The BBC hoodwinking us? Never in a .....or well.....

Most of us here in the UK have a bit of a frowned eyebrow about the BBC. There is their political bias, their insistence of righting all the wrongs about gender and colour and finally the travesty called ‘Strictly Come Dancing’. I watch it because my wife is glued to the TV set and I cannot watch anything else or have to leave the room. Why do I think it is a travesty? A travesty of pulling the wool over our eyes. That program has been choreographed from the very beginning. They have set the scene from week to week and know who will be going. The judges are obviously into that to some extent but what about the public vote? What public vote, does anyone think it matters? Despite what they say about it being a competition, forget it it is nothing of the sort. It is just a very colourful longish running soap opera.

I hasten to add you may differ in opinion, well why not? It is still a free country. But I do think it is quite clear how it all fits together. The one other thing that bothers me is the cost of it all. The money spent by the BBC is humongous. Plus the money they charge is humongous as well. It sure needs a proper look at it. Again though like everything else in this country, we are run by a red tape government. Slow moving at that. It might say all the right things but action if happening is usually late or too late. One of the things they tend to say when the public clamour for something to be done is ‘Let’s have a public enquiry’. Once you hear that you will know that whatever you wanted to be done or solved, will not ever happen. 

We are queuing up so many stupid matters that despite a bouncy Boris he might as well stay home. From having spats (not sprats) with the French to thinking we can solve the climate crisis, dealing with the aftermath of Covid and Brexit to the failure of protecting the countryside and many more small matters like control of the country’s finances and Prince Andrew’s predilection of making friends with the wrong persons, you will note the wry smile around my lips. But putting it in my court, I am lucky to be able to write about it. All that is required of me is to pay my taxes and that puts another wry smile on top of the old one. I need a facelift!  

Ed: This time it has been ordained that a same-sex couple will win. Oh yeah the BBC is a bit partial to that as it seems to have become a bastion, even a second office of LBGT+. Competition? Don’t make me laugh now. I hasten to add that I do not have a mental breakdown when I see a same-sex couple or even a person with a different inclination to my own. It's fine and yes over the years I have changed too. I wear much tighter pants nowadays, just so you know it.

Thinking about 1.5 degrees, could we, should we?

What a load of tosh politicians come up with. You have heard I hope the slogan - Keep the Earth alive and keep it to 1.5. Meaning to keep the temperature increase to no more then 1.5 degrees Centigrade. Well, may I tell you that this will be problematic? It pretty means well to abandon great swathes of Africa and basically all tropical regions. The temperature in general can already top 50° Centigrade in places. In Britain the temperature can top 40° C on occasions with the result that some crops will dry out and fail. More so the strange hot/cold springs that have been already around ruined my grapes in the greenhouse due to grey mould. It was unstoppable. So, to hear politicians joyfully say we will keep it to 1.5° is just claptrap. There is no way that will be done because of fear of collapsing economies. Just listen to the clamour from people who want to go on a Spanish holiday. They simply want to ignore the problem. 

That is the way it is all over the world. I think that we ought to forget any measures and just carry on. Nature will deal with us as it will see fit. Take some measures that will keep us happy, like electric cars. Although if you think that will be carbon sensible, forget it. To produce these makes Co2 just as much as making any car. The batteries alone will put tons into the air. Their manufacture uses Cobalt an element found mostly in the Congo basin. To dig this out of the earth needs power machinery, if you want big loads of it. At the moment child labour is used. Cases of cobalt poisoning are on the increase. 

But be that as it may, it ought to be understood that not a single manufacturing process is free from problems insofar producing Co2 is concerned or other nefarious gases. There is but one way we will be able to perhaps reverse the climate changing too much and that is to change the human lifestyle. It would mean, less meat, no foreign holidays unless you walk or cycle, no car driving in any way, building houses with multiple levels of occupation. Reducing the populations. Perhaps that is what the Chinese tried to do. They had in the past a law that curtailed families to one child only. I am not sure what came of it. But it might have worked. Was the ‘accident’ in Wuhan an accident? We might never know. 

