The Prime Minister and ministers will use allocated airtime to appeal for donations to charities working for East African famine relief.

Oxfam’s Humanitarian Director Jane Cocking said:

“This is a timely reminder that the crisis in East Africa is continuing to push people beyond their ability to cope. With months to go before the next harvest, and increasing conflict, we are still seeing thousands of people flee their homes in search of aid.

“The world’s largest refugee camp in the world, Dadaab, will soon reach 500,000, close to the size of the city of Manchester — as the Conservatives gather there, people continue to flee the famine in Somalia for Dadaab every day. They arrive hungry, weak and in need of emergency aid.

“Oxfam has so far raised more than £7 million for the people of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia and reached more than 2 million people with aid. But our response is still significantly underfunded and the crisis is only getting worse in parts of the region. People will need help for years to come in order to recover from the worst emergency in the world today.”

“I absolutely loved filthy cities! Informative and accurate with great cgis!”

Dan Snow must have been relieved to reach the end of the recent BBC TV series: filthy cities, which has seen him faced with more unspeakable cocktails of undiluted nastiness over three programmes than most historians would care to experience in a lifetime.

In the final episode he waded through the squalor of New York as it would have been at the height of the Industrial Revolution, when thousands of migrants arrived every day from Europe. There were mountains of filth in the streets and the immigrants were crammed together in tenement slums infested with cockroaches. And yet the building of the Croton Aqueduct, the development of sewage plants and the discovery of electricity meant that New York became a gleaming monument to modernity in less than a century.

To celebrate the conclusion of the short series of Filthy Cities the BBC have produced a short compilation of Dirty Words and Filthy Phrases which I’d like to share…

Throughout the series historian Dan Snow took the travelogue in a whole new direction – with extraordinary, hands-on demos and state of the art CGI – he delved deep into the murky past in gruesome detail during defining periods in history.

More like this please!

Guest post from Daniel who works for the innovative organisation that donates  proceeds of scrap cars to charity writes:

Cancel out your climate debt with Giveacar

Do you ever feel guilty, being a car owner? Are you one of those car owners who rarely drives, whose vehicle spends far more time sitting on a driveway than with the engine running? Especially with the recent stratospheric rises in petrol and car insurance, coupled with improving public transport infrastructure in urban areas; owning a car seems to be interpretable in one of two ways.

Either owning a car is irresponsible for the environment, especially in situations where perhaps it’s more logical not to own a car; or car owners are unfairly maligned, all tarred with the same brush, all portrayed as people who just don’t care about the state of the world.

Since January 2010, Giveacar has raised over £250,000 for a collective group of over 300 charities.

I don’t think either statement is true, for the record, but both of them have their points. There are some living situations where the price of public transport (even notwithstanding the steep rise in train fares in the UK) falls far below what it would cost to run and maintain a car. However, owning a car doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re environmentally and socially irresponsible. There are ways of driving which can help; such as, for example, changing gears when between 1500 and 2500 RPM can save up to 15% on your fuel.

Have you ever thought about donating your car?

However, there is another way to regain your balance with the environment. Have you ever thought about donating your car?

Modelled on similar US ideas such as CharityCar.us, Giveacar is an innovative social enterprise that facilitates scrap car donation. One simple phone call is required; and Giveacar will arrange collection of your vehicle at no cost to you. Depending on the age and condition, it will either be sold to a car salvage auction or scrapped. The proceeds will be donated to a charity of your choice after the subtraction of a small administration fee.

Since January 2010, Giveacar has raised over £250,000 for a collective group of over 300 charities.

Normally when you donate £1 to Oxfam to help the charity’s ongoing efforts to fight poverty and suffering around the world some of the money is used to cover essential running costs.

Donate to Charity

During February, if you donate to Oxfam GB using Paypal they will cover these costs! So 100% of your donation will go straight to fighting poverty. See the video.

Once you understand this your diet will improve.

Pretty simple, isn’t it?

If everybody grasped this succinct truth, the Diet Industry would go out business overnight.

Although some argue that it isn’t a case of just eat less. It should be eat differently. It is quality, not quantity which matters. If you eat decent quality food, then you will automatically gradually reduce the quantity because the quality will make up for the quantity. More nourishing food is generally more filling and forms a healthy diet.

The problem is that in our society we are constantly being surrounded by food which essentially tastes good, but is very poor in nutrients. It is basically just a sugar rush. But as long as the demand from the masses is there for this junk food, the companies making it will keep on supplying it.

It is simple economics. In this case it is demand and supply.

What do you know, I’ve been on loads of diets and you’ve never been on one

It’s not rocket science. We know what we need to do to lose weight… It’s the willpower that is the problem ! Oh and also the choc addiction…

Reading around I discovered various suggestions for the secret of weight loss for the fat and lazy – just don’t have the calorific stuff in the house and when the munchies hit – invariably you’ll be too lazy to do anything about it – certainly not get off the sofa and walk to the shops – well it works for some.

