March 13, 2010
Act on C02 Bedtime Story OK Because IPCC Says So
Read the ASA adjudication on climate change adverts | guardian.co.uk
As the little girl says...
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England - Scotland Warm-up Videos
And the Scotch have forgotten their grievance over this, not...
Posted by The Englishman at 6:39 AM
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Enquiring into our libel laws
Want to see for yourself how English libel law stops you accessing
websites? Go to the National Enquirer website http://www.nationalenquirer.com They've blocked access to anyone in the UK because they fear a libel action in London.
( anonymizer.nntime.com allows me to pretend I'm in the States. )
Libel Reform Campaign - Free Speech Is Not For Sale has more.
Posted by The Englishman at 12:02 AM
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March 12, 2010
ManBearPig to Eat All the Polar Bears
US to lobby for endangered species listing for polar bear | Environment | guardian.co.uk
"Sea ice changes will likely negatively impact polar bears by increasing energetic demands of seeking prey. As changes in habitat become more severe and seasonal rates of change more rapid, catastrophic mortality events that have yet to be realised on a large scale are expected to occur."
It adds: "A precautionary approach, which includes polar bears in Cites appendix I, is necessary to ensure that primarily commercial trade does not compound the threats posed to the species by loss of habitat."
Can you spot the weasel words which give away the truth that problem they want to solve doesn't yet exist?
Posted by The Englishman at 11:52 PM
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Public Doubt in CAGW Won't Last
Slide in climate change belief is a temporary glitch | Damian Carrington | guardian.co.uk
Is the world warming and are we causing it? The number of people confidently saying yes to that question has slipped sharply over recent weeks, if opinion polls on both sides of the Atlantic are to be believed. That looks like bad news for those arguing that major changes to how we travel, power our homes and feed ourselves are needed to avoid catastrophe....
it seems it took a perfect storm of snow, scientific doubt and political failure to dent public acceptance of the reality of global warming by about 10%.....
For greens that could be encouraging, as all those factors will fade. For sceptics, it's more likely to be worrying, as they have never had it so good in recent years.
The genie can be put back in the bottle...
Posted by The Englishman at 11:47 PM
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Friday Night is Music Night (From The Dusty Archives Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:29 PM
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What rein can hold licentious wickedness When down the hill he holds his fierce career?
Cheese-rolling race axed after 200 years... thanks to health and safety killjoys
Health and Safety - can you see any problem?
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
Posted by The Englishman at 5:29 PM
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Our Bill of Rights and Liberties
Many have argued that our Bill of Rights should be respected and obeyed so it is heartening to see some doughty MPs leaping to its defence. I do hope that as they grasp at a bizarre interpretation of one of its clauses that they have always fully observed, defended and argued for all the other ones which protect the right of the subject against the overbearing power of the state. To suggest they haven't would be to accuse them of being cynical self-serving troughers.
BILL OF RIGHTS [1689]
An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling
the Succession of the Crown
Whereas the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at
Westminster, lawfully, fully and freely representing all the estates of
the people of this realm, did upon the thirteenth day of February in the
year of our Lord one thousand six hundred eighty-eight [old style date]
present unto their Majesties, then called and known by the names and
style of William and Mary, prince and princess of Orange, being present
in their proper persons, a certain declaration in writing made by the
said Lords and Commons in the words following, viz.:
(Continues)
Continue reading "Our Bill of Rights and Liberties"
Posted by The Englishman at 6:04 AM
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March 11, 2010
The IPCC review
Will it be more widely trusted?
It's possible to divide published opinions on the issue into three broad categories: those who are only concerned with getting the message across that man-made climate change is an over-riding threat requiring urgent action, those who are concerned about the issue but are more concerned by what they see as lack of rigour and transparency within the IPCC, and those who are convinced that global warming is a fraud anyway and the IPCC one of the lead swindlers....
...how independent the scientists on the Inter-Academy Council's review panel will be from the scientists who contributed work to the IPCC in the first place. There's also the wider point that some of the institutions involved with the Inter-Academy Council, such as the UK's Royal Society, have taken a very public stance on climate change.