Similarly the British government thought that ‘herd immunity’ would work but it did not. Did it change its mind? Not really, I have heard it mentioned again in dispatches. It throws up difficult questions - are governments really ‘saving’ their populations? Or are they shielding their eyes in the knowledge what is happening is unstoppable? Watch whether the WW2 bunkers are upgraded. They are still around London, not used at the moment but just watch and if they do start work, move to the Outer Hebrides fast.

Thinking about why I don't sleep.....

Us humans get worked up about almost anything. Reading newspapers or listening to TV news bulletins will show you quickly the latest ones. At the moment we are going to host the Glasgow UN extravaganza where we will discuss how to curb environmental damage. So it will mean build more, as my favourite journo, Rod Liddle said, bird mincers. Or in other words wind turbines. If you think these are environmentally friendly, quickly think again. The other thing he mentioned, sewage. Yes, our effluent from close to 70 million people goes into the sea. Where else do you think it goes? Not in my back-garden. My neighbour’s cat sees to manuring that. I have been thinking how to get rid of it but you know what? I like the beast. He sprays wonderful scents on every wall and then alluringly stares at me before coming over for a petting session. Lovely, won’t be long before I find it sleeping on our bed. Water companies face heavy fines when they are caught pumping raw sewage into rivers but there are many loopholes. 

The other thing we get worked up with is disappearing animals. Tigers, rhinos, more or less anything that walks on Africa’s continent. But we do not seem to mind the animals disappearing right under our own noses. Practically any animal is in danger in the UK. Burgeoning population, vastly increased house building, also on green spaces are mostly to blame. Disappearing wild spaces will mean more mental disease. Even in the area where I live it is remarkable to see more and land being concreted over. Planners are the worst problem we have today. Councils across the nation will need to re-examine their plans quickly otherwise in years to come we will have to face yet another calamity. This is not the legacy I want to leave my future grandchildren! No matter where you look, humans are the main culprit of almost any problem the planet faces. Be it species disappearing, seas and oceans fouling, air pollution, plastics, CO2 increasing and warming the climate, it all points to just one species. US! Humans. 

You may ask what will nature do to try to balance the environment? Well, it is already beginning. Covid-19 is here. It might have been an accident but it is here now. It will be with us like forever. More so, it will mutate like flu. So, more and more will be on the march towards us. As I have said many times before, the more we spoil, the more there are of us, the more are the chances we open the floodgates. As it is Covid is not so bad for the majority but it has had an impact on those who have health problems and the very old. However, just like in a war, nature is getting its arsenal up to scratch and before too long the next attack will be launched. Nature will not need beaches or ships but it’ll love our need for sunny holidays. Planes are one of the worst kind of disease spreader. Hopefully they will not shy away from difficult decisions or get into stupid arguments in Glasgow soon. We need to be quick and redress the balance. Come what may.

Thinking about 'Time'...

The latest BBC blockbuster ‘Universe’ with the great hairy science promulgator Prof Brian Cox is full of controversial exclamations. Well, that is my opinion of course, I just loved his morose ‘end of the Universe’ talk. I admit I was crying. Although come to think of it, it is something like a couple of trillion years in the future. Every time I see Prof Cox the television screen fills with incredible images. Colourful, big explosions and planets I want to live on. But may I just point out - what is the meaning of all of this? The point I am trying to make is that we know the Universe is going to end, the Sun will stop shining after it has swallowed half the solar system and we will have been served up like an Aussie BBQ. And the big U will be a dark void full of floating cold rocks. Now is that the end? No sir, it is not. I believe that the Universe when the lights have gone out, a force will be missing and another force namely ‘gravity’ will take over completely and over time (could be another million trillion years) will ensure the great ‘Collapse’. 

