We're now into the final month of 2011, and it has made a better start than November ended. It was bright and fairly sunny, but very, very cold. As I type, the mercury stands at freezing, after a daytime max of +4C / 40F.
It was reported earlier this afternoon that the death of a young man in a derelict building at Steinish, 2 miles northeast of Stornoway, is now being treated as suspicious. Liam Aitchison had been missing since November 22nd, having last been seen in Anderson Road, the Stornoway street closest to Steinish. Only a mile separates the two.
BBC Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has shot his mouth off, by saying that the people who went on strike yesterday should be shot, executed in front of their families. I am aware of Mr Clarkson's propensity towards sarcasm, but do feel that he has overstepped the mark by several dozen miles. Irrespective of your views on yesterday's strike by public sector workers, those who went on strike did so out of genuine concern for their future. Clarkson is the one with the guild-edged pension, and I hope his wings will be clipped a bit. Pity his dismissal from the BBC appears unlikely. His status as hosting the most popular program on the national broadcaster is very much undeserved.
Sad news about the death of such a young man.I hope his killer(s) are brought to justice swiftly.
ReplyDeleteI have been following the furore around Mr Clarkson's comments on the One Show with interest. He was, in all fairness, cracking a bad joke. But he seems to have wanted to be deliberately provocative. If so, it worked, and we are all talking about him when we should be focussing on the serious issue of how we are going to fund our old age when we have less youngsters expected to pay taxes to pay for the growing elderly population. The strike seems quite pointless because we are living longer and staying healthy for longer. We have to be prepared to work longer and accept that we cannot afford to keep public sector pensions at their current levels.
Personally, I think the cuts are too hard and too fast, but the pension issue is a serious one that does need addressing now to save us all pain in the future.
As for Clarkson, he should keep his mouth shut.
Wordsmith x