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MAPS

The United Nations has voted to use an equal area map projection in future, replacing the Mercator projection which distorts the size of countries making the African continent the size of Greenland, when it is actually 14 time bigger. There was only one vote against and 6 abstentions – which country voted against? USA of course without any sense of irony it called the move ‘superfuous’. Renaming the Gulf of Mexico ad Lake Ontario were not mentioned – fuckwits! Maybe Trump ws surprised to find that Greenland was smaller than he thought!

Staying international Badenoch attempts to score points against Burnham in a comment headlined by the Daily Shite “Argentina smells Burnhams weakness” – just what this is supposed to mean is beyond me! The Telegraph obscurely leads with ‘Stop the boats and the hecklers” – perhaps leading with a deal made by Farage with the leader of French fascists – the only deal that Farage can meaningfully make is with the Police!

Meanwhile Cambridge University has stated that it will conduct a review into the death of Jason Arday, who it subsequently appears to have done nothing wrong, having been hounded and misquoted by the evil right wing media. Some journalists should at least be fined or dismissed for their shameful behaviour.

And an environmental alert – please report any sightings of yellow-legged hornets as they may disrupt the UK’s food supply system in the future, as they displace pollinator bees.

Breaking news – masked men dressed in black have halted traffic to and from the port od Dover – the BBC has not reported on what they are demonstrating about – but the 30 or so men will presumably be arrested and prosecuted and jailed in a similar way to “Just stop Oil’ protestors. Presumably they are right wing extremists – will the police act forcefully and arrest? Doubtful.

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NEGLIGENCE

It would be negligent for me not to mention the Ch4 disclosure last night regarding Farage and Reforms fund raising. Other than bland words of witch hunt, and then 2 resignations, there has been no denial from Reform. Combined with a YouGov survey on words associated with Farage which found 71% negative with racist and liar, being the most common, it makes one wonder why there is any support for the weasel. Yet there is still 27% of people who used at least one positive word to describe him – does this translate into 27% of Britons liking a racist liar? Probably not but it is my view that he should be arrested for spreading, and supporting racist views, and therefore undermining the great British Society. Are 27% of Britons racist? At different levels – probably; many would deny it and claim to have black brown or coloured friends (these people are discounted by the pseudo non-racists), but whilst there is some doubt on the degrees of racism (and 10% could be a conservative estimate of hard racism), there can be no doubt as to the lack of cognitive ability amongst nearly a third of the population. Just ask ‘would you cross a road with 50% chance of death – even 5% or 0.05%; yet when all the scientists (who are not funded by oil companies) say that we are heading for Armageddon regarding climate change they are quick to support the politicans funded by the Petro-chemical giants and support doing nothing! Fucking idiots!

Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Trump is being childish stating that he would not support the UK as they did not support him with the illegal war with Iran, despite the Americans using 2 airfields for bombing raids on Iran! His soul mate in Argentina from the far right has made noises again. As this is totally about oil reserves in the South Atlantic I believe we should obey the wishes of the residents who were unamonous in their wish to remain British (apart from someone who subsequently moved to Buenos Aires). Thatcher had North Sea oil money to send a force out their and it was a relatively close thing at the time. The UK iss probably not in a position to defend the islands anymore, unless receiving support from NATO (If Greenland – why not the Falklands?). Then we have the real threat of Russia – maybe not to us directly, but a very real threat to allies in the Baltic states (inc.Finland). and other nearby states. I am also a bit mystified as to why right wing parties do so well in Eastern Eurupe – well not that mystified – just surprised!

Analagies – my friend Andy used the analogy of how New Yorkers were in favour of deals with the Indians whilst at the frontier the settlers were all for genocide. I feel this is not a good analagy as the frontiersmen and women were basically invaders. His analogy of growing up in sectarian Belfast is also a tad biassed! So to use these examples to justify Gaza is also a bit of a stretch. Yes Hamas were out of order in their attack, but maybe justified after years of victimisation and brutality both in Gaza and the West Bank. Again the settlers are the attackers and the victims the primary inhabitants. Finally I asked about an explanation for Jewish persecution over centuries throat the world. He stated that it maybe because they were always a minority, here I shoukd have intervened more strongly, why did they not assimilate? I wondered if there was any truth in global conspiracy theories about the jews? Google states that jews own 11% of the worlds wealth – including Zuckerberg, Ellison, Page, Brin and Ballmer; and that is before taking into account ‘old money’ and property – Rothschilds possibly worth one trillion dollars. All this wealth also comes with power. We discussed how we had no idea if any friends and colleagues (in my case former) were Jewish, and agreed that we did not care. So I can claim not to be anti-semetic, but like my analysis of racism earlier, do I have an underlying anti-semitism? God – I hope not!

