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From the front line…

We’re not (yet) going on a Summer Holiday. Whatever you do, keep safe.

BY JACQUELINE CURZON

It was devastating to read of deaths in Scottish waters last week. There were four separate tragedies, in which six people died. One incident caused the death of a woman, her son and a family friend. When a 7-year-old fell into the open water at the end of a pier, the other members of the group went in to save him, as the water looked quite shallow. They soon got into serious difficulties, and another child Rana Haris Ali (9) and his mother Edina Olahova (29) both succumbed, along with Muhammad Asim Riaz (41), the only member of the group who could actually swim. Edina’s husband, Waris Ali, said he tried to throw his shirt as a lifeline to his wife, but sadly couldn’t get her to safety. Mr Riaz's son was saved by a local man and remains in hospital in Glasgow. Separately, three boys (11, 13 and 16) drowned in other tragedies.

Civil servants in Scotland have been encouraged to add pronouns to their email sign offs, under plans for a transgender inclusivity drive. The Scottish government is backing proposals recommending 8000 workers take a pronoun pledge where they add terms such as ‘she /her’ or ‘he /him’ to the bottom of every work email. However the plan has provoked opposition from civil servants after a survey which has caused a massive row. I mentioned a few weeks ago about college tutors insisting on being referred to as he/she or they, and this is surely just another extension of the same thing. The pronoun pledge includes non-standard terms such as ‘zie’ and ‘zir.’ Supporters of this say it would foster an open culture that is supportive of the LGBT community, however the results of the survey indicated that 60% of respondents did not want to go down the pronoun rabbit hole. Diversity is supposed to make people feel included, but I for one, feel excluded if I can’t be referred to as ‘straight, married, female, Mrs or Ms, or her.’ for fear of offending someone non-binary. We are born male or female, unless you are deemed androgynous. Surely the time has come for this absurd rebranding to stop. If anyone feels a compelling need to include alternative salutations or sign offs on their correspondence, let them get on with it, but please don’t compel those of us not playing the political correctness game, to join in.

The French have told us they will not stop illegal migrants at sea, this despite receiving £54 million from us to combat illegal channel crossings, providing (French) police presence and surveillance. With numbers now reaching 1,000 daily, this is a huge slap on the face for European relations. A similar scheme saw us give £28 million, as recently as last November. 8,700 migrants have now reached UK shores this year. Tim Loughton, a former minister, said ‘international maritime lawyers had ruled that the French could intercept migrants boats and return them to France,’ as they have committed two crimes - illegal entry and paying traffickers. What is the game going on, here?

British teenager Zara Rutherford (19) has set her sights on becoming the youngest woman to fly solo around the world, two years after her pilot father cheated death in a plane crash. Zara said ‘when dad had that crash you know things can go wrong and he was very lucky.’ She said this made her realise that she potentially might not make it back. She will take off from Brussels next month in a shark ultralight, the world's fastest light sport aircraft for her self-funded record attempt. Zara has actually replaced the only other seat in the aircraft with an extra fuel tank to prevent any future accusations that she’s not flown solo. Zara‘s mother is also a pilot, so one could safely say flying runs in the family. We wish you success, safe travels and a following wind, Zara.

Rescuers have been asked to suspend a search for a missing climber, after a request from his family. Kim Hong-bin (56) from South Korea had overcome his disabilities to scale the 14 highest peaks in the world, but he sent a distress message out on July 18 after completing his ascent of the 26,401 ft Broad Peak on the Pakistan- China border. It’s believed he may have become disoriented on the descent and fallen into a crevasse. A Russian team spotted him but had to call off the rescue when a rope broke and Kim fell further. He lost all of his fingers to frostbite on a previous climb, and had requested that no one be put in danger should he need assistance on Broad Peak.

