Unthreaded
Hilary Ostrov
Please keep broadcasting that link. It only takes 15 minutes to comprehend the problems facing the citizens of 'Europe'.
Green Sand
GC, deforestation does at least have the advantage of reducing the frequency of death by coconut. Of course CO2 is likely to make the problem worse. You heard it here first.
michael hart
As a sometime yachtie and country bumpkin, it occurs to me that Bangladesh is not a good place to be during a thunder and lightning storm. There are not many hills or mountains to take a strike, and the number of trees has been reduced. What is likely to be struck?
Wet ground is not good to be standing on, or in, in the event of a proximal or direct lightning strike, particularly if holding some metallic object. In the absence of natural or artificial lightning conductors/protection, it would be more surprising if deaths due to lightning strike had not risen with the increased population. Has the death rate per million people risen?
It should also be noted that there are no recorded deaths among golfers, due to lightning strike during the Medieval Warm Period, so something has changed.
golf charlie
As an expat (from long, long ago) I have watched with considerable dismay the apparent downfall of the U.K.. To some extent - from my perspective at least - this sorry state is a consequence of the machinations of the (decreasingly credible) United Nations (and its increasingly costly arms, elbows, hands, fingers etc. - many of which are unmandated) along with those of a major "partner", i.e. the EU.
If I were still living in the U.K. (instead of Canada which, IMHO, is also heading downhill under the "leadership" of Mr. Dimples, aka Trudeau Jr, an Obama-clone wannabe if ever there was one), I would be doing everything in my power to support the Brexiteers.
In this regard, I would strongly recommend Martin Durkin's Brexit the Movie. IMHO, it is well worth an hour of your time.
Hilary Ostrov
tomo:
Bangladesh is a very low-lying flat country. The predominant agriculture is rice and prawn/fish culture, hence a lot of the population spend their lives working in rice paddies and shallow lakes where they are the highest objects (aka lightning conductors) over many hectares.
It would be interesting to know if human lightning strikes are more common in other countries with similar low topography, compared to others with more varied topography?
Salopian
The BBC like any news 'outlet' acts as both an 'agency' and/or a 'source'.
As an 'agency' it repeats/relays news/articles from other sources and allocates origination and responsibility for the content/accuracy to another agency. eg (Voice of America (VoA) reported.) though there is always an inherent concern about being associated to something you haven't checked? But at the end of the day 'Not me Guv' will probably suffice?
If acting as a source (in the UK a prominence) then there is an inherent element of responsibility for the accuracy of the content or claims made in the content.
Example:-
The deceptions behind George Osborne’s Brexit report
".......For anyone who cares about honesty in politics, and the abuse (and reporting) of statistics, this is an interesting case study..........I’m a Europhile, but these are the kinds of tactics that make me want to vote ‘out’ – the appalling level of dishonesty with which the government is making the case. And while Nick Robinson did a brilliant job on Today, the BBC’s website is now Britain’s most-read news source (four times as popular as any newspaper) and it uncritically repeated Osborne’s concocted figure of £4,300. This points to a wider problem the BBC has about the reporting standards in its website, lower than that of its news broadcasts even though they now reach far more people......"
As an agency the BeeB web is correct in reporting what George said .....
But George is not 'another agency' George is a UK politician spreading his message. Is it not the responsibility of 'now Britain’s most-read news source (four times as popular as any newspaper)' to question/investigate such claims?
If not then who? Or does George just get a free Beeb Web ride?
This is not about Brexit, it is about the very difficult role the BeeB has to play 'agency' or 'source' and more too often, on certain germane subjects, the BeeB web sees it easier to default to the former than take on the responsibility of the latter.
Green Sand
re : terminal involuntary ECT in Bangladesh
The BBC story has been through "gathering" and subbing - I doubt that the two tasks are combined in one job. The take-away from the headline and first line of text is "lots of dead" and "rising temperature"
Stewgreen seems to have found it's not unusual.... I wonder at the claimed rise in lightning since 1981 - I'm guessing improved rural communications has impacted dramatically on incident reports.
Other places get a lot more lightning - is it just that risk perception is skewed in Bangladesh at the moment ?
As I said earlier - after a number of incidents over the years - I am quite circumspect about going outside in tropical thunderstorms.
Ah well.... another to add to the list
tomo
Perhaps there are just more people playing golf in Bangöladesh these days ?
ottokring
Christopher Booker on the latest lunacy from the "independent" Climate Change Committee The Fifth Carbon Budget - the most insane Act passed by Parliament.
Of course the only thing the CCC is independent of is intelligence.
Phillip Bratby
GC:
Golf did not exist until the 15th century when the Scots realised they were crap at archery compared to the Welsh and tried to invent a new martial art that turned out to be, not only rarely lethal, but also extremely boring.
It was only with the development of metal and carbon fibre golf sticks (instead of wooden ones) that a really lethal potential was developed. Unfortunately this was due to the holders of said lightning conductors being struck by lightning, rather than their missiles hitting a target.
The same stupidity could also be applied to anglers who chose to sit by a river in stormy weather holding a 10 metre carbon fibre fishing pole.