JOHN TAYLOR’S WARNING OF ‘GLOBAL WARMING’

In last week’s communication it would seem that Cllr Taylor intimated to some of his more gullible readers that the huge iceberg, approximately the size of Manhattan which broke away from the Antarctic glacier (Pine Island) was all about ‘climate change’

Pine Island is a spot in the frozen continent where ice constantly moves from the interior of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to the open ocean and dumps about 19 cubic miles of ice into the sea every year!

Although some scientists have announced that this ‘calving process’ appears to be speeding up and fear it will add to rising sea levels, other well respected glaciologists have said, that this “event” was just one of many and reiterated and cautioned that just blaming ‘climate change’ may not be the contributing driving factor.

For instance, in July 2015, another huge iceberg broke away that was 10 times bigger than the current one, stretching to a size of 225 square miles

If the writer had a little more perspicacity, and bothered to indulge in a little research he would have known that!... or maybe he did, but the facts didn't suit his agenda.

He also heaped praise on our young people who protest about ‘climate change’ as part of The Global Strike 4 Climate movement and Extinction Rebellion protesters, and said ‘it was great to see!’ He went on to talk about the scourge of plastic and pollution in general, adding on his visits to very young pupils in Dukinfield schools, that lots of young people care about the environment. However, john, it’s not only the youngsters who share their concern, but older people too.

If he really wants to know about general littering and pollution in and around Tameside, may I suggest that he stands outside the gates of our secondary schools, as they pour out after a stressful day and see the litter, plastic bottles, fag ends and other detritus they litter the streets with.

We’ve all heard the mantra how Tameside council takes the public's concerns about litter very seriously, now if that truly is the councils stance, and wish to step-up to really drive home their message, why not try a much harder hitting system by initiating a hard-line crackdown of issuing fixed penalty  notices to these juvenile litter louts of say £75.00 ( with the usual offer that the fine will be reduced to £40.00, if paid within 10 days.

The fine together with an accompanying letter, should be issued to the culprit to give to their parents, explaining why and where the offence was committed.

This scheme, would also add extra funding to the council coffers or, better still, given back to the secondary schools, to help their funding.

However, as I expect that should this idea is actually offered up for scrutiny at the next council committee meeting, it would more than likely be discussed by the same group of people who individually can do nothing, but as a group decide that nothing can be done!

I await Cllr Taylor’s reply.


CURMUDGEON

…THOUGH COWARDS FLINCH AND TRAITORS SNEER, WE’LL KEEP THE RED FLAG FLYING HERE.

Immediately after the Supreme Court ruling which decided that the government’s attempt to prorogue parliament was unlawful, we saw dozens of MPs and others whose interests depend on remaining in the socialist controlled EU, saying how ‘they were delighted’ and announced that they were now scurrying back to Westminster to urgently debate the way forward regarding Brexit.


Then as the Labour conference finishing early on Tuesday following the court ruling, those people who later would be accusing Boris Johnson of being a ‘traitor’ finished their conference by enthusiastically singing the communist and now the Labour Party anthem of The Red Flag’ whose lyrics are as follows: Raise the scarlet standard high. Beneath its folds we'll live and die. Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer, we'll keep the red flag flying here!


The song is about armed proletarian youth revolution, with the song symbolising how the youth must bring about a new age and wash away that of the old capitalist regimes of the modern world. Red Flag in the title itself has its roots firm entrenched in a communist/socialist revolution.


However, the line ‘cowards flinch’ sounds like a perfect description of the election-dodging Corbyn.


Then, as the camera’s rolled, the SNP, Liberals, the Greens and those that had recently broken away from their socialist comrades and joined other groups, along with the Labour MPs together with many vocal members of the Trade Unions, collectively delivered their epistle to the masses and returned to Westminster ready for Parliament to reconvene on Wednesday. I believe our own MP Jonathan Reynolds was photographed and was published on ‘social media’ looking like the cat who’d finished off the cream, sitting smugly in an empty commons chamber.


So, the much-vaulted Brexit crisis; the very subject of the UK leaving the EEC was not to be! Instead, they used this ‘urgent time’ to plan further scrutiny of the government and undermine both the democratic Brexit result and rather than trying to find a solution to Brexit, spent their 'urgent time' plotting further spoiling tactics and instead engaged in a programme of mud-slinging and dragging spurious historic accusations to further undermine the Prime Minister.


Although there was not the usual Wednesday Prime Minister's Questions, the Speaker, Mr Bercow said, ‘there would be "full scope" for urgent questions, ministerial statements and applications for emergency debates’ to which Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested that “This unelected Prime Minister should now resign, with the SNP leader in Westminster, Ian Blackford saying, “Once it’s clear that Parliament has blocked a no-deal Brexit, the opposition parties should combine to pass a vote of no confidence. And MPs again try to seize control of the Commons timetable from the Government.


With the Prime Minister speaking to the UN, he too was forced to curtail his intended international meeting schedule and returned from New York to address parliament.


Watching the proceedings I soon realised the atmosphere was turning positively toxic with remainers from all the opposition party’s shouting throughout his delivery from the despatch box where the PM was attempting to speak about the Benn Act, calling it the ‘Surrender Act’ and saying the word ‘betrayal, as in “We will not betray the people who sent us here; we will not." His speech was met by opposition members shouting out, that the PM was acting like a ‘tinpot’ dictator, and of being a liar; - words that are usually pounced on by the Mr Speaker as being ‘unacceptable parliamentary language’.


As the slanging match continued with screeching accusations being slung back and forth, each side were increasingly escalating the stretching of the English language to denigrate their opponents.


To me, the whole sorry affair smacked of screeching hypocrisy.


CURMUDGEON