Week 50 14th December 2010

Tendring Topics……on Line

Just imagine!

Just imagine what would have happened if, during the course of the last General Election campaign, a number of very influential politicians had hurried across to Brussels to declare their undying devotion to the European Cause. They might perhaps have said that they regarded the European Union as their ‘other homeland’, that if their party were to be elected they would make sure that the government’s policies were resolutely pro-European, and that any arms contracts to be awarded would go to European manufacturers.

It wouldn’t have been entirely unreasonable. The UK is geographically, culturally, politically and economically part of Europe. The greater part of our overseas trade is with our fellow-Europeans, we have an equal and influential part to play in EU decision-making, and we are bound to that Union by Treaty obligation.

Yet can you imagine the fury and outrage that such a visit would have evoked in the UK? The MPs concerned would have been branded as traitors and lapdogs of Brussels, eager to give away our country’s precious sovereignty and independence. The flag-waving Europhobes of UKIP (and those who support its policies) would probably suggest that the election of those politicians should be declared null and void. MI5 would be urged to find grounds for their prosecution. The headline writers of The Sun, the Daily Express, the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph would be apoplectic in their efforts to outdo each other in denunciation and insult!

You may perhaps have been astonished to have learned (via Wikileaks) that a number of top politicians did, in fact, go to a foreign power – though not to Brussels – and make just such promises and declarations of loyalty! They were prominent Conservative politicians and the foreign power concerned was the USA, a country with which we are said to have a ‘special relationship’ but whose history, political and legal structures, traditions and culture are different from our own and from those of our European neighbours and partners. That ‘special relationship’ has led us into an illegal war in Iraq, the main effect of which has been to encourage the terrorism it was intended to combat, and to an unwinnable war in Afghanistan that is taking an almost daily toll of British lives. I am thankful that half a century ago we had a Prime Minister who, whatever other faults he may have had, had the courage and independence to keep us out of the USA’s disastrous war in Vietnam. Had he not done so we would have had to make room for even more names on our war memorials, and there would have been even more tearful British widows and orphans on Remembrance Sunday.

Was there outrage about the MPs who were promising unequivocal support (and arms contracts!) to the USA? Not a bit of it. The headline writers of the Mail, the Express and the Sun have been unwontedly silent, despite the fact that one of those MPs is now Foreign Secretary and another Minister for Defence! Nor has there been a squeak of protest from the flag-waving patriots of UKIP (I have always suspected that they were motivated more by hatred of Europe than by love of Britain)

Only an incorrigible romantic can imagine that Britain, bereft of its once mighty Empire, can stand alone in today’s world. Today we are facing a stark choice of closer political and economic integration within a new United Europe in which we would have a powerful and influential voice, or of accepting the status of a protectorate of the USA, having no say in its policies but being always ready to do its bidding, thankful for the occasional smile of approbation and the metaphorical pat on the head. Can it really be possible that a majority of the people in this once-proud country would be happy to see Great Britain reduced to such an abject role?

Within a reborn and truly united Europe we could have a new – and more balanced – special relationship with the USA and with the world’s other emerging powers.

Going away for Christmas? Will your plumbing be safe from frost?

Glancing at my once-popular manuals on domestic hot and cold water supply and drainage on my bookshelves as the outside temperature plunged below zero, I remembered that in the past – while they were still in print - arctic weather had encouraged both their sales and the number of times they were loaned out from public libraries, thus boosting my royalties and public lending right payments! It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good!

In recent years the Christmas period has tended to be quite mild over the whole of the UK. Cold spells were most likely to come in January, February and March. It was usually safe enough to leave your home for a few days over Christmas without worrying unduly about the possibility of a frozen or burst pipe greeting you on your return.

This year things have been – and still could be – very different. We have already had very cold weather with subzero temperatures day and night for several days at a time. Thought should be given to frost protection even if you expect to be absent over Christmas only for a couple of days. The suggestions in my plumbing books are some twenty years out of date. Domestic heating systems and home insulation have made spectacular advances in those two decades. Basic principles and basic problems remain the same though.

Practically everything in the world contracts (shrinks, gets smaller) as it gets colder and colder. Water is an exception. It contracts until it gets to within a few degrees of zero Celsius – then it expands as it ‘changes state’ and becomes ice. It is that expansion that bursts pipes and damages plumbing systems. Many people imagine that pipes burst with the thaw. That’s not true. They burst, if they are going to, when they freeze. You don’t know about it till the thaw though, because the ice blockage prevents water flowing from the damaged pipe.