But to assume this will automatically cause problems for the review is, I think, to misunderstand its nature and purpose.
It is not a review of climate science - some would say it ought to be, but it isn't, it's a review of IPCC practice ..
Will the Inter-Academy Council choose to make use of expertise from fields apparently unrelated to climate science? We shall see - and that, perhaps, will be one of the factors that determines how meaningful and visionary the review turns out to be, and how it is eventually perceived.
And we will be watching it carefully - we have seen to many inside job reviews already. To restore trust it needs to be rigorous, independent and from outside the circled wagons.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:44 AM
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The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig...
Posted by The Englishman at 6:36 AM
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You Be The Judge
Be your own judge: try your hand at sentencing - Times Online
The launch of an interactive website, You Be the Judge (http://ybtj.cjsonline.gov.uk/) will give the public a chance to pass their own sentences on real cases, working through mitigating and aggravating factors. The aim was to help the public to understand that sentencing was not just an arbitrary decision but a difficult and complex process, based on many factors.
Fun for the whole family - I've got the black wig on but I can't find the hang'em all button....
Posted by The Englishman at 6:30 AM
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Irrelevant Chatter on Minimum Pricing
Ordinary drinkers 'have nothing to fear' from minimum alcohol pricing - Scotsman.com News
As both the Scottish and Westminster parliaments debated the issue, the chair of the House of Commons health select committee, Kevin Barron, called for the measure to stem increasing rates of addiction and the multi-billion pound cost to society in terms of treatment and crime...
And not a mention about the EU court upholding opposition to minimum pricing.
They can blather on as much as they like in their expensive talking shops but the EU rules on this, not them. I don't expect the politicians to acknowledge this inconvenient truth, but you would think a journalist might.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:21 AM
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March 10, 2010
Freedom for Scottish Schools Inches Nearer
Scottish Tory proposals aim for less state control of education - Times Online
Scotland’s Education Secretary last night gave a guarded welcome to Conservative proposals for new schools funded by the taxpayer but run by independent charities or trusts. Such schools would be free to set their own priorities but could not seek private funding or operate a selective admissions policy.
In a surprising a response to the policy announcement, Michael Russell said he was open to “interesting proposals” and wanted debate on diverse forms of education delivery. He is to travel to Sweden — which operates a scheme like the one Conservatives want to import — on a fact-finding mission this weekend.
Another step closer to a better system, and refreshing it is across party boundaries. If only the Tories weren't so scared of, and Labour so in the pay of, the Education Establishment in England...
Posted by The Englishman at 6:38 AM
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IPCC - Move along now, the experts will tell you all is fine.
UN to review errors made by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - Times Online
The United Nations is to announce an independent review of errors made by its climate change advisory body in an attempt to restore its credibility.
That must be a use of the word "independent" that I'm not familiar with as its stated aim is to provide a PR whitewash.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:30 AM
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The Glasgow Commonwealth Games Plughole Logo
CONCERNS have been raised over the Glasgow Commonwealth Games logo
The new branding for the Games, which cost organisers £95,000, was launched amid a fanfare on Monday and is said to represent the unique aspects of the historic event.
The logo consists of four circles which represent different aspects of the Games. It is based around four numbers associated with the Games – the 20th time the Games have been held, the 17 sports represented, the 11 days of the competition and one host city. The second ring is precisely 17/20ths of the size of the full outer circle, and the third ring is 11/20ths of the size.
At the heart of the logo is the letter G standing for the host city. It was designed by Marque Creative, which was chosen from 66 contenders.
Critics have carped it looks just like money being poured down a plughole, which is they concede is only appropriate.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:05 AM
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March 9, 2010
THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE
The Devil's Kitchen: This is how it should be done
Quite to repeat it again - THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE - he provides a commented potted analysis, the full article is here.
How reducing government makes us richer, freer and better - not a theory but a worked example from New Zealand.
No wonder we have turned our backs on the Commonwealth in favour of the overbearing EU.
Do read it, and copy it out in crayon and big letters for any Conservative you meet and ask them what is so bloody hard to understand?
