The adjacent photo is of Hodders Combe in the Quantock Hills, Somerset and is a photograph by Don Bishop. It was a gift from my daughter and hangs on my lounge wall. Hodders was a regular Easter camp site when I was in the scouts as a youth.
Autumn has been slow to appear this year and we have had unseasonal temperature throughout September and early October which have had the climate activists getting their knickers in a twist. As I write the winds have changed blowing cold air from the arctic and temperatures are below average for October dropping from 21°C to 11°C in a day.
I am still sitting on the fence on the causes of climate change which I can see is happening. What I can not accept in the absence of any conclusive evidence is that it is mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels and it is important to separate long term climate from short term weather.
I can understand the theory in the way this affects the atmosphere and that it does contribute to global warming but question just how much is due to burning fossil fuels and how much is just a warm period that the planet is going through and has gone through over millions of years.
We have only been keeping a record of global temperatures for a few hundred years and the last ice age ended over 20,000 years ago. Scientist tell us that the ice ages might have been caused by changes in the earths orbit around the sun or at least that is the theory that is still under investigation. They also speculate that we will have another ice age in a few thousand years but that the impact we are having on the climate may delay that event.
Then there is all this net zero politics going on which we have to get our head round. China is the biggest polluter on the planet producing well over 10 billion tonnes of CO2 per annum with the USA second producing a little over 5 billion. And China is building coal fired power stations as is 6th place Germany producing 775 million tonnes. That Mrs Merkel, who is a scientist, closed all the 'clean' nuclear power stations after the Japanese Fukashima disaster. Little old UK is well down the list at 17th producing 368 million tons but of course, historically we were a world leader during the industrial revolution!
Another way to look at it is how much different countries produce per capita and then China comes in at 42nd in the world by virtue of its huge population, the USA 15th and the UK 58th. Those countries with small populations but source and process oil and gas like the Arab states and Norway then become major polluters in terms of CO2 per person. Qatar is the worst with 38m tonnes per person, Germany 9.42, China 7.44, Norway 8.3 and the UK 5.6. The global average is 4.76.
Extracting oil requires large amounts of energy which has always been provided by gas turbines. The international average amount of carbon produced by using gas turbines is about 15kg of carbon per BBE (Barrels of Oil Extracted). These emissions could be reduced to near zero by using renewable energy sources and this application does not require the continuous supply demanded by base load power generation.
Only about 13% of CO2 global emissions come from cars. 30% from transport generally. Energy production of all types accounts for 70% of CO2. The other problem I see when comparing emissions from cars is CO2 emissions per km. An electric vehicle does not produce any direct emissions but it consumes electricity from the grid which uses fossil fuels to generate electricity. In the UK this is 0.371 kgs of CO2 per kWh while in China it is 0.531 kgs because it generates far more power from burning coal. So running an EV in China is 43% less green than in the UK.
Finally a modern EV is just over twice as efficient as a modern diesel vehicle in terms of kWh per mile however in the UK 9% of the power generated is lost during grid transmission. A study in 2020 to compare the overall energy efficiency concluded that; In general, diesel cars are more efficient than electric cars powered by fossil fuels but further investigations are needed to examine the life cycle emissions from cradle to grave of both systems.
I accept that it is desirable to try and eliminate burning fossil fuels to generate energy but this must be done in a measured and pragmatic way based on the available science, having regard to the economic effects on different countries and devoid of unscientific artificial targets imposed by politicians.
Rugby World Cup
If you have been following my description of this tournament during the pool stages you will have seen my predictions for the 1/4 finals were as follows:-
Wales v Argentina; Wales to win
Ireland v New Zealand; NZ to win
England v Fiji; Fiji to win
France ve South Africa; France to win
Wales fly half Dan Biggar opened the scoring late in the first quarter with a converted try followed by a penalty goal but with Wales under the cosh, two penalt goals just before half time put Los Pumas on the scoreboard 6-10.
Emiliano Boffelli continued his accurate kicking with two more penalty goals early in the 2nd half before Tomos Williams went over the whitewash which Biggar converted.
It wasn't until the 68th minute that Joel Sclavi went over for Argentina to bring the scores level but then Nicolas Sanchez put the game beyond reach with late try to put the Pumas 9 points ahead. A penalty goal in extra time sealed the deal 17-29 so my first prediction was wrong.
