Category: Changinging climate

Posted on

JOURNALISM HAS GONE ON HOLIDAY!

The press has returned to tired old stories and reguritated them (single sex spaces and early release from prison!) Or taken a totally no interest story of a black academic at Cambridge alleged to have commited plagiarism- to avoid being racist the mail published a large photo of the guy. Only one paper led with a stabbing attack in London which injured 4 (the attacker was a white female!). Other favourites that are being ignored as the public disagrees with the papers owners views – i.e. climate change. The Mail ran an arguement by some tosspot stating that it is too late to stop it and many would love a Mediterranean climate – “see your home burnt and neighbours killed in the inferno – hs appeal?”.

Did you know that 80-95% of taste is via smell? Also Westminster Coucil has come out against vertical drinking! They want the beer to be provided by staff to people sitting at tables! At least a vertical drinker will wobble a bit if they have too many (Gore in Parliament?) rather than fall asleep? By the way the council is Conservative controlled! No woke nonsense here then!

A drone armed with 600lb explosives has been discovered at Leipzig Airport – surely front page information. The airport is a hub for Ukranian planes, so accusing Russia would not be unreasonable. However it would seem that European countries (yes us) should be preparing for drone attacks on different scales – from individual attacks to basically bombing attacks. What happened to the Gatwick shutdown caused ‘by a drone’ – it all went very quiet!

NHS warnings of extreme heat in the future. A suggestion – provide a £40 mobile air con to vulnerable, and give them a £40 voucher for money off their electric. Cheaper than burdening the NHS. I have bought one and it works fine. P.S. also encourage householders to let their garden lawns be populated by flowers – roses are lovely and bush plants can grow to 2m, whilst herbs such as sage and rosemary can provide smells, herbs and shade. The total area of lawns in UK domestic gardens is estimated to be roughly 176,000 hectares (1,760 square kilometers). This is calculated from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) finding that domestic gardens cover about 502,757 hectares and that lawns make up approximately 35% of that space. This is about the size of Worcestershire – the area turned over by householders to a wilderness (at present – scorched and brown!).

Meanwhile in the States things are getting interesting. Democratic primaries seem to be going to the left with the latest El-Sayed winning in Michigan. His opponent raised $50 million but still lost. can America really become great again without the toxic influence of Trump and MAGA?

Posted on

OLD AGE

Just a few thoughts. Firstly always regard being old as a privilege rather than something to moan about, yes there are many inconveniences associated with old age, slower reactions, stiffness, bits of the body malfunctioning, but we have made it! Despite the self abuse and risk taking of our youthful years and beyond we made it! Are we wiser? Probably not – politicans tend to be older, and some of them are right ejits – Trump is a prime example of someone who is old and thinks it makes them clever (the evidence, your honour, shows this to be a no brainer, literally). For my generation, the situation has been wonderful for many of us, I got a grant to go to uni, a job basically for life, free health care and for a long time free dentistry, cheap public transport before Thatcher, the 1960’s/1970’s, and now a pension that is more than adequate. TBH what is there to moan about? A dodgy knee and deafness in one ear, meneires disease, Yes there have been hiccups on the way – but we made it!

The press is resorting to laziness – complaining about the early release of prisoners, despite and ignoring the fact, that the last Government caused this crisis by not building new prisons, increasing jail times and cutting the Probation Service.

Capitalism without a human face is crap! The big 4 banks in the UK have reported profits of £29.2 billion in the last 6 months – how? Well to my ignorant eye there seems to be 2 ways 1. do not pay depositors a fair return on investments; or 2. charge companies and individuals extortionate rates for overdrafts/loans. Maybe they have also overcharged on fees for acquisitions. Then the top oil companies have been creaming it – $90 billion in last 3 months – created by the mystery created by Trump and Israels war with Iran and Lebanon. But the RWPress continue to harp on about the small boats (is it because the thick punter can understand the plight of 100 people on a small boat but are too thick to acknowledge the $/£ billions made by the rich. Palantir which has £670 mill in government contracts paid just £2mill in tax, and they have access to your medical records!

Farmers and landowners have called for a ban of disposable bbq’s, I thought they were banned, but a small design change and they are now reusable bbq’s . And should be banned, with a class legal action against all those who sell them, maybe the law should be changed to make anyone who sells them responsible in part for damages and prosequestion for manslaughter.

