China

People are worried about the ascendancy of China.
I had a brief taste of China when I saw Aladdin at the Theatre Royal Windsor last week -- a show that I recommend, more so for the supporting cast.
We need not fear the Chinese who are fatally flawed as a people. Often in history they have made technological advances, always to let themselves them down.
I believe countries get the government they deserve, and the fact that they live under totalitarian rule is merely a result of them being too feeble as individuals to revolt. The English were never going to kow-tow to Hitler, and though the Americans are too conformist to my mind, their elections are too frequent to allow a dictator ever to take over.
One thing I can never understand is why we allow China to vote and to exercise a veto on the international stage (e.g. at the United Nations and the Copenhagen Summit) when they are denied democracy at home?
So should we embargo Chinese goods? Well, if I can find stuff of equal quality I buy cheaper from elsewhere. But if there’s a saving to be made, then we’re better off buying the cheapest, even from China.

Copenhagen & My Potatoes

Copenhagen may have been a complete failure, but all this talk of global warning caught me on the hop.
I was ill-prepared for a week of hard frost, and yesterday had to rush and dig up all my potatoes.
Although potatoes originated high in the Peruvian Andes, they can be damaged by frost near the surface.
Back breaking work, but it kept me warm, and I can now look forward to another year of self-sufficiency.

PS: Sometime yesterday evening my blog received the one thousandth visit in a month, so thanks for reading.

Copenhagen Summit

I’m no climate change denier, but I do ask, if global temperatures rise by say ten degrees Fahrenheit: So what?
Humans have adapted to much larger variations in climate over the millennia. It was a lot warmer in England in the middle ages than it is today; evidence the medieval vineyards in York.
We survived the ice age, when coincidentally you could walk from what is now Dover to Calais without getting your feet wet – in other words sea levels were a lot lower.
Cities such as Helsinki thrive with mean temperatures of 40ºF, whilst Singapore manages perfectly well with an annual average of 85ºF.
Here in England thousands more our elderly die of hypothermia in the winter than of heatstroke in the summer.
Before we burden the world’s economy with the crippling costs of decarbonisation, are there not cheaper ways of adapting?