I can’t go on…..

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Postcard from The Staterooms-On-Sea: Gulls, ducks, cormorants and swans…

Dear Reader,

Soon, I move back to London;  leaving behind Chatham Maritime, Rochester and the Medway and my view over the old naval dockyards.  The gulls, cormorants, ducks and swans where I am going will be different..they will be Battersea ducks and gulls.

A friend of mine re-tweeted yesterday…Word of the day: “Slacktivist“. n. one who sits on their arse, tweeting about important issues, thinking they’re making a difference.

I enjoyed that.  I would far rather read the wonderfully crafted rants of some of the political bloggers – which are amusing and probably do achieve something – than the Po faced comments and endless re-tweeting by people who seem to get outraged easily.  There was one this morning…“third day in a row the Daily Mail has failed to put #Haiti on the front page. Pathetic.”

I’m sorry Haiti is going though misery.  It is a dreadful tragedy.  The US and many other nations are doing everything they can to help. It will take time for that assistance to kick in. Celebrities are falling over themselves to publicise how much they are giving (why, when people give, do they need to tell people?) – but endlessly wringing one’s hands is not going to do any good to anyone. [ Repeating a message  until desired action takes place can be useful. We saw the positive value of Twitter with this on Trafigura. There have been many other illustrations. ]

I have no immediate plans, I’m afraid, to fly myself into Haiti by helicopter to try and rescue people and deliver food parcels and tents.  This does not make me a bad person. I do not need to have my conscience or ‘moral compass’ re-educated by sanctimonious nonsense on twitter or anywhere else.  I have got the message loud and clear and, like  all decent people, I am saddened by these events.  I have a suspicion that the self appointed twitter and other media experts on Haiti, exhorting us to pray (I don’t do god….of any kind), give (my private affairs),  or otherwise moderate our lives to show solidarity with Haitians, probably didn’t even know where the place was last week and have, possibly,  relieved themselves of the need to ‘give’ because they are doing such ‘important’ work on twitter by publicising the cause. Will no-one rid us of these turbulent bed-wetters?… Here endeth the Saturday rant.

Scott Greenfield has a very interesting post today… I quote from a section of it.. but the full post is well worth a read..he is referring to the disaster in Haiti: .“The point is that emergent desperation calls for certain abilities.  Think Abraham Maslow.  It breaks my heart that I, as a lawyer, cannot offer the help that people need in their desperation.  I cannot ease their pain.  I cannot feed the hungry children.  I cannot build them shelter.  I cannot even capture the suffering on film so that the rest of the world can see the pain.  I am but a lawyer.  There are times when my limitations are manifest.  This is such a time….”

Tweet of the week:  I don’t often get compliments… this is an excellent compliment!

Osbore Corner – The life, times and thoughts of a Chancellor in waiting

Better crack on… things to do…. supplies to organise.

Best, as ever

Charon

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