The Stupid Brits

Listen, I know I could be writing and banging on about some of the more serious world events. I could launch a stream of invective against the seemingly increasing terrorist state of Israel as it indiscriminately shells and bombs Lebanon without any regard for civilian life. Even knowing the traumatic past of the Jewish people and the turbulent history of Israel doesn't seem to justify their current actions. Surely they could have adopted a different approach to what happened. If you're surrounded by people who hate you then wouldn't some serious charm offensives be more .......productive? I could have a pop against the stupidly serial basket cases of Hezbollah for their own stupidity in continuing to annoy "the wasp" of the Middle East by sanctioning the kidnap of Israeli soldiers, but to me this also seems obvious. Israel is richer and has more firepower....so why pick a fight with someone who will constantly beat the living crap out of you?

But I won't. Instead I want to comment on how apparently stupid and helpless we are (again) as a nation in UK PLC. We're having some lovely weather this year...not before time in my view. But what do we get from The Nanny Government and its associated agencies (including the BBC and several other commercial organizations)? A never ending stream of patronizing tips and advice on how to cope with the heat. Do they think we've never encountered this before? Didn't something similar happen last year, and every bloody year since I can remember? Do we really need a production line of radio presenters, weather forecasters, news readers, link people, journalists, knobber tabloid hacks and general bleeding hearts and artistes telling us to "cover up" or "use plenty of sunscreen" or "stay indoors" etc ...ad infinitum? Can we really not be trusted to act with some caution without constantly being patronized in this way?

Personally I love the heat, and if I wasn't stuck in this bloody god-forsaken office then I would be on a beach or by a pool or on a golf course lapping it up. Have people forgotten just how miserable winter is in the UK, with darkness falling early or constant rainfall ruining outdoor plans, or even the hideously cold weather we encountered from December through until February and even march to a degree? And what about the constant scaremongering that's now being added.

Apparently our railways tracks are buckling! Hmmm....Spain, France, Italy etc all seem to "suffer" this weather every year and apparently have much superior engineering capabilities to us because they don't suffer from bucking rails.

Our roads are melting! Huh? Is it just me or is this a WTF moment? 3 years ago I drove to the South of France during their record breaking heatwave. At 80mph on the Peage my car recorded a temperature of 47 degrees. Was the road melting....apparently not because somehow or another the French have mastered the art of constructing "all-weather" road surfaces!

Electricity could be in short supply! Blame the heatwave! Honestly, on BBC Radio 5 Live yesterday they ran an item on how the Electricity Supply Industry has cut back on capacity for the summer ( a normal practice that allows maintenance to power stations) but that because of the heat we might be in danger of exhausting capacity. Come on...how many people do you know with air-con in their homes? And surely those workplaces with it use it constantly all year round. And again, how do the warmer climes of Europe...and the world cope with apparent extremes of heat without issuing dire warnings over energy supplies.

Water! Need I say more. Water companies leak millions of gallons/litres per day through poor investment in infrastructure and cost cutting on maintenance, but somehow, we the domestic consumer are the culprits for the shortage. Arid Britain, an island surrounded by water apparently on the verge of drought. Anyone think this might be linked to privatized water companies, and the increasing value of a so-called rare commodity and the subsequent increased shareholder value ? Parallels with Oil companies anyone? Fly over Spain and see how many hill and mountain top reservoirs they have built. I'd love to compare that to how many reservoirs have been built in the South of the UK over the last 20 years. Oh, and of course we can't afford de-salination plants because they're not cost effective. Just how much drought do we need for these to be come cost effective then Mr Water Company boss? Or again, is it just the fact that such plants rectify the view that water is an increasingly rare and therefore valuable commodity and therefore cheapen your "product" and affect the value of your company and mean less for greedy cash motivated shareholders. When the GrocerParty gets into power, these will the top of the re-nationalization list. And yes, you and me, the taxpayers will fund reservoirs, de-salination plants and a National Water Grid. Fuck the shareholders, they'll get nothing and serves them right for wanting to make money out of the single biggest contribution to public health ever developed.

Tube trains are cauldrons of body odour and sweat! Ken Livingstone's answer............innovative cooling systems? Investment in air-con, or air blowing technology through tunnels? No.......his answer is that " we may have to close down large sections of the tube for people's own good"! What a load of old bollocks. Where's the inspirational leadership supplying innovative solutions. Even distributing free mineral water would help people keep hydrated. Ensuring the trains keep running and don't sit in tunnels for 20 minutes at a time would help. But no, what we get is a completely negative knee-jerk over-reaction. I like Red Ken, but on this occasion he's acting like a typically bureaucratic fuckwit.

And thus it was so. Great Britain, a country with a reputation founded on leading the industrial revolution, of being at the forefront of Technological revolution and evolution apparently can't cope with a hot summer without infrastructure collapsing in a heap and its citizens running around unable to think for themselves.

Maybe we should consider calling it Mediocre Britain.

Later, SummerJack