The 'everyone dies' event comes home
Edited 13th August to add: This essay is misleading and alarmist. It was written in good faith, but I have since researched and done the maths to more fully explore the probable wet bulb temperatures given the Met Office's scenario, and my assumptions were wrong. This work is documented here.
On 23rd June, the Meteorological Office published a blog post in which they claimed that 'UK could see 45°C by 2056'. As you'll know, I've blogged before of the issue of excessive heat events in our changing climate. So the fact that they projected temperatures above 35° Celsius without commenting on humidity triggered my attention.
Reasons to be cheerful, part three
I've been pessimistic about the prospects for the people of Gaza. Their enemy has overwhelming force; their current supporters, at an official or military level, almost none.
Israel — or more specifically, Netanyahu — clearly does not want the siege to end, does not want the suffering of the Gazans to end. Netanyahu, I believe, would personally like to adopt the teachings of Samuel and bring about an Endlösung — a final solution — to the Palestinian problem.
But let's count our reasons to be cheerful — about Gaza.
Right in the Bin
I'm not a great fan of representative democracy, but I'm not persuaded that there's any obvious strategy for getting to anywhere better without unacceptable violence. I'm also not persuaded there's time to do so before the whole system explodes anyway in the face of all the many crises it is building in the world and not addressing.
But I do still want a better world. So what do we need to do to get there?
This is the second of a series of testimonies from Gaza that I am publishing. You can also read Rania's story. All the testimonies will be gathered together under the tag War Stories. Simon.
My name is Nourhan. I was born in 1989, a woman who once had simple dreams, but today, I am a mother fighting an invisible, agonising war just to keep my six beautiful children alive. Before this nightmare began, our life was simple but filled with warmth and stability. Our home was a sanctuary where my children felt safe. They attended UNRWA schools—bright, talented souls with big dreams for a peaceful future. My husband holds a university degree in Early Childhood Education, and despite the scarce opportunities in Gaza, he worked as a teacher whenever he could. I, too, graduated from Al-Aqsa University with a degree in Education. But like thousands of youth here, the suffocating siege and unemployment locked those doors. Refusing to surrender, I taught myself digital marketing to support my family and to afford my own medical treatments.
Tricycle project notes
Tricycle project notes
The tricycle project is in at least temporary abeyance, partly because of a period of madness, partly because all my spare money is going to people in Gaza so I can't afford to do it. But that doesn't stop me thinking about it; and it doesn't stop me gathering ideas. This note is just to record some ideas — one mine, the rest stolen — which I think will be useful if and when I take up the project again.