Threat to serving police officers

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-30390392 .]]

Apparently the West Midland Police have received credible evidence of a threat to capture a serving officer. I assume this came from IS or Al Qaeda, but I don't know this is so. Clearly worrying times for all police officers anywhere.

South African Court dismisses Dewani murder case

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-30375335 .

I was not there so it is unfair to make any real comment. If he was innocent the man should rightly be freed. If the case was thrown out simply because they could not prove "beyond reasonable doubt" his guilt then what? It was a strange case. Why travel to a rough township at night anyway?  Odd.

Poor voice

One of my frustrations with my stroke is my very poor voice. I want to say more but am told my voice is weak and indistinct.  I get very breathless talking. I get SO frustrated.

Alex Salmond MP at Westminster?

The BBC website reports that the ex SNP leader Alex Salmond is to stand for a seat at Westminster in the next General Election in May 2015. He wants ti ensure promises made at the Scottish Referendum are kept.

Stroke update

Now  15 months since my brain-bleed, I still feel "poorly". People who casually see me think I am better than I am inside. When walking I still feel drunk and giddy, I still get tired easily and my liquid swallow and voice are still poor. By now,  I was expecting to be back to as I was before my brain-bleed, but think this is still months away sadly. I am still clumsy and far from my old self.  It is very frustrating for me and my wife, kids and grandchildren.

I still feel progress is being made but the steps are small ones. In earlier months I could clearly see improvements, but now they are small. For example, I think I feel generally less tired, although I still feel totally exhausted at times. My giddiness must be getting better as I can look through a much wider angle when turning my head.

Guess I have to be patient and never give up.

Climate change

There is now little doubt that we live in a warming world and the evidence suggests Man's influence has played a large part. Even if globally we managed a big switch to renewables we'd probably still have warming but I feel we should try to minimise the impact.

A USA website says the average sea level rise over the last 100 years is 7 inches (178mm). Personally, I think the problem will be solved by a combination of global agreements and good engineering. We simply cannot ignore this issue: it will not just go away.

See http://climate.nasa.gov/. 
 
There is a chance that we are entering a Maunder Minimum. This may help us a bit.

USA and UK growth and debt

The BBC News reports that the US economy is growing at a greater rate than expected and that the number of jobs created has averaged 241,000 a month this year. They say the USA economy powers the world. It all depends on whether or not an economy really can live on debt.

It seems to me that both the USA and the UK economies depend on debt to exist. This is not sustainable. Every nation has to live within its means or ultimately wither. When nations like China will no longer buy government IOUs (gilts) the game is up. The debt game cannot go on for ever. In reality, we all know this.

We no longer rule the world. We no longer have an Empire to exploit. We live in a new world order and the sooner we wake up to this the better for us all.  Up to now, the UK has always paid those it owes money to on-time. There may come a time when it cannot or the pound will be devalued and people will no longer want to buy our debt.

See http://www.dmo.gov.uk/index.aspx?page=gilts/about_gilts .