The resignation today of the Shadow home secretary, David Davis might in time be seen as a master-stroke. I reason that Mr Davis has become so disillusioned by what he has referred to as '...the slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms by this government' and by making a firm stand he has the opportunity of making public the underhanded way this government is behaving.
I applaud David Davis; I have always admired the man and I believe that he is one of the most honest MPs in the House. I do not regard his action as a 'stunt by a vain man' as suggested by Tony MacNulty (Labour) on the BBC 'Question Time' programme this evening and I feel it is time somebody from public office put their reputation on the line to stand up and fight for what they believe is fundamentally right. Davis's resignation announcement does not appear to have been as sudden and unexpected as we may have first thought. By having the Liberal Democrats 'onside' by their agreement not to contest the by-election seems to me to be a further well-defined strategic move and I cannot accept that Mr Davis's action has not been timed to perfection. I also suspect that David Cameron could have cooperated with Davis in constructing the strategy.
I feel Mr Davis has taken the view that the 42 day detention rule is the straw that has broken the camel's back but the passing of this legislation by a very small majority in the Commons yesterday merely highlights the latest in a whole string of measures the government has introduced against the public. Under normal Parliamentary debate I do not believe Mr Davis would be able to gain sufficient arousal as a serving MP because such debate would not be sufficiently within the public domain and any vehement efforts for heated debate would most likely be censored and tamed by the Speaker. To take a campaign to the streets is almost certainly going to gain a growing amount of public support and massive media attention over our issues of freedom that the government will only be able to ignore to their folly. I am hopeful that Mr Davis will be able to carry this through and if he succeeds, then the government may have little option than to call an election.
By the taking the action that he has, it is my view that a renewed by-election campaign by David Davis will provide the means to bring the misdemeanours of this government to a greater public arena. If Labour decides to fight in Haltemprice and Howden and in so doing takes a major thrashing as it did in Crewe then surely this can only be a major victory for the Conservative party? If Davis wins by a vast majority then this could be the next nail in Gordon Brown's coffin as prime minister that could massively turn the public further against the Labour party and might even force a general election. Should this happen then David Davis could be heralded a hero.
It is my opinion that the introduction of the 42 detention period without charge will only lead to greater levels of unrest especially among the Muslim community who already believe that they are being unfairly targeted by the police. While every humane citizen wishes to be protected from terrorism an extension of the custody period could lead to the arrest of an increasing number of 'suspects' who are later released without charge. Such action is likely to tip the balance and could lead to an increasing number of militant radicals, especially those more vulnerable to persuasion, to join 'the cause'. There is little evidence to suggest that an increased detention period before a charge is made will lessen the threat.
These are only my views but I firmly believe that David Davis's resignation has been carefully crafted and if his by-election campaign succeeds, the government might have little alternative to being forced to either call an early general election or force Brown to quit. We will have to wait and see but the next few weeks should prove to be very interesting.
Thursday, 12 June 2008
Friday, 30 May 2008
THE CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW GOES GREEN
“Chelsea is always guaranteed to delight … there’s plenty to absorb everyone … from avid gardener to the pure novice.”
The problem with all of the RHS garden shows is that there are so many positive aspects and it is only possible to skim the surface in a feature of this length. Chelsea is the major international show piece of its kind and even if you only have a passing interest in gardens and flora, you cannot help being thoroughly engaged by its content. This year the weather was a great deal kinder than last and exhibitors reported that the conditions were ideal for planting and building their show gardens. This was the 86th RHS Flower Show to be held on the site of the Royal Hospital since 1913 and the popularity forced the organisers to announce quite early that all tickets had been sold and 157,000 visitors were expected to attend during the five days of the event. Despite this I couldn’t help feeling there was something slightly lacking from the usual air of expectancy that usually surrounds the occasion that I could only attribute to a knock-on effect caused by the depressing economic situation.
Sadly there was a notable absence of the popular presenter of BBC gardening shows, Monty Don who had been forced to give up his role after suffering from a recent stroke. I didn’t see that former doyen of the BBC’s ‘Ground Force’ programme Charlie Dimmock either. It seems she has fallen from favour with the BEEB. Press day generally brings a plethora of celebrity guests but there seemed fewer than at previous shows. Those that did make an appearance included Damon Hill, Chris Tarrant, Ringo Starr and his wife Barbara Bach, Felicity Kendal, Michael Portillo, Anneka Rice, Sir Patrick Moore, Brian May and Susan Hampshire. The Queen and other members of the Royal Family did attend later in the day but by the time they arrived the least humble members of the press corps had to vacate the show site.
The large show gardens are always the main attraction and they usually offer something very special on a grand scale. The smaller gardens are also painstakingly put together and are no less impressive even though they are built to much lower budgets. This year there was a distinct indication that the concepts had moved back to basics with strong geometric design and lush planting coming to the fore. Green was by far the theme; not so much as an environmental issue, but as the predominant colour that ranged across the majority of the 21 show gardens. Wild grasses, hostas, tropical palms ferns, perennials, trees and hedges were plentiful and the designers appeared to have adopted peace and calm as their overall themes. One exception was the Oceânic Garden (Bronze winner) by Diarmuid Gavin who had joined forces with Sir Terrence Conran with a flamboyant design that centred on an open sided timber and metal pavilion, complete with espresso machine, overlooking a garden shaded by canopy of mesh and metal daisies. Bamboos, ferns and dicksonias formed jungle style borders around meandering paths and lollipop shaped trees that formed the backdrop. I have the feeling that Diarmuid never quite wins the full approval of the judges, even though Chris Beardshaw had, in a sense gone from poacher to gamekeeper by moving from designer/exhibitor to join the team of judges.
The therapeutic qualities and joy that pleasant gardens can bring to the sick and infirm were evident. The BUPA Garden (Gold) by Cleve West featured plants of medicinal qualities in a tranquil design with a claming water feature that reflected the specific needs of those suffering from dementia and Altzheimers. Similarly the Cancer Research Garden (Gold) by Andy Sturgeon was devised to highlight the progress being made in the fight against cancer by deploying a peaceful design that suggested a journey through different periods in time. The garden contained four reflective pools that became progressively larger towards the front of the garden with Southern beech and large tree ferns planted to provide an exotic woodland setting that formed a series of delightful peaceful glades with orange blue and purple flowering plants brought in to add a brightening element of colour.
The Laurent-Perrier Garden (Gold) by Tom Stuart-Smith was judged Best in Show with a design that was surrealistic in nature that relied on juxtaposing brick-shaped objects around meandering paths arranged in one direction with a random pattern of planting that included a grove of magnificent thirty year old hornbeams that created the effect of floating clouds. Zinc panels on the rear wall and hand-crafted water troughs also of zinc were used to enhance and to break up the strong green by introducing a contrasting shade of blue-grey.
The Cadogan Estates Garden (Gold) designed by Robert Myers reflected how a hotter, warmer London climate of the future might alter the way formal community garden squares are perceived. This used a double canopy of lofty palms to create dappled shade above a layout of York stone paths, a piazza and two parallel canals linked by irrigation streams of harvested rainwater. This created an air of cool calm in a garden that was envisaged to be set among tall buildings. At the rear, a statue of the Cadogan Estate founder, Sir Hans Sloane, proudly overlooked a small terrace while a high feature sculpted from stone and hedges formed the back wall of the garden
Water played a major part in so many of the designs this year and a Far Eastern influence prevailed in several gardens. The Ky Wong Charitable Trust highlighted the cultural links between China and Europe in a creation that they called ‘I Dream, I Seek My Garden’ (Gold) that relied on the imaginative idea of a partly submerged Chinese pavilion and garden being discovered beneath the London soil. Shao Fan is a well respected artist famous for developing old and new Chinese art forms and his garden was an evoking combination of hand crafted wooden buildings, limestone rocks, water and indigenous Chinese plants.
Arabella Lennox-Boyd created a stimulating water garden for the Daily Telegraph (Gold) that achieved tranquillity by tastefully combining an extensive water feature with large slate rocks set in a border of Purbeck stone and slate mulch with a winding path also of slate. A trimmed line of yew bordered the edge of the garden to compliment the colours reflected in the pool as did the strong foliage at the rear of the garden. The ‘Garden in the Silver Moonlight’ (Silver) owed its influence to the Moon Observation Stage at the 17th century Katsua Imperial Villa in Kyoto with a garden devised to stimulate the five senses. This was the first time that contemporary Japanese show garden had been seen at Chelsea and it was devised Hank Ski and Makoto Saito to celebrate 150 years of cultural unity between Japan and the UK. Every year the popular Australians of Flemings Nurseries bring a crowd of personnel to construct their garden and to entertain visitors. ‘The Fleming’s and Trailfinders Australian Garden’ (Gold) this year was designed by Jamie Durie to provide a flavour of beach and bush. Australian plants and hardwoods were used around a wall of Western Australian sandstone constructed from 3,500 individual pieces. A dining area incorporating a central fire bowl ‘bar-b’ completed the impression of outdoor life in a hotter climate and the feature was adorned by an aboriginal hand-painted artwork by renowned artist Gabriella Possum Nungarrayi that enhanced this small vision of Australia.
