Back to the Future with The Independent: Snow is Gone from England

Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past


By Charles Onians
Monday, 20 March 2000
The Independent


Britain's winter ends tomorrow with further indications of a striking environmental change: snow is starting to disappear from our lives.

Britain's winter ends tomorrow with further indications of a striking environmental change: snow is starting to disappear from our lives.

Sledges, snowmen, snowballs and the excitement of waking to find that the stuff has settled outside are all a rapidly diminishing part of Britain's culture, as warmer winters - which scientists are attributing to global climate change - produce not only fewer white Christmases, but fewer white Januaries and Februaries.

The first two months of 2000 were virtually free of significant snowfall in much of lowland Britain, and December brought only moderate snowfall in the South-east. It is the continuation of a trend that has been increasingly visible in the past 15 years: in the south of England, for instance, from 1970 to 1995 snow and sleet fell for an average of 3.7 days, while from 1988 to 1995 the average was 0.7 days. London's last substantial snowfall was in February 1991.

Global warming, the heating of the atmosphere by increased amounts of industrial gases, is now accepted as a reality by the international community. Average temperatures in Britain were nearly 0.6°C higher in the Nineties than in 1960-90, and it is estimated that they will increase by 0.2C every decade over the coming century. Eight of the 10 hottest years on record occurred in the Nineties.

However, the warming is so far manifesting itself more in winters which are less cold than in much hotter summers. According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event".

"Children just aren't going to know what snow is," he said.

The effects of snow-free winter in Britain are already becoming apparent. This year, for the first time ever, Hamleys, Britain's biggest toyshop, had no sledges on display in its Regent Street store. "It was a bit of a first," a spokesperson said.

Fen skating, once a popular sport on the fields of East Anglia, now takes place on indoor artificial rinks. Malcolm Robinson, of the Fenland Indoor Speed Skating Club in Peterborough, says they have not skated outside since 1997. "As a boy, I can remember being on ice most winters. Now it's few and far between," he said.

Michael Jeacock, a Cambridgeshire local historian, added that a generation was growing up "without experiencing one of the greatest joys and privileges of living in this part of the world - open-air skating".

Warmer winters have significant environmental and economic implications, and a wide range of research indicates that pests and plant diseases, usually killed back by sharp frosts, are likely to flourish. But very little research has been done on the cultural implications of climate change - into the possibility, for example, that our notion of Christmas might have to shift.

Professor Jarich Oosten, an anthropologist at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, says that even if we no longer see snow, it will remain culturally important.

"We don't really have wolves in Europe any more, but they are still an important part of our culture and everyone knows what they look like," he said.

David Parker, at the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in Berkshire, says ultimately, British children could have only virtual experience of snow. Via the internet, they might wonder at polar scenes - or eventually "feel" virtual cold.

Heavy snow will return occasionally, says Dr Viner, but when it does we will be unprepared. "We're really going to get caught out. Snow will probably cause chaos in 20 years time," he said.

The chances are certainly now stacked against the sortof heavy snowfall in cities that inspired Impressionist painters, such as Sisley, and the 19th century poet laureate Robert Bridges, who wrote in "London Snow" of it, "stealthily and perpetually settling and loosely lying".

Not any more, it seems.





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
snow fall

Terror - Interrogation Style

Dear Useless Sorts,

Remember interrogation, remember the methods you didn't approve of - no reason, you argued to emply them when there was no certainty that the information secured was accuate, that a better way - saying please - would not have achieved.

Well ... they did use a non-friendly method and ... secured the information.

Unfortunately, it may well save several of your lives.  That is the part that is unfortunate.






Today we can reveal that the Tower of London and an unnamed mainline station in the capital are on a list of targets spilled to US spy chiefs by a terrorist who broke under interrogation.


German national Ahmed Sidiqi, 36 - a fanatic trained by al-Qaeda - also named the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the 5-star Hotel Adlon at Berlin's Brandenberg Gate as it emerged that terror cells are plotting a series of Mumbai-style massacres in the UK, France and Germany.

The list of targets he gave them also included Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, Berlin's new Central Station and the landmark Alexanderplatz TV Tower in the city.

And last night it emerged that the US government is taking the threats so seriously it may warn Americans to stay away from public buildings in Europe.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
terror

She is very displeased !!

