‘A message from 10 Drowning St’. That was the headline in Metro on Wednesday. And the message is that it’s all under control, apparently. Though not before time. Metro also reported that residents in Somerset, who have faced the floods for weeks, said that recovery efforts only intensified after the crisis got closer to London. ContinueContinue reading “Bailing Out”
Category Archives: Environment
Looking Ahead
It’s happened. The seawall at Dawlish has been washed away, leaving the main line railway track suspended in mid-air. Fortunately, the London regime is known for looking ahead, anticipating such problems as arise from climate change and planning new infrastructure to cope with them. It could have wasted tens of billions building unnecessary new linesContinueContinue reading “Looking Ahead”
Wales: A Way And A Warning
In 2012 we noted the Welsh Government’s plans to create a powerful, integrated environmental body. Those plans took effect in April 2013 with the launch of Natural Resources Wales. NRW is the end result of a long process of bringing together powers that were once spread very thinly. Forty years ago, those powers belonged toContinueContinue reading “Wales: A Way And A Warning”
Our Silent, Supine Cities
It’s been a good week’s viewing for fans of Wessex history. On Monday the BBC ran a repeat of Michael Wood’s portrait of Alfred the Great, warming up for Neil Oliver on Tuesday, who wove a documentary about the king’s bones and their present whereabouts. If it was supposed to be an exclusive, it didn’tContinueContinue reading “Our Silent, Supine Cities”
Come On, Wessex!
WR President Colin Bex and Secretary-General David Robins were in Cornwall on Saturday, sitting in on the Annual Conference of Mebyon Kernow. The venue was what used to be New County Hall, Truro and is now Lys Kernow (‘the Court of Cornwall’). The building’s directional signage is all bilingual, in English and an expanding languageContinueContinue reading “Come On, Wessex!”
Growing Into What?
Labour announced last month that it will return to its bad old ways with a vengeance. Towns and cities will be given ‘the right to grow’, that is, the right to build over adjoining land. Neighbouring areas that resist will simply be stamped upon.It appears that Ed Miliband really is thick enough not to realiseContinueContinue reading “Growing Into What?”
If Enough Is Never Enough
“Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable – the art of the next best.”Otto von Bismarck, 1867Bismarck’s most famous quote is characteristically double-edged. Understood passively, it implies working within the constraints of the world as we find it. But to what end? Understood assertively, it implies redefining those limits, steadily moving the goalpostsContinueContinue reading “If Enough Is Never Enough”
Kleptocracy UK
The MP for Maidenhead made a very interesting speech this weekend. Theresa May set out what some observers perceive to be her stall in a future contest for the Tory leadership. (Sad isn’t it, that the chatter is about what British politics can do for her career and not what she can do for British politics?)ContinueContinue reading “Kleptocracy UK”
Regrets: A Few
In Pakistan, the Supreme Court has ordered the arrest of the Prime Minister on corruption charges. Our own top politicians could do with being arrested, to face far more serious allegations of disturbing the peace of the world.And not just the politicians. One of the questions we continue to pose is ‘do we or doContinueContinue reading “Regrets: A Few”
Working for Wessex
Frank Field is the Labour MP for Birkenhead, in Cheshire. Though Labour is his label, he is no mere mouthpiece. The unique depth of his knowledge of matters relating to welfare reform is widely respected across party lines. So when he joined the panel for BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions? on Friday night, interesting thingsContinueContinue reading “Working for Wessex”
Wessex Regionalists 