The concept of time is a human made concept by the way and has no real meaning in the greater scheme of things. Going to sleep for 7 or 8 hours when you wake up you have no concept of those ‘lost’ hours. The same if you went into a coma for a year. Yes, a trillion of our ‘years’ is a very, very long time but nothing at all in the universal scheme. It has no real meaning because we’re not there.The rocks getting together in the end will become so dense that the structure will collapse and other effects will now occur. The pressure will increase so much that rocks will become fluid, heat up and in the end it all will just go bang again because the mass that is the so-called ‘Infinite’ is unstable. In short we are in a Universe that is expanding, collapsing over and over again. An interesting concept to be sure. I have to say there are many scientists who have different ideas, such as the ever expanding Universe, or multi-verses. It is great to just think about but we will never really know that any of these ideas are true. I have thought about death many times, what does it mean? Meaning in a time sense, it doesn’t mean anything. For all we know it will be just like starting up again somewhere else in perhaps the same way or another way. Life is life, it just doesn’t matter how and as what.  

I just hope you will sleep well after reading all of this. Goodnight and when the ‘time’ comes I might come back as an armadillo or perhaps a biological robot. Hope you will recognise me!

Lessons need to be learned, and fast....

Although I subscribe to Twitter I only follow my grandson’s school efforts and obviously read some of the stuff that other people put on. But me taking part? Never in a million years. Twitter is mostly a cesspit used by Neanderthals. Same for Facebook. Recently I read a tweet written by someone who seemed to have inside knowledge of PPI (the clothing and other paraphernalia helping to combat or prevent Covid-19) and the government’s handling of the purchasing and storage, and the issuing of same. Now to be fair we have to remember it was a strange time. No-one really knew what was coming. This was not only the view in Britain but in the rest of the world as well at the time. You know it as ‘herd immunity’. It simply was the view that as it was a rhinovirus it would be no worse than a cold or at the worst a bout of flu and therefore the more people caught it, immunity would develop quickly. Obviously we were proved completely wrong. We have to remember this is all hindsight now but in the beginning of the pandemic various governments did not take it too seriously. The medical profession also was not too sure how it would develop but took the position of ‘better be sure than to fail’ and issued dire warnings. Well, we all now know how it developed. The question whether government failed is basically already answered. Yes, it failed to heed the warnings fast enough, it failed to adequately resource PPI, it failed to ensure what was needed for the doctors and nurses when it became apparent the virus was no cold or flu. 

Now we can argue about the how’s and why’s but the facts simply are these, how do you ensure that the economy continues when everyone is ill? It is a simple enough question because our country has an economy based on purchasing. If no-one buys goods the tax revenue collapses. And through that everything related to that. Inclusive of social care. It is a stark reminder now as we are changing to a greener way of life. Of course it is necessary to do this but look at the issues. You simply cannot throw out petrol and diesel, ban all cars unless they are electric, overnight. The infrastructure needs to be installed first and foremost.  

I do think that the Covid lessons need to be learned and fast. Our leaders need to sit down and analyse the various issues that were around at the beginning and the developments during. And one of the most necessary things to say is this - DO NOT EVER PANIC!

Antagonism, what's the point?

Many times I have asked myself why world leaders do talk so antagonisticly towards other world leaders. Take Macron when he talks about Boris. Or Rutte from the Netherlands pontificating about Brexit. Having a go about fishing. Ask yourself if ordinary people feel like that? I am surprised at the continental opinions about the UK. The Dutch in particular have a big opinion about what Brexit has meant here in the UK. Most of it is utter rubbish. If they just listen to the Scottish leader, the (in)famous Nicola Sturgeon then you surely will not understand what is happening in the UK overall. The case about fishing rights is simple, there is hardly any fish at all. So it is quite understandable that local fishermen want to fish their own waters without big competition from foreign trawlers. The French have a big coastline too and I am not sure why they want to come all the way to Scottish waters. 

