The Titanic

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Over the last few weeks, newspapers and television programmes have been full of stories about the Titanic, the ill-fated ocean liner that sank with the loss of over 1,500 lives on that April night one hundred years ago. Quite rightly, most articles have focused on the tragic loss of human life but there is another story too, one that I doubt is taught in British schools any more.

By the beginning of the 20th Century, at the height of Empire, the British shipbuilding industry was the largest in the world with companies such as Swan Hunter in Sunderland,  Cammell Laird in Birkenhead and Harland and Wolff in both Glasgow and Belfast supplying commercial shipping to the four corners of the Earth. In the early 1900s it was estimated that at any given time one half of the ships sailing the world’s oceans were built in British shipyards. Britain was an economic powerhouse and due to the Industrial Revolution it had become “the world’s workshop” to quote19th century Prime Minister Disraeli. One quarter of the world’s surface was a part of the British Empire and English was the most important and widely spoken language on Earth.

At the time of her launch the Titanic was the largest ship in the world weighing just over 46,000 tons. She seemed to represent all that was good and great about Britain and her Empire and was the last word in luxury. She was big news and wealthy aristocrats and businessmen from all over the world clamoured for first class tickets for her maiden voyage.

On April 10th, 1912 the Titanic set sail to the cheering of the crowds and the playing of brass bands amidst a riot of colourful streamers and bunting. She was the pride of the White Star Line, she was deemed unsinkable and so well was she constructed that the number of lifeboats was deemed almost irrelevant. If the ship was unsinkable why would lifeboats be necessary anyway?

Tragically, as has often been the case in the history of man, nature has a way of reminding him that he is not, in fact, all-powerful and so it was that on the night of April 14th/15th the mighty Titanic struck an iceberg causing fatal tears in her hull. A few hours later she sank into the icy depths. Her loss was both terrible in terms of the human cost and a terrible blow to the pride and morale of the nation. In many ways, coming as it did at the height of Empire, the sinking of the Titanic was symbolic signalling as it did the decline of Great Britain.

For sure, the British shipbuilding industry continued to thrive and prosper, just about surviving the terrible economic losses of World War 1 which broke out two years later but by the time of the Great Depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s the industry was a mere shadow of itself and in no shape to compete meaningfully with the more dynamic shipyards of the USA, Germany and Japan. Since then it has been a case of one closure after another so that now few British shipyards remain.

One thing is for certain though, for as long as passenger ships sail the oceans none will forget the story of the Titanic and that tragic April night.

The Value of a Horse’s Life?

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I’ve always liked horse racing, the bright colours of the jockeys’ uniforms, the beauty and grace of their mounts, the noise of the crowds, the lines of bookies stood behind their boards tempting you with their odds and then, if you’re lucky, the excitement as your chosen horse gallops towards the winning post in first place. In recent years, however, I’ve started to feel a little uncomfortable about National Hunt racing and the number of deaths occurring, particularly in steeplechases where the fences are so much higher than in the hurdles.

I didn’t have a bet in Saturday’s Grand National, largely because the race is something of a lottery and it’s often difficult to make a meaningful selection based on form and class. I watched the race though and was saddened to see that yet again, it was marred by two fatalities, one of whom, Synchronised, had to be destroyed one month after winning the Gold Cup at Cheltenham, one of the most prestigious trophies in horse racing.
Of course the deaths have sparked off the usual calls for the race to be banned and even for the whole sport to be outlawed. You may think that that is a bit extreme but the voices are getting louder and as the death toll mounts you have to admit that it’s hardly surprising. I read that approximately forty horses per year die at UK race courses and there were certainly five fatalities alone at the Cheltenham Festival held over a four day period last month. That is terrible and clearly something has to be done about it. The question though is what? It seems to me that we should approach the issue as coolly and unemotionally as possible and employ the best possible experts from horse racing and animal welfare to examine every facet of the sport starting with the premise that safety (both human and equine) has to be paramount.
Questions need to be asked and discussed fully such as, are the fences too high? Are the races too long? Are there too many competitors? These seem to be particularly pertinent to the Grand National, one of the, if not the, longest races in the racing calendar and a race where a multitude of participants funnel tightly together as they jump the early fences. The investigation should be initiated by the racing authorities themselves otherwise the voices of protesters will become louder, the Government may intervene (remember fox-hunting?) and the sport could be banned completely.
However, all is not doom and gloom, there is a precedent here and all the horse racing authorities need to do is look at motor racing. Up until the 1980s Formula 1 was carnage with drivers being killed on a regular basis. Eventually, the sport cleaned up its act and introduced stringent safety measures which have been so successful that there has been just one fatality, I think, in the last twenty years. So, it can be done, all that is required is will and determination. Oh, and a belief perhaps that the life of a horse is not worth that much less than the life of a human.

