"The Secret Caribbean " gets the thumbs up

I have become very selective about the TV programmes I watch, in fact I'm beginning to wonder whether it's worth having a TV at all. Having watched the first part of Trevor McDonald's "The Secret Caribbean" on ITV on Sunday evening I reckon it is, for the moment at least.

Sir Trevor of course hails from Trinidad and he proved an excellent choice as guide on this first episode of the series. Incidentally he has a Devon connection, having a home near Exeter - at least I assume he still has. One of the things I've always sensed about the Caribbean is that there is an incredibly large variation in the economic conditions of those who live there. That applies to many other parts of the world of course but Sunday's show really emphasised these differences.

First of all then we saw Sir Trevor talking to Richard Branson on the island that he, Branson, owns. As the money from Virgin records rolled in Sir Richard developed the island into the perfect paradise home. He can accommodate a small number of paying guests at his hideaway but that does cost. I really do mean cost because - brace yourself - you have to pay £30,000 a night to stay there! That's not a misprint by the way. I'm assuming that the price might include breakfast, I wouldn't go otherwise! Ever restless Sir Richard has now bought the neighbouring island.

Now for the deliberate contrast. Sir Trevor went north to Cuba. This was absolutely fascinating because that island is in a sense in a sort of time warp. It reminds me of when I was a child in the fifties. Why? Well there was the virtual absence of two of the really significant features of life in today's western society - consumerism and celebrity culture. And drawing my parallel even closer is the fact that food is pretty well rationed in Cuba, I can remember the ration books from the Second World War having their use extended into the nineteen fifties on some foods at least. As an example of the lack of celebrity culture Trevor talked to a lady newsreader who is paid virtually the same as anyone else on the island (it is a communist country after all) and later caught up with her working as an MC at a nightclub to extend her income. I can't quite see a British newscaster having to do that!

Then we saw life in a factory where they made those huge fat Cuban cigars. The first thing to say is that everything but everything is done by hand. Then there was the pause in work while everyone stood up for the country's national anthem. There is another break later where everyone listens to one of their number reading a book to them. At the time of the filming I think that it was a tome about ancient Egypt and read aloud at some 10 pages a day! Oh and the workers can smoke the product while working if they so wish.

On the subject of smoking it seems that purchase of cigarettes is subsidised. So are the authorities trying to get their people into an early grave? It would seem not because here came one of the most interesting of statistics: life expectancy is the same as the United States at 78 years. On the face of it extraordinary. One fact, not mentioned by Sir Trevor, is that economics has dictated that Cuba shouldn't be oil dependent in the way 'modern' countries are - I had gleaned this from a film shown locally some little while ago. From my observation of the programme there appeared to be a degree of contentment amongst the people, maybe they had never known a life very different and consequently there had never been a comparison to be made.

For the final section of the programme Sir Trevor went back to his roots to Trinidad where it was carnival time. I had always imagined that the biggest and best carnival would have been in Rio but Sir Trevor reckoned the one in his home country was the biggest of them all. No doubt about it - it was big in size and long in duration. We also saw a steel drum being made, an example of the traditional music of the state. I'm just so fascinated by the way that their players know just which part of the instrument plays which note. Plenty of steel bands to watch on YouTube of course.

Sir Trevor proved to be a genial and relaxing host in this super programme. Well done ITV!

Three cheers for my utility supplier

For many years I have been with one utility company for my gas, electricity, landline, mobile and internet needs. This is the Utility Warehouse Discount Club, part of the TelecomPlus group of companies. I have to say that I was particularly grateful for their exemplary service this morning. Let me explain ...

With this supplier the norm is to pay monthly by direct debit. Whereas many folk like to spread their energy payments evenly over the 12 months I prefer the option of paying for what I use as I go; this necessitates me taking the readings on the last day of the month and phoning through to the company's automatic reading service. So far as my electricity meter is concerned well it's one of the old fashioned ones where you have to read several dials - a bit of a pain then. Usually I'm very meticulous about my readings but slipped a bit this morning. The result was my trying to give their computerised system a figure suggesting my consumption was about ten times more than usual! Which of course it wasn't! So totally my fault.

