Nigeria and Norway, two nations faced by a similar dilemma

 Initiating a series on the subject of global warming, BBC News last Tuesday broadcast a report from a Nigerian correspondent on that country's contribution. He highlighted the dangers of crude natural gas flares to the nearby populations. At the same time, he pointed out how dependent Nigeria is on her oil revenues. Unless world bodies are prepared to help the nation diversify her economy, Nigeria is bound to continue adding to global warming.

Global warming, along with inequalities in wealth distribution, was said to be a major factor in Norway's general election this week. In the event, a Conservative government which was in no hurry to rein in the nation's oil industry has been ousted by Labour equally committed to maintaining Norway's oil and gas industry. Of the two parties which were committed to practical measures to combat climate change, the Greens made only a slight advance and the liberal Venstre party trod water. Neither will figure in the coalition government which will take shape once the final results are in. So, although Norway has the highest number of electric vehicles per head in the world, her people as a whole sign up to the wish: Lord, make me good, but not yet.

The Central American Federation

As Spain's grip on the Americas loosened, Mexico threatened to take over Central America. In response, as the US Office of the Historian says: 

The states that composed the Central American Federation (also referred to as the Federation of the Centre of America) were the states known today as Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. These areas declared independence from Spain on September 15, 1821. In 1823, the United Provinces of Central America was formed of the five Central American states under Gen. Manuel Jose Arce.

The federation began to dissolve in 1838 and by the early 1840s was all but defunct. Throughout the 1840s, the United States recognized the independence of the five former components of the Central American Federation in their own right: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Last chance to save fair votes in England and Wales?

 Anthony Tuffin of the Campaign for Real Democracy makes this plea:

Rescue the ERS

If you aren’t a member of the Electoral Reform Society (ERS), please consider joining or rejoining now so you can help to rescue it and restore it to its main purpose of campaigning for PR in accordance with its constitution.

Whether you are a member or not, please forward this to any friends who support PR but may not be members of the ERS.

The ERS has been campaigning in recent year for many issues related to democracy in the widest sense but, however worthy some of these may be, they have diverted its time and resources from its main purpose of PR, which is needed more than ever.

With assets of more than £40 million, the ERS could make a big difference to the campaign for PR.  You, yes, you could help it to do that.

At least eight of this year’s ERS Council candidates are committed to upping the ERS’s game to campaign more vigorously for PR.

They’ll do the hard work.  All you have to do is join the Society before the end of Tuesday 14 September and vote for them.  The minimum sub is only £2 a month, or less if you qualify for a concession.

Join here:

https://electoral-reform.netdonor.net/page/76559/donate/1?ea.tracking.id=yi2xbabf&_ga=2.114580676.253137843.1631385214-2035032394.1631208355

or google Electoral Reform Society and go from there.

Kind regards,

Anthony Tuffin

At last a railway good news story

 Thanks to Railfuture's monthly bulletin for the following:

and finally...

An African Grey parrot missing from his home in Tadworth, Surrey, was found perched on a rough sleeper at London Waterloo station. Safely returned, he is now making train noises and various station announcements.

Coughing in the auditorium

 Emma Barnett in the Independent and i, and Jessica Duchen in her blog, draw attention to the reduction in coughing during orchestral performances and especially in the intervals between symphonic movements. Ms Barnett attributes this to an attack of conscience on the part of the concert-going public; Ms Duchen to the power of Korngold.

I have a more prosaic - and welcome - explanation: social distancing and mask-wearing. In addition to checking the spread of SARS-CoV2, these measures must have also reduced the transmission of the other viruses and bacteria which we have put up with for so long in daily life. Less common cold = less coughing. It stands to reason. My personal experience is that I have suffered from practically no disabling chest infection this year in contrast to pre-2020 conditions. Only now, with the ending of the Welsh firebreak, have I picked up a bug, but it is not causing me any great trouble. In turn, it is unlikely that I have passed on any of my bugs to other people.

When the mandatory lockdowns have ended, we could well see voluntary face-covering as part of daily life as has occurred in daily life. And yes, intrusive coughing during concerts may well be at an end.

The first reformng Soviet leader

 Nikita Khrushchyoff the man who started the de-Stalinisation of the Soviet Union died on this day fifty years ago.

Parliamentary Boundary shake-up

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statutory-homelessness-in-england-financial-year-2020-21 

 refers. This map shows the boundaries of the local constituencies for the next general election (unless the consultation process throws up any changes.)

Current members of the Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats in Rhos and the Tawe valley from Trebanos northwards will vote in the new Brecon and Radnor constituency. Those in Skewen who previously voted in Aberavon (currently held  by Labour's Stephen Kinnock) will join the rest of us in Neath (MP Labour's Christina Rees) in a combined Swansea and Neath constituency. Aberavon will be augmented by Porthcawl, restoring a previous parliamentary disposition under the name Aberafan Porthcawl.

Needless to say, this will necessitate consequential changes in party organisation. Currently, the parliamentary constituencies of Neath and Aberavon sit neatly within the local government boundary of the county borough of Neath Port Talbot. This enables us to campaign as one party in both parliamentary and local government elections.

I have some ideas on the matter which I have put to fellow officers of the party. We will no doubt be talking (Covid-19 restrictions permitting) to our colleagues in the Swansea & Gower, Bridgend and Brecon parties in due course. However, we are always open to ideas. People can comment here, on our Facebook page or our email accounts neathlibdems@hotmail.co.uk & aberavonlibdems@hotmail.co.uk. 

The way in to classical music

 "Pliable", in his On an Overgrown Path blog, worries that classical and popular music are drifting further apart and that music from the concert-hall is not helping itself gain the wider audience it deserves. 

Jimi Hendrix shared a management agent with the progressive rock and jazz fusion band Soft Machine, and Soft Machine supported Hendrix on his 1968 North American tour. In 1970 William Glock was Controller of the Proms. On 13th August 1970 - just two weeks before the Isle of Wight Festival - there was an all-Bach Prom at 7.00pm in the Royal Albert Hall with a star-studded cast including Neville Mariner, Philip Ledger, David Munrow, and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. This was followed at 10.00pm by a late-night Prom with Soft Machine, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductors David Atherton, and Elgar Howarth. This concert, which was broadcast on BBC TV, opened with works by Terry Riley and Tim Souster, and then showcased three tracks from Soft Machine's Third album. Can you imagine the outcry from on Slipped Disc and in The Spectator if that daring experiment was repeated today?

Emerson, Lake & Palmer was one of the bands at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival and back then they played an important role in introducing a young audience - including myself - to classical music. As Carl Palmer explained: "I think the fact that Emerson, Lake & Palmer ended up playing things like Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorsky introduced all of those young people to this great classical music. They could go and get a recording of it by an orchestra. We weren't there to educate; we were there to entertain. But we actually did open up the doorway". 

More could certainly be done. Music should be restored to its rightful place in schools. Popular radio should embrace a wider mix of genres, just as more rock and light music is invading Radio 3. Radio 4's Tales from the Stave and How to Play are welcome, but programmes like this should be more frequent. (Much of my appreciation of music is down to the old Home Service Children's Hour use of such as Bartok, Dvorak and Walton as incidental music for its serials.) But I think Pliable is mistaken about the Proms.

There may no longer be a mix of stadium rock and classical music, but I suggest that this is because the happening music scene has shifted. An equivalent to the 1970s late-night Prom cited by Pliable occurred on the 15th of last month when Rameau met Africa - and it was not a late-night event, either. There is hope yet.