1126 Destination Gobi and Biblical Times

Any reader of these notes will consider that I am being perverse in selecting the 1953 made film staring Richard Widmark, Destination Gobi as my first choice of the month, as it is a ludicrous B second World War, allegedly based on a true incident in which a small party of two naval officers and a handful of ratings were dropped in the Gobi desert behind enemy lines during World War II in order to observe and report on weather conditions, and then enlisted the help of Mongolian tribe by providing saddles for their horses, with the consequence that when the enemy discovered their presence, the Mongolians helped the party to escape by crossing the desert, and reaching the coast, followed by a typical Boys Own ending. It is the kind of film which would not have attracted my attention except for the contemporary significance of its theme. If in wartime it was considered sufficiently important to risk lives behind enemy lines to study the weather, then surely with all our satellites, and our contemporary predicative technology, we can, together with other north Atlantic nations, take steps to monitor peacetime weather conditions, to an extent to be able to warn when life threatening extremes are forecast and which are capable of severely disrupting everyday activities?
This weekend the warnings were loud and clear and people were told not to travel unless absolutely necessary. Up to twice the monthly average rainfall was expected to fall within a day and already saturated land and a drainage system built for a different climate were not expected cope, followed by the aftermath as water flowed from the hills into already busting rivers.
Unfortunately the Biblical deluge coincided with the early Friday afternoon rush hour home for the weekend and with millions of families immediately setting off to airports, the channel tunnel, coastal ferries and for UK holiday destinations as schools closed for the summer. When the skies opened over the west Midlands, it was inevitable that the main Western motorway into Wales and the South would stop thousands becoming prisoners in their vehicles for the rest of the afternoon and night.
There were problems as many emergency staff were also on holiday, or immediately unable to get to their posts as towns were flooded and cut off, and worse was feared, but the media reports suggest that people were rescued, found temporary accommodation and generally well care for as one more thousands of homes went underwater. It was necessary for the air force and the army to assist, and the warning from the service chiefs. that our forces have become stretched through deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan if required to deal with new emergencies, was timely.
It would be easy to argue that our nation has become soft and lost the sense of national purpose and commitment which enable us to stand against the tide of Nazism which swept across Europe in the 1930 and first years of the 1940's. After watching the film and news reports of the floods, I chose Cabaret as my late evening viewing, because it portrays the mood in Europe in the later twenties and pre war thirties, as well as being a great musical.
It is true that we avoided being over run by nationalistic Nazism by luck and then was able to turn near defeat into victory because of the support and eventual entry into the war by the United States of America, but the overall unity of purpose, and will to fight and to sacrifice, to accept severe restrictions on individual liberty and to learn to bear sacrifice was an important character difference which separated us from other nations at that time. There was also an overall sense of working together and helping each other, aspects of which have been reported by the media during the floods which first affected Yorkshire and now the West and central midlands as well as greater London. There are also indications of the self reliance and determination among those most affected which is heartening, despite the efforts of 24 hour media to find people unhappy with what the emergency services did and to make party political capital. The role of the under fire official leader of the opposition, having performed badly in two bi-elections, has been inexcusable. and will cost his party the next General election unless it gets rid of him over the summer. He has failed to grasp the first fundamental rule of democratic politics, at any time of national threat disaster you emphasise unity, and defer differences which can be exploited politically until later.
As a grandparent with one eye on the next 100 years, as well as devoting most of my time to reflecting on the past, I question the long term viability of most of British cities, built as they are at or below sea and river level, and with an infra structure built for more stable and balanced climatic conditions, for an industrial and manufacturing based economy, and with a ready supply of comparatively inexpensive energy. Perhaps I/we should advise our grandchildren to head for Australia and New Zealand, or the highlands of rural USA? Should they learn South American Spanish or Russian and Chinese? The problem is that we face too many threats to our existence which are beyond our means to alter.

The most immediate is our lack of possession and control over the energy that will be necessary to sustain our basic way of life. We can no longer go out and conquer those who possess the energy. We can create new sources of our own and realistically in the short term this involves nuclear energy, despite the risks and problems arising. We can also become close trading friends and securing a allies with those who have the energy. This means we cannot be too picky about how others run their countries!

The second, in part follows from the first, is that we would be foolish to try and recreate our industrial and manufacturing based economy, we do not have the energy and we do not have the markets available, and we cannot afford to buy our own when other's can provide us more cheaply. Obviously there has to be transition, but it is transition, not an interlude before returning to former times and ways.

The third threat is from climate change which is within the capacity of human kind to influence There are limits to what human kind can do collectively, let alone as a nation, especially a nation which is small in size and surrounded by water. It is evident to me that any grandparent should be advising their future generations to find out which parts of which continents are likely to remain above water level and to have the climate to provide the best available economic conditions in the worst of circumstances. Certainly it is better to live on a hill than below sea and river level and to own and be able to sail a sea worthy boat!

The fourth threat is more controversial because it is a threat primarily against capitalism and the behavioural excesses of capitalism. It is the threat of fundamentalist religions that seek to put moral behaviour into every day practice, and where in fact the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions have more in common than separates. While the worship of a God concept is a core belief, the religions have a strong code of every day personal behaviour which understandably they also believe should govern every aspect of the affairs of their nations. The problems arise when this is taken further, as with political and other ideologies and imposed on non believers so that only true believes can hold political officer or work for the state at national, regional and local level, from armed service to civilian services, to education and youth organisations, to the media and to representation of the nation in sports and culture. Even when the state and institutions is brought under control, opponents and critics have to be eliminated, as well as all trace of ideas and material which conflicts or potentially undermines.

While never an enthusiast of unfettered capitalism, I have always feared the one ideology or party state more. On one hand when considering the combination of the threats, the need for one national and international government is self evident, while on the other, my instinct and experience is for the near anarchy of modern democracy. I would rather have the opportunity to get stuck on a motorway without adequate preparation that be ordered by a government to stay at home, or to have troops able to have the imagination and inspiration to order a drop of saddles as a means of crossing a desert and getting help to secure a boat to safety, rather than automatons who always follow orders and the rule book