The show sponsors, Marshalls called their showpiece ‘The Marshalls Garden That Kids Really Want’ (Silver) that used a theme of an organic playground devised to encourage children to play outside. Beyond the metre high stone sculptured snake that guarded the entrance, the garden opened into areas of bold, jungle style foliage that was used extensively and balanced with soft grasses and turf areas where children could play safely. A skimming pool, den and natural rock stack climbing area reached through an underground tunnel added to the overall adventure theme of a fun garden that youngsters were bound to find absorbing.
Chelsea is not only about the lavish show gardens that provide much of the acclaim. Overall there was plenty for everyone from the experienced gardener to the complete novice and the 250 trade stands offered a massive array of the newest and most fashionable garden products and services from tractors to clothing, books to sculptures, botanic wall art to greenhouses. Plenty of expert advice was also at hand for those in need. There were also numerous exciting designs to be seen in a new category to the show; urban gardens that featured outstanding design concepts for small gardens located in a modern urban setting. The 2008 show included no less than 22 of these small gardens; each of them unique and delightful in their own particular way. While the outdoor gardens displayed an abundance of green planting, the Great Pavilion was alive with a mass of outstanding displays of vibrantly coloured popular and less common garden plants, flowers, fruit, vegetables and miniature bonsai trees with features from places as far away as Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada and elsewhere proudly displaying their own indigenous flora. With the shows at Hampton Court and Tatton Park still to come, this looks like being another exciting year for the Royal Horticultural Society.
More information about Chelsea 2008 and the other shows can be found on the Web site:: www.rhs.org
Further photographs of this year’s event can also be seen by hitting the link on my web site at: www.robertbluffield.co.uk
Thursday, 29 May 2008
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
The normal working British people are being thoroughly ripped off and our once great country has already gone to pot. The rich get richer, the poor poorer but there is also a middle ‘under class’ that has evolved that Gordon Brown is succeeding in bringing to their knees. This group forms the majority of good, honest workers that Brown is treating with total contempt. He seems blind to the fact that he is crippling the nation by taxing us to the hilt while he remains happy to continue to blow money on his pet schemes as well as a useless war in Afghanistan and a peace keeping mission that can never succeed in Iraq. All of this is bleeding the country dry. On this score it is interesting how the government steers clear of questions relating to what all of this is costing the tax payer and just how much money is being spent every time a missile is fired.
I believe that Gordon Brown is the most loathed prime minister in living memory; in fact I will go as far as to suggest that he is hated by a vast sector of the population. We don’t like his face; the way he stutters and stumbles whenever he refuses to answer simple questions and we certainly do not like the fact that he doesn't have any ears. If he had then he would hear what the public is saying and for once do something positive about the worsening economic situation he has created. What makes matters worse is the fact that he was never voted into power by the populace and he got there by default. There must be some question about the legality of this? Tony Blair must be chuckling to himself for letting his former colleague loose on the British people and we all know that Cherie is ecstatic. Blair’s action in letting the former chancellor take the hot seat should be deemed in itself an act of high treason which sadly is not worth pursuing because it is no longer punishable by the death sentence.
I feel it is time that an Englishman governed our country. The Scots most certainly would never entertain a Sassenach ruling their country so why should we permit a Scot to rule us? Perhaps Brown is an interloper sent here by those north of the border to destroy our country along with any self-esteem that we have left?
The Tax Payer’s Alliance has estimated that more than £101 billion … yes one hundred and one billion pounds of our money has been totally wasted by the former chancellor during the last year alone. This not only goes to fund a war that is killing and maiming our young soldiers, but is also blown on consultants the government hires but refuses to listen to and costly computer systems that are never likely to work. He pumps money into education and the National Health Service but completely in the wrong places that allows money to flow down the drain while areas that should be supported are left void of cash. One such example relates to the allocation of life enhancing drugs to cancer and Altzheimers patients that are given only to patients that live in the right places.
Then we come to fuel tax. We were told to buy diesel powered cars in favour of petrol and now at my local filling station there is already a 14p per litre price differential in favour of petrol. Everybody is affected by the cost of fuel and it reflects heavily in the prices of every commodity that we buy but Brown appears totally blind to the facts. Our haulage industry has long been under threat from operators from mainland Europe who not only fill their tanks considerably cheaper in France and Belgium before arriving on our shores but then add insult to injury by using our roads totally free of charge. Will there ever be a time when this prime minister comes to his senses? Nothing short of a major blockade or an all out strike by our truckers will be sufficient to make Gordon Brown realise exactly what he is doing to our nation. At a recent Prime Minister’s questions, the Milton Keynes Conservative MP Mark Lancaster put the direct question “Does the PM know what a litre of fuel costs?” Bumbling Gordon was unable to answer and had to rely on a prompt from Alistair Darling to provide an answer which only goes to prove how completely out of touch Brown is with reality. But of course, if he travels by road it is usually in a fuel guzzling Jaguar that is hardly environmentally beneficial and lucky Gordon never has to pay for a tank of fuel. Neither does he have to pay for his TV licence, his carpets, his furnishings, his kitchen … enough said. No, we pay for everything which probably comes down to his underwear.
Like all of these things, the continuing issue of taxes will hit the poorest the hardest. The so called green tax issues relating to increasing the road tax levied on older and supposedly more polluting cars will only hit those unable to afford to buy new, energy efficient vehicles. There is a strong argument here; if you can afford to buy a new car then you can afford to pay higher taxes but the situation will only apply in reverse by charging the poor extra because they cannot afford new cars and have to rely on older models to get to and from work. Could it be that the PM has a hidden agenda that he tries to disguise with green issues? Maybe this is a way of getting as many cars as possible off of the roads. But, if he succeeds then this will create mass unemployment and force countless businesses to go to the wall.
Then there is the issue of MPs pay and expenses claims. Are there any honest Members of Parliament remaining out there who are prepared to stand up and be counted on this issue of coming clean about their expenses? How can you respect a bunch of well-heeled bureaucrats that seem only intent on rubbing salt into the public’s already festering wounds by expecting to grab a 64% wage increase when the Home Secretary has failed so abysmally in the underhanded way that she has treated our police? Nobody else is allowed to get away with unjustified expenses claims nor can most people vote on and approve their own pay deals. The Speaker’s underhanded way of dealing with things has really put him in the spotlight and there is very real justification in ridding Parliament of this self-centred parasite. It is time to review the entire way that Parliament operates and for politicians to come clean about the vast sums of public money they are claiming to line their own nests. In the private sector company bosses that get up to a mere fraction of the tricks performed by the MPs would be sufficient to label them as corrupt embezzlers but a Member of Parliament (I refuse to use the term Honourable because that they are not) sees fit to award his or herself a massive pay award while the under-classes who really need the money are deemed unworthy. What Gordon should be doing is being forced to live on an average worker’s wage for a year and be subjected to all of our household expenses; only then would he start to appreciate exactly how difficult he is making life for the average British citizen. Sorry, did I say ‘life’? This was a slip of the tongue because Brown and his control freaks have succeeded in creating a nation that has had so much stuffing knocked out of them that they barely feel capable of existing.
One would have thought that the hammering Labour took at Crewe and Nantwich would have announced loud and clear that the party’s days are well and truly numbered. The only thing that might prove me wrong here is his reliance on the votes of the ‘free society’ and the Chavs that have prospered by his handouts. These number tens of thousands and my only fear when it comes to the election is that they might just remain loyal to their friend that feeds them. Typically Gordon Brown refuses to accept that the writing has long been on the wall and he has passed his sell by date. He is either blind or simply too stubborn to accept that in the party’s own parlance ‘he is not fit for purpose’ nor for that matter are the are the arse licking Cabinet members that he has around him. I cannot believe that they have any respect for a leader who appears to listen to nobody. But to be more to the point they are probably so scared to death of the man that they are unable to publicly register their disapproval. Behind the scenes one can only imagine the levels of sniping that is going on but there could be a light at the end of the tunnel if this causes New Labour and Gordon Brown to implode.
This government has come far closer to destroying our once proud nation than any Nazi bombs and it sucks. Come on Brown … it is time that you came clean and accepted that you simply are not wanted and step down because there is no way that a tyrant of your calibre should be running our country.
I believe that Gordon Brown is the most loathed prime minister in living memory; in fact I will go as far as to suggest that he is hated by a vast sector of the population. We don’t like his face; the way he stutters and stumbles whenever he refuses to answer simple questions and we certainly do not like the fact that he doesn't have any ears. If he had then he would hear what the public is saying and for once do something positive about the worsening economic situation he has created. What makes matters worse is the fact that he was never voted into power by the populace and he got there by default. There must be some question about the legality of this? Tony Blair must be chuckling to himself for letting his former colleague loose on the British people and we all know that Cherie is ecstatic. Blair’s action in letting the former chancellor take the hot seat should be deemed in itself an act of high treason which sadly is not worth pursuing because it is no longer punishable by the death sentence.
I feel it is time that an Englishman governed our country. The Scots most certainly would never entertain a Sassenach ruling their country so why should we permit a Scot to rule us? Perhaps Brown is an interloper sent here by those north of the border to destroy our country along with any self-esteem that we have left?
