Shropshire Star

Peter Rhodes on a better deal from Brussels, the problem with trees and how good intentions can turn bad

Carnage in California

Published
Carnage in California

"THE precautionary principle rules, OK?" Placard slogan at the bridge- blocking protest in London. Middle-class activists. Don't you adore them?

THE bridge blocking was hailed as a non-violent protest. But when you deliberately interfere in the travel plans of strangers, you have no idea what anguish you unleash. Are you sure nobody in that enormous traffic jam you've just created is a diabetes sufferer desperate for medication? Or a surgeon on a life-saving trip? When people get it into their heads that they are working for a greater good, the first casualty tends to be goodness.

I DO not trust trees. They look beautiful and they clean the air, so people assume that trees must, in some ethereal way, repay our affection. It doesn't work like that. I may have spent too long covering inquests but I believe trees are inherently dangerous and as a rule, the further away they are, the better. So if the people of California, after burying hundreds of their neighbours who died in the most agonising way, decide to rebuild their fire-flattened towns, let them start with chainsaws. Be brutal. Fell every tree inside the city. Clear the outskirts until there is not a tree within half a mile of the city limits. Each winter, clear away the brushwood and undergrowth. Then, and only then, in a sterile city with no trees, but plenty of swimming pools, can you live at peace with the tinder-dry forests all around. And we in England should be looking at our forest towns and villages, too, and asking the question: what if?

NO matter how much you admire Comrade Jez as a man of the people, allotment keeper and supporter of Cats Protection, can you imagine him standing in the Commons for three-a-half hours, giving detailed answers to razor-edged questions, and then leading a five-hour Cabinet meeting, followed by an unscripted statement to the media, as Theresa May did? On Sunday Mr Corbyn admitted he had not even read the draft EU treaty in full. We have probably reached the stage where a British government has extracted all it can from Brussels. Be wary of anyone who promises otherwise. Even if he is kind to cats.

SCAMMERS are trying to steal personal information from thousands of students by sending out emails promising tax refunds. But students are not the only ones at risk. I've just had an email, apparently from a courier company, saying a parcel is on its way - and just click here for your invoice. It's a malware scam to take over your computer. If in doubt, bin it.

NOT that the internet is all bad. Sometimes it really does give you something for nothing. I referred a few days ago to the funeral of an old friend, who died aged 94. By chance, the latest Google Earth image of his local pub was taken just as he arrived on his mobility scooter a few weeks ago. And there he is, preserved for all the world to see. A cyber-memorial, for free.