California

Going back to California
So many good things around
Don't want to leave California
Sun seems to never go down

Some people may treat you ugly
Some treat you beautiful too
That's the way life is all over
So look for the good things for you ...


Alas 'twas a long time ago that Mr Mayall wrote those words. Even 20 years back Washingtonians and Oregonians were complaining about the refugees heading North. Places like LA are being reclaimed by the original owners. Well, the owners from 200 years back, anyway. The friends we stayed with two years back are considering relocating to Nevada.

Enough. Real late night music. Bass, sax, voice, guitar.

Drop The Baggage

Yazza is worried about the bloggers :

I never read the raving racists online but those who do tell me how revolting it is getting out there in the blogosphere. Ugly populism is fast food for the disillusioned.

For the centre-left leadership, the predicament is whether to pander to demagoguery or assuage genuine frustrations. Over the past three decades, governments have deepened income inequality and therefore resentment.

But Yazza, if you assuage genuine frustrations, you will be pandering to demagoguery ! Believe it or not, our coming woes aren't all about income inequality, though mass immigration certainly hasn't helped that.

Unquestionably, multiculturalism – once an effective policy tool – is now failing to connect, to counter resurgent white racism or self-exclusion.

But Yazza, that is multiculturalism ! Which is why multiculturalism is doomed to fail. It could only work as long as incomer numbers were small enough. Once the numbers were large enough - of whatever culture - it was going to mean trouble.

Popular consent, I believe, can be galvanised for the greater good. A renewed national identity united old enemies in South Africa and Germany, and Anglo-Franco Canada promoted a one-nation consciousness which accommodates diversity. History mattered; so too national memories. The future mattered more, and these nations sought to drop the baggage that would hold them back.

Well, yes. But we've already turned our education system into a propaganda tool, wrecked the teaching of British history. More than enough cultural baggage has been jettisoned.

Britons need to be drawn to such a collective enterprise. Who do we think we are? Who do we think we can be? What will bring our different tribes closer together? How can we become a more equal and less unhappy population?

It was thinking about these questions which was one of the things (though not the big kicker - that was the reaction of the left - and Yazza - to 9/11) that started me, first commenting elsewhere, then blogging. The thing is, I couldn't see any cheerful answers to those questions. And Yazza has none either.



Ed West takes Yazza apart in the Telegraph :

The economic benefits of mass immigration, as opposed to small-scale skilled immigration, are far from “indisputable”. Any economic benefit is short-term, with long-term and permanent social effects, and of benefit largely to the well-off.

To the rich, immigration means Tongan cleaners, Polish handymen and Thai chefs; to the poor it means queueing, lower wages and more crime, both from immigrants themselves and the native unemployed. It is often to these people, and to ever growing numbers of middle-class people squeezed out of their old neighbourhoods by house price increases, that an alternative view on immigration appeals. The internet has its downsides, and unpleasantness is a big one – but it also provides an alternative voice to a media class who find the rest of the population revolting.

And the comments are spot-on, too :

It was worse than never being asked - we were lied to. In the 1970s we were told that fears of being swamped were exaggerated, that there was no danger of the country’s nature being fundamentally altered. Then, almost overnight (in the early 80s) the line changed to `we are a multi-cultural society now, so get used to it’. In so far as we were ever able to express an opinion, through polls, we made it perfectly clear that we didn’t want this to happen. The suppressed anger at having been deceived, ignored and bullied is what now makes this issue so toxic.

or

Overwhelmingly the people in Great Britain are absurdly tolerant, and even when they’re not they are in general so damn polite they’d never allow a peep of intolerance to escape into public anyway.

The majority are, rightly, pissed off that they were never consulted on mass immigration, or the enforcement of multiculturalism. They just plain don’t believe the claims of necessity as it’s fairly freakin obvious other first world countries haven’t disintegrated despite despite not taking in half the world.

The liberal left at the BBC/Guardian, Civil Service and the main three political parties know the people of Great Britain aren’t all jackbooted BNP-supporting racists. They know the overwhelming majority just don’t see the need to import a massive foreign population into the country, changing the nation radically and permanently in less than 15 years, and then ordering us to be happy about it.

They know all that - it’s just we’re the only democratic country on earth where the elites basically hate the population. So I guess they decided to switch it.

or

The tension and a great many of the ills of the West today are from a spiritual vacuum which now envelops it. Most of the immigrants have a dreadful ideology - but it least it is not a spiritual vacuum, and that makes them stronger than those who are spiritually empty.

