Devon and Cornwall Viewpoint

A visit to Mary's art exhibition

2011-06-04T14:43:00.001Z

Last Thursday saw a friend and I visit an exhibition of Mary Martin's paintings at St Dominic Parish Hall. I don't have a particular eye for art, certainly far less than my companion, but this is a little different. We had an invitation via Virginia, one of Mary's sisters, to come and as many of Mary's oils were of her beloved Tamar Valley and of Cornwall's coast we were keen to have a look at them. There were also some paintings she had done in France.

It is always a pleasure to see her latest work: whilst I personally don't relate too well to oil paintings, particularly on the walls of a small Cornish cottage such as mine, I can still get enjoyment from seeing Mary's art. There is a lot of feeling and life in her Cornish scenes particularly. We were both struck by her paintings of the coast near Boscastle, partly I suppose because of our particular affection for that area.

Mary's work is highly regarded, more information can be found here http://www.marymartin.co/Mary_Martin_Cornish_Artist/Home.html

The fine and sunny weather continuing gave us the incentive to drive on down to Halton Quay, one of those really peaceful spots on the Tamar where the gentle hills and placid river are very much in harmony. From there a favourite circular walk of about a mile takes one through very quiet countryside of old orchards and deep lanes and it is one of the latter that we know as a place to spot the unfortunately named "bastard balm" flower. The Tamar Valley is one of their strongholds but we were almost too late to see it. However one example was still in flower I'm glad to say.

It's warm again today but with a threat of a thundery breakdown and cooler weather from tomorrow onwards.

Victoria Beckham - what did you look like

2011-05-02T14:02:00.001Z

Understandably attendees at a wedding, if it's of the posh type at least, will very much dress up for the occasion. There has been general approval I believe of Kate's wedding dress at last Friday's event - I'm no expert of course but she looked pretty stunning to me.

However it was particularly fascinating looking at the photos of some of the guests that went to Westminster Abbey. It's the womenfolk that catch the eye, many of them looking very smart but one or two quite frankly appearing ridiculous. Of the latter Victoria Beckham was a good example. First of all was a strange little pill box type of hat on her forehead. How on earth do such things stay there? Is it some sort of glue? It looked absolutely stupid to me! And then there were her shoes - they were ridiculously high heeled and ugly too in my opinion.

I appreciate that women feel they have to wear high heels at that sort of wedding and there's no doubt that both the nature of the woman and the nature of the event should drive the decision about what hat (if any), clothes and shoes might be worn. When it comes to shoes I go against the normally perceived wisdom and say for me that the higher a woman's stilettos the more turned off I will be! I love to see a female in low heeled shoes and there is absolutely no shortage of suitable designs so far as I can see.

Here she is with her husband: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1382258/Royal-Wedding-2011-Victoria-Beckhams-hat-Philip-Treacy-ready-minutes-service.html It might have helped if Victoria knew how to smile as well! Perhaps like an earlier Victoria she was not amused.

Royal Wedding goes like clockwork

2011-04-30T14:50:00.000Z

Well, that was the Royal wedding then! I didn't watch it, partly because I don't have a TV these days, but I did look at some of the recorded highlights on the internet. The general verdict, from monarchists at least, is that it all went very well. That is my impression from what little I saw and primarily I am pleased for William and Kate as I would be for any other couple getting married.

Although I can hardly say that I got caught up in all the hype one of the real positives from the day is just how people get drawn together on such an occasion, how they can temporarily at least get away from their day to day problems for a day or two and feel really good about life in perhaps a different way.

Watching the main cast coming out onto the balcony at Buckingham Palace I was particularly struck by how much older Prince Charles was looking and also reminding myself of just how short the Queen is!

The whole day must have seemed almost surreal for the Middleton family - as "commoners" they could never have expected anything like this to happen!

This blog would like to wish the newlyweds every happiness for the future.

A brief break in Dorset

2011-04-08T05:25:00.002Z

Last week saw me join other members of my family for a short holiday in south east Dorset, the home of a brother and his wife. This really was a postponement from the Christmas get together - because of the icy conditions leading up to the day last December we didn't risk the travel at that time although if I remember correctly it was more amenable from about Boxing Day onwards. At the risk of sounding a miserable old so and so I just don't find it the most important thing in my life to go off somewhere to celebrate Christmas anyway. As for the "New Year" forget it!

However I'm sensitive enough to understand how difficult it is for many people to get through the Christmas period alone if they have been recently widowed or divorced for example. In my case although living alone I don't feel lonely. I'm going a bit off topic here, suffice to say that I was very pleased to meet up with other family members the other day.

Although I might have driven to Dorset I decided to let "the train take the strain". I don't habitually use the train on longer journeys because it is rare for me to leave my two beloved counties. It's a very civilised way to travel in my opinion bearing in mind that it isn't door to door, in this instance one of my hosts met me and another train carrying brother at Salisbury to transport us for the final leg to our destination.

With two whole days together I would always have just settled for one of these being dry and so it happened. This enabled us to enjoy a nine mile or so walk in incredibly quiet countryside. When away from the coastal conurbations Dorset is very rural indeed and, as evidenced by our walk, the county has its fair share of hills.

The journey home was a variation of the theme in that I went from Salisbury to Westbury and then got the train that runs from Paddington to Plymouth. The portion of the line from Salisbury to Westbury goes through pleasant but very undistinguished scenery and reminded me just why my passion is for Devon and Cornwall rather than "Middle England"! But that is Wiltshire whereas what I've seen so far of Dorset has been very pleasing.

Would I like to live in Dorset out of choice? Well it's nice to visit that's for sure but no I wouldn't choose to live there. Fortunately it's just right for this brother and wife but for me the Tamar Valley will do just fine!

The earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power station

2011-03-19T21:54:00.000Z

There is no doubt that the biggest international story of the past eight days has been the earthquake in Japan and its aftermath. Originally described as a 'quake of 8.9 on the Richter Scale it was later revised up to 9.0 one. Incidentally the scale started to be used as a measure of the seismic energy arising from an earthquake or tremor in 1935, all down to the work of the United States geophysicist Charles Richter. I think I'm right in saying that last week's earthquake was the worst experienced in Japan - maybe that statement should be qualified by stating it was the largest that country had seen since accurate assessments of severity have been made.

As we now know the earthquake was really bad but it was the tsunami that followed that caused the major destruction. I find watching videos of the tsunami (plenty of them on 'youtube') both awesome and awful. I'm certainly not looking at them every five minutes but as with many people I guess I've found that they were almost compulsive viewing at first. Perhaps because of the distance between camera and action the cars and boats tossed about by the wave look like toys, difficult to realise that many of them were occupied by people. It's also almost impossible to take in that for many of the tsunami survivors all they have left is the clothes that they are wearing and my heart goes out to those who have lost family members.

Whilst the effect of the tsunami is by far the biggest part of the tragedy being endured by the Japanese at the moment, as news it has been somewhat overtaken by the problems experienced at the Fukushima nuclear power station. The individual difficulties at the various reactors there have been well documented and I won't repeat them here. Tonight there seems to be some cautious optimism although it's early days yet to suggest that everything is under control. As I understand it a power line has been established to the pumps that keep the reactors cool - good news of course but whether the pumps are still in working order is something likely to be found out tomorrow.

We have been told that there are about 50 volunteers at any one time risking exposure to radiation in trying to get things under control at the plant. Actually I think that it is about 180 or so brave men because they are working in shifts. The next day or two it would seem are going to be crucial in recovering control of the power station. Let us hope that all the hard work leads to a happy outcome.

Nature becoming more active

2011-02-12T16:38:00.000Z

Here in the Tamar Valley today is one of the better days of the winter, a day when ones motivation for getting things done is a bit better than usual. Dry with a bit of sunshine and not particularly cold it was a good time a little earlier in the day to pop down to the river and see how nature is fairing.

At a favoured spot on the river bank the violets are now up to 20 flowers out, well not all out to be honest but 20 showing purple even if a number of these are still in bud. The snowdrops are making a great show at the moment and crocuses and a few primroses are making their presence known in people's gardens. A few forsythia blooms are evident but the big surge of yellow is yet to come.

Across in the woods on the Devon side a woodpecker was hammering away. I've heard it occasionally during the past couple of weeks, fairly quiet and tentative at first but now more strident.

It was good too to meet a couple I know out walking and stop for a chat, nice that the weather allowed a bit of time for such activity without oneself being frozen or drowned!

Although just a short walk it was beneficial to get at least some fresh air into ones lungs I think. Perhaps this is one reason so many people own dogs hereabouts, to have a good excuse to get that regular exercise.

The winter so far in East Cornwall

2011-01-17T16:27:00.000Z

After the mayhem of the frost, ice and even some snow in December the weather here seems to have reverted to "Cornish standard". This can be interpreted as reasonably mild, fair dollops of rain and the occasional day or half day of sunshine.

As someone enthralled by all types of weather, except the absolute extremes that lead to death and destruction, it was good to see some snow. The best of it was on the Friday night that led up to Saturday the 18th December. It was on that sparkling sunny morning that Cotehele celebrated its wassail up in its Orchard. As usual this event was led by our local worthy musicians "The Rubber Band" and it was a massively pleasurable walk of three or four miles to get there. I had forgotten though just how much extra effort it takes to walk through snow! Virgin snow under a blue sky is something special but it's the follow up when it is part melted and starts to look grotty that inevitably disappoints.

A big plus of the cold weather was the expected influx of redwings. My friend's apple orchard lies behind the cottage and she had left some windfalls on the ground. The redwings were delighted as were one or two fieldfares and some male blackbirds. There were plenty of pickings for everyone but this didn't stop the blackbirds from bullying the much smaller redwings. Maybe that's why redwings appear in greater numbers than the fieldfares and blackbirds - they can't all be chased away from the rich pickings on the ground at the same time!

Down near the weir there is an area either side of the river path where violets grow. I seem to recall being told that violets were cultivated commercially in a nearby garden and that this patch could have come from there. I check them in the winter to see if any are in bloom and was rewarded earlier today with the sight of one of them in bud. Another part of the river bank not far away is good for snowdrops and it looks as if by the end of this month some of these might be in flower. Great to see a heron just downstream of the weir as well waiting patiently.

Of course there is still plenty of time for more cold snaps but the length of daylight is increasing, always for me a great psychological boost.

Happy New Year

2011-01-15T22:17:00.000Z

I thought I ought to say this before the end of January - so 'Happy New Year' to anyone who is passing by.

Apologies for lack of blogging

2010-10-22T06:15:00.000Z

Just a brief blogpost to apologise to anyone who could be looking at this blog now and again but think I might have abandoned it. Well no I haven't exactly but as explained in my last post I have now started a new blog looking at the unusual and to me highly suspicious death of Dr David Kelly. This new project has acquired a life all of its own. In the case of David Kelly it is not just writing my own blog but looking at lots of different forums and other blogs not to mention poring through both the Hutton Inquiry transcripts and his Lordship's report. I really could do with a thirty hour day!

There is absolutely no shortage of matters unrelated to Dr Kelly that I would like to write about but time is a finite quantity.

Anyway a quick recap - my new blog is here.

A new blog about the death of Dr David Kelly

2010-09-29T05:41:00.003Z

I've been thinking about this for a while: I've decided to write a new blog! It's not that I'm closing this one down but I have so many thoughts I want to record about the death of Dr David Kelly and the mysteries surrounding it that I've decided to devote a blog to this one subject.

There have been a few entries about Dr Kelly on this site but I feel the need to get everything in one place. Although the death occurred seven years ago I am concerned to keep the events of that time in the public eye and hopefully the new blog will be a small contribution toward that aim. The new blog is here.

The new project means that my musings on this blog might become even fewer! We'll have to see how things pan out.

Dangerous driving law shold be altered

2010-09-24T13:33:00.002Z

"The law is an ass". How many times have those words been either written or said? Thousands, maybe millions, I would think. Well here is a classic example of why I think "the law is an ass".

It concerns a motoring case that came to court in which 23 year old Christopher Marr was sentenced for dangerous driving and seriously injuring three young people. Evidently he stole his girlfriend's Volkswagen Golf, he was drunk, he drove on the wrong side of the road at it is said 90 mph and he ploughed into the teenagers who were on the pavement. Miraculously, although seriously injured, none of the three died. Not too long ago the maximum sentence for causing death by dangerous driving had been raised to 14 years BUT if someone is injured by dangerous driving then the top limit is 2 years in custody!

This incident happened up north in Bolton by the way so not on my patch. I'm noting it here because the Judge is seething so much about his sentencing limitations that he is sending the relevant papers to David Cameron, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke and the Lord Chief Justice to try to get the law altered. Marr got 26 months, presumably the extra 2 months were in consideration of the other offences. He got a 10 year driving ban as well - should have been a lifetime one.

Now it's possible from what I've read that the teenagers might be either mentally or physically scarred for life following this horrendous event. My argument is why the massive differential between death and serious injury particularly as in this case there are no less than three young lives affected. It can be a lottery in some instances as to whether a person survives or not: for example the time to get to the hospital, the particular level of skill of the medical team. Yet the dangerous driving is the same. Surely the degree of dangerous driving should carry more weight than it does rather than the length of imprisonment being so dependent on whether someone survives or not.

Back from holiday in Dorset

2010-09-19T18:11:00.003Z

It's been some time since I last blogged and part of this is down to being away from my computer for a few days - well that's my excuse anyway! I am back in the Tamar Valley now having had a very pleasant short stay in East Dorset where one of my brothers and his wife live. This was timed to fit in with another brother visiting the couple whilst yet another brother was staying at Weymouth (no more brothers after this!) and we arranged to all meet up on one of the days. Fortunately the weather was perfectly tolerable if cloudy at times and on the occasion when we all met up it was particularly pleasant.

There was the opportunity to get out every day and we made the most of it. An afternoon visit took us up a fairly substantial hill to see the prehistoric fort on Hambledon Hill and very impressive it was too! On another occasion a circular walk of about 10 miles was undertaken in The New Forest. We also visited Swyre Head in the Purbeck Hills from which a super view is obtained. On a better visibility day one can see the Isle of Wight to the east but looking west Kimmeridge Bay was well in view with the long smudge of Portland beyond. According to Wikipedia it's also possible to see Dartmoor - I feel a little sceptical about this and it certainly wasn't visible on the day we selected. Another port of call was Corfe with its castle - well to be accurate we admired the latter from below on this occasion.

Traffic aside I was well impressed with Corfe. We snacked at the Model Village Courtyard Cafe and I would recommend that to anyone. A little cheaper than the National Trust prices at the Castle I would suggest, very nice food and friendly service as well. The Swanage Branch Line, now one of our many preserved railways has a station at Corfe and obligingly a steam powered train arrived while we were there!

One of my passions can best be described as "topographical history" - I love both local and national history and I'm especially interested in the way that the built environment has been influenced by the geography of an area. With relatively high elevations being visited it was possible to get an overview of the landscape. Not so though on The New Forest walk, from what I've seen so far there seems to be little variation in height over the Forest which at least is good if one is a cyclist! On the plus side plenty of lovely trees of course and breezy heathland to walk over. Lots of very low key car parking areas also got the thumbs up. I was also interested to see a smart fairly ornate signpost with a date of 2008 at its base - I think that this was the year when the Forest became a National Park.

Would I prefer to live in the east of Dorset than where I am now? No. Although I thoroughly enjoyed my brief break and the hospitality that went with it I am definitely a 'Peninsula' person rather than a 'Middle England' person. Any downside to the Tamar Valley? Well I wouldn't mind the lower rainfall that goes with the part of Dorset visited. But I guess nothing is perfect in this World!

Tony Blair's Journey, the Queen and Cherie

2010-09-06T14:05:00.004Z

Well I for one haven't bought Tony Blair's autobiography "A Journey" so this won't be a critique of the book. However a lot of it is out there on the internet and one can get a flavour of what it is about even though it would be dangerous to comment on certain specifics without seeing the context that they are in. Unsurprisingly reviewers have been taking a lot of interest in Blair's thoughts about Gordon Brown. And of course they are curious to see what Blair says (or alternatively doesn't say) regarding Iraq.

I'm not going to get into those things right now, I'm more interested in Blair's disclosures about his private conversations with the Queen. Although I wouldn't describe myself as a fanatical monarchist I do think that the present system in this country is basically a good one with the monarch having no real power but nevertheless serving a unifying purpose. Now I may well be wrong in detail here but believe that when Parliament is sitting the Prime Minister has a weekly audience with the Queen. Furthermore I think that HM invites the PM and spouse to spend some time with the Royal Family at Balmoral.

Even if it's not spelt out wouldn't you think that conversations with the Queen would be 100% confidential. It seems not though with blabbermouth Blair. One newspaper I hear reckoned that the Queen was furious with what Blair disclosed in his book. Whether that is true I don't know but she would have every reason to be. All I can say is "how very Blair" - I'm not surprised about him. He is one of the new rich and powerful who doesn't get it when it comes to the right sort of behaviour to adopt. Harsh words perhaps but true. He and Cherie seem to be made for each other, I remember writing before - on the 12 May 2008 to be exact - about Cherie explaining that their youngest child Leo only came into this world because she didn't have any contraceptives with her when she and Tony were staying at Balmoral. Back then I stated that I was appalled that she put this information about Leo's conception into the public domain - to my mind it was grossly unfair to Leo to make this stuff known.

Cherie is at it again, once more demonstrating that she's not the "sharpest tool in the box". This is about Lord Mandelson's memoirs "The Third Man" which I think came out last July. In it one can read a note that Cherie had once written to him in support when Mandy was in trouble over the home mortgage scandal and had to resign. Included in the note was a vitriolic attack against one Gordon Brown. It may be that Mandelson didn't quote Cherie's note word for word, it could have been that he relayed just the gist of it. Anyway Cherie has now thrown a wobbly about it, stating through her lawyers that being a private note there was no way it should have been included in a book. I don't know the legal rights and wrongs here but I would have thought she was incorrect. The letter to Mandelson's publishers is demanding that the offending bit of prose be removed.

Let's step back a bit, take a deep breath and look at things logically. The book is out there in the market place, it isn't in draft form, are those books already printed supposed to be returned to Harper Collins for the offending page to be replaced? Up until now only a relatively small part of the population (those who have purchased the book) will know about the note and even then not every reader will remember that detail. But by making a fuss Cherie has ensured a much much bigger audience will have heard about it, rather silly if she doesn't want the whole world to know the contents of this note.

Of course it's just conceivable that Cherie really wanted a much bigger audience to know what she thought of Gordon Brown and this was a way to do just that. A bit like a double bluff in a sense. But is Cherie bright enough to have thought of such a thing?

Radio Cornwall new word today is restorated

2010-09-06T13:41:00.004Z

Just had a quick gander at the Radio Cornwall website (mainly to have a look at the weather maps - it's pouring here at the moment). Anyway on their homepage and under "Other top stories" we have "Quaker house restorated". Clicking this link confirmed my suspicion that this was about the lovely thatched Quaker Meeting House at the equally lovely named 'Come-to-Good' near Truro.

