English winter challenges

Thermometers show minus 1 celcius, and the ground is just about dusted with snow. Yet, we already have traffic chaos, huge delays on public transport, cancelled flights and closed schools across the UK.

Having grown up in Sweden I'm again surprised by the vast problems a little bit of snow seems to cause in England every winter.

I can’t remember being blessed with a single day off from school due to snowy or cold weather - not even when the snow lay meter high and temperatures plummeted to 40 below zero.

Eurostar beaten by fluffy snow

Last winter was indeed the coldest in almost thirty years with temperatures as low as minus 20. And most northern European countries experience a day or two of chaos when the first winter snow falls.

But the snowy conditions of 2009-2010 cost the UK economy a staggering £2bn. We ran out of road salt early on, and the lack of snow-clearing equipment forced people to stay at home from work, costing society additional millions in lost business.

Over 100.000 Eurostar passengers were stuck at St. Pancras and Gar du Nord the days before Christmas last year, when train after train broke down. The problems were blamed on the "fluffy” consistency of the snow…

If we will continue to experience the same disasters this winter remains to be seen, but the long trend of mid winters definitely seems to have changed for colder ones.

Maybe it’s time to learn from the grim lessons of previous winters, invest in some snow ploughs, and introduce the Brits to winter tyres.

A fishy pedi

I'm a firm believer in stretching your boundaries and try everything (almost), at least once. So, when I heard of the new hit on the spa and beauty scene called "fish pedicure", I couldn't wait to see what it was all about.

By placing your feet in a tank full of mini carps your feet are said to become smoother and softer as the fish nibble away on your skin.

The secret is believed to have to do with the fish saliva, that contains an enzyme called diathanol, which apparently improves the skin regeneration process.

Fish pedicures are already common in Asia, and in Japan, people even take it one step further and go for whole-body fish spas.

Cold camden stall

After selecting carefully, I decided to try Zola Fish in Camden, who promises its customers that the pedicure feels like "very fine vibrations all over your feet".

Bracing the cold, a brave victim and friend and I set off to Camden Lock Market. 

After asking a number of stall owners, and putting up with rather suspicious and confused looks when we asked for the fish pedicurist Zola, we finally found their outside stall. 

Excited, giggling people sat on white cubes, water up to their knees, while the fish in the tanks flocked around their feet. 

It looked really inviting and exotic indeed, and soon our fish baths were ready. 

Frozen fish

However, it soon became clear that the water had not been heated and given the minus 1 degree temperature outside, the bath was anything but pleasant to put your already frozen feet in.

The fish in the tank appeared to be rather chilly as well, or maybe just completely full from feasting on many a feet before us, because they didn't seem to keen.

A couple of them tickled our toes slightly, but the rest seemed to prefer hanging out amongst themselves in the corner of the tank.

Fifteen long, and painully cold minutes later, and £10 pounds poorer, the result didn't exactly wow us as we tried to rub some life into our numbed legs. 

But we did leave being one highly unusual experience richer.  

Darwin, genesis and dinosaurs

 

Creationists firmly believe that life on earth is solely created by a supernatural being and that it all happened in six days, literally.

Charles Darwin, who published the ground breaking "On the origin of species" in 1859, is probably turning in his grave as the creationist debate gets increasingly loader.

In the US over 66 of the population believe that the world is less than 10,000 years old. Sara Palin is one of the many firm believers. A staggering 16 percent of biology teachers in America are creationists

Here in the UK, Phil Robinson recently claimed on the last BBC Sunday Morning Live show, that "Genesis is the true historic account".

He also said that "Evolution is based on the fact that cells develop through natural selection. But you can only select from what is already there – where did the rest of the information come from?"

His statement shows that he's missing the very core of Darwin's theory; that the traits that give individuals a reproductive advantage are heritable and passed from parent to child.

Dinosaurs spotted in Africa

The young earth creation club tries to convince us on their website that humans and dinosaurs lived, and still live together. Creatures resembling dinosaurs have been spotted in Africa, they claim... So beware! 

And they refer to "The evolutionism myth" as being used to "promote the erroneous belief that humans and dinosaurs lived millions of years apart from each other". 

They are very concerned that children and adults are "indoctrinated with this 'belief' starting from early childhood with books that teach it", and that it's "reinforced in the public school system, the media and the entertainment industry". 

Don't listen

At the Berkely Art and Letters conference 2009, British ethnologist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins was asked how he would convince creationists that their theories don't hold water.

He explained that if comparing the genes, using modern DNA technique, of any pair of animals or plants, they form a perfect hierarchy - a family tree.

He said, "The only alternative to this family tree would be 'the intelligent designer' deliberately set out to deceive us in the most underhand devious manner.”

The problem, Richard Dawkins said, is that "they don’t bother to listen".

As an example he tells of Kurt Wise, holding a PHD in geology from Harvard, once saying that: "If all the evidence in the universe pointed to an old earth, I would be the first to admit it, but I would still be a young earth creationist, because that’s what the holy bible has taught me."

Like Mr. Dawkins so well put it: "You can't argue with a mind like that."

What would you do for a Gerhard Richter?

"This is the tenth time I'm doing this, and I love it!", says a slender man in his mid seventies, one of many campers queuing up since 6am for the sale at the Royal College of Art (RCA) last Saturday.

It was two degrees cold and still dark when I turned up at the RCA in London to film the art enthusiasts eager to by a piece from The Secret exhibit.

Around the tents still up, a queue stretched over 100 meters, and continued around the block of the college building. Bundled up people were patiently waiting in the bitter November cold and spirits were high.

"I got hold of a Gerhard Richter piece last year." A smiling middle aged lady tells me as smoke from the cold streams out of her mouth. "I might not be as lucky this time, but it's just fun being part of this! My son has been camping here since Wednesday."

