Oft forgotten Cumbria was in the news quite a lot last week.
We had the Public Accounts Select Committee sitting in Parliament reporting on the eyewatering sums being spent at Sellafield, as reported elsewhere on Cumbria Crack, while events at the shipyard in Barrow gets even more coverage keeping Editor who must be obeyed very busy!
Whenever I venture away and am asked where I am from, rather than say Cumbria/Cumberland, as most people haven’t a clue where that is, I usual say, “on the edge of the Lake District”.
The area is renowned for the magnificent landscapes although, thankfully for us locals who revel in not being swamped by tourist hordes in Ambleside or Keswick, the equally magnificent and diverse coastline is equally accessible.
But mention Sellafield and you are looked at closely as if looking for the extra limb or finger!
Sellafield is tasked with dealing with the waste from earlier nuclear power generating plants both on site and from others around the UK. It is fortunate, over the years, to have built up an expertise in all things nuclear, something the workforce can be proud of.
Despite this, listening to the questions at the Public Accounts Committee, one gets the impression that to some politicians, Sellafield and the people who work there and rely on the money it brings in, caused the waste.
To them, we are not those who are dealing with the consequences of generations of ignorance on behalf of the nation, but somehow complicit in the lack of knowledge and understanding and spending far too much doing it.
The opposite is true in Barrow-in-Furness where the expertise of the workers at BAE Systems, is celebrated as one the world’s experts in producing nuclear submarines.
So much so that the King has conferred a Royal title on it – Royal Port of Barrow – although maybe Barrow Regis or Royal Barrow-in-Furness might be better.
But what seems strange is that those at Sellafield are somehow vilified because they are trying to clean up a mess on behalf of us all, while Barrow is producing weaponry that the Defence Secretary, John Healey, says, has the power to do “untold damage to adversaries such as Russia with its nuclear deterrent (Not sure how a deterrent can do damage but who am I to argue with a Minister of the Crown!).
This observation in no way diminishes the work, knowledge and accomplishments of either sets of workers, both of which we should be proud of, but it does highlight that the focus is on having the ability to kill tens of thousands of people, something that I don’t believe makes us any safer in a very dangerous world.
So, let’s move beyond the political rhetoric, and make sure that the future for Cumbria is bright. A new mayor – oh the fun and games that will bring – maybe a Small Modular Nuclear reactor for West Cumbria, more orders for submarines for Royal Barrow, and maybe some more car parking in the lakes.
Oh, and don’t forget the potholes – we might lead the world in building subs or cleaning up nuclear waste, but we are pretty poor at sorting out the roads…… We need the Romans for that!
About Cumbria Cat
Born in Cumberland and, now, back living in Cumberland, having spent most of the past 50 years in some place called Cumbria, this cat has used up all nine lives as well as a few others.
Always happy to curl up on a friendly lap, the preference is for a local lap and not a lap that wants to descend on the county to change it into something it isn’t. After all, you might think Cumbria/Cumberland/Westmorland is a land forged by nature – the glaciers, the rivers, breaking down the volcanic rocks or the sedimentary layers – but, in reality, the Cumbria we know today was forged by generations of local people, farmers, miners, quarriers, and foresters.
This cat is a local moggy, not a Burmese, Ocicat or Persian, and although I have been around the block a few times, whenever I jump, I end up on my feet back in my home county. I am passionate about the area, its people, past, present and future, and those who come to admire what we hold dear, be it lakes and mountains, wild sea shores, vibrant communities or the history as rich and diverse as anywhere in the world.
