In the nick of time...
Bloody Nora! It’s only 19C!
And it’s rained!!!
There used to be an old adage in The City along the lines of: “When you see unit trusts advertised on the Underground, the market has reached the top.” With that sensible knowledge in our minds, we perhaps shouldn’t be surprised at this temperature change, especially in light of the PM’s taking control.
Having served 28 days in office, the Prime Minister’s response to the extreme weather cycle - apart from going on holiday - was to have a COBRA meeting last Wednesday 12th August, his 24th day as PM. The meeting was about three weeks after the major Tintwistle and Dovestone fires and about two weeks after the Dunwich Heath major incident. Perhaps because the PM was unaware, he was told that 208 wildfires had been reported between 18th July and 12th August. He discovered that at least 706 wildfires had been attended to in England and Wales by 28 July 2026. Somebody probably guesstimated that we had lost over 2,000 hectares of woodland in England.
With some alacrity, the sages who guard our nation agreed that fire and rescue capacity and the arrangements for moving resources around the country would be reviewed. Health, transport, water and energy services were instructed to maintain contingency preparations, and officials would continue monitoring forecasts and wildfire conditions! Phew. Afterwards, rather than making it illegal to use a disposable BBQ, they imposed a temporary stop-sale requirement on businesses, as various fire chiefs had asked for back in 2022.
Now, as we know, this PM is nothing if not a man of action, especially when it comes to presentation and appearance. A classic example of “We need to be seen to be doing something positive… do I look northern enough in this T-shirt?”
Then someone said: “What about the England and Wales Emergency Alert?”
Now, as you will all remember, the official purpose of the EWAA was to “Provide warning and advice in a life-threatening emergency.” It exists specifically to send urgent, potentially life-saving instructions to people in or approaching the area of an immediate threat, allowing them to evacuate, seek shelter, or take whatever safety action they can. Examples given by the government included wildfires encroaching on communities, severe flooding, and extreme storms. Alerts, we were told, would be used very rarely; would be sent only where there was an immediate risk to life; would specifically identify the affected area; would tell recipients how to respond; and would be geographically targeted via nearby mobile-phone masts. The launch example was an alert to residents of villages being approached by a wildfire—not a general fire-prevention message to an entire country.
So, then some Comms Spad reminded Andynorthern Man that the original Cabinet Office launch document in 2023, for the England and Wales Emergency Alert, contained the word "wildfire". BINGO!
I entirely accept that wildfires plainly fall under the general heading of emergencies and catastrophes, but whether a nationwide warning about avoiding ignition met the originally stated “immediate risk to life” threshold is plainly nonsense. It was a cheap, sensationalist piece of posing-as-politics that achieved nothing and has possibly set off a Boy Who Cried Wolf scenario.
I wonder if the vacillating little man from the North will continue posing as PM and coming up with policies that make headlines (free ice-creams for people in the Dales - no IHT on Fish and Chip Shops in Chorlton-cum-Hardy), or is going to do something national like fix the NHS, lower the ever-increasing debt, or get some defence in place?
No, I fear not. He is all smoke (I use the word advisedly) and mirrors. He seeks popularity and is busy creating division by increasing the number of shoulders he can add chips to, reminding “The People” that the rich never gave them jobs, work, income, or free holidays, and that the corporations provided the money via taxation for all the problems they now have. I suspect we will have many more buzzing phones from the new PM DOING THINGS NATIONAL ALERT SYSTEM.
Meanwhile, the changed weather, however temporary, will not deter the East Garston Village Fete from its joyous day, and it has increased the number of birds in the garden so that there is more bird song today than a Traveller’s hen night in Skegness.
Meanwhile, a good racing day and most of it on ITV4!
Deauville
12:58 - Prix Lady O’Reilly Prix Minerve Stakes (G3) (C1) (3YO only) 1m 4½f - 7 run
HABIBI
13:33 - Prix Francois Boutin Stakes (G3) (C1) (2YO only) 7f - 5 run
AVEC TOI
14:50 - Prix Jacques Le Marois Stakes (G1) (C1) (3YO plus) 1m - 10 run
MORE THUNDER - RAYIF - PRECISE - The three in a ¼ pt Trifecta with ZEUS OLYMPIOS
Pontefract
3.45 EBF Novice Stakes (C3) - 6f
VARZI
4.15 Sky Bet Fillies’ Hcp (C3) - 1m 6y
DARZAH
4.45 EBF Sky Bet Fillies’ Stakes (C1) - 6f
ROYAL FIXATION
5.15 Sky Bet Price Boosts Hcp (C3) - 1m 2f 5y
AMMES - JEZ BOMB
5.45 Sky Bet Build A Bet Hcp (C2) - 5f 3y
ROCKING ENDS - ONE AND GONE
6.15 Sky Bet Extra Places Hcp (C3) - 2m 1f 27y
SIXTY PLUS
6.45 Sky Bet Hcp (C3) - 6f
VEBLEN GOOD
Curragh
3.55 Tote Guarantee Hcp - 1m 2f
GUINELOT - YOUCANSAYTHATAGAIN
4.25 Newbridge Silverware Royal Whip (G3) - 1m 2f
A BOY NAMED SUSIE to beta CHARLES FORT
4.55 William Hill Juvenile Sprint (Listed) - 5f
CONCORDE LANDED - GRAYROBIN
5.25 Bet with Tote Hcp - 5f
MARY SHOWLACES