Climate Change

 

Certainly UK weather has changed over my lifetime so far. When at Beaumont College as a boy I recall the Thames being frozen solid in Old Windsor. Even upstream in Windsor where the river is wider people were able to walk and even cycle ride  on the ice:

 

 

Today there are reports in The Times that some UK farmers experimenting with rice growing and even with a tea plantation or two. Farming tea or rice in England would not really have been possible in the 1960s.

 

Further afield there are newspaper articles about atrociously cold snow storms hitting large sections of North America with CNN reporting today for example that:

 

• Widespread threat: Two-thirds of the US population is facing down a monster winter storm and extreme cold. The storm’s snow and ice will stretch over 2,000 miles from Texas to New England as it tracks east through the weekend.

• Catastrophic ice storm: Crippling ice accumulations will weigh down and drop power lines and trees in the most serious icing zones in the South. Hundreds of thousands could lose power, some for days. 

Of course global warming affects many other countries very severely. For example in Australia  there was a recent news report of a large number of wild camels which were roaming the outback in search of water. The camels would invade a nearby township raiding the water barrels of some  dwellers and causing many to remain indoors until the camels were seen off.

Camels the humps of which store  fat some of which is transformed into water when required, are usually self sufficient but not this time. 

 

In a Bleak and Dark Midwinter

The title to this blog post is of course that of the well known Christmas carol though photographing in the dark is not within my ken or camera capabilities. 

Here we are over three weeks from Christmas day yet early morning walks are still shrouded in dark. 'Bleak' is not how they appear though. The few people one meets or passes by at 6:30am tend to be more friendly than those at say 12:30pm. 

On Christmas morning well before dawn, maytrees max and his wife Gillian  who had just flown over for Christmas from Jersey in the Channel Islands, maytrees min and  her three week old baby 'atomic dot' well wrapped up and cosily asleep in her pram,  went for a walk over a dark Wimbledon Common to the Windmill with yours truly.

Gillian had not previously visited Wimbledon. Our powerful torch was lit for the beginning of the walk but by the half-way stage when we reached the windmill, dawn had broken and Gillian who is Scottish was pleased to see the  Scottish flag aloft at the golf club house.

We then walked around to the Cannizaro hotel where some had early morning breakfast.I just made it back through Wimbledon Village to the Sacred Heart church in time for early Christmas morning holy mass.

 

 

  

Social Media

Probably for people aged in their 70s like yours truly, social media is rather less relevant than for younger generations. This blog is of course may be a category of social media though it is largely a personal diary open to others to read if they wish.

Australia has banned social media access for children age under 16. This appears  to be wise though of course young people are bound to find ways round this. One of the factors in the Australian ban is I understand, that of young people's brains being altered by their constantly referring to social media

Obviously mobile phones provide children even more opportunities than social media, for distractions or avoiding direct conversation with their fellows. Some schools in England are banning children from bringing mobile phones into schools for such  reasons. Others are requiring mobile phones to be deposited with administration and retrieved only at the end of the school day. 

One of the main reasons for limiting children's social media and mobile phone use, is the apparent effect on young brains resulting from their frequent use.

The furore in the UK at least about the ease by using AI, with which users of  X  can arrange for  images of individuals both adult and children to be  unclothed on-line, is very interesting. The decision by X to require users to pay for this 'service' fails to go far enough. A full ban by X is required in my view though many including GB News  disagree on free speech  grounds, with such a complete ban. 

Indeed on GB News a TV station I often watch, most of the members of the Friday audience agreed with their hosts about not imposing such a ban.

In my view safeguarding children and women should take priority over  free speech.

United Nations Reform?

 

The United Nations is surely after President Trump's removal of the Venezuelan dictator, ripe for reform?   Dictators are not my cup of tea but sadly the world seems full of them. President Trump's actions not so far apparently approved in the USA by Congress, verges on giving him the appearance of being a dictator or if not, moving in that direction.

For a foreign leader to  depose a dictator may be a fairly straight forward  action for a wealthy country with sizeable and well equipped armed forces but ensuring the country is reasonably well run thereafter is hardly easy, as the case of Iraq illustrates. 