Posted on

RAIN

It is quite exciting really, it looks like it may rain here this afternoon, fingers crossed for enough to refill water butts, although the south-east looks like missing out. Basically essex and Kent have a savanna climate regarding rainfall, and recently summer temperatures. However the following week is predicted to be mainly dry. Farmers are talking up prices and certain crops like cereals and cauliflower/brocolli seem to be suffering. Many farmers in Europe will have lost their crops (I was informed of an avocado farm which lost 30% of its trees. The latest country to be reported in the press with wildfires is Greece. El Niño will reach its zenith in December (hence the Spanish name), so we can expect at least another year of strange weather until we return to normal before La Nina takes hold! The Danube is at record lows and has revealled some interesting find in it scorched bed.

The latest poll from Clacton shows Farage at 75% and Count Binface on 20% – even this is humiliation for the toad faced twat! The turnout is expected to be low – if his number of votes goes down that is a virtual defeat in the context of no mainstream opponents! His latest embarrassing publicity attempt is that he would instruct the Royal Navy to intercept small boats and return them to France – which senior military personnel have said is not practicl or legal – like he cares! It is a story that will rally his racist supporters. I am mystified why the government have not yet opened up legal channels to get into the UK – are they frightened by the racists? If we did that, then all small boats arrivees would know that they would be returned to France. I am still mystified as to where these migrants get the money to board a small boat – the owners are doing it for charity or even political reasons. Many may be trafficked. The refugee crisis is one which needs calm appraisal rather than racist ranting.

On/off/on/off/on/off/on/off I fucking give up – latest USA/Iran talks are being hyped up by the US, and ignored by Israeli genocide units! And the price of will fluctuate to the glee of dealers in the petroleum markets – especially American ones who get prior knowledge! Producing oil and gas has a fixed price, selling it is up to the market price – UK motorists and many homeowners are facing higher bill to satisfy the shareholders in the Petro companies (who are ignoring the climate crisis – but not immune!

Posted on

THIS AND THAT – MAINLY THAT!

Driest July on record for England and the 3rd warmest for the UK , wildfires across Europe and a leading Spanish politician states that climate change is an agenda pushed by ‘lobbiests’ and ‘communists”. How. to these people cope with life in the real world. Our own looneys were hard at work with Farage claiming that the storming of Ceuta was …. actually who cares what he thinks or says anymore??? Reform came 2nd in the Manchester mayoral election with less than half Labour,47% versus 22% and on a 25% turnout – I would assume racists were more likely to vote (as shown by the turnout for Restore) than solid British folk! Apparently their highest vote was in areas of poverty (financial and seemingly educational too!), after all why would anyone on benefits vote for a priveleged creep facing claims of sleaze and dishonesty? Or are they just voting to fuck the system that they perceive has let them down. The Green Party was on 12.2% which is solid and were ahead of Conservative and LibDem, whilst the racist beyond racist Party Restore got 8.7% So the Burnham bubble has not burst yet (at least on home territory!).

Infantino has had to backdown completely, this will not please the Trump family, whether he will get re-elected is now in a modicum of doubt (he still has many federations in Africa in his pocket due to the bribery conducted by FIFA. I even had someone complain that Burnham had got in on the story – peoples double standards/stupidity are amazing!

Iran continues to defy US bombing and attacks to restrict movement of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, will Saudi attacks on Houthis rebel positions be any more successful – their war has been going on, under the radar of international press for a few years, so I doubt they will be able to claim an outright win anytime soon. 5 months now and counting, Trump has blown it again and needs something desperate if he is to salvage the mid-term elections (that he has been trying to rig in his favour). He may be desperate, a Democratic biased Congress would possibly pursue allegations of paedophilia, sex trafficking, corruption and many other aspects of his hegemony with greater vigour? Cost of living has gone up in the US so expect something drastic!

EU new regulations stupefy that AI content must be clearly shown with a possible fine of unto 3% of global turnover. AI giants have seen their shares fall in recents days – it appears that it may not be the panacea for humanities woes after all.

New housing apparently continues to ignore geographical knowledge. New housing will need a water supply, and sewage infrastructure, concrete does not allow infiltration and increases runoff, concrete increases the albedo of most areas, wildlife cannot go on being repeled from suitable habitats. So, and I know this is a bit right wing, we need to limit the spread of urban areas into the countryside, not to protect farmland (that is a separate issue) but to maintain public services, including electricity. That means a movement to a different style of living based around flats and terraces, rather than the 3bed detatched lauded by various Conservative Housing Ministers.