But the overriding consideration has to be conservation of stocks. For sure the old adage used in the big stores - When it’s gone it’s gone - holds true even for fish! Certainly there are stress points to overcome. That’s what good politics is all about. Look for the best way that can satisfy both parties. It is the same thing talking politics between Russia/China and the rest of the world. There seems to be the idea that Russia in particular wants to conquer the world. That mostly would mean Europe I think. But is that really true? What would they gain? Europe would be in ashes for a start, the people starving and homeless. Would any Russian want to live in an empty desert? And when you talk about Russians you have to remember how big it is. It consists of a myriad of religions, ethnic minorities to just point it out. Russia is basically very small. It is the western area from Moscow to St Petersburg. Are they really so antagonistic? Well, the Americans think so but I’m not so sure. They do need us, need the trade. But again politics, the Vlad type is demonstrably aggressive. You may ask as I do many times, what’s the point?

Get things in perspective, please..

As an avid reader of two newspapers, one a bit of a sea-side joke type, the other a bit more serious insofar daily happenings, I worry about the mental state of human beings. When a simple dance programme on BBC (not naming names) has people in all sorts of frenzy. Whole pages about someone a bit thick calling a contestant ‘a chubby little thing’. Now in my mind that doesn’t mean anything but in today’s woke society it will ensure an absolute backlash of gigantic proportions. Looking at a picture of the ‘thing’, I will immediately paste that on my bedroom wall. And on top of that, she is pretty good at dancing as well! The guy who sent the woke brigade into apoplexy now faces the sack. Well hang on a minute, is what he said so incredibly bad? I am chubby although no-one will call me a ‘chubby little thing’ I’m afraid. Probably more like a ‘chubby little idiot’. People, please get a life! As it is there are bigger things to get steamed up about.

We all are by now pretty aware that humanity is facing its biggest problem so far. The changing climate. Let’s not get into the how’s and why’s, let’s accept that we are the main cause of why it’s happening. So, why are the nations that will attend the upcoming conference in Scotland quickly backtracking on some of the necessary actions? Like really cutting fossil fuels? The problem of course are the respective economies but surely we are nearly if not already, too late to save our environment. Look, the planet will survive, it will alter, some species will disappear, others will appear. But it will still be here for millions of years. But will we? Will humans be the great survivors? It will not be fast but every year it will be more difficult to survive. Food production will slow down, in fact some areas of the world will or can no longer support agriculture at all. 

And by the way just to put this whole ‘Chubby little thing’ in some context, the lovely ‘little thing’ is the daughter of one of the most outspoken fathers of all time. One who is not afraid to call a frog a frog and means a French guy. Who would probably call me a cheese head wearing stupid wooden clogs and a frilly white cap. Who cares! I don’t.

What should we say or write when we are upset?

Oh la la as the French say from time to time. The debate in Britain is getting hot under the collar. Well yes, so it should, you may want to know what it is about. It is about the language used towards politicians, by politicians and others, yes including me. It is a strange thing and I can only speak, write of my own experiences of course and that it is too easy to descend into vitriolic outbursts simply because there is no break. You sit behind the keyboard feeling upset in some way about something a politician has said or done, particularly a politician of a party you do not support and off you go. As you type the words spew out and you do not stop, out it all comes. Your frustration about your station in life, your salary level. The argument you had with the partner. I am sure there are many who then put all of that in a single line on Twitter. And what have we got? An expletive laced death threat you probably would never dare say face to face. And that’s the problem. When I have said in the past that I do not like politicians, what does or did that mean? Am I generally speaking or am I talking about one or two? It should be obvious that I am trying to convey my feeling about the level of public life I see and read about but that is no reflection on personal competence of politicians. It has to be understood that one cannot be talking about every single politician. We need to understand not everybody is like us. There are those who have a different opinion, a different attitude and a different station in life. Some are richer than us and more are poorer than us. It just doesn’t mean they are stupid or do not deserve to live. And if we are so angry that you must write about it, do so in acceptable terms and moreover look at what you write, would you say that to the person in question face to face? No? Then don’t write it! This is for everyone, every religious belief, every political view, every station in life. Obviously, there are some who are so warped they have lost all reality and live in a world that just does not exist. Perhaps for religious reasons or indoctrination, we know many such stories. Some of you know I am an Anglican Catholic. But do I think the Bible is the infallible word of God? No, I do not. It is the word of Man inspired by God. Therefore it cannot be infallible. So, do I now want to depose of everyone who has another view? No, I do not. I do follow a national party, do I want to dispose of those who are Labour or Conservative? Certainly not. I have had debates and what do you find? There are great similarities in views! Social matters tend to be very very similar. So there are areas of confluence, of getting together. With the present problems about global importance we certainly need to find such areas of similar views and act upon them, fast!

