Somerset

Reducing Somerset

Much of Somerset is under water. With more to follow. The Government, and the Secretary of Sate for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Owen Paterson – Badger Killer) run the Environment Agency.

The Environment Agency, in the political fall-out, and in a perfect demonstration of how and why politics helps nothing in no way at all, are being scapegoated, while the government, who control the Environment Agency, set their budget, goals, etc., point the finger. Miliband and Cameron scream at one another across the despatch box, while neither has done anything to stop climate change, nor to put their hands up and admit that Blair took his eyes off the ball.

A Somerset man, said on the radio this morning, having returned to his home, under one to two metres of water ('water' meaning a diluted form of what we'd consider foul waste) to pick up his hearing aids, that after a lifetime working, all he had to show were a suitcase and two pairs of shoes, and that he felt as if he'd been mugged.

The clean up and rebuild will be hampered by further political wrangling. The local mp is tory and won't hear a word against the pm or Paterson, and is freely laying into the Environment Agency, led by Lord Smith, labour.

Sometimes, when the politics becomes too Machiavelian and complex, there are simple pointers:

Prince Charles turned up in wellies.

The environment minister and climate change sceptic turned up in polished black brogues.

He likes killing badgers, fracking, genetic modification, and has a (worthless) degree in history. He has polished black brogues. Visiting a county underwater. On his watch. He's palming the blame off onto a body his department controls. If that's what government gets you, is it worth having? Is the overhead worthwhile? After all the words, weasel-, spiteful, spinning, deceitful, shouted to and fro the debating chamber, there's still no meaningful action. After centuries of democratic government, the people of Somerset, like the people of New Orleans and countless places in between, rightfully feel abandoned.

An old man listed his lifetime achievements after the floods:

“A suitcase, and two pairs of shoes.”

He said he felt mugged. Meanwhile the pm rages against Scottish nationalism and the environment minister (with his degree in history and record of badger-shoots) turns up in polished brogues. No wonder people want to move away from westminster rule, from those career politicians with no understanding of the real world.

Eventually the pm turned up in Somerset. This is a bloke who couldn't, unaided, restore a lighting circuit in his home by flicking a circuit breaker switch back to the 'on' position. That's just the sort of expertise a county under water requires.