Tag Archives: #HeadlineTherapy

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.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

Thanks to Gergana Krasteva and The Independent Bulletin Online for the Headline.

We are in the middle of a heatwave in the UK, and seeing pictures of cars in Argentina buried in immense snow drifts seems surreal.

It took 24 hours to rescue the tourists who had parked at a view point at the Balcon del Pissis viewpoint which is 4,500 metres high. The people and cars were enveloped in a rapid snowstorm and some were forced to sleep in their cars, although there must have been a risk of suffocation because many of the cars were totally buried.

Thankfully, with the help of drone footage, heavy machinery and human rescuers over 200 people were rescued and everyone was brought to safety.

Still it just shows how quickly the weather can change, particularly in remote areas.

Namaste and thank you for Reading.🙏

Thanks to Kate Justice and BBC News Online for the Headline.

I love this story as the article has a rather fitting end. The children who collected the rubbish and detritus mainly left by teenagers having a good time by the River where their father has a farm and whose animals are at risk from choking from the rubbish and the wrappers that are strewn across his fields.

Like good children , they helped their dad out and also were puzzled by what people left behind, their shoes for example, how did they walk back home?

However, the farmer had another solution to these people , he sprays the field near the river most affected by the litter mongers regularly with cattle slurry, so that it is less appealing for them to congregate near the river.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

AI generated Image

Thanks to Steffen Messenger and BBC News Online for the headline

Hare coursing was banned under the hunting act of 2004 and is therefore illegal.

The Welsh Countryside is being targeted by unscrupulous people , hell bent on gambling on the pursuit of such beautiful creatures as wild “hares” who are part of the environment and the farmers who look after the land do not want to see the hares destroyed, nor do they want their fields,crops , gates and animals damaged in the process of these criminals pursuing their illegal prey.

Thankfully the farmers are using Social Media and have the support of the Police to prevent these people. Personally as it is all about money, when they are caught then it should be about removing their assets, such as cars, animals, houses ,weapons and cash to prevent them hopping into their four by fours and driving down the M4 to a remote Welsh Farm looking for the opportunity to hunt these beautiful animals. They should then be forced to volunteer to clean out kennels for life at a rescue centre for animals.

Perhaps prison wouldn’t help, but a detail of work to repair the damage that these people do to the Countryside would be fitting an in truth the Police should have enough resource to stop them too.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

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.🙏