Category: Environment

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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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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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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.

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TIBET

The scale of the disaster is becoming more apparant with every day – now over 1000 dead and the possibility of further horrendous floods are possible. Of course the trash press are only interested in the 30+ Britons who have been killed, why when every loss of life is to be mourned, the press no longer report the executions of Children and medics in Gaza and the West Bank and Lebanon. Is this due to the lack of ‘Brits” killed or the Israeli/Jewish influence. Yes I include ‘Jewish’ as there are many Jews who support Israeli actions, or chose to stay quiet – i.e. complicit. Tens of M.P.s have accepted donations from pro-israeli bodies including any Labour (and Ministers). Burnham promises positive action, but we wait and see; just like we do on proportional representation and donations to parties where he seems to have back tracked after Union pressure, donations from abroad should be a straightforward ban? But politics is a messy business.

I hve a suggestion, as the UN seems to be ever more toothless, why not create an international brigade, made up of a mixture of troops and civilians, who can intercede when dusters occur. All countries would be invited to aprticipate and pay for it, It would have ‘blue hat’ status and ability to call up experts to aid difficult situations (nuclear accidents). TBH it is pathetic that we rely on charities to aid (even with government funding). Unfunding by Trump has probably led to many thousands of deaths – despicable apology for a human!

Beans and pulse sales are up over 7% in the last year. This has to be good for both our selves and the planets, Eating meat will always be an option, but a reduction hs to be welcomed by the NHS.

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CONFUSED

The trash papers tell us that we must prepare for an attack by Russia; I know it probably sells newspapers but really! It would appear that Russia is struggling against the Ukraine. Why do right wing newspapers and parties want to increase military spending, whilst all the time complaining about taxes and welfare. Anybody under the age of 80 in this country has not lived under war conditions – what are they afraid of?

Water compaanies have said they will fight any change to the insolvency laws – But Parliament makes and passes the laws, so the greedy hedge funds will just have to suck it! Just as Trump will have to do in negotiations with Canada. Canada can open trade links with other countries and benefit from the tariff war, Similarly China can do the same if Trump gets uppity about Irans exports of oil to China. The world is not a peaceful place at the moment with Trump, Netmanyahu and Putin strutting like old cocks in a farmyard.

Will we finally get a fair voting system in the UK? Whilst I shudder at the thought of more toss pots from Reform and the other ones, in Parliament, in a democracy they deserve to have their racist incoherrent lies heard. Argumentsabout the need for FPTP and strong government have been totally washed away by the ineptitude of the last government, and to some extent the large majority of the present one.

Fuel bills rise again – and no dumbass, opening up fields in the North Sea will not help, but a war like effort to reduce reliance on fossil fuels would, jobs would be created locally, especially if combined with insulation. Data centres are a difficult problem – we are increasingly becoming dependant in AI and the super computers (until a hacker takes one down!). They use vast amounts of water and electricity – climate change should determine that they are always sited on the coast – the finance these companies make is humungous – so they should have to pay extra to ensure that local people never lose their power supply before an AI company.

Floods predicted across the country. Hey guys, what were you doing in your Geography lessons! I fear that more will become aware of ‘infiltration rates’, ‘saturation point’, ‘overland flow’ and the need for beaver in preference to grouse moors. If it means job loses, so be it.

Burnham also seems ready to speak out about Israels annexation of the West Bank – will he stand up and be counted.

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STUPIDITY

War is stupid. Trump and Putin and Netmanyahu are stupid. Thousands die, many of them innocent children, all salve their gigantic egos and deflect attention from thair criminal activities. So should the UK be aiding Ukraine – yes, should we be aiding Trump, absolutely not. Should we take sanctions against Israel – certainly (although there may be hidden costs here!). Trump is also upping tariffs with Canada – the man is a childish moron.

I still have not made my mind up on Andy Burnham – has he the balls to take on Israel, halt new developments in the North Sea, truly sort out the NHS and education in the UK, provide an alternative way of providing for the care sector and asylum seekers. Take on the City of London’s monopoly of, and financial distortion of the housing market. He has the majority to do it all!

Reform have said they will evict tennants in social housing who do not keep their gardens tidy – ha fucking ha! A tidy world is a boring world – perhaps they would use agent orange of wildlife areas? The Telegraph also has a very strange article about paddle boards ruining rivers! 96% of rivers in England deny access to the public and paddle boarders. 75% of river banks are forbidden zones for the public. So the Telegraph runs an article with a header on its front page, for one or two individuals who are put out by paddle boarders. Fucking ridiculous. Surely a responsible journalist would have referred to every river in England being polluted and most a hazard to health.

Trump, again, has IndyCars racing around the streets of Washington – there were no reports of children taken to hospital with breathing difficulties resulting from the pollution (suppressed no doubt). ULEZ has been a great success for London – wood burning stoves are a greater hazard! – with childrens lungs recovering. Wood burning fires in London seems a bit daft! Does London produce much timber for burning? Or are they stripping the area around it for their pleasure? Smog was common during my teenaged years – I think we should have moved on.

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DISRESPECT

The Sun referring the two Police Officers killed in a crash with a cra going the wrong way down a dual carriageway, called them ‘cops’, this is disrespectful. ‘Cops’ is slang and the death in the line of duty should be treated with respect and gravity. This is the second crash of this sort in days – the last was in ireland and has been blamed on TikTok, if this is correct, social media must be made to be responsible for its misdemeanours, either banning or heavily fining. The case in California against Meta is expected to last 6 weeks. The outlook for Meta is not good, they have already been fined $942m in New Mexxico and have also settled out of court with a school district in Kentucky and have another 6000 case being pursued in the courts in the US. The fines could become $billions!

Of course the Mail is still preoccupied with Meghan and Harry! The Express concentrates on concerns regarding the green belt, whilst the Telegraph has a big pic of Harry and leads on a cyber attack on a power plant that has been attributed to Iran. If you play with fire, you may get burnt! (Halt the planes feeding Trumps war from using the UK as an offshore base).

Applications for onshore wind turbines have increased in England, half the cost of gas produced electricity, it makes sense. Most applications are relatively small scale “small is beautiful” and would increase manufacturing and employment in the UK, and strengthen our independance.

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M.P.S FREEBIES

The newspaper was full of the £400000 worth of freebies accepted by MP’s, however there should be some caution. Free tickets to pop concerts and top sporting events should be shunned, however a local MP attending a cup final or such llike is reasonable (although being able to write off against tax would be fairer?). Basically if attending in a private capacity they should pay..

El Niño – politicians are out of touch with the public. Surveys put environmental issues at no.4 of concern and climate change was blamed for the recent heatwave by 86% of voters as the major factor. It is not another boring policy decision on which views can differ – action is fucking essential and should be a priority. Wankers like Tice should be told to shut up for making stupid comments about British Champagne – what a prick. The Daily Mail, swimming in damages monies should also shut up if it has nothing sensible to state (if it ever gets over Harry and Meghan (15 pages on Friday!) and stop making accusations about Nature Reserves being a fire hazard – they may well save many people from the effects of flooding. Whilst predictions are notoriously difficult, it seems that we may experience more extreme weather events over the next few months – time to call a COBRA meeting?