Express & Star

Mark Andrews on Saturday: Square pegs in round holes, Meg's millions, and worrying developments in China

Read the latest musings from Mark Andrews.

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Did Harry and Meghan's wedding really generate £1 billion?

Theresa May has questioned the appointment of David Frost as the Government's new national security adviser, on the basis that he has no experience of working in the security service. To be fair, he was great on What's My Line?

Mrs May obviously forgot that her government featured a tech entrepreneur as Health Secretary, a GP in charge of international trade, and a man who used to run a chain of children's nurseries in charge of defence.

Then again, David Cameron employed a coal miner as Transport Secretary, and put a soldier in charge of work and pensions. And then we had Alan Johnson, the former postman who said he would 'read some economics books' after Ed Miliband made him shadow chancellor. That was after he'd already had a crack at education, health and home affairs in the Blair and Brown governments.

Did none of them ever think about putting the doctor in charge of the NHS, making the educationalist responsible for education, the soldier as Defence Secretary, and the entrepreneur in charge of the economy? And Mr Johnson should obviously have been Postmaster General.

Did Harry and Meghan's wedding really generate £1 billion?

Meghan Markle thinks we shouldn't begrudge her a few hundred million of taxpayers' money, claiming her wedding brought in £1 billion worth of tourism revenue.

Not short of self-confidence is she? It never seems to have crossed her mind that all the interest was down to the fact that a prince of the realm getting married, rather than someone out of an obscure legal drama that used to be shown on Dave.

Liverpool supporters have come in for a bit if flak for ignoring social-distancing guidance while celebrating their first league title in 30 years.

And rightly so. Those scenes in Bournemouth were a disgrace.

Liverpool supporters celebrating their title win?

The Government is to invest £100 million in new technology which will remove excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and store it underground. I wonder if that will be subject to the landfill tax?

It is said that disposing of the gas will cost £500 a ton, which seems a bit steep. Particularly as there's a bloke driving around in an old Transit offering to get rid for a tenner.

Then there is the matter of the electricity needed to power the equipment. To capture the amount of CO2 produced by aviation alone, it will be necessary to build the equivalent of five new nuclear power stations. Unless they generate it using coal or gas, of course.

My biggest concern, though, is what happens when the cowboy builders get a bit carried away with the pneumatic drill while doing somebody's drive.

"Boss, I think I may have hit something..."

The news coming out of China gets more disturbing by the day, where it is reported that Muslims held in 're-education' camps are forcibly being sterilised by the Beijing government.

Meanwhile a self-styled anti-racism campaigner and local councillor thought the best way to tackle racial inequality was to spray graffiti over the Charles Dickens museum in Kent.

Wrong priorities, maybe?

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