There is some serious flooding around the country, particularly here in the Midlands. We’ve escaped most of it here in Telford – only Ironbridge really suffers from serious flooding and it’s not really in Telford anyway.
Ludlow has been hit quite badly again having lost a bridge a couple of weeks ago but the south Midlands have taken the brunt of it. Evesham is under water and nreaby Pershore is cut off completely. An electricity sub-station is threatening to flood and take out the power supply for half a million houses in Worcestershire. A water treatment plant has already flooded threatening to leave Cheltenham and Gloucester without fresh water.
David Cameron has criticised No Mandate Brown for not doing enough. Unlike his predecesor, he doesn’t get instructions from God so there’s not a great deal he could do. “Woolas, Benn, we need 140 metric tonnes of wood from sustainable sources for an Ark. The Lord has warned me of an impending flood … no, I meant God, not Tony”.
There are a few things that could be done though. For a start, the money going abroad for victims of natural disasters – such as floods in Pakistan for instance – could be used to help out people in this country. Charity begins at home after all. Secondly, local authorities need to stop allowing developments in flood planes. River views might be desirable but they’re not worth half a million pounds worth of insurance claims or the cost of flying an RAF Sea King to airlift stranded homeowners from their riverside cottages. Finally, dredge the bloody rivers. Yes, if you dredge a river it causes more flooding downstream but that’s not a reason not to do it – just dredge the whole length of the river, it’s not rocket science.
Luckily nobody appears to have been killed this time but what about next time? And the next?
You forget that most of the money for Pakistan came from the general public. A better point for Brown might be: troops out of middle east and into the midlands? If there is a paucity of investment in imperial wars which benefit the ruling class, can you imagine how little the state must spend on civil defence!
The problem with England is that it does not have any national executive. Therefore it has no contingency fund for specifically English emergencies. It was perfectly illustrated with the floods in Yorkshire 3 weeks ago. No one did jack until Gordon Brown himself mooched down in response to complaints by the public. His first visit to the floods in Hull coincided with the brassy hag, Caroline Flint’s first visit to the flooding also. – And she is supposed to be the new regional minister for that area – she visited a full 10 days after the floods first hit! No budget, no power, no interest, no idea.
Just imagine what would have happened if the flooding was in Scotland. They’d have been there, en masse pouring money and resources in from their national contingency fund – and then going to the chancellor for money to replace it. They can spend what they have put away. In England we cannot, because we don’t have a fund – just a load of traitorous bastards and incompetent politicians whose priorities are at odds with the needs of English people.
A first minister and our own executive would solve it at a stroke, therefore it will not happen.
Oi, Bitchass…don’t make me come up from Ironbridge and slap you about a bit…..
We’d have been knackered anyway..the water was an inch off the road surface at best, and the defences were not in sight.
Thank fork we’re in a first floor flat, on fairly high ground.