Fitaloon at MicroShaft

This is how Scotland is celebrating Global Warming:

Hundreds of skiers and snowboarders dressed for the summer have been enjoying a “carnival atmosphere” as the sun shone on a Highland ski resort.

About 200 snow sports fans took to the slopes at CairnGorm Mountain to enjoy the unseasonably warm temperatures of 21C on the slopes.

Operations manager Colin Matthew said skiing was still possible right down to mid-mountain level.

He said it was set to become one of the longest skiing seasons on record.

Mr Matthew said:

“CairnGorm today has had a real carnival atmosphere with the public out in shorts, shades , t-shirts and even the occasional kilt.

“The sledge park and the fun park have both been really popular today.

“Snow conditions are soft and a bit like summer skiing on a European glacier with the temperature on the top slopes well into the lower 20s – the only difference is that we’re short a few thousand feet on altitude here at CairnGorm.”

He added that he hoped skiing would continue until at least the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of May.

BBC News – Skiers enjoy carnival in the sun.

Col Seddon said it takes six years to fully train a specialist operator

This is very disturbing news and shows how desperate we are in Afghanistan for certain skills.  The BBC has this

The Army’s top bomb disposal officer has resigned, the MoD has said.

The BBC understands from army sources that Colonel Bob Seddon, of the Royal Logistic Corps, quit over fears bomb disposal training could be compromised.

There has been pressure on the Army to produce more bomb-disposal experts quickly as a result of the threat of roadside bombs in Afghanistan.

According to the BBC the MOD admits how stretched the resources are. Panorma will have a feature on this at 8:3o tonight,

In a statement to the BBC, the MoD admitted guidelines for rest periods and the length of tours had been broken in Afghanistan.

“Unfortunately at a time of high operational commitment, breaches of harmony guidelines do occur but we are taking steps to address the situation.”

New defence secretary Liam Fox, who visited Afghanistan this weekend, said he would make sure everything possible was done to ensure that British forces had what they needed to deal with the “indiscriminate threat from IEDs”.

Panorama: A Very British Hero, BBC One, Monday 24 May at 2030 BST

via BBC News – Top army bomb squad officer Col Bob Seddon resigns.

Always and Forever

Sadly  a Royal Marine from 40 Commando has been killed in Sangin, Afghanistan. The MOD has this:

It is with sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that a Royal Marine from 40 Commando Royal Marines, serving as part of Combined Force Sangin, was killed in Afghanistan today, Friday 21 May 2010.

The Royal Marine was killed in an explosion that happened near Patrol Base Almas, in Sangin, Helmand province, this morning.

He was conducting a joint foot patrol with the Afghan National Army to reassure and improve the security for the local population in the area when the incident took place.

Spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Lieutenant Colonel James Carr-Smith, said:

“It is my sad duty to inform you that a Marine from 40 Commando Royal Marines was killed by an explosion this morning in Sangin.

“He was conducting reassurance operations with the Afghan National Army when he was struck by an explosion.

“He died a Marine, doing his duty alongside his British and Afghan comrades. His actions will not be forgotten and we will always remember him.”

Next of kin have been informed and have asked for a period of grace before further details are released.

My thoughts are with his family and friends on this sad day.

Ministry of Defence | Defence News | Military Operations | Royal Marine killed in Sangin.

There is a new website setting out in a document  the Programme for Government for the Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition government.

I intend to look at a few of the sub-headings that are of particular interest to me over the next week or so.

What I am glad to see is that there is an opportunity to comment on the programmes as described

Have your say

This programme is a historic document in British politics – it’s the first time in over half a century that two parties have come together to prepare joint plans in this way.

This website gives you the opportunity to enter public discussion on the programme. We’ll take all your comments and suggestions on board and publish the Government’s response to those policy areas receiving the most feedback.

Programme for Government.

Liberalism – Big Society, Empowerment – Responsibility,  Blend – Compromise.

These are all words which depending upon how you view them mean the same thing according to Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg.

In an interview in the Times he spells out how he hopes that the Con-Lib coalition government can be a Great Reforming government that will shrink the State from peoples Lives.

In it he is quoted as saying:

“The interesting thing I have discovered over the last week is that we have been using different words but we mean similar things,” he said. “What I call liberalism David Cameron calls the Big Society.

“We clearly both agree that trying to administer from the centre, from a highly intrusive State, through Whitehall paternalism, doesn’t work. It’s a model tested to destruction in the last decade. I call it empowerment, he calls it responsibility.”

According to the Times Nick Clegg it is not compromises that he is having to make but “blending” the two parties policies to form a coalition view, and states:

“Where we are grown-up about the differences, people celebrate the fact that we have a government which is a blend.”

It’s a strange message from a politician, but it is this that is at the root of how the Coalition between Cameron and Clegg has come about.

Both have realised that in the absence of a full mandate from the people they have to  govern in a different way. Many of their activists and MP’s have still to have worked this out, Their dogma doesn’t allow them to see that sometimes this “blend” is for the best.

Of course this way of thinking will lead to areas of argument, but at the moment it seems that major areas have been sorted out and  a focus found on attacking the really major issues facing this government after 13 years of Labour ineptitude.

In the Interview Clegg focuses on an area that he obviously has a passion for which is the rolling back of Democracy to the people. In a speech later today he will

…. set out how the State will shrink from people’s lives (no ID cards, curbs on personal details stored on government databases); how people will gain a more direct say in government (elected peers, voting reform, recalling misbehaving MPs); and “radical devolution” of power to voluntary groups and those other than the State to provide services.

However the Times has picked up on further items in the speech which they say risk a rift with the Tories on Tax and Human rights. They prefer to see it this way rather than seeing it as an area where the two parties will have to blend, and indeed yes argue, about what priority and how they will attack issues.

This is the nature of coalitions, sometimes there are disagreements and compromises have to be made. To many this is difficult and  a heresy, but in many ways it leads to a better decision when more views are encompassed than a straight dogmatic decision. This is what Labour failed to realise when invited to form a coalition, they brooked no compromise as they only have a blinkered approach to how to rule.

It seems that whilst the government is happy in “blending” the papers will try and find the rifts, and of course they will find dissenters in both parties to help them.

To my mind this coalition and the blending of policies may be just what we need to sort out the issues we face today, 13 years of profligacy by Labour have left us with huge mill stones around our neck, both fiscally and democratically. From what I have seen Cameron and Clegg appear to be up to this challenge.

Clegg hopes coalition will produce a great reforming government – Times Online.