Andy – I think I agree with you about the greens – Polanski has no chance of winning an election or even doin g better than the LibDems, but if they concentrated on the environment and climate change there are a lot of vote winning opprotunities out there. You said Polanski was .(shallow)………. not derogatory, but had no substance. A party with a one/two policy agenda will always be criticised for this (as Reform are for their racist nonsense). but I do sense a whiff of agreement with you – a flame that burnt bright but dimming rapidly. Will he win Starmers seat – possibly but if scoring it a la football I think it could be settled with penalties!

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LOGAN

Great to have a chat with Andy Logan after quite a while.  We do not agree on much but his different perspective is always interesting.  An example, he believes the Greens should concentrate on water and climate change rather than Gaza, where we have no influence.  On Gaza and Jews generally he pointed out that they have a siege mentality, whilst he condemned the actions of the Israeli military.  In many ways understanding the root mentality is the only chance of getting a peaceful settlement.  On Burnham we generally agreed, although his potential for actually delivering is minimal.  On Trump we agreed that he is insane.  We did not get onto the bigger issues! Of whether capitalism “as we know it” is doomed, and of course football- although we of course touched on it.  Other topics missed were migration/demography, and the EU.  Next time.

News today – the Environment Secretary has said that Britons should stock up with food and prepare for power cuts and a new word on the political scene – resilience.  Most, 83%, of the pop of UK live in urban areas – so with neighbourhood schemes should be ok, and I guess the majority of the rest live in villages with shops and therefore should be ok.  But there are still thousands who live in isolated settlements or hamlets – councils should have a duty too prepare lists of these people and their needs. (Medical, dietary and other).  Is El Niño over blown, and being used for political uses?  Reform and Restore would think so, and the Tories are as ever, following their lead.  I do not care if the scientists are wrong, I hope they are, but the warning signs are there; Pacific Ocean temperatures already close to records (2.6C at present, 3.1C is the record, but the peak is set to reach 4C), some areas have subsurface temperatures at a record 8C above normal.

At best it would seem that at least 50million will be forced into food poverty, food prices will escalate and the poorer will suffer most.  I know that Musk’s fortune is largely a paper one, but it surely does not help that the mega rich hoard so much of the earths wealth.

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AUTUMN

Not quite yet but a feel in the air says autumn is on its way. Tomatoes have just about finished – earlier than normal, and apples look smaller than last year, but brambles have done well! I ought to cut back garden – but last flowers on buddlea still attract bees, as do the remnants of chicory, Herbs and mints going to flowers, I must learn how to collect seed for next year. I just got some alpaca socks from NZ! not good for miles, but whatever. And latest birthday present from my kids is organic EVOO from Albacete, Spain.

Green Party leader Zac Polanski is hoping to stand for election in Keir Starmers seat in London. I just read about Jenies Jones who is refusing to pay her sewage bill to thames Water – obviously they are prosecuting her, but she has my full admiration for standing up against the corporate nonsense that have become our water companies. The majority of voters want them nationalised – but not a word from the right wing racists in the media, or the BBC which is also run by the right wing.

Macron and Burnham meet and I wonder how this will be reported by the tosspots in the Mail, Sun, Express, and Telegraph?

World temperatures. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62m4gpnp78o

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UN WARNING

The worlds global temperature is likely to increase by 1.8C and there are no good outcomes. Although GB News and Talk TV presenters have a different view from the 99% of scientists who actually study the data. When the UK Health Security Agancy reported that deaths had been 2877 higher than last year during the May/June heat wave, the reporters said this was absolute poppycock and the people were diving anyway, and also that warmer winters would reduce the larger number of people dieing in the cold – this is absolute lies and should not be allowed. These people are just talking bullshit to make political gains amongst the very stupid and gullible!