Ireland v New Zealand
The pool results meant that two of the 1/4 final games involved arguably the top four teams in the world pitted against each other which meant we were in for a couple of closely fought test matches and the first of these was the top ranked team Ireland against the All Blacks ranked 4th.
The game lived up to all expectations. From the start the AB's came out of the starting blocks at pace and scored two penalty goals then a converted try to put them 13 nil up but there was no panic from the Irish who played themselves back into the game with a penalty goal and a try from Bundi Aki. A few minutes later Ardie Savea went over in the corner keeping NZ on the front foot.
NZ scrum half Aaron Smith then received a yellow card from which Ireland's Kiwi scrum half Gibson-Park scored a try which captain Johnny Sexton converted to trail NZ by one point 17-18. We were in for an epic second half.
A try by Will Jordan crafted by Richie Mounga and converted by Jordie Barrett gave the Blacks a two score cushion before Ireland were awarded a penalty try after Taylor brought down the maul which bought the score back to one point in the Blacks favour. Jordie Barrett missed a penalty goal but increased the lead to four points a few minutes later with 10 minutes to go.
Ireland were always chasing the game from the start but never gave up and played through an incredible 37 phases at the end. They actually went over the line at one point but were held up by a Jordie Barrett mighty effort. Captain Sam Cane also deserved praise making 21 tackles in the game and the AB's defence won them the day. Thus ended a fantastic game of rugby 24-28 with much emotion from the Irish team and a tearful Johnny Sexton in his last game before retirement.
England v Fiji
England began in attack mode with a try by Manu Tuilagi, his first for two years and they remained on the front foot throughout the first half. Joe Marchent increased their lead in the 2nd quarter before Viliame Mata went over for Fiji. At orange sucking England seemed to be in charge still leading 21-10.
Marcus Smith was taking a good deal of punishment having suffered a high tackle to the head but played on after a head injury assessment. In the last 1/4 England went to sleep letting Peni Ravai over for a Fiji try followed soon after by another from Vilimoni Botitu. The conversion by Simione Kuruvoli levelled the score 24 points each and England were on the back foot.
England were hanging on when in the last 10 minutes Owen Farrell dropped a goal then a few minutes later a penalty goal leaving a converted try for Fiji to win the game but England held on for a place in the semi finals to win 30-24.
Although the English fans and TV commentators/pundits waxed lyrical about admittedly Englands improved performance, against better opposition they would have lost this game.
France v South Africa
This game was billed to be the real cup final and so it turned out to be. It was a test match probably unequaled by any other game I have watched with the possible exception of the France v New Zealand world cup semi final at Twickers in 1999 when France came back from a 24-10 deficit at half time to win 31-43. And those were the AB's glory days with such luminaries as Jonah Lomu and Andrew Mehrtens in the team but little Cristophe Dominici ran rings round them! The way the Twickenham crowd got behind France was remarkable and unique with England supporters singing "Allez les Bleus".
France this time had arguably the greatest rugby player in the world at scrum half. Antoine Dupont had a steel plate inserted in his fractured cheek bone 20 days ago but here he was inspiring his team to beat the world champion Springboks.
It took 4 minutes for Cyril Baille to score the first French try and a few minutes more for Kurt-Lee Arendse to equalise for the Boks. The game was being played at a cracking pace and continued into the 2nd quarter with tries from Damian de Allende for the Boks and Peato Mauvaka levelling the score 12-12.
Fast little Cheslin Kolbe ran in the next Boks try before Cyril Baille brought France back level. Eben Etzebeth was then sent off for a high tackle and the resulting penalty kick from Thomas Ramos put France in the lead 22-19 at half time.
The score stayed that way well into the 2nd half until a Ramos penalty goal gave France a six point lead. Etzebeth return to the field had a dramatic effect as he took three French defenders over the line with him which Handre Pollard converted to put the Boks four points ahead. A couple of minutes later a Ramos penalty goal reduced the deficit to one point and there it stayed for the last seven minutes for the Boks to win 28-29.
France made a few mistakes with kicks and on one occasion Kolbe sprinted from his goal line to knock down Ramos kick at goal. The main difference in the teams was that South Africa made France make mistakes and then capitalised on them. A sad day for they Frogs who I thought were good enough to win the cup but without doubt the best test natch so far in the tournament and unlikely to be bettered.
My new predictions
The All Blacks now play Argentina in the semis and I predict the AB's will win easily as will the Boks who meet England who are simply not in the same league. The final will therefore be between SA and NZ which is difficult to call but I fancy NZ will have the edge.
