komadori’s green corner

This story from the Swindon Evening Advertiser set me thinking

According to neighbours the bag was left behind in the middle of the road by two youths, who had been seen carrying it.

When the bag split they apparently made a run for it, leaving their living cargo behind. Kim believes that there may have been as many as three or four hundred frogs in the bag….
Residents called the RSPCA but no-one from the organisation has visited the road yet.

Quite a few of the frogs died. If the bag had contained several kittens, I’m sure there would have been a quicker response, and the tone of the article much more outraged, but because it’s frogs rather than some furry or feathery animal, few are concerned. Human interest in animal welfare is a very selective thing.

I can’t help thinking that petitioning the Prime Minister to relay a full sized pitch at Greendown Community School so that Swindon Hockey Club (and other sports clubs) will continue to be able to play there, is probably not the most effective use of prime ministerial time. Whilst it is clearly very bad news for the hockey club, to describe it as ‘an outrageous abuse of local funds’ is rather out of proportion, especially as the current pitches are past their prime and the school is getting several new pitches built. The claim used to back up the petition ‘Swindon Hockey Club – one of Swindon’s premier hockey clubs.’ is, after a little thought, quite modest.

I forgot to report on the very tasty plum sponge pudding that was on offer in our work canteen yesterday, tho’ it was rather let down by exceptionally thin custard it came with. A bit more plum in the sponge would have been better too, but it was still well worth the 80p price (and much cheaper than the ‘healthy’ yoghurt option — it pays to be a glutton).

I can’t quite believe this article from the local newspaper.

YOUNGSTERS were advised about the dangers of smoking after their school was given an award for banning smoking on its grounds.

Smoking charity Quit spoke to pupils at St Joseph’s Catholic College about the dangers of starting smoking, as the school was given a gold level smoke-free award.

Are they seriously suggesting that there are schools that knowingly permit smoking on their grounds?

In a rare step into the limelight, the Research Councils got a mention on the BBC’s Today Programme, with a piece about their reaction to the recent reduction in funding. The DTI response, that the cut was just 1% of science expenditure, missed the point that was being made. Research funding is a long-term thing not short-term and this is the first time research funding has been taken to cover for short-term problems elsewhere. And these, despite the comment of the Beeb’s Pallab Ghosh, are not part of the Civil Service, but agencies that are, officially, at ‘arms length’ from government. It also overlooked the fact that if you take 1% of the budget with only a little over one month of the financial year remaining, and do so from organisations whose expenditure is committed for many years, the effect is greatly magnified: the chancellor has effectively just inserted a little ‘boom and bust’ into university funding.

It was also strange to see so many Research Council heads speaking out at once. One could almost be forgiven for wondering whether one of their ‘arms length’ masters in a less liberated position had given them permission to do so.

I don’t wish to get into the argument over the rights and wrongs of the Food Standards Agency’s traffic light labelling for food. However, I have noticed a certain selectivity at my local supermarket as to which foods are so labelled. (A supermarket which has taken its ‘Try something different today’ slogan to the extreme of replacing many of its food aisles with clothing. What to they want me to do — eat a T-shirt?) Its more upmarket ranges (Be good to yourself, Taste the difference) seem to be almost entirely labelled with the Wheel of Health. Its cheaper ranges, such as Basics are almost totally devoid of them. So those ranges most likely to appeal to those parts of the community where obesity is most prevalent are the ones where the simple guidance of the FSA’s scheme is missing. Similarly expensive ready meals are fully traffic light labelled, cheaper snacks, like pasties and pork pies, are not. So, in the interests of public health, here, based on the FSA’s technical guidance is the nutrition information for a Sainsburys 150 g Melton Mowbray Pork Pie. Per 100 grams

Carbohyrate:            21.7 g
of which sugars         1.1 g   low
Fat                        25.9 g   high
of which saturates    9.6 g   high
Salt                        1.8 g   high

Admittedly, I didn’t need a brightly coloured label to realise that a pork pie was not the healthiest food on offer. But there are many that might benefit from, at least, a reminder at the point of purchase of what it and similar foods contain.

Oh, and before anyone asks, yes the pork pie, washed down with a glass (or two) of honeysuckle wine, was very enjoyable.

I’ve just spent most of the last two hours watching the lunar eclipse. Very serene it was too, watching the thin crest of light fade away over the terrace of houses opposite to the relaxing background music of the passing traffic. Then just a few minutes ago re-appear again. Such a beautiful setting.

The University of Bath has now confirmed its decision not to build a new campus in Swindon. The response of one of our local MPs, as reported by the Swindon Evening Advertiser, seems a bit OTT:

Mr Wills said he was very disappointed. “It’s a great shame that the town has gone so far in trying to accommodate the University of Bath,” he said.

“It’s a real blow that without any real notice to anyone in the town that they have pulled the plug on the project. This raises significant questions about other projects in the town and the region.”

One organisation has cancelled its plans owing, it says, to a change in government policy, and suddenly all other major developments are in doubt… not just in Swindon but across the south west. ’Tis a bit like claiming that, as it rained today, there is a serious risk that we will never see the sun again.

Every evening I walk past The 12 Bar in Westcott Place. It has its opening hours on the door (and on its website)…. Except that most Tuesday evenings, well after the alleged 5 pm opening time, it is quite definitely shut, some weeks Wednesday too. Seems a very strange way to try and get custom really. If you’re heading to The 12 Bar on an evening when they haven’t got a band playing, I recommend The Greyhound just across the road. If nothing else, unlike The 12 Bar, it will be open!

At a meeting yesterday, in answer to a question about how performance standards could be ensured in a new agency, given that it would be a monopoly supplier, the answer given was that the people at the top would be on performance related contracts and if they failed to perform they’d be looking for new jobs. The next question was “Does that mean that people in the [new agency] will be on different pay and conditions, with performance related bonuses, whilst those in the [existing agencies] will not?” Answer: “Anyone TUPEed into the [new agency] will keep their current pay and conditions.” [TUPE = Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations]. If I translate the combination of those two answers correctly it means there’ll be no incentives to meet performance standards at all.