Express & Star

Peter Rhodes on smart fridges, a hated politician and fair play for grizzly bears

If Americans can bear arms, why not arm bears?

Published
Gunning for grizzlies

THE haggling over the future of Britain's railways rumbles on. Some say British Rail-style nationalisation would make things better. Others remember British Rail sandwiches. Amid the furore, never lose sight of a small but significant statistic. Almost half the population of the United Kingdom uses a train less than once a year.

THE last time I took a train was seven years ago and it is forever fixed in my memory because, being in an empty carriage I used the nearest toilet which happened to be the disabled loo. Be warned. That red cord does not flush the WC. It sounds an alarm and the door flies open. Rail travel? Unforgettable.

A BAN on grizzly bear hunting in Wyoming has been lifted on the grounds that they are no longer endangered. Some Americans have suggested that in order to make things fair, the creatures should be issued with weapons. After all, the US Constitution says that Americans should be allowed to bear arms, so why not arm bears?

A REVOLUTIONARY new £3,000 fridge not only boasts a voice-controlled computer to provide news and weather bulletins but has an internet-linked camera inside. This not only provides the definitive answer to the oldest of all fridge puzzles (does the light really go out when you close the door?) but also scans the contents of your fridge and warns you when you are running low on items. Ultimately, say the makers, the interior camera will check the stock in your fridge and see what is available, and the computer will compose exciting and original recipes based on these items. So far, so good. However, some of us keep our medications and other items in the fridge. How long before your £3,000 fridge suggests a tasty bowl of old eggs and hard cheese, lightly poached in Boots All-in-One contact lens solution? That'll see you through the week.

I GAVE an example recently of the casual effing and blinding directed at Tony Blair in online debates over everything from Syria to Brussels. I recall writing, after the 1997 General Election, that impossible as it seemed, this young and popular new prime minister would one day be the most hated man in England. This was no great exercise in crystal ballmanship; there is a natural tendency to despise people in power, even the smiley, saintly, floppy-haired variety with a cute family. But who could have imagined that 11 years after he resigned as PM, Blair would still be so energetically despised by so many who once adored him? Blair is desperate for what politicians calls "legacy" but Iraq casts a shadow that will last the rest of his life.

AFTER yesterday's item on funding the health service, I am reminded that back in the 1940s, the founders of the NHS assumed that initially it would be hugely expensive. But after a while, went the theory, all the sick people would be cured and it would get cheaper. Thinking has never been more wishful.