Tag Archives: #HeadlineTherapy

Thanks to Olamilaken Okebiorun and Business Insider Africa for the Headline

Interestingly I didn’t realise that Morocco had a King, King Mohammed VI whom Forbes has ranked as Africa’s wealthiest monarch.

He recently hit the headlines for going back on his previously in place policy of “humane” treatment of animals in Morocco due to the up and coming FIFA World Cup being held by Morocco in 2030. Apparently his family and him are keen animal lovers and introduced animal welfare policies in 2019 to improve the lot of stray animals in Morocco. This reversal and perhaps unrestrained, uneducated cruelty by his subjects has resulted in a lot of adverse publicity for Morocco and the King.

The government of Mali are delighted by the gift of the 5200 acre vocational training complex which offers Mali broader education initiatives including training 1000 young Malians annually in construction, public works, hospitality , tourism and foodservice. Morocco has also invested in similar centres in Cote d’Ivoire, guinea and Gabon in an effort to support the African Alliance for the Development of Vocational Training.

Maybe there should also be some centres for Vocational Training in animal welfare too, that would remove the bad publicity, just a suggestion.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

Thanks to BBC Online News for the Headline

Yet again Central Government and Local Councils are at loggerheads, this time about ensuring children who are entitled to free school meals ( presumably because it’s the only guarantee that they will be fed at least one good meal a day) will also be looked after during the school holidays and presumably teacher training days.

Reading this article just makes me angry, the only ones that suffer are the children who need more than a school meal to have a chance and a childhood.

The fat politicians with their middle class lives can spend endless hours debating whether or not these children need this help or indeed which pot of money it will come from. Afterwards they will spend their time writing out their expense claims for attending the meetings which the value of those expenses would probably buy a weeks worth of meals and toys for neglected children.

This particular Council have decided it can come from Central Government under a scheme for £1bn from the Crisis and Resilience fund which would be used for targeted support. The local MP says that parents were only given a few weeks notice that they wouldn’t be receiving their vouchers, the Council says that they notified the parents in April this year.

The article even touches on the old welfare benefit argument that we need to get “them” off benefits long term. Which is another argument altogether and when we are talking about knowing what” Children are in Need” ( is the BBC’s mega Charity going to step in and how about all the food banks that exist with their Chief Executive Officers on fancy top end salaries).

The article forgets this is about a child in a first world country not getting fed and most likely not being looked after in many other ways. Basically guys, it should not be happening and all the hot air you spend and your soundbites in papers , do not impress me or anyone.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

Thanks to Vikki Irwin and Richard Daniel and BBC News Online for the Headline.

Bins are very important, particularly the food waste bin , which in a hot summer like we are having now, can turn into a fetid, horrible , maggot ridden object in the space in the garden that you keep it. ( in my case right beside our back door). However, we are lucky the bin collections in our area seem efficient, in fact we were part of the pilot scheme with the food waste bins a few years ago and now they’ve been introduced throughout the County and seem to work quite well along with the other waste collections.

The model in East Suffolk however has not worked so well, perhaps because they delayed the introduction, perhaps because they didn’t like Central government being heavy handed with them. Whatever the reason , the introduction has not gone smoothly and as a result of the mishandling of the process, the shambolic bin collections have resulted in East Suffolk Council serving a “Breach of Contract ” to itself.

I would say that basically there was just not enough people on the ground employed to achieve the collections and now they are employing an “expert” with many years experience in managing “bin collections” to fix the situation. They have been appointed and will start in August. In other words someone is going to be paid a fancy salary to tell them that they didn’t have enough workers in the first place and will have to recruit.

So same old story of trying to save money upfront and in the end wasting a load of money.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

Thanks to Maria Jevstafjeva and Leandro Prazeres and BBC News Online for the Headline.

Interestingly enough one of the Russian men involved in this case has lived in Angola a long time, 40years to be exact. They claim to have been creating a Russian Cultural Centre which they may have been for all I know.