The Hamas Israli conflict
In the previous page I talked about the BBC attitude to this conflict in refusing to refer to Hamas as terrorist on the grounds of impartiality.
It is interesting to note that everyone they interview on the subject does call Hamas terrorists with the exception of those supporting Palestinians including the Palestinian UK ambassador Husam Zomlot. He is a senior member of Fatah who were ousted from Gaza by Hamas yet he refuses to call them terrorists even though he acknowledges that they have committed terrorist acts.
Zomlot is a moderate who believes the solution to this long standing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians can only be resolved by negotiation but both sides are reluctant to condemn the actions of their extremists.
Until they accept those faults there can be no progress towards a Palestinian State. Compromise by both sides is the only solution and Israel could make a start by stopping any further settlement in Occupied Palestinian Territory which is illegal under international law.
As far as the BBC is concerned they seem to be siding with all those who will not call Hamas terrorists so I fail to see why that is impartial? They are guilty of calling a spade a shovel!
Premiership Rugby Union
The 2023/24 season got off to a start during the knockout stages of the world cup. Round 1 saw Brissle at home to they Tigers who had a good few of their better players on world cup duty. Steve Borthwick seems to have a penchant for players from his old club. This may or may not account for their losing the game 25-14. The same could be said of Sarries who were away to Executer and were hammered 65-10.
Barf lit up the rec with a 34-26 win against Newcastle with a hat trick from Ben Spencer and Glaws just managed to steal a win from Quins at Kingsholm with a try at the death by Ford-Robinson 29-28.
Finally Sale beat the Saints at Salford 20-15.
Only ten clubs are left in the premiership now with Wasps and Worcester going broke last season.
The Hamas Israli conflict
The BBC has now decided to stop calling Hamas "militants" as a default term and now every reporter recites repetitively "proscribed as a terror organisation by the UK Government and others". As a licence fee payer I do not want to have my intelligence questioned by having to listen to such repetitious nonsense.
When you consider that the BBC has been inconsistent in its reporting in the past and has referred to many other incidents as "terror attacks" its present interpretation of its own editorial guidelines is mystifying to say the least.
There has always been much debate about the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent displacement of the Palestinian Arabs who lived there. I decided to do some research into the origins of the different races and peoples that lived in the area.
Semites are defined asRelating to or denoting a family of languages that includes Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic and certain ancient languages such as Phoenician and Akkadian, constituting the main subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic family.
and were historically defined as those speaking a semitic language. The term Semite was given to those races who populated areas of the Near East shown on the above map, principally the Jews who spoke
Hebrew1) A member of an ancient people living in what is now Israel and Palestine and, according to biblical tradition, descended from the patriarch Jacob, grandson of Abraham. After the Exodus ( c. 1300 BC) they established the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and their scriptures and traditions form the basis of the Jewish religion.
2) A “Semitic” language used by the ancient Hebrews and in modern Israel.
The terms "anti-Semite" or "antisemitism" came by a circuitous route to refer more narrowly to anyone who was hostile or discriminatory towards Jews in particular. Objections to the usage of the term, such as the obsolete nature of the term "Semitic" as a racial term, have been raised since at least the 1930s. “Semite” is an ethno-linguistic grouping of Semitic language-speaking peoples, including Arabs, Jews, and Assyrians. It should not be confused with the obsolete ethnic or racial term “Semitic people”.
and originated from tribes in Babylon (modern day Iraq) around 1200BC and various Arab tribes. I understand from this definition that Semites were not exclusively Jews but are also Arabs who are
racially similar but do not conform to the Jewish religionA Jew is one who practices the Jewish religion, Judaism. This includes both converts and those who have been members of the Jewish religion since birth. A Jew is one who is a descendant of the ancient Israelite ethnic group, and therefore is a member of the Jewish people.
During the 2nd millennium BCE, Palestine was inhabited by the Canaanites, Semitic-speaking peoples who practiced the Canaanite religion. Palestinians share a strong genetic link to the ancient Canaanites. The Israelites emerged later as a separate ethnoreligious group in the region.
or culture. The term anti-semite has come to mean anyone who was hostile or discriminatory towards Jews.
Since 1200BC the land area has been fought over and colonised by many nations but it was not until the Romans arrived in 63BC that it was given the name of the Roman province called Palestine (Latin Palaestina). A few centuries and colonisations later the Ottoman Empire (modern day Turkey) was in charge who in the first world war sided with the Germans. Towards the end of the war the British and Russians drove the Ottomans out of Palestine and the forerunner of the UN, the League of Nations, approved a mandate drafted by the British and her allies in 1917 known as the Balfour Declaration.
Balfour Declaration: His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.
The British then administered Palestine until 1948 when the State of Israel was declared and it is self evident that Jews and Arabs have lived together in Palestine for many centuries. Different regimes had ruled and persecuted them historically causing them to migrate to many places in the world where they were again persecuted for religious and social differences which continues to this day.
In 1948 the Jews were in a minority in Palestine but after the Holocaust when some six million Jews were killed by the German Nazis, immigration increased.
In 1947 the UN partitioned Palestine giving the Gaza strip to Egypt and the West Bank to Jordan and the two sides have been at each others throats ever since. In the six day war in 1967 Israel captured the whole of the former British Mandate of Palestine taking control of Gaza and the West Bank. In 1976 there was the Yom Kippor War when Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria and the Sinai Peninsular from Egypt which was returned to Egypt in 1978 following a peace accord. Jordan subsequently made peace agreements with Israel but most other Arab States remain opposed the Israel's very existence.
Over time Palestinian Arabs were displaced from their homes and became refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and elsewhere. Israel allowed Jewish settlements in occupied land defying UN resolutions and continues to do so. With the increasing population available land for settlement is in short supply.
In the Gaza strip the Hamas organisation is of the Muslim Sunni denomination and controls the territory while in Lebanon, Hezbollah is of Shiite denomination and was founded, is supported and funded by Shiite Iran. Both groups are proscribed or condemned as terrorist groups by most Western nations. It would seem that the countries or organisations who do not classify these groups as terrorists have a different definition including the BBC. In the West Bank Fatah who controls the Palestinian Authority is in charge and is a Sunni group with daggers drawn against Hamas. Fatah renounced terrorism in 1988.
Terrorism has no established definition under international law.There is a great deal of debate over which actions are terrorist and which are acts of legitimate resistance against oppressive governments. Regardless of the failure to agree on a broader definition, there is an overwhelming consensus that terrorism involves the use of threat of violence against civilians for a political purpose. In the UK, the legal definition of terrorism is provided in section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2000. This defines terrorism as the use or threat of action which:
involves serious violence against a person
involves serious damage to property
endangers a person's life
creates a serious risk to the health or safety of the public; or
is designed seriously to interfere with or seriously to disrupt an electronic system
All the Palestinan Arab groups have separate political and military wings which allows their politicians to conveniently deny responsibility for the terrorist acts of their military wings. In the present conflict the fatalities from the Israeli bombing are announced by the Gazan Health Ministry which is of course controlled by Hamas who might wish to inflate those figure to garner sympathy from the West. Israel says they have killed hundreds of Hamas terrorists. Rockets are still being fired at Israel from Gaza. Hamas is using the hostages as bargaining chips.
Since 1978 many attempts to find a solution to the conflict between the Palestinian Arabs and Israel centred on the establishment of a separate Palestinian State have foundered and both sides are guilty of intransigence. At present the Israeli population consists of 72.5% Jews and 21% Arabs of all denominations excluding Judaism.
Since 2008 the UN lists 6,407 Palestinian fatalities up until this present conflict. In the same period there were only 308 Israeli fatalities. Palestinian injuries numbered 152,560 and Israeli 6,307. Israel reports at least 1,400 killed in the terror attack and at 23rd October 2023 Gaza reported 5,087 fatalities but it is unclear how many of these casualties are Hamas combatants, however, it is self evident who is coming off worse in this conflict and one could justly claim the Israelis have and are using excessive force whenever they are attacked.
Israel controls access to Gaza and has effectively placed the enclave under seige by restricting fuel, water and power supplies and has the objective of eliminating Hamas using military force. They say that Hamas holds over 200 hostages from the atrocities committed on October 7th. Whether they succeed or not in their objectives military action is bound to lead to loss of life on both sides. There is also the danger of Hezbollah attacking from Lebanon and even a wider war involving Iran.
There are signs that some Arab nations would like to see an end to the conflict and the latest terrorist atrocities committed against Israeli civilians and the subsequent retaliatory bombing by Israel of Gaza killing thousands of Palestinian Arabs may concentrate the minds of Arab States and the international community to find a solution.
