All Hallows Eve

Since our earliest ancestors, we have wondered what secrets are held beyond our own death. On Halloween night the veil between the living and the dead is at it's thinnest so take my hand and let's take a walk into the darkness, but whatever you do, don't let go because hidden in the darkness are things that the living are not supposed to see.  

Barbados, late 18th Century, and the lifeless body of Elizabeth Elliot is laid to rest in the family tomb before an enormous blue slab of marble is pushed across the entrance to seal the tomb.
A few years later, falling on hard times, the Elliot family sold the vault to the Chase family and the first member of the Chase Family to be buried there was Mary Anne Marie Chase who died at the age of two in 1808.
Her small lead coffin was placed in the vault alongside Elizabeth Elliot's and the marble slab was pushed back into place where it would remain for four years.
In 1812 Mary Anne's older sister, Dorcas, died and her coffin was added to the vault and a month later the head of the family, Colonel Thomas Chase, committed suicide but when the pallbearers opened the vault a grisly sight met them all. Inside the tomb, both of the little girl's coffins had been seemingly thrown about and were lying in a haphazard fashion on the vault's floor but Elizabeth Elliot's coffin was untouched.
Blaming grave robbers, the two coffins were straightened and the body of Colonel Chase was added before the vault was sealed once more.
Four years later, the vault was once again opened to admit the body of eleven year-old Charles Brewster Ames and again, with the exception of Mrs Elliot;s, the coffins inside the tomb had been thrown about. 
By now, the story had begun to spread around the island and 52 days later when Samuel Brewster was due to be buried, the vault was inspected from the outside for anything out of the ordinary.  The found that the vault was airtight and watertight and that nothing could get in or out however, upon opening the tomb, once again they discovered that the coffins had been violently disturbed, all except Elizabeth Elliot's.
By this time, the news of the moving coffins had reached the ears of Barbados' governor, Lord Combermere, who ordered that the vault be inspected and made impenetrable from the outside. He then ordered that sand be sprinkled on the floor so that footprints would betray any human or animal intruders.  Finally, the governor's seal was placed into the fresh cement of the vault seal as an added precaution. 
For two years this is how the vault remained until slaves working on a nearby field heard strange noises coming from the vault.
To quash rumours of restless spirits, Lord Combermere ordered the vault to be opened but as the marble slab was removed, the crowd gasped as what was revealed was the coffins once again moved around and some laying on their edge. There were no prints in the sand so no-one had entered the vault.
To avoid further panic, Lord Combermere ordered the coffins be buried in a churchyard and the vault left empty and that is how it has stood for the past 200 years, nobody daring to tempt fate by allowing a family member to be buried there.

Maybe the disturbances were caused by earthquakes, hoaxers or maybe the vault was prone to flooding which had lifted and dropped the coffins as the vault filled and emptied of water. Possibly the answer lays with something more sinister that stepped onto our side of the thin veil.
Sleep tight and don't worry that sound outside, it's just the wind. Probably.  

Lou Reed Who?

The newspapers have been filled with people declaring Lou Reed as a musical genius and influencing all manner of artists who came behind him.
To me and almost everyone i have asked, he was the guy who sang a few lines on the 'Perfect Day' BBC Charity single and 'Walk on the Wild Side' but after that i draw a blank.
As a man who was such a wide influence on punk, Rock, Grunge and pretty much everything, he has a pretty small repertoire of well known songs.
I just don't understand it, i see him as a very minor player in the wide scheme of musical things but maybe i somehow managed to completely miss his tremendous impact while he was alive which judging by his record sales, most of us did.
If only a few more of the people currently gushing over what a giant of the music scene he was said so when he was alive, he may have sold a few more records and more people wouldn't need just two fingers to count the Lou Reed songs they know.   

Putin The Most Powerful Man On The Planet

Using the criteria of the amount of people they have power over, financial resources they control, influence in more than one sphere and how they wield their power to change the world, Forbes have come up with the '72 people that matter from the 7.2 billion people on the planet'.
This years top dog and owner of a badge with 'The Worlds Most Powerful Person' on it is Russian President Vladimir Putin who bundled aside the flailing U.S. President Barack Obama out of the top slot.
Forbes justify placing the man who couldn't necessarily be described as a humanitarian by pointing to how he has 'solidified his control over Russia while Obama’s lame duck period has seemingly set in earlier than usual for a two-term president'.
Admittedly Putin is certainly doing a better job for Russia than Obama is doing for the USA but then the third placed man, Xi Jinping of China isn't doing a bad job in his homeland. The Pope is fourth and fifth and the most powerful woman is Angela Merkel, just ahead of Bill Gates.
British Prime Minister David Cameron is 11th while a surprisingly long way down the list is UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Former US President and dress spoiler Bill Clinton is 43rd just ahead of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un in 46th.
Putin has had a good 2013 while Obama has had a stinker but at least we can now expect more action photo shoot of Putin the Powerful with his top off very soon, probably wrestling a shark or something.

