'Don't go down the mine, Daddy......'

And so let joy be unconfined at the Chile mining recue – not ‘miraculous’, as the cliché-driven media say but the outcome of determination, leadership, organisation, sound management, tremendous technical and engineering skills and plain old-fashioned guts. There will be many heroes in all this, not least the shift boss who was obviously the guy who kept it all together. We were amazed at the miners’ condition. We had expected filthy, ragged, half-starved wretches to come tumbling out of the ground. Instead, the ones whom we saw were freshly-shaved, clean and smart, and in boisterous good spirits.

Then O had to spoil it by bragging about the American contribution – to be fair, he may have spoken of Chile’s marvellous achievement, but if he did it was not broadcast, and perhaps he was not simply basking in reflected glory. By contrast, one of the true heroes, Jeff Hart, the American mining engineer who organised the drill, was too modest even to be seen when the men came out. No doubt the US made a tremendous contribution, but it would have been in better taste if Chile had been left to celebrate a great national achievement which seems to reflect on everyone involved from the President downwards.

I am indebted to James Delingpole in the Speccie for coining a new word – ‘localvore’, those smug, self-satisfied carbonatics who believe that they are saving the world from climate change by buying their grub in Farmers’ Markets. This, they say, reduces the carbon footprint (whatever that might be) involved in feeding ourselves.

Wrong!

No less than 48% of the energy demand in food production is from the shopping trips in the SUV or whatever. Only 4% is accounted for by surface transportation, and only 1% by air freight. Glass-raised fruit and veg from Holland have four times the carbon release of those grown in Kenya. The carbon ‘take’ of a leg of Welsh Lamb on the British dinner table is vastly greater than one from New Zealand. And I have still found no answer to my earlier question as to why the eco-warriors pray in aid science to support their views on climate change and deny it for GM foods.

University challenge.

The latest political blathering is about University fees and how the beastly coalition is going to make it impossible for bright young working-class people to get into college. I have two thoughts on this.

One – there are too many ‘universities’ turning out people with useless degrees (football studies, I ask you!). The eejit Major had polytechnics morphed into universities overnight to meet a target of 50% of school-leavers being able to get a place. The fact that only about 10% of people have the intellectual capacity to benefit from university was of no consequence. So scrap these useless spending-pots, and convert them back to technical colleges where 14 to 18 year olds can learn employable technical crafts and skills. Who needs a degree in basket weaving and religious knowledge?

Two. If someone graduates with a debt of £20,000 for fees, the answer is simple. Declare yourself bankrupt, and in three years you will be free of debt.

Now here’s a funny thing.

Last week-end, the Leicestershire Police banned a march by the English Defence League. As the media tells it, the EDL consists of a bunch of white thugs and racist skinheads intent on beating up the nice, anti-fascist, anti-racist, peace-loving demonstrators. The EDL said that it would defy the ban; their spokesman is – er – a Sikh.

And another.

Sir Phillip Green this week produced his report on Whitehall waste (no doubt written on his 200-ft yacht in the Med). I tell you, you couldn’t make it up. The level of management incompetence beggars belief, such as reducing payment terms from 30 days to 5 days without any compensating financial advantage for the cash-flow effect. Green’s report suggests that the mandarins simply don’t know what is going on.

The funny thing is that the report got a one-day page 2 coverage and then silence.

What a gwaan, man?