The 2003 removal oft the dictator Saddam Hussein, from running Iraq again by USA led forces, was effected in a  relatively straightforward way but governing the country thereafter was, putting it mildly, difficult.

My Catholic friend from Baghdad   initially welcomed the regime change but fairly soon afterwards condemned it. The USA had few if any plans for running Iraq  with the result that fighting and killings took place between various faction for years afterwards.

The USA now appears to have few real plans for Venezuela beyond seeking the country's extensive oil supply although this may of course be incorrect.

More significantly there are many other nations run by dictators not the least of which is China. Thus reforming the United Nations may be the least worst way forward. 

What reforms to the UN should there be? Setting up a committee to consider this way forward is a possibility especially if the committee is required to report back to the UN general assembly within  say 12 months.

My own view is that reform rendering decisions of  the UN Security Council to be capable of being delayed by a year following a general assembly vote to that effect, would be possible. The House of Lords in the UK can currently use such delaying powers as regards many decisions of the House of Commons through which the government generally operates. The power to delay is limited to one month for tax and spending decisions. Presumably not too dissimilar  provisions could be made to work for the UN.

 

Oliver!

Youngest  sister as Christmas presents, bought tickets for mrs maytrees, maytrees ma, our grand daughter "micro dot" and herself, to see Oliver! at the theatre in London on 27th December 2025.

Unfortunately, mrs maytrees was unable to attend on the day so I  traveled in her stead, We met for a Pizza Express kindly provided by maytrees ma, before attending the nearby Gielgud Theatre for the musical. 

Having seen reports of a decline in the number of  people visiting London over the bank holiday week end, it was surprising to find the streets so crowded as well as and especially, the Piccadilly Line part of the tube journey  home. 

I am not usually a fan of musicals but very much enjoyed this one. The theatre was full despite the ticket pricing. The four of us were in a front row box of which was slightly less pricey than the main stalls seats as  view from those seats was slightly restricted. Nonetheless, we were near the orchestra  and were able to peer down to see members of the orchestra play, as well as the nearby conductor with great enthusiasm, control their music.

The large number of actors as well as the orchestra justified the seat prices. There were many children in the cast  as well as in the auditorium. As I gather that  there are legal limits on the length of time for children who may act, I noticed a small advertisment for budding child actors to apply for auditions.

The show was excellent and many of the songs I recognised. The original story by Charles Dickens is of course well known. 

Most importantly the show, Oliver! was enjoyed by micro dot despite its length.

An excellent afternoon especially as upon returning home we found that  mrs maytrees had begun to make a decent recovery from  her Christmas weariness..

 

Holy and Happy Christmas 2025

 

The above picture is of a tradition of Christians in  Iraq who   burn some dried thorn branches at Christmas. 

The Middle East Eye reports:

A Christmas tradition in Iraq, and sometimes also Syria, involves a bonfire of dried thorned branches. 

The fire is lit after children complete a recitation of the nativity story, which is read by candlelight from the Book of Psalms. The candles are then used to light the thorns.

Tradition says that if the thorns burn completely and turn to ash, the year ahead will be filled with good fortune.

Once the flames have died, each person in the family jumps over the ashes three times and makes a wish.

Date-filled biscuits, called "klecha", are also enjoyed and exchanged over the festive period.

 

Predictions for 2026

Predicting possible events for the oncoming year is never easy. In previous years the decline of certain newspapers such as the broadsheet Independent or tabloid Evening Standard  were quite predictable with both publications now continuing as on-line versions only. 

Predictions for next year however seem far from straightforward. My top six predictions are:

1. The UK Prime Minister will be replaced

2. Share prices around the world will collapse. 

3. PoTUS will become unable to enact much in the way of new laws as the Democrats in USA will win more power. 

4. AFC Wimbledon will not be demoted back to EFL Division 2 

5. Wold Cup football in the American continent will be too expensive for ordinary  football supporters.

6. The Russian  war in Ukraine will not be ended anytime soon. 

Predictions 1. and 4. would seem the most rewarding though predictions 3 and 6.. are probably the most important.