Idus Martiae, or Ides of March to the Romans is our 15th March. They celebrated it with religious observances, but it is now better known as the day when Julius Caesar was assassinated and so marked the change in Roman history from a Republic to an Empire.
In Britain, March has been a traditional time for stormy weather and an old saying often had it, “coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb.” And, although I am writing this piece in early February, I wouldn’t be surprised if March brought us a drop or two of water to go with that already filling the aquifers to overflowing.
Talking of overflowing aquifers reminded me of the time when there were two dredgers plying the river between Gloucester and Tewkesbury until some official decided he would make the two boats and eight men redundant. This action surprised me because I knew, that as a river gets closer to sea level silt is increasingly deposited on its bed. So it was no surprise to see more frequent flooding around Tewkesbury and Gloucester and now the Somerset levels.
The response to flooding by the National Rivers Authority and Environment Agency has been interesting. They quickly put experts on TV to patronisingly tell us that flooding is a complicated issue and that dredging is just one factor, thus by implication, suggesting that ordinary folk know nothing about the issue of flooding. Their spokesmen then called for more reports and time to come up with a plan.
For farmers and householders whose homes are flooded, more research, more reports and more committees are not what are needed. They need action and, if dredging causes a few newts in the river bed to relocate upstream, that will undoubtedly please philosalamandridaes (Newt Lovers) everywhere.
Whilst on the theme of water, readers might not know that it is the folks in Brussels who pretty well control our water, and that only today I was reading a report on the EU Policy on Water and Drought prepared for the European & Economic Social Committee. The report essentially says that more reports are needed and more must be done. That conclusion left me somewhat confused, as billions of words about water are already published on EU websites, and so I couldn’t see what additional insights would be revealed by even more words. All of which makes me wonder if people in government believe that when they put the word ‘action’ into a report then miraculously things change in real life?
Talking about words however, reminds me that some years ago I told readers that we now use more words to say less than did previous generations and by way of example; I contrasted the number of words in the Ten Commandments (179) with the EU’s policy on egg production for small producers (36,683)
Recently a reader gave me another set of stats which shows the trend continuing. I leave you to conclude what you will:
Archimedes’ Principle: ……………………………….. 67 words
Ten Commandments: ………………………………… 179 words
US Declaration of Independence : ……………….. 1,300 words
US Constitution with all 27 Amendments: …….. 7,818 words
EU Regulations on the Sale of CABBAGES: ..…… 26,911 words
One conclusion could be that, the less profound the subject the greater the propensity to wrap it up in words.
It was with this in mind that I decided to estimate the number of words likely to be spoken during the typical ten minute sermon and, to my surprise, it is roundabout 1500. This raised the possibility that each time I lean back in the pew, I will be hearing a message of similar duration to the US Declaration of Independence. And that changed the world!
A ten minute sermon also raises the hope that we shall hear something that will inform us, encourage us, inspire us and hopefully comfort us as we live in a secular world which seems to believe words speak louder than actions, and that more words equates to more actions.
Thank goodness the central message of the sermon, and of the New Testament which was echoed by persecuted Christians throughout Rome, goes like this;
“Res non verba” ………. “Actions not Words.” ……..
View from the Pew 