Peter Rhodes on a mucky mere, a dead shark and the passing of a legendary warrior
I dare say the French have a word to describe England's biggest lake, which is repeatedly polluted with raw sewage. Windermerde.
Another new word. US reporters tell us that scientists who carved up a huge shark brought ashore in Massachusetts were performing a necropsy. The dictionary defines this as “the examination of the dead bodyof an animal, similar to an autopsy conducted on humans.” Mind you, a traditional British pathologist wouldn't use either term, preferring the Latin: post-mortem.
I referred some time ago to the massive amount of the world's electricity output being gobbled up by the internet, especially Artificial Intelligence. Google has announced plans to produce its own nuclear power using SMRs, Small Modular Reactors. One of the mysteries of our age is that while we have the skills to build these mini power stations for nuclear submarines and global companies, the power supplied to millions of UK homes comes from massive reactors which take 30 years to build. You know, it's almost as though someone has a vested interest in keeping electricity expensive.
There are basically two sorts of people, identifiable by their reaction, in June, 2009, to the news that Michael Jackson had died. The vast majority assumed, correctly, that the American singer, dancer and friend of Bubbles had passed. The rest of us thought the great British warrior, General Michael Jackson must have died, far too soon. General Jackson actually died of cancer a few days ago. He was 80 which is no great age for a retired senior officer but Jackson enjoyed his whisky and cigarettes, which tend to knock down one's life expectancy. He lived the life he chose. A few more years would have been grand but, as the old rider's prayer goes: “A short life in the saddle, Lord, not a long one by the fire.”
By chance, a few weeks ago in this column I referred to Michael Jackson's (the soldier, not the singer) finest hour, the Pristina Airport Incident in 1999 after the Kosovo War when an American general ordered the British contingent to confront Russian troops. Jackson famously replied: “I'm not going to start the Third World War for you.” Great soldier, great epitaph.
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