DutchEnery

Sometimes the BBC 4 channel broadcasts very good programs. One of these was on Sunday 28th March 2021. Headed by Chris Packham it was about the enormous h uman population explosion experienced within the last hundred years. In 1960 there were just over 2 billion people on the planet, today just 60 years on there are 7.7 billion! I too have said in previous posts that this number is unsustainable, let alone the number expected to be around in 2050 – 10 billion + ! One of the most populated cities in South America, indeed in the world is Sao Paulo – 22 million. The problems already well documented, but there is the water supply. What comes out of the tap you cannot drink. The reservoirs have dried up and the only water that can be found has to be obtained from drilled wells. Chris made a visit to a farm growing soya beans. The owner farmer displayed the usual attitude – there is a market for my produce, it’s growing, I need more land. Chris spoke to a number of people, all were worried

Living in Wales you will have heard of the word ‘ Independence ’. As I have originally come from the Netherlands, which is also known as Holland by foreigners (Holland is basically the two western sea side provinces) which also has had years of struggle with the Spanish empire and also the French and German empires, I understand the wish to be independent from an overbearing neighbour. Wales has its own language, its own long history. But the Anglo-Saxons and Normans had other ideas (and still do – remember the Welsh knot! ). However, the question really is can Wales afford to be independent? Ever since the English conquest Wales has been used as a backdrop, an area to be profited from by English overlords. When coal was found, English money to dig pits came quickly but all profits went to mostly English grandees. Sure, they build vast houses, castles even, in the Welsh countryside giving employment to some impoverished young Welsh maidens as slaves to the masters. Things do not chang

It’s a funny world, is it not? We are having the one of the worst pandemics in some time with lock-downs, 2 million deaths, businesses going to the wall, whole families disrupted because Daddy is dead and Mummy is out of work or on stand-by. And on the other side we have those calamity organisers also known as politicians, who have been lovely sheltered in their ivory towers. This time not so much the blubbering wasters in the UK but now in Europe. Grandstanding wizards who are looking over their shoulders to see who is guilty of stealing their vaccines! There has not been a better time to see how politicians can mess up almost anything they get their hands on. They always talk a very good talk, the sweetest words, the best of promises but when it gets to action they fail so miserably. Exactly as has been shown in the capitals of Europe. But now instead of gearing up, to spring into action, to get the supply lines sorted out, all they do is more talk, becoming belligerent, it’s not my

Anyone ever heard this adage? "Before opening mouth, first engage brain"? You might think, ah that’s good for other people I am alright, I am well adjusted and careful about what I say! Yes, indeed and so did our esteemed Prime Minister, the famous battle-scarred Boris. He is well known to make some gaffes in the spoken word and the latest one reported is about saying off the cuff ‘Greed is what gave Britain the Covid vaccine first’. That’s a nice one Boris. That must have tickled the German EU bear cub Ursula pink! It shows though that politicians who play for high stakes would be well advised to carefully weigh their words. The vaccine situation in Europe is perilous, taking that the EU was pretty slow out of the starting blocks and appeared to have waited to see what the vaccine was doing in the UK and then came out with some ludicrous idea that the vaccine was not working for the over-65’s! Whoever came up with that semi-illiterate remark should be sent to Siberia for

Sometimes we can read some funny stuff on Quora, the Question and Answer website. This one really made me laugh out loud. The question posed was – Should Britain apologise for its imperial past? And the reply (abridged): Absolutely right we should. That’s fair. We’ll put it on the list of World IOUs for you. You’ll have to wait a while though because we’re waiting for a monster size payment from Italy for the Roman Occupation. We’re also waiting for the cheques to clear from Germany and Scandinavia for all that business about the Jutes, Angles, Saxons, Vikings and so forth. Not forgetting that BIG payout we’re eagerly awaiting from France for the Norman Conquest and the cost of sorting out that little fella, what’s his name again ? Apparently, there is talk of another hefty bill to Germany ( again ) for the little trouble in 1939-45, also naming Russia, Italy ( again ) and Japan for aiding and abetting. Although you could argue that the answer was not really answering the question

The debate about fake news has not gone away of course, you only have to look at the social media outlets. But what strikes me as somewhat important is the news that most European countries have now halted the Astra-Zeneca vaccine. This for fear of it causing blood-clots. Well, I have had mine and am awaiting the second soon. Please forgive me but has it something to do with Brexit? Or should we investigate where this ‘rumour’ started and why and how? I would not put it past sources in Russia and perhaps China as well to start this in order to benefit sales of their own produced vaccine. Frankly it would not surprise me at all. There is still a Cold War going on but hidden from view. As I have said many times, humans are strange animals, ravenous, and violent to extremes. If someone would explain why there were blood-clots after the Pfizer vaccine (which there have been) and compare those statistics with the normal day to day occurrences of blood-clots then perhaps we can lay this to r

Just to clarify this before someone says it – no, I am not particularly known to be a royalist. But I do think that the royal family has had a bit of a rough time lately. First of all, as humans they will have to suffer the same ills as we all do. Moreover, as they occupy a position of power, even though it is mostly invisible to us street-dwellers, anything they do outside the daily norm can have an immediate media reaction. Prince Andrew, bless his cotton socks, is a case in point. He may or may not have done the things a lot of people are accusing him off, he might be better off to stand up with evidence. It seems to me this will not go away for some time. Couples will fall out with each other, royals are not exempt. As some in the media seem to suggest, if that is so what is the use of royals? If we are to look up to them as personification of all that is calm and good then they are not a particularly good example? Well, I disagree, presidents can also fall foul of the media? R