Alan Titchmarsh is said to be on a climate list.
THE VIEW FROM HERE
THE Copenhagen Climate Change Conference spread its net far and wide and we should all have learned lessons from it. Not least here on the Island, where we have particular cause to treat the subject of global warming with extreme tact.
No, no, I’m not talking about Eco-Island. That was a bit of a man-made disaster in own right and we’ve all moved on from it, haven’t we, Cllr Pugh?
I actually refer to a list compiled by right-wing US republican senator Jim Inhofe, of Oklahoma, who favours Biblical references to support his deep scepticism on climate change. He has also further endorsed his own views by publishing the names of 700 "experts" who, he says, resist the very notion of climate change.
They include various economists, weathermen, journalists, creationists, fruitcakes and Alan Titchmarsh. Yes, that’s right. According to Senator Inhofe, our Alan, dahlia fancier, chat show host and the Island’s darling, is up there with all those who believe this climate change is a load of baloney.
Some mistake, surely? What could have prompted Senator Inhofe to line poor Alan up against the likes of Lord Stern, chairman of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at the LSE and former chief economist of the World Bank?
I telephone Caroline Mitchell, Mr Titchmarsh’s super-efficient PA.
"Alan doesn’t go on lists," she says. But Senator Inhofe has put him on one, I tell her.
"Oh goodness," she replies. "Well, nobody else has commented."
The County Press never sleeps, I remind her, and is ever alert to the furthest reaches of the globe, even to Oklahoma and the wacky thoughts of right-wing senators. Mrs Mitchell is polite but disdainful. "Least said, soonest mended, I think, don’t you?" she says.
Oh, I do, Caroline, I do. I’ll never mention the matter again.
Now it’s up to everybody else on the Island. If any of you should see Alan on one of his trips over here, don’t mention climate change. Or even sunny spells. Certainly not Oklahoma.
Stick to dahlias. And sex. He’s written loads about sex. That should be OK.
Moving idea that made my heart sing
PART of BBC Two’s Wonderland series, The Alzheimer’s Choir, was, for my money, the most movingly brilliant programme we’ve had for a long time.
It told the story of Singing for the Brain, a service provided by 30 branches of the Alzheimer’s Society, bringing people with dementia and their carers together to sing, to socialise and to be stimulated.
The programme demonstrated the phenomenal ability of the brain to recall the words and music of songs when almost every other mental facility appears to have crumbled into chaos. Dementia sufferers who could scarcely speak were able to give it their all once they started singing.
One volunteer helper was unable to tell on first seeing everyone singing together who were the people with dementia and who were the carers.
Research is still ongoing into singing’s effect on the brain but these groups undoubtedly have a huge beneficial effect in terms of enjoyment and relaxation for sufferers and, most significantly, for their carers.
Around 700,000 people in the UK have dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. By 2025 that figure will have risen to more than a million. On the Island, around 2,000 people have dementia.
And carers and relatives suffer just as much when those who they love are lost to them. "She’s a lovely little stranger but that’s all she is, really," said one man of his wife.
We have a great tradition of volunteer help on the Island and heaps of strong musical talent. Earlier this year, Age Concern gave financial backing for ten Singing for the Brain sessions on the Island.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this excellent initiative were put on a permanent footing? Perhaps the Island might make it a resolution for 2010.