There have recently been a few tragic fatal accidents involving members of the public colliding with farm machinery. Having spent the last week running grain trailers to and from corn fields, I have to say I am not all surprised. Despite the tractor being lit up like a Christmas tree with flashing lights and giving clear early indication of my intention to turn off the road, there have been several heart stopping near misses. Too many impatient drivers have decided to overtake not only the turning tractor, but several following cars, when it is obvious there is a hazard ahead.
The migration problem escalates by the day. As millions of people seeking refuge from their own chaotic, dangerous, undemocratic and corrupt countries, the matter will only get worse, as they look for a safer and more prosperous future.
What to us simple folk is merely a matter of securing the borders and making our relatively small island water tight, appears not to be an option. I always thought the channel tunnel was a bad idea; mainly because I felt it could be a target for some idiot to blow up mid channel. I still do.
It is certainly making our border more difficult to police as those determined to reach the UK, believe there is a guaranteed light at the end of the tunnel, if not a utopia.
Life would be simpler for border guards, both French and English if their task was to control access to ferries and freight ships, and anyone who slipped through the net on the French side, would hopefully be found during the crossing and prevented from disembarking.
The free movement of people, we are told, is a fundamental principle of the EU. As Daniel Hannan MEP for the South East, has recently stated, it plainly does not cover the actual free movement of people – at least, not of people wishing to move freely through Calais.
The migration crises has been simmering away for years, particularly around the mouth of the Channel Tunnel. Now, it is also spreading chaos through Kent, and it is not just holidaymakers who are affected. All those who need to use the M20 are suffering, including small businesses which import supplies from the Continent, who are losing money.
Now hundreds of thousands of people in Africa and the Levant aim to enter Britain through Europe. If they were all true refugees fleeing their countries, they would ask for asylum in the first safe country they reach. But no, many plough on across borders without being detained, until they reach the Channel, determined to get to Great Britain.
We have a growing economy. We don’t have the Euro. There are plenty of jobs, no identity cards and we speak English. Why wouldn’t they want to come here is the real question?
David Cameron was criticised for describing the immigrants as a swarm. Looking at those queuing to crawl over and under wire fences, I would say that was a fairly accurate description. There is much to criticise regarding the handling of this crises; I would say former Prime Minister Blair and his chum George W Bush have more to answer for than most. Between them and their war mongering ways, they managed to let the genie out of the bottle, which in turn ignited the powder keg which is the Middle East and North Africa. The consequences of which, Europe is having to cope with today.
Italian Neurosurgeon Sergio Caravero claims he can transplant a man’s head onto a donor body. An intriguing concept which raises many questions, not only from the layman but also from within the medical profession.
This idea is fascinating, and no doubt sometime this will indeed happen. My immediate burning question is how such an operation could be successful when so far, it has been impossible to repair a severed spinal cord.
Surely until this technique has been conquered, the very thought of severing a head from its body and replacing it on a new body, without being able to connect this vital lifeline, the whole process would appear pointless.
Caravero already has a volunteer to act as his human guinea pig. Valery Spiridonov, a 30 year old Russian suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which has horribly devastated his body leaving him unable to do anything without help, contacted the surgeon on hearing his claims.
If £13 million can be raised to attempt this extraordinary operation, it will take place in either China or the USA. Apparently if he attempted this ground breaking operation in Europe or Russia, Caravero could find himself in jail.
If Valery Spiridonov does become the first human to undergo this operation, we can only wish him well. A terrifying ordeal but if successful it will, as he said, transform not only his life, it would also help others. This is a fascinating story to watch.