next week or two are the last throw of the dice for most families before the routine of school recommences. I am really pleased for them that the weather is better now but I'm even happier for our farmers who desperately need a dry period to get something out of the harvest.

The main reason for the awful summer it seems is that the high altitude jet stream bringing in low pressure off the Atlantic has been well south of where one normally expects it with the result that many of the depressions have been centred over Ireland or Wales, some of them have been slow moving as well which has made the drenching all the more notable. The good news is that the current low is somewhere up near Iceland I think, where it darn well should be! There is now some prospect of a ridge from the Azores high pushing into the south west as the week progresses.

Before finishing this entry I just want to mention seeing a few peacock butterflies recently, nowhere near enough but better than none at all. And the sea of yellow in the garden that is the golden rod in flower is bringing in the bees and hoverflies. The first flower on my michaelmas daisies is also in bloom. Happy days!

Morwellham Country Fair

After the nasty weather of Saturday there has been some respite and yesterday (Sunday) turned out to be a half decent day. This was fortuitous as a country fair had been organised by the folk at Morwellham Quay. There is a considerable amount of land there in their ownership and it was possible to hold the fair in a good sized field separate from the main heritage activities. I had thought they had run this event before but evidently this was my imagination as I was told that this was definitely the first of what it is hoped will be an annual event. The organisers were rewarded with a good response in terms of spectator numbers even though there hadn't been a lot of advertising. It was definitely the sort of event that suited Morwellham, nothing over the top, just a pleasant day out for a family, or individuals come to that. Heavy horses, ferret racing, a sheepdog rounding up ducks, a bouncy castle, dog competitions (well done 'Gypsy', your proud owner must have felt like an Olympic champion collecting the rosettes), various stalls, these were some of the activities going on.

Oh, I almost forgot, 'The Rubber Band' were there to entertain as well. Following an earlier occasion this year at Morwellham when the band got a soaking they quite reasonably asked to be placed under cover this time round. So they found themselves in a fairly large gazebo at the top of the field, right next to the person doing the hot dogs, it's a wonder they didn't play 'Smoke gets in Your Eyes'! Even with the gazebo they had there wasn't a lot of room to spare and if the two or three other members who weren't able to come had been there I think that there would have been quite a squeeze.

The organisers had repeated a mistake that I must admit I had made not so long before at a different event. This was not providing any seating for those who wanted to specifically listen to the music, without anywhere to sit there is a tendency to just drift past They had thoughtfully deposited some hay bales around the periphery of the main events ring in the time honoured way but not near the band. I shall have a quiet word with someone to rectify this before next year's event!

Ulster flooding four years on from Boscastle

I don't know what it is about August the sixteenth - I've already noted the wetness of that day here but this was absolutely nothing compared with the deluge they had in Northern Ireland. It seems that pretty well all of the province was affected with flooding the worst experienced for many a long year. Apart from numerous properties being flooded there were dramatic pictures on TV of an underpass (recently opened I think) which unbelievably was full to the brim with water. Looking at the weather maps it appears that all this precipitation came from the same system that made Saturday so unpleasant in the Tamar Valley. But here is the uncanny bit: this rainstorm happened four years after the Boscastle disaster - to the day! In truth though these were two very different weather events, the Boscastle/Crackington Haven flood in 2004 was due to a very very localised area of intense rain of some duration which never moved from that part of Cornwall. In fact ten or so miles away one might have wondered what the fuss was about! The topography and river systems of the area made the resultant damage much worse. In Ulster the rainfall was spread over a far wider area but nevertheless has caused some really severe problems.

There are those climate change deniers who will gleefully point out that there have always been extreme weather events and, yes, they are right. But what is happening now is that such occurrences aren't once or twice in a lifetime events, they are far more frequent than that. Climate change is happening, there is no doubt about that surely. The problem is that we just don't know for certain if this is partly or totally due to man's activities on this planet or whether it is just part of a natural cycle. Not knowing the answer for sure is a dilemma for mankind.