It would be good to see Jordan and Egypt who are most directly affected to step in diplomatically to try and calm the situation and get the hostages returned.
Rugby World Cup Semi Finals
The first semi was between New Zealand and Argentina where my predictions were confirmed with the Pumas being totally outclassed by the All Blacks.
The Pumas made a spirited start with several visits to the AB's 22 but only scoring one penalty goal in the process meeting immaculate defence.
In the end it was the Pumas fitness and bad decision making that was to be their downfall as the Blacks romped home for a 44-6 drubbing.
England were the underdogs in the other semi against South Africa but the English players were sounding more confident than their fans who expected them to be severely punished by the Springboks who were perceived to be in a different class.
England had a game plan from the start to beat the Boks and gave their most convincing performance of the tournament on a rainy day in Paris in conditions which suited them. The Boks could not get hold of the ball half the time and when they did they were swiftly turned over. They were poor under high balls as the England half backs kicked accurately whereas Freddy Steward at full back hardly missed one. England were dominant and if you were an England fan you could hardly believe it!
After 10 minutes England had two penalty goals for their efforts and were spending most of their time in the Boks 22. It wasn't until the 2nd quarter that Manie Libbok kicked a goal which was swiftly followed by one from Farrell.
I was surprised when Libbok was taken off soon after and Handre Pollard subbed for him but the experienced Tigers fly half reliably kicked another penalty which was reciprocated just before half time by Farrell and they went in with England in charge 12-6.
I was rubbing my eyes in disbelief by this time thinking we could actually reach the final if England could continue playing like this with the Boks seemingly unable to respond.
Shortly after half time South Africa substituted most of their bench and England decided to do likewise. SA Loose-head prop Kitshoff came off replaced by Ox Nche and his opposite Joe Marler who had been outstanding throughout was subbed with Ellis Genge who struggled against Nche. Scrum half Danny Care came on for Alex Mitchell and lock Ollie Chessum for George Martin. I fail to understand why coaches sub players who are performing well, perhaps because of some secret plan. In this case I could see no reason why those players were subbed and the England scrum had thus far not been penalised.
After the restart Owen Farrell dropped a goal from nearly half way as if to say 'there you are George, I can do it too!' and England had a 9 point lead. More subs were then made. Tight-head prop Kyle Sinckler came on for veteran Dan Cole mirroring the Boks Vincent Koch for Frans Malherbe and Tom Curry limped off for Billy Vunipola. Both scrums were now very different and it began to show.
From a lineout ball subbed scrum half Faf de Klerk fed Snyman who spun over the line for a try converted of course by Pollard and it was a two point game.
Two minutes from the end the Boks were awarded a scrum penalty on the halfway line. Handre Pollard stepped up and cooly slotted it through the posts to nick the game and a final place to meet New Zealand beating England by one point 15-16.
England might feel hard done by after dominating and leading for the majority of the game but that is often the way in knockout rugby. New Zealand did something similar in 2011 to win the cup against France in Auckland when 4th choice fly half Stephen 'Beaver' Donald kicked the winning penalty to finish 8-7. Bath Rugby signed him afterwards and he was useless!
Borthwick and his coaching team will probably keep their jobs but they will be on trial depending on how England perform in the Six Nations. For now they have nothing to be ashamed of.
Laurence Dallagio said the Kiwi ref Ben O'Keefe gave the game to SA. Laurence should know better. We do not criticise refs in rugby and leave that to the round ball guys. I thought that Ben had a good game.
Ben Curry complained to him about a racist remark from SA hooker Mbongeni Mbonambi. "Sir, Sir what should I do if the hooker calls me a white c...?" to which Ben replied "Nothing". World rugby has decided against sanctions as there is not enough evidence available.
England will now play Argentina for third place on Friday while the Boks play the AB's on Saturday in the final. My predictions remain the same and I think New Zealand will have the edge and win the cup for the 4th time.
Premiership Rugby Union
Barf started the weekend games ball rolling with a great win against Sarries away from home and Sarries began the game with a try in the first minutes from Andy Christie. This was the first game for Barf's new Scottish fly half Finn Russell who made Tom de Glanville's try two minutes later with a superb offload from his back.
It only took a couple of minutes more before Miles Read crossed the line for a second Barf try which Russell converted. 10 minutes later Sarries kicked a penalty goal but Barf's reply was swift with a pinpoint cross field kick from Ben Spencer to Ruaridh McConnochie who crossed the whitewash to put Barf 10-17 in front.
