Author: R J Adams

There’s so much happening in the world right now and everybody’s writing about it. I’ve decided that at least for this post I’m not going to be drawn into any of the world’s problems.

It’s too hot in France. Yes, even in northern and western France; not areas of the country usually renowned for their skin-crinkling climate. If you want heat, my boy, head south. Not any more. As we head into the third heatwave in six weeks it’s all getting too much. Parts of Normandy have routinely passed 40 degrees Centigrade through June, and while the latest one to arrive unbidden on our doorstep probably may not quite break those records, it’ll still make life uncomfortable for all, and dangerous for the old and sick who have no way to keep cool.

Now you may think that those who believe the earth is flat are all total nutters. After all we’ve sent men to the moon and back; a gazillion satellites have been circling the globe (or, as some see it, the ‘plate’) for many decades and there’s so much tech software up there that if the Earth was flat we’d all know it by now.

The science of man-made climate change – that same science that sent men to the moon, created all those satellites, unraveled the mystery of DNA, gave doctors the ability to perform medical procedures that even a couple of  hundred years ago would have been deemed, not just impossible but probably ungodly witchcraft – yes, that science is what between 20% and 30% of the population of this planet still insist is at best marred, possibly corrupt and undoubtedly wrong.

It’s impossible to calculate how many people still believe the earth is a flat disc. No-one bothers to take polls of that anymore.  However, there are still polls to show us how many deniers of  man-made climate change there are. The last definitive Ipsos poll that comes close to it was in December 2003, when it stated that 36% of the world’s population still dispute the human origins of climate change.  Considered on a nation by nation basis (those with figures available) it does seem that in 2025 the numbers show virtually no  variation from 2003. They have become polarized.

Yale University carried out a nationwide poll of Americans last year, which concluded that 63% of the nation was “…somewhat or very worried about global warming.” That leaves 37% of Americans who apparently couldn’t give a tinker’s cuss about it.

How many of those 37% were numbskull MAGA believers is not known. The poll results differed considerably between states.

One cannot but wonder how the nation that led the western world, built the United Nations,  stood head and shoulders above all others, and was respected by them, could ever need suddenly to be made “great again.” It was already great, though hardly perfect. It’s taken a numbskull with a mass of numbskull followers to destroy what was left of that greatness. The denial of science; free reign given to the fossil fuel industry,  a billion dollars of tax payer’s money paid to stop two windfarms, is not only illogical but bordering on insanity.

Three major heatwaves in Europe over a matter of a few weeks. Who knows how many more before the summer finally comes to an end. The projected effects of the latest ‘Super’ El Nino is not likely to affect Europe, heat-wise, until into next year. A possibility, then of worse to come in 2027. Similar conditions over much of the United States are slowly causing it’s citizens to amend their views. At least among those who have any functioning brain cells left.

Okay, so I said at the beginning I  wasn’t going to be drawn into the world’s problems. I’ve spent most of this post writing about the biggest problem of all. Such is life. It’s hard to get away from, if you live on planet Earth.

In case you hadn’t noticed there’s a major world event taking place.  It’s all about football. I’ve never hidden my feelings towards football, or every other competitive event that goes under the misnomer of ‘sport’.

I’ve nothing against two people who like to kick a ball around a field, or hit a smaller ball over a net, or an even tinier ball into a hole in the middle of a field. I do object when what are recreational activities, take over the media and plunge important news stories into a brief sentence or two at the end of a broadcast, or the last line of a website, or back pages of a newspaper. Meanwhile, the emblazoned headlines announce that so-and-so scored the winner in some football match on the other side of the world, organized by probably the most corrupt organization on the planet, namely FIFA.

More than 10,000 bodies, possibly as  many as 14,000, are buried  under the rubble in Gaza and Israel has refused to allow earth moving equipment into the Strip to help with  the excavation of 61 million tons of debris . Rescuers are forced to use shovels, pickaxes and other rudimentary tools, including their bare hands. Meanwhile, relatives and loved ones wait, and hope. Maybe they’d like to console themselves by watching the football, if only they had a television, or the internet, or the electricity to run either. Perhaps after years of living in fear, despair, grief and malnutrition, football doesn’t have much appeal anymore.

It’s a tiny little commune in the Calvados region of Upper Normandy, France. It has a population of only 1,900. When the US Secretary for War, Pete Hegseth was due to visit there during the commemoration of the D-Day landings on June 6th, the local resident’s association of Langrune-sur-Mer made their feelings clear. Hegseth was not welcome.

Immediately prior to the visit  Hegseth spoke at the US military cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer:

“…Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different, dangerous ideologies, he said, “Beaches in Spain, in Italy, in Greece, and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not…. “ Remarks that prompted a prominent historian to accuse him of “grotesque stupidity.” (Guardian)

(The earlier link reveals the full speech by Hegseth.  You are advised to keep a sick bag at the ready).

