Did you get many questions about a second house and what it does?

I ask this because according to the link below their constitution is undergoing change to modernise it. It was previously a Sultanate and has now become a one-house democracy.

Their political infrastructure is more fascinating to me that the islands themselves. It seems to have remained untouched for centuries and this makes it even more fragile than the eco systems that surround it.

With regard to your political party and your name ‘Liberal Democrats’, I find this intensely annoying. Everybody refers to your party as the Liberals but you still insist on keeping the name you have taken.

It seems to be an act of denial to the rich political legacy of the Liberals, which undertook such good work for the poor when the Labour party were still in nappies. Whatever did you do to break that faith, fail to get into bed with the labour unions?

How about having a word with the ‘Rats’ that caused the name change with a view to returning you to a name with provenance and one that rolls off of the tongue more readily?

It might encourage ‘New Labour’ to do the same especially if they enter a political wilderness caused by bankruptcy or banishment by the electorate.

Ref:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maldives
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/may/29/labour

http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/footinmouth.htm

Rt Hon Rhodri Morgan AM, the First Minister for Wales, made this comment in a debate on policing: “The only thing which isn’t up for grabs is no change and I think it’s fair to say, it’s all to play for, except for no change.”

A similar point could be made about the environment. I much enjoyed just ‘going for a spin’ in the car years ago – as Chuck Berry might put it ‘with no particular place to go’. I even popped over to Germany in the motor, as it was cheaper than flying back in those days. Bad Dog !

It ill behoves me to be too sanctimonious on this front, but world population is over 6 billion and rising, so simply carrying on in the same way is not an option. I think it is a strength of the House of Lords that they don’t respond in a knee-jerk fashion to every single passing puff of wind, and are circumspect enough to take a step back and take time to consider the evidence.

But likewise I think they are the ones who have the opportunity to look at the longer term, beyond the shallow time horizon of the next General Election, in terms of what must be done for the environment.

The planet can take care of itself, and will be here long after we have gone – but are we prepared to risk the sacrifice of billions of our fellow travellers in the process ?

It’s a strange world we inhabit. If I had been more ‘enabled’, I’d have grown/started up new businesses, employing more people (points awarded) but would likely to have taken holidays to exotic places as described above (points deducted).

The issue of visitors to endangered sites to promote their endangered status is also strange. It was so much easier when I was young, travelling, learning and understanding different cultures, without worrying about my carbon footprint.

It is sad that we are frowning upon the exciting travels of our future generations.

Tiz

More about ‘eco-tourism’…

The other side of the ‘carbon equation’ and one which is often overlooked as it doesn’t seem as ‘sexy’ to the news media.

Tiz – You have my sympathies as most people in the ‘bureaucrati’ have no understanding of how to run a business, or any sympathy with those running a business, and no comprehension that small/medium sized enterprises are the engine which fuels economic growth, employs people and pays the taxes which keep them in a job !

Tiz

[Prince Charles] called on Governments to act within 18 months or risk causing a catalogue of natural disasters.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/bangladeshboat/

Climate Change – coming soon to a sub-continent near you…