Penalty goals from both sides had no effect on the points difference at half time but a penalty goal after the restart had Sarries narrowing the deficit before a Barf bonus try from Thomas du Toit took the score to 16-25 and that's how it finished.
Two bonus point wins for Barf to start the season is promising. Next week we meet the Tigers at the rec.
Bristol were away to Northampton and the first half was a try fest. Tom Seabrook scored two and Tom Pearson one for the Saints while Magnus Bradbury scored two for Brissle and with penalty goals the Saints were just in front at half time 19-18.
The try fest continued after the break with both teams scoring tries but the Saints penalties let Brissle get ahead and it finished 27-33.
The other games were also close fought affairs with the Tigers losing to Sale Sharks at Welford Road 17-24 and Quins winning at the Stoop 22-14 against Exeter.
Rugby World Cup Finals
England will play Argentina in the so called Bronze Final at 8pm BST in the Stade de France, Paris.
There has been much talk of how useless such a match is as it means nothing apart from bragging rights. The loss in the semis by England by one point with the Boks chasing the game until the last 10 minuts has had most commentators mystified how we lost it but not the French girls!
The final is at the same stadium at the same to between New Zealand who I predict will beat their opponents the South African Springboks. The result is too close to call and the Boks have packed their bench with 7 forwards and Willie Le Roux the only back so we know what game the Boks are going to play.
Emg;and came out of the blocks with a penalty goal from Farrell and a converted try from Ben Earls to go 13 up within the first 10 minutes. Penalties were then exchanged before a missed tackle let the Puma's Tomas Cubelli through for a try. Shortly after the break Theo Dan let Glaws fly half Santiago Carreras through for a try but at the restart Carreras fluffed the catch from a spiral bomb and Dan grabbed the ball for an England try to redeem himself.
Owen Farrell had his kicking boots on and thank goodness as England repeated their strange system of sacrificing good points leads as games progressed and they had gone from a 13 point lead at the start to a three pintlead now.
In the 65th minute Farrell gicked another penalty to increase the lead but minutes later Nicolas Sanchez kicked another to bring it back to 3 points and the Pumas were all over England who managed to hang on for a 23-26 win and a bronze medal.
Not a convincing performance from England but they did much better than most of us expected at the start of the tournement and we look forward to them at least beating Scotland in the Six Nations!
World Cup Final - New Zealand v South Africa
The first half was played at pace with the AB's falling foul of ref Wayne Barnes whistle giving the Boks Handre Pollard four goals against one from Richie Mo'unga, the last from a dangerous high tackle from the AB's captain Sam Caine on Jesse Kriel which was later upgraded to a red from the so called bunker.
I know that some Kiwi's will be spitting blood about Wayne Barnes who has a chequered history of reffing AB games. In 2007 France knocked them out of the semis in Cardiff after Barnes awarded a French try after the ball had gone forward which he later admitted was his mistake. For his sins he has an image of himself in a gents urinal in New Zealand.
IMHO and those of such luminaries as Sean Fitzpatrick and Brian O'Driscoll there was no doubt that there was no attempt by Cane to bend, he was upright in the tackle which is illegal and there were no mitigating circumstances according to the TMO.
The Kiwi doubters should be reminded that we don't criticise refs in Rugby and leave that to Soccer. Also Barnes awarded a try later to Beauden Barrett after a suspiciously forward pass. Maybe he was makingup for 2007!
The score was then stuck at 11-12 after Mo'unga missed the Barrett conversion in the Boks favour until with 7 minutes on the clock Cheslin Kolbe deliberately knocked on and was awarded a yellow card so would play no further part. The AB's had played with 14 men since Canes red card so for the last few minutes the sides were equeal in numbers. Poor Cheslin Kolbe sat with his face covered unable to watch the closing stages as the Blacks tried their utmost to breach a solid Boks defence to no avail and South Africa became world champions for a record fourth time.
British clocks go back an hour on 29th Oct so we are now on GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).
I have now changed the links of this page in the following ways;
I have now coded new links that bring up a popup box above the linked words which is coloured in purple and underlined. Links which may open another tab to an external site or internal page are still coloured in blue and underlined. Links that expand and close a section of the page are coloured in green and underlined.
The changes do not apply to previous pages but will apply to future ones.
You can try the new popup links boxes by expanding the page describing the Israeli Palestinian conflict above which contains several popups. There may be external links in the popup boxes.
