Life in Britain this summer is ever on a meterorological knifedge.
Thank goodness for Government warnings, blue, green red, yellow, amber,- more colours on offfer than in an Italian ice cream shop. Their meanings range from " Go outside and flee (Floods like you've never seen before are on the way) ,It is safe to go outside (It will be cloudy, and dull but not rain much ,-ie standard UK) to " On no account go outside" (It will be warm and sunny). Once upon a time weather forecasts were reliably factual, to be interpreted by the individual brains of "ordinary people" (Milibandspeak for "dim plebs"). Most seemed to survive to more or less the going average lifespan for their age group . Could we now though get by without the Gummnt telling us what to do?
Probably inspired by the US 24 hour a day weather channels and their breathlessly excited pronouncements of "Have we got a storm for you", followed by "Wow, that one went away",our weather media has been trying to sex up its act. Gone are the boring old lags who knew their trade professionally and give or take the odd hurricane,were normally pretty much right. When they were wrong it didn't matter too much because nobody regarded it as much more than a weighted bet anyway. In have come generally much better looking presenters .Although their knowledge of the subject may be a little sketchy and their role is to point at a map and trot out what a script or their earpiece says, they do look nice.
So far we have survived Summer 2013 and just have August to get through until shock horror forecasts of the direst of winters start coming thick and fast. Only the thick and slow should pay too much attention.
While we have all been glued to the 24 hour channels to see how imminent is our doom, we have had the alternative breathless reporting from outside a hospital,outside a palace and inside a few studios. The subject? Goings on, -and not,- in the unfolding story of the royal pregnancy, royal birth, royal naming, royal breakfast,lunch, tea , room. Some news channel crews had been camped outside this hospital for three weeks. There are some terrible jobs in this world. The moment that the Duchess went into the hospital triggered the most entertaining marathon of pass the parcel commentating between the lead correspondents standing outside the hospital ("Nothing happening here Bill "), the colleague standing outside "Palace" ("Nothing happening here Bill") back to the anchor ("Nothing happening here but we haven't got anything else covered so back to you outside the hospital"). For sheer vacuousness it was a 48 hour classic.
To get away from Hospital, Palace and Studio one had to switch to Al Jazeera, the channel which now far outperforms our domestic offerings for real global news coverage. Way back in the 1970s the Reuter teletype news drops in lobbies around the world started displacing dear old Auntie. Those have now given way to the Doha and even a Russia based 24 hour TV alternatives. BBC World still dominates much of the non American English speaking world's radio news listening but its long established left of centre stance has always clouded its objectivity.Unfortunately most of non coastal America has little interest in much beyond its borders even if it knows there is anything out there.
The good thing is that the British come out of the week without having to worry about at least the next 80 or so years of royal succession and we won't have to further discuss the merits of a Queen during most of our lifetimes. Pity really. This one has done very well despite having seemingly been in a quick-frozen time warp since the day of her accession in 1952. In fact, aided by the always entertaining Duke, she seems to do better by the day. Her workload is incredible for an 87 year old even if it is achieved with a substantial backup team covering almost all aspects of her life. Whether people like the idea of a monarchy or not they have to admit that her and the Duke's work ethic and devotion to duty regardless of discomfort (Remember the boat procession up the Thames during last year's Jubilee procession?) is an outstanding role model for anyone of any age anywhere in the world.
We have more to look forward to this summer. Our post Olympic sporting prowess has continued on a roll. Often capable of losing anything right up the the last (legal) kick, ball, or yard, we have beaten the Ozzies on the rugby pitch and look as if we could do the same in cricket. Thanks to the Scottish lad becoming British we have won Wimbledon and thanks to the Kenyan one also becoming British we have also triumped in the Tour de France. We will be able to go into the autumn and winter with sporting heads held high..... Then there is the England football team and remainder of the European Cup qualifiers. Oh dear.