US Considering Not Spying On Friends Anymore

The White House is currently evaluating whether to end surveillance programs allegedly targeting the leaderships of allied nations.
The White House said Monday evening that it was conducting an internal review on its surveillance programs, which include the monitoring of allied foreign leaders, to be completed by December.  
As Obama told Angela Merkel that he wasn't aware that her personal mobile calls were being listened to and then it was revealed that actually, the National Security Agency told him about it in 2010, i would trust him about as far as i could throw a piano but at least they are considering whether to carry on listening in to private phone calls.
Which is nice of them but i wish Obama had gone with the 'I was helping Santa to see if you had been bad or good' excuse as i suggested.

Energy Companies Conning Us All

It is always nice to see those who will let people die as long as they make a profit being held to account and its the turn of the big six energy suppliers who are in front of a Commons Committee justifying the latest round of price increases.
The usual reasons have been trotted out with the wholesale price and green levies as the two common reasons that they have been forced to add an average 9.1% to the price of their customers fuel bills.  
The Wholesale price argument quickly fell over as industry regulator Ofgem showed that wholesale prices have risen by 1.7%  which should add just £10 to the average household bill.
Then there are the 'green levies' which have become the latest justification and which the Government are looking into scrapping. 
The Green Levy is 5% (£33 on the average £1,255 bill) of which 2% goes towards renewable sources with the rest being used on installing better utility meters, loans for insulation and replacing boilers of those in fuel poverty and the Warm Home Discount which is paid directly to vulnerable and low income households.
As the fuel companies don't see the 5% green tax anyway, losing these won't effect their profits but will bring a screeching halt to renewable energy and removing the little help that those already suffering in fuel poverty receive, no wonder they are keen on it, a way to look good by reducing their customers bills which doesn't touch their profit margin.
Stephen Fitzpatrick, the managing director of small, green energy firm Ovo Energy, said he was confused by the big energy firms justification for the hefty price rises, saying that he felt that the firms were 'simply charging the maximum price they feel they can get away' and he has it spot on.
The prices are high, because the energy companies put them up knowing customers have little choice, they have to pay it and by acting in unison, the big six know that the vast majority of customers won't switch because who is there to switch to if all of them put their price up together?   
The focus should be on the ridiculous profits the energy companies seem to be making and that is where cuts should be coming from, although that obviously won't please the shareholders.
Coming from a Prime Minister, with three former energy executives acting as advisors, who advice to keep down fuel bills was 'to put on a jumper', not much help coming from that direction so if Labour want to make sure of taking the next election, they should go along with the 80% of the population who support nationalising the fuel industry in this country.

Britney New Weapon Against Pirates

The Royal Navy have a terrible new weapon in the ongoing war against Piracy, Britney Spears.
A CD of Britney's greatest hits are being employed by British naval officers in an attempt to scare off pirates along the east coast of Africa.
Merchant naval officer Rachel Owens said: 'Her songs were chosen by the security team because they thought the pirates would hate them most. These guys can't stand western culture or music, making Britney's hits perfect. As soon as the pirates get a blast of Britney, they move on as quickly as they can'.
The Navy refused to confirm reports that the original choice of using a Susan Boyle CD contravened the Geneva Convention and was condemned as cruel and inhumane torture by Human Rights Organisations.

Hurricane St Jude Coming Sunday Night

Seems a bit unfair that it is America and China who are doing the most to rubbish the atmosphere but it is the UK that is getting the consequences in the shape of a Hurricane about the flatten the southern half of the country.
Que sera sera as the French say so it's time to batten down the hatches and make sure everything that can be picked up in 80+ mph winds and deposited through your living room window is tied down because the small hope that it will miss us has been dismissed by the MET Office, its coming and it's gonna be big.
There were hopes the huge storm brewing over the Atlantic Ocean would miss the UK, and sweep instead through the English Channel but meteorologists are now certain it will strike the south west of England and could leave a trail of destruction with winds speeds in excess of 80mph gusting north-east across the country, causing structural damage, widespread flooding and bringing down trees and power lines. 
Advice from the MET Office is to keep checking the forecasts as the Hurricane, named St Jude, approaches and only travel only if your journey is necessary but if you are on the roads, take a fully-charged mobile phone and warm, weatherproof clothing as roads may become blocked.
They also advise staying away from windows, skylights and glass doors and have a supply of torches and extra batteries handy in case power lines are downed and if power is lost, turn off major appliances to reduce a power surge when electricity is restored. 
Stay safe everyone and with a bit of luck a tree will fall across the entrance of work and we get an extra day off work.