I say that as an atheist myself. But I have watched standards for everything decay from those of my childhood as liberalism has taken hold, liberalism which in today’s form substitutes fake ideals and utopias and fears for what used to be religious belief. On a mere empirical basis, increasing secularism has not been good for society, and in my observation, most people are less happy, suffer from an undefined malaise and oddly enough, are more willing to give up their freedom. I do not know why that would be so; but empirically it is so. I think most people need to believe in something, and secularism does not seem to fill that need.

(Hat-tips to commenters Sgt Troy, who seems to have stopped wanting to hang and shoot people for the moment or is at least deferring to house rules, and anon.)

Another frothing racist

" a determined Islamic attack"

"That is the type of evangelism they are doing: mass-production, so if you have four wives, four children, sixteen children, very soon you will be a village"

"surrounded by Islamic domination"

Who is this spittle-flecked, swivel-eyed chap ? Quite obviously one of those embittered types who's not cool with diversity and thinks that (parental advisory - the writer thinks that swearing is grown-up) "a significant portion of the babies being born are, apparently, the wrong sort of babies – babies from ethnic minorities, babies with immigrant parents and lone parents, black babies, poor babies".




Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, 56, was elected Primate of Nigeria last week.




Like his predecessor, the great Peter Akinola, the Archbishop seems to have the CoE hierarchy pretty well taped.

“Who is the leader in the Christian world? There is no leader”

That's you, Rasputin, that is.



While we're on the subject of the Church of England, here's another canary in the coalmine.

Lewis Bullock, an IT and business consultant in Dubai, was only 14 years old when he took the bold step of changing his faith from Christianity to Islam while growing up in the UK.

"I only had brief knowledge of Islam from our world religions class; in fact, we had the image that it's a religion for Indians and Pakistanis," Bullock said, who comes from a religious Christian background with his father and grandfather (a priest) belonging to the Church of England.

Obviously another one driven away by "the wishy-washy standards of contemporary Christianity".

"I have developed a new lifestyle different to the accustomed one in the UK and I tried to make my family understand this change by pointing to the irregularities in the lifestyle and high divorce rates as compared to arranged marriages," he said, adding that his marriage to an Arab UAE national has helped to strengthen his faith in Islam.

He's right of course. In fact, I've noticed recently a new trend on left blogs in the comments. When hideous righties talk about defending Western culture, the response is "what culture ? Binge drinking, high crime, family breakup ?" - all things which the left have been in the forefront of promoting - and things which once only hideous righties used to complain about.


Obviously no problems with the Bullocks' family life.

Bullock is a fluent Arabic speaker of the colloquial Emirati accent and enjoys his career and family life with his wife and five boys.

Your Postal Vote Frauds Tonight ....

When the local Respect councillor in Sparkbrook went bankrupt (actually got nailed for not paying his tax or NI) , Labour were hoping to retake the seat. Respect kept it.

And, in the time-honoured tradition of Bordesley Green, Aston etc,we have allegations of massive vote fraud.

Police are investigating the worst outbreak of voter fraud at a Birmingham City Council election for five years (i.e. since the previous council elections in the area - LT).

Almost 400 postal votes cast at Thursday’s Sparkbrook ward by-election – a third of the total issued – were rejected as likely forgeries.

Council officials, backed by the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties, called in the police after saying they suspected an organised plot to influence the result of the by-election, which was won by Respect candidate Shokat Ali.

In 2004, Birmingham was likened to a “banana republic” by Elections Commissioner Richard Mawrey QC, who investigated hundreds of forged ballot papers at that year’s city council elections.

Birmingham Labour leader Sir Albert Bore said those behind the alleged fraud at Sparkbrook had attempted to destroy the electoral process.

Sir Albert added: “Nearly 400 postal vote ballot papers were rejected because of inconsistencies in either the date of birth or the signature of the elector.

“It is appalling that even after a number of very public concerns and enquires into postal vote fraud, the election process in Sparkbrook has been undermined by individuals who have, in a number of ways, attempted to submit postal vote ballot papers of electors other than themselves.

“The fact that around 30 per cent of all postal votes cast – and there were almost 1,800 postal votes cast in this by-election – were rejected clearly illustrates the magnitude of the fraud being perpetuated.

“Birmingham’s reputation for honesty and integrity at election times has again been undermined.”