The article is headed "Quaker meeting house in Cornwall is renovated" and this is followed by "A 300-year-old Quaker meeting house in Cornwall has been restored at a cost of £175,000." It seems perhaps that the writer had the two words "renovated" and "restored" in their brain and came out with a word that was a bit of each! Perhaps we have all had moments like that but I do wonder if people pause enough to make a quick check on whether what they are writing is correct.

I had a chuckle about this at least.

Simon Hoggart and Dr David Kelly

2010-09-06T11:22:00.004Z

"Dr David Kelly's wrists were slit and he had swallowed 29 co-proxamol tablets. No wonder he died." These are the opening words of a piece written by Simon Hoggart in the Guardian last month. I understand that Mr Hoggart writes political sketches for that newspaper and it's quite possible he is good at that. Like Aaranovitch, Mangold and Rentoul he is firmly in the "Kelly committed suicide" camp. And as with them Hoggart can't even get basic facts right about the Kelly business.

In that first sentence of his Hoggart states two things as fact: the first of these is incorrect and the second not proven. I'll elaborate: he says "Dr David Kelly's wrists were slit". For your information Mr Hoggart it was one artery (the ulnar) severed in one wrist (the left). So wrist not wrists. He uses the word in the plural again further down and of course using "were" rather than "was" confirms he meant the plural.

The next "fact" from Hoggart is that "he had swallowed 29 co-proxamol tablets". Mr Hoggart nobody, but nobody, has ever proved that David Kelly swallowed 29 of these tablets. We do know that part of a tablet was found in his stomach and there was evidence of the constituents of co-proxamol in his body. That does not prove that all 29 were swallowed, willingly or unwillingly, by Dr Kelly. Maybe the powers of logic have by-passed you but I can assure you that the medical knowledge out there cannot definitively equate what was found in his body with the 29 missing tablets. Moreover it seems that Dr Kelly had a rare physical condition that made it all but impossible to swallow a tablet let alone 29 of them. But of course Mr Hoggart, in sounding off about Dr Kelly's death, I don't suppose you have bothered to look at any background evidence.

Another bit of information for you Mr Hoggart: Dr Kelly's friend and confidante Mai Pederson is on record as saying that Kelly had a weakness in his right arm that made even cutting steak difficult. So here is the scenario: Dr Kelly takes three blister packs of his wife's co-proxamol tablets with him (even though he hates pills and would most likely find it near impossible to swallow them); he also takes with him a blunt gardening knife (hard to believe that there wasn't a newer sharper knife in the kitchen drawer). Arriving at Harrowdown Hill he somehow manages to swallow all 29 tablets missing from the blister packs (well according to you anyway) and then using his weak right arm and blunt knife decides to cut the hard to get at ulnar artery, not the more accessible radial artery please note.

So this eminently intelligent man decides to commit suicide by the most tortuous way possible with no guarantee of success. There were alternatives: at Harrowdown Hill there are many trees from which he could have hung himself. If that idea didn't appeal he could have walked on north a little further to the banks of the River Thames and thrown himself face down into it. Even if there was only three feet of water it would be quite enough to drown in. And that part of the river is away from human habitation.

Another point for you Mr Hoggart, the last person that we know of who spoke to Dr Kelly was a near neighbour who he knew well. If Dr Kelly was intent on committing suicide one might expect him either to avoid speaking to her, or at most, say "hello". But according to her testimony at the Hutton Inquiry it was he who spoke first saying "hello Ruth", then they chatted for several minutes and she recalled that he wasn't any different to his usual self. Is this really the behaviour of a man intent on killing himself?

Can I make a suggestion Mr Hoggart? Please stick to political sketch writing, that's more your forte I suspect.

Cornish name for Cameron baby

2010-09-01T18:37:00.004Z

I was very pleased when the Camerons decided to include a Christian name that had a direct connection to Cornwall following the birth of their daughter in the county the other day. Florence Rose are the first two names and they have added Endellion as a third, 'St Endellion' being the name of a parish close to where they were holidaying in North Cornwall. Endellion has got a nice ring to it I think, certainly my own parish 'Calstock' wouldn't quite work as a girl's name. It might be even worse if they had selected another village in this same parish (my parish is large in population terms with a lot of settlements). Take for example 'Gunnislake' or 'St Anns Chapel' or 'Harrowbarrow' - they wouldn't work either!

A quick note about St Endellion: its church has become very well known to serious music lovers because it is the location for two prestigious musical festivals each year. I've never been and would I think find the music on offer a little heavy for my taste. The website is here Having made this remark I have to say that there is plenty of wonderful classical music around, perhaps I don't devote the time and attention to it that it deserves. The other thing is that the inside of a church is a really special place to listen to good music as a rule.

I've just been looking at a press report on the internet and it seems that Gordon and Sarah Brown have sent their congratulations to Mr and Mrs Cameron on the new arrival. In his autobiography Tony Blair includes the words "Emotional intelligence, zero"in relation to Brown. That might generally be so and in many respects I find Gordon Brown pretty reprehensible. When it comes to people's children though his feelings are warm and genuine: I had commented before about the time when PMQs were cancelled following the death of Ivan Cameron. Brown was really choked (he can't do Blair style acting) - he did feel for the Camerons, partly perhaps because of the tragedy he and Sarah had in losing a very young child.

It sounds as if the new arrival in the life of the Camerons is doing well. Good luck to them.

Small tortoisehells in abundance

2010-08-29T18:44:00.002Z

In recent posts I have been recording my huge pleasure in seeing so many butterflies on my buddleia this summer. Earlier on it was a very broad range of species I was observing but now the small tortoiseshells are easily outnumbering the others, in fact at any one moment there seem to be more of them than all the others put together.

Past experience has informed me that there are large numbers of bloggers with a particularly keen interest in wildlife. Moreover many of them incorporate photos in their blogs. Out of curiosity I thought I would see if other folk were seeing such numbers of small tortoiseshells this year. Happily Google is very good at helping to find what bloggers are saying. Not only is there a special section for blogs when you call up their search engine but there is a sort of sub-menu which gets you to the more recent entries.

So it was with great delight that I found Caroline Gill's blog 'Wild and Wondeful' here Not only were Caroline's observations in line with mine but, as you can see from the link, there are some really superb photos of this incredible butterfly as well. She posted this yesterday but I notice on Friday there were photos of the 'Painted Lady' butterfly. I'm pleased to say that at least one of these has turned up in the garden. It's interesting that certain years can be especially good for one particular species.

Now not such good news I'm afraid. I heard the other day that greenfinches are in serious decline right now. Some conclusion has been reached I think for the cause although I can't recall exactly what - must do some research on the reason. Although the wheezing sound that these finches produce could hardly be described as a beautiful song at least it was something I could recognise and always typified the sound of the garden in the summer. Sadly I can't remember hearing any in the garden or nearby this year. I really hope that, like the small tortoiseshells, they will come back in numbers again.

Silly article from Martin Robbins

2010-08-25T18:46:00.004Z

Martin Robbins. Martin who you may ask. Until today I hadn't come across him but in my continued quest to try and understand how Dr David Kelly died I came across a piece written by Mr Robbins in today's Guardian on line (it's in the News: Science part). It transpires that he is a Berkshire-based researcher and science writer. Evidently he is quite happy with the conclusions of the investigating pathologist, Dr Nicholas Hunt, and seems to take the attitude that those querying the conclusion of suicide are loons. Well I don't think he uses that word but that is the impression I got. He ends his article thus:

"The attorney general has already asked people with genuine evidence to present it to his office, but it seems that so far nobody has met the challenge.

The conspiracy theorists should put up or shut up. I doubt they'll do either."

Now I'm rather imagining that the attorney general has made his comment as to a sort of backstop. If he doesn't receive new evidence he might turn round and say: "no new evidence, therefore no new inquest". The AG is showing he might hoodwink people here and Robbins is trying to do the same thing. Of course neither myself or, I would guess, other people wanting the truth will have any additional evidence - how could I for instance? It's not up to people doubting the suicide verdict to bombard the AG's office it is the duty of the system to properly examine the existing evidence, something that the Hutton Inquiry manifestly failed to do.

The only answer now is a new inquest. At least then we would have evidence given under oath, the coroner could subpoena witnesses to attend and a decision arrived at by a jury rather than one individual. Also of course verdicts of either "suicide" or "murder" would have to be "beyond reasonable doubt". Where doubt does exist there is the option of an open verdict and I wouldn't be surprised if that were to be the result in a new inquest.

Robbins has produced a silly article - I hope readers see it for the nonsense that it is.

Bill applauded at Dawlish Air Show

2010-08-20T18:47:00.003Z

Bill Millin may not be the best known name on the planet. For the record he was the unarmed bagpiper who piped his comrades ashore on the Normandy beach in 1944. This piece of action was incorporated in the film 'The Longest Day'. He survived the D-day landings I'm happy to say and has only just died, his last years living at a Nursing Home in Dawlish. Yesterday was the day of the Dawlish Air Show, part of the annual carnival celebrations - it seems that the show just beat the awful wet and misty weather that has now swept in from the south west.

Someone had the wonderful idea that those present watching the show could demonstrate their feelings for their most famous resident by applauding for one minute. What a brilliant suggestion, there are many occasions of course when a minute's silence is the way to respect someone who has died but I'm sure this would have been the exact time for people to have clapped, and I in turn applaud that decision.

Although I had heard that this was going to happen I now read that a Sea King helicopter lowered a winchman who placed a wreath on the sea in front of the crowds - a nice tribute.

It's possible to read more about Bill's piping exploit by going here . This in fact is in Bill's own words and I can really recommend having a look at it.

Tom Mangold, Dr Kelly and duff reporting

2010-08-16T10:59:00.005Z

It is looking increasingly likely that a new inquest will be opened into the death of Dr David Kelly. The pressure for this to happen from many quarters is building and I shall pleased if it materialises.

This particular entry is not so much about the suicide v murder question, it concerns just how slanted a journalist can make his story. The person in my sights is Mr Tom Mangold who, on his official website, describes himself as "one of Britain's top television reporters". Evidently modesty isn't his greatest virtue! I've been reading an article he penned which is on "The Independent" website and dated 4 July 2010. It is headed "David Kelly murdered? Yes, and I bet you believe in the tooth fairy too". The sub-heading starts "Investigative journalist Tom Mangold ..." Mangold takes The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday to task as they said that they produced "damning new evidence" of a cover-up to hide a murder plot. Mangold then writes:

The "new evidence" now includes a statement last week from Mai Pedersen, Kelly's former US Air Force interpreter in Iraq, who was a close friend. After seven years, she has suddenly recalled that Kelly could not have cut his wrist because an elbow injury had left his arm too weak. She has also said that he could not have swallowed 29 tablets because he "had difficulty swallowing pills".

Now it's quite possible that Ms Pedersen repeated the statement at the time described by Mangold but the implication he makes is that this is brand new stuff. Well, it isn't. Her statement came into the public domain in July 2009 a year earlier than Mangold's article. Two possibilities then:

Mangold didn't know about the Pedersen information until the week prior to his article, almost unbelievable for an investigative journalist, someone who also said "I knew David rather well".
Mangold was aware of the earlier statement from Mai Pedersen but tried to hoodwink his readers into thinking that this was brand new information. If that is indeed so then it is a total disgrace and furthermore an abuse of his profession.

Later on, in berating those in the "Kelly was murdered" camp, Mangold lists a sequence of events which he says must have happened if their theories are true. He includes "They then kidnapped Kelly and forced him out of the house while his wife was present". What is Mangold on for goodness sake. Kelly might have had a phone call to meet someone away from his home, he might have been shadowed by someone on the way to Harrowdown Hill. I don't know and neither does Mangold.

Mangold we know believes that David Kelly killed himself. Nothing wrong with that. And of course objectivity can get kicked out of the window when you are convinced that your version of events is the right one. Certainly on the basis of the points I've raised one shouldn't give much credence to the writings of Mr Mangold.

Butterflies in abundance

2010-08-11T18:48:00.003Z

I wrote about butterflies in my last piece when recording our superb coastal walk. Still with these delightful insects I'm thrilled to see more and more of them on the large buddleia that's at the back of the patio. Back in the spring I pruned it quite vigorously and thought I might have overdone things but the result now is a really glorious example of this lovely bush. Of late I've had very disappointing years with hardly a butterfly in sight but 2010 has changed that! More and more butterflies are coming in (I could do with some 'painted ladies' though!) and it seems that by good fortune the pruning time was ideal as the mass of flowers have come at the right time.

Not just butterflies but bumble bees as well. These beautiful creatures really do work hard, as do honey bees of course. No wonder the phrase "busy as a bee" came into being (unintended pun with that last word!) Another great plus for the buddleia is its wonderful scent - I don't have a good nose for scents but I can recognise the buddleia's flowers with no problem!

In a previous entry I had commented about the frogs hopping around in the garden. There are as many as ever in the grass that passes as my lawn. Do I risk getting the mower out to give the lawn a much needed trim? Will the sound and vibration ensure they get out of the way? As far as I can see they appear to avoid getting crushed under my size nines at least. So I might give it a go.

Repeat of a favourite coastal walk

2010-08-11T10:15:00.005Z

The other day, well Monday of last week to be precise, a friend and I enjoyed a superb coastal walk. I had written about this same walk a couple of years ago although this time we stretched our legs slightly to make the ramble a little longer ...

I'm sure that all lovers of the British countryside know those special places they regard as their own, you know the sort of locations which feel like going to visit a special old friend when you go back to see them. For us that part of Cornwall's south coast between Lansallos and Polruan is one such place. As an added bonus the drive there is pretty well stress free and, at just under an hours travelling each way, a practical distance from home.

Apart perhaps from a few yards at the Polruan end our walk was wholly on National Trust land and there is a total air of timelessness about it. Lansallos itself consists of a church, campsite and a scattering of cottages and houses, really not much more than a hamlet. The Trust have their usual low key car park: two years ago I noted that the honesty box asked for 50p, this has now gone up to a whopping £2! Now £2 for all day parking near the coast is still pretty reasonable in my book so I'll forgive the NT its fourfold increase (I was a member, will be again probably, but have made a temporary economy which means paying these occasional car park charges on their land).

Here, at the start of our walk, we are just inland from the coast and the path to the sea is down a wooded valley for about three quarters of a mile, the briny not coming into view until the last moment. One reason that we selected this particular day, other than it was warm and sunny, is that it was potentially a good time to observe butterflies and coastal flowers, especially toward Lantic Bay. We weren't disappointed!! Having said that I had hoped to spot some 'Clouded Yellows' - it was not to be. Later a friend, more knowledgeable about butterflies than I, said he had read reports of clouded yellows moving up through the country but fewer being spotted on the coast for some reason. But we were compensated by plenty of other butterflies and also a humming bird hawk moth, the first this year!

I won't go into further detail regarding the scenery, there are plenty of images on the 'net of Lansallos Cove and Lantic Bay illustrating how special this area is. After we got home my friend challenged me to write down how many species of wild flower we had seen - I thought I was doing quite well with about two dozen, she though had amassed a total of over 40! Well she is a better botanist than I am! Many of the flowers are butterfly friendly: for instance lots of 'birds foot trefoil' and 'Small Blue' butterflies feeding on them.

In truth there are many other special walks I know but perhaps none of them surpass this one.

Correction: the 'Small Blue' butterflies may have been both small and blue but in fact the species we saw was the 'Common Blue'. Glad to get that sorted!

Garden alive with frogs and bumble bees

2010-07-27T19:39:00.002Z

I have to hold my hands up and say that my garden isn't the tidiest one in the neighbourhood. It's true that it shouldn't be quite so wild in appearance but, in my defence, I would point out that it is very much a cottage garden and that I want a selection of wildlife to be present.

In amongst the Shasta Daisies, Golden Rod and Calendula there are dozens of froglets scurrying about. These little frogs are only about a thumbnail in size and I can't say for sure that they all came from my pond originally but they are amusing to watch. No doubt some will be lost to predators but it's nice to see them around for the moment at least.

My patio slabs aren't properly cemented together - I'm relaxed about thatand my marjoram has taken advantage of some of the gaps. Apart from that plant being attractive to butterflies it is absolutely humming with bumble bees! I'm a great lover of bees and a summer garden without any would be very depressing for me. Next month should see lots of fresh yellow as my mass of golden rod comes into flower and they normally play host to huge numbers of hover flies. The buddleia at the back of the patio is looking good: so far I've seen a small tortoiseshell, a red admiral, a peacock, a couple of commas and a small white on the bush. If we have a nice sunny weekend perhaps the numbers will build up, I really hope so.

Yes it's nice to share ones garden with nature!

Gordon Brown remains in hiding

2010-06-09T15:34:00.003Z

It's about time I added to this blog - or gave up altogether! I'll see if I can regain the enthusiasm that I think that I once had.

In my last entry I had expressed a little sympathy toward Gordon and Sarah Brown but that feeling has disappeared now. It would seem that Gordon Brown has not yet appeared in the House of Commons since Labour's defeat in the General Election. So when will he show up? A proud man feeling both bruised and humiliated, my feeling is that the longer he delays making that journey south from Scotland the harder it will be for him. I shall be fascinated to know just how long it will be before he turns up.

Hitting the ground running

2010-05-20T19:59:00.002Z

The usual phrase is something like "the wheels of government grind slowly" but I'm pleased to see that Messrs Cameron and Clegg are getting a plethora of decisions made very quickly. Sure there are items for which a commission or some such similar device has been arranged so that they are effectively kicked into the long grass but there are huge amounts of policy being enacted even though the coalition is less than two weeks old and we only went to the polls a fortnight ago.

Full marks from me for not only stopping plans for a third runway at Heathrow but saying there would be no expansion at Gatwick and Stansted as well. And also goodbye and good riddance to the Home Information Packs (HIPS) - I've voiced my objections to these before. However the energy performance certificate is still there, courtesy of an EU directive. Not nice for HIPS inspectors finding themselves out of a job (although some will carry on with the energy efficiency bit no doubt) but the then government should never have embarked on such a flawed scheme in the first place.

Brown leaves a message for Cameron

2010-05-14T18:52:00.002Z

They say "a picture is worth a thousand words" and it is worth scanning this series of 14 photos taken by 'Guardian' snapper Martin Argles of Gordon Brown's final moments at 10 Downing Street before he leaves to tender his resignation to the Queen. Click here. There is a link on the first photo which takes you to some commentary by Mr Argles of these events.

What I found particularly fascinating though is photo number 13 in which Brown is seen writing a message for his successor - whatever can it be? "There's some milk in the fridge", I wouldn't have thought so. Bearing in mind the antipathy between Brown and the new PM perhaps he wrote "You bastard Cameron!". It's all very mysterious.

Seriously though we have at last seen some evidence of Brown's human side: although there has been every reason to criticise him I must admit that I did feel some sorrow for he and his family, his wife in particular I thought was so very choked by his political demise. Politics may bring many rewards but it is also truly brutal at times! For all of his character defects, his tribalism and all the rest it is too easy to forget his genuine feelings towards the Camerons at the time they lost their son Ivan. Of course he and Sarah Brown know only too well the feeling of losing a child and this perhaps was the one time when Brown really did display some emotional empathy.