Meanwhile the Trump administration has apparently done a deal with Venezuela puppet government for 65m barrels of oil, that will help stop sea level rising and the melting of glaciers! Whilst Israel wants to oust all Palestinians from Gaza with American support. A did you know …. that Trump has used the 5th Amendment 440 times – so much for transparency!.. And the richest nation on earth has given just $3.6m to the Nepal appeal which is taking the piss! – probably less than the President pays to go golfing every month/week. What happened to Christian virtuals of humility, empathy and help thy neighbour? I am not religious but surely every sane person should abide by these maxims.

In the UK DEFRA is considering an extension of animal welfare rules to pheasant shoots – oh please, the Telegraph will be apolexic at this and the Mail and Express will follow. The rules would also prevent anyone associated with the killing/murder of protected birds of prey from holding a shoot. Like all cruel animal sports this has been going on too long. I really do not care about the loss of, possibly a few thousand jobs in rural areas. Alternative occupations could be found. Rewilding grouse moors would help control flooding and allowing public access would enable more urban dwellers to enjoy the great British Countryside. Hey you upper class twat, ever heard of clay pigeon shooting? And I am sure manufactures of clay pigeon machines could get inventive! However to balance thing a little, maybe deer could be culled sustainably and safely to ease the pressure on beef and livestock farmers – the population of deer is probably higher than at anytime in the last 2000 years, or ever!

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CLIMATE CHANGE

Why is it that politicians take a ‘pragmatic’ view on further exploitation in the waters around the UK?  Basically it is a class thing.  Poor people are concerned about paying the rent/mortgage rather than the esoteric thought of controlling climate extremes, as a human race we are very adept in prioritising our personal needs before empathy for others.   As ever it is the poor who suffer most from extremes of temperature in poorly insulated houses or concrete blocks of flats.  `it will be the poor who suffer most from floods, not the toff on the hill!  It will be the poor who face the brunt of price rises due to crop failures or poor harvests, not the rich or even the middle classes.  Got a pension? It will almost certainly have investments related to fossil fuels, so please explain this to your grandchildren, children understand the world better than adults.  Old people are nostalgic for their past and oblivious to the future of there offspring, I could call it selfish.  Perhaps storms Austen, Boelo and Chloe will make our politicians take notice?  It may not be the poor who are most affected but those who have bought their first house and are skint!  It seems that planners and house builders have not even studied Geography at GCSE, covering farmland with impermeable concrete and tarmac will result in floods – no shit! Oh but add in the water companies lack of investments it probably will result in shit!  

Solar and onshore wind turbines generate electricity at about £30 megawatt hour, much cheaper than fossil fuels and nuclear.  Solar power is set to exceed 61% of world electricity generation by 2050 – so a lot of good news, it is just that sometime it needs bad news to stimulate action, Reform thrive on it but offer no solution just lies and propaganda for their fossil fuel donors.

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AUTUMN

Whilst hoping for an “Indian Summer” it is noticeably cooler at dawn recently. Forecasts for the next 2 weeks are for changeable weather and nothing to get excited about! Unlike South Korea which is preparing for a lot of rain. My apples are smaller this year and not ready yet, tomato plants are nearly done. Cutting back the herbs .

Note how the racist press lines up to criticise tax increases, but fails to criticise the policies of government, ‘have their cake and eat it’ comes to mind. The luxury of being not in power is that there is no need to justify policies or say how they will be funded. So Reform &Co can talk about deporting people without having to justify how they would staff the NHS and many other industries; they never address the facts about the future demography of the uk.

Apparently the government is running scared of the legal costs of privatising the water industry. Just pass a law – stupid. Parliament is above the law ultimately, so just pass the law, and refuse the judiciary allowance to change it. This may raise other issues, but the government was able to imprison people for showing support Palestine Action posters. The hedge funds that have been ripping off customers of water companies can just fuck off. They will continue to seek out opportunities for easy profits in the UK – and no one will fuck off out the UK unless they are total losers. Where would they go? The Middle East is fucked up enough – maybe Canada?