To lose weight, eat fewer calories than your body uses. There wouldn’t be a dieting industry if people just understood that. The women in my family seem to think there’s a magic formula in diets that allows them to cheat this rule and they laugh when I tell them it’s as simple as that. “What do you know, I’ve been on loads of diets and you’ve never been on one”

One commenter in The Times went further suggesting that “It may sound drastic but the only way we’ll lose weight as a nation is to be put on rations. There is too much food available. Supermarkets, petrol stations, cafes like Starbucks and Cafe Nero, and Greggs which produce very low nutritional-high fat/sugary pastries etc.”

Happy New Year – and EAT LESS

It is interesting that there are many arguments banded about that seems to suggest that because scientists cannot prove beyond doubt that there is man made climate change – then there is definitely not.

I find it difficult to believe that the number of humans on the planet does not have a detrimental effect on our climate and/or eco-system.

I come at this from a slightly different angle. Reading reports aboout the devastating effects of climate change from non profit organisations such as Oxfam I find it difficult to believe that the number of humans on the planet does not have a detrimental effect on our climate and/or eco-system.

I think about these facts: near tripling of population since 1950, an estimated doubling of power use in the last 30 years, a 25% increase in food production per head of global population (despite the population explosion) since 1960, increased air travel and 600 million cars on the plant. Have we really achieved all of this without impacting on both the climate and the eco-system?

Perhaps we have but the common sense part of me doubts it. I am not an eco-warrior by any stretch of the imagination but neither am I an ostrich with my head in the sand.

The trouble is that society is driven (in the majority) by the dual goals of living longer and consuming more of bigger and better things. Governments have encouraged this as it drives productivity, gives the proles something to aspire towards. Even now the government does not have the courage of its green convictions: fraudulent eco-taxes on motorists whilst commissioning coal fired power stations. Really messed up, contradictory policies that only serve to disenfranchise people rather than encourage them to consider resource use.

Climate change video

We are lucky in the west. We’ve outsourced pollution on a massive scale. We can live in ignorant bliss of the pollution from cities such as Chongqing in China and the devastation of the Yangtze River eco-system. Perhaps however we will reap the ill effects of this pollution.

I am not convinced in the slightest that we can reverse any of these trends. Most people believe we can multiply and consume to infinity without impacting global climate change.

Many stores have an extensive selection of Christmas hampers and will gladly charge and arrange for delivery in time for Christmas. All you need to do is pick out items that you would like to include in the hamper and the store does the rest. Pre-packed Christmas hampers are also widely available and delicatessens’ will often provide hampers with produce of the country of your choice.

Make Your Own Christmas Hamper

How about putting together your own Christmas hamper as a gift? It needn’t be expensive or time consuming and with some imagination, you can create the perfect, personalised gift hamper.

Personalised Gift Hampers

Keep the person in mind who you are buying for – remember their interests and tastes (not necessarily yours!).  Choose your hamper theme, set a budget and begin your hunt for items for the hamper. Remember, if you sending the hamper by Royal Mail, the cost of postage may affect your budget, so from a cost and breakage perspective, avoid including heavy glass items in your hamper (with perhaps the exception of a small bottle of home made sloe gin). If you are personally handing it on, fill it to the brim – but make sure the person receiving the hamper is able to carry it home.

What to Put in a Home Made Hamper

Once you have a theme for your hamper, draw up a list of what you would like to include.

Aim to include something fun, beautiful and useful in your gift selection.

Here are two ideas for making personalised gift hampers to get you thinking:

Alternative Gift Hampers

Remember – a hamper can be created to suit all tastes – and that doesn’t necessarily mean food and drink just because it’s a Christmas gift!

Not everyone wants to indulge at Christmas – you can create a healthy christmas hamper and include some of the following ideas:

• detox tea
• luxury cereal bars
• Health Food shop voucher
• selection of vitamins
• a skipping rope
• box of low fat cereal
• a tape measure
• bathroom scales
• bottles of energy drink

Eco Gift Hamper

Wrap gifts in newspaper for an alternative look and aim to buy your purchases from second hand or charity shops – don’t forget charity gifts are another unusal gift idea. Look out for books on waste management and recycling or ideas for allotment gardening; buy energy lighting bulbs, battery rechargers, can crushers, or soap savers. Your thrift will be appreciated!

With a little imagination, you will be giving the perfect, personalised gift by making Christmas Hamper.

More than 1,000 people have been killed in Pakistan by the worst flooding to hit the country.

Disease is the new threat after more than a million people hit by monsoon deluges in northwest of Pakistan.