A Scottish climber has been killed in an avalanche on K2, whilst attempting a new route. Having narrowly avoided death on the same mountain 3 years ago, Rick Allen (68) was climbing the world’s second highest mountain to raise funds for charity. His two climbing partners - one from Spain and another from Austria - were both rescued. Allen, who was from Aberdeen, won the Piolet d’Or award for completing the ascent of

Nanga Parbat’s Mazeno Ridge [Pakistan] in 2012. It’s not often I get to crack a joke about egg-on-the-face, but this week a story was ripe for inclusion in my column. An American e-commerce manager, David Ezrine, landed himself in hot water when he insulted one of his employees, telling him the ‘Brits would queue up [even] to jump off a cliff.’ Now, I know we are fanatical for obeying rules about everything, including queuing, but this was rather mean and over the top. Gavin Ford (40) took this complaint to tribunal and won, resulting in damages being awarded against Ezrine, the founder of the Big Green Egg Barbecue. From eggs to nuts now. South Norfolk council has put a preservation order on a walnut tree, rather than allowing it to be trimmed. This would not normally make the news, except that the tree overhangs the garden of Beau Beck (6), a girl with severe nut allergies. The tree stands 17 metres tall and is 100 years old. Beau’s mother has not asked for it to be taken down, rather to be height reduced and trimmed so no nuts fall into the garden, risking anaphylaxis. 11 people wrote with objections to the council, whilst 17 others wrote letters in support of Beau. South Norfolk is indeed a hard council to crack.

Politics crossed into music some years back, where the BBC decided not only to relinquish the cheery morning music on R4, which follows the shipping forecast, but also crossed over into Last Night of the Proms, which forced Rule Britannia off the programme. It is now being reinstated in a drive to celebrate our Britishness. Now the music of Robert Burns is up for political tinkering, with an anti-Brexit exhibit installed at an Arts Festival. With financial backing from the SNP, Auld Lang Syne is to be sung in Gaelic and languages from all 27 Euro countries - Oh crivvens. Edinburgh Arts Festival has received £350,000 in taxpayer cash from the Scottish Government. Now we sing therein of a ‘cup of kindness,’ but even singers have to eat. Maybe a platter of deep-fried pizza? I have seen it (but couldn’t bear to sample!!!) but never the ubiquitous fried Mars bar, which I’ve neither partaken of nor seen either - but hey, it’s good to see how they can fritter away their funds.

A full size Spitfire has been built in a back garden in Cumbria by David Price, an author. Since 2018 Mr Price (58) has spent 3,000 hours and £5,000 on his project, taking inspiration from blueprints in a history book. He said the Spitfire ‘represented the icon of freedom, as well as being a beautiful creation.’ Although it will never fly, it has been faithfully built/ restored with mainly original parts, although several modifications have found their way into the build, including a baked bean tin, downpipe brackets and a bottle top. How truly inspirational. Now, with all the thunderstorms and rain we’ve had, I wanted to know if anyone has ever built an Ark, and if so, perhaps they Jacqueline Curzon will have reservations and accommodation space should our torrential downpours PHOTO: LARA MINSKY PHOTOGRAPHY continue. So I found a few Arks on the web; the most impressive might be Ark Encounter, which opened in July 2016, in Kentucky, and is billed as the largest timber-frame structure in the world, standing at 51 feet tall and 1-1/2 football fields in length. Much of the craftsmanship details that went into building the boat was the handiwork of Amish laborers. Ark Encounter was built at a cost of $102 million, but Noah had no such financial issues, I would suspect. Finally, a little known fact…. Sir Roger Bannister, our 1954 record breaking runner, will be memorialised in Westminster Abbey. You’re wondering why, as was I. Less well-known was that this young man, running 1 mile in the record-breaking time of 3 minutes 59.4 seconds in Oxford, was a 25-year-old medical student. He came fourth in the 1500m at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, before achieving his record in the mile. He had set a British record by the time he was knighted for services to sport in 1975, but he also enjoyed a long career in medicine including writing more than 80 scientific papers which he considered more important. Bannister became a consultant and a leading expert in neurology which prompted a stoic response when he himself was diagnosed with Parkinsons in 2011. Before he died aged 88 in 2018, he said he would “rather be remembered for my work in neurology than for running” and it’s as a scientist that he will be commemorated with this memorial in Westminster Abbey, as an expert in disorders of the nervous system. He will be honoured with a ledger stone in a scientist's corner, alongside the graves of Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. Up there with the greats. That’s a nice way to round off this week's news.

Love

Jacqueline x