The Tax Payer’s Alliance has estimated that more than £101 billion … yes one hundred and one billion pounds of our money has been totally wasted by the former chancellor during the last year alone. This not only goes to fund a war that is killing and maiming our young soldiers, but is also blown on consultants the government hires but refuses to listen to and costly computer systems that are never likely to work. He pumps money into education and the National Health Service but completely in the wrong places that allows money to flow down the drain while areas that should be supported are left void of cash. One such example relates to the allocation of life enhancing drugs to cancer and Altzheimers patients that are given only to patients that live in the right places.
Then we come to fuel tax. We were told to buy diesel powered cars in favour of petrol and now at my local filling station there is already a 14p per litre price differential in favour of petrol. Everybody is affected by the cost of fuel and it reflects heavily in the prices of every commodity that we buy but Brown appears totally blind to the facts. Our haulage industry has long been under threat from operators from mainland Europe who not only fill their tanks considerably cheaper in France and Belgium before arriving on our shores but then add insult to injury by using our roads totally free of charge. Will there ever be a time when this prime minister comes to his senses? Nothing short of a major blockade or an all out strike by our truckers will be sufficient to make Gordon Brown realise exactly what he is doing to our nation. At a recent Prime Minister’s questions, the Milton Keynes Conservative MP Mark Lancaster put the direct question “Does the PM know what a litre of fuel costs?” Bumbling Gordon was unable to answer and had to rely on a prompt from Alistair Darling to provide an answer which only goes to prove how completely out of touch Brown is with reality. But of course, if he travels by road it is usually in a fuel guzzling Jaguar that is hardly environmentally beneficial and lucky Gordon never has to pay for a tank of fuel. Neither does he have to pay for his TV licence, his carpets, his furnishings, his kitchen … enough said. No, we pay for everything which probably comes down to his underwear.
Like all of these things, the continuing issue of taxes will hit the poorest the hardest. The so called green tax issues relating to increasing the road tax levied on older and supposedly more polluting cars will only hit those unable to afford to buy new, energy efficient vehicles. There is a strong argument here; if you can afford to buy a new car then you can afford to pay higher taxes but the situation will only apply in reverse by charging the poor extra because they cannot afford new cars and have to rely on older models to get to and from work. Could it be that the PM has a hidden agenda that he tries to disguise with green issues? Maybe this is a way of getting as many cars as possible off of the roads. But, if he succeeds then this will create mass unemployment and force countless businesses to go to the wall.
Then there is the issue of MPs pay and expenses claims. Are there any honest Members of Parliament remaining out there who are prepared to stand up and be counted on this issue of coming clean about their expenses? How can you respect a bunch of well-heeled bureaucrats that seem only intent on rubbing salt into the public’s already festering wounds by expecting to grab a 64% wage increase when the Home Secretary has failed so abysmally in the underhanded way that she has treated our police? Nobody else is allowed to get away with unjustified expenses claims nor can most people vote on and approve their own pay deals. The Speaker’s underhanded way of dealing with things has really put him in the spotlight and there is very real justification in ridding Parliament of this self-centred parasite. It is time to review the entire way that Parliament operates and for politicians to come clean about the vast sums of public money they are claiming to line their own nests. In the private sector company bosses that get up to a mere fraction of the tricks performed by the MPs would be sufficient to label them as corrupt embezzlers but a Member of Parliament (I refuse to use the term Honourable because that they are not) sees fit to award his or herself a massive pay award while the under-classes who really need the money are deemed unworthy. What Gordon should be doing is being forced to live on an average worker’s wage for a year and be subjected to all of our household expenses; only then would he start to appreciate exactly how difficult he is making life for the average British citizen. Sorry, did I say ‘life’? This was a slip of the tongue because Brown and his control freaks have succeeded in creating a nation that has had so much stuffing knocked out of them that they barely feel capable of existing.
One would have thought that the hammering Labour took at Crewe and Nantwich would have announced loud and clear that the party’s days are well and truly numbered. The only thing that might prove me wrong here is his reliance on the votes of the ‘free society’ and the Chavs that have prospered by his handouts. These number tens of thousands and my only fear when it comes to the election is that they might just remain loyal to their friend that feeds them. Typically Gordon Brown refuses to accept that the writing has long been on the wall and he has passed his sell by date. He is either blind or simply too stubborn to accept that in the party’s own parlance ‘he is not fit for purpose’ nor for that matter are the are the arse licking Cabinet members that he has around him. I cannot believe that they have any respect for a leader who appears to listen to nobody. But to be more to the point they are probably so scared to death of the man that they are unable to publicly register their disapproval. Behind the scenes one can only imagine the levels of sniping that is going on but there could be a light at the end of the tunnel if this causes New Labour and Gordon Brown to implode.
This government has come far closer to destroying our once proud nation than any Nazi bombs and it sucks. Come on Brown … it is time that you came clean and accepted that you simply are not wanted and step down because there is no way that a tyrant of your calibre should be running our country.
Friday, 23 November 2007
IN GOD'S OWN COUNTRY
This feature was written in the aftermath of the 2005 tsunami when I visited the Southern Indian state of Kerala and found it peaceful & relatively unaffected.
As the dreadful events of Boxing Day unfolded on television I was growing increasingly anxious about going to India. I was also deeply concerned that people and places that I knew in neighbouring parts of Asia had been wiped out. I was experiencing nightmares that threw me towards a dark depression yet I knew that by going what little money I would spend might directly help the region’s already depleted tourism industry.
En-route to Dubai my wife sat next to a softly-spoken, middle-aged Sri Lankan, a UK resident since his childhood. He was a psychiatrist returning to his birthplace to help counsel tsunami victims. He expressed a pronounced anguish over what he would face and was concerned about how his own mind would react to the heart-rending situations he would encounter. As a trained specialist he feared the lasting psychological damage he might be exposing himself to and suspected that in time the counsellors would themselves require counselling to prevent the brain from shutting down. As we met our connecting flight, international rescue workers had gathered on the airport concourse en-route to Colombo, a stark reminder of the disaster’s close proximity.
Locally they call Kerala “God’s Own Country”. It shares the most southerly landmass of India with Tamil Nadu to the east and a communal border that continues towards the very tip of the sub-continent. Trivandrum, the Kerala state capital, lies towards the foot of the Malabar Coast near the point where the Indian Ocean meets the Arabian Sea. This stretch of coastline had been savaged killing over two hundred fisherman and pilgrims who were worshipping in the sea as the great wave struck. Kerala faces south west and apart from the most southerly part the majority of coastline was sheltered from the tsunami’s direct path. This spared small fishing communities from total annihilation. Abnormal tides had swept the beaches but they failed to venture far enough inland to cause damage but it did deter many visitors from venturing onto the magnificent white sands. Fewer still entered the sea. Fearing the tsunami might return, some fishermen had already sold up and bought auto rickshaw taxis (phat-phats) with their limited funds.
Religion in Kerala dominates often to the point of obsession. Many locals, Hindus, Christians, Muslims, even Jains commonly agreed that it was “God’s will” that had spared them from disaster. In reality their location was their saviour but it was easy to imagine what a direct hit from the tsunami could have done to the ecosystem around Vembanad Lake and the district’s intricate network of meandering backwaters. These waterways are essential to Kerala’s economy in so many ways not least tourism. The vast lake (204 sq km) one of 34 throughout the State, acts like a hub to 1900kms of peaceful backwaters that links small communities of inland fishermen, farmers, shell collectors and rice growers. Three hundred houseboat operators depend entirely on backwaters tourism to survive. The English language newspaper “The Hindu Times” reported that cancellations and a drop in bookings for 2005 had already diminished their trade by up to 40%. Although Kerala hasn’t the widespread gross poverty that is found elsewhere in India, a reduction in tourism could force many boat owners to go bust. Thankfully the State is rich in natural produce such as rice, fruit, nuts, vegetables, tea, coffee, and spices. These resources provide a steady living for some but this is of little consequence to the houseboat operators. They are well aware of their vulnerability so they are pushing the government to campaign overseas for more tourism in an attempt to save their livelihoods.
The houseboats, known as kettuvallom, are converted rice barges, comfortably equipped; some part solar powered, with a crew of two boatmen and a cook. An overnight stay on a kettuvallom is enchanting even though failing to book an air-conditioned boat was a mistake that made for a very sticky night beneath a constricting but essential mosquito net. A noisy electric fan became the sole means of distributing the humid air. But the boats do have basic en-suite facilities and a restless night is a worthwhile sacrifice when you awake to be rewarded by the sound of the dawn chorus and the prospect of a few more relaxing hours of the cruise still remaining. Nothing could diminish the outstanding pleasure of watching everyday rural life pass by as you sit in a comfortable armchair on the sundeck sipping chilled Kingfisher while the crew attends your needs. I’d heard that the curries created on board are without comparison. Two sensational meals confirmed this to be a true culinary experience that no British take-away could match for taste! Freshwater fish cutlets, vegetable curry, perfectly flaky boiled rice and chapatti for lunch taken at anchor surrounded by bird life on the motionless waters of Vembanad Lake. Afternoon tea arrived as we traversed the water hyacinth strewn backwaters beneath a lofty canopy of swaying coconut palms while lone fishermen trawled their nets from narrow wooden canoes. Dinner was a maharaja’s feast of spiced fried chicken, crispy bitter gourds, okra, fried rice, green beans, dhal and potato curry.
