Category: Environment

I want to ban it! Most of it is an affront to the senses. Yes there have been some good ones e.g. Nescafe neighbour; Guiness; Renault “papa”! but most are terrible. Fortunately I am not someone who notices them in papers/magazines or TV, although radio ones annoy me. But it ois not just for their overall banality and shitness, there are stronger reasons for banning them.

Ever been in a womans clothes shop? Unfortunately I have .. my daughter insisted that I accompany her on shopping trips. Despite my protestations that she could call me to pay whilst I sat in a cafe with a coffee and the paper – oh no – I had to pass judgement even though I tried the tactic of stating that her arse looked fat in those jeans, etc.. I also ended up standing outside changing rooms for hours before I would notice that I was standing in the middle of the bras and knickers section – then red faced move to stand by the door in case I needed to make a quick exit. Anyway, the hours of boredom made be observe that there were only a few colours available in the whole shop. My teenager and others were being manipulated into buying sub standard clothing, probably made by even younger and exploited girls in far away countries. Then the following year the colours would change and the must have clothing discarded. Fortunately we were not rich enough, or my children fashion obseessed enough for this to be an issue for us. However it is an issue for society.

Israel bombs hospital, deploys ground troops and employs a blockade to starve Palestinians – how is this not genocide? Meanwhile his bestie, Putin says there is a truce whilst continuing as normal. If this is peace on Trump’s terms the Ukranians and Palestinians will wish for something else.

Meanwhile back in the UK Ed. Milliband has come out swinging – denouncing the lies of the tories and Farage regarding Net Zero. Let us have more of this please. Lies should be called out, loud and clear. Unfortunately the lies are believed by the dull and ignorant! What is worse is the half truth – if we exploited remaining North Sea gas fields we would reduce imports of gas – from 97% to 94%! It is plain fucking sense that we should reduce reliance on gas and oil as quickly as possible, not only for economic reasons but strategic ones too! My own pet solution that would help the problem would be to reinstate the 20000 water mills in the UK (and add a few more). Not a great solution, but would provide power for about 100 000 homes – that is probably as practical as my use for chimneys! Houses rarely have fires so the chimney is a waste of space, and a source of damp! So use solar panels to produce electricity to raise a weight up the chimney when it is sunny. At night the falling weight could produce electricity? Oh well – back to the drawing board!

Time for a re-think about house designs. I am not a sensible person when it comes to fashion! But why do we use half the space of houses for bedrooms where we mainly sleep! There is a trend for more bathrooms and toilets – why? Does everyone get the shits listening to Trump? OK so my perfect house would have a big living room window facing south for maximum heating. Treble glazed! Then a large kitchen with a farm style table for eating. I think facing east so it gets the morning sun. What else – bedrooms – I am happy with a laundry basket X2 clean and laundry! A big bed cos I am a fat fucker! Then – no mirrors (who wants to see themselves after a night out, or even the morning after! bathroom has enough room for a good shower and maybe a bath somewhere in the house? garage/shed for keeping shit in! Certainly not the car! And whilst here – every house has the following which they use rarely! Power tool, lawn mower, kitchen appliances like a pasta maker, yogurt maker, etc. Surely a civilised society would find a way to share these things! But no – we all buy less than perfect versions regularly and make the fat cats happier as they counf profits! So I would suggest a model where people who join pay £200 which covers cost of equipment, and can be used to buy more. Booking equipment can be done online in advance – and as everyone knows each other, problems of double booking should be able to be resolved?

I have relegated my lawnmower to the depths of the garage – but why does everyone have one, and use them only once a fortnight`?

Thw Sun newspaper today hedlines that Britain is broken. Yes there are problems – mostly inhereted from the last government. The NHS will not be turned around in 9 months. However this is a lovely country where the press is allowed to make damaging comments and decry the efforts of government. They are obviously appealing to the moaners amongst us – and they are a majority? We have a free education system, good roads, a NHS that will deal with immediate problems quickly and efficiently in the main. A society devoid of absolute poverty. We are fortunate to be living on this treasured isle. Our climate is near on perfect, although the weather can be disagreeable! So Sun editors stop pandering to the moaners and concentrate on the positives as well as the negatives (sewage, electricity prices, pot holes, NHS waiting lists, etc.). If Britain was failing, the £ would be falling rather than being buoyant, the bond market would have exposed this, as it did with Truss.