Premiership Rugby Union
Gloucester struggled at Kingsholm on Friday night against Sarries. An early penalty goal was all they could manage against three converted tries and a penalty from Sarries who won 3-24
On Saturday Bristol lost narrowly 21-23 against Quins at Ashton Gate while Exeter thumped Sale 43-0 at Sandy Park.
The Barrf (new spelling) Tigers game at the rec was a typical derby with the result always in doubt but more penalties let Barrf down. Fin Russell kicked four for Barrf but Jamie Shillcock kicked six for Leicester, the winning one in extra time to win 24-25 despite a one try deficit.
The TV director seemed to have the hots for Barrf's new fly half Finn Russell as we kept seeing close ups of the guy with gushing comments of how marvelous he was and how the premiership was lucky to attract such talent!
The game between Newcastle and Northampton was a fairly boring affair played in miserable wet conditions. It was nip and tuck for most of the game but with the Saints ahead 9-16 in the last 5 minutes Falcons Iwan Stephens went over for a try. Brett Connon had the conversion to win the game but missed so it ended in Saints favour 14-16.
World Cheese Awards 2023
During my time as the joint owner with my wife Sue of Provender Delicatessen we both became active in the Guild of Fine Food who organise the World Cheese Awards. In addition to judging the Great Taste Awards I also became a cheese judge. The highlight of my cheese judging career was when I was selected to sit on the panel to judge the world champion cheese which on that occasion was Le Gruyère Premier Cru by von Mühlenen of Switzerland.
Sue commissioned a local artist to paint a cartoon at the time which hangs on my wall and is depicted here. It features me playing my American Harmonium while working on the Provender web site, our cats; Foxy, Eric and the ghost of Tasha, Caving, my love of Antipodean wines, my love of Darcey Bussell, books on 'How to tell a Kiwi' and 'Marine Engineering' and a web site entitled 'Cheese Judging for Beginners.
I think it was for my 60th birthday and was a complete surprise.
The event has since grown out of all proportion to what it was then and this year was held in Trondheim, Norway where cheesemakers, retailers, buyers and food commentators worldwide judged over 4,000 cheeses from over 40 countries. It was won by a Norwegian cheese called Nidelven Blå and is only available in Norway but the chances are it will be exported to the UK now that they are world champions.
What the government enquiry was set up to do was not to apportion blame yet it is quite obvious that is what its contributors have so far tried to do.
It is also suspected that it will not question whether a lockdown was the right course of action at all or that no proper plan was in place for how it was to be done but to just make recommendations about how it could be done better. Should for example HMG have done a cost benefit analysis on their final plans?
In fact is was obviously a seat of the pants cockup from beginning to end with Boris asking 'Why are we destroying the economy for people who will die anyway?'. Not something that would endear him to oldies like me. He was unable to make reasoned decisions and when he did he invariably changed the decision after it went belly up.
As a leader he was useless with nutters like Dominic Cummings advising him who was at war with the deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara. It is claimed he said he would have liked to march her out of the cabinet office in handcuffs if he had his way.
Now Helen also gave evidence and admitted she disagreed with almost everything Dom said. She was also appalled at his language and accused him of being a misogynist. Dom admitted his language was bad but not misogynist as he had used worse words to male civil servants and politicians. When Boris got tired of Dom spouting rubbish he finally sacked him and showed a bit of leadership.
Boris was elected to get us out of the EU but after he did that he had reached the level of his own incompetence. His wife often seemed to be in charge. What finally the government got right was the ordering and distribution of the covid vaccine for on December 8 2020, it became the first country to start administering a fully trialled and tested COVID-19 vaccine.
While the UK and the EU signed broadly similar contracts with AstraZeneca, British negotiators demonstrated a better understanding of the supply chain. The UK contract contained a commitment by AstraZeneca that the British supply chain "will be appropriate and sufficient" for the supply of the doses the country purchased.
If its supply chain were to be insufficient at any point, AstraZeneca would need to cover any shortfall from elsewhere in its global network. The EU contract did not contain an equivalent clause.
Kwasi Kwarteng was the 'Vaccine Tsar' responsible for distribution but was eventually sacked by Liz Truss when he became chancellor and got too big for his boots.