The denunciation  of this US politician by little Langrune-sur-Mer rapidly went viral causing Hegseth to run, tail between his legs, back from whence he came.

I was immediately reminded of William Schwenk Gilbert’s cowardly Duke of Plaza Toro who led his regiment from behind so he could be in the front when they ran away:

“In enterprise of martial kind, When there was any fighting,
He led his regiment from behind (He found it less exciting).
But when away his regiment ran, His place was at the fore, O-
That celebrated, Cultivated, Underrated Nobleman,
The Duke of Plaza-Toro!”

Why is it that a tiny village in France could stand firm and achieve what our lily-livered European political leaders are too cowardly to do? Perhaps we just suffer too many ‘Dukes of Plaza Toro’?

No-one mentions Ukraine anymore. Surely that’s a match deserving of full media attention. David, the underdog, bringing the mighty Goliath to its knees despite taking a pounding in the process. There’ll be nothing to match it in the coming weeks of soccer for action, glory, but oh so many innocent dead Ukrainians.

One final thought before the football occupies every braincell of the 40 billion Homo sapiens who it’s said will be glued to their screens for the next…well, the gods only know how long.

Today is the 80th birthday of the President of the United States of America. Let us celebrate this day by echoing the words of the environmental campaigner, Greta Thunberg:

“My initial thought was to give you a one-way ticket to The Hague as a birthday gift, but that comment would probably go above your head. I will instead give you a can of alphabet soup; the sentences you poop out will be more coherent than anything you have ever said. Now you can finally take part in meaningful public discourse.”

And now we’re taking you back to the World Cup where a player somewhere has just kicked a ball into a net…

 

As if it’s not bad enough to have authoritarian governments rising to power all around us, there’s a new problem beginning to rear it’s very ugly head: corporate authoritarianism.

Nowhere was this to be seen more clearly than at the recent, and very much respected, annual Hay Literary Festival at Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales.

One of those invited to speak, and be interviewed by the renowned ex-Guardian, investigative journalist Carol Cadwallader, was Sarah Wynn-Williams, an ex-employee of Facebook. She worked at the company from 2011 as their global public policy director. In 2017 her employment was terminated after she reported her boss, Joel Kaplan, for alleged sexual harassment.

Kaplan worked in the US government under George W Bush before eventually taking employment with Facebook in 2014 as vice-president of US public policy. He had Zuckerberg’s ear and by 2014 had risen to become vice-president of Facebook’s global policy, making him Sarah Wynn-Williams immediate boss.

Forced to leave Facebook, Sarah Wynn-Williams wrote a scathing condemnation of the company, “Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism.” The book is highly critical of Facebook and the poisonous internal culture that pervades the organization.

In retaliation, Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, took out a legal order preventing the author from promoting her book in any way, at risk of a $50,000 fine for any and every breach. The order specifically mentioned the Hay Festival.

To combat this problem there were three people on stage for the hour long interview, Sarah Wynn-Williams, Carole Cadwallader and Professor Tim Wu. Tim Wu is Professor of Law at Columbia University and an expert on matters relating to the internet. Throughout the interview Professor Wu answered the questions Carole Cadwallader might have put to Sarah Wynn-Williams, who sat in total silence throughout.

Professor Wu told the audience:

“For a long time now, people have been saying that the tech platforms have come to have the power and the size and the might of nation states. This is the living example, because this is censorship.

“Any authoritarian regime naturally gravitates towards silencing its critics.

“We need to call this what it is. This is the age of private censorship. This is the assertion of power. This is a demonstration that some of the worst abuses in our time are not confined to kings, emperors and governments.”

Sparrow Chat’s author no longer adheres to any social media platforms. There are no icons linking to them in Sparrow Chat’s sidebar. It didn’t take Sarah Wynn-William’s book to inform us that Facebook has a poisonous work culture.  There’s a plethora of information from ex-employees online and it goes back a long way.

The platform’s management hierarchy have moved about as far right-wing as it’s possible to get. Joel Kaplan, the guy Sarah Wynn-Williams accused of sexual harassment, has led the move in that direction, as the French journal, “L’Express,” explains:

“Having joined the Meta group in the early 2010s, [Joel Kaplan] this broad-shouldered former advisor to George W. Bush has Mark Zuckerberg’s ear “like no one else,” a close associate of Joel Kaplan told our colleagues at the Financial Times . It was he who reportedly encouraged Zuckerberg, when he was still Vice President of International Affairs at Meta, to initiate a “full-on Trump” shift. The underlying message: goodbye to moderation and fact-checking, hello to total freedom of expression, modeled on X….” L’Express 23/03/25.

(*it may be necessary to translate from the French).

(Read Carole Cadwallader’s article on the interview HERE.)