Ghost ships

 

Earlier this afternoon, there was a man speaking about the 13 former US Navyships arriving at Hartlepool on BBC Radio 5.  He's been out of work and is one of the roughly 200 people who will be gaining employment by the clean up. The interview was a heartfelt one.  He described wanting to do some good, that being unemployed for such a long time that he was tired of feeling useless.  Of being looked at and treated like he was useless.  He aslo deftly pointed out that many of the leading chemical companies are in fact British, with factories in the U.K. and that in the U.K. we have our own nuclear industry.

 

Too right. 

 

His interview got me off my petty bourgoise high horse.  It occurred to me.  What is the truly right thing in this situation?  Is my argument of 'send them back'' a valid one? 

 

Ideally, everyone would clear up their own bloody mess.  But this is the real world.  Which is cruel and hard.  (It doesn't have to be.)  Someone can clean it up.  Allbeit for a price and I hope a tidy profit.  It is obvious the current U.S. government couldn't care less and won't do it themselves.  And now that the ships have stubbornly found their way here; it is extremely unwise to force them to traverse so many thousand of miles in treacherous open waters to their port of origin in the USA.

 

And they (those responsible in Virginia) know it too.  It is better they dump the ships here where we have the facilities to process them safely than to leave them in poor countries or dump them in open waters as the current administration intends.  I have a feeling that were the ships to return, they'd not be dismantled properly.  True, everybody does it.  France has been in trouble in the past for trying the same stunt in Turkey .   But it seems Turkey had the presence of mind to refuse. 

 

It is too late to do anything else now.  Get them dismantled, safely and as soon as possible.  As a nation our environental street cred could only improve by doing it.  ;-)

 

Shipbreaking- 

Greenpeace-

  comment []6:49:05 PM    

Finally!

After weeks and weeks of waiting; Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gamain arrrived.  An excellent read.  I loved the alliteration and I can easily see children and adults alike being captivated by it.  I was.  My favourite parts were when the Queen of Melanesia popped in and when...

Growwwl!

  comment []3:43:44 PM    

Down town

This is the view on Great Western Road leading into the city.  I took the photograph on my way home today.  Thankfully I was walking and in the opposite direction.  The time was a little after 2pm.  It's been surprisingly sunny these past few days.

Glasgow is unique in that it has a motorway running through it.  Frankly I am rather surprised the traffic moves at all.   Bliss early on a Sunday morning but otherwise I walk whenever I can, prefering the cold rain to the high blood pressure I get whilst driving. 

Cycle if you have a death wish.

(Photo Friday)

  comment []3:34:28 PM