Almost finished now – sharks are being sighted further north in our hemisphere – but only 65 unprovoked shark attacks were recorded worldwide last year, but humans killed 100M of them.

Posted on

WORLD CUP BOYCOTT

So FIFA want to make more money “to distribute to poorer nations’ – an honourable objective until it becomes apparant that FIFA is sitting on $4 billion at present. It is also offering a $20 million bribe for countries to agree (how is that legal). Further doubt on the ethicacy of the proposal is the insolvent of Trump and his money grabbing family. Football is a game of the people, unlike many others and UEFA have stated that all member nations in Europe will boycott the scheme unless it is withdrawn. The scheme would expand the size and number of FIFA tournaments with no oncern for players, who, whilst well rewarded, can have their careers ended in moments, who already play 70+ intensity matches per year. Do they get a say? And does the UEFA edict also include clubs and their players – if so, the idea is worthless to potential investors, 74% of the World Cup squads play in Europe (the % beccomes much higher if it includes top players). On the players fatigue element, Chelsea won the FIFA “World Club Champions” farce in America – and then ran out of steam in the League, finishing 10th. There was also no mention in the proposal for women’s football at all. So Infantino maybe able to enthuse ‘daddy Trump”, bribe poorer countries (many of whom’s FA’s are riddled with corruption), but without UEFA backing his plans are collapsing like castles in the sand as the tide comes in! (Poetic moi!).

Meanwhile back in the real world the papers – even The Guardian- made a headline of the wild fire in Suffolk being near (12 miles) to a nuclear power plant (Sizewell), no matter that there was no danger to Sizewell itself and the area between the heath that was burning was farmland (probably cereal crops that could be harvested early if necessary), just lazy journalism playing on peoples fears. Apparently disposable bbq manufacturers have got by the ban on disposable, by making them reusable, although very little difference! Maybe a registration system for buying should be introduced – it would not be perfect but could narrow down the culprits whose stupid causes the fire and sometimes deaths. Online purchases would be passed tonthe police too. Why is it that Public Schools and Dulwich College can water their fields of pitches, whilst community gardens can not! Britains class structure persists.

Eco-regions! I read a proposal in France to create eco regions. That makes a lot of sense – until one looks at the complicated geology of Britain, would the South and Noth Down regions combine – and the Weald between? Norfolk and Lincolnshire combine, maybe Essex and Suffolk, the middle of the country I have no idea about – but worth a discussion!. In economic terms most counties are economically eco friendly. County town and surrounding hinterland.

Meanwhile – Internationally Saudi Arabia have said they will strike against Houthi targets in an attempt to make the export of their oil safe. More posturing, it is unlikely that bombing would do more than several years worth would do? Houthis have to only hit 1/20 tankers to make oil prices rise! Oil taken from the ground has a given cost/profit/price – do Iran and the USA have an agreement to take it in turns to elevate the price of oil, and thus oil companies profits.

Posted on

PROACTIVE

With the mostly dry weather to persist for at least another month, some light rain is forecast next week, it would seem to be time to subsidise water butts, and possibly waste water schemes for houses. We obviously need to save water, but wildlife needs the floers and there pollen. Rewilding a garden also lowers the temperature (and raises it in winter), so a win-win situation. A large wildfire broke out on the Suffolk coast yesterday. The public needs to see justice handed out to those who are careless with their flames, As I said yesterday appropriate punishments should be imposed. It seems that most of Europe is at risk with susceptable areas stretching from Northern Sweden and including large swaithes of Central Europe. Fires also seem to be endemic in North America – whilst Trump claims that Canada is attempting to poison the air in the USA – fucking moron!

So proactive should be a watch word for water companies and politicians. Next summer could be worse. Data centres could be charged for the water and the money used to subsidize farmers to build dams and reservoirs, although with much of our geology being porous/pervious even building ‘leaky dams’ and ‘check dams’ to allow infiltration, every little helps.

Does Iran deliberately provoke Trump? It seems that every time he states that there is a ceasefire, they provoke him into more heieous activity! has he persuaded Sunni Islamic Saudi Arabia to come in against Shia Muslims (in Iran and Iraq, and possibly Yemen). However it seems that Trump cannot win without boots on the ground – which is not acceptable to the majority of Americans. Will the democrats fuck up an election they should not lose? Mandami is the most popular politician in the US, but many democrats (closet Republicans) are hesitating before backing him and his supporters and like minded individuals.

