Are We Doing Enough To Combat The Real Terrorism Problem?
Over the years, I’ve met people in all walks of life that deal with terrorism and crime in general. So I like to think I have a good insight into it.
The United States will claim it hasn’t had any terrorist attacks since 9/11, but isn’t the dreadful attack on the congregation of the church in Charleston headlined in this BBC article as Charleston church shooting: Nine die in South Carolina ‘hate crime’, nothing more than a similar attack to the one on the innocent sunbathers in Tunisia.
The links between the two crimes are the twisted motivations of the perpetrators and the easy availability of guns, that can fire large numbers of bullets.
One of the reasons, we have not had a deadly gun attack in this country, since the Dunblane and Hungerford massacres, is that it is just too difficult to get a deadly weapon like a Kalashnikov in this country. I don’t think we’ve even had an incident in recent years involving such a gun, where perhaps gangs of drug dealers are settling an argument.
But are we doing enough to keep these deadly weapons out of the UK?
As an engineer with extensive knowledge of modern manufacturing techniques, I believe that it is now possible to create a workable machine gun, that was mainly created on one of the new industrial 3-D printers, with perhaps a few small metal parts smuggled through border controls. I should also say that I know of a manufacturer, who posts and receives specialist stainless steel parts through the post from all over the world.
After all, this report on the BBC describes how nutters in Texas have created a gun that fires using a 3-D printer.
I believe it won’t be long before someone creates a set of plastic parts, which when put around the working parts of an assault rifle create a gun that can be fired by any suicidal terrorist.
There is no defence against such a weapon getting onto the streets through this method.
I’m pretty sure that someone is working on doing it. Probably in the United States, where it seems that owning an assault rifle is something that many want to do. But then adding sense to the gun laws of the United States, is as difficult as making a serious alcoholic or heavy smoker see sense.
Not All Celias Are Blond
My Celia was a dark natural blonde.
Celia at New Year in Venice
And up until now all Celia gluten-free lagers were the same colour. But not any more.
A Dark Celia
This dark variety is rather good. I only ordered four from Ocado!
But that’s the problem, I can never get enough of Celia.
Variations On Mary Berry’s Salmon
I cook Mary Berry’s salmon with parmesan crust regularly. If I’ve had one problem, it’s the cream cheese that seems to go mouldy quickly, so I waste a lot, as you don’t need one, when cooking for one.
Recently, I’ve started to cook the dish with this M & S Welsh Goat’s Cheese.
M & S Welsh Goat’s Cheese
I’ve also started to use their Loch Fyne boneless and skinless salmon.
I’ve also started cooking two small steaks and having one a couple of days later, as they keep well in the fridge.
Mary Berry’s Salmon With Potatoes And Tomatoes
I do like boiled new potatoes and quality tomatoes.
This picture shows a section through the salmon.
A Sectio Through The Salmon
It almost has a cake-like texture,
Marks and Spencer do a boned and skinned salmon joint, which I’ll be trying, either hot or cold for a party.
A Birthday Card For An Eighty-Year-Old Widow
I sent a card to an eighty-year-old widowed friend in Scotland yesterday.
A Birthday Card For An Eighty-Year-Old Widow
Usually, I buy cards in Oxfam, but they didn’t have anything. In fact the choice was very limited. If you can’t read the badge, this is a close-up.
The Badge In Close-Up
I hope the Royal Mail gets it there in time.
Ocado’s Not Very Green Packaging
When I buy beer from Beers of Europe, it comes in a box holding more than a dozen bottles. Ocado doesn’t use anything as efficient as that.
Four bottles are in a cardboard carrier and that is in a plastic bag. That isn’t very green and must be downright inefficient.
My Crap Steel Kitchen Cabinets
Putting the beer away, told me that I must hurry up with the rebuilding of my kitchen.
I didn’t actually cut myself, but I must have caught myself once for every bottle I put away. And of course, Jerry didn’t put any lights in the cupboard.
The Next Phase Of The Overground
An article in City AM talks about the choosing the new operator of the London Overground.
Quite frankly, I don’t care who runs the Overground, provided they do a good job. I also know that if they don’t perform, they’ll feel the fullforce of the Mayor’s boot or stilettos.
But what is interesting is these paragraphs, which detail changes to the system in the next few years.
And Liverpool Street revellers will be pleased to hear the contract will include “options” to introduce all-night services at weekends from 2017.
TfL said frequency on the northern section of the line will be increased by 25 per cent next year, from eight to 10 trains.
For me, late night services on the Overground are to be welcomed, as for example, it will make getting home after a late evening arrival into London easier. An increase in frequency on trains through Dalston Kingsland and West Hampstead will benefit everybody.
Long may the Overground spread its orange tentacles through the city, to enrich and ease the lives of Londoners and visitors alike.
Could Britain Become The World’s Health Hub?
Matt Ridley in The Times yesterday has an article entitled Britain has the chance to be the world’s doctor. This is an extract.
A new report commissioned by three parliamentarians, Meg Hillier, MP, Lord Crisp (former chief executive of the NHS) and the surgeon Lord Kakkar, and written by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, makes the case that Britain is well placed to become the world’s “health hub”. Just as the City of London is the world’s financial centre and Wimbledon is the centre of tennis, so Britain is already a surprisingly dominant player in research, practice, policy and regulation when it comes to health, and widely emulated around the world. There is an opportunity here.
I have been privileged in my life and have had insight in London, Cambridge and Liverpool into substantial developments and research that are going to make the world a healthier place.
It is our pre-eminence in health research and the related fields like information, that is driving the world’s health forwards.
Ridley gives some surprising facts, like that even the much-criticised NICE has an international offshoot that gives advice to countries with limited health funding.
It is an article that gives a positive outlook on the future and finishes with this statement.
If America is the world’s soldier, Germany its engineer, Brazil its farmer, China its manufacturer and India its service provider, then Britain can be the world’s doctor.
Everybody worried about the future of healthcare, should read this article.
My First Ocado Delivery
I finally had an Ocado delivery today.
There are a lot of bags. But then there were a lot of bottles of Celia gluten-free lager and a couple of boxes of Coke.
Hackney’s Domestic Food Waste System
Hackney has a two-bin food waste system that seems to work well.
I have a small bin in the kitchen and a larger one downstairs, which I put out once a week, with the other rubbish.
The larger one bin been designed for carrying, so I bring it upstairs to empty the smaller bin, rather than carry the waste down in its degradable liner.
I’m still using a shop carrier bag in a large IKEA plant pot for waste that can’t be recycled.
Both the liners for the food waste bin and green sacks for dry recycled waste are supplied by the council, by filling in an on-line form. Usually bags are delivered in a couple of days.
The system seems to be having the desired effect, as this page on the council’s web site shows. In 2001, the recycling rate was less than 1%, but now it is over 25%.
The Anonymous Widower 