Category: Geography

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.

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.

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!

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.

Some people are complaining about the severe warning put out by the Government. I am not sure why? Apart from an attempt to make a political point. With fires breaking out and destroying houses in this country, there is obviously a need – 99% of fires are caused by humans, mostly, and I am being generous here, accidentally through stupidity or ignorance. We discussed this at the shop this morning. It was pointed out that many people now have no access to the news, they do not watch news programmes, or listen to radio stations with news. So ignorance is an explanation, not an excuse. Some have said that the warning was over the top, but with the Army enrolled to help fight the fires because the fire service is being overwhelmed by the number of outbreaks. the government would be negligent to do nothing. One old lady even said it was inappropriate whilst we had small boat crossings , a crisis in the NHS (both Tory legacies). I am only aware of the government using the system once before regarding severe weather again, but wind/rain? One guy even said it was wrong because it frightened his child – presumably he has banned all fairy tales, and mention of Farage or Thatcher?

OK the brittle diva himself. Having claimed to have put two fingers up to the establishment (personified by himself) and forgeting the 10000 votes cast for anti-esstablishment figures like a guy wearing a trash can on his head. One can almost hear him sobbing in the corner, complaining that ‘it’ is not fair and ‘don’t they know who I am”. – I guess 22000 people in Clacton do not!

But Burnham is not innocent himself, he has watered down EV requirements and been positive to the development of Rosebank and Jackdaw fields. Is there any touch of irony?

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.