THE CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW GOES GREEN

“Chelsea is always guaranteed to delight … there’s plenty to absorb everyone … from avid gardener to the pure novice.”


The problem with all of the RHS garden shows is that there are so many positive aspects and it is only possible to skim the surface in a feature of this length. Chelsea is the major international show piece of its kind and even if you only have a passing interest in gardens and flora, you cannot help being thoroughly engaged by its content. This year the weather was a great deal kinder than last and exhibitors reported that the conditions were ideal for planting and building their show gardens. This was the 86th RHS Flower Show to be held on the site of the Royal Hospital since 1913 and the popularity forced the organisers to announce quite early that all tickets had been sold and 157,000 visitors were expected to attend during the five days of the event. Despite this I couldn’t help feeling there was something slightly lacking from the usual air of expectancy that usually surrounds the occasion that I could only attribute to a knock-on effect caused by the depressing economic situation.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

The normal working British people are being thoroughly ripped off and our once great country has already gone to pot. The rich get richer, the poor poorer but there is also a middle ‘under class’ that has evolved that Gordon Brown is succeeding in bringing to their knees. This group forms the majority of good, honest workers that Brown is treating with total contempt. He seems blind to the fact that he is crippling the nation by taxing us to the hilt while he remains happy to continue to blow money on his pet schemes as well as a useless war in Afghanistan and a peace keeping mission that can never succeed in Iraq. All of this is bleeding the country dry. On this score it is interesting how the government steers clear of questions relating to what all of this is costing the tax payer and just how much money is being spent every time a missile is fired.