The floods here in the British Isles are beginning to subside, many people can now leave their homes. However, water shortages continue to bite, and where present the tap-water is heavily contaminated.
It has been handled smoothly by
the authorities, with the Army stepping in to provide drinking water, and sandbags
brought in to stem the flow of water as rivers burst their banks following what
are said to be the heaviest rains for sixty years. Lessons here in disaster management, standing in stark contrast to our desperate confusion during the tremors last week.
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| Shambo |
There's been no stemming another flood though. Devotees have
flocked in from around the world to stand in solidarity with the worshippers at
Skanda Vale
Hindu Temple
in Wales after
the Welsh Assembly decreed that a ceremonial bullock housed there called
Shambo, would have to be put down after being diagnosed with a bovine variant
of tuberculosis. The bullock ruminates as he has done for all of his six Friesian
years unaware of his impending fate. He shows such good spirits that his
minders are now skeptical of the diagnosis that declared him infected. Following
the trends of our times, they have set up a camera in his pen so that curious
people like you can take a peek at Shambo in all his luxury.
While Shambo chews his grass
absent-mindedly, members of the month old British Cabinet are taking turns at
the public confessional, admitting that in the idyllic days of their youth,
they did smoked theirs and that unlike US Presidential Candidate Barack Obama,
they also inhaled. Ah yes, a full nine members of the British Cabinet have now
confessed to smoking cannabis while students. Invariably, they say the
experience was nothing special, and that they only did it once or twice. Still
coming in a week when the government is reclassifying the drug, putting it in
the same category as barbiturates and amphetamines. The extenuation for the reclassification
seems to be that the drug has become much more potent since the 1970s, with THC
levels now causing greater risk of mental health and addiction.
The Home Secretary under whose remit drugs control falls, is one of the inhalers. One can only imagine the uproar if Martha Karua or Beth Mugo were to make such a confession.
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| Shanghaied |
Meanwhile, as we obsess about privatizing national
cash-cows, the Chinese, Singaporeans and the Qatari are reading from a
different script, entirely. From not too far off in the future, the Chinese
State will own a large stake in Barclays
Bank. The Chinese Development Bank, is seeking a 3% stake in the UK Bank, to be
increased to an 8% stake should the planned Barclays-ABN
Amro merger come to fruition. The Singaporean government through state-owned
investment firm Temasek is also bidding for a stake in the bank. Not to be
outdone, the Qatari government is seeking to increase its stake in British
supermarket chain Sainsbury's to 25%. The oil rich gulf state, one of world's wealthiest
countries is particularly interested in the real estate owned by the retailers,
which was recently valued at GBP 8.3
billion.
Not so good in Nairobi.
In a mad rush before December's elections, MPs are said to be contemplating a
cheeky attempt at sending to State House a Bill which would grant them overly
generous end of term packages. Depending on their seniority, these already
engorged ticks will be sucking out at least 6.3 million each from the
Exchequer. Higher-ups would be in line for amounts in the region of 10.2
million each. The massive cabinet and all its self-confessed idle naibu wa mawaziri ( a grand total of
104) are looking to further increase
their allowances for some strange something called responsibility.
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Good read though!