But it hasn't got such a reputation. It's got a reputation for fraud and dishonesty that would disgrace a banana republic - or in Brum's case, a kuthlama republic..

Be interesting to see who the fraud was in favour of. My money's on Labour, although they've pretty much all - except Respect - got previous. Grudging but sincere credit to Respect, who are actually against postal voting.

Oldham

Hmm. Chap gets shot in Oldham on 9th July - one Mohammed Junaid Khan. Suggestions that the killing might possibly be linked to another shooting - that of one Nasar Hussein in Salford the week before.

Now a Mr Amran Khan has opened his front door in Glodwick and been shot to death.

What exactly is going on up there ?

M. Pot, may I introduce Mme Kettle ?

"They live in a politically parallel world where everyone they know believes the same as they do."

Believe it or not, this is Guardian columnist (and now BBC correspondent - iPlayer link) Gary Younge. He's not talking about the Guardian or BBC - he's talking about the American Right. My cognitive dissonameter is off the scale. Tu quoque, Gazza !

Not that the Left hasn't got a few people who see things in that blinkered way. Gary's nowt if not fair.

The left has such people too, but they are marginal. With no news channels to promote them or Congressmen prepared to advocate for them, their views rarely reach the mainstream.

No news channels ? To be fair, he's talking about the US, where that might be the case (apart from the New York Times, Washington Post and the ill-fated Air America) - but he must be aware that in the UK the Guardian, Indie and BBC ensure that a Polly Toynbee could have a 30-year career and never hear a dissenting voice - at least until the Guardian introduced comments and a tsunami of criticism was unleashed.


Hat-tip - DB at Biased-BBC.

Today's Early Release Murderer - Robert Tozer

A man who murdered his 85-year-old neighbour in a "merciless" attack in her home has been jailed for life. Robert Tozer pleaded guilty at Hull Crown Court to killing Joan Charlton in West Parade, Hull, in June. The judge recommended Tozer, 20, spend at least 22 years in jail before being considered for parole.

Humberside Police had described the attack on Mrs Charlton, in which every bone in her face was broken, as "sustained and brutal".

As chance would have it, the BBC report is somewhat light on the unpleasant detail.

He repeatedly assaulted her with a bottle in the living room before searching upstairs for cash. Tozer came back downstairs to discover the injured pensioner trying to reach the phone in the hall to call for help and launched a merciless attack. He stamped on her head, cut the phone line, deactivated the fire alarm and tried to set fire to her body despite knowing she was still alive.

All the reports, except the BBC, point out that Tozer had been released from prison just weeks before (for attacking someone with a pool cue). At that point you assume he was freed early - isn't everyone these days ?

Tozer, who was sentenced to life for Mrs Charlton's murder at Hull Crown Court yesterday, had been released from prison early after serving five months of a 15- month sentence for assault, one of two previous convictions for violence.

I see you only serve a third, rather than half - when did that happen ?

Chalk up yet another death to our Probation "Service".


UPDATE - expanded at Biased-BBC.

Another Wee Postie

at Biased-BBC.

Abertawe News

via Edwin Greenwood, this wee tale.

Mass brawls broke out between Muslim and white groups on the streets of Swansea on the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Around 60 people were understood to have been involved in the two connected incidents outside Swansea City Mosque on St Helen's Road and Sin City nightclub on Friday night.

Police, who arrested two men, said they did not believe it was a racially-orientated crime.

Pah ! A Friday night skirmish. Far more important is this :

The ex-girlfriend of Ospreys star Mike Phillips has told of her heartbreak over his alleged relationship with chart-topper Duffy.

Former Miss Wales Claire Evans told a Sunday newspaper that she was devastated when the British Lion dumped her for the singer.

Miss Evans, aged 26, had been with the Ospreys' scrum half for eight months before the break-up.

"his alleged relationship with chart-topper Duffy". Hmm. Tall, powerfully built, strong-featured - have they ever actually been seen together in the same room ?


Good hands, likes a bit of niggle at the back of the scrum and to wind up the opposition.



Powerful singing voice. Can drag a number out of the Bacharach and David songbook by its collar and dump it forcibly on the turf.



While we're in the Land of My Absent Fathers, who's the cretinous chav who bust the Big Apple?

Photo : Maggie Jones.

The owners of a landmark snack bar in Swansea Bay, which dates back to the 1930s, say its future is uncertain after a car crashed in to it. The 'Big Apple' has welcomed visitors to the Mumbles' Bracelet Bay for generations, selling gifts and food from the concrete kiosk.