It's raining yet again

It seems that the weather is taking up too much of this blog but with very strong winds out there and rain tipping down it is a subject I cannot ignore. In fairness it should be noted that yesterday was one of those rare occasions when it was dry throughout, well to teatime anyway. I was able at last to get the lawn cut which at least makes the garden a little more presentable. When I was out at the top end of the village yesterday I noticed several red admirals around a buddleia which is some good news but peacocks and small tortoiseshells continue to be elusive. Anyway that was yesterday, we are now back with the wet stuff with a vengeance - it is looking really autumnal and it's only the sombre green of the foliage of the trees on the other side of the Tamar that's convincing me that it really is summer still and not yet autumn!

In the past I have commented on Piers Corbyn's forecasts on Weatheraction.com and last winter many of his predictions were just about as wrong as they could be. Then for a while he was slipping below my radar but lately I have been looking at his website again. I have to say that the general thrust of his forecast is presently much closer to the reality of the situation; for me the jury is still out regarding the accuracy of his methods though. It is a great shame that he hasn't allowed his techniques to be rigorously examined but I appreciate that his forecasts are a source of income for him and so therefore he doesn't want his "secrets" to come into the public domain. Piers maintains that variations in our climate are driven by activity on the sun (sunspots, magnetic storms) and have nothing to do with human activity. This may or may not be the case but he really does have to present some credible evidence before one can make a judgment.

I think I have mentioned before that he has now quietened down his website, it is far less popular tabloid than it used to be and to me more user friendly. I must try and keep a regular check on him again and see how he fares through the autumn.

Weather causes cancellation of shows

It has brightened up a little this afternoon in the valley but I'm afraid that the recent heavy rains have put paid to at least a couple of shows that I'm aware of. Today the Exford Show just over the border in Somerset has had to be cancelled whist tomorrow's Okehampton Show will not now take place. This is doubly depressing for the Okehampton folk as they lost last year's event to the weather. These shows are so important to the rural community because apart from the opportunities for farmers to show off their livestock and meet up with old friends it also gives the non farming public more of an insight into all things agricultural.

As I said before on this blog we were so fortunate to have good weather at the time of the Gunnislake Festival but the weather this year has been such a lottery for organisers of outdoor events. It should be said too that our festival was small beer compared with the sizeable one day shows such as that at Okehampton. I really do wish them well for 2009.

That spat between Daley and Aldridge

Well there we have it: fourteen year old Tom Daley from Plymouth and 26 year old Blake Aldridge from Southampton came 8th in the synchronised diving yesterday (for eighth read last but that sounds worse). What is sadly making greater news though in the popular press and in blogs is the apparent row between the two of them before the last dive of the six.

Now I'm trying not to be partisan here but it appears that the mother of Aldridge waved at her son and he spoke on the phone to her before the pair's final dive. Daley sparked at this asking what Aldridge was doing prior to the end of their event. Afterwards Aldridge attacked Daley saying that the latter was too nervous and shouldn't have been concerning himself with what he, Aldridge, was doing. I'm going to be absolutely blunt here, there was a complete and utter breakdown of personal discipline on the part of Aldridge - firstly you do not mess around with phone calls while waiting your turn in such an event and secondly it was poor to so quickly blame Daley for the end result bearing in mind that Daley has a further event in which to participate in this Olympics.

There does seem to have been an element of jealousy too on the part of Aldridge because inevitably Daley has been getting incredible media attention in the build up to the event. Hindsight is the most wonderful thing of course but one has to question the wisdom of those making the decision to pair the two together. It seems to me that a 12 year difference in age in such a sport would inevitably cause problems.

Latest on stamp duty fiasco

This is a video of Housing Minister Caroline Flint doing her best to dampen down speculation of a possible holiday for those house purchasers paying stamp duty. The story doing the rounds now is that Alistair Darling is being made to look indecisive by Number 10 briefing behind his back about this possible payment deferment. If this really is so then it surely demonstrates just how rotten this government is. Lets be charitable though and assume that the idea was to float the suggestion re stamp duty just to see how those affected might react (my previous suggestion of the press making the story up in the first place doesn't I think really stand up to scrutiny). Surely anyone with any experience of life would have foreseen the reaction of buyers to delay things for the moment; estate agents are also furious, they need this uncertainty like a hole in the head particularly in the normally dead month of August.

More and more we see appallingly poor judgment by our political masters. Where will it all end?

