Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Is it not extraordinary ...

... that with all the many things going on in this country (most of them bad) and around the world (not many good) the biggest news items seem to be the never ending Leveson inquiry (just how much is it costing us?) and   the question whether the Prime Minister should know the price of milk or, put another way, ought Tory MPs not have realized some time ago that there are many prices of milk as it is no longer set for the whole country by a special board.

The story of Nadine Dorries, the posh boys and the price of milk, a subject she presumably took from the film The Iron Lady, may well become the subject of another rant on this blog. I am issuing a fair warning.

There is another story, of course, and that is the ongoing drought. If you don't believe me, have a look at the huge billboards on the subject, carried by a number of London buses. How much is that costing us? The whole saga of the English drought has been entertaining (if that is the word I am looking for) people wherever they gather to dry out from the rain.

Apparently, there will be a hosepipe ban in London and the South-East till Christmas, which makes little difference as everything is, and is likely to be for a long time, soaking wet. But even if we had not had rain every day this month, I would have and, indeed, did object to the use of the word "drought". These people have no shame. Drought, a terrible state of affairs, is when you have had no rain for three years, the ground is cracked dry, the harvest is non-existent and, in some countries, famine stares you in the face. That is drought. Not really a lot of rain for three months after quite a bit of snow and a wet summer and autumn is not. I know the difference is too subtle for most officials and media hacks but I am sure they can understand it if they put their little minds to it. (By officials I mean employees of the Met Office as well.)

2 comments:

  1. I think the pint of milk is a metaphor for the idea that these scions of privilege are gaily putting up taxes, without any idea how much pain it causes the average man in the street, or on the Clapham Omnibus. In that respect I find them guilty as charged.

    With regard to water I think we're entitled to expect that we have an infrastructure that can support the growing population of London and the South East, and we probably could have had it if water companies didn't piss it all away, if you'll pardon the pun, on inflated salaries and daft EU water quality regulations.

    On a related note we should all remember that snake Livingstone tried to stop the building of the new desalination plant at Beckton, which is going to prove invaluable this summer.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2114832/Desalination-plant-provide-million-people-water-taken-River-Thames-drought-hits.html

    P.S. The boss has moved his blog, you might like to get someone to update the link.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the reminder about the Boss moving his blog. I must, indeed, sort that out and create a blog roll while I am about it.

    ReplyDelete