History Repeating Itself

I was reading the book "The Silk Roads" which said that in 525 BC one of the Persian Emperors was known as as "The Messiah" because of his generous treatment of minorities and his help given to the Jews to aid their escape from Babylonian captivity.
At that time Persia faced persistent problems from the North but had an aggressive army to keep the peace. The Sums paid for that peace were substantial.
Over time Greek generals culminating in Alexander the Great looked East with a combination of fear and respect. Eventually Alexander was to conquer Persia. It was then ruled for nearly 300 years by descendants of Ptolemy one of Alexandra the Great's generals.
It was the Ptolemaic system that applied to Egypt just as it did to Persia that started the registration of all births. In the world of Jesus Christ, his birth would have been registered by an Official whose interest was the birth was in registering an additional future taxpayer for the empire.
Attitudes to Christianity first spread east via The Jewish communities, they received reports of Jesus life and death in Aramaic and Hebrew
There were Christian stories which included stirring stories that were told about the Christians' customs and literature.
The Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity which clearly brought about sea change in how other nations viewed them.
I was saddened to hear when reading "The Silk Roads" that, in the Christian era, when there were hostilities and the troops revolted over a proposed reduction in pay, the Commanding Officer paraded the image of Jesus Christ in front of the Troops. He said that complaint was not compatible with Christianity, but he was Christian. 

Organophosphates

Now what stopped me from being a teacher? I was sheep farming. After Sheep Dipping and the onset of MS, a lot of people in the farming business realised what was happening. At a meeting in Parliament with Andy Burnham there were many farmers who had very sad tales to tell! The Government do not want any link between Organophoshates and illness in farmers but we are now being told by the Authorities to keep away from the Sheep Dip if we are not in protective clothing. Because the toxic Sheep Dip went straight through overalls. Life has been difficult but that is nothing to the effect on some farmers and their livelihood. I saw the most tragic tales of farmers unable to continue doing what they love most on their farms.
This has been going on for years we are left in limbo again! Is there nothing we can do?
Veronica Morris.

Plastic pollution chokes Indonesia's rivers

• Yesterday I saw on the BBC news the problems in Indonesia with the amount of Plastic waste that was clogging the waterways and streams in the area!  
• In the UK we hear on the news that Plastic Mugs and "One off" reusable mugs are not reusable! although the public are told they are.
• We see these rivers clogged with plastic waste in such huge areas and it seems to me that it is almost as much of a crime as what goes on in Yemen's war which I was concerned about  last week!
• Then in Lebanon there are pollution problems that are off the scale. This is because there is a strike with the Refuse collectors, this has been going on for some time
• The Queen has started a new appeal with David Attenborough to set up a Green Planet and has got various nations to donate an area of their nation to make a greener planet by donating areas of forest. This is a great achievement.

Is there any way we can appeal to the striking Refuse collectors for the sake of the Planet? Do something about this!

Lebanon's Trash

There is a Rubbish strike in Lebanon, and all along the road there are piles of plastic bits and pieces. So what will they do with those piles of Rubbish. Call off the strike and get those unemployed members of the public to earn some money sorting out the rubbish.
This would enable the Government to sort the strike and employ some people, which will help the economy.
Veronica Morris.

Staying Plastic Free

How can we have a plastic free shopping spree?
Everything is covered with plastic.
In Sweden they have developed a machine that will gather all the bits of plastic in the ocean together, what happens next?
There are many people who know of the dangers
Of Plastic and what we can do with it?
Very exciting, two Australian surfers have invented Ocean - cleaning sea bins will gobble up plastic waste to recycle! Andrew Tufton and Peter Ceglinski who are concerned about the build up of pollution in the Oceans, It is a world wide problem typified vividly by the dirty waters around various parts of the world.
What we all can do individually is try not using to use plastic items and remembering what is happening to Oceans.

Plastic Pollution Free Penzance

Plastic pollution seems to be the central issue of the moment as it has been found even in the Arctic. I was watching the opening of the Winter Games and thinking about all the plastics that are are sent into the Atmosphere and the plastics that have been found even in the Arctic, there was the commentator showing a bird that had died with a piece of plastic tied round it's beak and the death of a  seal with a plastic band in round it's stomach.
After David Attenborough's Blue Planet 2 it became apparent that more people need to become aware of what we are doing to the planet though a great number are already aware that we need to care for this planet.  People are cleaning up the Plastic they find on the beach. Penzance is the town that holds the first Plastic Free Status Award - at least that is good news:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/05/penzance-wins-first-plastic-free-status-award-to-help-clean-up-beaches

FGM horror

I am amazed that with so many people accused of FGM not one person was prosecuted for this, horrendous violation. The NHS in London saw 2,500 cases. There were some 200 reports to the police in London. But no prosecutions. So we ask why hasn't this happened? Is it because we do not want to upset too many people. It seems strange that having all the evidence of this barbaric practice, nothing  has been done. So why is that?