Where it finally went wrong for Boris apart from being an inveterate liar and who surrounded himself with 'yes men' Brexiteers was that he and his colleagues ignored their own rules with parties in number 10 while the population was studiously obeying the lockdown restrictions and he ultimately lost his job. Many people today, particularly those who lost loved ones will never forgive them for that. Both Boris and the then chancellor and current PM Rishi Sunak who were both fined might come to regret their actions.
Remaniacs would of course have it that none of this whould have happened but for Brexit as with practically everything that goes wrong in the UK is to them down to Brexit. But with the possible exception of Sweden all the EU countries got lockdowns wrong.
If it's any consolation I was in New Zealand until 2021 and the lockdowns there were far more comprehensive than here. The Blessed Jacinda isolated the country completely to the detriment of the economy and her Ministry of Health made some strange decisions like equipping all the nurses with full PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) while health visitors got none. Here HMG were conned out of millions for PPE and got a bum load in return apart from overpaying to a friend of a minister.
I was caring for my terminally ill wife in NZ at the time as the Hospice Nurse would put on her PPE outside in pouring rain before she came in for the requisite 15 minutes set by the NZ government then left, irrespective if she had not finished what she had to do. The health visitors, completely unprotected, would then shower my wife before going on to the next patient to spread the virus.
Ultimately NZ had to open up the country again and when they did covid spread like wildfire. The NZ government will pay for their sins at the next general election, as will the UK and other governments around the world because apart from a few like Korea and Singapore most of them got it wrong.
Premiership Rugby Union Round 4.
Most of the international players from the Rugby World Cup were now back to their clubs so we could expect different results to the first three rounds from some clubs who had lost key players.
Gloucester travelled up to the A J Bell stadium to meet Sale. Glaws coach George Skivington has been rotating his squad to give new players experience he said and was his excuse for the poor set of results so far this season and so it proved again.
Handling mistakes by Glaws were much in evidence but they were helped as George Ford had left his kicking boots at home missing his first three kicks from the tee.
Just after the half time restart Ben Curry announced his arruval with a try and Ford again missed the conversion but Sale were in charge 17-3 until another try from Argentinian Prop Augustus Crevey on his Sale debut went over the whitewash which this time Ford converted.
Freddie Thomas scored a consolation try for Glaws and the game finished with a bonus point win for Sale 24-10.
2023/24 GALLAGHER PREMIERSHIP Round 4
Pos
Team
Pl
W
D
L
Pts
1
Exeter
4
3
0
1
15
2
Harlequins
4
3
0
1
14
3
Sale
4
3
0
1
13
4
Bath
4
2
0
2
12
5
Northampton
4
2
0
2
11
6
Bristol
4
2
0
2
10
7
Saracens
4
2
0
2
9
8
Gloucester
4
2
0
2
9
9
Leicester
4
1
0
3
5
10
Newcastle
4
0
0
4
2
On Saturday Newcastle travelled down to London for a ritual humiliation at the Stoop where Quins put six tries past them to win 40-3.
Barrf meanwhile was away to Northampton where we were cheated out of a double 'Fin' effect; Saints fly half Fin Smith against Barff's Finn Russell who was rested.
Saints tries from Tom Pearson and Alex Coles were matched by those from Barff's Jarpie prop Thomas 'The Tank' du Toit and full back Tom de Glanville. Orlando Bailey missed the conversion so they went in at the break 17-15.
George Hendy scored for the Saints just after the restart but a penalty goal was all Baarf (alternative sheeplike spelling) could respond with so were beaten 24-18.
Sarries at home had all their big guns back on display and the Tigers were always chasing the game. Sarries put 4 tries past them and were firmly in charge after the restart but late tries from the Tigers made their score look more respectable and it finished 32-17.
There was only one point between Exeter and Brissle for most of the game. Brissle's fly half Callum Sheedy demonstrated his kick pass accuracy three times to Richard Lane on the wing who scored each time but eventually the Chiefs prevailed with a try and a penalty goal to keep their unbroken winning record at Sandy Park this season 29-20.
STOP PRESS 02/04/2024
Regular readers will have noticed that no updates have appeared for a few weeks. The reason is that the chemo drugs I am on for the myeloma have caused cataracts to develop in my eyes. I now have blurred visison which means I am unable to drive and on some days am unable to read the screen of my smart phone. The software I use for coding this site is also very difficult to see.
The only solution is cataract surgery and I am on an NHS waiting list to get on another waiting list for urgent cataract surgery. I should know next month when that might take place. In the meantime you should contact me by snail mail or phone call.