But it has been left extensively damaged after being hit by a Ford Fiesta car on Monday. Its owners say engineers are still assessing whether it can be repaired. The apple kiosk was originally built as a stunt to promote a drink at sites across Wales and England. It is thought to be one of the last of its kind still in use.

But the owners, operators of the Mumbles Pier, say they are now waiting to see if the apple can be repaired. "It has basically demolished the whole front half of it," said John Bollom, the manager director of the pier company, Ameco. "We can't work out how to put it right at the moment - the construction of it was very unusual. It would appear that it was made in some sort of big mould with concrete and steel poured in to it. It's a very substantial structure and repairing it is not going to be easy at all."

South Wales Police said a 21-year-old man is being investigated for possible driving offences in relation to the incident.

There's a video here. But the BBC have merely reported on the Apple. The point is to save it.

Facebook group "Save The Big Apple"

Sign the petition to save the Big Apple.

A Small Postette

At Biased-BBC.

It's Cognitive Dissonance Time Again ...

Picked Politics :

The SIOE and EDL people haven’t sprang up as a direct result of terrorism, otherwise they’d have started in July 2005. They’ve become more prominent recently because the rhetoric around Muslims taking over, the “demographic problem of Muslims”, the growing number of mosques etc has become fever-pitch, especially in the mainstream media. The kind of people who now daily scream about how many kids have Muslim names or how their babies are swelling in numbers are to blame for this hysteria.

Islam Online Factbox :

- Islam is the second religion in the UK with about 2.5 million Muslims
- The Muslim population of the UK has grown 30-fold since the beginning of the 1980s
- the name Mohammed is the second most common name in England and Wales and by far the most popular name in both London and the West Midlands.

I've got no idea if the above stats are correct - although I write about demography a lot, the ONS don't split the figures by religion - or ethnicity, except on rare occasions. But as we can see, it's not just the Mail and Telegraph who big up the Muslim numbers.


UPDATE - to be fair, having read Sunny's post on events at Harrow it may be that he includes the Islam Online people in his bestiary of "daily screamers".

"you are now an adherent of a religion which respects women"

Well, up to a point, Judge Antony Goldstaub QC - unless I'm wrong, I think it's still permitted to rape women captured in war.

Judge Anthony Goldstaub QC sentenced Stuart Wood for seven years for the attack, then told him: 'You have turned to Islam and this promises well for your future, particularly as you are now an adherent of a religion which respects women and self-discipline.'

You know, he may be right. It all depends on whether Mr Wood is sincere or whether he just wants to be with the biggest gang inside. He's certainly got plenty of sins to repent, but sometimes those saved from a life of sin can be the most zealous converts.

The judge added that Stuart Wood, who had previous convictions for indecent assault on underage girls and for violence, had shown no remorse and still protested his innocence about the attack in August last year in Colchester, Essex. He added that Wood had achieved the humiliation he intended on his victim.

Wood, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm. He was jailed for seven years for rape, nine months for ABH and three months for common assault, making a total of eight years. He will be on the sex offenders' register indefinitely.

Harrow On The Hill

When melancholy Autumn comes to Wembley
And electric trains are lighted after tea
The poplars near the stadium are trembly
With their tap and tap and whispering to me,
Like the sound of little breakers
Spreading out along the surf-line
When the estuary's filling
With the sea.

Then Harrow-on-the-Hill's a rocky island
And Harrow churchyard full of sailor's graves
And the constant click and kissing of the trolley buses hissing
Is the level of the Wealdstone turned to waves
And the rumble of the railway
Is the thunder of the rollers
As they gather for the plunging
Into caves

There's a storm cloud to the westward over Kenton,
There's a line of harbour lights at Perivale,
Is it rounding rough Pentire in a flood of sunset fire
The little fleet of trawlers under sail?
Can those boats be only roof tops
As they stream along the skyline
In a race for port and Padstow
With the gale?

UPDATE - the Pub Philosopher asks - who was doing the rioting ?

Petty, Spiteful,Shameful

I wasn't a Thatcher fan. But I recognise that she was a tough cookie and an exceptional leader - and as Britain's first female PM, she'd have been a historic figure even without the considerable impact her governments made.

The Labour Party - or to be more precise, Harriet Harman, have just used our tax money to produce the above list of historic women in politics - all of whom are named - save the most historic of them all.

Someone tell me it's a hoax. They couldn't really be that petty - and that blatant. Could they ?

