I looked out of the window in the small hours of this morning and saw the huge moon on its way down. It will be full tonight. If it stays clear, as it seems set fair to do, we’ll see it rising over the hill in the mid to late afternoon. This one is apparently a Wolf Moon, so called because of wolves howling at the moon in the winter months. Fortunately we don’t get the wolves howling at the moon around here. It’s quite cold enough though!
Things to worry about in 2026: ring-necked parakeets. Apparently there has been a huge increase on numbers of these exotic immigrants in the UK. First appearing in the wild in the 1960, they are believed to have been pets which escaped, or were perhaps set free when their owner tired of them.
Between 1994 and 2023 they have increased 25-fold - perhaps another consequence of climate change is that the winters have not killed them off. Still more likely to be seen in the skies, parks, and woodlands around London and suburban areas in the south east, they’ve also been spotted in Manchester and as far north as Newcastle. I’ll keep a lookout for them. The problem is that they frighten off native species because they take up so much room at bird-feeders. In Spain apparently they also chase bats away from their usual habitat. Oh, dear!
Even in the animal kingdom it seems that some species want to push others out of the way.
In the human sphere, I read this:
“Israel is banning 25 major aid groups from Gaza starting January 1st, including Doctors Without Borders, which serves nearly half a million Palestinians with critical medical care and water. Over 1.3 million people still need urgent shelter while 740,000 face toxic flooding from collapsed sanitation systems due to Israel's bombardment. Winter rains and collapsing buildings from Israel's genocide have killed at least 20 Palestinians.”
Here’s a cartoon by Carlos Latuff.
Then there is this:
“The Israeli army rounded up at least 50 Palestinians in military raids across the occupied West Bank on Thursday, an advocacy group said, Anadolu reports.
Former prisoners, including a woman, were among those arrested in the raids that targeted the cities of Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Hebron, Tubas, Tulkarem, Nablus, Jenin, and East Jerusalem, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a statement.
It added that the arrest campaign was accompanied by extensive home raids, abuse, assaults against detainees and their families, and destruction of property.
According to the group, the Israeli army arrested more than 7,000 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank last year.
Separately, Israeli army forces demolished two Palestinian homes east of Jericho in the West Bank and issued a notice to demolish a third, citing construction without a permit.
Local sources told Anadolu that Israeli forces and bulldozers stormed the area and razed the two buildings in areas classified as “Area C.”
Israeli forces and illegal settlers have killed at least 1,105 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, injured nearly 11,000, and detained around 21,000 since October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.
In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”
It rather looks as though 2026 is not greatly different from 2025.
According to this cartoon it would seem that the Owl and the Pussycat fared no better than other refugees.
But here’s a cartoon that made me smile.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment