Piffle & tosh
I know that I might be opening myself up to unfair of being a deeply jaundiced & cynical individual, but to my mind, this sort of thing sums up a great deal of what is wrong with dear Blighty
A British team has begun a grueling trek to the North Pole to discover how quickly the Arctic sea-ice is melting. Renowned Arctic explorer Pen Hadow and two companions were dropped onto the ice by plane 500 miles off the northern coast of Canada on Saturday. During their journey they plan to take measurements of the thickness of the ice. It will be the most detailed survey of its kind this season, and should be completed in late May.
Now Pen Hadow was a pretty sensible sort of a fellow in so far as anyone in that particular line of work retains full use of their senses or toes & fingers come to that.
However in emasculated carbon neutral fairtrade Britain, it would appear that you cant even take your favorite husky for an evening stroll without it having to be part of a larger ‘environmental mission’. If you are going to go to the North Pole, at least do something useful like shoot polar bears, drown some baby penguins or club a few brace of seals pups to death.
In happier times, our explorers were dispatched to the ends of the earth to discover new lands, peoples & to ascertain whether these countries were worth subjugating prior to being looted four ways before breakfast & also before the Colonial Office had to colour another part of the globe red. Nothing wrong with any of that.
Indeed, I wouldn’t be quite so exercised if the intrepid Mr Hadow were going to do something a little more useful than see if the ice is thick enough to go skating on. But consider this: no matter which way you cut it, the only use that we have found for the entire Arctic Ice Sheet is to hide nuclear submarines underneath it. Period. So what if it melts & parts of the Indian sub-continent are consumed by rising sea levels – it will that we won’t have to endure another bleating BBC new report about the latest Bangladeshi famine & listen to Bone-o, resplendent in increasingly absurd sunglasses, lecturing us. Again.
Comments
If you consider that in the period of terminal glowball warming the Top Gear team drove a 4X4 to the pole this guy is wasting his time, plus as the ice is really thick in places (rather like Mr Hadow) just how long will he take to hand drill a 400' ice hole?? perhaps he should consult with the scientific team that advised the intrepid brit who thought he could kayak to the pole (what a twat even I see that the melting ice cap, as reported by the BBC was a con job)
Posted by: Chris Edwards | March 2, 2009 11:22 PM
I recommend that Mr. Hadow not be allowed to return until he's shot a brace of penguins...
Let's see how long that takes him. :)
Posted by: SSG Jeff (USAR) | March 3, 2009 12:53 AM
You'd have to bring the baby pen-goo-ins with you from the zoo. Either that or go get them from Antarctica first.
Posted by: POWinCA | March 3, 2009 3:51 AM
POW - you might get penguins in the Arctic if they made a gross navigational error. You never know, it might happen what with the weather we have been having!
Posted by: Mr Free Market | March 3, 2009 6:47 AM
Don't you let those naysayers put you off with their scientific facts Mr FM. I am sure if you asked Gore he would tell you that penguins in the Arctic is perfectly consistent with the global warming model
Posted by: fup duck | March 3, 2009 8:02 AM
"Clubbing seals".... only a few days ago, The Mrs. was talking about getting herself a new winter coat.
Posted by: Kim du Toit | March 3, 2009 4:58 PM
My wife still has a pre-CITES fur seal coat ...
Posted by: Kristopher | March 3, 2009 5:03 PM
"What are the possibilities of trade with this place? Is there coal, for example?"
--Scottish Chamber of Commerce chairman to R.Falcon Scott. Of The Antarctic.
Posted by: comatus | March 4, 2009 4:00 AM