Government or Press acting irresponsibly

It was only yesterday I was writing about the way the possibility of a holiday on stamp duty payment had been put about. I usually listen to the review of the daily papers each morning on Radio 4 and I think it was 'The Sun' a few days ago that ran the story that the government was looking at deferring payment of stamp duty in order to reinvigorate house sales. In these particular circumstances I'm sure that it is the new necessity of finding a substantial deposit in order to get a mortgage that is hitting sales more than anything else. However I was very concerned about the way talk of alteration to the stamp duty regime was taking place without any information as to when a decision would be made.

So this evening, half way through the six o'clock news there was a substantial item about the uncertainty and how it was affecting potential buyers and estate agents alike. To me, a perfectly average sort of bloke, it was so patently obvious that we were in limbo land and that those affected wouldn't know whether they should proceed or not. That was the gist of the BBC's story, they interviewed estate agents and had been showered with emails on the subject and everyone was just asking the chancellor to make a decision.

We all know that the government are under tremendous pressure to help "hard pressed families" and will have to be seen to be doing something over the next few months to alleviate the burden. Knowing this then are our crass and irresponsible press trying to make up a policy that Mr Darling cannot ignore or has some off the record briefing occurred to suggest that a payment holiday is being considered. Either way the uncertainty is making the mess that is the current housing market much worse than it need be.

To make matters harder for the vendor he or she is now cursed with providing a 'Home Information Pack' or HIP, a financial outlay before they even go to market (actually I believe the rules have now been altered so that you can get your house on the estate agent's books before completion of the HIP). But another waste of money as I see it, it doesn't speed up the process - delays are normally due to dilatory conveyancers or difficulties getting finance.

Another point I want to make is this: will it solely be the decision of the Chancellor as to what happens about the stamp duty. I can't help thinking that the 'First Lord of the Treasury', one G Brown will be having a lot of say in the outcome.

Postponement of stamp duty may not work

With far far fewer mortgages completing in the UK these days the government understandably are wondering if they can do something to stimulate the housing market. One rumoured idea is that perhaps stamp duty on house purchase might be put off for a while, an idea that the Tories used at the time of the recession in the early nineties apparently. Now I don't know how effective the scheme was back then and would like to know but it seems to me that this isn't a good idea under present circumstances.

The first point I would make is that nothing is likely to happen for a few weeks so that I can imagine quite a few people might wait until a decision is made; on a £150,000 property there is at present 1% or £1500 to pay, in my book quite a chunk of money. I don't understand why options such as this are allowed to leak out, unless of course they want to float the idea and see how the media react first. If, as is being mooted, payment of stamp duty is merely going to be deferred then when and how will the house purchaser actually pay it. Would it be in the form of a lump sum or in instalments. If the former that would not be too popular with a general election on the horizon.

However at the moment surely it isn't consideration of the cost of stamp duty slowing the market right down. No it's the shortage of mortgage funds generally but more significantly it is the cessation of 100% or greater mortgages. With a purchaser, particularly a first time buyer, now having to find a deposit of 10,15, 20 thousand pounds which wasn't something that had to be done before the "crunch" then it's evident that tinkering with the stamp duty will not necessarily have the hoped for effect.

I've said before that Gordon Brown was chancellor whilst economic conditions generally were benign. It is his hard luck now that western economies are faced with horrendous problems and it is difficult to see just what the government, cash strapped as it now is, can do about it.

Yet more rain

I had mentioned how incredibly lucky we had been last Saturday afternoon regarding the weather - once again Gunnislake Festival was leading a charmed life avoiding the summer rains. To emphasise the point it has been grey, wet and miserable all day here in the Tamar Valley. Now the question I want to pose is this: have our summers taken a turn for the worse? Two points here, firstly our memories seem to be quite short these days - this year's very changeable summer (so far) coupled with the tremendous downpours and flooding in June and July 2007 are so dominant in our memory that the slightly less recent long hot dry summers seem to have receded into the very distant past. In fact it wasn't so long ago that there were concerns about the very low water table particularly in the south east and dire warnings of river beds drying up if I recall correctly. That suggestion must seem laughable now.