Edit - Oh yes nearly forgot to mention, people should not have the opportunity to be anonymous on the web. That would be up to the ISPs and to the platforms (Twitter, Facebook etc). Even though I use a VPN you could trace me through that if you really wanted to know. The browsers need to verify your identity, Firefox and Chrome etc do but the (in)famous Tor probably leaves a lot to be desired. Anonymity should be taken away. Simple as that.

Complaining, complaining and more complaining...

Right then, the latest interesting woke bit reported. Some plonker asks for a battered sausage (for the uninitiated, this is an English lower class delicacy consisting of some low grade pork meat laced with fat and dipped in a mix of water and flour - Persons eating this on a regular basis can live to 55 years of age). Anyway, the man asks for a battered sausage and was told ‘Sorry, can’t do, too busy at the moment’. Now any normal person would accept this and either buy something else like an un-battered sausage or go somewhere else. Not this plonker, he goes onto social media complaining about customer service being appalling blah di blah, di blah. Most shopkeepers or in this case chip shop owners, would just shrug their shoulders and think the world is full of prats (A prat is an idiot in our vernacular). But not this one owner, he politely tells the plonker to stick the proverbial sausage up his backside (ass in the vernacular). And don’t ever bother to come back. I just love this story. Good on the owner. We have had enough of this complaining frenzy fought out on social media. Or even face to face. We have allowed all sorts of plonkers to shout off their faces about the most ridiculous things. Look, if there is a genuine complaint and I have had a few, then go and face the shop owner and explain in some detail what the complaint is about. If the shop owner refuses to listen or act, then tackle the factory where it is made and if that fails there is the Ombudsman. I know this takes time, Rome was not built in seven days, we should not start thinking that complaints will be solved on the spot. In many cases they are resolved immediately but not all. Stay away from social media like Twitter with unfounded and frivolous comments. Stick to the truth and reality. So, as the chip shop owner said ‘ F..k off elsewhere in the future’. He could not be much clearer.

Another MP who has paid the final price....but why?

Terrible news today, yet another MP has been killed. As I have said before one may have differences, even dislike some other person but that is never a reason to kill, or should be.

I have a problem with some politicians and believe they should be doing something else with their lives but they do believe in what they are doing. Most have a great personal affinity with their areas of responsibility and a great public feeling of service. I also believe that lots of politicians, MPs in particular or Assembly members in the devolved countries such as Wales do not always agree with their respective parties, or even are opposed to them. In Wales Plaid Cymru favours independence from the UK. As does Scotland but their politicians are as divided on the issue as are their respective populations. The other issue that really bothers me is the vitriolic language now frequently used on social media. I know from my own writing that it is easy to descend into and use language that could be termed aggressive. But again, that must not include threats. Threatening to kill or maim someone is obviously a no-no at any time. To say to someone that he or she is an absolute idiot, well personally I have been called worse but that doesn’t bother me. I am no fairy with gossamer wings. And I would say to politicians generally, I admire your courage but perhaps you should talk less and do more. Obviously I am well aware that if you deal with say 2,000 constituents there will be 2,000 different problems, 2,000 different views on what needs doing and 2,000 opinions. These might not even coincide with the elected person’s views! So, yes there are great divides but again, never a reason to kill for. Not religious, or sectarian or for just simply held opposite views. It is a tragedy to lose a MP as indeed it is for everyone who is needlessly killed. Indeed a tragedy to lose any elected person in this way. If you do not like their work then don’t vote for them next time round. It is as simple as that.