Now this is the clever bit. The company's system wouldn't accept my grossly wrong readings! After the third go it gave me the chance to hold and put me through to a real human being. In about ten seconds this happened and I'm pleased to say that the helpful lady at the (British) call centre spotted the problem and sorted it out.

One of the real pluses with dealing with the UWDC is their reputation for very quick telephone response and that there is no language problem to deal with. And I'm pleased with their product too. One small complaint is that their customer services and internet helpline is not available 24/7. But that is not a major downside.

Going back to this morning then it was a case of 10/10 for my utility supplier.

Not a tribute to Michael Jackson

I've just been looking at the blogs link on Google and putting 'Michael Jackson' into the subject line. He died aged 50 less than 24 hours ago from it's thought cardiac arrest. Amazingly in the last day there have been more than two and a half million blog posts incorporating his name!

I suspect that the vast majority of these blog entries will have been paying homage to his talents but not this one I'm afraid. It's not that I have anything against him it's just that his music has passed me by, plus the fact that I'm just not into the adoration of celebrities. Having said that I've been watching his amazing dance technique of 'moonwalking' on YouTube and have to admit that that is something else. But as to pop culture, no I'm not interested.

It didn't take long for both Gordon Brown and David Cameron to speak warmly about Jackson but was this just done for good old political purposes I ask myself. There is a Devon connection with Michael Jackson because martial arts expert Matt Fiddes from Barnstaple was to become his bodyguard. Matt has talked to the BBC here about Michael and this gives some sort of insight into his complex character.

I feel sorry for anyone who passes away before their time and it's sad of course for his legions of fans who have booked for what was to be a comeback tour in London. But as I have already intimated Michael Jackson hasn't influenced my life at all.

Albaston Fete and an introduction to 'Smite'

Albaston is one of the many villages in our parish. Although very close to both Drakewalls and St Ann's Chapel (there are an unusually large number of settlements in Calstock Parish) it still retains its own identity. A major event in June is its annual fete and this years, held last Saturday, was the 25th one so a bit extra special. It now takes place on the Millennium Green, a nice spacious area with far reaching views south toward Plymouth. There have been mixed fortunes for the fete as regards the weather but this year the gods favoured the organisers. It was opened by a local resident, Margaret, a Cornish Bard and all round good person. Would she say something in Cornish I wondered, knowing her passion for the language. We were not to be disappointed: she spoke one or two sentences in Cornish - with a translation into English! As usual the Rubber Band provided some of the musical entertainment, not unexpected with some of the key members residing in the village!

After the Rubber Band had completed their stint we had a good look round the fete and came across a demonstration by its inventors (who live at St Neot on the south side of Bodmin Moor) of the garden game of 'Smite'. Unfortunately I'm typing this right at the end of the day and am too tired to do justice to this remarkable game. Suffice to say that we had a go at it, the rules are very simple and it was so easy to understand why people have got hooked on it. I'll just let their website here do the talking!

From Looe to Minions - a great day out

Weatherwise I reckon yesterday was about the best day of the past week in my area. Which was fortuitous timing because one of my brothers together with his wife is holidaying in Mid Cornwall at the moment and we agreed to meet up to initially visit Looe and then maybe go to one or two other places. We met at Liskeard and then shared a car for the onward drive to Looe. There are alternative routes for this leg of the journey and we took the slow tortuous 'B' road that wends its way through St Keyne and Duloe before dropping sharply off the ridge that separates the valleys of the West and East Looe rivers. From Sandplace one has the river and railway for company for the final mile or three to the town, or perhaps I should say twin towns.

Although the main economic activity in Looe was and still is centred around the river rather than right on the coast, nevertheless the latter is very close by whereas the likes of Fowey and Padstow are tucked well into their respective river estuaries. I particularly like going right through West Looe out to Hannafore where there is (free!) parking on this wide cul de sac road from which there is a great view of St George's (or Looe) Island lying just off shore at this point.
A gate at the end of this road leads to the continuation of the coast path and a not too arduous walk west to Polperro by way of Talland Bay.

