Is it the ageing process that makes one think one has been here before ? Alas some are not with us due to the un- timeliness of Death, however more positively there have been New Births. One regrets that these children will inherit the social detritus of their preceding generation. That’s not 'Them out there' but you and I.

Their problem will have little to do with Community Compost Heaps, Wild Life Reserves, and Plastic Bags, Tunnels alongside Stonehenge, or any other fashionable prevalence. Important as these issues maybe, with the exception of Global Warming, all are but ‘Side Shows’ each an ineffective sublimation for not attending to things that matter far more. Our Country is as an Ostrich with its head buried, seemingly in the sands of the middle East. There we fight some sort of Civil War. Do we fight militant fundamentalist Islam, or are we there to defend the Human Condition, Oil Supplies, or Democracy? If any of those we seem to be having little success. All said and done it is up to the people of all affected countries to sort matters out for themselves . Trying to Tar other Civilisations with the same brush as ourselves will merely give superficial uniformity to underlying ferment.

It was only relatively recently that women and the working man received the vote in this Country, and as late as the early Sixties few working men owned a house or a motor car. Could Iraq have been worse off now and as soon be more so, under Saddam Hussein? It is a mistake to precipitate the Internal Affairs of other Countries. Such situations are entirely different to our going to the assistance of Poland in 1939.

The current new problem area is Pakistan from which Country we seemingly have welcomed in the region of a million Immigrants. If there is a problem in Pakistan will it ever be righted if we have all the ‘Good Guys’ over here? Is not this query equally valid for every other country?

Please may we put our own Country in good order, before telling others how to run theirs. Fortunately not to have used the word regrettably, their ways are not our ways, and their Faith not our fundamentally our Christianity. One hears tell that Islam also speaks with many tongues. Will a majority of this country soon become Islamic? We have a tradition of freedom of expression. Can we rely on maintaining that if it so does? Few will forget that incident with the Teddy Bear. Quid pro Quo is a term that comes to mind.

Does the West never learn ? Our previous generations have fought the same battles, very little good has it done. It is akin to being locked in a Cinema whilst constant reruns of the ‘North West Frontier , Zulu and The Thief of Baghdad’ are being incessantly run end to end. One way to sort out the Middle East would be to stop buying their oil. That is of course a little far fetched but we might strive to buy less of it. Drive prices down. How many of us had full Central Heating let alone of the oil fired variety prior to the nineteen sixties? At that time 600 gallons of heating oil cost £45.

Insulation including Double Glazing is of primary importance when it comes to combating Global Warming, forget panels on the roof or domestic wind generators. Aesthetically pleasing double glazing is better attainable in a Period Stone Mullioned House than seemingly it is in a home on a modern Estate. It is not a problem ,merely a matter of Supply and Demand. The money to be spent on these imbecilic ‘HIPS’ would better be spent on Insulation.( Further more whilst on the subject there is no necessity for appliances to be left on ‘Stand By’ when Remote On/Off switching is so easily designed into the house.)

As a child I lived in a Mill House where all the Electricity came from a Turbine. I revisited the place in 2006. The current owner had been advised that there was no way that he could expect to generate Electricity from his Mill Pool. At the last County Council Election the platform of one of the elected Councillors was that Wind Mill Generators would be unacceptable on the Somerset Hills. Years ago ‘Wedgie’ Benn wanted to create a Dam in the Clifton Gorge. Someone else wished for a Reservoir on Dartmoor was it a Lady Sayer who fronted the campaign against that? My apologies if it was not she. The Point I wish to make is that some sacrifice of amenity is necessary, and expensive to run Community Compost Heaps and their like are an irrelevancy.

BLACK HOLES IN THE ECONOMY.
There is seemingly a financial crises in the Western World. Black holes in the Economy. Many months ago a man who knows about such things put a figure on them, which I am sure I must have exaggerated upon in retrospect, however if I haven’t so exaggerated and he was right ‘We ain’t seen nothing yet.’

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Gun crime and stabbings now seem indigenous to our Country. We are continuously told that things are not as bad as we think they are the ‘Crime Rate’ is down. If that is so probably it is because the basis for assessment of Crime has been altered.
Was there always yobbish anti social behaviour in Tisbury? This Sunday Morning all who had cars parked in the Tisbury Car Park had their windscreen wipers ‘readjusted’ Windows get smashed and on one occasion someone lit a fire in the Loos. The Police Reports in Focus suggest dishonesty is rife, and any of us on the ‘Web’ may agree that attempted Fraud makes Internet Banking a very foolish activity. One is given to understand that Our Valiant Constabulary has Targets to meet seemingly Quantity is considered as valuable as Quality. Neighbourhood Watch is an excellent concept however why was it necessary to so formalise what used to be concern for the common Good? Which more or less leads on to;

THE RUSSIAN EXHIBITION.
There is a suggestion that some of the pictures to be exhibited were stolen either at the time of the Revolution, or during the second World War. I know nothing about that. However it is shameful that our Government has legislated to put the Matter of attempted Recovery beyond the jurisdiction of our Courts. IF any are stolen we should have nothing to do with them, then the matter of granting immunity would not have arisen. Are those exhibiting the pictures given immunity from Prosecution should it be found they are handling stolen Goods?

* ‘TISWAS’ the forerunner of every other ‘Tis’ of our area. Millicent Martin did it so much better.