Gordon Brown and the election

2010-05-01T12:23:00.003Z

In less than five days from now I will have cast my vote in the General Election and I'll stay with my prediction that the Tories will win through as the largest party, probably with an overall majority. What seems fairly certain is that Labour can't win outright and naturally many people mean "Gordon Brown" when they talk about Labour.

I've written about Brown before but this is a good moment perhaps to bring my thoughts about him into one blogpost. I am a floating voter: at various times in my adult life and depending on where I was living and the circumstances at the time I have voted for each of the three main parties. It was in 1982 that I moved into this constituency and here it is always a fight between LibDems and Tories, Labour and smaller parties being way outside the reckoning. Not only would my voting for Labour be effectively a wasted vote but the recent behaviour of the party and that of Brown in particular would certainly ensure that my vote won't be heading their way!

What is it about Brown that is so off putting? I'll kick off with his attitude to the military. He has been castigated about an apparent lack of empathy with the armed forces and I have blogged before about my take on this. I had written about how appalled I had been regarding the fact that when Brown first became PM he made Des Browne a part time Defence Minister. That he did this at the time when we were fighting both in Iraq and Afghanistan was unbelievable. But not just that, Brown never praises the troops at the start of a major speech such as at the Party Conference, no it is slipped in part way through. Because of the task they have been asked to do for us and the risks being taken you would think that, like Cameron, he would speak up for the military right at the start. Never seems to happen.

The next thing is why did the Labour Party allow Brown to bully his way into the position of Labour leader and Prime Minister unopposed. Surely in this televisual age they should have realised that his many character defects would be cruelly exposed. I can remember him being caught on camera picking his nose and eating the contents thereof, of meeting someone with one of his trouser legs tucked into his sock: the sort of things that get onto YouTube for the whole world to see in the time it takes to say "General Election". No wonder that Labour spinners have been trying to divert away from "style" to "substance". It might seem very unfair to Brown but the increased preoccupation with style is the way of the world right now, and of course a major reason for the success of Tony Blair.

Talking of Blair it's interesting to see him back for the last few days of the campaign. Some had surmised he wouldn't have wanted to be associated with a likely Labour failure and I thought that way myself about him. Maybe Mandelson had pleaded for him to help the party's cause but I don't think that Blair will save their bacon - it's too late now surely, apart from which I think that Blair will be viewed as one of yesterday's men.

Back to Brown, one of my dislikes about him is his failure to assume any responsibility for our economic crisis. And also it still rankles with me that in reducing the basic income tax rate to 20% he removed the 10p tax band thus making millions of the poorest worse off. If it hadn't been for Frank Field and one or two other principled MPs he would have got away with it.

There is so much more that one could write about regarding Brown but I just can't be bothered right now. I'm just hoping come next Thursday that it's "Goodbye and Good Riddance"

Clegg, Cable and hypocrisy

2010-04-26T14:11:00.003Z

In my profile I had written about myself "Dislikes hypocrisy". One of several reasons for my not voting for the Liberal Democrats next week is the fact that they have demonstrated their particular hypocrisy big time. This all relates to questionable sources of funding that all the three main parties have secured prior to the election. In the video above the BBC's Jon Sopel does a very good hatchet job on Vince Cable. Sopel absolutely correctly makes Cable wriggle over the hefty donation the LibDems received from a now convicted fraudster, Michael Brown. Naturally Cable and Co are finding excuses not to return the money which effectively had been stolen from other people. Of course the LibDems aren't exactly awash with funds and seeing their bank account depleted by two and a half million pounds would be really bad news for them!

That the party is holding on to this money is both legally and morally questionable. But what really infuriated me was the 'holier than thou' attitude of Nick Clegg in, I think, the first of the leaders' debates in which he castigated the Tories and Labour over receiving money from Lord Ashcroft and the UNITE union. What rank hypocrisy! At least Ashcroft has benefited the country by using some of his money to set up 'Crimestoppers', a very different man indeed from the disgraced Michael Brown.

A mad chaffinch at the window

2010-04-19T10:27:00.002Z

I think that it is fairly well known that Britain's cheerful robin isn't perhaps such a nice character after all. Well certainly he can be very aggressive if he thinks another robin is invading his patch and I've heard of them attacking their own reflections in a window say.

Not just robins it seems because I've had a male chaffinch flying at a small window on the first floor at the back of my cottage. Good job his beak is strong because he has been hitting the glass with some force. This behaviour has been repeated at one or two of my neighbour's windows and I can only assume that it his reflection he has been attacking so vigorously! I have a blind for that window which I am keeping lowered at the moment in the hope that the poor demented chap will give up! So far this morning peace reigns .......

First debate with Party Leaders coming up

2010-04-15T18:08:00.003Z

This evening sees the first of the three televised debates between Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg. As I don't have a functioning TV connection I shall not be watching it live but might well listen to it on Radio 4. I guess the participants are more than a little nervous right now but who, if anyone, will come out on top? A common consensus seems to be that Clegg should benefit a lot because this is a rare occasion when his party gets equal billing with the Tories and Labour. And herein lies a problem: the Lib Dems might hold the balance of power in a hung parliament but they are not going to be, on their own, the next government. So in a sense what they promise, what their manifesto says is slightly irrelevant. With just the two main party leaders the thing has balance but the whole debate will be muddled in my opinion by possibly two of the leaders ganging up against the third. We shall soon know!

Cameron has a lot to lose because expectations are high that he will be very much better than Brown at least. What about Gordon then? This is not natural territory for him and I would hope that he gets well challenged. Surely he will have to get away from tractor statistics and slogans. But can he do that?

Unsettled Easter ahead

2010-04-01T21:17:00.003Z

Easter weekend is almost on us and it looks as if it is going to be very unsettled so far as the weather is concerned. A shame for visitors to the West Country to be sure. Whilst the worst of the snow has been "up north" in Scotland and Northern Ireland, Dartmoor also saw some with Princetown waking up to about two inches of it yesterday morning. From near the top of the hill that leads south from our village one can see across to the western flank of Dartmoor and from that viewpoint this afternoon I couldn't see any snow still lying. It's possible though that snow remains further into the moor.

The unusually cold winter certainly put a check on nature, but now it seems to be catching up. We are well and truly into the "yellow season" with daffodils, lesser celandine and forsythia well out. Good to see plenty of wood anemones in bloom as well, these do very well in the local wooded banks of the Tamar. Talking of the Tamar, that river was flowing quite high and fast a couple of days ago. I don't know where they nest but kingfishers do get seen in the area close to the weir which is not many minutes walk from here. The River Tamar is liable to rise and fall markedly over a short period of time and the thought crosses my mind: do the kingfishers nest high enough not to be flooded. I imagine they have it worked out!

Politicians and egos

2010-03-29T14:57:00.003Z

The LibDem's economy spokesman Vince Cable has made a perfect idiot of himself. Now Cable has been gaining a good reputation with the public: the man who tells us as it is, the man who stands above and away from his Labour and Tory counterparts to be honest with the public, the man who really understands economics. At least this is the impression that has been fostered about him. He is sometimes referred to as "Saint Vince" for goodness sake, although I think there may be a sense of mockery when right wing bloggers so describe him.

A story in the Observer newspaper eight days ago intimated that Vince Cable had been to the Treasury and spoken to the Permanent Secretary, Sir Nicholas Macpherson about the fact that he, Cable, was prepared to serve as Chancellor if he had the call, and discussed some policy matters. There was, at least, an implication that Sir Nicholas had instigated the meeting. The truth it has been revealed is that it was Vince who requested the meeting and that it was a mere 20 minutes long! As a follow up I am reading today about Cable making an apology to Sir Nicholas because of the false impression generated by Cable. Not surprisingly some Tory bloggers at least are revelling in his discomfort.

So is it an ego problem, an arrogance thing that afflicts politicians of all hues? Interestingly tonight there is a debate on Channel 4 between the Chancellor and two would-be Chancellors from the three main parties. I no longer have a functioning TV and so won't watch it but what an awful sense of timing for Vince Cable to make his humiliating apology!

Brown versus Paxman - it might not happen

2010-03-26T19:50:00.004Z

I really have been neglecting my blog, so I had better get on with things!

For those who closely follow politics in this country there are plenty of blogs to read: for me the best I've seen so far is that of Paul Waugh of the 'Evening Standard'. One of his entries today is headed "Is Brown running scared of a Paxo stuffing" and, humorously, underneath is a picture of Paxo Sage and Onion Stuffing! The Paxo in this case is the nickname of Jeremy Paxman, he of 'Newsnight' and 'University Challenge' fame. Paul has pointed out that ever since 1992 Paxo has done an in depth, programme long, interview with the incumbent Prime Minister. However, as yet, Brown hasn't signed up for this particular grilling on Newsnight. Paul states that a senior Whitehall source confirms that the PM hasn't given the green light. Quoting the source directly we hear that "It's not just the airtime, it takes a lot of time to prepare for Paxman, for example." What?!? Are they admitting that Brown has to spend time preparing for Paxman rather than just doing it? We know he is hopeless at a probing interview but this really is very very weak.

His preferred interrogator appears to be Andrew Marr and, it would seem that Andy Marr bowls him gentle full tosses most of the time. It is high time that Brown faced an attack dog who will face him down. Full marks to Jon Sopel by the way on 'The Politics Show' (I watched it on IPlayer) who did pinion him at one point. Although I am a floating voter I do recognise that Brown is a blatant liar and full of self deceit. In fact I would go so far as to say that Brown finds it as easy to lie as tell the truth; I've seen this before, it's almost a psychological condition - lying becomes a way of life, even when it is totally unnecessary from the point of view of everybody.

How can you prepare yourself for a Paxman interview? You can't really, you just don't know from which way the arrows will come. What we do know from Brown is that he is wooden, that he can't think on his feet, that he relies too much on slogans and 'tractor statistics' fired out like a machine gun. He has survived at PMQs because both Speaker Martin and Speaker Bercow have been unprepared to say "The Prime Minister must answer the question".

Brown must be dreading any big interviews coming down the track. I want to see him taken apart - no holds barred. Oh, and my suggested first question from Paxman to Brown, if Brown shows the courage to face his possible tormentor; "With the benefit of hindsight do you think it showed good judgement to sell our gold reserves at the bottom of the market?"

Ann Widdecombe just doesn't get it

2010-03-09T13:44:00.003Z

Second rant of the day coming up! This all kicked off last month with an assertion by Sir Nicholas Winterton that MPs should be paid to travel first class on the railway. Both he and his wife Ann are Tory MPs standing down in the General Election and were regarded as prime examples of those misusing the allowances and so it is little wonder that his remarks drew a few raspberries. Since then other MPs have deployed various lines of reasoning to show why they consider they should also be paid for first class travel. The one who really takes the biscuit though is Tory Ann Widdecombe!

In the past I have lavished praise on Ms Widdecombe having seen some of her documentary stuff on TV where she has been at the sharp end going where most fear to tread and confronting hoodies and prostitutes amongst others. Full marks to her for that. Now though she has really let herself down talking about how she travels first class and evidently thinks she has a right to be paid out of the public purse. She has tried her hand at writing books and, get this, says that by travelling first class she has been able to write two of her novels whilst in transit as it were.

The inference of her remarks - I believe they were quoted in the 'Daily Telegraph' - is that the public stumping up her fares in first class has enabled her to complete something for her own benefit and not something that is connected with her work as a constituency MP in Kent. She really doesn't get it does she. What a totally stupid inane thing for her to say, especially as she is standing down anyway. I understand that she now has her 'retirement' home near, appropriately, Widecombe-in-the-Moor. Well at least now Ann the only cost to us for you writing a book is if we decide to buy one of the darn things!

Teignbridge staff parking plans

2010-03-09T11:36:00.003Z

Here we go then, time for a rant or two! First up is Teignbridge District Council in Devon and their plans to charge staff to park at their Newton Abbot main office. Now we are seeing, and no doubt will continue to see, more local authorities slapping a parking charge on their staff who have the temerity to drive to work. This in itself isn't the main reason for my rant although even a flat charge for all is unfair in as much as it discriminates against the person who lives nowhere near public transport whereas others can just hop on a bus. By the way this is all in the name of the environment, trying to get people out of their cars and walking if near enough, or using the train/bus. Of course traffic tends to peak at times of the office commute and the school run, at other times of day it is likely to be more manageable. And increasing the use of public transport should bring their unit costs down.

However it wasn't the basic idea of charging staff to park that made me see red: it was the suggestion, now abandoned, to charge older cars more than the newer models. If you had a car made before January 2001 the proposal was that you would pay double the amount i.e. £1 a day instead of 50 pence. This makes me so angry to think that such an idea ever saw the light of day. Yes of course the technology has moved forward and today's car engines produce less emissions but the pseudo-greens never ever mention the cost to the environment in manufacturing a new vehicle. Nor do they mention that because of the complexity of modern systems on new cars when such parts ultimately fail it becomes too expensive for the owner to replace them. This can mean scrapping a car ahead of time as it were because the rest of the vehicle is perfectly alright. The car scrappage scheme illustrates my point perfectly - yes of course it helped to get the economy to get on the move but had absolutely nothing to do with the environment. When that scheme started I heard an "expert" state it was good for the environment. It's a wonder I didn't hurl something at the radio.

It happens time and again that experts and decision makers will just paint that part of the picture that suits their agenda. Does it make me cross!

Thoughts on Michael Foot

2010-03-08T16:14:00.002Z

I know that this is a bit late to make a comment but as Michael Foot had strong connections with the west country I think it only right to make a blogpost following the announcement of his death last week. Michael was born in Plymouth on the 23 July 1913, in other words a year before the outbreak of World War One. He was one of seven children, his father Isaac Foot was a solicitor and was Liberal MP fr the then Bodmin Constituency at various times between the two world wars and also did a stint as Lord Mayor of Plymouth. It can be fairly said that Michael Foot was a member of a family with strong political views. Early education was in Plymouth before going to a school in Reading and subsequently Oxford University. It was at the last mentioned that he forsook the Liberal Party for Socialism and as early as 1935 stood for Parliament at Monmouth. However he had to wait until the cessation of hostilities in 1945 before getting into the House of Commons as MP for Plymouth Devonport; he held the seat until ousted by Janet Fookes for the Tories in 1955. Five years later and he was elected as MP for Ebbw Vale in a by-election following the death of his hero Aneurin Bevan. He was to become Labour leader in 1980 but resigned following the Thatcher landslide victory in the 1983 General Election.

Another link Foot had with this part of the world was his unwavering support for Plymouth Argyle Football Club. For several years he served as a director of the club.

So what are we to make of Michael Foot the man? It is generally agreed that he was a very fine orator. It is also the case I think that he was a decent principled man, too decent and principled I guess to be a successful politician. A republican, a founder member of CND and a great believer in state industry, many will argue that he really belonged to another age. Rather like Tony Benn and Enoch Powell he had strong adherents to his views and interestingly like these other two he was very anti Britain's membership of the Common Market. Are we now seeing the end of conviction politics in this country I wonder. Although there are differences still between the major parties they are all jostling for the middle ground and although there are adherents to the more extreme views of parties like UKIP and the BNP these are currently very much in the minority.

A couple of quick points in conclusion: Michael Foot is credited with doing much to get Plymouth functioning again after the German bombing, and apparently it was not a donkey jacket that he wore at the cenotaph but a presentable duffel coat - in fact the Queen Mother complimented him on it!

Morwellham sale progressing

2010-03-01T11:37:00.002Z

It was last autumn that we learnt that the heritage attraction of Morwellham Quay in West Devon had gone into administration. This followed the decision by Devon County Council to no longer continue to pump funds into the running of Morwellham. Good news time now: Morwellham has been sold and I'm led to believe that it will be run on a fairly similar basis to the way it was before (although in a more business like manner one trusts!). Although I'm aware of who the purchaser is I'm not going to mention any names prior to an official announcement. There are the various legal bits and bobs to sort out but I would think that would be done by the end of this month.

The re-opening of Morwellham to the public will be very welcome boost to tourism in the Tamar Valley and in fact to the wider south west.

Nature wrecking havoc

2010-02-28T21:04:00.002Z

The last two or three days have seen the weathermen (and women) forecasting a dire day today in terms of wind and rain. We were lucky this time round as it has been the east of England that has seen the worst of it although even they were let off lightly compared with our continental cousins, Spain and more particularly France being very badly affected. At least 50 people have died in Europe as a result of the storms. I don't know whether this weather system is the same one that had caused the recent devastation in the little island of Madeira, especially around its capital Funchal.

I'm guessing now as I have not read up on it but I believe that a major reason for the UK having had a cold winter is the fact that the jet stream which normally brings the succession of depressions that yield the mild wet winters in our latitudes is further south than it should be. So my assumption is that the storms surging through to the south of us are occurring in those places because of the jet stream displacement as well. The recent wet summers in the UK have also been blamed, at least in part, on the jet stream being in the wrong place and not allowing the Azores high to build in over us. So what is going on?

All the foregoing of course is dwarfed by the horrendous earthquake that has devastated part of Chile. As I type this on Sunday evening the current death toll is 708 according to the BBC News Website. Absolutely awful. And this so soon after the horror of Haiti. I've just looked at the Shelterbox website and see that they are currently mobilising a response team to go to Chile to assess the situation.

This does seem to have been an extraordinary year so far in respect of the damage caused by the forces of nature.

End of month, my cold gone, spring coming

2010-02-28T20:36:00.002Z

Well hear we are then, the last day of February and the cold I've been plagued with for the last few days nearly gone. This is getting into the good time of year for me with noticeably longer days and although hardly tropical there is the sense that any further cold spells shouldn't be prolonged. Apart from the snowdrops which have been excellent in my locality this year other flowers have understandably been reluctant to get going. This valley was famous for the cultivation of daffodils and many of the fields have been abandoned but the daffodils still come up and are an amazing sight but mostly not quite yet. There are wild daffodils too if you know where to look and there will be swathes of wood anemone to come in certain places near the river. The south west is even more special in spring!

Not looking good for Gordon Brown

2010-02-22T16:30:00.003Z

Although nobody seems to have landed a knock out punch yet on Gordon Brown he certainly seems to be reeling following the allegations in Andrew Rawnsley's book and the aftermath. I never doubted Brown was a bully boy and liable to really violent outbursts of anger. But does it matter if a Prime Minister is boorish, bullying, socially inept, a liar, psychologically unable to accept he has made mistakes? I'm afraid it does.

Brown now has further revelations in Rawnsley's book to look forward to as well as appearing at the Iraq Inquiry next week and with three leaders debates to come before we vote. Will he keep it together or will he crack is the question. I'm not a betting man but I think he will be defeated at the polls whenever they come.