The huge scale of damage from the Pakistan floods caused by a week of heavy monsoons is still being assessed, but officials say over a thousand are dead and tens of thousands more are stranded with a further two million affected in North West Pakistan.

Pakistan flood news video

Oxfam in Pakistan

Oxfam has been working with communities in Pakistan since the 1970′s and has supported more than forty emergency projects in the last 20 years. To assist the displaced people of the Swat Valley, Oxfam is working with trusted local partners to support those in most urgent need of assistance in the main camps and in communities.

Oxfam has begun an emergency aid effort for the victims of the worst flood in Pakistan for 35 years.

Donate to the Pakistan flood appeal

Worst flood in Pakistan for 35 years

Rescuers, aided by the military, are battling to bring supplies to people trapped in remote areas, while camps have been set up for those whose homes and businesses have been washed away or submerged by the floodwaters.

A westerly weather system sweeping in over Iran and Afgahnistan and the regional monsoon season combined to cause the worst downpour ever recorded in Pakistan.

The northwest of the country was hit hardest, with more than a million people affected by flash floods and mudslides.

Hundreds of people have drowned in the Peshawar valley, which includes the districts of Nowshera and Charsadda, and many others are still missing, according to a disaster management official.

More than 400 people were also killed by heavy flooding in the districts of Swat and Shangla.

Latifur Rehman, spokesman for the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, said: “Aerial monitoring is being conducted, and it has shown that whole villages have washed away, animals have drowned and grain storages have washed away.”

Officials warned that the death toll from the flooding could go even higher as rescue workers have been unable to access certain areas because of the severe floods.

There is the added risk of the water-borne diseases, such as cholera, spreading in the flooded communities.

More than 30,000 Pakistani army troops have rescued more than 19,000 people from the marooned areas but officials conceded some might still be trapped and awaiting help in remote areas including Kohistan, Nowshera, Dir and in the Swat valley.

Major-General Athar Abbas, an army spokesman, said: “The level of devastation is so widespread, so large, it is quite possible that in many areas there are damages, there are deaths which may not have been reported.”

Abbas added: “Virtually no bridge has been left in Swat. All major and minor bridges have gone, destroyed completely by the floods.”

The US embassy in Islamabad said it was assisting with the rescue efforts and pledged more than $10 million in immediate humanitarian aid.

Wine snobs get right up my nose but unfortunately “nose” has been previously spoke of by whine snobs.

Wine snobs are no fun, but neither are knuckle draggers who insist on complete wine ignorance.

Amateurs often end up tongue-tied, but I find many experts wind up being overly eloquent and/or exact about the wines they taste. Consider this excerpt description of a Chateauneuf du Pape wine that I received in a mailing from an online wine store:

“… this prodigious effort boasts an inky/blue/purple color to the rim in addition to an exceptional bouquet of camphor, roasted meats, blueberries, black cherries, black currants, truffles, beef blood, pepper, and incense….”

Solution for this non-existent dilemma of descibing wine (for some people):

Non Pretentious Wine Tasting

Be non-pretentious and simply state whether it smells good or not, tastes good or not, & if it reminds you of a certain flower or fruit. No need for verbosity or pompousness.

This works for me every time & if I am asked to nit-pick it even more I tell them I don’t care about the details. If I sit next to a wine snob who won’t stop talking, I tell them beer tastes better than wine any day….that will surely shut them up.

In an article in the Times recently a reader commented that during an Etihad flight to Australia they sat with a viticulturist who made the following observation following a trip to France and Italy.

The space on the back of a wine bottle is valuable real estate. Most european wineries ignore it or put drivel there.

The few wineries that have amusing or useful information help sway a sale (at least for me).

Let’s see now; the idiot shoe bomber got on an American international flight, and as a result, we all have to remove our shoes as part of security screening. Then, we had the would-be suicide bomber who was going to mix chemicals on board to create a bomb, and as a result we all must separate our lotions and potions, putting them in a separate Zip-lock bag of precisely one-quart size and with no item of more than 100ml. One of these days, a would-be terrorist is going to try the deed while wearing chemical-soaked clothing, so I guess we can expect to be required to strip to the buff for security screening.

But chances are we will never see an “underwear bomber”. It’s proven that you can’t pack enough explosives in even the most generous women’s underwear to bring down a jetliner anyway. So why should we be checking the genitals of millions of passengers, when they will just blow up the security line, the train, a bus, or something easier to do?

All that we will accomplish is to alienate the traveling public and put a few airlines out of business – Invasion of the Full-Body Scanners

If we today had the courage demonstrated by our forebearers, when we arrived at the scanning machine and took off our shoes, etc, we would just strip down to the buff, and walk through. Having thousands of travellers in the buff at multiple airports across the land would put an end to this insanity very quickly.