Charitable Government?

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It must be very difficult running a charity, especially when there are so many equally deserving charities competing for a slice of an ever-diminishing cake. Throw in the factor of worldwide recession and you wonder how some of them manage to survive at all. So what does the Government do? It decides to make it even harder by capping tax relief on charitable donations thus depriving charities of millions of pounds but raising more tax for Government coffers.

The reason given by the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer for this action is that many apparent philanthropists are anything but and they simply use the rules on tax relief for charitable donations for their personal gain and benefit. I’m sure that there are some unscrupulous donors who do indeed abuse the system but they are surely a minority. What about the genuine philanthropists, people who really do care about the world around them and who want to share some of their hard earned wealth with others not so fortunate? What a massive insult to these people and what a bitter blow to our charitable institutions.
If the Government are so concerned about fraud and corruption, and of course they should be, why don’t they just target the cases of clear abuse and weed out the crooks allowing the decent, honourable majority to carry on their good work. This is clearly a case of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, with very serious consequences for our charities, nearly all of whom have expressed their concerns to the Government.
I’m neither a politician nor an economist so what do I know about either running or funding a country? However, common sense would seem to indicate some areas where money can be saved. The following come to mind –

* End all foreign aid, we can’t afford it and anyway, charity begins at home. 
*Set up an elite investigative department to eliminate nationwide corruption whether it be small scale social  security scams or large scale corporate fraud. 
*End our foreign military adventures. 
*Close down the Health and Safety Executive (I’m only half joking!).


We are in the middle of a severe economic crisis and, of course, the Government needs to do all it can to keep the country afloat but is hammering charities the way forward? 

Animal Cruelty

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Evidently rabbit is back in fashion on the plates of UK consumers. The meat is high in protein, low in fat and relatively cheap so the attraction is obvious. In rural communities the value of rabbit has long been known and butchers have always sold freshly killed rabbit alongside game and the more traditionally farmed meats. In more urban areas rabbit has been something of a rarity but as our tastes have become more international and our habits influenced by television celebrity chefs rabbit is making a comeback.

So popular is it now that demand has started to outstrip supply and so suppliers and restaurant chains, running short of wild rabbits, are now buying farm-bred rabbits from the continent and particularly France. Rabbit is now said to be the fourth most popular farmed animal in the world. 
There’s nothing wrong with any of this since we all have to eat and the world’s population continues to grow. However, the pressure group Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) have recently investigated the methods of rabbit farming and the results of their investigation, like those a few years back into battery hen farming, are quite disturbing. 
They reveal that rabbits are forced to live in conditions so cramped and overcrowded that they barely have room to move and are sometimes unable to even sit down. One in five of the rabbits, or 20% if you prefer percentages, die in captivity and are simply thrown away as rubbish. This apparently doesn’t concern most suppliers, since as we all know rabbits are prolific breeders and in spite of the wastage the farmers are still going to get a good return on their investment.
The CIWF are doing their best to expose this practice and it is to be hoped that something can be done about it and that the welfare of these poor creatures is put above mere profit. In this country, unlike many others, we do have reasonably humane laws on the raising and killing of animals for meat. Those laws are not always adhered to but that is a question of policing and government funding. I am a meat eater and I am not ashamed of that but I think it should shame us all that animals bred simply to be killed for our consumption spend the whole of their short lives in constant suffering.

Easter Madness

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Yesterday the Home Office approved a statement by the Equalities Minister declaring that Christians have no right to wear a cross or crucifix at work and must restrict the practice of their religion to their private time. The statement went on to say that if employees do not accept this then they are free to seek employment elsewhere.

This statement was delivered to that great upholder of modern morality and ideals, the European Court of Human Rights which is hearing the case of the BA employee who was dismissed for refusing to take off her crucifix whilst working for BA way back in 2006. She was, of course, reinstated following a public uproar and is now seeking to establish a legal right for any like-minded employees to wear a crucifix at work.

Two things come to mind here. Firstly, we are a democratic country (in theory at least) and surely anybody, whatever their religion (Christian or otherwise), should be allowed to wear any pendant or item of jewellery as an expression of their religious beliefs.

Secondly, although many of us do not lead particularly religiously orientated lives this is, by law, a Christian country and the head of State, the Queen, is also the head of the Church of England. How can it be unlawful therefore for any denomination of Christian to wear a cross or crucifix in the United Kingdom?

Can you imagine a country such as Saudi Arabia or Egypt, for example, preventing its citizens from wearing articles of faith at the work place? No, of course not. Yet again, this is another example of British political correctness gone mad.

On a lighter note, and with reference to the blog on computer hacking (March 30th), I received another email purportedly from the Zenith Bank International PLC in Nigeria advising me that a lady came into the bank advising them of my death and providing them with my instructions to hand over to her the proceeds of my bank account containing US$ 2 million! They urged me to let them know “Are you truly Dead or Alive?” I must do this within 3 days otherwise she can take the lot. Presumably if I tell them that I am indeed alive they will ask for my bank details so that they can wire the monies to me!

What a crazy world we live in! Anyway, Happy Easter to everyone with or without crucifixes. Must dash, I need to reclaim my $US 2 million!

Blame Anybody but Yourself.

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Last week we were treated to the unedifying and undignified sight of people queuing up outside petrol stations filling their cars and vans up with fuel, bringing garages to a standstill, creating traffic jams and generally causing chaos on the surrounding roads. By the end of the week apparently one fifth of petrol stations nationwide had completely sold out of fuel and this was all due to the threat of a national strike by tanker drivers. Just the threat of a strike, mind; so what on earth is it going to be like if and when they actually do go on strike?

There were all sorts of tales in the national press of people filling cans full of diesel and petrol,  plastic bottles, squeezy washing up bottles and even some little old lady filling up dozens of jam jars! It’s almost unbelievable isn’t it? Well, only almost because we should never underestimate the stupidity of some members of the public. Unfortunately, there was one very sad and near tragic incident where one lady decided to transfer some petrol from a petrol can to a jug. That in itself might not have been too problematical but the transfer took place in a kitchen near to a lit oven. Just read that last sentence again and pause for a moment.

Inevitably, the fuel exploded and the lady suffered 40% burns. It must have been horrible but whose fault was it? According to many of the Sunday newspapers the person to blame is Francis Maude, the cabinet minister who announced the threat of the strike and advised people to fill their spare “jerry can” with fuel and keep it in the garage. Not a bad piece of advice you’d think although, being strictly logical, storing fuel is going to create a risk particularly if your garage catches fire. That’s the official and sensible line of the Fire Service but tell that to the thousands of people who keep spare cans of fuel in their garages and sheds for use when the lawn mower needs topping up.

If it really is so dangerous to store fuel than why is it that petrol stations, motor shops and DIY stores sell those green plastic gallon containers manufactured specifically with fuel storage in mind? As for blaming a third party for the foolish actions of an independent and free thinking individual then may the Lord help us; is there really no such thing as individual responsibility anymore?

Hackers and the Like

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Earlier this week my computer started behaving strangely and caused some very dodgy emails to be sent to my entire contact list which, in the absence of anti-virus protection, could have caused some nasty problems for the recipients. I am too ignorant of computers to know how this could have occurred but it seems that my email account was hacked and that led to the problem. I have since, on the advice of an expert, changed my password and all now seems to be in order.

This is apparently a fairly common problem and the question I feel compelled to ask is “why”, why on earth would somebody want to spread a virus such as this when there is no apparent gain to be had? I can understand the criminal who hacks into bank or credit card accounts and I can even understand the thinking behind those requests for money from supposed Nigerian heiresses trying desperately to access their millions but who are unable to do so unless some kind person first provides their UK bank account details! Surely nobody has ever been suckered into that one?

No, what I cannot understand is the sort of person who gets a kick simply from damaging other people’s computers. I imagine the perpetrator is probably a pathetic, pale, spotty-faced billy-no-mates living in an artificially lit attic room living on a diet of baked beans on toast and who when not on his computer spends his time analysing 1947 train timetables. He (and I’m sure it must be a he) is clearly very intelligent. It’s just a shame that his sick mind hasn’t developed sufficiently for him to use it productively.

More Sleaze

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 So it costs £250,000 to enter the Conservative Party “premier league” and purchase a meeting or even dine with the Prime Minister according to a Conservative Party treasurer, Peter Cruddas, who resigned yesterday following revelations in the Sunday Times.

I’d like to say how surprised and outraged I am by this latest scandal and affront to the democratic processes of our once great country but unfortunately my reaction, like that of many other people I imagine, was more like “oh dear, here we go again”!
Of course, the revelations, if  true, raise several important issues, amongst which is was the Prime Minister aware of these payments? Further, did those payments, leading to meetings with the Prime Minister, actually buy favours and undue influence for the donors? If either answer is in the affirmative then Prime Minister David Cameron could be in big trouble although I suspect, like Tony Blair before him, he will simply wriggle out of it, we’ll forget about it and the unsavoury circus of British Politics will trundle along like it always does.

Spring is here!

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What a wonderful time of year this is. The clocks go forward over the weekend – spring forward, fall back as the Americans say – and suddenly the grey, drab, cold days of winter are just a memory. The days are longer, the light nights have arrived and spring is in the air.

If winter represents death then spring represents birth or rebirth when life begins to awaken and assert itself once more. The birds sing with a greater urgency as they look for their mates, the flowers, already showing since February now begin to spread and the colours brighten up our world filling us full of optimism and positive thoughts of the warmer days ahead.
We have a lot to look forward to in Britain this year, what with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June and the Olympic games in the summer and whilst these events should be occasions of joy and exuberance we must guard against complacency. The events in France this week, when an Al Qaeda operative murdered innocent men, women and children, should help us keep our focus and remind us (if we needed reminding) that there are those who would deny us our peace and happiness.
The French security and intelligence forces have come under scrutiny and have been criticised for letting the killer slip off their radar, having correctly identified him some time ago as being a security risk. We mustn’t think for one moment that our own security and intelligence services are any more efficient or competent for they are probably not. We in the West are facing a determined, cunning and unscrupulous enemy and if we are to enjoy the freedoms provided by our democratic way of life then we must, collectively as a nation and as individuals, remain vigilant at all times. 

Little Princess Syndrome

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Driving through leafy Cheshire yesterday I came up behind a battered hatchback with two signs in the rear window. The first proclaimed “Little Princess on board” and the second “Grandparent Driving!” with a cartoon drawing of a car complete with zig-zag skid marks, presumably because that’s the way grandparents drive, although I think it’s a rather unfair presumption.

Anyway, not wishing to stay behind an erratically driven vehicle I overtook it and instead of a doddery octogenarian I noticed that the car was driven by a grossly overweight younger woman who I suppose could quite possibly have been the grandparent of the “Little Princess” although it was difficult to tell without getting closer and I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to do that! There was no sign of a little person, “Princess” or otherwise, though perhaps she’d fallen to the floor as a result of her grandmother’s erratic driving.

The point I’m coming to, rather belatedly I have to admit, is why on earth people insist on displaying these inane stickers in the backs of their cars. There are so many on show these days (mostly in battered hatchbacks it seems to me!) with a variety of slogans such as “Little Cupcake on Board”, “Baby on board” or “Little Chelsea fan on board”. Why do they put them there? Are we expected to alter our driving in the presence of a “Princess” or “Cupcake”? Are we supposed to pull back an extra ten yards so that the overweight half-wit driving her hatchback can hog the road like she hogs her double burger and chips?

I’m pleased for any proud parent, I really am, since parenthood is undoubtedly one of the great joys of life, and I wish them all the luck in the world. Honestly though, can they not just keep it to themselves or at least to their family and friends because, as far as the rest of us are concerned, we really couldn’t give a damn who is in their car whether it be a princess, a cocker spaniel or a Benedictine monk!