that indicate some hope. First, a piece on(who else?) Sarah Palin, including these observations:
In Britain and America - as in other parts of the Western world, too - an enormous gulf now yawns between leaders and led.
People have concluded that politicians of all parties seem to inhabit a world apart, governed by self-interest, cynicism, corruption, incompetence, deep contempt for the electorate and an incorrigible instinct to deceive them.
Politicians know this. Which is why they all purport to stand on a platform of 'change'.
But change from what to what, precisely?
Unless there's a clear answer, 'change' becomes a pointless soundbite which risks creating an impression of yet more political sleight of hand.
This is the trap into which Barack Obama has fallen.
...
By contrast, Palin has a very strong sense of right and wrong rooted in her evangelical Christian faith. Perversely, this damns her in the eyes of the Left as the 'hard Right'.
This is clearly absurd: she is a working mother of five who has shown herself as capable of felling Big Oil and other political cartels against the public interest as shooting moose.
Moreover, her real achievement is to do what the Left assumed was utterly impossible: she makes social conservatism seem attractive.
Not only is she young, attractive, clever, witty and feisty; her love for her Down's Syndrome baby embodies hope for the future.
As for her pregnant 17-year-old daughter's proposed shotgun wedding, the priority there is the welfare of the unborn child.
By contrast, the 'right to choose' feminist Left, which also thinks all women have a right to deprive a baby of its father, appears not just callous and selfish, but even downright murderous.
Which is why so-called 'progressives' on both sides of the Atlantic have gone into paroxysms of rage and panic over Sarah Palin.
And it ends with this:
What the Cameroons have yet to grasp is that it was not so much conservative measures that the British public rejected, but Tory men.
There are millions who long for a conservative defence of Britain and its values by a leader they respect and admire.
Sarah Palin may well turn out to be Middle America's revenge on its elites.
Middle Britain is watching - and hoping that it will now be hunting season against the moose of the British Left, too.
I'd say "Somebody draw antlers on the PM", but that' probably be considered a 'terrorist threat' nowadays.
The other is on the mess in Africa.
Western do-gooders are impoverishing Africa by promoting traditional farming at the expense of modern scientific agriculture, according to Britain's former chief scientist.
Anti-science attitudes among aid agencies, poverty campaigners and green activists are denying the continent access to technology that could improve millions of lives, Professor Sir David King will say today.
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from Europe and America are turning African countries against sophisticated farming methods, including GM crops, in favour of indigenous and organic approaches that cannot deliver the continent's much needed “green revolution”, he believes.
Speaking before a keynote lecture tonight to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, of which he is president, Sir David said that the slow pace of African development was linked directly to Western influence. “I'm going to suggest, and I believe this very strongly, that a big part has been played in the impoverishment of that continent by the focus on nontechnological agricultural techniques, on techniques of farming that pertain to the history of that continent rather than techniques that pertain to modern technological capability. Why has that continent not joined Asia in the big green revolutions that have taken place over the past few decades? The suffering within that continent, I believe, is largely driven by attitudes developed in the West which are somewhat anti-science, anti-technology - attitudes that lead towards organic farming, for example, attitudes that lead against the use of genetic technology for crops that could deal with increased salinity in the water, that can deal with flooding for rice crops, that can deal with drought resistance.”
Here's a key piece:
“Solutions will only emerge if full use is made of modern agricultural technology methods, under progressive, scientifically informed regulation,” he will say. “The most advanced form of plant breeding, using modern genetic techniques, is now available to us. Plant breeding needs to meet a range of demands, including defences against evolving plant diseases, drought resistance, saline resistance, and flood tolerance. The problem is that the Western-world move toward organic farming - a lifestyle choice for a community with surplus food - and against agricultural technology in general and GM in particular, has been adopted across Africa, with the exception of South Africa, with devastating consequences.”
Hell, yes. And I hope he has a scattergun handy, because the EUnuch food weenies are going to want to hang him for saying this.
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