They shoot gorillas don't they?

I am writing this in the gloom of an English summer day. May 31st, dark grey and very wet and rather depressing. Well the day may not be depressing that could be my general mood today with my allergies firing on all cylinders and the medication from my doctor causing me to feel a little "out of it/detached"

I wanted to start this entry by writing something about Harambe, the gorilla shot dead in Cincinnati for the perceived threat it posed to a 4 year old child who had fallen into the enclosure after squeezing through the security fence etc.  Children are curious and I know from my experience at London Zoo, children love gorillas, I love gorillas, they are magnificent and no I wouldn't want to be in an enclosure with a 170kg male gorilla, he would rip me apart, well he may rip me apart, we can't know. These animals can be gentle and dangerous. I watched the video a few times and I don't feel that the gorilla would have harmed the child. He was rough with the child, but even if he tried to be as gentle as he could, 170kg animals are not ballerinas.  The gorilla could have killed the child as soon as he found him, he didn't he dragged him around and to me that looked like an animal dragging its own child from danger. Dogs, cats, tigers all drag their young around and it can look brutal to us humans but it isn't.  There has been an uproar about the parenting that led to a child falling into a gorilla enclosure, there has been an uproar about the zoo and the killing of an endangered animal. The whole story is sad because it is all about judging, we judge parents by our own standards and we judge animals by our own cruelty, sadly the gorilla was caught in the middle. I would love to hear the child's story and I am sure the parents will be profiting from their story with TV interviews etc. I hope they donate some of their profits to charities trying to save endangered animals, animals endangered by our own stupidity and greed! I for one, will mourn Harambe.

Indeed, being British certainly doesn't mean turning our backs on our neighbours in a fit of political spite!

As well as gorillas being shot because of careless parenting, here in the UK we have the EU in/out/shake it all about referendum coming up soon. June 23rd.  For such a huge decision the campaigning has been clownish, amateur and as informative as a tub of play-doh.  I know how I am voting, I have known all along, I for one have benefited from the EU and the movement of labour and have friends from 8 EU countries and have worked with people from many more.  I know that the problems the UK faces regarding housing, the NHS, inequality etc are domestic issues caused by our own politicians, sadly there are many people who blame foreigners and foreign agents/organisations. The British (more so an English issue than a Scottish) have done so for centuries, we have meddled in the affairs of our neighbours, starting with Ireland and moving on to the mainland, we have meddled, assassinated, invaded and set our rivals against each other yet now our Exit campaigners are saying they don't want others meddling in our affairs.  The extent to which Brussels interferes in our/my affairs is nothing compared to how the UN and NATO influence my government and it's decisions, they are both infringing on our sovereignty but we hear nothing about that from the Exit campaign.  The Exit campaign comes out with economic figures that are reminiscent of my niece's maths homework (she is 7), the In campaign are no better. They should be informing the electorate, informing not scaring. I hope people will vote with their brains and not their hearts on June 23^rd  The economic and social future of my country rests on an ill informed electorate on June 23rd. Mon dieu! And as for Boris Johnson, “beware the clown, he fools us all”

May 31st 2016.