I wouldn’t imagine the conditions in Angolan jails are very nice and the two Angolans that were on trial with the two Russians must be relieved that one was given a suspended sentence and one was acquitted.

The Lawyer for the two Russians did his best to get them returned to Russia and defended their case as best he could , but given some strange behaviour at the trial , including the Prosecutor’s refusal to read the indictment out in Court as would normally be the case so that it was clear what charges were being brought.

The charges included money laundering. Whatever is going on I wouldn’t want to be spending time in an Angolan Jail.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

Thanks to Navin Sing Khadka and BBC Online News for the Headline

This particular article is about the dromedary camels ( the ones with one hump) .80% of the population of dromedary camels live in North Africa and the Horn of Africa and even they are struggling in the heat.

The extreme heat has lead to severe drought and even the resilient camels cannot cope. They produce less milk and their young calves are subject to high mortality rates. The camel herders who rely on these animals in turn are suffering and cannot maintain healthy herds, not having the resource to pay for veterinary services which compounds both the people and the animals suffering.

It’s a sad situation, the camel is no longer the king of the desert.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

Thank you to Notes from Poland Online for the Headline

Scientists from Poland are seeking to solve the mystery of Poland’s ” Crooked Forest”- a set of 90-year old trees with bizarrely curved trunks by developing “tree bending technology” to recreate their unusual growth. Bonsai on a big scale.

The research is being done as the Crooked Forest located near the town of Gryfino in Northwestern Poland has some trees that are getting older, and dying out. They are pine trees and the objective is to understand why they grew their curves and to replicate it to grow a Crooked Forest 2.

Historically the reasons why the trees were grown that way in the first place have been lost, but it will not be an easy feat to replicate and may take many years. Meanwhile the forest which once consisted of about 400 curved trees now only has about 100 left and time is running out.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

Thanks to the Standard London Online for the Headline

Just shows what can happen when someone moves on in their job having made a decision that no one at the time thought was very important.

Wandsworth Council apparently paid out £600,000 to redecorate and upgrade two railway bridges at East Putney Tube station including “pigeon proofing the site “. Locals are renaming it the Ikea Bridge in honour of the famous Blue and Yellow of our favourite Swedish Furniture supplier. Nearby residents feel the colours are garish and do not fit in with the area, meanwhile Network Rail and a senior transport planner at the council say that the “negative comments” are relatively few considering the large number of local residents and station users and there are no plans to repaint the bridges.

Watch this space.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

Thanks to Lisa Young and BBC Online News for the Headline

And here’s a rub everyone should know about. The CQC charges those who need assessments to provide healthcare a £1000 registration fee along with the significant administration commitment to maintain registration and have the required inspections.

Unfortunately due to a change of Law, remote voluntary search and rescue organisations now fall under the remit of requiring a CQC inspection and the organisations themselves being purely voluntary and really being made up of knowledgeable mountaineering enthusiasts and rescue dogs simply do not have the money or the time to achieve this registration and therefore will have to cease operating. This is a ridiculous situation.

The Law is an Ass sometimes.

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Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

Thanks to Katharine Hay and the Scotsman for the Headline

Apparently this is a problem in Scotland , though I think it’s also a Welsh problem too. I’ve got to admit I don’t like seeing Rhododendron’s taking over roadsides or forests, much as their blooms and colours are very beautiful, they are like the bully of the plant world.

Thankfully, the Woodland Trust has taken the stem by the roots and has asked the general public who visit Garden Centres to play detective and to report if they are selling Rhododendron ponticum which is native to Asia and was introduced to Britain as an attractive ornamental plant, however, it’s spread throughout the countryside and out of domestic gardens has had a detrimental effect on the landscape of wildflowers and native species.

The Woodland Trust of Scotland is looking to bring in legislation to stop Garden Centres selling these plants , in the meantime they are trying to gather the information so that they can find out where the plants are coming from. Adds a bit of spice to an otherwise pretty uneventful garden centre visit.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