The December Deluge: Cumbria and the north

The last week has seen some of the more catastrophic events for years in the north of England and Ireland. Torrential rain falling onto already sodden land, and driven by gale force winds, meant that river levels rose rapidly, low lying areas were quickly overcome by water, whilst multi-million pound flood defences in those places which had suffered previous flooding held back the waters a little but eventually submitted to the onslaught of the sheer volume of water.

Record rainfalls levels were recorded across the county, and a major incident was declared,

A new record for the amount of rain in a 24-hour period was created at the weekend with 341.4mm recorded at Honister Pass, in Cumbria, the Met Office has confirmed.

Latest 48-hour rainfall totals following #StormDesmond pic.twitter.com/wo8I9JbRTY

— Met Office (@metoffice) December 6, 2015

The north-west of England is well-used to rain, but rain on this level is unprecedented even here. We have seen towns and village street flooded, some up to the top of their doorways so the only escape was via upstairs windows,  Lake levels have risen by several metres, engulfing many domestic and commercial waterside properties and washing away jetties. Roads have been undermined by the water, leading to sinkholes, collapses and landslides, and bridges have been either washed away or damaged so badly that they will need extensive checks and repairs before they may be used again.

This BBC news story tells the story of this week's floods in Carlisle so well.  I can't begin to imagine what the 8 metre depth of  river looks like!  And I can't comprehend the West Coast main line being under 2.5 metres of water!

There is no mention in the previous link of all the other towns and villages affected, Carlisle had the visit from PM David Cameron as that is where the majority of flooded properties were recorded.  But you could substitute Kendal, Cockermouth, Keswick, Workington, Appleby, Glenridding, Grasmere, Bowness, Lancaster or a host of other places for Carlisle and the story would still be the same. Lives turned upside down by the floods, as this link from the Guardian shows:

Cumbria, a county with an area more than four times that of Greater London, was deluged along with much of Ireland, parts of north Lancashire, the north east, and the Scottish borders, and it will takes hundreds of millions of pounds and months, maybe years, of repairs to put everything right and recover from the damage.

Without the tireless assistance and efforts of the emergency services (Police, Fire and Rescue, Coastguard, Ambulance) in Cumbria and a host of volunteers from organisations such as the mountain rescue groups, the RNLI, the Bay Search and Rescue, the situation would have been so much worse  - no doubt the same is true of other areas affected. The emergency services that have been pared back due to Government funding cuts did their utmost to ensure the safety of people affected by the floods. It's a testament to the efforts of everyone involved there there was only one reported death due to the flooding in Cumbria. The situation has been so dire that the Army were sent in to help with mass evacuations and transporting hospital patients to safety, and have been involved in helping assess damage to roads and bridges.

Meanwhile, the emotional damage caused by the frightening events, and the trauma that individuals and families that families endured and are still enduring, will probably last even longer.

To help the communities affected get back on their feet, a £3million appeal has been launched by the Cumbria Community Foundation, and donations towards this are warmly welcomed.

Remembering Bhopal 2-3 December 1984

Dear Friends

We're writing to invite you to join the thousands of people around the world undertaking a small act of remembrance tonight to mark the tragedy which took place in Bhopal on 2-3 December 1984.

It's now over thirty years since lethal gases spewed from Union Carbide's pesticide factory, killing an estimated 8-10,000 people and injuring hundreds of thousands. As each year passes, 'the struggle of memory against forgetting' becomes more important.

The transformative potential of collective memory is demonstrated in the practical, compassionate care the Sambhavna and Chingari clinics provide for gas-affected survivors, as well as those damaged since. This medical work could not, and would not, exist without your individual acts of remembering.

Every year on the night of 2 December, our friends in Bhopal gather to remember those who have died and reaffirm their resolve to support the living. Please consider joining with them for a few moments, wherever you may be. By lighting a candle we move to challenge the darkness. 

With love, peace and thanks,
The staff and trustees of
The Bhopal Medical Appeal

https://www.facebook.com/BhopalMedicalAppeal/

http://us10.campaign-archive2.com/?u=79a5aff6fe26cbf8af727edd8&id=d51b1f337f 

 

#DontBombSyria #NotInMyName

The outcome of last night's vote in the House of Commons, as to whether or not to commit the RAF to air strikes on DAESH sites within Syria on behalf of the UK, has caused me great pain.  The case for air strikes has not been proven, despite the rhetoric of the Prime Minister, who himself said only a few weeks ago (on 4th October 2015) that Russia's bombing campaign in Syria will "lead to further radicalisation and increased terrorism."  