Tomatoes doing well!

Posted on

FUN

I love it when politicians make fools of themselves, and like Noah’s Ark they come in 2 by 2. Firstly the brave Chris Philp defies the might of France and a pistol discharged in the opposite direction to claim it was directed at him – pussy!; Then Zac Polanski – whom I like and admire, makes a fundamental error in reposting a t-shirt with Farage and a guillitine in juxtaposition – reposting is for imbeciles like Trump, not serious politicans- polanski and the Greens are losing in polls after the momentum created by Polanski and Hannah Spencer. They will not be the last, thats for sure.

Apple is the wotlds richest company at $5trillion – largely because it has not invested huge amounts in AI! Which is interesting? In the UK Andy Burnham continues to impress; his education plan has been widely welcomed by most; his plans for a meeting regarding care, with Badenoch and Davey is quite ground breaking, consensus politics rather than the adversarial ones of the last century at least (War coalitions exempt). Obviously there will be tax implications and the RW Press are getting ready to condemn any positive ideas. But a good start?

Meanwhile – earthquake in Japan is huge, but sensible building regs seems to have limited damage and loss of life. In Europe the flames continue. Gaia is obviously not happy.

Tomatoes are good and herbs thriving!

Posted on

NEWS BUT NOT THE NEWS

Wildfires in France and Spain and other countries are news – human suffering is always good news, especially if they are British tourists! But the serious bit is that this situation is potentially cataclysmic. The RW Press will still bang on about immigrants (potential numbers could spiral) and other trivia. We need to take action in a big way, like a war footing. Yes tax the rich to pay for it – Britain can be a world leader again – this country is too nice to leave!

Posted on

NHS

Our personal records have been acquired by a US private equity firm. Motivated by profit not patients, and from a country with an unstable leader I guess we should be concerned. There are all sorts of ways that the company, TPG, could monetise our data and sell it on to insurance companies and employers? At the same time a deal Starmer made with Trump is estimated could cost over 200000 lexcess deaths in the UK and cost the NHS $billions. There has to be a line between totally free foreign investment and what is best for Britain. The water companies are an excellent example – A large amount of Thames Water debt was created by an Australian company whilst at the same time failing to make investments to stop pollution. Incidentally with low flow in rivers it is highly likely that water firms will be discharging dangerous amounts of sewage (especially if we have storms before the river flows recover.

Evacuations across Europe due to devastating wild fires that continue to rage near Madrid and Bordeaux, are being matched by similar evauations across Asia due to devastating typhoons and flooding.; and we have not seen the worst of El Niño until next year. Incidentally – why can we still buy disposable bbqs in the UK – for as little as £2! At the very least they should come with a fire extinguisher. And lets see some punishment fitting the crime measures here – fines and prison are inappropriate when confiscation of vehicles or as an alternative 100’s of hours of cleaning up the mess they caused. Cigarette companies should be forced to provide free butt boxes to shops to give away 9free advertising?

My front drive has chicory and evening primrose and a couple of other plants growing in it – it would not be rocket science to stipulate that all driveways and paving over of lawns should involve a lattice that allows infiltration of rain, and can be a haven for wildlife (it needs all the help it can get!). It could still be mown, it would cut flooding risk in cities where of street parking ahs become endemic with former gardens concreted.

So the prediction is, and I hope I am so wrong, A wet autumn, followed in the New Year by a very cold spell, then a summer of heat waves – hopefully as we are an island the temperatures will be moderated. Britains housing also needs massive refurbishment – even houses built this year! Insulation, windows with shutters, that open inwards? Oh _ I am sure others have better ideas!

Meanwhile – Trump is playing Hokey Cokey with the world again on a destructive level – bombing Iran/being friends; tariffs on/off. I think it goes beyond business, we all like an element of stability – he is single handily destroying the worlds economy. And many Amricans still support the pervert!

Posted on

WILDFIRES

An unbelievable number of people are evacuated in Spain and France – where do they go? It might be for a short while, but for others whose houses burn it means change on a massive scale, childrens schools, pets, and all the junk we accumulate through the years. I really feel for these people; and the wildlife whose escape maybe more perilous.

And so the police are investigating Tice and the dodgy finances of Reform, and finally the presss are awakening to the bloody obvious realsisation that what policies Reform has are crap! What else to report? Nothing really – a burning fucked up world is more than enough for today!