The Black Candidate

What a thoughtful piece. The oddly named Quaequam blog on the "Black Farmer" and prospective Chippenham Tory candidate, Wilfred Emmanuel Jones (good Welsh name, that).

He wonders if the good voters of Chippenham are going to cause another 'racist' storm if they don't do the decent thing and vote him in as a Tory there. I think qq himself must be a Liberal.

The worry is that an unthinking media, steeped in churnalism, is going to end up being complicit in branding a blameless Lib Dem MP a racist for years to come simply for committing the heinous crime of doing a better job.

Everyone blamed 'Tory racism' when the Tories selected John Taylor (a black guy) as Cheltenham candidate - a relatively safe seat - and he was beaten by the Lib Dem. I've never worked out why that in itself made the Tories racist - their voters maybe, but not necessarily the party. The disappointed candidate was given a peerage - and I may be being unfair to him, but the only time I've heard of him since is when he's wheeled out by the BBC to opine on the exact degree of racism in the Tory party that week. With friends like that ...

There's also the factor of the local guy vs the outsider - particularly a high-profile outsider. Country folk aren't so keen on that kind of thing, safe seat or no. Labour can parachute in a Shaun Woodward to St Helens or a Mandelson to Hartlepool and their voters dutifully vote accordingly. Not so in the sticks. W E-J, a decent, patrician and beautifully spoken old-school Tory type, had better not assume it's a shoo-in.

Social Cohesion

It's cognitive dissonance time again :

'No Tooting race problem' despite two mosque attacks.

Tooting Muslims advised to walk in groups to prayers during Ramadan.

Elsewhere in London - "Large gangs of Bengali and Somali youths have been clashing in running street battles in London’s East End, eye witnesses have reported."

Ship of Fools

Organised Rage

"On reading of the young British Muslims who were found guilty of conspiring to murder countless hapless civilians as they crossed the Atlantic in commercial airplanes, I was struck by the similarities with what they intended to do and the way NATO is behaving in Afghanistan".

Penny Red lives in London. She doesn't get out much :

"The age when women had babies on everyone’s terms but theirs is dying"

Her "isn't it great that the Prime Minister is mentally ill ?" post romped home in the "With Friends Like These" stakes earlier today. She then repeats it at Liberal Conspiracy. I'm not sure they've got the hang of this 'cultural hegemony' thing.



British Muslims unite in solidarity after the disgusting murder (allegedly) by black schoolchildren of a Muslim grandfather in front of his three year old granddaughter (there has since been another attack - there were also some before the murder).

"Well done those black boys ! That's one less shia rawaafid beating his chest on the streets of tooting on december the 17th this year ."

The writer is a Sunni Muslim - he's referring to the Ashura processions and the practice of mataam. Poor Ekram Haque was a Shia Muslim.




All this individual craziness pales into insignificance beside collective insanity.

The UK may have to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 90% by 2050 so the aviation sector can continue to grow. That is the warning from the government's official climate advisers, the Climate Change Committee (CCC).

It would mean even bigger cuts than the 80% drop on 1990 levels already planned for households and industry in Britain.

Our rulers are insane. 80% was in the realms of fantasy, now 90% ! I suppose one ridiculous figure is very like another. Why not go for 95 ?

The only way this could possibly happen is with a massive, unprecedented nuclear build - but we're closing all the plants and handing over any new build to foreigners. But the government's new energy guru, David Mackay, is looking forward to 'the industrialisation of large areas of countryside' in this BBC interview, as we cover the land with windfarms which won't work on still days, and Wales with hydro schemes. Were there any quick wins on hydro they'd have done the dams already. Scotland does have enough hydro to provide at least a decent chunk of its energy - but it'll be independent by then.

Buy generators and candles. We're going to need them.

Things Fall Apart ...

The tectonic plates are shifting again.

Even the most blinkered Labour supporters are opening their eyes. Jackie Ashley on Labour woes :

It may mean a decade, or more, in the wilderness, with only a fragment of a local party to sustain them; with no real media interest and without the money to run research groups, campaigns or conferences.

And if the philosophy of Jon Cruddas is any guide, there are no new ideas to sustain them, just the same old Guardianista/Helena Kennedy platitudes :

We no longer live in communities in which people share the same customs and culture. But the ideal of community with its ethics of reciprocity and solidarity remains as powerful as ever- especially at moments of crisis. We seek a mutual respect that grants self esteem, and creates a sense of belonging.