The Queen tells Brown of grave concern over MPs' expenses

By Simon Walters, Political Editor
17th May 2009


The Queen has told Gordon Brown she is worried that the scandalous revelations about MPs' expenses could damage Parliament.

She discussed the explosion of public outrage over the scandal in what is understood to have been a candid exchange of views when she met the Prime Minister for their weekly audience at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.


Maybe time to tell Mr Brown he let her down!


[To read the rest of the article, click on the title link.]








Queen

Al-QAIDA: We will kill you all

If we can't beat Israel, we'll blow everyone else up.




8 Jan 2009
Daily Star
by TOM SAVAGE

AL-QAIDA: WE’LL ATTACK BRITAIN TO AVENGE GAZA

AL-QAIDA fanatics have threatened “overwhelming” attacks on the west over Israel’s invasion of Gaza.

They have warned they are poised to unleash death and destruction on both Britain and America.

The threat came just a day after the 100 highest-profile Jews in the UK were warned to increase their security after being told they were at risk.

The new plot was uncovered on Al-Firdaws, a website closely linked to Osama bin Laden’s terror network.

In the past it has carried interviews with Ayman alZawahri, al-Qaida’s No 2, who yesterday also called for attacks on Western interests.

Al-Firdaws’ administrator, named “The Base”, warned: “A new overwhelming attack is going to occur very soon. I remember over two years ago Sheikh Osama said that they were preparing already for a very huge attack in the USA, and they just were waiting for the relevant time.

“Now, this time is very similar to the time of 9/11 ... Israel was attacking the Palestinians, many angry demonstrations are happening in the Arab world, everyone feels hatred and they seek revenge.

Warrior

“I think the Mujahideen cannot find a better time to strike than this time.”

He added that a “trusted Holy Warrior” had told him: “The attack is coming really very soon, and everyone must be prepared for it.”

Security sources said they were taking the threats seriously, and emphasised Britain was “almost certain” to be dragged in to any plots.

One warned: “This isn’t just kids gossiping and making idle threats, these people are the real deal.

“Their contacts go right to the top of al-Qaida. We need to sit up and pay attention.”

The website said attacks should coincide with the inauguration of Barack Obama as US President on January 20. In 2007 the site carried a Q&A session with al-Zawahri, 57.

The Egyptian – one of the world’s most-wanted men – yesterday lashed Obama for failing to stop Israel’s attacks on Gaza. He branded it a “crusade against Islam and Muslims”.

And he raged: “Fight the Zionist Crusader campaign. Strike its interests everywhere you can reach them.”

Other extremists have discussed a “hit list” of leading British Jews – thought to include music producer Mark Ronson, 33, and Foreign Secretary David Miliband, 43.

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar has also called for the murder of Jewish children around the world.







UK

The English and their Alcohol

Amazing! I thought fraternity parties were drunkfests. I always believed football games led to freeflowing alcohol .... NO. In England, they do it much better and make the rest of us look like we haven't even begun.



Boozy Britain's bloody New Year: A 999 call every seven seconds in alcohol-induced mayhem

By Neil Sears
January 2, 2009

Violence scarred celebrations and led to a bloody New Year across the country as emergency services endured a chaotic end to 2008.

Ambulance control centres reported receiving 999 calls as often as once every seven seconds - the second highest volume of calls since the Millennium - as binge drinkers turned nasty in the freezing temperatures.

Many of the calls related either to alcohol-fuelled assaults or excessive drunkenness.

Booze contributed to time-wasting calls to 999 operators too, with one man calling to ask if New York was in America, and what time it was there.

Elsewhere, while large numbers were ferried to hospitals, in some areas injuries were treated by paramedics in 'booze buses' to leave ambulances free for more serious emergencies.

In Essex, so many drunk people were arrested that all 200 of the constabulary's cells were filled, and overflow revellers had to be shipped to neighbouring Kent to be held for the night.

A huge brawl at a social club in Loughton, Essex, meant 600 rowdy revellers had to be dispersed, with two arrested for attempted murder after a 47-year-old man was stabbed in the eye and back.

In Wales, a 999 call led to tragedy when an ambulance speeding its way to an emergency ran over and killed reveller Jason Hawkes, 23, as he stood in the road outside a pub in Beddau-near Cardiff.

In one of the most disturbing incidents an ambulance was wrecked by callous thugs while parked outside the home of a sick baby boy in Tilehurst, Reading.

[to read the rest of the article, click on the title link]








UK