The Piers Morgan / Gordon Brown love-in

2010-02-17T15:19:00.002Z

Last Saturday I did a blogpost about the then upcoming Gordon Brown interview with Piers Morgan. I've now seen a slightly abbreviated version of this programme on the internet. In Saturday's piece I said " Personally I don't have a problem with viewers seeing a different Gordon Brown"; I'm now regretting that comment! The interview, let's face it, was blatant electioneering and really should not have been broadcast in the run up to the election. Was it Sarah Brown trying to pull the PR strings? Interesting that the director kept cutting away to the fond wife loyally backing her husband. And it went out on Valentines Day, a bit more than a coincidence perhaps!

It seems to me that she is desperately deploying her skills to portray Gordon as a warm people loving family man. I don't doubt for a minute his feelings towards his wife and children but to what degree should this aspect of his character be shared with the public? For the sake of balance I believe that the TV cameras have been in the home of the Camerons. I guess that we will see more of the 'touchy feely' stuff from our politicians as the years go by. Back to Sarah Brown: she introduced her husband at the last two Labour Party Conferences, this was quite interesting and innovative the first time round but I could see that she had set herself a precedent and that it wouldn't have the same spark when repeated and I blogged about this before. As a one-off to 'humanise' her husband it seemed not a bad idea but repeated it is just banal.

Mr Brown admitted flashes of bad temper and put it down to his impatience to get things done He might well say that but the truth is that he is a bully boy, a control freak, a person who would happily see his own henchmen briefing against other Labour politicians, a compulsive liar when he needs to be, in fact not really a nice man at all. Yes I feel sorry about his eyesight problem and his personal family tragedy but do we need to be reminded again about all this.

In the Piers Morgan show Brown was pretty relaxed (allegedly he had been trained for it by Alastair Campbell!) and appeared to be full of bonhomie. However it is the three one and half long party leaders' interviews that will have a greater effect on the voting public particularly as they will be much much closer to the election itself. I think that the Morgan programme will soon be forgotten.

"When I'm Hurtin'" sung by Al and Isla Grant

2010-02-13T21:34:00.004Z

It is of course Valentines Day tomorrow and I think that this beautiful little love song from husband and wife duo Al and Isla Grant fits the bill. I hope that you enjoy it!

The Brown interview tomorrow

2010-02-13T20:54:00.002Z

So tomorrow (Sunday) folk will have a chance to see the more human and caring side of Gordon Brown we have been told. His old pal and cheerleader Piers Morgan will chat to him on ITV - I believe that Mr Morgan is doing a series of these interviews so Gordon's is not therefore a one-off. The difference of course is that GB is this country's Prime Minister and there just happens to be a General Election coming up in the very near future!

The piece of the programme that has been heavily trailed is where Brown displays his emotion when talking about the early death of his daughter Jennifer and naturally commentators are having or will have much to say about this. Cynics of course will say that this has all been set up so that Brown can get the sympathy vote whilst his supporters - and there are some - stress that what most people see is only one side of our PM and that he is much more personable than most believe.

Personally I don't have a problem with viewers seeing a different Gordon Brown, he might get a short lived and small bounce in the polls but I doubt that any benefit will last. I don't think that Brown ever went to the Tony Blair School of Acting - his character isn't subtle enough to do pretend emotion. No you will see genuine grief tomorrow and so you should. I remember that Wednesday in the House of Commons when at PMQs he had genuinely warm words to say about Cameron, the news of the death of Ivan having been announced earlier that day (or possibly the night before, can't remember exactly). I know that PMQs weren't continued and that David Cameron was understandably absent from the House.

Although I have every sympathy with Brown and his wife Sarah over their personal tragedy this doesn't in any way shape or form influence my belief that he is not the right person to lead this country and that much of his behaviour is totally unacceptable. The Piers Morgan thing might do him a little bit of good but I think that will be totally negated by the three leader debates to come.

One thing I'm sure about: come Monday morning the mainstream media and the bloggers will be having a good deal to say about one Gordon Brown!

Toyota woes

2010-02-09T16:21:00.003Z

The Japanese car maker Toyota is suffering from the wrong sort of publicity at the moment. So reliable are its products as a rule that they normally don't merit any column inches at all but now problems with accelerator pedals on certain models and brakes on others have raised enough concern to warrant massive numbers of recalls so that the problems can be fixed. I don't own this make but I drove one belonging to someone else decades back and I have ridden in another very recently and have always felt that they were very well engineered and screwed together and they seemed just about the least likely make to have reliability or safety problems.

A couple of thoughts then about the unhappy position the company finds itself in:

To its credit Toyota appears to be open and honest about the problems with, as one would expect from the Japanese, the boss making an apology for all to see. This contrasts with recalls made by western manufacturers who would often try and say that a problem didn't exist and would only react properly following plenty of public pressure. Maybe not all of them but I particularly remember Renault who had produced a poor design for a bonnet catch on some of the 'Clio' models with recorded instances of bonnets flying up as the car was speeding along. They attempted to do some buck passing but I think in the end grudgingly arranged a recall but not until after very adverse reports on the BBC's 'Watchdog' programme. This was about three years ago I think, I don't have a personal axe to grind on this never having owned one - I just wanted to point out that other manufacturers have had potential accident faults in their designs.
The technology in today's cars is very sophisticated and my 24 year old jalopy seems to be from the stone age in comparison! But is all this cleverness really necessary? Take the accelerator pedal on my car - it connects through a cable to a bit of linkage that opens a flap on the carburettor thus allowing more petrol/air mixture into the engine and speeding up the vehicle. Very basic and does the job. The thing that bothers me about today's cars is that many of the simple functions that work perfectly well are being replaced by more complicated procedures which I would have thought would be quite expensive to replace once faults develop. I'm amazed that today's cars are as reliable as they are but should things go wrong you will need a healthy bank balance to get the repairs done. This leads to a favourite gripe: the way some cars are scrapped long before they ought to be just because some piece of space age technology needs replacing but the cost in relation to the car's value makes it an uneconomic process.

As I said before: all credit to Toyota for holding up their hands with regard to the design faults.

Three cheers for Fabio Capello

2010-02-06T10:42:00.002Z

I've pointed out before that I don't have much interest in sport and I am also not into the lives and loves of such people as pop stars, media personalities and highly paid sportsmen. So who, other than his wife, John Terry is alleged to have slept with is of little concern to me. What is important in this instance though is the undenied story of Mr Terry having a relationship with the girl friend of an England team mate Wayne Bridges. I'm commenting on this because of the action taken by England's team manager Fabio Capello. For me Capello has ticked all the boxes and is like a breath of fresh air: he dealt with the issue of Terry's captaincy very quickly, he made the right decision in my honest opinion, he did the sacking face to face and he didn't tell anyone else prior to Terry being informed of his fate. He then immediately announced who the new captain and vice-captains would be.

So often of late one hears of those in a position of being able to hire and fire squirming out of their responsibilities. I'm thinking of the way the BBC dealt with Jonathan Ross for example where he seemed to be given just a mild rap over the knuckles over those phone calls. Then there are those senior politicians who don't deal with sackings in a proper manner. What really gets me though is when someone finds themselves dismissed from their employment via a text message on their mobile: what a personal insult!

Bravo Mr Capello! You have shown others the right way to go about managing people.

Tony Blair and the Iraq War

2010-02-01T20:02:00.006Z

I've just been watching some of the video of Blair's evidence at the Chilcot Inquiry on their website (well someone has to do it!). As usual Blair comes over quite convincingly but I don't think that I have the time or stamina to sit through six hours or whatever it is. There is so much one could write on the subject but I'll just make a few comments via bullet points:

Whatever conclusions are reached by the Inquiry at the end of the day I don't think those who felt strongly about the war at the time (I mean both pros and antis) will change their viewpoint. It is very much like the two sides in the hunting debate or the climate change debate once someone has an entrenched position that is it. Additional evidence is unlikely to sway them in the other direction.
When Blair became PM in 1997 I don't think he had thought about foreign policy much but when he paid a visit to Kosovo things changed. Witnessing the situation over there he decided that an interventionist policy was needed where there were occasions of that type. Some people referred to Blair as Bush's poodle with reference to Iraq but I beg to differ. I think that Blair developed a missionary zeal and assuming that Saddam had WMD and wasn't going to disarm then Blair had no problems in invading Iraq.
I think in his evidence on Friday - I didn't get to that bit watching the video this evening - Blair mentioned the figure of 100,000 Iraqis dead as a result of the war. Estimates vary a lot, some have used this lowest figure whilst others have used greater numbers up to one million in fact. I think that Blair volunteered his figure without prompting and I am wondering whether he was trying to spike the questioners' guns. If he got in the 100,000 dead in his evidence first then it might be overlooked that this was the very lowest estimate of several.
Blair tried to lay the blame for the problems in Iraq post invasion on those pesky Iranians coming in and spoiling the party. No Mr Blair, it's you and Mr Bush who are culpable - before the war there was some sort of strategic balance between Iraq and Iran, post war there was obviously an imbalance in the situation, effectively a vacuum where Iraq is concerned. It is perhaps not too surprising that Iraq's hated neighbour wanted to exploit the situation. The coalition was not prepared for the aftermath, they should have been - no excuses.
Blair tried to make a strong point about Iraq possibly supplying terrorists with WMD post 9/11. Whether this might have happened one day I don't know but there was zero evidence of any connection between Saddam and Al-Qaida. This reminds me of the fact that following the 9/11 attacks Vice President Dick Cheney set up a special unit to try every way possible to find a connection between the two. I believe that many many Americans were misled into believing that Iraq was somehow involved in 9/11 thus giving extra legitimacy to the invasion.

Much more could be added to this blogpost but I'll leave it at that for the moment.

Air Ambulance base opens at Eaglescott

2010-01-30T21:10:00.004Z

On Monday i had some kind words to say about Radio Devon when I put up a video of singer/songwriter Jenna Witts from North Devon. Today I'm also going to praise RD - I must be mellowing I think! They have singled out a particular local organisation as their charity for 2010: it is the Devon Air Ambulance that they want listeners to support, in fact I believe that they are hoping to raise £600,000 towards the cost of a new helicopter! It kicked off when presenter Judi Spiers opened the 'Steve Ford Airbase' situated at Eaglescott Airfield, Umberleigh in North Devon on the 21st of January.

I need to elaborate a bit here: This is a new facility erected in double quick time enabling one of the two helicopters to be located in a good position to get to much of north Devon in very short order. Although described as being at Umberleigh it would be more accurate to say that Eaglescott lies in that quiet countryside between Roborough and Burrington (For the avoidance of doubt I should say that Roborough here is a tiny village east of Great Torrington, not the better known place on Plymouth's periphery!). The airfield caters for a flying club, micro-lights and gliders and I think that the Air Ambulance people have acquired a long lease for the bit that they are using.

Why the title 'Steve Ford Airbase'? Steve was born in Exeter and had a good career in the army including being a bomb disposal expert. He had a love of flying, enough to lure him to a job piloting an air ambulance. Sadly he died in a motorbike accident. Evidently an all round good guy and a great idea to name the air ambulance base after him.

At this point it's worth remembering that the air ambulance idea in this country started in Cornwall. Yep little Cornwall was the location for the very first air ambulance and it has never received any money from the government coffers. I was once quite cross about this, that it was dependant on charitable donations to keep flying. However my feelings have changed and I now feel that we sort of have ownership of it and I'm proud of that. I and thousands of others pay £1 for a lottery ticket each week with the chance of a number of fairly modest prizes up for grabs - needless to say I have yet to win anything! Off the top of my head I don't know to what extent this lottery helps to keep the helicopter flying but it is regular repeat income coming in.

Back to Devon now. It is of course a very large county and both wide and deep in shape and so really does need two choppers to cover it. Although the appeal by Radio Devon is commendable there is a small downside that (slightly) bothers me. There are hundreds of worthy causes any of which are deserving of charitable donations. The problem is that many miss out because so much money is going to those organisations that gain a huge profile. An example that crosses my mind is two charities that I mentioned when I wrote about Haiti the other day: 'Shelterbox' and 'Rapid-UK'. Shelterbox has really caught the public imagination and it is a favourite charity of mine - it ticks so many boxes and is very well supported. But what about Rapid UK who not only go out to countries that have suffered natural disasters to do what they can to rescue trapped people but they also share their expertise with those unfortunate peoples who don't have the knowledge. It might be thought that 'Rapid UK' was some sort of state funded group but no they are a charity and so have to self fund. As I understand it they do have quite a job making ends meet. The huge variation in the amounts of money different charities receive is a problem and I don't really know the answer.

Jenna Witts sings "Bring me News"

2010-01-25T16:31:00.003Z

In my last entry I was quite scathing about the present programme strategy of 'Radio Devon'. I don't take back any of the criticism I made but I should point out that it's not all bad with this broadcaster. They do have the occasional programme, particularly at weekends it seems, where you get what you hope for and one example is a folk music show on Sundays and although I didn't listen to it they had advertised that a young singer/songwriter, Jenna Pitts from Woolacombe in North Devon, would be featured yesterday. Jenna has a sweet voice in my opinion and I thought it an idea to post this video of her singing her song "Bring me News".

I hope that her music brings her success.

Radio Devon gets it wrong

2010-01-20T19:53:00.003Z

Although living in Cornwall (just) I seem to have much more trouble receiving BBC Radio Cornwall than its Devon counterpart. Perhaps I should try listening on line. I don't listen to the radio continuously, in fact I enjoy the contrast of having no man made sounds around me on occasion although some people seem to be scared of silence. At various moments of my day I am likely to tune into Radio Devon but these times are disappearing rapidly. Why? Well Radio Devon have had a bit of a shakeout dropping some of their presenters. Those remaining it would seem are being asked to do longer stints. Researching today's 'Western Morning News' I see that there are just six shows between 6 in the morning and 1 am: Five of these are single handed and 3 hours each whilst the other one of 4 hours duration has co-presenters.

Now if you are going to have one person doing a three hour programme it needs some music to give the presenter a breather now and then - of course some of these programmes are primarily there to play music anyway. Why my annoyance then? I'm particularly bothered by 'The Interactive Lunch' which runs from midday till 3 pm. Previously there had been a 2 hour phone in programme at lunchtime in which the public could sound off about various issues, in fact I've expressed an opinion on it on one or two occasions. It was hosted by Justin Leigh and he did a very professional job it has to be said, he couldn't be faulted. He was followed by Michael Chequer who I also found to be a good presenter. This programme was totally devoted to the expression of opinions, yes it had the occasional expert being quizzed by the presenter about a subject but this was part and parcel of the broadcast. You understood exactly what the programme was there for.

Move on to the here and now and we have 'The Interactive Lunch' hosted by David Fitzgerald who likes to be called 'Fitz'. Fitz is a genial sort of chap, very much reminding me of Harry Secombe but TIL is such a mish-mash you're not quite sure what it's trying to do. Like its predecessor it has people phoning in and specialists in the studio but every so often it is interrupted by music or should I say "so called music". There is a good deal of pop music that I'm OK with but on his show most of it is so dire I have to hit the off switch! You get the impression that a producer is randomly pulling them from the rack but the bulk is instantly forgettable. I can see that Radio Devon have a bit of a problem because just one person doing a phone in for more than two hours is too much in my opinion. The station has gone from having a very well defined and interesting programme to one that is very bland with occasional assaults on my eardrums. The worst aspect for me is when a presenter starts talking about something else over the top of a song before the last strains thankfully disappear - this isn't Radio1 for heaven's sake (not to cast aspersions on that channel but it is a case of "horses for courses")

It seems that others are getting fed up with what is going on judging by a letter in the paper from Tony Elliott of Kingsteignton. He is less concerned about music peppering the day's programmes but notes how the selection of this music has changed. He reasonably points out that a good number of the daytime listeners are retired folk who are not into the latest pop music. He suggest writing to Mark Grinnell, the managing editor of BBC Radio Devon. Not a bad idea Mr Elliott, not a bad idea at all!

Last Tuesday's snow event

2010-01-18T19:53:00.003Z

Writing about the better weather in my last post reminds me that I haven't commented yet on the snow event last Tuesday (the 12th) which caused so many problems for drivers in my two counties. I say "snow event", here tucked down in the valley we had no more than sleet that day. A depression coming in off the Atlantic had its weather fronts bumping into the existing cold air that was dominating the UK, a classic situation where substantial falls of snow can occur and one I've seen before a few times. It was very well forecasted by the Met Office and it was always evident that altitude would have a substantial affect on snow quantities.

For those not familiar with my two counties it has to be said that the topography has an absolutely enormous influence on the weather we experience. This weather can be incredibly local, one classic example being the rain that caused such havoc at Boscastle and Crackington Haven in August 2004. This flood was over a geographically small area, villages a few miles away were unaffected. The hills and valleys in the south west that please the tourist's eye (and mine it should be said) have always been a nightmare for road and railway builders. So far as the railway is concerned Brunel hugged the river estuaries and coast between Exeter and Newton Abbot. OK he kept the route pretty flat but we all know about the huge problems there have been with the sea wall at Dawlish!

The main road from Exeter to Plymouth, the A38, has to cross the Haldon ridge soon after it leaves Exeter. Now the top of Haldon is approximately 800 feet above sea level but it's not just drivers having to ascend that much from the Exeter direction that can create problems, it's the degree of steepness. In a much earlier life I was involved in road design and although it was decades ago I do recall that the maximum gradient for trunk road design was 1 in 25 (4% in modern parlance I suppose). I was never involved with 'Haldon Hill' but it wasn't possible I know to get remotely near that figure - I can't remember for sure but I think it was more like 1 in 14, very very steep for a trunk road. Unsurprisingly a third crawler lane was put in place for the uphill carriageway. A similar arrangement holds for the also very steep 'Telegraph Hill', the Torquay A380 route that forks off the A38 at Splatford Split at the bottom of Haldon Hill.

Exact details of the way traffic ground to a halt on these two notorious hills on Tuesday remain a little sketchy but it seems that the rain on the ridge quickly turned to snow, a lorry jackknifed on the A38, traffic stopped and couldn't get going again and because some vehicles started sliding whilst others tried to pick their way through the gaps the whole road system got clogged up making it really difficult for gritting lorries and snowploughs to get through to where they were needed. Result: vehicles stuck for hours and hours with nowhere to go. Eventually, somehow, things did get sorted out and thankfully nobody was hurt. A few comments from me then:

Although well forecasted the weather changed very rapidly at Haldon, many leaving Exeter in the rush hour I'm sure genuinely didn't perceive a problem just down the road.
The authorities seemed to be very tardy about officially closing Haldon Hill, the result being that traffic was just joining the queue with nowhere to go. As I heard it on Radio Devon it seemed that they were suggesting traffic could just about get through, that doesn't seem to be the case for the general public although police, fire crews and Dartmoor Rescue Group volunteers seemed to have got through. A very muddled picture.
There is an alternative coastal route from Exeter to Newton Abbot, a pretty lousy road in my opinion and this got clogged up with traffic. There is a pinch point on this 'A' road at Starcross where two pillars forming part of a property jut out into the carriageway so it's single file only there and it sounds as if this created a lot of trouble.
All sorts of suggestions from the public and others about how to avoid similar problems in the future. One was to cone off an uphill lane on Haldon and Telegraph Hills when snow is forecast so that gritting lorries etc can get through without hindrance.
From what I heard today it looks as if underoad heating is being looked at. Nice idea but surely a non-starter. Yes I know that there are heating elements in the Hammersmith Flyover but I'm sure that was all part of the design. I don't know anything about the newest technology but the area at Haldon would be huge and the disruption massive. I really can't see that one flying.
Similar problems occurred at Telegraph and Haldon Hills less than 12 months ago, in February 2009. On that occasion the sudden snowfall was well into the evening , after I think most commuters would have been home.
I have memories from decades back of getting stuck on Haldon. It was in the morning I think and I believe it was a similar case of waiting patiently for gritting lorries to clear a way through. Much less traffic back then and I don't recall having to wait for hours for it to be sorted out.
Another morning memory is of going up Telegraph Hill in daylight but with snow on the ground in what was known as a "sit up and beg" Ford Popular of 1950's vintage. Side valve engine, three speed gearbox and 6 volt battery sums it up. But successful in the snow. It had tall wheels, excellent ground clearance and with very little power wheel spin didn't appear to be a big problem! I might have been more confident at the time as well of course.
Although the Haldon area grabbed the headlines on Tuesday there were other parts of Devon and Cornwall where drivers became stuck. Particularly badly hit were the A386 between Tavistock and Okehampton and, west of the Tamar, the Liskeard area.