We'd all love a sense of community alright. Well spotted, Jon. But that's just what we haven't got. And who brought that about, Mr Cruddas ?

Yet are the Tories building a mass opposition ? Is Tory Blair pulling in more committed activists ?

David Cameron's charm offensive has failed to attract new members to the Tories – or keep hold of tens of thousands of people who were already in the party when he arrived. Local Conservative parties have lost almost a quarter of their rank-and-file members since Mr Cameron took over in late 2005.

Although the Tories have enjoyed a huge opinion-poll lead for several months, they have not been able to translate the surge in popularity into an increase in membership on the scale experienced by Labour during Tony Blair's early years in charge. The total membership in more than 200 constituency associations – barely a third of the overall number – who provided relevant figures to the elections watchdog fell from 185,000 to 145,000 between December 2005 and December 2008. The constituencies experiencing falls include "safe" seats, the bases of shadow Cabinet members and target seats that must be taken if the Tories are to win the next general election. In Mr Blair's first year as Labour leader, his party's membership rose by over 100,000 to 320,000.

One problem is the Grim Reaper. The decent old boys and blue-rinsers (aka frightful racist bigots if you're on the left) are slowly being winnowed away to join their forebears. Along with good Old Labour, the Tory representatives of British culture as it was before the 60s revolution are leaving us.

And what will British politics look like in the future ?


UPDATE - Paul Anderson is gloomy :

Outside its upper echelons, the parliamentary Labour Party has never been shorter of talent – and that is before the departure of 100 or more retiring MPs and goodness knows how many others who will lose their seats at the general election. Labour MPs’ morale is by all accounts still at rock bottom after the expenses scandal. At the grass roots, Labour is in a terrible state, its membership dwindling and disillusioned and its local government representation weaker than for 30 years. The trade unions are worse led and shorter of cash and activists than at any time in living memory. There is little sign of intelligent life among the left-leaning think-tanks ...

What’s worrying today is that the never-say-die spirit is so notable by its absence. At every level, Labour seems tired, resigned and confused, and there’s no new generation of activists waiting in the wings.

In Defence Of Alan Duncan

Not often you'll hear me defending the council house grabbing millionaire who compared social conservatives to the Taleban and called for them to be 'rooted out' of the Tory party.

But at least Duncan is open and up-front about his beliefs. What you see is pretty much what you get.

His nemesis was a chap called Heydon Prowse, which sounds more like a PR firm than anything recognisably human, but who is actually a public school luvvie from Islington. Ticks all the boxes, doesn't he ?

Browse dug up Duncan's lawn, creating a bed in the shape of a £ sign, as a protest against the MPs expenses claims. Duncan, for what reason I know not (maybe he's just a nice guy - who knows ?), repaid this act by asking him to lunch. Browse turned up with a hidden recorder, and next thing Duncan's honestly and privately expressed views on the starvation diet of MP expenses were all over the media.

As a result of which he's out of the Shadow Cabinet. As Guido observes, Cameron (no social conservative himself) has watched his ratings fall and taken the appropriate action.

I understand the realpolitik of what Cameron's done, and by his leaving statement so does Alan Duncan. I guess it just sticks in the craw that Browse should pick up a scalp by his act of betrayal.

You can see why I'd make a lousy politician.

No Sunspots

The 11 year sunspot cycle reached a minimum around December 2008 - and seems to have stayed there. The spot which appeared on August 31, after 51 clear days, just missed last year's 52-day record - the longest spot-free period since 1913.

Maybe it's just coincidence that the snow in Scotland was better this year than for ages, and that the summer wasn't a terribly hot one either. But we live in hope, or I do - while I love an English, fluffy-white-cloud summer day, bit of a breeze, I find those baking cloudless days we've been used to over the last decade quite oppressive.

The next Dalton minimum, if not Maunder minimum, can't arrive too soon. Bring on the Frost Fairs !

UPDATE - I'm an agnostic on the current global warming mullarkey. Although it's obvious that chucking a load of CO2 into the atmosphere isn't going to make things any cooler, it's difficult to sort out the facts from the religious fervour of the warmists. Take a look at the site of the late John Daly for some of the arguments. But I'm in favour of the precautionary principle of trying to reduce emissions - my nightmare being some kind of runaway feedback loop. Mars was a wet planet once.

A Maunder or Dalton minimum might give us valuable breathing space (a Maunder minimum might also lead to mass starvation as global crop yields fall, but that's another story).