The length of that walk wasn't on the day's itinerary but it's a perambulation I've done more than once before and I would recommend it to anyone new to coastal walking and unsure about their capabilities. On this occasion we stopped by the little kiosk at Hannafore to refresh ourselves before gently ambling back through West Looe, crossing the bridge and wandering the narrow streets of the older settlement of East Looe. The fairly large beach can be easily missed believe it or not and is separated from the river mouth by the Banjo Pier - if one sees the shape of this construction then the reason for its name becomes readily apparent.

Having had a lunchtime snack we decided to go inland to visit 'Paul Corin's Magnificent Music Machines' at St Keyne. The website is here. It's a few years now since I first went there but it's a museum like no other. Paul is, what can I say, very much an individual and I can highly recommend a visit to this peaceful spot hard by the river and railway. Like many another small tourist attraction Paul is finding his visitor numbers dropping off. As it so happens we were the only folk there at the time we arrived but sometimes you can find yourself joining Paul's grand tour of his wonderful instruments part way through. No matter from Paul's point of view - you can drop in or out as you please. A couple of things that particularly appeal about this attraction are that Paul takes the trouble to chat to his 'customers' in a personable way and he throws in a lot of personal anecdotes for good measure. We must have spent a good hour in his company; he not only demonstrated the 'magnificent machines' that play music automatically but played his wonderful Wurlitzer Organ as well. There are the brown tourist signs pointing the way off the 'B' road I had first mentioned and there are picnic tables just outside the building. Unfortunately it wasn't practical to go there by train because not all the Liskeard - Looe trains stop at the halt which is only a stone's throw away.

We rounded of the day by pushing north of Liskeard to first have a quick look at the holy well at St Cleer, then Trethevy Quoit from which it was a not too long a hop onto the high moor at Minions. It was delightfully quiet there compared with the bustle of Looe. However, as I pointed out to my companions, there was a vital connection between Minions and Looe - the Minions area was really important for the quarrying of granite and the mining of copper and these products were primarily exported through ... Looe!

It had been a very satisfying day with absolutely ideal weather - warm but not close with a pleasant breeze and Cornwall looking at its best. We couldn't have asked for more!

Remember the name - Heather Brooke

Heather Brooke - that's not a name that resonates with the majority of folk in this country I imagine. But there are reasons why it should. Heather is a journalist and writer living in London whose single minded determination ensured that we would have the chance to find out just how much our MPs are costing us and what specific claims they are making on the public purse. By winning a High Court battle against the House of Commons there is now information in the public domain that would never have materialised otherwise.

What has happened now is the 'official' version of MPs expense claims has been published, but with a huge amount of information blacked out, as to addresses for example. However thanks to someone leaking the information 'The Daily Telegraph' has been churning out 'uncensored' information for many weeks now and, notwithstanding today's publication of expenses for all MPs, I do hope that the DT carry on with their good work.

One point about all this I want to briefly dwell on, and it's a point worth making strongly I feel, is the still enormous power of the individual. In these days of big government, big corporations, of big committees it seems so easy to believe that the individual has no chance to change history. But, thank God, that perception is wrong. A recent example was that of Joanna Lumley who deployed considerable finesse in ensuring Gurkhas could reside in the UK. Without taking anything away from her Joanna did benefit from being someone well known. But Ms Brooke wasn't, and I guess still isn't, a household name. Yet the action of this one persevering woman has changed the way Parliament, or at least the House of Commons, does its business for ever. I believe we should be eternally grateful to Heather Brooke; she has a website "Your Right To Know" here.

Penhallow inquest returns open verdict

The last four weeks has seen the inquest into the deaths of the three victims of the horrific Penhallow Hotel fire in Newquay. The tragedy happened at the height of the holiday season in August 2007 and I blogged about it at the time. Now I've not had the time to follow the minutiae of the proceedings at Truro but the coroner Dr Emma Carlyon told the jury that they had to pass an 'open verdict' notwithstanding a lot of evidence of this being an arson attack. It's the lack of absolute certainty as to this being the case that was the determining factor here apparently.

So relatives of the deceased have yet to get final closure: police have a prime suspect but don't have the necessary proof to take things further at the moment. There had been questions about the response of Cornwall's fire brigade to the incident - they seem to have been exonerated as to the failure to save the three who perished, such was the ferocity of the blaze and the speed at which it took hold they had absolutely no chance of saving the one man and two elderly ladies.