Worth the wait

At eight o’clock the doors to the exhibit open, and people quickly tumble inside.

A few minutes later the first buyers come back out, holding their little white envelopes containing their art piece.

Some obviously very happy with what they bought, and who the artist turned out to be; some more serious, but it’s hard to tell whether they are disappointed, or simply put on a poker face for the crowds.   

I leave inspired and full of admiration of these patient art lovers. I will definitely be here next year for the raffle which might win you access to the 50 first entries – no queuing required!

Even for an art fan as me, camping for days in Kensington in close to zero degree cold wouldn’t even be worth a Gerhard Richter.

UK tax payers to save dying Celtic Tiger

Ireland used to be known as the “The Celtic Tiger”, and ranked the best place to live according to a "quality of life" assessment by The Economist magazine in 2005. The country now depends on the UK and the whole of the EU to rise from the deepest recession in history. But is it up to us tax payers to solve the economic mess?

The UK might depend on Ireland as much as Ireland on the UK right now, according to the BBC. A Dublin commentator likened it to “two drunks staggering out of a pub and doing their best to keep each other upright”.

With Ireland being the UK’s fifth biggest export market, and with the average Irish citizen spending an annual average of £3,607 on British goods, it is in many ways in our own interest to save the staggering economy of Ireland.

But is it fair that while the UK is going through the most severe recessions in modern time, its taxpayers are expected to reach deep in their pockets for up to £300 per houshold to help Ireland.

On BBC Radio 4's Today program, Chancellor George Osborne said: "Our two economies are connected, and our two banking systems are interconnected".

Yet another Greece 

Mr. Osborne's statement might be true, but Ireland is now beginning to look more and more like another Greece. 


Greece was recently rescued by the EU, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a staggering 110bn Euros rescue package. After Ireland, who is next up?

Not only are the tax payers getting increasingly tired of fixing nation’s financial break-downs, often caused by irresponsible governmental decisions, but it might even cause more harm than good.

The stock markets took a leap of joy when the bail-out plan was released. But the euphoria of the European financial market quickly subsided to be replaced by a huge worry for the growing political instability.

Protests and re-elections

The emergency bail-out debate has already caused protests and trade unions have warned of “civil unrest”. 


And it has resulted in a call for re-election by the Green Party (a partner in the Government).

There’s a fine line between helping a suffering nation in rough economic times and making sure countries take responsibility for their own actions.

Relaying on being bailed out by EU’s tax payers doesn’t promise for a prosperous and responsible handling of national finances.

Scandinavians - the world's happiest people

Every year surveys are carried out to produce lists of the happiest nations in the world. What do the countries topping the polls have in common?

Happiness has been described as a "state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy".

Meassuring the degree of happiness is of course challenging. One of the tools developed by researchers is The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire.

The Gallup World Poll recently presented a survey based on thousands of respondents in 155 countries, between 2005 and 2009.

They first asked people questions about their overall satisfaction with their lives. They also asked how they had felt the previous day. Those answers allowed researchers to score their "daily experiences", and found whether they felt rested, respected, free of pain and intellectually engaged.

The Nordic remedy

Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden are the top four countries in Forbes poll -killing the myth that long, dark, and cold winters make us less happy.

Iceland has previously scored very high in similar surveys but the recent recession might explain why they are now only in 23rd place.

Italy and France, countries we often think of as having life indulging and happy people, are found as low down as 40 and 44 on the list.

Modern and developed democracies such as Switzerland (8th), The United states (14th) and The UK (17th) are also surprisingly far down. And thriving economies like Japan and Hong Kong share the 83rd place.

Eastern European nations, with Russia in 73rd and Estonia in 90th place, tend to score low. So do many poor nations in Africa and Asia.

A well developed and free education and health system, pleasant working conditions, equality, generous benefits, and an open political environment that encourages a free debate, appears to be the key ingredients for happiness according to this poll.

Should we feel sorry for squatters?

 

Imagine you come home from holiday only to find your home occupied by strangers. As if this wasn't bad enough - the intruders might have a legal right to stay.

Squatters is the term for people occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space that they don't own or rent. According to author Robert Neuwirth, there are one billion squatters around the world, and the UK alone is estimated to have around 25,000 squatters.

Squatting is regarded as a civil law, and only if forced entry can be proved will it be viewed as a criminal matter. And only then do the police have the authority to remove the occupants.

If the squatters legally occupies the house it's up to the owner to prove in court that they have a right to live in the property and that the squatters don't.

In addition, the squatters can claim there is not sufficient proof or that the proper legal steps have not been taken.

Dedicated to help squatters

In London, a group called the Advisory Service for Squatters (ASS) runs a volunteer service helping squatters and publishes The Squatters' Handbook.

In the handbook's chapter Getting in you can read the following: "Many empty properties can be walked into as they have become insecure through vandalism. You do not want to commit criminal damage and the police may try to accuse you of this, but they would only be able to do anything if there were witnesses". 

It also gives the advice: "Once you are in, you should change the locks or secure every door and other way in so that you control entry and are physically, as well as legally, protected. 

If the police turns up The Squatters Handbooks calms you by saying: "The police should know that squatting is a civil matter and that squatters have the same rights to protection as anyone else. Don't open the door to them".


Necessity or mockery

Do we have a serious loop hole in the law or should we help people in need of a home when the space of empty buildings are being wasted? 

Squatting can often be a result of necessity, but it’s sometimes carried out as political statement.

Desperate homeless people that occupy deserted office buildings is one thing.

However, anarchists that cunningly take over an apartment when the owners are temporary away and laugh in their face when they return, knowing their legal rights, don't deserve the same sympathy.