There’s a saying in England, that pride comes before a fall. Over the years I’ve seen many examples that the old wisdom can be relied on. The most graphic, in my 78 years was when I was quite young, involved in erecting an extension to the switch-house at Blyth Power Station (Cambois) in Northumberland.

In my blog Didcot Diaries I mentioned how dangerous to life and limb some construction sites can turn out to be.
Recently, I’ve reported that three of the Coal-powered Electricity Stations I worked on have been unceremoniously ‘blown-up’.
The good news is that these monstrosities are no longer pumping millions of cubic metres of CO2 into the atmosphere. There is of course a ‘downside’. Loss of jobs for local population, and what to do with the site when it’s been levelled?

Don’t panic! AI, the ‘next best thing’ will be our saviour, and the old Cambois site will host a ‘data centre’, with myriad racks of computer systems, consume enormous amounts of electricity, and require very large amounts of water to keep it ‘cool man!’.

Jobs? – ‘Who said that?’ Yes. There will be jobs. Black-suited security guards, cleaners, and rack technicians.
The highly-paid folks that can, and do run these systems, do it from afar, India, the US, even the UK, but don’t include the canny folks of Blyth.

The ugliness of pride goes on. ‘Leaders’ and politicians strut their stuff, ‘Look how clever I am, I’ve done this, and that, and there’s even more to come!’

Yes Mr. Starmer, I’ve seen enough examples of ‘pride’ that has left me believing that some folks that elevate themselves to positions of power, are essentially simply stupid – because of pride.

My account that follows is true, it did happen, no less true than the idiocy I’m witnessing today from proud figure-heads.
Pride