#HeadlineTherapy Some cars to be banned at school gates from September

Thanks to BBC online News for the Headline

A pilot scheme is being introduced in Wiltshire to identify with CCTV number plates of cars that should not be parking directly outside school premises at dropping off and pick up times.

I think this is a very good idea, as I’ve seen irresponsible parents leaving their diesel engines running, while they run into the school premises and collect Johnny or Jackie. I’ve seen parents line up in their cars waiting for their children and causing traffic chaos , all because they don’t want their children to have to walk to the free car park ten minutes away.

Monitoring their behaviour is the only way it will improve. Parents and Grandparents with cars think they have a Responsibility Driven Right to speed, park incorrectly and basically give the middle finger to every other road user who gets in the way of picking up their progeny in a very tight window of convenience( for them). Never mind the poor School Buses who have to negotiate their erratic driving.

Only cars with a real need, Blue Badge Holders etc will be able to park directly outside the school at dropping off and up times. I wish them well with the Pilot Scheme and am pretty sure they will introduce it across Wiltshire and Nationally , it’s probably the only way to rein in the errant “picker uppers”.

Large crowd of students in uniforms leaving Wiltshire County High School with congested traffic on adjacent road
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Namaste and Thank You for Reading.πŸ™

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Protection and Nurturing

Daily writing prompt
What’s a thing you wish schools actually taught?

I could enter into the melee,

And ask should we be discussing sexuality?

At five it seems ridiculous,

At sixteen actually quite serious,

Perhaps it’s a headline grabbing subject,

Making humanity into an object,

Overkill can be one dimensional,

Acknowledgement and Respect are consensual,

Don’t dance around the subject it’s no shame,

Those Christmas Discos were not to blame,

A first kiss and a playground brawl,

Life is complicated that is all,

To understand is to get the fix,

Honestly it’s all just part of the mix,

To make a mistake is no shame,

To acknowledge and forgive must be our aim,

We must protect and nurture,

For these young people are the future

Empty playground with swings and benches outside a lit brick school building at dusk
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#HeadlineTherapy Rupert Lowe’s racist cheerleaders can no longer hide their despicable extremism

Thanks to Allister Heath Editor of The Sunday Telegraph for the Headline ( thanks to the Telegraph for letting me read the whole article for free)

In truth I haven’t heard of Rupert Lowe and haven’t paid much attention to the “soundbite” parties of Reform and Restore. I’m grateful to Allister Heath for standing up against them and pointing out their ridiculous theories of Britishness or is it Englishness?

History shows that a bit like Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest , that increasing the gene pool both of genetic material and ideas is beneficial to Society, all Societies. Ignorance and isolation tends to be catastrophic.

I’m grateful for Allister highlighting the danger of extremist ideas entering mainstream politics. Having had an accusatory experience with one of these “nutters” in of all places Tintagel in Cornwall while helping him with the Car Parking Machine. I really know there is nothing you can say to them, I mean because I helped him and asked him was he enjoying his holiday. I was being polite and terribly British ( which is funny as I have an Irish Passport). He was staying in a hotel of like minded believers somewhere in the County. ( I didn’t ask) I went to head off and he started a tirade of trying to convert me to his way of thinking.

I said sorry mate” I’m on holiday and I don’t talk politics. Enjoy yourself.” And then he started,”

“You people you don’t want to listen!”. He followed me for a short way down the road.

I don’t know whether he was Reform or Restore but I think it’s more accurate to say that they don’t want to listen and they are extremely foolish and ignorant people, who just want to go on and on. Most people see through them. They make more noise than sense.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.πŸ™

Newspaper titled The Daily Telegraph, open notebook with notes and pens, steaming cup of tea, small potted plant, stack of books on wooden table
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“Dog, Know-It-All and Bark”

Daily writing prompt
Share a photo of your pet and tell us one thing that makes them uniquely them.

Apologies, but I cannot share a photo of my pet dog, as he’s demanding payment for every picture that I publish. Things recently came to a head when he appointed a lawyer to represent him and you know how expensive they can be.

I’ve no idea where he found out about instructing a lawyer or how he communicates with” Dog,Know-It-All and Bark”, but we’ve had numerous cease and desist letters oh and a charge per picture demand too. I’ve got to admit it’s not unreasonable , Β£5 / picture, but it’s the principle, and also knowing my dog , where will it all end? He already has first call on any bed, sofa or rug in the house. It took us ages to find a meal each day that suits his taste, beef mince and pig hearts today sir?

