A peaceful and happy Christmas to everyone. That's not just a wish to people who celebrate Christmas, but also to those who don't, and indeed those who have different religious backgrounds that see nothing special in Christmas. And that's not just a wish for a peaceful and happy 25th December, but for 26th, 27th, ... and all future dates too.
My Facebook feed brings up occasional 'isolation' posts. Posts which encourage discrimination against those who don't share the beliefs of the poster. I abhor such views - but I celebrate the ability we give people to express their views, and I continue to count a small handful of such posters amongst my friends and contacts. For me to blacklist or 'unfriend' them would be for me to lower myself to be dicriminating in just the same way that they are doing. And, yes, I can understand their fear of the unknown - but closing your eyes and shutting the door to it ain't the way to overcome that fear.
We have taken 1,000 refugees into this country from Syria so far - and we've committed to take in 20,000. A big number? No - it's a pittance. In five years, that's not enough to fill the football ground at even a middle ranking club such as Wolverhampton Wandrers (Molinueux, 31,700). We should be ashamed of our minimal response - a million refugees have arrived in Europe this year; the population of Europe is around 500 million so Great Britain, on a equality basis, should be looking after some 125,000 already. That's about a dozen families in Melksham. I think we could have done it. I think we should have done it. And, yes, I would help to do it. Next year too.
(written 2015-12-24)
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
Z301 - Current Affairs [33] 10 Years of experience - (2004-08-30)
[377] A Strengthened City - (2005-07-14)
[614] News in Ireland - (2006-02-20)
[1214] New Serieses for the summer on TV - (2007-06-02)
[1275] Incident in Melksham - (2007-07-24)
[1960] Christmas Survivors - (2008-12-25)
[1987] One Cheer for Local Democracy - Asda in Melksham - (2009-01-11)
[2112] Whatever next ... the joys of being an employer - (2009-04-01)
[2128] Wiltshire - where everybody matters - (2009-04-13)
[2289] pre-Inaugural briefing - Melksham Community Area Partnership - (2009-07-15)
[2508] Community Area Partnership - inaugural AGM - (2009-11-20)
[2514] The road show has been - where now? - (2009-11-27)
[2574] Summary of Wiltshire Core Strategy responses - (2010-01-13)
[2602] East of Melksham - Building Work Starts - (2010-01-28)
[2666] Random thoughts on Melksham Town Planning and development - (2010-03-08)
[2776] Regional Spatial Strategy and the next 20 years - Whence Wiltshire under the new government? - (2010-05-22)
[2852] Atworth Village Fete - on the Melksham Community Area Partnership stand - (2010-07-04)
[2904] Melksham Area Board meeting of last week - (2010-08-04)
[2982] Travel, Transport and Tourism - A vision for Melksham, 2026 - (2010-10-03)
[2995] A river in Melksham is not just for boaters. - (2010-10-11)
[3028] VAT rise in January - it is really up 14% not just 2.5% - (2010-11-03)
[3030] Liquorice allsorts and Dolly Mixtures - (2010-11-05)
[3126] Car Parking in Melksham - thoughts on the proposed scheme, and wider thoughts too - (2011-01-09)
[3183] Redevelopment on the banks of the Avon in Melksham - (2011-02-25)
[3228] What can you take on a public footpath? Pram? Wheelbarrow? Dog? Shopping Trolley? Horse? Cycle? - (2011-04-03)
[3231] Footpath, Bridleway, Byway, Road used as Public Path - (2011-04-04)
[3265] Alternative Vote (AV) - cutting the crap - (2011-04-25)
[3282] The future of canal management and charities - Kennet and Avon Canal bias - (2011-05-08)
[3347] The Anthony trial - Orange County, Florida. Thoughts on conclusion - (2011-07-06)
[3357] Business, priorities, and volunteering - (2011-07-14)
[3385] Do university courses teach the right things for life at work later on? - (2011-08-10)
[3467] Charities v Charitable. The cost of collecting your donation. - (2011-10-06)
[3646] Exploring Melksham with a film maker - (2012-03-09)
[3720] Melksham ATC - freedom of the town - (2012-05-05)
[4429] Wind Turbines - beauty or menace? - (2015-02-17)
[4637] People matter - but there is a tradeoff between different people in there - (2016-02-01)
[4691] Real life PHP application using our course training MVC example - (2016-06-05)
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Happy New Year. Our customers are our ambassadorsTraining course and hotel room prices - 2016Management view - TransWilts and transport at the end of 2015A big change in AugustHappy Christmas - and a Christmas thought21 places to get your train and bus timetables for TransWiltsNot standing as your local councillorCall for help counting passengers - TransWilts, 12th to 14th DecemberPython formatting update - including named completionsXML handling in Python - a new teaching example using etree