The Five Eyes Alliance

Who is spying on who has been big news lately and quite rightly America is taking the flak for it but with the revelations that America have been hacking into the personal phonecalls of World Leaders dominating the news agenda, a fantastic nugget seems to have slipped through relatively unnoticed which should have received a bit more coverage. 
The news that the United States, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada operate something called 'The Five Eyes Alliance' which is as conspiratorial as it sounds.
There are certain sorts of spying you're not lawfully allowed to do on your own citizens but this is easily circumnavigated by getting someone else to do it for you so having American spy agencies voting on Brits and Britain's spying agency snooping on Americans gets around the pesky laws that stop a Government from spying on their own citizens.
The information from each of the 'Five Eyes' is pooled and the Australian Government pull out the information regarding their citizens phone calls, emails, Facebook entries, Internet browsing history and the Canadians take information on Canadians, the Brits on British citizens and so on until each Government have all the information they require on their own citizens, only they never spied on them to get it, someone else did which lawfully is okay. 
Of course the defence has been that this is all required to keep us safe which beggars the question, does listening in to phonecalls of Angela Merkel mean she is a suspected terrorist, that someone overstepped their already loose bounds or that the whole 'doing it for your safety' is a load of guff?
Whatever it is, the fact that the Americans are taking it in the neck while the Canadians, Brits, Australians and New Zealanders keep their head down about what they have been up to is being drowned out by other revelations is working out so far.

Does Obama Regret Winning Election?

As if the US President has not got enough on his plate dealing with an angry Angela Merkel over listening in on her mobile calls, it has now been revealed that she was one of 35 World Leaders who had their personal phone calls tapped by the NSA. 
Things do seem to be unravelling pretty quickly for President Obama with international anger over US government surveillance and even its staunchest Middle East allies making sounds of a change in their relationship.
Obama has had to deal with the angry German chancellor as well as equally annoyed French, Brazilian and Mexican leaders, all of which have been recipients of US spying.
While attempting to placate angry Europeans and South Americans, Obama was also been on the receiving end of a shellacking from Saudi Arabia this week who joined Israel, Jordan and United Arab Emirates in signalling a shift in its relations with the US over its unhappiness at its attempted reconciliation with Iran and the refusal to get involved in Syria.
John Kerry has also been in Pakistan this week to try and build fences after drone attacks succeeded in killing more citizens than jihadists.
A European official said the disclosures had jeopardised standing transatlantic trade deals amid anxiety that the US surveillance gave it an advantage during talks.
With the revelations that more World Leaders where targeted and with thousands of revelations still to come from the Snowden files, Obama must be starting to wish that he had lost the last election and it was someone else answering the White House phone.  

Hurricane Coming

I don't know what is going on with the British weather lately but it cannot be described as boring.
I woke up Sunday morning to hear of a tornado sucking out doors and windows a few miles along the coast  and Sunday afternoon saw a cloudburst that threw down the rain so fast that we couldn't hear our Satnav  instructions and the windscreen wipers couldn't clear the windscreen quick enough for us to see where we were going, forcing us to pull over until it slowed.  
The rest of the week has been brilliant sunshine and temperatures 10 degrees above where they should be which sparked off an electric storm on Tuesday night of such ferocity that it could have been a horror movie special effect.
Then this morning, my MET Office app flashed up that we are expecting a hurricane to flatten us on Sunday night/Monday morning.
It actually called it a 'severe storm' originally but they have since been upgraded it to a hurricane as winds exceeding the 74mph threshold that tips it into hurricane territory are expected.
Eddie Carroll, Chief Forecaster at the Met Office, said: 'There is still a chance this storm may take a more southerly track and miss the UK, bringing impacts elsewhere in northern Europe, but people should be aware there is a risk of severe weather and significant disruption'.
The caveat from the MET office is that 'the forecast of the track, the timing, and the intensity are still open to change' so it may hit us or it may hit France below us, it may be a hurricane, it may just be a bit windy but all the maps they are currently showing has the South Coast, and me, directly in the firing line of 80mph plus winds. 
Exciting and a bit scary at the same time.