There had been a change in the law whereby premises such as the Penhallow could make a self assessment as regards fire risk and precautions rather than someone from the fire brigade coming round and ordering certain actions to be taken. It seems that the Penhallow had been repeatedly advised that the fire precautions were inadequate. By citing Rule 22 of the Coroners Rules it was possible for some witnesses to avoid answering questions where there may have been legal consequences at a later date. One thing that could have been done by the Holdsworth Hotel group, owners of the Penhallow, was the placing of smoke alarms in each bedroom - remember the fire broke out in the early hours of the morning when a lot of folk would have been asleep. In the great scheme of things how much would it have cost to carry out this relatively straightforward procedure. When I moved to this cottage 14 years ago I put a smoke alarm in on the very first day, it's that important. It's a battery type and it's essential that one uses the Duracell sort of battery, some of the ordinary batteries are at risk of flattening before one is fully awake.

Mention must be made of the bravery of two sisters, Kirsty and Emma Schofield, who ran along the corridors knocking on doors and helping people to get out. It's quite possible that the death toll could have been worse but for their heroic efforts.

In writing about the Penhallow blaze before I mentioned that I had something close to a phobia about being in any location where I am squashed in with my fellow human beings be it a hotel, sports stadium or whatever. I don't like huge crowds anyway and for me when it comes to venues "small is beautiful" every time.

Wildlife success story on The Lizard

I suppose that when 'The National Trust' is mentioned first thoughts for many will be of grand country houses in their ownership. Not surprising really given that these properties are the most obvious interface between the Trust and the public. Now I am as interested in the built environment as anyone but they are also a very major landholder in England and Wales and their decisions can have a profound effect on what happens to nature in this larger estate.

The National Trust have developed a huge expertise in nature conservation: one aspect of this is their small biosurvey team which looks at the natural history of the sites owned by the Trust. They have visited over 1000 so far. Going back 30 years they recorded what they found at Lower Predannack Farm, a 70 hectare holding on the west side of the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall. Back then the results were very poor but careful management on this tenanted farm including grazing of the cliff tops has led to radical improvements to the wildlife regime. I believe that clauses favouring wildlife tend to get written into the tenancy agreements for the Trust's holdings these days and there is no doubt that the NT has developed huge expertise in this area. The Lizard is well known for certain rare clovers, as well as many other special plants, and it seems that controlled grazing, a frequently used technique of the Trust, has delivered spectacular results at this site.

I'm writing about this now as the most recent survey by the biosurvey team has just been published. Interestingly, and I suspect no coincidence, is the fact that this Sunday's 'Countryfile' programme majors on the Lizard area. Apart from its fascinating geology and wildlife I find that there is something 'other world' about it, something I've noticed before about peninsulas and one of the reasons I love them so much. Another aspect of peninsulas to be enjoyed is the obvious fact that they are on the road to nowhere else and thus are spared the heavier traffic you find elsewhere. Slightly different with the Lizard as you will find the hordes descending to visit the southernmost this and the southernmost that but you can quickly get away from the tourists if you so desire.

One further thought - although the National Trust have been very successful in using the likes of moorland ponies and Dexter cattle to get a good grazing regime (it has helped with the short turf that the recently returned to Cornwall choughs for example particularly like) but other places such as our high moors are getting less grazing. So ramblers for example are finding places like Dartmoor increasingly affected by scrub which also has the effect of hiding more of the archaeological treasures to be found on the uplands. Worryingly more farmers seem to be getting out of livestock and, in just a few years, I can envisage quite a different landscape as a result of changes in farming priorities.

Joanna Lumley becomes a Shelterbox Patron

Fairly recently I wrote about a TV programme in which Joanna Lumley achieved a childhood ambition to see 'The Northern Lights'. This was before the stunning success she achieved in leading the campaign to secure rights for Gurkhas wishing to settle in this country. I have long realised that under that soft silky exterior was a woman of steel and was unsurprised when she put that attribute to such good use in skewering Phil Woolas and Gordon Brown over that issue. She did it with great style it has to be said.

In this blog I have sung the praises of 'Shelterbox' a few times - their website is here by the way. If you were to click on news and scroll down to the early part of this month you will see an entry stating that Joanna is becoming a patron of the charity. She is known to be very enthusiastic about the work that Shelterbox have done and continue to do and having her now identified so close to the organisation is absolutely brilliant news.