Given that, it beggars belief that barely 2 months later the same PM states that our bombing campaign will solve the problem and eliminate DAESH!  So why is that? What can the RAF achieve that the Russian, US, French and other air forces haven't been able to?  And if it doesn't solve the problem, as I am pretty sure it won't, is the PM going to hold up his hands and admit that the vote will also lead to further radicalisation and increased terrorism?

The notion that our forces will be responsible for the deaths of untold numbers of innocent civilians, who are themselves oppressed by DAESH, is unforgivable. All the bombing will do is kill people and create more refugees, whilst DAESH welcome our interference as it just reinforces their claims that we (the West) want to annihilate Islam.

How much better would it have been to have voted no last night, and then worked with the US and other UN member states to cut off the supply of arms and money to DAESH. By not buying their oil, by blocking their trading routes, by refusing to handle their money brokering (are you listening banks?), and by not selling them arms and ammunition, we will weaken their cause.  The creation of a no-fly zone across DAESH-controlled airspace will remove any airborne targets, such as the Russian aircraft shot down recently. Isolate them and apply sanctions.

Having looked at the list of MPs who voted in the division, I can say I was disgusted to see my MP's name in the AYES list (Tim Farron, Westmorland and Lonsdale)  and from reading various comments a goodly number of other voters here share my feeling. I was equally shocked to so 66, yes 66, Labour MPs voting with the AYES.  Left Unity published the list of them below with a call for their deselection, such is the anger amongst many Party members at what is perceived as a betrayal of the Leadership and Conference's position.

Given the size of the Government's majority in the vote, if they had all voted NO it would not have prevented the air strikes, but given the Party's Conference resolution of the issue, it would have shown them to be in tune with the wishes of the Party's members. Those members who, it has to be pointed out, are the troops on the ground who both select a candidate and then campaign to get that person elected to Parliament. Those 66 have, I feel, done themselves no favours, and come the time when they seek re-election they may have a rude awakening.

The final vote was AYES 397, NOES 223, a majority for the AYES of 174. Breaking this down across the different political parties, those who voted NO were as follows:

• 153 Labour Party
• Scottish Nationalist Party  53
• Social Democratic and Labour Party 3
• Liberal Democrat Party2
• Plaid Cymru 2
• Green Party 1

If you would like to check how your MP voted, the Mirror website has a free search tool that will let you check. If you disagree with how they voted, then why not let them know? After all, they are in Parliament to represent your interests! 

Over the past few days MPs have been sent many thousands of emails, tweets and phone calls, asking them to vote NO. The public polls hosted by practically every news source online has shown that the majority of respondees do not support air strikes, yet 390 British MPs ignored those polls and voted YES. (Image shows poll from The Independent 2 Dec 2015.)

Whilst many of us were trying to come to terms with the idea that we had been committed to yet another military folly, the news came that, barely an hour after the vote result was declared, four RAF Tornado jets had been despatched from Cyprus, believed to have been laden with 3 x 500lb bombs each. Two of them apparently returned without their bombs shortly before 3am GMT.

That this was all planned a long time ago, and that we have been manipulated into this awful, situation, is evidenced by a quote on the BBC's news page

BBC political correspondent Robin Brant said: "The British Royal Air Force has been preparing to be involved in these air strikes, to join the coalition of other Western forces who are attacking IS in Syria, for months.

"So perhaps it would not be surprising if within just an hour of the UK Parliament giving its approval [...] these planes did take off and did attack some choice targets in Syria almost immediately."

We are nothing but pawns in the very dangerous game of brinksmanship in which the PM and his Parliamentary colleagues, the media, arms dealers, and the oil companies are engaging. They are playing a very dangerous game, and those who will suffer are the people on the ground in Syria and those of us who will become targets of DAESH terrorists. Meanwhile, DAESH get rich on their oil revenues, and the warmongers get rich on arms sales.

It is a sad, sad day for democracy in the UK, and an even sadder one for those innocent civilians in Syria who will become victims of this dreadful action. #DontBombSyria #NotInMyName