A narrow green divide separates the canals from the lower level of the rice fields where farmers worked their small holdings using bullock-drawn wooden ploughs as their forefathers had done for centuries. Others worked knee deep in mud harvesting rice. At times it felt we were viewing rural life through a kaleidoscope and we’d become an integral part of a Discovery Channel documentary. Farms, small shops, houses, village schools and temples competed for space on these medians, often no more than forty feet wide. Daily life is enthralling, people watching became a pre-occupation. Smiling children in blue uniforms waved from long, tightly crammed boats that criss-crossed the waterways taking them from village to school. Women rinsed their waist length black hair and bathed fully clothed, some used a finger to brush their teeth as others washed clothes in the communal waters of the canals. On land, lop-eared goats were milked while small groups of elders passed time doing precious little. The backwaters also have their own unique sounds. At times the tranquillity was broken only by the low purring of the houseboat’s outboard motor or the occasional deep-sounding throbbing diesels of fast moving waterbuses that distribute human cargos at stopping points spaced either side of the main arteries. Some times nature alone disturbs the silence with the sound of wild birds taking flight, a black crow screeching or the distant rousing call of a cockerel. Overhead, the graceful shapes of white headed eagles circled in the warm thermals. At dusk and dawn the sound of Hindu prayers chanted in Malayalam, the local dialect, permeated the air from a temple dotted within a tiny community. Perhaps this was as near to an earthly form of heaven as you might find!
Kerala is one of earth’s most densely populated rural areas. Nearly 32 million people cram into 38,863 square kilometres, an area smaller than Switzerland. Wallowing in the sleepy atmosphere of the backwaters this statistic can easily be overlooked. It is not even overly apparent within the dusty confines of a busy town. But look inside the churches and temples or along the main highways and it seems this is where life is gathered. During late morning a church in the town of Alleppey was overflowing. People queued for access while several hundred devout Catholics, mostly women in bright saris, were already seated on the floor inside worshipping. Christianity arrived with St Thomas the apostle in AD52 and continued as a legacy of the Portuguese (1498), Dutch (17th Century) and British (1806). Kerala (then called Malabar) has been an important trading centre from the 1st century BC when the Greeks and Romans came in search of spices.
Hinduism remains prominent and from before daybreak the spiritual sound of prayers carries on the tropical air from distant temples. Holy festivals that can last for days are a regular occurrence and in the hours before dawn highly revered elephants are led along the main highway as they are moved between temples. It is haunting to see their broad shapes silhouetted in the headlight beams of oncoming traffic. Apart from a swinging reflector hanging from their tails they have no other safeguard from being hit from behind. Indian driving standards lack common sense or any kind of discipline. Last year 3066 died on Kerala’s roads (13,000 injured). Jokingly we were told that a similar number die from being hit by falling coconuts!* The day we arrived 59 perished when a crowded bus plunged into a canal; seven died in a head-on accident two days later. The most venomous are the horn blowing bus and truck drivers who hog the crown of the road at high speed bullying others to move aside. Motor cycle riders rarely wear crash helmets, car drivers seldom bother with seat belts. I watched a family of four aboard a small moped. The father was helmeted, his young son and wife riding side-saddle behind nursing a baby had no protection. The drivers assigned to foreigners maybe slightly less crazy but they too manoeuvre dangerously into the smallest gaps between moving trucks and overtake blind. Everyone nurses a burning desire to get ahead of all other traffic regardless. Visitors are generally transported in Ambassadors, big heavy cars, still made in West Bengal to the 1948 design of the Morris Oxford. They are basic, seriously underpowered but built like tanks and well suited to the Indian environment.
One night spent on a houseboat is generally sufficient especially when combined with a visit to other parts of India or a stay in the old city of Cochin. A few nights at a magnificent Vembanad Lake retreat or a little longer at a relaxing beach resort can also provide a well earned break from travelling around the historic cities of India. The State Government has launched an eco-Kerala programme that is successfully encouraging hotels to become environmentally friendly. The cost of accommodation, meals and drinks can be high by Indian standards but considerably less than at many comparable hotels elsewhere in Asia. The state authorities claims almost 100% literacy rate for Kerala, the highest in India and unemployment is low by national standards. The extremely friendly people are proud of the history, cuisine, wildlife, deserted beaches and a good climate that the state offers. In view of the tragic circumstances in Sri Lanka and Thailand, Kerala is now well placed to capitalise by attracting visitors who might otherwise have gone to the tsunami affected countries.
• During 2002 George Burgess the director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s Shark Attack File claimed in a speech that “Coconuts kill 150 worldwide each year, 15 times the number of fatalities attributed to sharks”.
KERALA TRAVELLER FACTS
When to go
The best time to visit Kerala is between November and late February. The monsoon comes later in the year and the pre-monsoon heat can be stifling between late April and mid-June. This is followed by the monsoon rains of June to August but seasonal fluctuations can mean that the heavy rains fall later in the year. September and October also tend to be very humid.
Festivals
For much of the time there are religious festivals of one sort or another taking place but the major ones honouring a particular god are the Sabarimala Festival (January – February) Pongal (4th January) Thaipuram or Thai Pussam (January – February) Shivratri (February – March) Onam (August – September) which includes boat races at Alleppey, the ten day festival of Krishna at Guruavayoor and the Pooram (April – May) at Thrissur where elephants decorated with gold are paraded, carrying colourful parasols to a background of fireworks and drumming.
Consuming pleasures
Keralan cuisine is delightful and is quite removed from most Indian food found in British restaurants. It is generally more gentile and full of taste. Coconut in various forms is used in many dishes together with local spices. The different religions have an influence in the way that dishes are prepared but each culture offers a wide choice of vegetarian dishes including okra and gourds that are usually served with rice or lentils. Fish, often cooked in coconut based curries, is also widely served and mutton, duck and chicken is popular. Beef is eaten by the non-Hindus. Malabar Biriyani is fish or meat cooked in rice with an Arabian influence. Local breakfast specialities includes a sponge like pancake, Appam, made from rice or puttu a popular dish made from rice-flour dough. A reasonable Indian wine is available in hotels but Kingfisher beer is widely available.
Kerala is also the home of Ayurveda and this form of herbal therapeutic massage and medicine is available in all of its’ forms inexpensively at centres and hotels throughout the state.
Bazaars and markets sell all kinds of locally grown spices, saffron being a particularly good buy, cashew nuts, Indian tea, silver jewellery, fabrics, cooking utensils, wood carvings and crafts from other parts of India. It is illegal to take genuine antiques out of Indian without a license but plenty of reproductions can be found in larger towns.
State of the Nation
Kerala is the most literate state in all India and there is less obvious poverty than elsewhere. Kerala was made a state in 1956 when the princely states of Travancore and Cochin joined with Malabar, a province under Madras state. It has 20 seats on the Lok Sabha, the national legislative assembly. Hindus are in the majority but Christians form a quarter of the population. There is also a sizeable Muslim following. The people are exceptionally friendly and visitors should feel safe and at ease although there is the expected gentle harassment from hawkers around popular tourist attractions. Malayalam is the local dialect but English is widely spoken.
Web Sites
The official state tourism site that contains much general information about almost anything a visitor would wish to know. The content, photography and graphics are very professional and the site includes a diary of events that includes information on festivals and other activities. This is very well organised site that even offers audio, video and stills photography links.
http://www.blogger.com/http//www.keralatourism.org
Informative site that contains most of what you need to know about the old city and port of Cochin. It lists useful links to all kinds of travel information including timetables and is equally useful to visitors and locals who live in the city.
Books
Surprisingly there are very few books about Kerala available in the UK although there are some excellent local books about Kerala life and culture available within the State.
South India – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa – A travel guide
By Philip Ward. Published in 1991 this is a journey through the history, culture, wildlife, art, architecture, landscapes and communities of these three states. Knowledgeably written and illustrated with maps and black and white photographs that are now quite dated.
Thomas Cook Guide to Goa & Kerala
By Anil Mulchandani. This is a modern guidebook split into two sections, one for each state, and gives good, practical advice and information about towns and other places of interest to visitors. It also has useful feature articles on items such as the cuisine and architecture, arts and crafts, mammals and Ayurveda. The book is illustrated with good colour photographs and maps throughout and it comes with a useful mini-CD Rom that provides further information and web links.
As the dreadful events of Boxing Day unfolded on television I was growing increasingly anxious about going to India. I was also deeply concerned that people and places that I knew in neighbouring parts of Asia had been wiped out. I was experiencing nightmares that threw me towards a dark depression yet I knew that by going what little money I would spend might directly help the region’s already depleted tourism industry.