Piers Corbyn got last weekend right

I've made plenty of blog entries in the past about maverick weatherman Piers Corbyn and his forecasts. To tell the truth I haven't been following him much lately but when I turned to his weatheraction.com website the other day (can be viewed here) I was in for a pleasant surprise. When I first crossed swords with Piers he had a very amateur looking website, he would suddenly change to a different size font or a different colour and it was all scripted in a very 'tabloid' way. Well now his site has a much smoother and more professional look about it thank goodness! Interestingly, as can be seen from his homepage, he is now broadcasting on YouTube. Although not the most comfortable man in front of a camera, but a darn sight better in his broadcasts than Gordon Brown it has to be said, I have to congratulate him on using this medium. The number of viewers are pretty low at the moment but it's early days I guess.

In the past I've flagged up some real howlers by Piers and have been taken to task by some of his loyal disciples for, in their eyes, being unfair to him. Well I can only report what I see and the failure of Piers to admit his bad mistakes allied to his arrogance didn't help me to warm to him. One would no doubt have to buy his monthly forecasts and compare what they said with the reality over an extended period to make a really good judgement. It's the forecast he makes of the most severe events that get into the public domain and consequently get the most attention.

The end of May saw Piers make a forecast of a number of extreme weather events for the month of June, not just here but worldwide, and this can be read on his website and was repeated on the YouTube video. Regarding the UK he said this: Around 06- 09 June 09 (Ew0928) Most of Ireland & Britain (espec E/SE) & adjacent Europe (eg Netherlands/ Belgium/ N France). Major thunderstorms hail & local floods with whirlwinds likely (80% confidence). I would say that is a pretty impressive bit of forecasting Mr Corbyn. Last weekend we had some rain in my part of the Tamar Valley but in the Dawlish, Exeter to Tiverton area it was much much worse with severe thunderstorms and associated flooding. Looking at the weathermaps other areas further east have suffered as well it would seem.

I'm pleased to give credit where it's due!

My take on the elections

The political events of the last few days here in the UK are keeping bloggers and other commentators very busy so I'll put in my twopenneth for what it's worth ... First then the council elections: previously there had been a two tier system in my county but it's 'One Cornwall' from now on in whereas my local authority area had been 'Caradon'. For this ward there were plenty of applicants for just one seat on the new council. I had voted for Dorothy who was standing as an Independent but she was to come second. Now some of my political views are quite different from hers especially on the EU but I was quite deliberately voting for the person here; this was a classic example of me casting politics aside and voting for the person who I thought was the very best one to represent my and other people's interest. However it was not to be because it was Russell who won. Now he had been long established as a member of the old Caradon District Council and because of length of service had already gained 'a head of steam' as it were. This can make things disproportionately difficult for a newcomer to try and get elected. Incidentally he was fighting under the Conservative banner whereas in days past he was a LibDem. Call me a cynic ("You're a cynic Brian!") but I just felt he had a feeling of which way the political wind was blowing and moved accordingly. Perhaps I'm maligning him.

There was a Green Party candidate, Nigel, who picked up a fair number of votes. All credit to him for going round knocking on doors to talk to people. I was out when he called but was able to chat with him briefly when I was walking up to the village and would like the chance to talk green politics in depth with someone like him one day. Over at Totnes in Devon's South Hams Paula Black from the Greens won a seat on that council.

Both Devon and Somerset County Councils turned from LibDem yellow to Tory blue so far as overall control is concerned. Nationally of course the South West is seen as one of the LibDem strongholds and could prove to be a real battleground in a General Election - whenever that election comes don't be surprised to see Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg paying our region a considerable amount of attention!

Votes were split for the new Cornwall single authority with the Tories now by far the largest party but not having an overall majority. The five LibDem MPs might be getting a little worried and I shouldn't be surprised to see a very close result where I live in 'SE Cornwall' where my present MP won't be standing (nothing to do with MP's expenses, Colin Breed had made the decision a long time ago).

