Tractor production is up again!

I wonder if Jessica has thought of taking an A level in Geography. I think she'd do very well.

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Prince Charles should keep his GM ideas to himself (The Times)

I have a piece in The Times on Prince Charles. Here's an extract:

What is it with the Prince of Wales? He seems physically incapable of keeping his mouth shut. Yesterday he was ranting about genetically modified crops, multinationals and climate change. But it might equally have been architecture, education or McDonald's, three of his previous obsessions. Next week it'll no doubt be the price of gas. And why haven't we heard his views on Georgia?

The Prince is as entitled to his views as anyone. What he is not entitled to do is share them with us. This has nothing to do with whatever merit they might or might not have. It has everything to do with the fact that one day he will be King.

Do you know what his mother thinks about GM crops? Do you know what the Queen thinks about anything? Of course not. Unlike her son, she realises that the moment she enters the world of politics - which her son did the moment that he started to lecture us about how the world should be run - is the moment that the monarchy ceases to exist. The monarchy is supposed to be a unifying force. The Prince's interventions serve only to divide.

...The attacks on further GM experiments - which, by definition, are designed to further our knowledge - expose the ignorance behind Prince Charles's remarks. There is not a shred of evidence - not a jot, not a hint, not a fraction - that there is any risk from GM crops. Even the European Commission, which operates on the precautionary principle, can find none. In 2001, it published a summary of 81 scientific studies conducted over 15 years. None found any evidence of harm to humans or the environment. The same conclusion has been reached by every academy of science that has examined the issue, in France, the US, India, China, Mexico and Brazil. Our own Royal Society has published four different reports.

I've yet to hear Prince Charles decry the use of insulin for diabetics as a “real disaster”. But if he rejects, on principle, the idea of GM crops, he should, because the insulin used is genetically engineered...

But then ignorance need not be consistent and when the Prince opens his mouth he serves only to advance the cause of an unthinking, irrational, ignorance as a basis for policy.

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Oliver's new home

The Times has acquited more than a first class leader writer; it also has his blog now.

There are five blogs which I regard as the best, bar none. Oliver's is one.

The other four are...have a guess!

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Charles again

Yawn. The ignorant oaf who will be our next monarch is at it again.

When will he learn? If he wants to share his opinions with us, fine; but he should renounce his title and claim to the throne and expect to be treated like any other pundit.

If he wants to carry on enjoying the privileges of his position - and at our expense - he should learn from his mother and keep shtum.

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Gigi - not even fun

Mrs P and I went to see Gigi last night at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. It was a very British occasion - pissing down with rain but the show must go on, and it did.

But I have to say I had a very surprising reaction to the piece itself. In my ignorance, I had assumed that Gigi was a piece of innoffensive froth. And certainly that's how most of the audience seemed to take it, and how the production had it.

I found it repellent. The basic story is how a sweet, innocent sixteen year girl is taught how to be a high class hooker by her family of hookers (they're called courtesans, as if that somehow makes them a cut above) rather than marry without payment.

All the characters act cynically. The men parade their dalliances with the whores, despite being married - indeed, the whole show is about the fun of such affairs - and are happy to use and abuse any woman they fancy. An entire scene is about the hilarity of one of the discarded hookers attempting to commit suicide, a joke which is then repeated later as if it is simply uproarious.

Clearly it's a piece from another age. But what I find bizarre is that I seem to be in a minority of one in finding a musical based entirely on the abuse of women to be deeply offensive.

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Russia and AIDS

Richard Beeston has an excellent piece in today's Times on some of the more medium term consequences of Russia's behaviour. I think this, right at the end of the piece, is perhaps the most important point of all:

Russia is also facing a severe demographic crisis. Its population is shrinking by 700,000 people a year. The UN estimates the population will fall below 100 million by 2050, down from around 146 million today.

In the decades ahead, the center of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic is set to shift from Africa to Eurasia. The death toll in that region's three pivotal countries--Russia, India, and China--could be staggering. This will assuredly be a humanitarian tragedy, but it will be much more than that. The disease will alter the economic potential of the region's major states and the global balance of power. Moscow, New Delhi, and Beijing could take steps to mitigate the disaster--but so far they have not.

The Brussels think tank, the Centre for a New Europe (to declare an interest, I am President of CNE) is about to begin a programme of work on the impact of AIDS on Europe, and we are also focussing on how Russia is already being devastated by AIDS, and how this will impact on the rest of EU. The African AIDS crisis is well known; few people seem to be aware of the Russian crisis, which in some ways is worse:

In 2007, an estimated 1.5 million people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia were living with HIV, more than double the figure in 2001 when an estimated 650,000 people were HIV-positive, the UNAIDS report said.

The largest HIV epidemic in the region is in Russia and almost 90 per cent of those infected in the region live in either the Russian Federation or Ukraine, it added.

 

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Put down

Simon Hoggart had this lovely story on Saturday:

The death of Simon Gray lets me reprise a favourite story. He was a close friend of Harold Pinter, a great cricket lover. Once Pinter wrote a poem about his hero Len Hutton. It read, in its entirety "I saw Hutton in his prime / Another time, another time." He sent it to several of his friends.

Soon afterwards Pinter and Gray were at the same dinner party and Pinter asked what he thought of the poem. "I don't know, Harold," said Gray. "I'm afraid I haven't finished it yet."

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The Israel lobby again

I wondered how long it would be before someone managed to get a dig in at Israel over the Russian bombing of Georgia. So congratulations to James Poulos at - where else? - the Guardian for, as far as I am aware, being the first:

The anti-Russia lobby is giving the pro-Israel lobby a run for its money, hyping the settling of scores among two European, Orthodox Christian countries as more dangerous to the peace and security of the west than any clash of civilisations or jihad ever was.

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Is Man City going under?

I'm hearing some strong rumours about Manchester City. I can't vouch for their authenticity but one of the two sources is a very mild mannered and judicious man who knows about these things. To cut a long story short, there are two threads:

First, Vedran Corluka's apparently on-off-on-off transfer to Spurs was never as uncertain as Man City are today trying to paint it, and he and City signed binding transfer papers to Spurs last week. Mark Hughes was apparently never told about this and went berserk when he found out. But from what I am told, Spurs are clear that Corluka is now a Spurs player and will go to court to prove it. (And, I understand, Corluka is fully on board for the move.)

As a result of having his players sold from under him - Stephen Ireland has already gone - Mark Hughes will be resigning as manager within days, if not hours.

Second, and more importantly for the Premiership, it is said that Thaksin Shinawatra has been trying to sell City for weeks and has found no buyers. There are stories that City is bust and has astronomical debts; the transfer spree of the past year or so has come home to roost.

As I say, I have no direct evidence for any of this, only the assertions of two people. We'll see.

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Olympic gold

So I guess I must now be an Olympics addict. The two mainstream sports which bore me most are cycling and swimming (yes, even more than tennis). And yet I have been thrilled by the success of Nicole Cooke and Rebecca Adlington. I suppose I'll even watch Andy Murray when he starts his pursuit of Olympics gold.

Mind you, there's been one aspect of the Olympics - or rather of the BBC's coverage of it - which has enraged me. So far I've heard three commentators say a variation on the theme of: 'That'll keep the critics of the London games quiet'.

No it won't. Those of us who are appalled that London won, and that we are going to have to fork out billions of pounds to stage the games, are not anti-sport, let alone anti-Olympics. We just want someone else to have the dubious honour of paying for it.

(I'm being flippant. There's a serious argument to be had about the cost of the games and how and by whom it should be funded).

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