I should have spotted this coming, he used to move out of shot every time we were about to take a picture. I’ve got lot’s of pictures of his ears, his nose , one eye and when he is in a grump his bottom. Recently I’ve begun to think that this has been quite deliberate. When he was posed in front of some nice scenery , he would do a wee or even something more embarrassing . Now we know it was deliberate.

Ah, here’s the postman, oh and another letter from ” Dog, Know-it-All and Bark” in it’s posh envelope with little black bone shapes all over it . My dog has come down the stairs to watch me open it. Oh dear , it looks like the prices are going up and he wants a percentage!

“Well I’ll just use AI that will do! “

Oh dear he looks a bit disappointed!

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Namaste and Thank You for Reading.πŸ™

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Jaffa Oranges

This post is a labour of sweet love. I’ve been listening to an audio book about Seafaring and Trade in the Mediterranean and it mentioned the town of Jaffa (apparently also known as Yafa).

As a child I can remember seeing the label in the Supermarket, I always associated Oranges with the name Jaffa. Oranges seemed sweeter when I was a child.

I didn’t know the History of the Jaffa Orange and was unaware of the sadness attached to it. “The Land of Sad Oranges” is the title of a famous story by the late Palestinian Journalist and writer Ghassan Kanafani that tells the story of the life of a young child growing up in an orange grove in Palestine. The history of the Jaffa orange has strong symbolism with the Palestinian’s connection with the lands and the immense loss they have suffered.

Sad to say at the beginning everyone worked together to make the Jaffa Orange a success story. It was a sweet orange with a thick peel, ideal for the export market. Arab cultivation was regarded as labour intensive but in actual fact it was probably the best way to harvest the original crop and it brought wealth to the region.

Nowadays , the crop is not a pure Jaffa Orange , and it can come from a number of Countries depending on the season. In fact now it is an all year round orange which means Jaffa is a brand. It and other fruits are grown under the Jaffa brand and sold in Tesco.

It originated in Palestine, but globalisation and the situation in the Middle East has led to the name Jaffa becoming a brand.Who cares for the fruit or where it comes from as long as we put it on the supermarket shelves and it’s fit to eat and we make money out of it.

I think if I saw the label “Jaffa” on a supermarket shelf, I would walk by because to me it is a sad orange. However, if things change and there is Peace and Prosperity in Palestine and the Oranges are grown in a Cooperative way where everyone benefits from the crop, then I would look differently at the “fruit” and it would no longer be a sad orange but a happy orange.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.πŸ™

Ripe oranges clustered on a leafy tree branch with orchard background

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#HeadlineTherapy Mounted Police thank public for protecting stables

Thanks to Tony Fisher and BBC Online News for the Headline

Thames Valley Police have thanked farmers and residents for the help they provided to prevent a field fire spreading to its stables. Thankfully the actions of those who came to help meant that they didn’t need to evacuate the yard and the horses were kept safe.

The local people arrived with their own machinery to spray the fire and soak the paddocks ,creating a vital fire break. The Fire Brigade followed through and ensured the fires were extinguished. Meanwhile local people had turned up with horse boxes just in case the horses had to be evacuated.

This is really an inspirational story and it’s lovely to hear about everyone helping in what must have been a very terrifying situation for the horses and the people who look after them.

Firefighters digging a firebreak next to horse stables with wildfire burning on hills behind them
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Namaste and Thank You for Reading.πŸ™

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#HeadlineTherapy Extreme heat grips Southern Europe as Spain sends toxic alerts and France shuts reactors

Thanks to Sertac Aktan and Euronews Online for the Headline

This article covers what is happening in Spain, France and finally Greece with the extreme heat and the lack of rain that has hit Europe over the last couple of months.

Thankfully , the fire in a waste management plant in Spain did not cause any fatalities, but there was an issue with airborne pollution. The Nuclear plants in France are owned and run by EDF. They have fifty seven plants which are all located near rivers to be close to a water supply for cooling the reactor. Three plants have been shut down due to low water levels and to reduce the impact on the local environment.