Moving on to the European Elections the drubbing received received by Labour all over Britain is the big story of course. In the South West Region they were particularly poor, losing their one MEP and UKIP, who came second overall in the whole of Britain, did really well to return 2 MEPs this time compared with 3 for the Tories and one for the LibDems. Not only were Labour fifth in this region being beaten by the Greens but in Cornwall they dropped a further place as the Cornish Nationalists (Mebyon Kernow) surged ahead of them. For the governing party to finish sixth in one county is unbelievable!

Making a judgement on who to vote for in the EU elections is a really difficult one to make I reckon and obviously it's an opportunity to give Gordon Brown and Labour a real kicking. I voted for Libertas who want to instigate very radical reform of the EU and have that referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. They did poorly everywhere I think, partly because having joined battle very late in the day they just aren't well enough known to the voting public.

I suppose I had better make a quick mention of the BNP. They have now got two MEPs up north, gaining many votes it would seem from disaffected former Labour people. I think I'm right in saying that parties of a similar ilk from other parts of Europe have made gains in these elections. The impression I got watching the BNP being interviewed on TV was of the interviewers finding the process very distasteful. I'm trying not to be biased but Nick Griffin and his colleagues seem to be people you just wouldn't want to meet alone.

It would be good to get off purely politics for a while - there are a lot of other things I want to write about believe you me!

Brown's bare faced lie

Once again Gordon Brown has demonstrated his total lack of judgement: this time in convening a Press Conference yesterday in the aftermath of awful Labour results in the local elections and a hasty reshuffle of the Government. So why did he do it? There's no particular reason or convention so far as I can see to have a televised session with the media in these circumstances. Any Prime Minister would find it tiring enough to do a reshuffle in a day without having to talk to the press but in this instance with the PM on the ropes and he not being able to carry out all the changes he desperately wanted to surely he was putting himself in a no win situation.

Brown prattled on about his honesty and almost in the next breath told a massive barefaced lie - that he had never had any intention to sack his Chancellor! Surely he must have realised that someone would raise this question, a question that no PM would feel comfortable about answering honestly. It doesn't make sense to put yourself needlessly into that position. I'm reminded of the times in 'Dad's Army' when Wilson would say to Mainwaring "Do you think that's wise?" when the latter was going off on some madcap plan. But it seems that in the Brown bunker there are only 'yes men' with nobody cautioning Mr Brown on his actions. The 'YouTube' embarrassment was another case in point.

How can Brown go on talking about cleaning up our parliamentary system when he is prepared to lie so brazenly. Many commentators now are flagging up his psychological flaws ( I think it was one 'A Campbell' who originally used the phrase "psychologically flawed" in relation to Brown). The worrying thing is that Gordon just cannot accept he can make mistakes, that others with a differing viewpoint just might be right. Whatever he says he will do things for narrow political purposes rather than what's right for the country, witness the 10p tax rate removal which was to leave millions worse off. It was only the courage of Frank Field and a few other backbenchers who were prepared to stand up to the government bully boys that saw this wrong being righted.

Gordon Brown is the ultimate 'Jekyll and Hyde' person. Those who know the private side of his character like J K Rowling and Mariella Frostrup speak highly of him but as a leader he is absolutely awful. People say he can't connect with the ordinary person but that might be down to shyness and insecurity. Yet he having had the misfortune to lose a child displayed massive empathy to the Camerons when their son Ivan died. It's interesting to compare Brown to the possible next leader of the Labour Party, the former postman Alan Johnson. Now the genial Mr Johnson is the sort of guy one would happily talk to over a pint in the local but as to Gordon ... It was the same with Blair and Brown, for all Tony Blair's many faults he was the sort of chap that could relate to a very large part of the population, something difficult for Brown to do.

With most of his authority gone and the Euro poll results out on Sunday evening how much longer can Brown survive?

Final salvage work on the MSC Napoli

It was almost two and a half years ago that it was deliberately grounded off Branscombe in East Devon but today saw the removal of the remainder of the 'MSC Napoli' getting under way. The contract to lift that part of the stern section still at the site is expected to be completed in the next couple of months. Two huge barges are now at the scene with appropriate lifting equipment. So it really looks as if the end of this saga is in sight.

Hopefully the worldwide publicity that followed the beaching of the ship will be of some benefit to Branscombe in the longer term. It has certainly put that lovely little spot on the map!