What pours forth from the various media platforms is difficult, as we know, to prioritise. The biggest news of last week was Harry and Megan. On my personal Richter scale the story rated about as low as my opinion of the Daily Mail. So too the ridiculous call by the Chair of the Labour Party, Ian Lavery for Sir Keir Starmer to stand down as a leadership candidate to ensure that a woman is selected. Alan Margham, who organizes the Durham Miners’ Gala, a strange anachronism in itself, I guess, doesn’t want any Conservatives attending the do despite the locals having voted the blues in. Gwyneth Paltrow has released a vagina candle. Prince Charles called for peace on his Bethlehem trip. Good luck with that. I was able to rank this last message considerably higher than his son’s unfortunate exile and Gwyneth’s fanny candle.
The Donald surprised none of us in his climate denials at the lavish, luvvie-fest that is Davos. I fear that the odd-but-brilliant Greta Thunberg will be consumed by the fires of global power. It suits the greenhouse gas brigade to tout her around – and impressive she certainly is. I hope that she’s Ok, though; this strange woman-child with a focus that drills into our consciousness but doesn’t penetrate the hearts of the mighty – much.
As we in the UK produce a tiny fraction of the world’s greenhouse gases, the market leaders in the planet’s defilement are China, USA, India and Russia. By a bloody mile. This is a big, big story.
Closer to home – and more personal – is the plight of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. We have learnt this week, the disgraceful way that successive governments have behaved over a debt of £400million owed to Iran. While nothing should condone any state imprisoning an individual for the wrongdoings of a government, what do we expect when our own intransigence and arrogance about an arms contract which we did not fulfil? Boris the Spider’s behaviour has been contemptuous. He’s not the only one. Meanwhile this poor woman and her wonderful family have been unacceptably and irrevocably damaged.
This too is a big story. Wheat from chaff.
simplysorro 