The West Side Show

Each summer, about a dozen agricultural shows are held across Lewis and Harris. They are a showcase for livestock, such as cattle and sheep, produce and artwork. On Friday 26th July, I attended the West Side Show at Barvas (11 miles north of Stornoway), where people from the district stretching from Galson to Shawbost, displayed their wares. Agricultural plant was also on show. It was sunny and warm, and I met one or two people I know over there.

   

Thursday 25 July

It's now 10.45 in the morning, and all is quiet. The machinery over at Goat Island is busy moving soil and stone about, as the base for the marina development takes shape.

At the moment, it's still overcast, but we are promised a sunny afternoon, and a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, 68 Fahrenheit. That contrasts sharply with the conditions that will occur in England, Holland, Belgium, France and Germany today. There, a daytime max of 40C is on the forecast charts. Here in Lewis, the highest temperature ever recorded stands at 26 degrees C, 80F, and we're nowhere near that. The Atlantic keeps our climate temperate, shielded from the worst excesses of climate change. For the extreme summer Europe is experiencing this year so far is directly attributable to climate change. Irrespective of what Donald Trump may tweet.

550 miles to the southeast, we can see the new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, hard at work trying to get Brexit through Parliament where his predecessor, Theresa May, failed to do so three times. The EU won't shift on either deal or backstop, so a no-deal exit seems more likely by the day. However, Her Majesty's Loyal But Ineffectual Opposition may put a spanner in his works. Bolstered by disgruntled Tories, who were either booted out of the Cabinet or not pleased with his version of Brexit, could well help Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, to win his proposed vote of no-confidence. That will be followed, 6 weeks later, by a General Election, which in turn will yield another hung parliament.

Jeremy Corbyn is one of the worst leaders the Labour Party in the UK has seen in modern times. He is a man who says no but means yes. Anti-semitism is a huge problem in the party, which JC seeks to deny. Him forming a government? Don't think so. The Tories would be in for a drubbing, so that leaves Nigel Farage as a potential Prime Minister. Could someone hand me the sick bucket? Thanks.

MH17

July 17th. A day that is etched in the memory and consciousness of anybody that is Dutch, or has an empathy with the Netherlands. It's the day that flight MH17 was downed over eastern Ukraine, by a missile fired from a Russian Army launcher, which was transported into the area that day in 2014, and returned to Russia the same day. 298 people died, of whom 196 were Dutch. The Russians deny all knowledge or responsibility, adopting an elastic attitude to fact and reality in this instance. The sheer horror of the scene is well described and documented, for instance in this podcast by Bellingcat. What also remains is the disbelief at the procrastination in the aftermath. The emotion and dignity of the procession of hearses that threaded its way up the motorways of the Netherlands, to the army base at Hilversum; motorists on the opposing carriageway pulling up at the central reservation, the thousands lining the carriageways and bridges the whole 70-odd miles between Eindhoven and Hilversum. A dignity that sharply contrasted with, and to some extent negated the disregard for human life that was shown by those responsible for the death of 298 innocents.