Kaleidoscope

A kind man said he was glad to hear I wanted to stop climate change. I know what he meant. He was right and I am grateful. If only! The weather is certainly very strange so far this year. Since the middle of January we have had about five days of warm, southerly winds. But then we heard it was minus 35 celsius in Moscow – and coming our way!

There is no doubt that the weather patterns we have been used to for fifty years are changing. There is also no doubt, based on sound scientific evidence, that mankind has been adversely contributing to climate change since we started burning massive quantities of fossil fuel, thus releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into our thin, fragile atmosphere. That is where we need to change our ways. We must each do what we can to damage our planet less.

I fear it is more than you or I can do, to stop climate change. The real danger is that if we continue to reinforce adverse climate change, we will pass the point of no return and make the swing irreversible. So I rejoice that David Cameron is telling us to get out there and conserve!

Westminster politics is full of hot air and the Government has failed to halt the increase in UK carbon emissions over the past nine years. It is all short term stuff compared to changes in our planet. Just consider the ground on which we live and move and have our being in Wiltshire.

The upland plateau of Salisbury Plain, dissected by our rivers, was a warm, shallow sea 98 million years ago. For the next 35 million years the tiny skeletons of marine algae were deposited to form a crust of white chalk up to 1 kilometre thick. By 65 million years ago, SE England was rising out of the waters. As the Himalayas heaved up, the earth’s crust buckled, the Alps appeared and our chalk was pushed into undulating uplands.

Then came the big freeze. The northern ice cap extended to Yorkshire and for 2 million years The Plain was desolate periglacial tundra, home to Mammoths and giant Deer. The saturated, frozen chalk was eventually carved by water into the landscape we enjoy today.

Think of all those old Christmas Cards you’ve just recycled(?). Many of ours depicted 16th to 18th century scenes of frozen rivers and winter frolicking. The climate has moved on some more. It is many years since the Thames froze outside the House Library windows where I’m writing this.

Toppling tombstones

Do you feel threatened by tombstones? No, nor do I. But if you happen to pass a churchyard or a cemetery and you see numbers of them pushed to the ground, don’t assume it is another case of antisocial behaviour by mindless yobs. No, it could be your caring Council wot dun it! Or possibly your Parochial Church Council.

If a family erects a memorial stone at the head of a grave, the family is liable if after many years the footing rots and it gives way, injuring a passer-by, a child at play or a relative tidying up. But if there is no family left, the District Council or the PCC could be liable.

Enter the ‘Topple Test’. If a force of 50 kilograms or 350 newtons at a height of one metre topples the headstone, it must stay where it is on the ground. You can even buy your topple-tester on the internet! Honest, guv.

Care for our cattle

The scourge of bovine tuberculosis marches steadily across our County. The argument about the role of the badger in transmitting the foul disease continues to rage. Some believe badgers don’t transmit TB. Others blame deer. Certain facts are incontrovertible. The badger population has multiplied rapidly in the twenty-three years since these beautiful furry creatures, unmolested at the top of their food chain and with no natural predators were “protected”. The density is so great and so un-natural in the countryside west of Salisbury that it is not just cattle that are suffering.

Badger food and habitat are in such short supply that the pathetic sight of sick badgers is now common. The British Veterinary Association has warned us in Parliament that unless Government acts quickly it will not just be cattle that are dying but badgers too. This is an animal health issue that could also turn into a human health issue. Meanwhile in the County of Wiltshire, the number of TB infected cattle that have been slaughtered has risen from 484 in 2000 to 1,044 in 2004. This is not what we should expect in a nation of animal lovers.

The Wonder of Wilton

Finally for this month, that excellent journal of record, ‘Wilton World’ laments in its ‘Compost Corner’ that I think the ancient capital of Wessex is going to the dogs. Not so! I do not share the gloom of one local Councillor who moans that it will end up a ghost town. True, Wilton is one of Wiltshire’s best kept secrets and it is cursed and blighted by road traffic problems on which the Government has turned its back. But, like Amesbury, it was thriving before Salisbury was built. Wilton is not only one of our most resilient communities, it positively glows with community pride, sparkles with innovative business and enterprise and has a rich and enviable history. Wilton does need to shout louder. How about a community radio station and a world-class website for a start?

Robert Key MP
19th January 2006