As I stated at the start of the piece so local is the weather that we experienced none of that particular bout of mayhem here. As ever the elements can make man look very puny indeed.

Gentle warming of weather

2010-01-18T19:21:00.003Z

There has been a gentle warming up of the weather here in the last day or two and I have to say it's been good to be able to open the bedroom window a little bit. That one is a sash window, one of two I had replaced with timber double glazed units last year. I love sash windows with their ability to permit air circulation top and bottom; for a while yesterday and today it was possible to open it a fair bit and get a change of air in the room. And for part of the day I turned off the heating - I don't have central heating with a thermostatic control, I have a gas fire downstairs and gas heater in the stairwell to cover upstairs. Sufficient for my needs I guess, I try to keep room temperature in the 60 to 65 degree F range which no doubt is freezing for some!

We went out for a fairly short walk yesterday (Sunday) afternoon and it really is a relief not to watch every step you make in fear of falling over. No special wildlife sightings but no matter it's just nice enjoying the fresh air. My friend had previously seen a redwing in her garden and I've noticed one or two about the village, not surprising with the recent harsh weather. Interesting report from a lady I know in another Tamar Valley village of a snipe in their garden! She told that they had seen them in fields close to their home but this was the first time I think in their garden.

One thing I must check is how a favourite mimosa in a Tavistock courtyard is doing. It had been affected by last winter's cold weather but recovered well. I do hope it has survived the recent sharp frosts.

The horror in Haiti

2010-01-15T21:03:00.004Z

Obviously the story of the moment is the devastating earthquake in Haiti and I can't add any suitable words to the very many that have already been written and spoken by others. Like I guess a good many other people my knowledge of this state is fairly hazy but click here to read an informative summary about Haiti with some clues as to why it is so impoverished. Thanks to 'The First Post' for this information by the way - it certainly enlightened me.

Speed is of the essence of course in bringing relief and hopefully saving some lives. I want to draw attention to two fantastic organisations from the south west right in the forefront in helping the situation. The first of these is the now well known charity 'Shelterbox' who I believe are already familiar with Haiti following earlier hurricane damage. I've written about them before so I'll just remind folk that they are based down west in Helston and are well geared up to move very fast. Their website is here.

The other one to mention is 'RAPID-UK'. Perhaps not so much in the public consciousness as Shelterbox. As they say on their website here :

"RAPID-UK exists to provide experienced disaster response personnel anywhere in the world when required and to facilitate sustainable training and mitigation programmes in disaster prone countries."

R.A.P.I.D is an acronym for Rescue and Preparedness in Disasters. I understand that it is based at Jacobstowe in West Devon. As with Shelterbox they are already there in Haiti, trying to do what they can. I think that both Shelterbox and RAPID-UK are absolutely brilliant; there may well be some aspects of life in my country that one should be embarrassed about but when it comes to disaster relief I can honestly state that "I'm proud to be British"

Alastair Campbell at Iraq Enquiry

2010-01-12T15:38:00.003Z

Today is the day when Alastair Campbell is taking centre stage at the Chilcot Enquiry into the war in Iraq. Ignored by many blogs we have to thank Andrew Sparrow of 'The Guardian' who is blogging the enquiry as it happens. It can be read here. And thank goodness for Paul Waugh of 'The Evening Standard' who has taken a keen interest in the Enquiry and posted a lot of Twitter comments. Paul is the best of the political bloggers in my opinion, he really gets how it should be done. He's a journalist as well and has a nice lightness of touch with his blog and picks up on details others miss.

So what of Campbell? Obviously still loyal to Blair. We know how combative he is and so no surprise he attacked Andrew Gillingham in the course of giving his evidence. For Campbell it's pretty obvious that he believes in attack being the best form of defence at times. I've now just spotted as today's session finishes that the BBC have been supplying live video of proceedings. As has happened in previous enquiries Campbell wasn't subjected to really strong cross examination and probably got away with it again. The problem is that the inconsistencies will get lost in the overall narrative.

Slow thaw today, snow forecast tomorrow

2010-01-11T21:31:00.003Z

It's certainly been less cold in my part of the world today and there has been a very gentle thaw of some of the snow and ice, the last mentioned being a greater problem than the snow. For a change the windows on the car were frost free when I first looked out, not that I needed to drive anywhere as it so happened. If there is just one thing to rejoice about in not having to commute to work by car it's the fact that I don't have to do the de-icing routine first thing in the morning. How did I put up with that for so many years?

Tomorrow is another day as they say and it looks like a sizeable dollop of snow might be on the way. It's the classic situation I've seen before where there is blocking high pressure over Scandinavia maintaining cold easterly winds whilst at the same time a low pressure system with its fronts is trying to make headway from the Atlantic. These situations are always notoriously difficult to predict as to whether one sees snow or rather cold rain - it only takes a degree or two difference to produce one or the other. At the moment the forecasters are going for heavy snow turning to rain. We shan't have to wait long to see the outcome. Strong winds are in the mix so drifting is certainly on the cards especially on the moors.

The really cold weather we have had has perhaps put extra strain on underground services: I'm assuming that is why Mortehoe up in North Devon was devoid of gas supply over much of the weekend - not much fun if you rely on it for cooking and heating. Not heard anything further today so I assume all the repairs are complete. There was also a gas leak at Tavistock bus station on Saturday morning but our local bus was able to drop off and pick up passengers nearby and there appeared to be very little inconvenience when we went in to do a small amount of shopping.

It was a few years ago now when the gas main running down my road started leaking, the gas people appeared promptly enough and did the necessary repair. They came back some later to replace all the gas pipe serving this road. A good deal of upheaval because our road is only one vehicle in width (it can just accommodate the dustbin lorry). We were lucky though because our original gas leak didn't occur during cold weather; I guess it was just 'anno domini' catching up with it! The original gasworks for the village was built in 1872 with coal being brought up the Tamar and then through the little canal that bypasses the weir across the river. One used to hear complaints about service providers not co-ordinating their work but this certainly didn't apply here. At one time electricity cables crossed the lower part of some of the gardens in the Row and I can can recollect the power company coming out to do a little pruning to a tree in my own garden where the wires could easily make contact. At the time of the gas main replacement the contractors also inserted a duct in the road so that at a later date the electricity people could route their overhead line through it. It's difficult to remember the electricity cables over my garden now.

Inconvenient though snow is I must admit that there is something hypnotic about watching it falling. I'm at a low level here so it might be rain rather than the white fluffy stuff. Whichever, it's due here about lunchtime.

Lack of blogging - must do better!

2010-01-09T20:27:00.002Z

I'm putting it down to the very cold weather demotivating me but I've managed only one post so far in 2010. Not that I'm short of things I would like to write about, there is more than enough stuff around for me to comment on. It's just a case of getting down to it ... Or giving up altogether. No I really don't want to do that but I can empathise with those people who start a blog full of enthusiasm but after a while find their blog starting to wither a bit, particularly if a few days are missed and one gets out of the routine!

Inevitably the weather is the hot topic of the moment, not a good use of the word "hot" perhaps bearing in mind the freezing temperatures. We have had minimal amounts of snow in the mid Tamar Valley and it's been the ice that has really caused problems in getting about. There has been a good deal of sunshine with the associated crystal clear visibility but with that sun so low in the sky there are many places permanently in the shade at this time of year and in those areas the ice has not released its grip. The big plus is the way that communities come together when the elements decide to cause mayhem. I don't know about other countries but folk in the UK can be very insular. A bit of this can be put down to our perhaps understandable desire to just hop in the car to travel from A to B. Our only communication then might be a few choice words when someone 'cuts you up' in the traffic! But with the recent weather phenomena there is a greater likelihood of people moving about on foot, or using public transport. Even if one ventures out in the car and gets stuck someone is likely to volunteer assistance.

Perhaps then the British are still upholders of the "nice" society, of politeness and of helping others in need. I certainly hope so!

Gentle walk eases me into New Year

2010-01-01T18:39:00.004Z

First of all to my avid readers (there must be someone out there) and to anyone else who by some mishap stumbles on this blog - "Happy New Year" to you! As is my customary practice I did not go out on New Year's Eve, it's one of those things that is meaningless for me personally. As usual fireworks were let off from midnight onwards, I think that they were popping and banging for 20 to 25 minutes but, as noted 12 months ago, they don't seem to be as noisy as they used to be.

Today dawned bright and cold and, making use of the little warmth there was after lunch, we went for a relatively short walk: a stroll along the lower road towards Calstock and then down the 'cul-de-sac' lane that drops down to the forgotten quay at Slimeford. Returning the same way we enjoyed our perambulation - one of its joys being the lack of traffic and other noises. On 1st January 2009 we had walked over to Cotehele with a picnic lunch so our effort today was far more modest. In our defence I have to point out that my companion was just getting over a bad cold whilst I'm a bit out of practice doing decent length of walks! Nice to be out however and we both enjoyed that clarity of vision one can get on a winter's day - definitely no heat haze to spoil things!

Once clear of the main body of our village one passes the odd house or cottage and it's amazing to see how many birds flock to the feeders in people's gardens, at this time of year especially. My friend bemoaned the fact that birds hardly ever turn up at her own feeding stations and we both reckon it's down to ... cats! Whereas in our immediate locality one can hardly move for moggies, the more isolated properties we passed always seem to be happily devoid of felines. Although my friend has neither cat nor dog her garden gets visited by many examples of the former and she has seen them take birds. There is a relatively recent addition to the cat population in my Row and, although I don't have proof, he is the prime suspect concerning the 'murder' of a male blackbird whose dead body adorned my lawn recently. A very cheeky cat incidentally - he had the audacity to use the cat flap in the front door of a neighbour's cottage and eat the food in the resident cat's dish while it was asleep!!

Apart from this bad relationship with our feathered friends the other bit of unwelcome behaviour from the local cats is their tendency to poo in one's garden! Not very nice. I would be very happy to see far fewer cats around the neighbourhood.

Sat-Nav leads to ambulance problem

2009-12-29T11:00:00.003Z

I notice that I have already penned seven entries relating to problems with drivers and their sat-navs. Well here is another one in my area, this time involving an ambulance. It happened on Christmas Eve, a time when there were huge worries about icy patches on minor roads. A privately run ambulance was taking an elderly couple and family member home to Polperro from Plymouth's Derriford Hospital. It would seem that they had another patient to drop off because they evidently went to Liskeard first. Now I can tell you that there is just one sensible way to get from Liskeard to Polperro after dark (this happened in the evening) and with the possibility of icy stretches. From Liskeard you head west along the Dobwalls Bypass, at the roundabout take the left turn on to the St Austell road and soon you will be arriving at the Taphouses. Here one turns left on to the B3359 which heads south down through Pelynt before terminating at a T junction where one turns right on the A387 Looe to Polperro road, the last named village just being a short distance away. I know it's possible to turn off in Dobwalls itself and take the road on the watershed between the East and West Looe Rivers and on through Duloe but then there is the potentially tricky hill down to Sandplace and one would have to climb up again from Looe on the '387'.

So what did the ambulance driver do? He engaged the sat-nav and disengaged his brain (I'm not sure whether he had the latter though). The sat-nav I suspect would have sent him along the twisty hilly road through St Keyne and on to Duloe. Now we know that the ambulance had its mishap near Sowden's Bridge which is one of the crossing points on the West Looe River. According to the newspaper the vehicle slid backwards down the icy hill before hitting a wall and tree and ending in a ditch. No injuries luckily but damage to the side door meant the passengers were trapped inside. This happened at about 6.30 pm but with lack of signal in the valley it wasn't until 8.16 pm that emergency services located them and over two hours after that before they got stretchered out of the stricken ambulance.

You might gather from what I have written that I have a fair idea of the geography of the area concerned and sat-nav or no sat-nav would realise the best route option in the circumstances. Even if the chump driving the ambulance was less familiar than I with that locality why didn't he have OS Landranger map 201 with him to get a better idea of the options available from Liskeard. The small number of roads that cross the West Looe River are narrow and steep - I happen to know that but the information is readily discernible from the map. It stands to reason that the bottom of the valley would be potentially icy - water gravitates downhill does it not, the narrow lanes deep in the valley would get very little sunlight in them to melt any ice, there would be no incentive for council gritters to go there as it is sparsely populated and, as events proved, there would be little chance of getting a signal if an emergency occurred. A further point: in the admittedly unlikely event of the ambulance meeting a vehicle in the lanes either party backing up in the dark would not have been a nice experience.

Compare this with the alternative route I suggested earlier in the piece. My way would almost certainly have been gritted throughout, it would be relatively level particularly once on the ridge road that heads in the direction of Pelynt, not sure about in Polperro itself but the rest of the route should be in an area where there is a good signal and the road is reasonably wide (by Cornish standards anyway!).

Interestingly someone in my village told me some time ago about another ambulance incident where the driver got it wrong. This person was coming back to Gunnislake from Derriford and this was OK but prior to her part of the journey someone else had to be dropped off in Plymouth, in Stoke if I remember rightly. Stoke is south west of Derriford so the patient was somewhat surprised when the ambulance departed in the direction of Plympton - the opposite direction! Despite his protestations the crew just followed the sat-nav: perhaps they had been given duff information or there was a duplication of street names, I don't know. As far as they were concerned the technology was right and the old chap wrong. Fortunately in the end the gentleman concerned was delivered to his home address. Whether it was the same idiots who caused the mayhem near Sowden's Bridge I don't know.

Even in good weather and broad daylight I wouldn't have thought the expedition through the lanes after Duloe would have been sensible, after dark on last Christmas Eve it was the height of stupidity. Yes sat-navs have their uses but a (so called) professional driver relying 100% on this technology whatever the circumstances should not be on the road. The stupidity shown could have had far more serious consequences.

Temporary respite from the ice

2009-12-28T21:26:00.003Z

I think it was the weekend prior to Christmas in which I noted that we had a little snow here - 'nuisance snow' if you like - and then there followed almost a week of problems with ice. A block of really cold air had been resisting the ingress of warmer air from the south west and we experienced a number of days during the week of treacherous black ice, far far worse than we would normally get. At various times rain showers would occur with the wetness immediately freezing on contact with the sub-zero road surfaces, a lot of the precipitation occurring during the hours of darkness. The Highways people did a valiant job in salting and gritting the main roads but of course their actions were hampered by the rain washing the salt away at times.

There are many plus points living in this village but it suffers greatly under the rare weather conditions that we have just been enduring. Yes the main A390 road that bisects the village was OK to drive on most of the time but, live off this road as I do, and you are faced with a gradient of about 1 in 6 (uphill in my case) to get out to the main road. Walking up to this main road takes about 5 minutes I guess so no great distance then but when the streets leading off it are iced up it might just as well be on the moon! Things really came to a head on Christmas morning when the roads were undrivable as evidenced by a near neighbour with a modern Land Rover being quite unable to make the ascent. The cold relented a little later in the day and now things are more or less normal but it sounds as if another icy blast will welcome in 2010.

One of our younger residents in the Row did go out and try and scrounge grit where he could prior to the Christmas Day problems and there is plenty of evidence of self help in our area but we definitely need a grit bin very close by for times such as these. I know one or two of the Parish Councillors and will get on to them to chase Highways to make better provision for grit bins. We can't expect every road to be gritted by them but there are plenty of individuals nearby who will do their bit in getting the roads clear.

Political correctness alive and well

2009-12-27T20:09:00.003Z

How is that most awful of things 'Political Correctness' doing at the moment? I can report that it is alive and well, at least in Sudbury in Suffolk. Not that I would normally run a story so far out of my patch but evidently the local council there have become over zealous regarding 'PC'. The unwitting victim of the latest nonsense is Mr John Sayer, 75 years old, a town councillor and former town mayor who runs charity bingo sessions. It's John's calling at the bingo that has led to him being advised to delete certain phrases that I believe have been used in bingo halls from the year dot. An instance is "two fat ladies - 88". It is understood that this might cause offence if for instance there happened to be a couple of fat ladies sitting together marking off their bingo cards!! Not that there have been any complaints - until now that is. According to Mr Sayer some people taking part aren't happy because the caller has stopped using this 'bingo speak' in the events.

It almost defies belief that anyone using a phrase such as "two fat ladies - 88" should be censured. What on earth is this country coming to?

Fantastic Christmas song from 'Astral Plane'

2009-12-26T14:18:00.005Z

Yes, I know that I should have made this entry before Christmas Day but I had taken my eye off the ball, not appreciating that Kevin Romang and Silvia Plegniere had produced this marvellous video. If you follow this blog you will know that I've already featured some of the great music that Kevin and Silvia have produced and as this latest offering from them maintains their incredible standard well I couldn't resist adding it to the blog so readers can share it.

Prior to Christmas it will be recalled that there was a mighty tussle to see who could be number one in the Charts for Christmas 2009. I had to go to YouTube to hear what each of the two contenders was about! Big yawn! I hope that, like me, you will find "So Give unto Me" a great antidote to all the puffed up hype in the pop world.

Enjoy!

Train failures in Channel Tunnel

2009-12-20T15:55:00.002Z

I have to say that I'm glad this weekend to be anywhere other than on a Eurostar passenger train between London and Paris! It must have been hellish to have been a passenger on one of the five trains that broke down in the Channel Tunnel and not a lot better if you were on the 'relief' train that came to an unscheduled stop in Kent. All this mayhem is we are told down to the weather. I don't know about the last mentioned breakdown but it seems as if the reason for the failures in the tunnel were because the trains and their operating systems had become cold out in the open countryside and then after entering the warm and humid atmosphere in the tunnel condensation had occurred on the electronics, enough to cause the breakdowns.