Finally in Greece, unfortunately wildfires have caused the death of five people over the last two weeks. A senior wildfire meteorologist said that it was “one of the worst fire crises I have seen in the last eight to ten years”. He added that no direct comparison can be made until the end of the “fire season” to establish quantitatively the burnt areas and number of ignitions.

More than twelve thousand hectares of forest and agricultural land have burned over the past week , according to analyses by the European Union’s Copernicnus Earth Observation Programme.

And here’s the rub, the Senior Meteorologist who says that until the results are analysed at the end of the “fire season”, says that though Climate Change may be playing a role, that there is also a significant contribution from”failures in land management”.

Funny all our Media talk about is Climate Change and Windpower, no one ever talks about “failures in land management”.

Presenter speaking at a podium with wind turbines and climate change graphics behind
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Namaste and Thank You for Reading.πŸ™

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I think I might have said this before

Daily writing prompt
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

I think I might have said this before,

So I hope you don’t think me a bore,

It was on my first Saturday job selling shoes,

That the boss said” this is something you’ll always use”,

Learn it by rote, it will save you heartache,

It’s unique to you and isn’t fake,

Lots of people will ask you for it,

To not know it is a real bummer,

It is your national insurance number.

Human-shaped figure formed by glowing numbers on a dark background
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Namaste and Thank You for Reading.πŸ™

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#HeadlineTherapy Concern as 300-year-old pond dries up in heatwaves

Thanks to Holly Rattley and George Sharpe and BBC News Online for the headline.

The Crammers in Devizes in Wiltshire is a famous landmark with a history of smuggling with 16th century ne’er do wells hiding their contraband in the pond which was called the Crammer and claiming that when they were retrieving their ill gained goods by raking the river that they were in fact looking for a cheese that had fallen from the “Moon”. Hence the name the Moonrakers which a pub nearby is called.

I have often passed by that pond driving through Devizes and I didn’t know that story. However the locals are concerned as the Crammer has entirely dried up in the current series of Heatwaves. It has no underground spring, or any tributaries to bring it water and until there is significant rainfall it will not fill again.

Sadly as the Council says, that to ensure that the Crammers does not dry out would take investment and it’s up to the whole town to decide if that is what they want to spend their vital resources on.

Pond with swans and ducks beside a curved stone walkway and historic village buildings including a church with a tall tower
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#HeadlineTherapy Police warn early release will lead to patrol cuts

Thanks to the Telegraph’s Crime Editor Martin Evans and the “From the Telegraph” Editor for the Headline.

The move to less “County” Forces and bigger Police Institutions is what the Police Chiefs will want to progress with. The head of “Wiltshire Police ” has already said that she thinks in order to achieve more effective policing that there will need to amalgamate Forces. Wiltshire and Thames Valley for example.(my suggested choice so the County Lines criminals can be monitored)

Modern policing is less about a nice reassuring patrol and an “Evening All” Dixon of Dock Green style and now more about CCTV, AI and gathering information quickly and efficiently.

Modern Policing Policy today is highly influenced by the Police’s own Institutions , however, the Government of the time will always put their pennyworth in and interestingly enough the Police are not happy about releasing prisoners from our already overcrowded (some privately run) prisons early and also at the possibility of “serious criminals” being given “In the Community Sentences”.

Politicians on the other hand see it differently, Criminals should be made to do Community Service and given unpleasant jobs like cleaning up fly-tipping ( I would imagine that’s a pretty specialist job, particularly if the Council’s are trying to trace the culprit and also ensure the environment is cleaned up properly) or erasing vandalism (how about we make them climb walls and cross railway lines to get to the offending material). Health and Safety would have a field day.

With recent political developments some Criminals are not going to jail at all or having an early release. The Police say this will affect their call handling staffing ( which is pretty much automated) as well as their Neighbourhood Patrols as they need their resources to keep an eye on these early release “Serious, Criminals”.

What we really need is some crime statistics that say Crime is reducing and ignore the specifics and sadly the victims. Let’s face it statistics can prove anything and Crime is a numbers game and face to face policing is old fashioned and costly. Big organisations are better than small organisations. Empathy and Social Work is not the Police’s job, “locking them up is”.

Senior officers inspecting prison cells while walking down a hallway
AI Generated Image (At least this way we know where the criminals are)

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.πŸ™

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