To feel that the South West has been abandoned (long and ranty)

[zeezeek]

My family still live in Cornwall and they have been completely battered by the wind and the rain for weeks now. Last night they had to be evacuated from their house. The main train line down to Cornwall (in fact also half of Devon) is completely destroyed and a lot of prime agricultural land in Somerset is under water.

People are losing their livelihoods and they have been lucky that there have been no loss of life. In a region where there is already high unemployment - the impact on the farming, fishing and tourist industries will just make the situation worse. Freight trains can no longer get down past Exeter.

The EA are effectively blaming the poor buggers who are affected by this and seemingly forgetting that people and homes are also affected. The government doesn't give a shit and the Environment minister didn't even bother taking a pair of wellington boots with him on his photo opp visit. Our future King made silly comments about how a disaster beings people together while his waste of space daughter in law spends taxpayers money jetting off to the Caribbean. Comments in sensible, intelligent newspapers are also blaming people for daring to live on a flood plain (which has never flooded to this extent) and by the sea.

I know that I am BU, but tonight - when my parents are still not allowed home and my brother has had his fishing boat sunk - I am feeling very, very pissed off with the media who seems to be making such a big deal out of a 2 day tube strike - there are buses.

Sorry, but needed to vent. Have nothing against Londoners - I lived there for years.

[HesterShaw]

Didn't say there weren't.

It is a shame though when 90% of a county's residents vote against a unitary authority bring imposed on them because they fear this very type of thing will come to pass, and then the unitary authority is imposed on them after all, despite it being completely unmanageable and far too big, and sure enough all those suspicions come to pass.

Funny old world isn't it?

[NiceTabard]

DH and I just watched the C4 news link - thanks for that - and we are both WTF @ telling people who are offering genuine help to stick it.

My feelings are that the govt think it would make them look "weak" that they couldn't sort it out themselves and had to accept help from overseas. i also wonder about not wanting to upset the anti-europe quota in the party.

DH just looks foxed.

They should be utterly ashamed of themselves.

[clam]

In fairness, there are many, many towns across the UK whose infrastructure is falling apart due to lack of (or misdirection of) funds in recent years. Where I live (yes, even in the leafy Home Counties) is like a ghost town, there are so many closed-down shops and businesses and it's all looking very tired and shabby.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

[magimedi]

You may want to drum me off MN - but I was sent this link tonight & it's funny - but it also fucking well sums up our (cough, splutter) "glorious leaders":

www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/pictures-of-politicians-in-wellies-and-staring-at-floods

So easy to go & look, isn't it?

[HesterShaw]

Jaded don't get too carried away about the prettiness of the towns in Penwith, and the funds flooding our way because of the tourists. The lack of investment in Pz and Newlyn in the last few years has been nothing short of scandalous. The prom is fucked. The lido is fucked. The harbour is absolutely fucked. Filling in a hole isn't going to make any difference. Its stunning location and prettiness (ok some of it is pretty :) ) hides a multitude of sins. There are some very worried and sad people in town after yesterday's storm. It was the worst yet. But it wouldn't be such a mess if Cornwall Council had been fair in their allocation of funds. Same old story...when we went unitary the money was concentrated in Carrick. Been to Truro or Falmouth lately?

I imagine they'll paper over the cracks and by the tourist season it will be looking pretty again. But there is no substitute for proper maintenance of existing structures.

[canutesauntie]

Wow, that story could get very uncomfortable for the government, I cant see any way they could justify turning down that help, apart from them being utterly incompetent obviously.

[LoveSewingBee]

Maybe it is being turned down because it would make it more difficult to take a strong anti-European stance ?????? Not sure if this is the case, but surely there must be a political reason for turning help down. No one in their right mind would do so I would think unless there are totally different interests at stake.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Why would they turn any help down???? It beggars belief.

[OneEggIsAnOeff]

There are Dutch pumps being used on the Levels now though, but can't fathom why other practical help would be declined - it's not like everything is in hand is it?

May only be temporary but it is bloody lovely to see the sun shining today.

[LoveSewingBee]

Channel 4

[LoveSewingBee]

I posted this already in AIBU as well. The Dutch government department of Infrastructure and Environment and more importantly the Dutch Waterschappend (independent bodies directly tax funded who have extensive powers and responsibilities to protect their allocated area in the Netherlands) have offered extensive practical help to the UK government in the form of emergency dykes, high powered sand bag filling machines, more very powerful pumps etc - UK government has turned the offer down as they do not need practical help. They are only interested in expertise.

It has also been reported on Channel 4.

[OneEggIsAnOeff]

Ed Milliband was at Millers Crossing on the bit i saw, not that it makes any difference. Complete opportunism by the lot of them. Though, if he hadn't brought up about LAs charging people for sandbags that may not have been addressed (not sure it has everywhere but i think ccc have revoked the policy). When i flooded my local council told me to get down b&q or to stuff my tights with soil!

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Fair enough :) I didn't see it.

[zeezeek]

It is, yes, but he was at Cowley Bridge which - amazingly, hasn't flooded this year (yet) - even though the money that was promised for it last year hasn't materialised.....

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Exeter is where the Met office is based.

[zeezeek]

What has become clear in the SW this week is that our politicians are obviously using this to canvass for votes: Cameron - visited Somerset, Devon and bits of Cornwall - true blue areas. Clegg - visited Cornwall - lib dem bits. Milliband - visited Exeter, which actually isn't even flooded at the moment presumably because it is the only labour seat in the SW. None of them care about the people, they are just starting their canvassing for the 2015 election!!!

[OneEggIsAnOeff]

This might be of interest, especially to those who dismissed George Monbiot's piece in The Guardian as rubbish.

CIWEM (Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management) have issued a report also stating that dredging is not the solution. They are not saying that it doesn't have a role, but that it is not the panacea so many seem to think.

[bochead]

Things that will affect the whole nation wherever you live:-

1/ Food prices - some very high quality farmland is now contaminated with sea/salt, planting will be delayed on waterlogged soils.

2/ Despite the insurance industry "act of God" nonsense, all our insurance premiums will go up, as they WILL claw their money back from the hapless consumer.

3/ House prices - some areas will now have a higher proportion of people in negative equity, impacting on risk assessment for all mortgages in an already fragile economy. Government bail-ins, already under discussion as a potential event before the floods just moved a step closer for us all.

4/Respect for our leadership. I think the voting public's report on the official response will read "could do better". This attitude filters down and leads to a general sense of "us & them" - never good for national unity and community cohesion at any time.

5/ Money is no object - are taxes not high enough already? The welfare bill will inevitably rise, again having a knock on effect on consumer spending and confidence.

6/ In many areas raw sewage is becoming a public health concern.

I'm hoping as I said at the beginning of the thread everyone, everywhere will ask hard questions of the doorstep campaigners at the next elections about our national infrastructure. We need a cultural shift in this country whereby politicians progress not on flash, bluster and soundbites but on the basic job of running the country being well done, even though boring and non-sexy though updating the sewers and getting the trains to run on time may be.