Category: Environment

Private investors and hedgefunds want imunity from environmental laws to enable them to pump shit into our rivers and seas with impunity. They also want to be able to raise prices.

So lets be honest – the public has allowed the privatised water companies to raise fund via debts to pay shareholders and executive wages/bonus. Nationalisation will require government funding to replace the infrastructure neglected by greed for 46 years. Nationalisation is not a cheap option – it could have an impact on foreign investment, BUT it is the moral and sensible investment. If nationalised the government should offer ownership to the bill payers, like John Lewis or the co-op. Each £500 paid = 1 share. Not paying dividends at present, but guaranteeing a payout if the companies were ever sold off again?

There are a host of vultures willing to take on Thames Water if the government gives them a free ticket – well tell them to fuck off, and then go further.

It appears that Israel is acting as a proxy for America in the war with Iran. I know that Trump has a reputation as TACO but his words are frightening. Why is he demanding unconditional surrender when it is Israel doing the fighting. Israel is demanding a regeime change which brings to mind “be careful what you wish for!” . Deposing Saddam and Gadafi in Iraq and Libya has been an unmitigated disaster. Both countries have descended into lawlessness and the civilian population is less safe than it was before.

Another key question is whether the UK could be dragged into the conflict? American airbases may be used to refuel American bombers which could be construed as UK backing if their is an American offensive. The status of Diego Garcia remains uncertain – American base but is it leased by Britain after the recent treaty. British planes have been involved in attacks on te Houtis in Yemen who are/were dependant on Iranian arms. Starmer should tell Trump that he cuts US tariffs to zero or he can fuck off and take his American bases with him.

Will Trump use his on/off tariff war to garner support for military action against Iran -I have no confidence in Starmer being able to stand up against the orange monster. Will America ue its monster concrete busting bombs to destroy Iranian nuclear sites. On the fnancial side it seems that governments can always find the money for war, but not for social reform and support. It took a century to repay loans made during the Napoleonic Wars, and 61 years for WW2. So when Trump boasts about ‘winning WW2″ he was presumably talking about the finance. Does he see Iran in the same way as Gaza – let Israel bomb the fuck out of it, then American finance moves in to rebuild? Who knows what comes next – death and destruction guaranteed – war>diplomacy.

On a positive note it is sunny today – already 22 in my sitting room. I have a pretty umbrella and table on the patio – so fucking middle class! So I will sit out there this afternoon – too hot to do much until the evening. I was going to make a pizza, but too hot – so I bought a quiche – so lazy! Forecast for the next week is sunny and dry with max temps here on Friday. My water butts should last out until the next forecast rain. Apples are looking good and I will get some stick on stencils to put kids names or at least initials on them. I might also thin them out a bit.

A swiss village was devastated when a huge chunk of glacier nroke off causing a deluge of ice, mud and rock. One person was reported dead. Is this a start of a trend where melting ive and reduction in permafrost releases ice and rock? Already this year we have serious consequences of our warming climate. The Northern Hemisphere is affected more due to its greater land mass, but we are seeing an increase in temperatures in the Atlantic with resultant changes to marine life. But Farage and the Lunatic Party want to stop a move to net zero, Trump wants to decrease electric vehicles and drill for gas and cut down more forests for lumber. Absolute fucking madness!

Why should the UK pay for mitigating measures when China and the USA continue to pollute the atmosphere. Firstly China is developing a greener energy production market but it will take time. They are also leading manufacturers of EV’s and solar panels. The USA will catch up after Trump ‘s his clogs. Can we get a world lead. Martin told me of the Oxford University battery that had worked since 1840. A great deal of research is going on and I can be hopeful that a solution will be found. Burning fossil fuels is just plain stupid. London passed a Clean Air Act in 1956 after several thousand deaths caused by burning coal. there are about 34 million cars in UK, of which less than a million are EV’s. This has almost trebled since 1970 (13.5 million). No wonder our cities are polluted and breathing problems increasing.

It made me think about supermarket deliveries and air pollution. Firstly they should all have EV’s but even so a delivery van could have 10-15 deliveries and be I would guess at least 8X more efficient. Home delivery of food is probably no more efficient as they teand to be 1 x 1 although a moped/bike delivery will be cheaper. Which makes me realise that we all/most use cars too much.