I am not sure whether to moan or celebrate the following! Kate Perry and others have experienced space travel – albeit for a very short time! Normal cost is $1 each but Bezos owns the company so his girlfriend presumably went free, and her crew got at least mates rates! The positives are that the crew reported that they saw Earth in a different positive way. The environmental damage done is probably immense, but … I am not sure if there is a but or that I know it! It was an all girl crew which in a male dominated way must be a positive. And as non- excutives with billions, hardly ‘normal’ people, but …… . I am not jealous either. On the negative side – would the money have been better spent attacking poverty and discrimination? Bezos gave his support to Trump so I hope an European alternative takes the place of Amazon in Europe at least.

The tec billionaires are acting like spoilt brats. Besos and Zuckenberg have $500 , $300 million yachts respectively. Mill and mine owners in the UK used to build stately homes, Ambani’s house in Mumbai cost £2 billion but is valued at $4.6 billion – which is on par with Buckingham Palace valuation! (Could Charlie sell?).

So a family of 4 crosses the border into the USA, each has an iPhone – they sell 3, legal? As the price could have more than doubled they could make at least $1500 dollars per trip. And that is without illegal smuggling – the gangs must be loving it.

Meanwhile Trump continues to act like a baby – changing his mind and threatening other nations with higher tariffs if they deal with China without tariffs. I do hope that Starmer has the balls to stand up to the madness!

Meanwhile …. Tesco reports £2.2 billion profit but says it needs to cut costs, i.e. staff. Its a fucking mad world. Will British Steel be re-nationalised, the Chinese owned firm wants to shut its Scunthorpe furnaces. It is highly likely that it will continue to make a loss, but is strategically important?

A nice quote from Napoleon – it bugs me that one of the most important people in history and totally relevant to us is not taught about in UK schools. The quote “Never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake”. He may have had a famous horse called Marngo but he also uttered some clever words, and commissioned a great dish called ‘chicken marengo’. Basically we should just let America sort out the orange man baby.

On a personal note – I have just washed the sheets and quilt covers before it possibly rains tomorrow – first rain for ages should be Sunday – I have not seen a swallow, swift or house martin yet. And have I ever heard a cuckoo? I think once in Banwell – or down riverside?

The i paper had a list today that i found troubling, but was told off by Aaron. The list was insects that most primary school children could not identify. I find this shocking, but he put it down to parents and choice. I tried to argue that a kingfisher was more beautiful than the Mona Lisa, etc., but he countered that it was a choice. I accept his argument BUT still find it sad that generations of children cannot name common trees, plants, birds, insects. Surely this should be a primary school essential. I taught in a rural comprehensive and most kids could not name types of species – just trees, butterflies, etc.

With Trump trashing the worlds economic order the people of Britain will have to make decisions. Maintain public services and pay more tax, or lose them for ever! Yes it is that simple!

What Starmer must not do is stop investing for the future, Net Zero will pay dividends in the future with energy costs, environmental subsidies for farms is a no brainer, but then the welfare bill! I personally would raise the minimum wage to make it worth working. My local shop pays the minimum wage but the owners could pay more without harming the business. They also find it hard to recruit – so higher wages would benefit all. Companies like the supermarkets might lose some profits or could pay lower dividends or directors wages and bonus’s.

The papers bang on about the unfeasibility of a wealth tax. Maybe a tax on those earning millions would just result in tax evasion and avoidance. However increasing the tax on those earning over £200000 would be hardr to avoid and would raise much more.- however with higher taxes there should be a tax break for environmental innovations. And now seems to be a good time to take back control of Water Companies. Stock market valuations are low whilst customers payments are at record highs. and an innovative nationalisation – all customers will become shareholders in a way like John Lewis? Incentives to become water friendly and become a more social society. Energy could be the same.