Being that day in the calendar that only comes around every four years did raise the question – how will things have changed for Grandads in Britain by 29 Feb 2020?
Here is one correspondent’s view. In politics the 2016 EU Referendum will be long since passed and Britain will have been a regional province of Europa for over a year. However the target of complete financial union of all the former countries will have slipped out to 2028. But at least the German Europa Projekt will, by 2020, have achieved some of its objectives. Certainly the expansion further east will have progressed to include Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and, the big one, Turkey. Thus completing another cultural objective by incorporating the former Constantinople within the EU; thus recreating its position within the Roman Empire. However this will be tragically ironic as it will be in Turkey that President Merkel is assassinated. An act carried out by refugees from the on-going fighting in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. And one which will lead to a tense face-off between the EU Army and Russia on the Eastern Front. It also means that the EU Army does not respond to a second Argentine invasion of the Falklands. An attack which is followed by all the surviving islanders being removed to camps in Argentina and two thousand Argentine nationals being shipped in to take over. Just three months later a referendum is called on the islands with the predictable result. A move that will gain UN approval since Britain’s place on the Security Council will have been assigned to Europa.
Domestically Prime Minister Corbyn will be setting out his government’s plans to terminate the reign of the House of Windsor before the next coronation. However the 94 year old Queen Elizabeth is showing no signs of ill-health and has already won her case in the European Supreme Court for protection against unfair dismissal. Also the Palace of Westminster will be no longer be the home of Parliament. The building being in the middle of conversion into a tourist attraction funded by China. Instead the English regional parliament meetings will be held at the Great Dragon Building; constructed by the Shanghai Development Corp on what was Victoria Tower Gardens.
But the big issues affecting Grandads will be the massive failures in infrastructure – as everything from power supplies to health care become overloaded by the population boom. The pressure on housing becoming so acute that all retirees will, by 2022, have to either sell their homes and move to state-funded dormitories or loose their pensions. Domestic gas will have become unaffordable for most as the provincial government struggles to meet its carbon targets. And electricity tariffs that vary hour by hour will mean that pensioners have resorted to cooking and washing over night to save money. However the newly created Europarl Ministry of Plenty will declare that all provinces will achieve the desired standards of living within just four years – in 2024.
In sport the big event of the year will be Olympic Games in Tokyo where Europa will field a combined team for the first time. And even though Europa will have extra places in many events the total number of athletes will be much reduced compared to Rio. The merger of over thirty countries into just one meaning that many former nations have no representatives which in turn leads to a big drop in public interest and cutbacks by advertisers in Europe. Only the continued growth of China saves the day for the organisers.
But that’s enough of 2020 when we still have to get through the rest of 2016. And with the Daily Express predicting terrible weather for Easter, then summer, then autumn, etc it’s going to be an uninspiring year.
The reforms went through with a large majority but the credibility of the vote for the president took a blow before it even started with the last-minute suspension of Kuwait and Indonesia. Then the South African candidate, Tokyo Sexwale, withdrew his nomination straight after completing his presentation. The four remaining candidates failed to reach the necessary target to win – so a second round of voting was required. A vote that still included Jérôme Champagne despite the fact he only manged seven votes (out of 200+) in the first round. However the next vote did produce a clear winner – the Swiss / Italian Gianni Infantino. So that’s another FIFA issue resolved.
Irrespective of which song you pick in next week’s song selection contest and irrespective on how you vote in a future referendum the result will still be the same. The British choice will count for nothing against the combined views of the rest of Europe.
However the British approach to shrovetide has been typically restrained – possibly by our nature but also, no doubt, by the restrictions on public enjoyment enforced long ago. For example under the strict Puritan Christian rule of Oliver Cromwell. But his beliefs reflect just one of many splits between Christian churches over hundreds years. Splits where many reformers dropped Lent from their calendars. However more traditional parts of the Christian world have stuck with public celebrations before the start of Lent; the most obvious modern versions being the Mardi Gras parades in Rio and New Orleans.
With the demise of BBC3 the UK contest – and the two semi-finals from Sweden in May – are moving to BBC4. A choice that disappointed fans hoping for a BBC1 or 2 slot. However the channel should make little difference how that all the digital services are fully operational nationwide (so they tell me).
That long standing specialist in this style of reporting – Nathan Rao of the Daily Express – is today again forecasting freezing blizzards. This time for the rest of February. Considered that in October 2015 he published – Heavy Snow Warning .. UK faces Winter White-out .. a record cold winter – when we actually got above average temperates makes the whole of the newspaper seem a parody of itself.
Now organisations like British Gas have been promoting the switch to smart meters for three years or more – and have had some takers. However the smaller energy suppliers have not been so active. And a quick check around the UK suppliers shows that most have installed very few. Some saying that they are waiting for some new technology promised for later this year. Which seems to tie in with the Government statement about final common standards. So clearly something is pending in the world of smart metering technology – but none of energy suppliers spell out exactly what that will be. So time for Grandad to do some checking.
The system consists of two tiny Loop readers that are easily installed – no tools or batteries are required. The Electricity Monitor simply clips around your meter cable and the Gas Monitor sticks on to your meter. [Grandad’s current electricity monitor needs a total of six batteries that have to swapped out for recharging all too frequently].
So is the Loop offer worth taking up – when the energy suppliers are planning a big smart meter push in 2016? Yes it probably is. Why? Because Government IT projects rarely come in on time (or on budget) and the official smart meters need a new, untested infrastructure before they can work. And even if this grand plan comes together then its aims are very different. The Government’s objectives include enabling the energy companies to monitor and control your energy usage. This means the smart meters need to be much more than clever meter readers. They need to be permanent, tamper-proof units that the supplier can use to both bill you and, if required, turn off your power remotely – for any reason from national emergency to late payment of a bill.