THE VILLAGE SOAPBOX

Ron provides another disertation for our enjoyment

The Battle

I heard a commentator on the radio the other day, I can't remember his exact words but he said something along the lines of: "The real battle out there is not between left and right or east and west. The real battle is between the sane-and-rational on the one hand and the not-so-bright on the other". He went on to say that he thought the sane-and-rationals would win but he was concerned that the not-so-brights had the numbers.

I didn't discover who he was but I certainly empathised with his views although I am less convinced than he about the outcome of the battle. It seems to me that in a democracy having the numbers is important and there is plenty of evidence that political leaders make inappropriate decisions because they are influenced by the numbers of the not-so-brights. Perhaps, because they are elected by numbers, some of the politicians themselves are from the ranks of the not-so-brights, it certainly seems so at times.

The current situation in relation to our energy supplies and electricity generation is the work of the legions of the not-so-bright. You could see their armies at work recently in their endeavours to prevent the building of a new coal fired power station at Kingsnorth. Policing of their protests is said to have cost well in excess of £1M. What a waste! They are largely responsible for our inability to build our own nuclear power stations so that we must now go cap in hand to the French. They are responsible for our over dependence on supplies of foreign gas. Like lemmings they seem to be happy to rush headlong towards a situation of power cuts when we have to close our ageing power stations, leaving us with feeble inadequate windmills to replace them.

Of course the not-so-brights are not only to be found in the UK, far from it, there are hordes of them out there, many in positions of extreme power. How bright is it for the West, led by the US, to goad Russia by trying to expand NATO to their borders? The US would not accept Russian missiles as near to them as Cuba, they cannot expect Russia to accept US missiles on their borders. How bright was it to encourage Mr Saakashvili to think that the West would assist him in any conflict with Russia? How bright was it for him to unleash his armies against the ethnic Russians in South Ossetia?

The problems between Christian states and Muslims is not because of their different beliefs but because of the not-so-bright fanatical fundamentalists in their ranks.

The not-so-brights are everywhere in large numbers and I am not at all sure that the sane-and-rationals will win.

THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH

"Witnesses are expensive and not everyone can afford them."

Jean Racine, French playwright 1668

Ron Watts