En-route to Dubai my wife sat next to a softly-spoken, middle-aged Sri Lankan, a UK resident since his childhood. He was a psychiatrist returning to his birthplace to help counsel tsunami victims. He expressed a pronounced anguish over what he would face and was concerned about how his own mind would react to the heart-rending situations he would encounter. As a trained specialist he feared the lasting psychological damage he might be exposing himself to and suspected that in time the counsellors would themselves require counselling to prevent the brain from shutting down. As we met our connecting flight, international rescue workers had gathered on the airport concourse en-route to Colombo, a stark reminder of the disaster’s close proximity.
Locally they call Kerala “God’s Own Country”. It shares the most southerly landmass of India with Tamil Nadu to the east and a communal border that continues towards the very tip of the sub-continent. Trivandrum, the Kerala state capital, lies towards the foot of the Malabar Coast near the point where the Indian Ocean meets the Arabian Sea. This stretch of coastline had been savaged killing over two hundred fisherman and pilgrims who were worshipping in the sea as the great wave struck. Kerala faces south west and apart from the most southerly part the majority of coastline was sheltered from the tsunami’s direct path. This spared small fishing communities from total annihilation. Abnormal tides had swept the beaches but they failed to venture far enough inland to cause damage but it did deter many visitors from venturing onto the magnificent white sands. Fewer still entered the sea. Fearing the tsunami might return, some fishermen had already sold up and bought auto rickshaw taxis (phat-phats) with their limited funds.
Religion in Kerala dominates often to the point of obsession. Many locals, Hindus, Christians, Muslims, even Jains commonly agreed that it was “God’s will” that had spared them from disaster. In reality their location was their saviour but it was easy to imagine what a direct hit from the tsunami could have done to the ecosystem around Vembanad Lake and the district’s intricate network of meandering backwaters. These waterways are essential to Kerala’s economy in so many ways not least tourism. The vast lake (204 sq km) one of 34 throughout the State, acts like a hub to 1900kms of peaceful backwaters that links small communities of inland fishermen, farmers, shell collectors and rice growers. Three hundred houseboat operators depend entirely on backwaters tourism to survive. The English language newspaper “The Hindu Times” reported that cancellations and a drop in bookings for 2005 had already diminished their trade by up to 40%. Although Kerala hasn’t the widespread gross poverty that is found elsewhere in India, a reduction in tourism could force many boat owners to go bust. Thankfully the State is rich in natural produce such as rice, fruit, nuts, vegetables, tea, coffee, and spices. These resources provide a steady living for some but this is of little consequence to the houseboat operators. They are well aware of their vulnerability so they are pushing the government to campaign overseas for more tourism in an attempt to save their livelihoods.
The houseboats, known as kettuvallom, are converted rice barges, comfortably equipped; some part solar powered, with a crew of two boatmen and a cook. An overnight stay on a kettuvallom is enchanting even though failing to book an air-conditioned boat was a mistake that made for a very sticky night beneath a constricting but essential mosquito net. A noisy electric fan became the sole means of distributing the humid air. But the boats do have basic en-suite facilities and a restless night is a worthwhile sacrifice when you awake to be rewarded by the sound of the dawn chorus and the prospect of a few more relaxing hours of the cruise still remaining. Nothing could diminish the outstanding pleasure of watching everyday rural life pass by as you sit in a comfortable armchair on the sundeck sipping chilled Kingfisher while the crew attends your needs. I’d heard that the curries created on board are without comparison. Two sensational meals confirmed this to be a true culinary experience that no British take-away could match for taste! Freshwater fish cutlets, vegetable curry, perfectly flaky boiled rice and chapatti for lunch taken at anchor surrounded by bird life on the motionless waters of Vembanad Lake. Afternoon tea arrived as we traversed the water hyacinth strewn backwaters beneath a lofty canopy of swaying coconut palms while lone fishermen trawled their nets from narrow wooden canoes. Dinner was a maharaja’s feast of spiced fried chicken, crispy bitter gourds, okra, fried rice, green beans, dhal and potato curry.
A narrow green divide separates the canals from the lower level of the rice fields where farmers worked their small holdings using bullock-drawn wooden ploughs as their forefathers had done for centuries. Others worked knee deep in mud harvesting rice. At times it felt we were viewing rural life through a kaleidoscope and we’d become an integral part of a Discovery Channel documentary. Farms, small shops, houses, village schools and temples competed for space on these medians, often no more than forty feet wide. Daily life is enthralling, people watching became a pre-occupation. Smiling children in blue uniforms waved from long, tightly crammed boats that criss-crossed the waterways taking them from village to school. Women rinsed their waist length black hair and bathed fully clothed, some used a finger to brush their teeth as others washed clothes in the communal waters of the canals. On land, lop-eared goats were milked while small groups of elders passed time doing precious little. The backwaters also have their own unique sounds. At times the tranquillity was broken only by the low purring of the houseboat’s outboard motor or the occasional deep-sounding throbbing diesels of fast moving waterbuses that distribute human cargos at stopping points spaced either side of the main arteries. Some times nature alone disturbs the silence with the sound of wild birds taking flight, a black crow screeching or the distant rousing call of a cockerel. Overhead, the graceful shapes of white headed eagles circled in the warm thermals. At dusk and dawn the sound of Hindu prayers chanted in Malayalam, the local dialect, permeated the air from a temple dotted within a tiny community. Perhaps this was as near to an earthly form of heaven as you might find!
Kerala is one of earth’s most densely populated rural areas. Nearly 32 million people cram into 38,863 square kilometres, an area smaller than Switzerland. Wallowing in the sleepy atmosphere of the backwaters this statistic can easily be overlooked. It is not even overly apparent within the dusty confines of a busy town. But look inside the churches and temples or along the main highways and it seems this is where life is gathered. During late morning a church in the town of Alleppey was overflowing. People queued for access while several hundred devout Catholics, mostly women in bright saris, were already seated on the floor inside worshipping. Christianity arrived with St Thomas the apostle in AD52 and continued as a legacy of the Portuguese (1498), Dutch (17th Century) and British (1806). Kerala (then called Malabar) has been an important trading centre from the 1st century BC when the Greeks and Romans came in search of spices.
Hinduism remains prominent and from before daybreak the spiritual sound of prayers carries on the tropical air from distant temples. Holy festivals that can last for days are a regular occurrence and in the hours before dawn highly revered elephants are led along the main highway as they are moved between temples. It is haunting to see their broad shapes silhouetted in the headlight beams of oncoming traffic. Apart from a swinging reflector hanging from their tails they have no other safeguard from being hit from behind. Indian driving standards lack common sense or any kind of discipline. Last year 3066 died on Kerala’s roads (13,000 injured). Jokingly we were told that a similar number die from being hit by falling coconuts!* The day we arrived 59 perished when a crowded bus plunged into a canal; seven died in a head-on accident two days later. The most venomous are the horn blowing bus and truck drivers who hog the crown of the road at high speed bullying others to move aside. Motor cycle riders rarely wear crash helmets, car drivers seldom bother with seat belts. I watched a family of four aboard a small moped. The father was helmeted, his young son and wife riding side-saddle behind nursing a baby had no protection. The drivers assigned to foreigners maybe slightly less crazy but they too manoeuvre dangerously into the smallest gaps between moving trucks and overtake blind. Everyone nurses a burning desire to get ahead of all other traffic regardless. Visitors are generally transported in Ambassadors, big heavy cars, still made in West Bengal to the 1948 design of the Morris Oxford. They are basic, seriously underpowered but built like tanks and well suited to the Indian environment.
One night spent on a houseboat is generally sufficient especially when combined with a visit to other parts of India or a stay in the old city of Cochin. A few nights at a magnificent Vembanad Lake retreat or a little longer at a relaxing beach resort can also provide a well earned break from travelling around the historic cities of India. The State Government has launched an eco-Kerala programme that is successfully encouraging hotels to become environmentally friendly. The cost of accommodation, meals and drinks can be high by Indian standards but considerably less than at many comparable hotels elsewhere in Asia. The state authorities claims almost 100% literacy rate for Kerala, the highest in India and unemployment is low by national standards. The extremely friendly people are proud of the history, cuisine, wildlife, deserted beaches and a good climate that the state offers. In view of the tragic circumstances in Sri Lanka and Thailand, Kerala is now well placed to capitalise by attracting visitors who might otherwise have gone to the tsunami affected countries.
• During 2002 George Burgess the director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s Shark Attack File claimed in a speech that “Coconuts kill 150 worldwide each year, 15 times the number of fatalities attributed to sharks”.
KERALA TRAVELLER FACTS
When to go
The best time to visit Kerala is between November and late February. The monsoon comes later in the year and the pre-monsoon heat can be stifling between late April and mid-June. This is followed by the monsoon rains of June to August but seasonal fluctuations can mean that the heavy rains fall later in the year. September and October also tend to be very humid.
Festivals
For much of the time there are religious festivals of one sort or another taking place but the major ones honouring a particular god are the Sabarimala Festival (January – February) Pongal (4th January) Thaipuram or Thai Pussam (January – February) Shivratri (February – March) Onam (August – September) which includes boat races at Alleppey, the ten day festival of Krishna at Guruavayoor and the Pooram (April – May) at Thrissur where elephants decorated with gold are paraded, carrying colourful parasols to a background of fireworks and drumming.