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TRUMP ASSUMPTION

Does he really have the time or the ability to create stupid AI generated pictures of himself(many examples), or does he pay someone to do it. Either way the answer is farcical – as if playing golf was not enough! He has become the biggest joke on the world stage since, maybe Liz Truss? or is this too unkind to Liz, she gets very upset easily, just mention lettuce in hearing. He meanwhile did not manage to sabotge the take off of the Nancy Grace Roman telescope from the NASA base. Was he annoyed at the name, or just that a bit of metal and glass was a gazillion times more important than him! The telescope offers further opportunities to expand our knowledge of the universe – without political of economic interference – I am slightly astonished that Musk did not arrange to sabotage the take off – he seems to want to build the future around himself.

Further details from Nepal/China are showing the disaster to be even more horrendous than at first thought. Other news, Iceland has voted not to pursue EU membership for now, again a 52-48 vote, but as they are already members of the EEA and the Schengen agreement, it made some sort of sense to protect their fishing interests, Reykjavik voted in favour. The rural-urban theme is becoming popular with the Observer running an article about devolution to urban mayors. First the fact that the percentage who live and work in rural areas is tiny, and mainly retired. the totals for the UK are 168000 employed as owners, directors or farmers, and another 65000 permanent farm workers. less than 2%. However their importance is greater than that, the tractor rallies in London and elsewhere have faded away – maybe due to the facts appearing. First measles related deaths in USA – Trump and Kennedy should be prosecuted!

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HOW THE RIGHT WORKS

As relatively sane person I am interested in how the right creates such virulent aggressive people. I blame the News outlets. They run a never ending diet of depressing stories and put a negative twist on others. This creates an of depression and ‘who shall we hate today’. The victims of this hate campaign are often women who they perceive as incapable of fighting back (Meghan and Angela Rayner are examples). Then they promote someone who pretends to offer reform and a better future (often by appealing to the hazy mists of years gone by. Minority groups are also easy targets, migrants, people of different skin colour, the disabled, the unemployed, and sometimes just the young – never the old, they have the money and power. Fortunately for them the people attracted to this vision of the futurebased on the past are generally not very bright, lacking empathy for others, selfish and not very bright! (the bright ones are in charge of the narrative and making money out of it (Trump,Farage). If the youths in the car that killed 2 police officers had been black/migrants there would have been riots in Middlesbrough – insstead the area is left to stew in its crime and poverty, Brawn manipulated by brains. Why else would people vote for rich twats living abroad and funded by dodgy money? Oh my god – what a rant for early on Sunday morning1. So a positive – lovely article in the Observer on St,Gary Lineker, he really does seem to be a nice guy, but also ordinary.

But I have more venom to air! This time the Met.Office. I am fully aware that weather forecasting is a notoriously difficult task. That said – why publich a rainfall radar map if it is palpably wrong1. I will illustrate – Friday morning I looked at the map, I dismissed small pods of light rain, but it looked like decent rain at 11.15’ish – it did not rain until the evening. Tody the map shows little rain until this evening, but the forecast has 80-90% rain all afternoon. And what does the 80% bit mean, I am told that it means there is 80% chance of rain in the area – but it does not say what the area is! The site lets me pinpoint my location to within a kilometre, the map marks my locatioon accurately. I would rather that they used statistics to predict the certainty of their prediction, or better use words! “Todays forecast is a bit iffy, there is rain about for North Somerset but exactly where is difficult’. Or even analogies – like ‘a good day to put washing out, go for a long walk or have a picnic’ or stay in and get a good book to listen to the rainfall”. Temperature wise they are almost always accurate. So should I do the washing? It is 16.22 and it has not rained!

My herbs are all doing well on the patio and its table – I have trouble finding room for my chair and a glass of wine on the table! They should be fine for another month or so – then I will bring them in, or put into greenhouse cleared of tomato plants. Then next spring I will try and sell some offshoots at the shop.

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LIES, DAMN LIESS AND STATISTICS

South West water has been named as the most polluting water company with574323 hours of sewage spills – crap pumped into rivers and beaches. Their spokesperson talked bollocks for a while, overflow spills down 17% etc. but refrained from talking about the 39% increase in water billssince 2024. The highest bills in the UK at £726 – have their executives and profits reduced – of course not, the present system is a gift for rich people to get richer. Come on Burnham, if you have to change the law to fuck these bastards, do so.