SELFISHNESS AND LOOKING AFTER NUMBER ONE (1 POINT) THE FUTURE OF THE PLANET (NIL POINTS).

tant.

Common sense tells us that we need to move away from the most polluting vehicles as quickly as possible – it’s ghastly when you are in a car and are stuck for any length of time behind a vehicle puffing out fumes, and who would want to live in houses beside London’s busiest streets, breathing in fumes every day?, I know I wouldn’t. And recent inquests have demonstrated that urgent action is needed to cut down pollution in cities, because lives are being lost through it.

However, If there is anything to be learned from the by-election in London, it is that change and charging must be introduced gradually, but is there enough time left for people to put their own selfinterests first and the planet a poor second?

If electors are, in future, going to vote for a political party which will do next to nothing when it comes to climate change, then we must all be prepared to face ever more severe heat, storms, rising sea levels and failing crops causing huge price rises for all types of food. When the tipping point will be when the majority are prepared to suffer a reduction in living standards, goodness knows.

Ask people in the Greek islands, both residents and holiday-makers, who have experienced the result of ever dryer and hotter summers, and they will say the tipping point has already passed. No doubt those experiencing ever-hotter summers in Spain will say the same.

MORE THAN 500 CHILDREN TAKE PART IN THE PILAR DE LA HORADADA SUMMER SCHOOL.

The municipal summer school "Vacaciones en tu Pueblo" "is always a priority annual activity for the municipality of Pilar de la Horadada”.

Marina Sáez, Councillor for Social Services, said that, "It is a service aimed at families in Pilar de la Horadada in order to facilitate the time of care and attention for minors in this non-school period of July and August".

Holidays in your Town is an activity aimed at boys and girls from the municipality who are aged between 3 and 12 years and that takes place during the months of July and August at the CEIP

But this debate about climate change action versus cost goes much further than taxing polluting vehicles.

Take people living in picturesque villages and towns around the country. Yes, the population would generally support climate change action – until they are asked to have a solar farm close-by, or a wind farm, and heaven forbid if someone suggested that wind power should come from wind turbines built on the top of hills and mountains. The same old selfishness is there.

When we drive across Spain, we see many turbines stretching across the highest ground – it makes a lot of sense, because the strongest winds are at high elevations and are more consistent too. But in Britain? Oh no. Turbines are out to sea, where winds are often less strong and the turbines themselves are not likely to last as long because of sea and salt erosion.

Sadly, it seems the only way to change people’s attitudes and make them live greener lives and achieve a net-zero target by 2050, is to legislate – but has any political party in Britain the balls to actually do it and risk rebellion in the polls?

There is another dimension to the whole debate the action needed to combat climate change. While it seems that Britain’s political elite want to be seen to be taking a lead, the huge polluters around the world, China, India, the rich countries in the Arab/Muslim world and America are still pumping out greenhouse gases to maintain their economies, extracting oil and gas and pretending that the day of judgement can be put off until 2050.

So, why should the British public suffer an economic downturn and poorer living standards while many other countries are not prepared to suffer any pain?

Perhaps all this is beyond politi- cians to cure because the lord and masters, the electors will always act like turkeys voting for Christmas. Perhaps our future lies with the major companies acting together to rectify their polluting ways.

But will they put the environment and the planet first and put making more and more money every year into second place? I’ll let you to provide the answer.

Mediterráneo.

This year 555 students have enrolled and are making use of the facilities from 07:40 in the morning, where organised leisure, sports, cultural and social activities can be enjoyed during the school hours from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. after which the dining room is open until 3 p.m.

The municipal summer school also welcomes children who are in a situation of need, vulnerability or risk, assessed by social services, by financing a Contract-Program agreement under the name "Support for children (summer period)" and with funding amounting to 16,214.16 euros.

Additional finance also comes from the CoResponsible Plan, with funds received from the Ministry of Equality and Secretary of State for Equality and against Gender Violence, with an amount of 77,425.40 euros.

Just some of the children who have benefitted from the scheme, with the Councillor and Mayor

We couldn’t get through a series about summer driving dos and don’ts without mention a topic that always rears its ugly head around this time of year, the question of whether you are allowed to drive in flip flops!

To answer this question clearly, let us say should you drive in flip flops? And answer, no, absolutely not, because it can be extremely dangerous, as your foot can easily slip out of the shoe.

There are numerous cases of flip flops getting trapped between the pedals of vehicles, sometimes with devastatingly fatal conse- quences, which could so easily have been avoided by wearing appropriate footwear. However, that said, if we ask the question, is it illegal to drive in flip flops, then the answer is mostly no.

The reason that this second question leads to an ambiguous answer is that there is no specific law which says you must not drive wearing flip flops. However, there are laws which dictate that as a driver you must always be in full control of the vehicle.

If you are wearing inappropriate footwear and are involved in an incident, a collision, or are caught committing an offence, then it can be immediately deduced that you were not in full control of the vehicle, in which case your inappropriate footwear, flip flops for example, can be taken into consideration, and can therefore see you with an additional fine.

When you drive with flip flops if becomes easier to be involved in an incident. When you drive back home from the beach, for example, your flip flops are often wet and have sand on them, therefore you have a high risk of losing your flip flops while driving or when you use your car pedals.

With Flip flops you cannot break or accelerate properly, ALL these factors can end in a traffic incident or infraction and in these cases, you can be fined for driving with inappropriate footwear.

Wearing appropriate footwear is a must when driving. When you think about the physical process required to make a vehicle go, turn, or stop, all the actions are performed by our hands and feet.

If we consider a driver who is barefoot, for example, there is nothing illegal about this, but controlling the clutch, and even the brakes, can require a lot of pressure, which may prove difficult if a driver is barefoot. Feet can sweat and reduce the traction and wearing of socks or stockings is not ideal either, on account of the pressure needed.

Flip flops and sandals are considered by far the most dangerous of all inappropriate footwear. Shoes which don´t fit securely may fall off when driving and can get in the way of the pedals as we have explained. Equally dangerous is how the foot can slip whilst the shoe remains in contact with the pedal, thus reducing braking time and causing a considerable risk when stopping.