Dear Sir,
They say that men discuss the important things in life they can't change while women talk about trivia they can. I prattle on uselessly about climate control but at least I can control my loose change. First from my male side.
10'000 years is a short time in climatic variation but 10 days is a long time in PR presentations. The stimulus of the Copenhagen Conference has concentrated minds on what maybe happening to our planet, to what degree is climate changing, to what degree man is responsible and to what degree can we do something about it? None of these things are givens. Only 10 days ago I observed that the phrase Global Warming has been quietly changing to a more neutral Climate Change due to doubts over whether the temperature is going up when for the last ten years it has been static. Now (Viewpoint Friday) I note that Climate Control has transmogrified and been downgraded to a more pragmatic Combat Climate Change.
And now for something completely different from my so called female side.
Luckily I've not been touched too much by the World Financial Crisis but I have by the £/ balance. Once upon a time I'd tip my butano man 100 pesetas when he carried in my heavy refills, then after 2002 it became 1 probably because the coin was about the same size. This has continued until the last few months when Mr Brown's Quantitative Easing, Orwell speak for printing money, put our British Sterling on a par with the Foreign Euro. Now I can give someone a small tip of 100 pesetas or even stretch to one of 166 pesetas in the shape of a single euro but one pound sterling is real money. I'm afraid he's down to ten bob now. I bet I'm not alone.
Mike Lillico
Playa de Palma