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What a week: From baby otters to Bali bust-ups

Orphaned otter Baby Belle snuggles up in a fur coat at The New Arc rescue centre. Image: The New Arc.
Orphaned otter Baby Belle snuggles up in a fur coat at The New Arc rescue centre. Image: The New Arc.

“We’re going back to the moon,” said Nasa, making it sound as reasonable as someone popping home at lunchtime because they think they might have left the oven on.

Moon first, next stop Mars, everyone cool with that?

As awestruck as I was watching the Artemis rocket take off, it seems like the least useful thing to do at this crucial moment for our planet.

Nasa’s Space Launch System rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft launches on the Artemis I flight test from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday. Image: NASA/Joel Kowsky/Zuma Press Wire Service/Shutterstock.

Admittedly I lost interest in Cop27 after reports that up to 400 private jets had flown into Sharm El-Sheik for the summit.

Thursday’s pledge from the chancellor to stay committed to the Glasgow Climate Pact, including a 68% reduction in emissions by 2030, was welcome but what gave me more cause for hope was the Mock Cop27 in the Highlands (The P&J, Nov 15).

Children as young as six took part in the event, a reminder that for the younger generation, making climate-friendly decisions is simply second nature.

Liam Daly from Charleston Academy speaking as a representative of the US when Highland pupils took part in the Mock COP27. Image supplied by Ewen Weatherspoon.

The UN said the planet’s population reached eight billion on Tuesday and I reckon at least half of them were in front of me in the queue at the post office.

The other half were ahead of me in the telephone queue for the doctor’s surgery.

I say “post office” but I mean a window at the back of a petrol station that has to serve a town of more than 10,000 people.

Come the Christmas postal deadlines I expect I’ll have to camp out on the forecourt to beat the last-minute rush.

Frustrations

I’m not alone in my frustrations. A survey by the BMA in Scotland revealed the lowest levels of public satisfaction with GP services in more than a decade (The P&J, Nov 15).

Meanwhile Baby Belle, an orphan otter, is getting lots of care at The New Arc rescue centre which appealed for old fur coats to provide a “super snuggly bed” (The P&J, Nov 14).

Baby Belle the otter snuggled into one of the old fur coats donated to the New Arc. All images: New Arc.

The pictures of Baby Belle all warm and cosy were in stark contrast to what was the frostiest image of the week – from the G20 summit in Bali.

It’s hard to make Don Draper tribute act Justin Trudeau look bad but Chinese president Xi Jinping managed it by giving him a dressing down in front of the cameras.

Something to do with the Canadian PM leaking meeting details to the press – whatevs.

Fans gather for a selfie with Justin Trudeau in Bali, Indonesia. Image: Canadian Press/Shutterstock.

Of much greater significance was the three-hour meeting between Presidents Xi and Biden, who are in what is arguably the world’s most important on-again, off-again relationship.

Setting a more positive tone for US-China relations they agreed to resume communication on climate change, economic stability and health and food security.

Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping shake hands before their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit, in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia. Image: Alex Brandon/AP/Shutterstock.

They didn’t discuss the “lunar economy” as astronaut Helen Sharman described it, when she suggested the race to the moon was partly to best China.

I don’t want to think about us raiding another celestial body for its resources and so I’ll be telling the kids Nasa’s haste is because it wants to disprove hoax allegations about the first lunar landing.

Guess who’s back

Talking about conspiracy theorists, Trump threw his hat into the ring for president on Tuesday night.

And there’s me thinking the big orange blob that has hoved into view recently was the planet Saturn as it becomes more visible from Earth.

The Simpsons didn’t make the same mistake and in fact the producer said it had been right in its predictions with a 2015 cartoon featuring a flying Homer Simpson and a sign reading “Trump 2024” (The P&J, Nov 16).

Donald Trump announces he is running for president for the third time at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. Image: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik.

More seriously on Tuesday night, a missile landed on Polish territory near the Ukrainian border.

Investigations started immediately to determine whether it had come from the Russian side or from Ukrainian anti-aircraft defence.

Journalists got straight to work analysing the implications and collared defence experts over the wording of Nato Articles 4 and 5.

As a result I spent the morning, while waiting in a queue for something, trying to work out whether World War III had in fact started and pondering the absurdity of Dominic Raab ordering an investigation into himself.

It’s like David Banner became deputy prime minister and needs someone to fill him in about his behaviour once he’s changed back from being the Hulk.

When those Highland pupils talked about “going green” this is really not what they had in mind.

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