Consuming pleasures
Keralan cuisine is delightful and is quite removed from most Indian food found in British restaurants. It is generally more gentile and full of taste. Coconut in various forms is used in many dishes together with local spices. The different religions have an influence in the way that dishes are prepared but each culture offers a wide choice of vegetarian dishes including okra and gourds that are usually served with rice or lentils. Fish, often cooked in coconut based curries, is also widely served and mutton, duck and chicken is popular. Beef is eaten by the non-Hindus. Malabar Biriyani is fish or meat cooked in rice with an Arabian influence. Local breakfast specialities includes a sponge like pancake, Appam, made from rice or puttu a popular dish made from rice-flour dough. A reasonable Indian wine is available in hotels but Kingfisher beer is widely available.
Kerala is also the home of Ayurveda and this form of herbal therapeutic massage and medicine is available in all of its’ forms inexpensively at centres and hotels throughout the state.
Bazaars and markets sell all kinds of locally grown spices, saffron being a particularly good buy, cashew nuts, Indian tea, silver jewellery, fabrics, cooking utensils, wood carvings and crafts from other parts of India. It is illegal to take genuine antiques out of Indian without a license but plenty of reproductions can be found in larger towns.
State of the Nation
Kerala is the most literate state in all India and there is less obvious poverty than elsewhere. Kerala was made a state in 1956 when the princely states of Travancore and Cochin joined with Malabar, a province under Madras state. It has 20 seats on the Lok Sabha, the national legislative assembly. Hindus are in the majority but Christians form a quarter of the population. There is also a sizeable Muslim following. The people are exceptionally friendly and visitors should feel safe and at ease although there is the expected gentle harassment from hawkers around popular tourist attractions. Malayalam is the local dialect but English is widely spoken.
Web Sites
The official state tourism site that contains much general information about almost anything a visitor would wish to know. The content, photography and graphics are very professional and the site includes a diary of events that includes information on festivals and other activities. This is very well organised site that even offers audio, video and stills photography links.
http://www.blogger.com/http//www.keralatourism.org
Informative site that contains most of what you need to know about the old city and port of Cochin. It lists useful links to all kinds of travel information including timetables and is equally useful to visitors and locals who live in the city.
Books
Surprisingly there are very few books about Kerala available in the UK although there are some excellent local books about Kerala life and culture available within the State.
South India – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa – A travel guide
By Philip Ward. Published in 1991 this is a journey through the history, culture, wildlife, art, architecture, landscapes and communities of these three states. Knowledgeably written and illustrated with maps and black and white photographs that are now quite dated.
Thomas Cook Guide to Goa & Kerala
By Anil Mulchandani. This is a modern guidebook split into two sections, one for each state, and gives good, practical advice and information about towns and other places of interest to visitors. It also has useful feature articles on items such as the cuisine and architecture, arts and crafts, mammals and Ayurveda. The book is illustrated with good colour photographs and maps throughout and it comes with a useful mini-CD Rom that provides further information and web links.
THE ELEPHANTS OF PINNAWELA
There is something very mystical about watching forty or so Asian elephants moving almost majestically in procession, trunks and tails swaying, towards a river where they will take a communal bath. It is a sight I had waited a long time for and this alone would have been worth venturing several thousand miles to witness even had the tropical island had nothing else to recommend it. The elephants, as it transpired, were the icing on the cake because I fell in love with the beauty and the people of this wonderful island that sits, like a glistening pearl, in the Indian Ocean just at the foot of the Tamil region of the Sub Continent.
At the time the island was at war, but then it has been at war for much of its history only this time the fighting was not against an invading force but between the Tamil people and the Government. That makes things all that harder to accept given the otherwise inner tranquillity of the people. Now there is a kind of uneasy peace. Discussions between the warring factions are under way but how long this will last is anybody’s guess. Mostly the fighting has been restricted to the Jaffna region in the north of the island but every so often a bomb will explode elsewhere, on a crowded train or on a Colombo street killing unsuspecting citizens and reminding tourists that the regime is still unstable.
Countless lives have been lost fighting to gain independence for a tiny strip of land. They haven’t all been human lives either. Many casualties have been from the wild animal population. The elephants have frequently been casualties and their existence remains on a tightrope in Sri Lanka as in other parts of South East Asia. Sometimes an elephant has been caught in cross-fire, on other occasions a single animal may have torn up a farmer’s crops causing him to hunt the animal down to kill it. Worse, some have trodden on mines and have lost a foot or an entire limb but have continued to live, usually in extreme agony until secondary disease from the wound spreads and eventually causes an awful prolonged death. The ultimate only comes after the elephant loses its’ mind with the pain that can turn it into a very dangerous and unpredictable animal in the process.
It is believed that 12,000 elephants once roamed wild on Sri Lanka. This was around 1900 when the natural resources that the animals would feed on were plentiful and the population smaller. Now almost 20 million people inhabit the island and much of the habitat where elephants lived and thrived peaceably within their environment has gone cutting their numbers to just a few thousand wild animals. Those elephants that get maimed frequently become separated from their herd. Many of the victims have been females with young that have not yet been fully weaned. The baby elephants, left to their own devices, fall over cliffs or simply starve to death. The few lucky ones are captured by caring villagers and are taken to the Orphanage where they will be fed and cared for.
In 1975 the Sri Lankan Department of Wildlife set up the Elephant Orphanage to care for the offspring of dead or injured mothers that had been found in the jungles. Twenty five acres of coconut grove were taken up at Rambukkana on the Maha River. The orphanage moved locations on several occasions, at one time being housed at the tourist area of Bentota before moving to the Dehiwala Zoo. It eventually ended up at Pinnawela and had just five baby elephants in its care. The intention was for visitors to be attracted to the orphanage and the money raised from entrance fees etc. would support the cause. In 1978 the National Zoological Gardens took over the running of the centre and a captive breeding programme was launched in 1982. At that time there were five mahouts caring for twelve elephants. By 1997 the adult elephant population had increased to 42 and there were 10 babies, all under three years old. Although adult female elephants could successfully be introduced into the orphanage, the situation tended to be the opposite with the males because of their naturally aggressive behaviour.
The Orphanage tries to maintain a natural wild environment for its charges. The babies are fed by hand on milk before being allowed to roam freely over 12 acres of grassland. There are signs of what elephants tend to do naturally, break down trees and the compound is littered with torn off branches. Twice a day the animals are walked to the Maha Oya River, just 400 metres away where they enjoy a two hour bath. This is the spectacle that the majority of visitors come to see and this can be done from the terrace of a restaurant that overlooks the bathing area. The frolicking is great fun to watch even though the occasional elephant may attempt to wander off across the river. The mahouts soon spot a troublesome one and ensure that it is kept with the others.
During the evening the babies are again fed on milk while the older animals receive leaves. The usual diet consists of jackfruit, coconut, tamarind and grass. Each elephant is fed 76kg of green food a day which is supplemented with 2kg of mixed maize, rice, bran, powdered gingelly seed and minerals. Although penned for the night, boredom can set in quite easily so some of the older elephants are encouraged to work by using their trunks to carry tree branches and food stuffs.
Sama is an adult female elephant, now aged about twelve, who had her right forefoot blown away by a landmine when she was only two years old. She had learnt to walk on three legs although as she grows the imbalance is putting stress on her spine. Reports from the Orphanage state that one of the zoological specialists is hoping to train the Sama this year to wear a prosthesis that they hope will solve the elephant’s imbalanced stance. Only time will tell whether the experiment is a success or not.
The good work of the orphanage specialists and staff, aided by others from around the world, continues to save the lives of many of these unfortunate creatures. The Orphanage attracts more than 600,000 visitors a year which helps to create a continued awareness of the problems faced by the Asian elephant that can only help the species’ fight for survival. If you get the opportunity to visit this picturesque island be sure to take the road from the capital Colombo towards the ancient city of Kandy. Set in the hills approximately half way between the two cities you will reach Pinnawela village. It is easy to miss but the yellow signs at the roadside showing an elephant crossing will provide a clue. You will be richly rewarded by the experience of walking amongst these delightful animals.
At the time the island was at war, but then it has been at war for much of its history only this time the fighting was not against an invading force but between the Tamil people and the Government. That makes things all that harder to accept given the otherwise inner tranquillity of the people. Now there is a kind of uneasy peace. Discussions between the warring factions are under way but how long this will last is anybody’s guess. Mostly the fighting has been restricted to the Jaffna region in the north of the island but every so often a bomb will explode elsewhere, on a crowded train or on a Colombo street killing unsuspecting citizens and reminding tourists that the regime is still unstable.
Countless lives have been lost fighting to gain independence for a tiny strip of land. They haven’t all been human lives either. Many casualties have been from the wild animal population. The elephants have frequently been casualties and their existence remains on a tightrope in Sri Lanka as in other parts of South East Asia. Sometimes an elephant has been caught in cross-fire, on other occasions a single animal may have torn up a farmer’s crops causing him to hunt the animal down to kill it. Worse, some have trodden on mines and have lost a foot or an entire limb but have continued to live, usually in extreme agony until secondary disease from the wound spreads and eventually causes an awful prolonged death. The ultimate only comes after the elephant loses its’ mind with the pain that can turn it into a very dangerous and unpredictable animal in the process.
It is believed that 12,000 elephants once roamed wild on Sri Lanka. This was around 1900 when the natural resources that the animals would feed on were plentiful and the population smaller. Now almost 20 million people inhabit the island and much of the habitat where elephants lived and thrived peaceably within their environment has gone cutting their numbers to just a few thousand wild animals. Those elephants that get maimed frequently become separated from their herd. Many of the victims have been females with young that have not yet been fully weaned. The baby elephants, left to their own devices, fall over cliffs or simply starve to death. The few lucky ones are captured by caring villagers and are taken to the Orphanage where they will be fed and cared for.
In 1975 the Sri Lankan Department of Wildlife set up the Elephant Orphanage to care for the offspring of dead or injured mothers that had been found in the jungles. Twenty five acres of coconut grove were taken up at Rambukkana on the Maha River. The orphanage moved locations on several occasions, at one time being housed at the tourist area of Bentota before moving to the Dehiwala Zoo. It eventually ended up at Pinnawela and had just five baby elephants in its care. The intention was for visitors to be attracted to the orphanage and the money raised from entrance fees etc. would support the cause. In 1978 the National Zoological Gardens took over the running of the centre and a captive breeding programme was launched in 1982. At that time there were five mahouts caring for twelve elephants. By 1997 the adult elephant population had increased to 42 and there were 10 babies, all under three years old. Although adult female elephants could successfully be introduced into the orphanage, the situation tended to be the opposite with the males because of their naturally aggressive behaviour.
The Orphanage tries to maintain a natural wild environment for its charges. The babies are fed by hand on milk before being allowed to roam freely over 12 acres of grassland. There are signs of what elephants tend to do naturally, break down trees and the compound is littered with torn off branches. Twice a day the animals are walked to the Maha Oya River, just 400 metres away where they enjoy a two hour bath. This is the spectacle that the majority of visitors come to see and this can be done from the terrace of a restaurant that overlooks the bathing area. The frolicking is great fun to watch even though the occasional elephant may attempt to wander off across the river. The mahouts soon spot a troublesome one and ensure that it is kept with the others.
During the evening the babies are again fed on milk while the older animals receive leaves. The usual diet consists of jackfruit, coconut, tamarind and grass. Each elephant is fed 76kg of green food a day which is supplemented with 2kg of mixed maize, rice, bran, powdered gingelly seed and minerals. Although penned for the night, boredom can set in quite easily so some of the older elephants are encouraged to work by using their trunks to carry tree branches and food stuffs.
Sama is an adult female elephant, now aged about twelve, who had her right forefoot blown away by a landmine when she was only two years old. She had learnt to walk on three legs although as she grows the imbalance is putting stress on her spine. Reports from the Orphanage state that one of the zoological specialists is hoping to train the Sama this year to wear a prosthesis that they hope will solve the elephant’s imbalanced stance. Only time will tell whether the experiment is a success or not.
The good work of the orphanage specialists and staff, aided by others from around the world, continues to save the lives of many of these unfortunate creatures. The Orphanage attracts more than 600,000 visitors a year which helps to create a continued awareness of the problems faced by the Asian elephant that can only help the species’ fight for survival. If you get the opportunity to visit this picturesque island be sure to take the road from the capital Colombo towards the ancient city of Kandy. Set in the hills approximately half way between the two cities you will reach Pinnawela village. It is easy to miss but the yellow signs at the roadside showing an elephant crossing will provide a clue. You will be richly rewarded by the experience of walking amongst these delightful animals.
THE BIG BANK RIP-OFF
I have been following the progress of the issues relating to unfair overdraft penalty charges that are being imposed by banks closely ever since the subject first started to receive media attention. Like many readers I have a vested interest. It has been well publicised that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) are bringing a case against the banks because they agree with consumer views that bank overdraft fees are unfair. Whether this action will be in the public’s interest will remain to be seen but the decision to litigate has put paid to any further individual cases being brought to court by individuals who feel the need to sue their banks.
The banking industry could have accepted the OFT’s claims of profiteering by overcharging their customers instead of adopting a largely intransigent attitude that has resulted in legal proceedings being instigated. The eight banks involved are challenging the OFT’s right to interfere in their affairs and claim that it has no jurisdiction. However, the BBC has reported (11 September 2007) that the OFT could drop this highly controversial test case if the banks offered to cut their charges so much, that it would be in the interests of consumers to drop the case. However the fairness of charges isn’t the issue the judge must consider. Instead the Court must rule on whether the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations apply to overdraft charges. The OFT believes that they do apply and that is in their power to order the banks to reduce unfair charges. The banks, as expected, disagree claiming their charges to be a ‘core feature of their current account business’ an area that is beyond the jurisdiction of existing regulations. The banks are also adamant that overdraft ‘penalties’ are legitimate service charges that are fair and justifiable. The OFT also argues that the charges are still excessive even if they could be viewed as legitimate service charges.
Since it was known that the OFT were intending to bring this issue to the High Court, some might be forgiven for thinking there has been an impasse. This is not the case. Most financial experts agree that consumers should still formerly place their claims before their banks prior to the court date; although they believe that the banks will no longer entertain paying any settlements. Despite this view some banks are continuing to offer refunds based on prior claims that were sent to them before the OFT announcement was made. Whether these settlements seem fair or not is for the individual to decide. It appears that the situation has now become a gamble split between whether a customer is willing to accept what the bank is offering them now, or wait for the outcome of the court action. If you back waiting for the court’s decision there is the chance that the banks might win the litigation and you will end up getting nothing at all. Even if the banks should lose the first battle, any settlement is likely to be protracted because they are almost certain to Appeal. Should they lose that too then they might even consider appealing to the House of Lords. This will all take a considerable amount of time. The action is due to commence in January but nobody is expecting a result until at least 2010 so even if the case goes against the banks you’ll still be waiting more than two years before your disputed charges are returned. In many cases it simply isn’t worth the gamble. If your bank is still prepared to discuss a refund you might well consider it now rather than risk losing out totally. The worst part about this is that there is no clear cut favourite to win the action so it’s not an easy call to make.
There is some evidence that some banks are still prepared to consider settling despite the OFT action. If your bank has offered to negotiate it might be wise to be flexible. What they are offering is likely to be considerably less than the amount you are demanding but you can always try ‘pushing’ the bank to increase their offer to something more acceptable. Although this will be a compromise you are guaranteed at least some form of settlement immediately but you won’t be able to pursue any balance. The banks are clearly defining such settlements as ‘goodwill’ gestures and they are refusing to accept any liability of overcharging or wrongdoing. This to me seems rather dishonest. My argument to this is based on my belief that no banking organisation would be prepared to offer a substantial settlement if they didn’t believe that they were in the wrong. Banks simply aren’t in business to make goodwill payments out of a feeling of generosity so this has to be dismissed as poppycock! If a bank offers to settle a claim this is tantamount to accepting full liability and pay up rather than risk the possibility of being taken to court. If they believe they are in the right and that their charges can be justified, then why would they offer a refund? The reason could be that they are growing nervous about losing the case with the OFT in the same way that they’ve already lost the majority of cases brought against them by individuals. This has already cost them dearly. The banking industry’s own interim figures reveals that no less than £399million had already been refunded to customers during the first half of this year. The contributions towards this substantial amount of ‘goodwill’ have been met by Barclays (£87m), HSBC (£116m), HBOS (£79m), Lloyds TSB (£36m) and RBS (£81m).
The whole issue seems to have become a bit like Katch-22 and it is a shame that the OFT doesn’t already have sufficient clout to enforce the banks to refund unreasonable penalty charges under existing laws without having the need to resort to the High Court. The banks, no doubt, will view any government agency intervention in their business as being grossly unfair. Isn’t this a travesty when they have acted unfairly towards their clients for donkey’s years? The banks seem to believe they have the absolute right to help themselves to their customers’ funds. As a result their profits have soared to all time highs and their wealthy shareholders have got fatter by screwing their customers. Their greed has no parallel, they have no scruples and they appear to revel in the ruthlessness of their actions. By compounding the debts of customers by adding unfair overdraft charges and subsequently placing default notices on the credit register they are guilty of creating misery and ruin for thousands. Quite frequently default notices are issued because customers have been unable to pay the unreasonable charges that their bank has imposed such action effectively blocks an individual from obtaining credit for a minimum period of six years. This cannot be fair. No other business is allowed to default a customer in this way so why are the banks allowed to do this without first proving their case in court? There can be no justification for charging a customer £35 for ‘bouncing’ a £3 payment when the banking experts have estimated that it costs the bank less than £2 to process the refused item? More often than not it is a case of the banks extorting money from those that are the most vulnerable; those on low incomes or businesses owners that are facing financial difficulties. When anyone is already suffering financially distress, I believe it is totally unreasonable and devastating to impose further monetary penalties on top of debts they already cannot meet. It is easy to understand why personal and business debts are soaring to record highs. The banks blame their customers, charging them with being irresponsible, but in a vast number of cases people fall into financial difficulties for reasons beyond their control. The banks are merely making matters worse. In any case the banks are not in a position to preach considering their record of poor lending to Third World countries and the recent activities of Northern Rock.
