The English have a passionless anthem
EVER WONDERED WHAT HAPPENS TO ALL THAT RUBBISH YOU CAREFULLY SEPARATE AT HOME?
THE Echo feature of February 27 quoted Will Carling’s frustration when he observed the “unbelievable passion and pride” he encountered in Wales and Scotland and queried “Why can’t we be like this?”
There are probably three answers to this. First, England invented rugby,
cricket and football so the countries they exported it to will always have an added drive to beat them.
Secondly, England has so many more players, so many more clubs and is so much richer (more millionaire members of Harlequins than live in Wales, they say) that the odds are always stacked in their favour so when Wales or Scotland beat them it is always against massive odds.
Thirdly, it could be the anthems. God Save the Queen is a desperately plain
and passionless tune. Compare it with “Ireland, Ireland, Forever Standing Tall”; “O, Flower of Scotland”; “Italia, Italia”; “Aux armes, citoyens!”; and, of course, “Gwlad, Gwlad” and it’s no wonder the English have difficulty getting pumped up. England seem to be playing for themselves, Team England, whereas the other teams play for their nations, which is why it’s never “just a game”.
David Thomas
Llanwddyn, Powys
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THE DIRTY TRUTH ABOUT YOUR RUBBISH: DISPATCHES
Channel 4, 8pm
SHOCKING news for those of us who painstakingly separate our rubbish – a lot of it isn’t even being recycled.
So despite battling the constant ‘which bin?’ problem, and remaining baffled by more than 50 different recycling symbols on products, is it even doing any good?
In this Dispatches film, environmental journalist and campaigner Lucy Seigle investigates the rise of waste incineration in the UK, examining how millions of tonnes of waste that we leave out for recycling actually ends up being burned.
She says: “I’ve watched the phenomenal rise in waste incineration across the UK. Up until the mid-90s we sent 90% of our waste to landfill.
“It was a cheap and easy way to dispose of our rubbish. But its impact on the environment was catastrophic.”
The solution was to burn it. But burning waste creates more carbon emissions than you think and could be holding back our recycling rates.
Burning is the cheapest and easiest solution at the moment, but exclusive research in this film reveals that incineration is on course to become the UK’s dirtiest form of energy production.
There are currently 48 incinerators in the UK, with another 18 on the way.
The programme also looks at how councils are locked into expensive multi-million pound contracts with incinerator operators, forcing them to burn waste for decades to come. “So they’re trapped?” asks Lucy.
Meanwhile, a spotlight on other countries reveals how the UK is falling behind.
Says Lucy: “There are major concerns.”