The other point I wanted to make is just how selective one's memory can be when trying to compare today's weather with that of our childhood (in my case that's much of the forties and right through the fifties). It might seem now as if the sun never stopped shining through the school holidays, and it's that sort of weather in my formative years that stays in the memory banks, but I'm sure the reality was that it did rain plentifully back then as well.

What I find particularly interesting as a person fascinated by all natural phenomena is my perception that our summer rains are more intense when they come. I could be wrong about this of course but it just seems that the rain is more tropical when it comes. It would be very interesting to know whether typically we are on the receiving end of heavier falls over very short time spans such as one hour or two hours for example. Monthly rainfall totals have their place but I really want to see a breakdown into much smaller chunks of time.

If the planet is warming up then it seems entirely reasonable to me that there is more energy in the atmosphere leading to deluges of a more intense kind. But as I had hinted before it isn't easy to make accurate judgments, perception does not always equal reality!

Gunnislake Festival review

We held a variety of events in our village from Wednesday to Saturday last week and this is a summary then of this year's Gunnislake Festival ...

Throughout the four days there was a display of local professional art in the Church Hall, this was a very diverse mix of styles and well arranged as always by Ian. I have to admit that I'm not really into art and wouldn't feel an overwhelming need to hang pictures in my cottage. Having said this I am in awe of much of the work produced by the talented artists of the Tamar Valley and was very very impressed with the patience, imagination and attention to detail that so many of them show. So I know what I like but wouldn't want to purchase anything!

On the Wednesday evening we enjoyed our traditional local history talk of the festival. This year Brian took us on a virtual journey, courtesy of his laptop, of the walk local shipbuilder James Goss would have taken from Gunnislake to his shipyard across the river from Calstock. An excellent hour enjoyed by all who attended. Still on the local history front Mandy once again put on a really splendid exhibition, this year particularly highlighting the tremendous range of shops that used to operate in the village. Great nostalgia especially for the more senior citizens. I wish I could have spent more time viewing it.

Another exhibition was in the Church and related to some of the very old families in the village. This wasn't strictly part of the Festival but was organised by local residents Victor and Nancy as a further item of interest to coincide with the other events.

Saturday was the main Festival Day and the most demanding for yours truly. We closed one street (with previous approval of course!) and arranged for there to be live entertainment and stalls. This year one of our two delightful Japanese ladies living in the village, Tamani, was there to talk about sushi and had samples for sale but sadly I didn't get to try them. In addition to my post as secretary I had arranged the live music which kicked off at 12 o'clock with 'The Rubber Band' who amongst their more traditional repertoire featured 'Tico-Tico' (at my special request allegedly!), 'Mr Sandman' and 'Hernando's Hideaway'. These are all great tunes that have been around for a very long time but have a timeless appeal. In fact that phrase "timeless appeal" can be applied to the band itself I guess. The gospel singers and friends had a spot and it was good to have the return of Kerensa (hammered dulcimer) and Richard (fiddle) who together form 'Leski'. Stevie Mann rounded off the musical entertainment in the street although there was more music to come from the local pubs in the evening as indeed there had been on the three previous days.

A bouncy castle and face painting were provided for the many young children enjoying the day.

What turned out to be so lucky for us this year was the very narrow window of good weather on Saturday afternoon. On Friday and Sunday there were torrential downpours and Saturday morning itself didn't start off well weatherwise but as to the six hours of outside entertainment we didn't have a drop of rain! Someone up there was smiling on us.

Time to resume blogging

This blog has been very quiet lately. My excuse for this state of affairs is that I have been heavily involved in putting on the annual Gunnislake Festival. Not just me you understand but a very small committee of dedicated folk who pull the stops out each year to provide some exhibitions and entertainment for locals and visitors alike. I was going to make the 2007 event my last one but was persuaded to stay on against my better judgment! But I definitely am going to sever my connection with the committee from the next AGM, I'm involved with other things locally and this is now one committee too far. Time for fresh blood methinks (I'm not the only one to resign from the committee, one or two long serving members feel that they have done enough).

Hopefully now I can get back to more regular blogging although there are a lot of other 'catch-up' things to be done. A little more to say about our recent Festival in my next entry (perhaps).