Nobody could ever deny that the banks need to make healthy profits but their methods can readily be viewed as scandalous and their profits excessive. They were once regarded as upright, responsible, honest organisations that could be trusted. Mostly they could be relied upon for their integrity and upright behaviour. But, the public perception has widely changed and most would conclude that as an industry the banks no longer enjoy a respectable reputation or meet the needs of the consumer. Their obsession with the ‘bottom line’ has led to justifiable accusations of greed and they have also come in for criticism over their methods of selling a range of associated products that aren’t always in the interests of their unsuspecting clients. If you were to conduct a poll I wonder how many consumers would consider the banks to be honest and trustworthy? When things are going well they are quick to lend money but, at the first signs of danger, they are equally as quick to ‘pull the plug’ in ways that can cause misery and total ruin. The outcome of all of this is that when a customer complains the banks are likely to retaliate by calling in their overdraft and by closing their account. As a consumer, I can only hope that justice will be seen to be done and that customers will ultimately gain from the process.
The banking industry could have accepted the OFT’s claims of profiteering by overcharging their customers instead of adopting a largely intransigent attitude that has resulted in legal proceedings being instigated. The eight banks involved are challenging the OFT’s right to interfere in their affairs and claim that it has no jurisdiction. However, the BBC has reported (11 September 2007) that the OFT could drop this highly controversial test case if the banks offered to cut their charges so much, that it would be in the interests of consumers to drop the case. However the fairness of charges isn’t the issue the judge must consider. Instead the Court must rule on whether the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations apply to overdraft charges. The OFT believes that they do apply and that is in their power to order the banks to reduce unfair charges. The banks, as expected, disagree claiming their charges to be a ‘core feature of their current account business’ an area that is beyond the jurisdiction of existing regulations. The banks are also adamant that overdraft ‘penalties’ are legitimate service charges that are fair and justifiable. The OFT also argues that the charges are still excessive even if they could be viewed as legitimate service charges.
Since it was known that the OFT were intending to bring this issue to the High Court, some might be forgiven for thinking there has been an impasse. This is not the case. Most financial experts agree that consumers should still formerly place their claims before their banks prior to the court date; although they believe that the banks will no longer entertain paying any settlements. Despite this view some banks are continuing to offer refunds based on prior claims that were sent to them before the OFT announcement was made. Whether these settlements seem fair or not is for the individual to decide. It appears that the situation has now become a gamble split between whether a customer is willing to accept what the bank is offering them now, or wait for the outcome of the court action. If you back waiting for the court’s decision there is the chance that the banks might win the litigation and you will end up getting nothing at all. Even if the banks should lose the first battle, any settlement is likely to be protracted because they are almost certain to Appeal. Should they lose that too then they might even consider appealing to the House of Lords. This will all take a considerable amount of time. The action is due to commence in January but nobody is expecting a result until at least 2010 so even if the case goes against the banks you’ll still be waiting more than two years before your disputed charges are returned. In many cases it simply isn’t worth the gamble. If your bank is still prepared to discuss a refund you might well consider it now rather than risk losing out totally. The worst part about this is that there is no clear cut favourite to win the action so it’s not an easy call to make.
There is some evidence that some banks are still prepared to consider settling despite the OFT action. If your bank has offered to negotiate it might be wise to be flexible. What they are offering is likely to be considerably less than the amount you are demanding but you can always try ‘pushing’ the bank to increase their offer to something more acceptable. Although this will be a compromise you are guaranteed at least some form of settlement immediately but you won’t be able to pursue any balance. The banks are clearly defining such settlements as ‘goodwill’ gestures and they are refusing to accept any liability of overcharging or wrongdoing. This to me seems rather dishonest. My argument to this is based on my belief that no banking organisation would be prepared to offer a substantial settlement if they didn’t believe that they were in the wrong. Banks simply aren’t in business to make goodwill payments out of a feeling of generosity so this has to be dismissed as poppycock! If a bank offers to settle a claim this is tantamount to accepting full liability and pay up rather than risk the possibility of being taken to court. If they believe they are in the right and that their charges can be justified, then why would they offer a refund? The reason could be that they are growing nervous about losing the case with the OFT in the same way that they’ve already lost the majority of cases brought against them by individuals. This has already cost them dearly. The banking industry’s own interim figures reveals that no less than £399million had already been refunded to customers during the first half of this year. The contributions towards this substantial amount of ‘goodwill’ have been met by Barclays (£87m), HSBC (£116m), HBOS (£79m), Lloyds TSB (£36m) and RBS (£81m).
The whole issue seems to have become a bit like Katch-22 and it is a shame that the OFT doesn’t already have sufficient clout to enforce the banks to refund unreasonable penalty charges under existing laws without having the need to resort to the High Court. The banks, no doubt, will view any government agency intervention in their business as being grossly unfair. Isn’t this a travesty when they have acted unfairly towards their clients for donkey’s years? The banks seem to believe they have the absolute right to help themselves to their customers’ funds. As a result their profits have soared to all time highs and their wealthy shareholders have got fatter by screwing their customers. Their greed has no parallel, they have no scruples and they appear to revel in the ruthlessness of their actions. By compounding the debts of customers by adding unfair overdraft charges and subsequently placing default notices on the credit register they are guilty of creating misery and ruin for thousands. Quite frequently default notices are issued because customers have been unable to pay the unreasonable charges that their bank has imposed such action effectively blocks an individual from obtaining credit for a minimum period of six years. This cannot be fair. No other business is allowed to default a customer in this way so why are the banks allowed to do this without first proving their case in court? There can be no justification for charging a customer £35 for ‘bouncing’ a £3 payment when the banking experts have estimated that it costs the bank less than £2 to process the refused item? More often than not it is a case of the banks extorting money from those that are the most vulnerable; those on low incomes or businesses owners that are facing financial difficulties. When anyone is already suffering financially distress, I believe it is totally unreasonable and devastating to impose further monetary penalties on top of debts they already cannot meet. It is easy to understand why personal and business debts are soaring to record highs. The banks blame their customers, charging them with being irresponsible, but in a vast number of cases people fall into financial difficulties for reasons beyond their control. The banks are merely making matters worse. In any case the banks are not in a position to preach considering their record of poor lending to Third World countries and the recent activities of Northern Rock.
Nobody could ever deny that the banks need to make healthy profits but their methods can readily be viewed as scandalous and their profits excessive. They were once regarded as upright, responsible, honest organisations that could be trusted. Mostly they could be relied upon for their integrity and upright behaviour. But, the public perception has widely changed and most would conclude that as an industry the banks no longer enjoy a respectable reputation or meet the needs of the consumer. Their obsession with the ‘bottom line’ has led to justifiable accusations of greed and they have also come in for criticism over their methods of selling a range of associated products that aren’t always in the interests of their unsuspecting clients. If you were to conduct a poll I wonder how many consumers would consider the banks to be honest and trustworthy? When things are going well they are quick to lend money but, at the first signs of danger, they are equally as quick to ‘pull the plug’ in ways that can cause misery and total ruin. The outcome of all of this is that when a customer complains the banks are likely to retaliate by calling in their overdraft and by closing their account. As a consumer, I can only hope that justice will be seen to be done and that customers will ultimately gain from the process.
Thursday, 5 April 2007
Are the International Football Authorities Blind to European Crowd Trouble?
Eighteen Manchester United fans ended up in hospital following a clash between rival fans at the match against Roma in the Italian capital last night. Several of these had serious stab wounds; others had cut heads following the buttoning by the local police who claim that their actions were "justified". I didn't watch the match but I did see the ugly scenes of violence on the television news. it appeared to me that the police were deliberately targeting innocent bystanders and not any of the fans that were the real perpetrators. The home fans seemed to escape Scott free and it goes without saying that the Brits were blamed for the violence that occurred.
Cast your mind back a few months and you will remember that a police officer was murdered by fans at a match in Sicily. Violence and racial abuse is certainly not unknown in Italy and elsewhere the crowds have an appalling record yet it is always the Brits that take the brunt of any action. After the Heinsel Stadium tragedy it was the British clubs that were banned from European Competition yet this type of punishment has not been handed out to clubs from Turkey (where Leeds fans were murdered by fans in Istanbul)or any other European country.
The level of violence at British grounds now has almost ceased owing to the work of the clubs, our police forces and the genuine fans themselves. isn't it about time that we got a fair deal in Europe as far as EUFA and FIFA are concerned?
Cast your mind back a few months and you will remember that a police officer was murdered by fans at a match in Sicily. Violence and racial abuse is certainly not unknown in Italy and elsewhere the crowds have an appalling record yet it is always the Brits that take the brunt of any action. After the Heinsel Stadium tragedy it was the British clubs that were banned from European Competition yet this type of punishment has not been handed out to clubs from Turkey (where Leeds fans were murdered by fans in Istanbul)or any other European country.
The level of violence at British grounds now has almost ceased owing to the work of the clubs, our police forces and the genuine fans themselves. isn't it about time that we got a fair deal in Europe as far as EUFA and FIFA are concerned?
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