Tate brothers will face rape and trafficing charges if they return to UK. This again made my poor brain think! Has the world become more misogynistic since I was young. Whist the macho male dominated society has changed in the work place (out of necessity?) and the man as the bread winner concept, al but disappeared. The attitude to woman per se seems to have deteriorated. The Tates have millions of followers who revel in their masochistic attitude to women. Pornography on the net is freely available, and is often not nice! In my childhood smut was finding the sexiest advert in the Economist magazine of the National Geographic. Institute never thought myself better than the girls I knew. I think ambitions for girls may have been lower – but no one I knew would mistreat them? I even remember going into a pub in Scarborough (under aged) and being told that women were not allowed in the Public Bar. Times have changed but I wonder whether for the better.

So Thames wanted to pay bonus’ to senior executives related to performance? Well fuck me – being shit at your job, polluting rivers and seas, running out of water (later this year?), raising customers fees by 59% and then get a bonus = to at least 50% of your 6 figure salary! The mind set is stated by the Chair of Thames who said “We have a bonus scheme to protect our most precius resource, which is the senior management team”. This comment needs some analysis. Their most valuable resource should be water, clean and wholesome and delivered to customers. Protect them – from what? Inflationary rises on yachts? And they are shit at their jobs – otherwise why would they have accrued a £20 billion debt and come to within days of being nationalised. Yes – a great idea, and whilst at it offer them back their jobs at 25% less with no perks or bonus payments unless they increase efficiency and reduce customer bills. If they think about leaving they have to repay their bonus payments for the last 5 years.

I think SMT’s must have some sort of training indoctrination – school SMT also thought they were better than everyone else! They surround themselves with sycophants and expect everyone to respect them – “emperors new clothes syndrome”. One of my favorite games whilst on field duty at lunchtime was to see how close I could get to the head without having to speak to him! Traversing the field with precision timing to just avoid collision of interception. teachers used to come out to watch the game! Personally I did not respect any of my headteachers apart from the first one , his introductory speech to newcoming staff stated that as head he would have to make decisions which we did not like, but he hoped we would not hate him. The rest were just arrogant arseholes.

Back to water – reservoirs are not full – estimates vary. This summer could be long hot and dry – we are due one like this. When it rains it is likely to be convectional (fast and heavy), and will thus run off rather than replenishing groundwater (Uk 30+% but south east and London approaching 100%). I fear for the quality of rivers such as the chalk streams which are likely to be innundated with shit before they run dry due to over extraction. Farmers too, have to accept part of the blame.

Numbskulls abound. It is not only the primary elements and the publicised secondary effects, So I thought I would list some of the less visible impacts.

1. Sea level rise by millimetres – this has a greater impact.  During a storm those millimetres may mean the difference between inundation or safety.  Flood defences are not updated often – there are concerns regarding the effectiveness of the Thames Barrier.  Erosion is also increased – this has had huge impacts in Alaska and closer to home – they might have to move the Beachy Head lighthouse inland again, sooner than predicted.  I suspect there is a lot more to add here.
2. Sea temperatures changing.  This impacts in a variety of ways, coral bleaching is the most apparent, but it can also impact on the habitats of sea creatures – Sharks being the most apparent. But it may have an impact of ocean currents (The day before yesterday scenario that was laughed at).  
3. These changes could have an impact on the jet stream and lead to a markedly different climate for W.Europe and especially the UK. The fuckwits and knuckle draggers will rejoice in sunny weather for the beach until the beach is eroded and winter sub-zero temperatures become ‘normal’
4. Nature is a jigsaw of interlocking pieces in all dimensions. (I do not understand concepts about more than 4 dimensions – but thought I would cover my back).  Earlier summers – elderflowers are def 2/3 weeks earlier to flower – may be a topic for polite discussion – but for migratory species it can mean that their food source is no longer available.  Are chemicals really to blame for the absence of insects?  We have been using them for a long time, but the disappearance has been quite sudden.
5. Glaciers provide much of the human worlds water supply, as they melt – and the evidence is horrific – much of Asia fed by the great rivers, Yangtse, Indus, Mekong, Huang He,Ganges, Irrawaddy, Salween, Brahmaputra will face drought and environmental disaster – and their only hope will be migration.
6. As permafrost melts methane is released – a very harmful greenhouse gas.
7. I am sure that there will be many, many more subtle changes that will be harmful.