More weirdness

So the Bank of England's base rate is back where it started in 1694, at 2%. The only time it's stuck at that level was during the Great Depression and the World War in the 1930s and 40s. Amazing! The banks won't lend money because they lost so much in dodgy lending, so now you lower interest rates so that even more people will be clamouring for loans, but who is going to put their savings into banks, when the interest won't even compensate for inflation?!

Still, let's keep a sense of proportion. We in the rich West are not going to starve, but we are buying up land in poor countries to grow biofuel crops to keep our cars running, when the people in those countries are desperate for food. And that is on top of all the land in the tropics which is producing soya and maize to feed our cows and pigs and chickens. Actually we should farm something cold-blooded and slow moving, such as slugs, which don't waste half of the food they eat keeping warm and moving about. Or we could just eat soya!

Good news at least for gorillas: The U.N. has declared 2009 to be the Year of the Gorilla.