One or two observations here: firstly, although I understand the necessity of incorporating these clever electronics and no doubt 99.99% of the time they are fine, there does seem to be a degree of frailty when exposed to the most extreme weather. This reminds me f those failures on the Virgin trains at Dawlish when high tide and an easterly gale were throwing waves over the sea wall. The poor old electronics got a soaking and gave up on a number of occasions. This was some time ago and I guess these particular problems are resolved. No doubt the Eurostar engineers are 'burning the midnight oil' to find some solutions to their difficulties.

The other thing I want to comment on is the response of the train company at the time of the incidents. Unsurprisingly, following such a horrendous experience, many passengers affected have been quick to condemn the train company over things like lack of food and water while they were holed up in the tunnel. I can understand their reactions but I wonder what sort of provisioning is on the train should this sort of situation ever happen - would it be reasonable to expect these expresses to be prepared for the scenario of breaking down for a prolonged period of time.

I get the feeling that communication was poor or virtually non existent and this is where these companies seem not to get it. I may be maligning 'Brittany Ferries' but when they had a fire on one of their ships part way across the English Channel one of the main complaints from passengers was the lack of communication from the crew. Communication surely is key in these sorts of situations but is often lacking. The ferry incident was some time ago if you are wondering how you missed this story.

For me personally there is no conceivable reason to travel through the Channel Tunnel. Following these recent events I won't be looking to find one!

Snow here today, enough to be a nuisance

2009-12-19T21:06:00.004Z

Yesterday I was far too smug about the weather, pointing out the lovely sunshine we had enjoyed and comparing this with the snowfalls elsewhere - particularly in the south east. Should have kept quiet because the white stuff has been in evidence here today. Not that it has amounted to much but it is nuisance value one can say making things a little treacherous underfoot. Walked up the hill to the station in the early evening to meet a friend off the train and discovered that it had been bright and sunny in Exeter! It would appear that the showers plaguing my area today were mainly affecting West Devon and East Cornwall. The wind has dropped which is good from the point of view that the snow hasn't drifted; the downside is that today's showers have hung around rather than quickly passing through.

It had been my intention to go to the Wassail at Cotehele this morning but with the bitter cold I have to say that I chickened out. I'm told that there were lots of people there and that they had snow as well. Last year 'The Rubber Band' and friends led the (musical) procession up to the orchard but I can't imagine their instruments being happy about being in the snow so I don't know how they managed today. Wassails traditionally I think take place early in the new year - I suspect that the timing of this one has something to do with the National Trust's commercial considerations. Christmas is an important time for them at Cotehele because the main hall in the house is open so that people can go in and see the magnificent garland of dried flowers that is hung there every year and of course participants in the Wassail just might make some Christmas purchases in the Trust's shop!

I am wondering now if this winter will be like the last one, rather colder than the mild damp ones that have become the norm in recent years. I said in a recent post that I am undecided over the question of man made climate change but if this winter is cold overall and we have another summer lacking in sizzling temperatures then whatever government is in power will have one heck of a job convincing the population that 'global warming' is here. The sceptics will be very much in the ascendant.

No snow here ... and violets in flower

2009-12-18T21:02:00.002Z

There are times, particularly when it's raining almost incessantly, that I envy those living in the east of this country with their much drier climate. However at the moment it's definitely a case of "west is best" for those needing to get about: whereas the south east is suffering heavy snow there isn't a flake in sight in the Tamar Valley. In fact we have had some brilliant sunshine with crystal clear visibility albeit that it has been bitterly cold.

Yesterday I had a brisk walk a short way down the river. Almost opposite the weir there are some patches of violets - it is a favoured spot and I normally expect to see the odd one in flower before Christmas. In fact two were visible with a bit of searching but a friend had seen them some time previously I was to subsequently learn! A little while ago winter heliotrope in flower was in evidence near the railway station: not a pretty flower in my opinion and an alien swamping any other vegetation in its vicinity but with flowers in generally short supply perhaps I shouldn't begrudge its presence!

Another import and a species much more amenable to me is the mimosa. I have written about these shrubs before and I love their smooth trunks, feathery leaves and bright yellow flowers. One or two hereabouts were totally devastated by last winter's weather. Another one though, in a courtyard in Tavistock was nipped by the frosts at that time but wasn't a total loss fortunately and a few weeks ago appeared to be in good health. I just hope that this cold spell doesn't persist and that once again we see it in flower.

Plymouth selected as World Cup host

2009-12-16T20:26:00.004Z

It's very rare for me to touch sport on this blog but this is an item I think I should mention. Strangely, like my last story, it involves the year 2018. Should this country get to host the 2018 soccer World Cup then Plymouth Argyle's Home Park will be a venue in the competition! This is a huge accolade for the city and will help put the south west on the sporting map for once. It should be remembered too that Plymouth could be 'up in lights' prior to then if young diver Tom Daley does well at the 2012 Olympics. Although I'm not into sport myself I think it all bodes well for the major city in my two counties in this coming decade, there could be a real buzz about the place.

Death knell sounded for cheques

2009-12-16T19:14:00.002Z

I see that it's been a week since I last blogged so I have some catching up to do! So I'll get cracking. It's been announced on today's UK news that there is a plan to get rid of cheques by 2018. The 'UK Payments Council', first time I have heard of them, have set a date of 31 October 2018 by which time they aver there should be no need to use cheques. They, quite rightly, point out that use of cheques has been declining for a number of years now and for various reasons I can see the process continuing and possibly accelerating. As an example - more and more purchases are being made 'on line' and usually the transactions will be done using a debit or credit card, partly because you get much quicker gratification in receiving your goods. There are an increasing number of supermarkets and large stores too not accepting cheques and isn't hard to believe that more of them will join in.

In my own case I find that there is a decreasing need to write cheques as modern technology comes into play. Having said that there are certain circumstances where cheques are an ideal method of money transfer and it will be interesting to see what could replace them. I'm particularly thinking of small societies and charitable groups. For instance I'm programme secretary of our local history group: having agreed a fee with a speaker I will inform our treasurer. She gives me a cheque for the amount which I then pass over to the speaker at the end of the meeting. All very practical. What I had forgotten about and should have remembered is that such cheques need countersigning signatures which is the norm for such organisations. This point was raised by a Radio Devon listener and having been a cheque signatory I should have spotted that. It will be very interesting to see how this problem gets dealt with.

There is the matter of many many small businesses (the life blood of this country I say) who find cheques really convenient. Think window cleaner, chimney sweep, piano tuner as examples of tradesmen coming to your door. Should they and their customers be forced to adopt some sort of technology to enact payment? What about the millions of private sales that take place. Surely we can't expect buyers to have to find an ATM and perhaps carry a considerable amount of cash on them with all the risk that that involves.

It might be reasonable for banks to charge their private customers something for a chequebook to reflect the additional cost that cheques create. This reminds me (I'm showing my age here!) of the time when each cheque cost 2 old pence, a book of 30 having a price tag of five shillings in old money. This wasn't a case of "greedy bankers" by the way - I'm pretty sure that all this money went to the government. I can't recall which administration removed this charge, I just remember it happening many moons ago.

This story today has brought to the fore a little bit of history. It seems as if it was some 350 years ago that saw the first cheque in this country and I understand it was for the sum of £400, a sizable amount of money in the mid seventeenth century I would have thought. A bit of trivia I thought you should know!

Random thoughts on climate change

2009-12-09T16:05:00.004Z

I'm someone who takes a considerable interest in the environment and is concerned about the future of this planet. With the Climate Change Conference now taking place in Copenhagen I think it's time to make a few observations - for what they are worth. But before I start lets get rid of the use of the word "deniers". I don't know how the term came into being in connection with climate change but the most well known use of this word relates to the Holocaust and I think it's pretty disgraceful to use such a word here. For the purpose of this blogpost I shall call those who believe in man-made global warming "believers" and those who take the opposite viewpoint "sceptics". There are of course many people, of which yours truly is one, who have yet to be convinced by the arguments made by other side. Anyway, here are a few thoughts:

"The science of man-made global warming is settled"

This is absolutely not the case. A number of observations and theories might point in one direction but this is most definitely not proof positive. It might make lots of sense to use the precautionary principle and try to stabilise the amount of man produced carbon dioxide but that is not to say that the science is right.

The man on the Clapham Omnibus knows the answer - not

This might offend you gentle reader and sorry if it does but huge numbers of ordinary people will proffer an opinion on the veracity or otherwise of man-made global warming. Sadly 99.9% really have no valid idea, many of them just go by their own hunches.

Our viewpoint might be influenced by our lifestyle

For those of us living in the developed world our feelings on the subject might just be influenced by whether or not we have a high consumption, high carbon use lifestyle, or maybe we don't live like that. Human nature being the way it is if one is the sort of person who say makes two or three holiday flights a year, uses appliances unnecessarily, drive a large uneconomic car out of choice and so on then you are perhaps likely to be more sceptical than someone who uses much less carbon. In other words enjoying a particularly comfortable and materialistic lifestyle is something such folk would be loath to give up and therefore their predisposition might well be towards scepticism. Although I personally am not into high consumption I'm not here to condemn those who are nor do I think I merit praise, it's just the way I naturally live combined with the circumstances which have influenced the direction my life has taken.

"The climate has always changed and what is happening now is no different"

Yes, the climate has always fluctuated and so the sceptics will argue that changes occurring right now to the Earth's climate is just a continuation of this process. They will talk about the "Medieval Warm Period", the "Little Ice Age", the Thames freezing over in winter, the Romans growing grapes in England, Vikings settling in Greenland and so on to back up their statement. The "believers" need to accept these happenings which they used to be reluctant to do. However this is the really important thing that hardly anybody bothers to talk about: the reason(s) for the aforementioned climatic variations aren't understood - there are theories naturally but no proof - therefore it follows that any present day climatic change might be a part of this cyclical movement but it might not. What I'm saying is that we can't explain why the climate keeps changing so logic says that what happens now may be part of this regular variation. But equally it may not so of course it is still possible that we have runaway global warming. In a nutshell past unexplained events can't determine what will happen in the near future. I must say it frustrates me that people don't want to see the clear logic that I have just expressed.

These then are just a few points I wanted to throw into the mix. One final observation to make: it has become really noticeable how shrill the two sides have become in trying to push their particular agendas. Rather than the likes of George Monbiot or Piers Corbyn name calling those who disagree with them can we have some reasoned debate - please!

LibDem candidate wastes money on Xmas Card

2009-12-09T11:47:00.003Z

In my mail today I've just received a Christmas Card from ... Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate Karen Gillard! I'm assuming that all homes in the South East Cornwall Constituency are getting one. I really can't believe that what must be an expensive operation will garner more than a handful of extra votes come the General Election. Certainly in my case Ms Gillard's card will not encourage me to vote for her - if anything it might push me away as it seems to be a waste of paper and a waste of money. Sorry Karen your action is an absolute no-no for me!

Dr Kelly death - experts are found wanting

2009-12-07T20:07:00.003Z

Following on from my last post I've found this recording of part of the Channel 4 News originally broadcast just under eight months after Dr Kelly's death. In it you can hear some of the concerned medical experts who were unconvinced by Hutton's conclusions but what really gobsmacked me was the opinions expressed by two forensic experts from Sheffield (this bit starts at about 3.55). It will be recalled that three used blister packs of co-proxomal each originally containing 10 tablets had been found at the scene - in Kelly's coat pocket I think I'm right in saying. There was one left. So, quick bit of mental arithmetic here, 30 minus one = 29. Our first forensic expert states that 29 tablets were more than enough to kill Kelly, or you or me come to that. What is this "expert" on for crying out loud. Because 29 tablets are missing from the blisters he is assuming that all 29 were taken by Kelly. The post mortem suggested that there was a non lethal amount inside Dr Kelly, certainly not all 29 of the tablets. If someone had murdered Kelly one can imagine that removing a number of the co-proxomal tablets (and perhaps conveniently leaving one to assist the police!) would have helped to give the illusion that the death was one of suicide.

I don't pretend to be that intelligent but even I can see just how ridiculous is the argument put forward by the two forensic professors. Sure there is a lot more information out there now about the death and I have the benefit of Norman Baker's excellent book and of Rowena Thursby's brilliant blog to help form some sort of judgment about the matter. Having said that these supposedly clever men seem to have added two and two together to make five with the greatest of ease.

Mentioning Norman Baker reminds me of a comment in his book wherein he notes that the Home Office pathologist who went out to Harrowdown Hill didn't take the rectal temperature of the deceased until he had completed the rest of his examination. Apparently this temperature is one of the most important things to ascertain in determining the time of death and should be done as soon as possible to get the most accurate estimate. So why wasn't this done as a priority? Truly the experts seem hopeless.

Dr David Kelly might get a proper inquest

2009-12-05T18:28:00.003Z

Some really good news to note: six doctors (including trauma surgeon David Halpin who lives in Devon) have launched a legal action to get the inquest into the death of government scientist Dr David Kelly reopened. The inquest had in fact started soon after this tragic death but the due process was hijacked when Lord Hutton was given the responsibility of deciding how Kelly's demise came about. Hutton had no power to subpoena witnesses, didn't take evidence under oath, didn't have a jury to reach a verdict and is not a coroner. Blair's government decided that the procedure used when many deaths occur in an incident such as a bad train accident could be invoked here. That way of doing things is fair enough when you have multiple fatalities and it becomes somewhat pointless to have individual inquests for each person that died and an enquiry determines the root cause of the accident or whatever. The case of David Kelly is so obviously different - I won't mince my words here when I say that the decision to bypass the usual process of holding an inquest is one of the most disgraceful and unacceptable episodes in modern legal history.

I personally am convinced that Kelly was murdered. Now it may be that an inquest jury would not come up with a verdict of "murder by a person or persons unknown". They could well deliver an open verdict, even possibly suicide although I would doubt that if all the medical evidence is properly presented. What is certain is that Hutton didn't prove suicide "beyond reasonable doubt". We need a clear statement from the Tories now about whether they consider the inquest should be reopened. When Norman Baker's excellent book looking into the circumstances surrounding Kelly's death came out it was noticeable how the right wing bloggers ignored it. We must remember that the Tories in parliament were cheerleaders for Blair's participation in the Iraq war.

If you think the death was by Kelly's own hand I suggest that you read Rowena Thursby's blog here or pick up a copy of Mr Baker's book. Assuming that the subject is approached with an open mind I would be amazed if you didn't have any doubts about Hutton's conclusion re suicide.

Government Agencies - and Prize Draws

2009-12-02T15:14:00.003Z

This week I have renewed my car tax having successfully got the vehicle through its MOT test. Nothing too remarkable about the tax renewal so why comment about it you may well ask. Actually it's the card I had from the DVLA, a day or two before the expiry date, that I want to write about.

Now it's pretty self evident that DVLA are doing everything they can to get those wanting to renew their car tax to go directly to them by using the phone or the internet. The reason quite simply has to be that it is the most cost effective option for them. All well and good in one sense I guess in that it is our money that funds the DVLA and we should be pleased if they can cut costs. But, and it's a very big BUT, the more we go direct to them the less business there is for the Post Office! In my case the village Post Office is not much more than five minutes away, it deserves to be used and the couple who run it are exceptionally likable. As usual then it was the Post Office route I took to make my car legal to drive.

Back to the card I had from the DVLA. This was to inform me that I had an extra five working days to sort the tax; I think that the regulations have been amended to take account of the fact that they just can't get all the tax discs instantly back to their customers at the end of the month! They also drew one's attention again to their free prize draw giving you the chance to win a brand new car! Not a BMW or Jaguar by the way but a more modest model - a SEAT. Evidently the idea is to encourage you to go to their website and, oh while you there, why not renew your tax on line! Having as I said dealt with my tax up the road my curiosity was aroused enough to look at the website and then I saw that the free draw is open to all i.e. no purchase necessary. Thinking about this now I guess that it's a legal requirement that there should be no restriction on participating in the draw. I'm really getting to the point of this post now: is it ethical for the Government to allow one of its agencies to use the carrot of possibly winning a free car to draw people away from using the Post Office in order to to renew their car tax.

I think it is an interesting point to raise and just what a back bench MP should be asking Gordon Brown at PMQs!

Small scale hydroelectic schemes work

2009-12-01T20:21:00.003Z

As someone who really is concerned about the environment and how we have the ability to mess it up it might seem strange that I am less than convinced that we should have massive wind farms all over the countryside. It's where I part company with 'Friends of the Earth' and other 'green' organisations of similar mind who think that anything to which you can attach a label that says "renewable" has to be supported no matter what. I can't go along with that outlook I'm afraid.

One particular renewable I've been enthusiastic about for a very long time however is that of small scale water power. I'm very pleased that on the BBC news website you can read here and here about how a Welsh hill farmer is utilising the energy of a fast flowing stream on his land to provide power some of which at least can go into the National Grid and give him a useful extra income. The thing is that we have huge numbers of streams and small rivers, not to mention long pipelines of water from reservoirs, all of which have the potential to turn turbines or Archimedes Screws to generate electricity. This is an absolutely classic instance of "small is beautiful" as they say - two massive plusses of these schemes are (1) that the generating equipment is compact and unobtrusive and hence is not blighting the landscape, and (2) by having these small schemes close to the user the huge power losses resulting from electricity being carried over huge distances from the large traditional power stations exist to a far far lesser extent.

OK I'm realistic enough to understand that such sources of power can only supply a little of our needs but the technology is well proved. The water used is only borrowed for goodness sake so, unlike fossil fuels which go on getting depleted, the water will continue to be available. It's not only in the Welsh hills that this potential exists: I understand that there is a river (or maybe more than one) in South Somerset from which numerous waterwheels for mills obtained their power. A number of these are in a scheme whereby the old water wheels have been replaced powerwise by modern turbines. So there is proved potential in the lowlands as well.

In my neck of the woods there is an interesting example of water power usage which dates in fact to before the Second World War. The water is taken from the River Tavy, one of England's fastest flowing rivers. The engineers utilised some existing leats originally used for mining purposes and built a small power station at Mary Tavy just off the western edge of Dartmoor. Later, down in Tavistock, some of the Tavy's water goes into the Tavistock Canal (a feature again resulting from the old mining boom). Terminating high above the old port of Morwellham the water is now diverted down a pipe into another hydro electric plant on the Devon bank of the Tamar.

The middle Tamar Valley was home to many leats in its industrial heyday as was Dartmoor as I hinted at in my last paragraph. Why can't the powers that be see the immense potential inland waterways and pipelines could have in generating electricity. A large part of the answer I'm sure is that each of the small schemes I enthuse about is exactly what I've said - "small". Unlike the wind energy people who no doubt are very powerful lobbyists in the corridors of power there is no one really to bend the ear of a Minister for the little projects which in total could add up to a lot.

Just one other example I'll mention here and that is one of my favourite locations - the twin villages of Lynton and Lynmouth on Devon's north coast. The West Lyn river drops rapidly off Exmoor to join its sister the East Lyn at, unsurprisingly, Lynmouth. In its short course the West Lyn not only powers a hydro electric station but also provides the means by which the steep cliff railway linking the two villages functions.

That's proper green energy for you!

Evelyn Glennie plays 'Maple Leaf Rag'

2009-11-30T19:59:00.004Z

One of the good things about 'YouTube' is that not only are there many many videos on that website of what happened today, yesterday, last week but there are also plenty of others dating back years, decades even and this is one of the latter category.

I dare say some people will have forgotten about percussionist Evelyn Glennie who, in the UK at least, seems to have dropped below the radar. Here she is playing her xylophone on Japanese TV way back in 1991 according to the info added by whoever put it on YouTube. The tune is 'Maple Leaf Rag' which she plays with great flair - you get the feeling that the support band have a job keeping up with her! Just have to smile at her hair and what she decided to wear for this occasion!

By the way just in case you didn't know or had forgotten: Evelyn Glennie lost her hearing when she was a child. Yes this amazing performer is deaf!!

Flooding in Plymouth but we miss the worst of it

2009-11-29T14:52:00.004Z

The really pleasant dry weather we enjoyed in September and I think part of October now seems a very distant memory as yet again it is damp and dreary outside. Although there was rain here yesterday evening we escaped relatively unscathed once more because there was quite severe flooding in the south west corner of Devon in particular. The news this morning told us about people having to be rescued from their cars; it seems that the Plymouth / Ivybridge area was taking the brunt of the wet stuff.

Of course it's the poor folk up in Cumbria who have been suffering more than us in the West Country lately. And now I see that the area around Jeddah on Saudi Arabia's west coast is having its worst flooding for years with 100 or more deaths already. Here's the question then: are we and the rest of the World getting more frequent and severe rainfall events? Thanks to the internet and much greater news coverage off the web as well one becomes more aware perhaps of heavier rainfalls. Certainly I keep thinking "it never used to rain like this" but to be honest I don't really know.

A friend nearby is doing the sensible thing this week jetting off to Trinidad for a fortnight - staying with someone she knows I understand. I can well see why anyone with friends or family in warmer sunnier climes will take an opportunity to get away from the perpetual gloom here. The good news from my perspective is that in less than a month we shall have passed the shortest day, always a good psychological moment for me.

Water rates to drop marginally for some

2009-11-27T20:36:00.002Z

A major story yesterday for we long suffering water users in the south west is the decision by OFWAT, the water regulator, that our water charges should go down by an average of £6 over the next five years. As might be expected 'South West Water' were asking for increases whilst consumer groups were unhappy that the reductions weren't far greater. We of course pay the highest water rates in the country so if anyone was deserving of a drop it was us. This very modest change in what the water company can charge us still leaves those in Cornwall and most of Devon paying far far more than other water consumers.

I have to admit that my home is unmetered at present - my very modest abode has a relatively small charge levied on it but having said that I am a one person household who doesn't use a huge amount of water so maybe the water meter route ought to be investigated.

It's proved to be instructive to look at the OFWAT website to get much more information about the way the charges will change over the next five years and I was shocked by the difference between 'metered' and 'unmetered' charges. Yes I knew that those on a water meter were generally going to be saving useful amounts of money compared to the rest of us. However the figures that proved really telling were the ones showing the unmetered charges going off in to the stratosphere! The table for the 'South West Water' area indicates the average water charge (that's water and sewerage) dropping from £489 to £483, in other words six pounds less than today as per the media headline. It then goes on to itemise the typical metered bill and the typical unmetered bill for the present year and the next five - whatever "typical" might mean in this context. This gets really interesting because whereas the typical metered bill goes up slightly from £401 to £407, the typical unmetered bill starts at a current £723 before racing up to £935!!

I'm too tired right now to investigate further but guess that the increases take into account inflation. It is self evident that those people without a meter are going to carry by far the biggest burden and that the headline story in the papers and on the radio are only telling a fraction of the story. The whole thing is giving me an incentive to look at the water meter alternative, that's for sure.

Beautiful view of a nuthatch

2009-11-19T20:34:00.002Z

My last post was something of a rant, I've calmed down now and this time have something nice to write about. The back of my cottage directly overlooks a neighbour's garden, the nearest part of which she has planted as an orchard. At the moment the local blackbirds are feasting on the windfalls she has left for them and sometimes tits turn up to poke around in the apple trees for the minute insects they love. There are usually one or two finches that seem to keep the tits company. But what was especially pleasing this week was the sight of a nuthatch joining the menagerie.

I'm just looking at my 'Collins Pocket Guide to British Birds' and under Nuthatch it states: "Flocking. Sometimes accompanies winter foraging parties of tits and goldcrests". H'm, interesting stuff! Although it didn't hang around for long it was within about six feet of the kitchen window so I was very pleased to be able to get such a splendid view. I have to say that I'm no expert ornithologist, I just enjoy seeing them around. Not just birds but all forms of wildlife it has to be said.

I've never felt the urge to drive a hundred miles to see some rare vagrant that has been blown of course so that I can tick it off. Good sightings of relatively common species does me just fine. The view of the nuthatch emphasised just how much chunkier it looked than the tits that were fluttering around nearby. This excellent sighting made my day.

A rubbish idea in Queen's Speech

2009-11-19T16:37:00.003Z

I had no real interest in watching the Queen's Speech at the State Opening of Parliament; as most commentators are pointing out it is nakedly political and, no doubt, the Tories would similarly play politics if they were in Labour's position and close to a General Election. What particularly made me write the headline above though was the inclusion in the Government's new programme of a 'Fiscal Responsibility Bill'. This would provide amongst other things a "firm and binding statutory basis" for the government's promise to halve the budget deficit within four years. To bind any future government to any budget reduction in a fixed time frame is so obviously ridiculous that I'm almost refraining from commenting on it.

So what happens if a future administration fails to cut by the required 50%? Are legal proceedings taken against the then Chancellor of the Exchequer? In four years time we may have got through 3 Chancellors say, including Mr Darling, so how would blame be apportioned if the target reduction isn't met? In measuring the deficit will inflation be taken into account? And what about all the Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs) which I think Gordon Brown tries to keep off the books. A new government might measure the budget deficit using different criteria, who knows.

Reducing the huge budget deficit by at least half in four years can be considered a good statement of intent but how any sort of legislation can be passed regarding that is beyond my comprehension. It annoys me that anyone in power has the idiocy to think this idea is practical or right. They are stupid, stupid, stupid.

Heather Brooke: Reformer of the Year

2009-11-19T16:10:00.003Z

The think-tank 'Reform' have enabled online voting for anyone interested to decide who should be 'Political Reformer of the Year 2009'. With a landslide the winner was ... Heather Brooke, the lady whose tenacity got the ball rolling over the misuse of public money by many of our MPs. In other words it was her perseverance initially that won the right to get details of MPs expenses out into the public domain.

Well done Heather from me for not giving up when the going got tough. I think I have said before that it is a fascinating fact how even now one determined individual can create such a seismic change in an institution or in the way we live. I dare say most people will remember the revelations in 'The Daily Telegraph' about the way Parliamentarians have milked the system but perhaps not be aware that without Heather's work these matters just wouldn't have come to light. Hence this blogpost to remind folk about what Heather achieved.

Wind Energy distortion

2009-11-18T14:59:00.002Z

I consider myself to be as passionate about environmental matters as anybody but I am very free thinking about the problems we have here on Mother Earth and won't support a policy just because mainstream opinion considers it be "green". A case in point that I have alluded to in the past concerns wind energy. Conventional thinking seems to be that the more wind farms we have the better in the search for environmentally friendly power generation. I beg to differ.

Last week the early morning 'Farming Today' programme on Radio 4 was concentrating on the vexed question of wind turbines in the countryside, on the Saturday they have a sort of omnibus edition of it pulling together some of the strands in the programmes of the previous five days and I was awake enough on Saturday morning to hear at least some of this. What really fired me up was the interview on it with Chris Tomlinson from the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA). Talk about arrogance! He was questioned by the interviewer, Charlotte Smith, about the fact that wind farms aren't delivering power all the time. He really didn't want to answer this one and she had to press him for a reply. He said something about them working 80 to 85% of the time. He very hurriedly went on to another aspect whereas Charlotte should have gone further and got him to admit that out of the time the mills are turning it is only a part of that time that they are delivering their maximum output. The way he tried to duck the questioning told me all I needed to know.

What really does make me irate is when the wind power proponents talk about a windfarm producing the energy for so many homes. This is so misleading because there are many occasions in the course of a year when it is yielding either no power at all or something below the theoretical maximum. Going back to Mr Tomlinson it wasn't just me who was dismayed by his attitude - there is a message board on the BBC's 'Farming Today' website and there are many listeners on there who have taken issue with his approach. Definitely not good.

Kevin and Silvia with "You Were The One"

2009-11-17T16:12:00.004Z

On Monday last week I posted a video of Kevin Romang and Silvia Plegniere (Astral Plane) with their interpretation of a Bellamy Brothers classic. At the same time I commented that they have written original compositions and here is an example "You Were The One" which I hope you will enjoy as much as I do. There is a section about half a minute long in the middle of the song when Silvia plays her guitar along with Kevin. This is guitar playing at its exquisite best for me.

I have plenty of videos to go on the blog other than the ones from 'Astral Plane'. But the quality of their music is so outstanding that I just couldn't stop myself from adding this one to highlight their composing as well as their playing!

First Christmas Card arrives

2009-11-16T20:05:00.003Z

Today saw my first Christmas Card land on the doormat! Not only did it come via Royal Mail it was from Royal Mail! When I first opened it I thought to myself that this was a bit expensive if everyone was going to receive something similar. Reading it properly though I realised it was advising of the extra services they are providing this Christmas and also the last posting days for the different sorts of mail to ensure arrival in time for the day. Interestingly the envelope containing the card had a second class franking mark on the front, I suppose one bit of Royal Mail is paying another bit for the delivery!!

Anyway well done Royal Mail for being innovative with dispensing this important information regarding collections/deliveries over Christmas. I can't remember if they did something similar last year but now I've blogged regarding this card today I've got something to refer back to when my memory fails me in 12 months time!

Edward Woodward dies aged 79

2009-11-16T13:06:00.003Z

This is not the sort of news item that I would normally add to this blog: actor Edward Woodward has died in hospital in Truro aged 79. I gather that he had been ill for a while. The reason that I have singled out his passing is that he and his second wife actress Michele Dotrice once had a home in this parish, the former Calstock Rectory. Latterly they have lived near Padstow and I think that they really took Cornwall to their hearts although Edward originally hailed from the south east, Croydon I believe.

I never knowingly met Edward or Michelle when they lived nearby but I'm told how ordinary and straightforward they were. Edward Woodward will be remembered for his incredible versatility in a variety of roles both live in the theatre and on screen. Although as I say I didn't know him everything points to him having been a thoroughly decent human being and family man. Now he can rest in peace.

Genuine remorse about North Tawton graffiti

2009-11-15T15:57:00.004Z

My last entry was all about apologies, now I'm off again about someone saying sorry but in a much more local context. This is all centred on the Parish Church of St Peter in North Tawton. The village between Okehampton and Crediton and in the heart of Devon has its church featured in the 'Jam and Jerusalem' comedy show but it was the all to real graffiti scrawled on its walls and gravestones that has caused me to write this piece.

How the three responsible for this crime (two girls and one boy, all teenagers) were discovered I don't know but they all viewed the prospect of going to court and getting a criminal record. A different outcome though has emerged. The three of them all showed genuine remorse for their actions apparently and spent considerable time removing the offending graffiti. What pleased me even more was the fact that they had to face the church's congregation this morning and apologise for their behaviour as part of their punishment. This it seems has brought closure on this episode for everybody. I guess that they worried and sweated a bit beforehand, all part of the punishment I say.

Many criminal acts of course get committed without any subsequent regret. But in this sort of situation with genuine remorse I think a really good end result has materialised.

Brown to issue Child Migration apology

2009-11-15T14:28:00.004Z

On 1st April 2007 I blogged a piece about the then proposal that Tony Blair should deliver an apology over the role of this country in the Slave Trade. I criticised the Archbishops of Canterbury and York who wanted the apology to go ahead. My take on it was that the slave trade ended a very long time ago, attitudes in much of society were vastly different at that time and that for Blair to say sorry for something that neither he nor his government had put into place was a total nonsense. I stick with that opinion 100% and see no reason at all to alter it.

The reason I am mentioning this again is that I see that Gordon Brown is set to make an apology, not over any of the mistakes he is responsible for of course. No this bit of news concerns the child migration scheme which over the decades sent thousands of young children from this country to the colonies, principally Australia. Many of them were told, incorrectly, that their parents were dead. Huge numbers were abused. It is now regarded as a truly shameful episode in this country's history and what might seem particularly surprising is that it didn't stop until 1970!

Following the logic of my earlier blogpost I ought to be condemning Brown's intentions I suppose. However the slavery thing was absolutely clear cut but this is a little different. Bear in mind that 40 years ago children were still being packed off to another country - therefore, fairly obviously, there are folk still alive today who were on the receiving end of the policy. I'm still not totally happy with the concept of apologising for something over which you had no say but, having said that, these people should receive some sort of apology and I guess it is down to the Prime Minister to do this. Brown's counterpart in Australia, Kevin Rudd, will be saying sorry to the several thousand still in that country this week.

There is a piece about Australia's child migrants on the BBC website here. You can also read about the 'Child Migrant Trust' by clicking here.

Storm in south west blowing itself out

2009-11-14T13:54:00.003Z

Having had quite a benevolent autumn in my area things are certainly now going downhill. Some very rough weather taking hold with winds last night forecast on the south coast to be severe gale 9 to violent storm 11, in my book that's very breezy indeed. I don't think the peak winds in the early hours were quite as bad as that and certainly in my valley they weren't that exceptional. But as I have remarked before tucked away here in what is effectively a deep gorge sometimes the severity of the weather isn't apparent. When the wind is due south the wind really whistles through here but I think that it had veered south west when the worst of the gale came and from that direction the hill takes some of the sting out of the wind.

Just after lunch now and the main rain has long gone (but plenty more promised, thank you Met Office!) and the wind has abated. Low lying parts of East Devon have suffered a bit and of course the usual exposed parts of our south coast such as Penzance, Porthleven and Lyme Regis have witnessed spectacular waves. There has been no mention of the railway at Dawlish but as the wind hasn't been from the east perhaps the sea wall there has escaped unscathed.

I have to say one of the real pleasures now for me is not having to do the regular commute. By and large I can choose to be out and about when the weather suits. The local radio late yesterday afternoon was full of the problems of traffic congestion on the approaches to the Tamar Road Bridge. Because of the wind the middle lane over the bridge was closed and lorries, caravans and motor bikes stopped from crossing. Now it's some time since I've used 'The Parkway' (the dual carriageway A38 on the north side of Plymouth) and I can't remember but is there a sign to the east of Manadon Flyover advising traffic to turn up on the Tavistock route to avoid the bridge. Similarly west of Saltash to send the heavy stuff north through Callington. Extending that a bit further are there signs at Bodmin and Exeter to try and syphon lorries on to the A30. Possibly but I don't really know - such signs are needed that's for sure for freak weather conditions etc.

Back to good old 'Radio Devon' for a moment: I thought they included cyclists in the road users stopped from crossing the Tamar Bridge in their report. Perhaps I misheard this, or they may have got it plain wrong but I would be surprised if cyclists had been included. My understanding is that cyclists and pedestrians have the cantilevered lane on the downstream side of the bridge to themselves so that there wouldn't be the worry of cyclists being blown by the wind into the path of motorised traffic. How would cyclists cope though if they were prevented from crossing? Basically two possibilities I think. Firstly phone someone they know on the other side who has a cycle rack on the back of their car and beg them to cross over and pick up bike and cyclist. The other one is to cycle back to the station and get the bike on a stopping train and get home that way. A bit problematic though as the railway company don't allow many bikes on the trains particularly at commuting times.

The other alternative of using the Torpoint Ferry and cycling round to Saltash in dark wet and windy conditions would be too awful to contemplate. I can't in all honesty imagine cyclists being stopped from crossing the Bridge, after all they can always dismount and walk their bikes across. No mention in today's paper of cyclists having been stopped so I'm guessing that I have the story about them wrong.

Gordon Brown, the letter and the phone call

2009-11-13T16:02:00.002Z

Many blogs have commented on the furore that arose out of the letter of condolence sent by the Prime Minister to bereaved mother Jacqui Janes whose son Jamie lost his life in Afghanistan. So I might as well add my twopenneth ... As I see it nobody has emerged from this mess with their reputation intact. I have found it interesting to read comments on the lines of "I really dislike Brown and his policies but I do sympathise with him in this instance". This indicates to me that some at least can put their usual personal feelings aside and bring the British sense of fairness into play and that's pleasing. I will state in Brown's defence that, given that he is continuing the process started by I think Margaret Thatcher of doing these condolence letters, he is absolutely right in writing rather than typing them. If typed there is no certain sense that they are the words of G Brown, it could be a civil servant in 10 Downing Street doing the necessary with Brown signing it along with the dozens of other letters and memos crossing his desk.

OK so yes Brown is absolutely right to hand write such letters, I'll take my hat off to him for that. The problem for him of course is his restricted vision allied to really poor handwriting and he has let himself down by not having his letter checked by someone before posting and also the fact that he clearly altered a name rather than writing a fresh letter. This episode sums up one of his character flaws: he just seemed to be unaware of how essential it was to get everything right in a communication of this sort. I absolutely hate sending out any letter of mine that is incorrect in terms of spelling or punctuation - I'm not saying that I've never corrected an original letter rather than rewriting it but it would seldom if ever happen and certainly not if it was a missive of real importance.

In Brown's case this letter could easily have been written late at night and when he was really tired and when he was alone with no advisers around him. You would have thought though that with his handicap he would have realised just how important it was to pass a letter such as this to a confidante for checking. Well from now on in perhaps he will! Brown unfortunately is ill suited to this televisual age in which we live. He lacks many of the social skills and niceties someone in his position perhaps should have. An example was the instance when he was seen picking his nose in the Commons and before you could say "Tony Blair" there was a video of it on 'YouTube'. Another time he was meeting some dignitary with one trouser leg inside his sock. He is such a complex character - he really displayed genuine empathy when the Camerons lost their disabled son but on the other hand is well known for his unacceptable levels of bullying, his vicious temper and the fact that he will not answer a straight question. He got caught out didn't he with the recording of the phone call with Mrs Janes, very humbling I thought but goes to show how difficult it is to keep anything private these days.

As for 'The Sun' I'm not going to dignify them with a comment.

Kevin and Silvia in perfect harmony

2009-11-09T21:14:00.003Z

I have previously added videos to this blog of Silvia Plegniere playing music on her keyboard. Silvia has quite a few videos on YouTube as has English guitarist Kevin Romang. Both of these talented musicians saw each others work on YouTube and evidently thought how good it would be to become a duo. So happily for me 'Astral Plane' was formed. They are great songwriters in their own right but this is an old one and was a hit for The Bellamy Brothers. To me this rendition is perfect - simple, refreshingly direct and with Kevin and Silvia harmonising perfectly. It's the way music should be.

I'll be posting more videos of them in the months to come.