Related? Yes everything is....

Has anyone ever thought how everything seems to be linked? I often note how people, generally speaking, are disassociated from nature. The way they act, the way they live. Truthfully I am the same although I try very much to limit my destructive behaviour. Destructive in the way I use things, buy things. Like plastic packaging. What we humans have seemingly forgotten is that we actually are part of nature, we are not outside of it. We need to be IN and part of nature. It is also why I think space travel is an anomaly. We cannot live anywhere else but Earth. Oh for a short time we could exist in a metal tube called a spaceship or even for a year on desert Mars but what would it do for our mental health? Mental health is the new 21st century disease. Prior to 2000 I had not heard a mention of it. Mental illness was something called in Dutch ‘krankzinnig’. ‘Insanity’ in good ol’ English.

But talking about how everything is related, putting in a lot of CO2 in to the atmosphere has the effect of trapping heat that normally would radiate out to space. It’s a human made problem. The Earth is heating up from below as well, most likely because the continents are always on the move but now they are so close that one or other must give way. You see this in the increased volcanic activity. The Sun also is going into another cycle and what that means we do not know just yet but we will soon I suspect.

The skies over the Rhondda are again cloudy or rather misty with exhaust gases from aeroplanes. Again because people still do not realise the impact flying has. The higher temperatures do not just have an effect on holidays when you can lounge on beaches but it will also have an effect of crops. The higher temperature already ensured much higher and stronger rainfall with hot and cold periods alternating at the strangest times stopping proper germination. or just interfering with crop establishment. This will simply result in higher prices everywhere. The present gas crisis is nothing new, it could have been foreseen politically. It’s cause and effect. The cause is twofold, firstly China now competes for Russian gas, our main supplier. The effect to curtail supplies would mean more income and political pressure to the Russian advantage. Some one asked me ‘Do you think the planet is in trouble then?’ Well no, the planet is not in trouble, it has had similar periods in past times but we are. We are simply changing the planet, if we cut all the trees, the resultant rain will simply wash the soil away to the oceans. The Sahara desert will grow to encircle the planet. Just hoping the camels will enjoy it.

Why do we need foreign workers?

Despite all the usual problems facing us, such as the energy crisis, the home building crisis, the mental state crisis, the China seas crisis, the grocery rising prices crisis, and my nightly waking up crisis, things are not so bad. But it is funny to look all around and see your environment changing and it is now happening faster than ever before. It seems we are at a crossroads and we don’t really know which way to take yet. We are dithering in the middle of the road trying to look beyond the horizon and not noticing the fast cars coming towards us. Watching the BBC Channel this morning, yes I know I am an idiot, the talk was about labour. Not the party but foreign labour in the UK to pick fruit and other things. I have always wondered why this was necessary? I do take it that employers, if it was unregulated, would love it as cheap labour would increase their profit margins. Even though government tries to regulate, it is quite obvious that in many cases it does not work. But taking away the profit motive what is the rationale behind all of this imported labour? There is obviously a need for agricultural workers. It has not escaped my notice that when you have seasonal crops, like strawberries or even hops on Kent farms you need a lot of workers but only for a short time. I remember in my younger days in Holland, people took a week holiday from their usual work to spend a week on a farm picking something or the other for a nice wad of money, possibly even tax free, and treat it as a holiday in the fresh air. There was no argument about foreign workers. If there were you would count them on the fingers of just one hand. So, why are we in the UK in this predicament? There are plenty on the dole, there are too many just work shy, there are many who have a bad back but can spend every morning in the local gym. We have become a nation of shysters who see the social security system as an easy way to make a living. Carefree. My solution is to send them, if medically fit, to pick the fruit and a slightly increased allowance. Also our various political parties need to get away from the idea that all UK citizens must have a university degree. So far the result has been that we have an enormous number of arts graduates, but no scientists worthy of the name and few manual workers. You can easily see that why I have such a jaundiced view on politics and politicians. If you give something free, people will almost certainly abuse it. Just look at the NHS. I am going back to bed and dream about my week picking strawberries.