Lagging, although essential, will not, on its own, protect a plumbing system from freezing during a prolonged icy spell. There will always be some loss of heat when a house is unoccupied and its fabric chills off completely. The best way to protect it is to introduce a regular source of warmth. If you have a reliable automatic gas or oil fired central heating system it is a good idea either to have a ‘frost stat’ or to make sure that it comes on, perhaps for an hour or two when it is likely to be most cold – in the ‘small hours’ of the morning. That should be sufficient to prevent freezing.

The most vulnerable part of your plumbing system is up in the roof space and if you have – as recommended – insulated it to prevent heat loss from the rooms below, it will be that much more vulnerable. While the house is empty it is a good idea to prop the trap-door leading to the roof pace open by perhaps an inch, to allow slightly warmer air from the house to flow up into this vulnerable area. Don’t forget to close I again though, directly you are home!

The above really does no more than alert readers to the risk and suggest one or two obvious precautions. If in doubt it would be a good idea to consult the heating engineer who regularly services your boiler.

I hope that you have an enjoyable – and carefree – Christmas break and return to find your home as warm and comfortable as it was when you left it.

Perfect Timing

I hope that the Guardian will forgive my lifting a few paragraphs from a recent edition. On 7th December, the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Lasange, was arrested on a Swedish extradition request, was refused bail despite enormous sums being offered as surety, and was incarcerated in Wandsworth Prison. Mr Lasange is charged with sexual offences that he hotly denies. (Meanwhile we learn today, 10th December that a suspected murderer wanted by the South African Government has been granted bail while awaiting a court hearing!) Strident but influential voices in the USA have been loud in their condemnation of Wikileaks’ exercise of its freedom of speech, and in demanding the arrest of the organisation’s founder. It really doesn’t need an incorrigible devotee of ‘conspiracy theories’ to see the hand of the State Department and the CIA in the sequence of events.

The Guardian reports that meanwhile, on the same day (7th December)………..

5.30pm: With perfect timing an email arrives from Philip Crowley at the state department:
The United States is pleased to announce that it will host Unesco's World Press Freedom Day event in 2011, from 1-3 May in Washington, DC.
Ironic? Read the next paragraph from the press release:
The theme for next year's commemoration will be 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers. The United States places technology and innovation at the forefront of its diplomatic and development efforts. New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals' right to freedom of expression. At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information. We mark events such as World Press Freedom Day in the context of our enduring commitment to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age.
I particularly like the bit that I have printed in ‘bold’ type! I am sure that it would be appreciated by Mr Lasange!

There really isn’t anything that I can add to the Guardian’s brief comment. ‘Shameless, you couldn’t make it up’

Essex County Council breaks new ground – yet again!

It’s quite like the old days when Lord Hanningfield was at the helm! Once again Essex County Council is leading the way with a revolutionary policy that, as far as I know, has never yet been tried by a local authority.

One of the statutory duties laid on County Councils by central government is the welfare of children in care – and it seems that Essex C.C. is not very good at it. An Ofsted report says that the Council’s care homes are ‘unsatisfactory’ and Mrs Sarah Candy, the county councillor responsible for these homes says with endearing candour, ‘We are more than aware of the Ofsted judgement against us. Essex County Council does not have the best record and we have not been delivering the services children need.’

It might have been thought that the County Council would now be making mammoth efforts to improve those services – even if it cost money, even if it meant digging into those reserves-held-for-a-rainy-day, even if it meant foregoing the increase in allowances that the councillors voted for themselves earlier this year.

Not a bit of it. Innovative lateral thinking has produced a solution that will enable the Councillors to put all those unkind criticisms behind them, and make some money in the process! They are simply going to privatise their failing children’s homes – sell them off as they sold off their old people’s homes a few years ago. It is expected that this will result in the loss of 128 jobs (tough luck – but you can’t make omelettes without breaking eggs) but it will save the County Council an estimated £3 million a year!

Mrs Candy insists that it is the children’s welfare that they have at heart and that the privatisation has nothing to do with money. No wonder though, that she was smiling when pictured in the Coastal Gazette.