Public Transport getting even better

2009-11-07T20:20:00.002Z

The rest of my family all live in towns and therefore compared with myself there are more facilities immediately available. I have to say that there are towns not too far from here in which I could be fairly content to live, Tavistock being the classic example. Cities - big, anonymous, noisy; not for me I'm afraid, I'll stick with this village right now. As I drive but don't have an imperative to make many long distance journeys the cost and frequency of public transport never used to be a big deal so far as I was concerned. That's changing now, partly as a result of the free bus service that I enjoy, having ahem passed a certain age. Good news then that local coach company DAC are making their timetable even more convenient when for instance I don't want to use the car for the four mile trip into Tavistock.

The branch railway to Plymouth now has its trains spread more evenly during the day. (I may have blogged that bit of information before) and another plus is that the train windows at last appear to get washed on a regular basis, important on the sort of scenic line we are lucky to have. My own occasional observations suggest that this line is getting ever more use and I think that I'm right in saying that all the branch lines in Devon and Cornwall are seeing greater numbers of passengers. Britain's public transport has been much maligned over the years but it looks as if the various operators are getting their acts together. Incidentally DAC use reasonably short 27 seat buses in the Tamar Valley, longer ones could be a problem around some of the lanes in the area.

I have to thank one Gordon Brown for the bus pass (the man is not all bad!) but it will be interesting to see if a new government in 2010 imposes any restrictions on the use of this popular scheme.

Seem to be fewer fireworks this year

2009-11-07T19:48:00.002Z

The evening isn't over yet so I mustn't count my chickens but there do seem to be fewer fireworks this year around here. Looking out of the bathroom window the noisiest seem to be coming from the direction of a family who I call "the usual suspects" when it comes to fireworks! Yesterday evening I was in a building whose location and thick walls would have insulated us from any explosions so I don't know what it was like back home in my village. Perhaps the wet weather plus the recession has (literally) put a dampener on proceedings.

Having just typed this the aforementioned noisy near neighbours have just left off a few more rockets. I know this usually happens - they let off a few bangers, all goes quiet for quite a few minutes and you think they have finished and then off they go again!! For the sake of people's pets I just hope that tonight is the end of it until the usual mayhem seeing in the New Year.

Totnes Rotarians video on 'YouTube'

2009-11-05T21:02:00.003Z

I had a video all lined up to go in this post and then heard about these antics by the Totnes Rotarians. I thought it so amusing that I couldn't resist adding it to the blog. Just in case you didn't get the message the Totnes Rotary Club are having their Annual Conference next February at the 'Langstone Cliff Hotel', Dawlish Warren! Nice free advertising for that establishment. Doesn't that well known tune lend itself to a variation of its original words!

Cameron upsets some Tories

2009-11-05T20:30:00.003Z

So David Cameron upset a few of his own side yesterday when he made it clear that should he become Prime Minister following the General Election he will NOT hold a referendum regarding the Lisbon Treaty. This all goes back to his piece in 'The Sun' ages ago and his "cast iron" guarantee. There was a link to this on someones blog which I read earlier today and I have to say that to me at least his phrasing is a little ambiguous. This leads to the age old problem that people will make their own construct from the words they read to suit their own agenda.

Realistically I suppose it was never on that one could have a sort of retrospective referendum, for better or worse the deal is done. My thinking is that we have gone more than far enough down the Federal Europe route. After Brown took over from Blair there was an attempt by a Tory backbencher to introduce a Bill whereby any legislation enacted in this country that had its origin in Brussels would have that fact stated in said legislation. Labour had the whips out on that one to make absolutely certain it would not make headway, a disgrace in my honest opinion. Cameron should ensure that such a proposal goes into the Conservative Manifesto.

Property prices on the up - or not

2009-11-03T16:28:00.002Z

"Property cheer at last" - that was the front page headline in last Saturday's Western Morning News with its report that house prices continue to inch up. But in its piece the WMN records the comments of a few estate agents who were not quite so bullish about the housing market as one might expect: in my opinion they are usually far to eager to talk things up! And the massive problem of affordability for the first time buyer was flagged up being a huge stumbling block in much of this low wage peninsula.

So what will happen with house prices? I hope if nothing else that they are stable now and into the future. It's noticeable that the WMN weekly property supplement is getting a little thicker and that top of the range properties continue to be advertised for quite ludicrous prices. Near me two Cornish cottages are for sale (different vendors and estate agents) at prices that I would describe as "very optimistic" and I shall be interested in seeing how much they eventually sell for. I have to say that with the economy being very fragile and with more unemployment to come I am glad not to be in the property game.

A current news story concerns a family - somewhere in Devon I believe, don't know where - who were facing eviction from their rented property because their landlord had fallen behind on his mortgage payments. What a horrendous situation! But with their plight having been highlighted somebody has come to the rescue and that story seems to have a happy ending.

Griffin and Question Time - the verdict

2009-10-23T14:50:00.003Z

What are we to make of the appearance of Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, on last night's BBC Question Time? I'll kick off by saying that I got it wrong in my last post about Griffin being isolated at the end of the table - the reality was that he sat next to chairman David Dimbleby with Bonnie Greer the coloured American born playwright and critic on his other side. These two were on Dimbleby's left (or right when viewed from the audience) whilst the representatives from the three main parties formed a triumvirate on his other side.

It became obvious from the start that the format of the programme could be summed up as "Operation Get Griffin" because it was almost entirely devoted to a character assassination of the BNP leader. Now I was quite happy in one sense to see his facade of bogus acceptability torn away but was QT the right forum in which to do this in as much as this appeared to be the sole intention of the other panel members and it has to be said David Dimbleby as well.

Unsurprisingly comment today has been very polarised in response to the programme. On reflection I suppose it was always going to involve strong personality attacks rather than discussion about current policies and events. We should remember that this country has a strong tradition of wishing to see fair play and of supporting the underdog and I think that there are quite a few people who don't support the BNP but who nevertheless have reservations about what turned out to be five against one (this is including Mr Dimbleby) and so maybe a one to one interview to expose what the BNP are standing for should have been the way forward. Jeremy Paxman on 'Newsnight' seems an obvious candidate for this. Griffin on QT was able to get the sympathy vote from some.

Immigration got an airing on the show and this seems to be a subject attracting some normally Labour voters to the BNP. It's a bit like the Tories losing votes to UKIP - these minor parties may never get an MP under the first past the post system but they could do enough damage to the two main parties to cause the latter to lose their seats to the LibDems as an example. Factor in at the next General Election the voter's discontent about the mainstream parties following the expenses scandal and many current MPs standing down and who knows what will happen. Interesting times indeed.

Hain scores own goal against Griffin

2009-10-22T14:52:00.003Z

Whatever possessed cabinet minister Peter Hain? Is he thick or what? I'm referring of course to his apparently one man intervention to try and stop odious BNP leader Nick Griffin appearing on BBC1's 'Question Time' tonight. The BBC, perfectly correctly in my opinion, have allowed the BNP, a minority party, to have its say on the flagship programme. After all the BNP garnered a considerable number of votes in the European elections earlier this year and now I think have two MEPs, one of which is the said Mr Griffin. I hope that I've got my facts right here but I think that Hain's complaint was that the BNP were breaking the law by prohibiting certain people from joining their party because of their ethnic origin for example. The BNP say they will amend their rules to allow such people to join them.

Now if this is the case it just shows the total idiocy of our laws. I would prefer that if organisations want to preclude people because of the colour of their skin then that is their affair. We know that the BNP are racist thugs but if they allowed coloured people to join (and just how many such people would wish to join them I ask) then they would be gaining some sort of legitimacy in the eyes of the general public perhaps. It is noticeable how they are doing what they can to shed the very nasty image they have had and are targeting disaffected Labour voters particularly in areas of high immigration. The reality of course is that this leopard is certainly not changing its spots! The right questions eg about his denial of the Holocaust could really do him down. Let's hope so.

Hain has been mightily stupid as the one cabinet minister going out on a limb in trying to stop Griffin from appearing on the programme when in fact senior Labour cabinet man Jack Straw has already agreed to be in the line up. All that Hain has achieved is giving Griffin the oxygen of publicity that the latter so clearly craves. Talk about an own goal!

Interesting question for the Beeb now is "where abouts on the platform do they put Griffin?" My guess will be on one end so that only one other person on the panel has to be next to him. One prediction I think I can make is that there will be plenty of people in the blogosphere having a say about the programme, and Griffin in particular, after the event.

Kenji playing hammered dulcimer

2009-10-21T13:17:00.004Z

First of all apologies for the fact that this YouTube video isn't of the best quality and has some extraneous sound but of course this site is open to all who want to upload onto it and the quality varies enormously. However there are two special reasons for my wanting to share this: firstly Japanese hammered dulcimer player Kenji Komatsuzaki is a huge inspiration to my more modest playing of this instrument - I'm just in awe of his technique and lightness of touch. The other point I want to make is that this a fabulous rendition of a wonderful tune by the blind Irish harper and composer Turlough O'Carolan. Called "Si Bheag Si Mhor" it is said to be about the war between the fairies of the two fairy mounds called Si Bheag and Si Mhor (the little hill and the big hill). The little hill won (allegedly).

Although I'm a great admirer of O'Carolan I have to say I don't think of any sort of battle when listening to this music! To me it is just hauntingly beautiful.

Recorded memories - a unique present to give

2009-10-21T10:20:00.007Z

The word "Christmas" slipped into my last blog post. Now I've stated before that I'm not big on Christmas: yes great for children and a reason for families to meet up but for me not something to get overexcited about to be honest. "Christmas" inevitably leads on to the little matter of presents and here I'll put my hands up and say that personally I'm not into exchanging presents with adult relatives; if that makes me sound scrooge like then so be it - I'll just have to live with that!

However this is an opportunity to flag up a very very different sort of present to the usual products - it's about the oral recording of people's memories. With today's technology that permits really top class recording in a person's home and our increased desire to connect with our past family history it is unsurprising that recording voices for posterity has become increasingly popular - history groups for instance are getting into this. An example is our own Calstock Parish Archive in which a number of our more senior citizens have willingly allowed themselves to be taped.

This is fine of course for we local historians but there are many people out there who would wish that they had recordings, really high quality recordings, about the richness and variety of their own lives and the changes they have seen that they could hand down to the family. Yes photo albums are great but what if these were complimented by CDs of their voices recalling their memories. Sadly in my case I took insufficient note of what my late mother and father said and recollections have got a bit fuzzy to say the least. But for today's folk help is at hand - well in Devon and Cornwall at least. How? Well let me introduce you to a lady, Lorna Baker, who with husband Ted lives in the Tamar Valley. Lorna has a business 'Real Life Recordings' in which she professionally records peoples life stories. When I say "professionally" I mean it in the truest sense of the word - Lorna has in depth experience of working with the BBC in her earlier life and is the sort of person who doesn't do things in a half hearted way so what you get from her is a 'proper job'. She has a really pleasing website here which includes some audio clips (with the various 'owners' permission obviously) which are indicative of the sort of memories that come out when she talks to people.

Of course recorded memories would make a wonderful present at anytime of the year, not just at Christmas. And unlike the typical consumer product which is likely to wear out, break or otherwise get discarded this is something that will last indefinitely. I'm very happy to endorse high quality products and services on this blog and believe me this is of the best.

All change on the weather front

2009-10-21T09:20:00.004Z

For the latter part of September and the first half of this month the weather has been very benign in my area, some compensation for the dampness of the past summer, but now it's taken a turn for the worse. Low pressure has taken over from the friendly 'high' and yesterday morning we experienced the first significant amount of rain for several weeks. Added to that the wind is a lot brisker. Having said that there is some blue sky out there as I type with a few fitful glimpses of the sun so it could be very much worse.

Just to illustrate how incredibly variable our weather is it was interesting to hear the reports on Radio Devon this morning from their volunteer weather watchers of the amount of precipitation collected in their rain gauges yesterday. Up in North Devon it was 37 mm I think which equates to about one and a half inches in old money. However in the South Hams an almost negligible 2mm was noted. I would say that here we were between these two extremes.

Just a couple of months now to the shortest day of the year. So it's long dark evenings, Halloween and fireworks to look forward to. Or not. I can't enthuse about any of the aforementioned I'm afraid. Nor the commercial splurge of Christmas. But I have a thousand and one things to be thankful for in my life so I don't dwell on the things that aren't to my taste.

Smeaton's Lighthouse lit by candles again

2009-10-18T20:29:00.004Z

Our local media have been faithfully reporting the anniversary of the first lighting of Smeaton's Lighthouse on the treacherous Eddystone Reef. To be precise it was 250 years ago from this last Friday that 24 candles were first lit in the lighthouse and on Thursday evening the great and good congregated at the lighthouse on Plymouth Hoe to re-enact the lighting of those candles. I won't repeat here the riveting story of the Eddystone Lights as it has been well recorded in many places. However I will mention the fact, I think well known, that the reason that his tower had to be replaced out there was because the section of rock on which it stood was getting undermined by the waves - there was nothing basically wrong with the design. What we now see on the land is the upper part of the construction on a new base: the bottom of it was just too well attached to the underlying rock as I understand it for the good folk of Plymouth to bring the whole of it back.

Look out to sea now, and providing it's a clear day, the stump is visible alongside today's Douglass Lighthouse. What I've not seen mentioned is the fact that on the old pre-decimal coinage, when the penny was much bigger, the Eddystone Lighthouse featured on it in a small way. If my memory serves me right it was on the 'tails' side of the penny and down at the bottom... Not particularly obvious but still great that it was embossed on it.. It really is an iconic structure and joins Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge linking Devon and Cornwall, and Exeter's fabulous cathedral as the three most magnificent structures in my two counties, in my opinion at least!

Well done to the 'Western Morning News' who have cleverly linked this latest lighting of Smeaton's tower with another "candles" story. This was about the lovely rustic church of Rame on the peninsula of the same name which celebrated it's 750th anniversary with a candlelit service, the only means of lighting in this sweet little building. The whole peninsula is really special and for me Rame Church is one of its jewels. So two buildings in the one WMN story that couldn't be more different from each other. And one final point that the paper didn't mention - Rame is the closest point on the mainland to the Eddystone reef so another connection there.

Empty apology from Jacqui Smith

2009-10-14T19:18:00.002Z

Reading the Telegraph online I noted that Simon Heffer started his piece with a great turn of phrase: he used the words "When I surveyed the spectacle of Jacqui Smith winning the Nobel Prize for Insincerity on Monday ... " Yes, absolutely right Mr Heffer, it made me cringe that's for sure. She only did the sorry bit because she was told she had to and technically it might have been an apology but it certainly didn't sound heartfelt to me. In the end she owned up to the fact that in one year at least she was spending more nights at the constituency home in Redditch rather than her sister's house in London. She kicked off in her all of 1 minute 59 seconds of apology by saying it was a mistake that she had included the cost of films in with her expenses (this included those porn films that her husband watched it will be recalled) and that she had repaid this sum of money. Oh well done Jacqui, you're a star - not. She of course could easily afford to repay the relatively minor cost of the film hire and no doubt she was hoping that once repaid perhaps people would forget that little mistake. Er, sorry Jacqui but no, people won't forget that one.

A bit late on she went on to point out that she hadn't 'flipped' properties. A totally irrelevant comment to make Ms Smith. Nobody was suggesting you were, your misdemeanour was never about that, unlike some of your colleagues so why mention it. You don't get a gold star for that. And so it went on. She has been found guilty so far as at least part of her expenses claim is concerned, she has had little option but to admit to that yet she has not been required to repay any money. It is an absolute disgrace and I'm looking forward to her getting booted out of Parliament at the next General Election.

Lord Paul to be investigated

2009-10-14T18:38:00.003Z

In my last blog post I compared two very different men: Lloyd Gardner and Lord Paul of Marylebone. In the case of his Lordship there has been a development concerning his highly questionable expenses claims. He is to be investigated by the House of Lords and, get this, he Lord Paul has asked for the investigation! For a moment I was astonished to hear this but then I could see some twisted logic. Given what I consider to be a flagrant criminal act by Lord Paul I think that it is inevitable that what he did will be investigated - or at least it darn well should be! So perhaps Lord Paul is taking a calculated gamble here: by asking to be investigated he is putting out the message "I'm innocent, I've got nothing to hide" and then he might also think that their Lordships would be the people most likely to give his actions a clean bill of health.

High risk but "desperate times call for desperate measures" I think is the phrase used. Lord Paul is both a personal friend of Gordon Brown and a much needed donor to the Labour Party. If he doesn't get the support he is hoping for from his colleagues then the situation will be very problematical for Brown.

Compare and contrast two very different men

2009-10-11T17:13:00.002Z

The names Lloyd Gardner and Lord Paul of Marylebone probably don't resonate with many people but here are two individuals displaying the very best and the very worst of human nature. They are both in the news: in the case of Lloyd there is a wonderful example of selfless behaviour whilst the very rich Lord Paul has displayed greed bordering on obscenity.

So what are the two stories about? In the case of Lloyd we have a 22 year old waiter from the Devon town of Ottery St Mary. He was recently awarded £10,000 for his part in securing the conviction of a brutal rapist. This relates to one of the most horrific rape attacks I can recall hearing about in my two counties. It happened in Exeter in July 2006 when a woman was walking home from a nightclub. She was raped, stripped of her clothing and eventually found badly battered with a fractured skull. It is thought that she will never fully recover. Police had some CCTV footage of the area and had a lucky break when Lloyd recognised in the footage two Polish women with whom he had worked. He informed the police and that information was to lead them to Polish national Jakub Tomczak who was arrested, tried, convicted and given two life sentences. As stated above Lloyd received the very usable sum of £10,000.

We have then a young man, hardly rolling in money, and suddenly finding himself £10,000 richer. You would imagine that he would be grateful to keep this money. Nope. Lloyd reckoned that the victim was much more in need of this cash to help rebuild her life and donated it all to her. And remember he could of not told the police about the two women he recognised, a line some others might have taken. Again and again one hears of acts of total selflessness and Lloyd's case is a shining example of just this.

What then of Lord Paul that has so raised my ire. The 'Times Online' has the story today and you can read it here. In a nutshell Lord Paul, a deputy speaker of the House of Lords, personal friend of Gordon and Sarah Brown and generous donor to the Labour Party appears to have been on a good old fiddle with his expenses. The piece talks about questionable expense claims made between 2004 and 2006 when Paul was living in a London apartment block owned by he and his family. But his story to the House of Lords was that his main home at that time was a flat in an Oxfordshire hotel, owned by his own company. This meant, says the article, that he was able to claim more than £20,000 in expenses. Nice money if you can get it. It turns out that the flat has for years been the live-in quarters of the hotel manager. The present manager cannot recall spending a night in the flat or the hotel and her predecessor stated that he had lived in the flat for the whole period that Paul was describing it as his main home and moreover doesn't think that Paul stayed at the hotel during this time either.

I'm not going to repeat the last three paragraphs in the report, it's enough to want to make you throw up. The cheating of the system is just so blatant, even when caught out these men have no shame. I've said enough now, but you couldn't get a better contrast between generosity and greed.