The mental health of the world's politicians? Yeah, what about it?

You know we need less of the grandstanding and empty promises politicians make. Especially in the party manifestos and particularly so during the annual festivities called the Conference! Taking a point here, first Boris states that we will issue visas to foreign HGV drivers and some 5000 will arrive. Ehh? Anyway, the practical Keir countered by saying if he had been in power he would have issued some 100,000 such documents. Oh mama, get me home, what a load of bull! Is this politics today? Is this what they teach at Eton? As it stands two or three drivers have appeared. Well you can see how politics in general is today. It is called grandstanding and if you tell ‘m a lie ensure you do it often so people will believe you. 

Grandstanding also is a tool the Chinese love. We are now in World War 3 territory. A few ships, war ships to be sure, through the South China sea and immediately heavy talk ensues. That the Chinese have sailed through the English Channel (la Manche to the Frenchies) is conveniently not mentioned. Yeah, it is world political grandstanding. Makes you look good and strong, macho and virile! 

Just look at Macron with his empty threats. No food on the table at Christmas, EDF will stop electricity. Might I be amiss by suggesting these guys, these politicians ought to be sent to Broadmoor or foreign equivalent? To me I am beginning to see that there is something seriously wrong with the mindset of certain people. It might be because they are watching Facebook too much and want to be on TikTok. If you or I did these things, others would say we have a gross lack of care. Lack of care for our well-being.

Unfortunately we are stuck with these charlatans for the time being, well at least to the next general elections. Although would it change much? Over to you friends!

Ed - for the foreign readers, Broadmoor is a high security mental hospital in England (that means NOT in Wales or Scotland, just England. Does that say something?

Words, words, words....

Has anyone noticed the sort of language now used by reporters? Words like ‘ Bills have rocketed’ as one said glumly in front of a Manchester building during the Conservative Conference. Rocketed is more interesting than 'Gone up' or 'rising' I suppose. Words such as ‘massive’, ‘incredible’, and talking about the fuel ‘crisis’ you might ask what crisis? Then there is the word ‘calamity’ you hear a few times, although I must say if we are talking about the volcanic eruption on the Canary Islands, yes that’s a calamity. The facts are that in choosing these ‘strong’ words it makes reporting much more volatile. More ‘bone-jarring’. You may ask why? Is there a need to jazz up incidents? Simple reporting should be enough, it should not be about attracting more viewers. Surely we now have reached an impasse because we are now so used to the language used, it does no longer register. Personally I am just put off and only watch the news early in the morning. For the rest if I want to see something I just look on my mobile without the sound. I have to say that electronic gadgets now overshadow almost any other thing. This is another thing that bothers me. The use of mobiles by young people as they walk along the road! Hopefully they are just listening to music and not to the newscasts! Even so, I wonder how many will suffer an accident or are killed by such behaviour? That might be a hard-hitting, incredible, massive report showing the rocketing accident occasions all around us. Wow, a stupendous ordeal of the most grievous kind, the monstrous tyranny of the reporting style that will be the absolute survival of news stations in the whole world. It is a shocking acclamation of the most impressive kind ever seen or heard. Before you have a meltdown or cause a bloodbath and armageddon envelops us all, the bloodcurdling nightmare is not all that serious. It will not cripple you, it is not the catastrophe you expected, yet. So, switch off the TV, don’t watch the news and go back to sleep.