Author: R J Adams

There are many beautiful châteaux in France. They were built in an era when the country was a kingdom and folk were either filthy rich and could afford to have these great houses built for them, or peasant poor and could only gape open-mouthed whenever they happened to pass one by.

Times change and wealth drifts away or is reassigned, making the upkeep of such huge properties more than a millstone around the neck of owners.  There was a great deal of enthusiasm  for them in the UK some years ago, pre-Brexit. Much was made of how low-priced some of these châteaux were and what a good buy they would be. I think a number of people (sometimes groups) bought such a property in a moment of madness and never stopped to think of the renovation and running costs of such huge buildings, and expansive grounds. The main reason these often magnificient constructions stand empty is because previous owners just could not afford the upkeep.

When I was about sixteen years old, myself and two mates of similar age, Dave, and Pete (now in Australia), learned of an ex-Royal Navy Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB) that was for sale in Liverpool docks. We began to fantasize about owning such a craft. The fantasy drifted into virtual reality and we decided there would be nothing amiss with at least going to look at it.

^{An MTB (this is not the one for sale)}

It was wrecked inside and would obviously cost a fortune to renovate. The big twin diesel engines had been removed. We fantasized about buying an old bus engine to replace them. After all we wouldn’t need it to speed along at 60kph, which was it’s original top speed.

Of course, the whole idea was ludicrous. I doubt that between us we could even raise a hundred pounds. Our dream-like visions of standing on the bridge guiding this monster out to sea were eventually replaced by slightly less exotic ideas.

I relate this tale to show how easy it is to get carried away with fancies that end up as totally impractical. It makes no difference whether you’re sixteen or sixty, when the notion fires you and the dream carries you forward, logic and financial reason can be easily thrust aside.

Thankfully, Dave, Pete and I were never able to do more than dream. Had we been able to raise the cash even to buy the thing, it would have become a great millstone around our necks.

Just as are those French châteaux, now owned by struggling English folk whose dream, for some, has turned into a nightmare.

_{^{One Of The Israeli Girl-Soldiers, “Israel’s Eyes,” Watching The Border With Gaza.}} 

Harry H Trueman was an American President who understood that in a crisis he was responsible for the actions of his country. On his desk was a plaque which simply stated: “The Buck Stops Here.” Sadly, there’s no Harry H Trueman in charge of Israel.

Perhaps one of the most horrific accounts in all the many to come out of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict has come today from the BBC journalist Alice Cuddy:

“They were Israel’s ‘eyes on the border’ – but their Hamas warnings went unheard”

She tells the story of teenage girls conscripted into the IDF.  Their job was to man control centres close to the barrier with Gaza and watch for suspicious activity.

As time went by it became obvious to the girls that there was an ever-increasing amount of very suspicious activity taking place. They duly reported these actions down the line to their superiors, as per orders.

Time after time after time.

They were ignored. No-one came to verify the information they were relaying. Visits by superior officers only occurred in order for further tasks to be delegated to these young soldiers. No-one, it seems, questioned them on the information they had duly processed and passed on.

One can ask the question: why not?

Maybe, at some point in the future, there’ll be a day of reckoning, a public enquiry that will lay blame where it belongs. If these young female soldiers had been listened to and their information acted upon, then possibly their lives might been saved, along with the lives of 1,200 other innocent Israelis brutally  murdered on the night of October 7th 2023. 24,000 innocent Palestinians, half of them children, need not have been indiscriminately slaughtered.

The Israeli military had the information that something big was in the pipeline. They chose to ignore it. Thousands of innocents have now paid the ultimate price for them doing so?  Or was the job of watching over the security fence  –  Israel’s “Iron Wall” – considered too menial for real soldiers, and was given to young conscript girls.? According to Cutter, they hadn’t even guns to defend themselves.  They were the first to die, defenceless.

There has to be a day of reckoning at some point in the probably distant future, when Netanyahu decides it’s the moment to end his carnage.

It’s time someone placed a notice on his desk: “The Shekel Stops Here!”

 

^{2023 Sets Record for Highest Global Fossil Fuel Emissions}

I wonder just how many of the eight billion humans presently on the planet are as sick to death as I am of the people in charge? Isn’t it time we did something about it? Why, I ask myself, even in so-called democracies do we go on voting the turds of humanity into power over us?

Do we, as I suspect, still suffer subconsciously from the master/serf syndrome? Are we scared to point out the failings of some toffee-nosed politician just because they came from Oxford University, or Harvard? Are we really so dumb that we’d as soon have a lump of human faeces like Putin or Orban or Lukashenko controlling our lives, than decent democratic governments run by people who actually put normal, ordinary folk before the Zuckerberg’s and Musk’s and other billionaire business scumbags of this world?

Not content with their private jets and huge luxury yachts, these parasites of the planet are now coming for our homes and our very lives. They don’t just ignore the climate emergency, but actively work to perpetuate it. It’s not just the fossil fuel companies, though they’ve been the true culprits since the 1970’s. Their own scientists told them they’d end up making the earth uninhabitable, by way of the amount of C02 that their fossil fuels were pumping into the atmosphere. It’s all the other big international companies as well who support the fossil fuel industry, as without it they’s have to adapt to wind or solar power.

Perhaps equally to blame are the computing giants. The amount of energy required to run the huge data clouds, support Gmail and other enormous databases, is colossal. With the advent of AI technology, matters have become disastrously worse, as John Naughton of the Guardian makes clear:

“…AI requires staggering amounts of computing power. And since computers require electricity, and the necessary GPUs (graphics processing units) run very hot (and therefore need cooling), the technology consumes electricity at a colossal rate. Which, in turn, means CO2 emissions on a large scale – about which the industry is extraordinarily coy, while simultaneously boasting about using offsets and other wheezes to mime carbon neutrality.

The implication is stark: the realisation of the industry’s dream of “AI everywhere” (as Google’s boss once put it) would bring about a world dependent on a technology that is not only flaky but also has a formidable – and growing – environmental footprint. Shouldn’t we be paying more attention to this?”

Indeed we should, but we’re not. Why not?

Are we still so imbued with the inferiority complex of the master/serf relationship that we continue to bury our heads in the proverbial sand and just hope for the best? Meanwhile the parasites with the power continue to destroy our home and our environment.

Sea levels have already risen by 101mm (4 inches) since 1993, and 21-24 cms (8-9 inches) since the start of the industrial revolution (1880).  It will continue to rise at an ever more alarming rate.

Before long there’ll be no sand left in which to bury our heads.