Posted by The Englishman at 6:51 AM
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The cock crows for the IPCC
Another error in the influential reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports has been identified. This one concerns the rate of expansion of sea ice around Antarctica... was brought to the IPCC Chapter 4 authors’ attention by several IPCC commenters.
And not corrected.
Three times the IPCC was warned that the obviously, blatantly idiotic global warming wildfire claims in the 3000 page AR4 report were actually idiotic. Three times the warnings were ignored.
That is two reports just this morning showing how the final IPCC report ignores inconvenient truths.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:37 AM
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Postman Pat Demands Doggie ID
Crackdown on dangerous dogs to make microchips compulsory for all |
World news |
guardian.co.uk
All dogs are to be compulsorily microchipped so that their owners can be more easily traced under a crackdown on dangerous dogs to be unveiled today.
The measures will be set out by the home secretary, Alan Johnson, who will point to rising public concern that "status dogs" are being used by some irresponsible owners to intimidate communities or as a weapon by gangs.
Much of the legal framework stems from the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act, which used to be held up as an example of the poor quality of legislation passed by MPs in haste but has actually proved a resilient and useful law over the past 19 years.
The Home Office said yesterday: "While this legislation is an essential tool in tackling antisocial behaviour, the government wants to look at it again to ensure it is working as it should and enables the police, local authorities and the RSPCA to take swift action to protect the public and stop abuse."
A few problem dogs so all dogs are legislated against, why is this no surprise? And for the DDA to be announced a success shows the art of revisionist history to be alive and well.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:34 AM
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How do you like your eggs in the morning?
'Eating for two' may harm baby - Times Online
A high-calorie diet around the time of conception — and regular breakfasts — might increase the odds of a boy while women with a lower energy intake were more likely to give birth to a girl.
There has been a small but consistent decline of about one per 1,000 births annually in the proportion of boys being born in industrialised countries, including the UK, over the last 40 years.
Some researchers have suggested this could be because women have been consuming low fat foods and skipping breakfast, among other things.
The "harm" to baby in the headline seems to mean the extra risk it might be born male.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:24 AM
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March 8, 2010
Church Of Climate Change Revivalist Meeting
The sermon:
Wanted: an eco prophet - Peter Preston - guardian.co.uk
What's to be done (except wait for a natural disaster that ends all argument – and much else besides)? First, through gritted teeth, say what won't work, what's been tried already and failed.
More jaw and Gore from politicians can't cut it. They have come to seem secondhand sources, merely parroting a frail scientific thesis. That goes, alas, for journalists, too – and for pressure groups issuing lurid warnings or staging angry demos. Those of us who are convinced, who believe in the necessity of action, haven't changed our minds. But we're not the point. The audience that matters is out there, sleeping or drifting. And rousing it will demand something different, not more of the same.... And the plain fact is that we surely need a prophet, not yet another committee. We need one passionate, persuasive scientist who can connect and convince – not because he preaches apocalypse in gory detail, but in simple, overwhelming terms. We need to be taught to believe by a true believer in a world where belief is the fatal, missing ingredient.
The congregation will now stand for Psalm 22
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head...
And now we will all sing: Cwm Rhondda - Guide me , O thou great Redeemer
Guide me, o thou great Redeemer, pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak, but thou art mighty: hold me with thy powerful hand: ...
Isn't belief and trust in the word so much more comforting than being sceptical and looking at the evidence....
Posted by The Englishman at 6:40 AM
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ACPO Threat
Tories accuse senior police of giving political cover to Labour - Times Online
A Tory briefing document, seen by The Times, attacks the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), which represents the 350 most senior officers in England and Wales.
The three-page briefing note contains a critique of the structure of ACPO, pointing out that although it receives vast amounts of public money, the association is a private limited company that is not accountable to the public or Parliament and not covered by the Freedom of Information Act.
The document outlines how, despite its private status, ACPO accrued operational policing roles in counter-terrorism, civil emergencies, intelligence gathering and ports policing. It also has subsidiary companies providing criminal record checks, security advice and road safety training.
The Tory note accuses the body of “bankrolling a ‘gravy train’ of ex-police officers who retire with a substantial police pension and then take up either consultancy work or full-time employment with ACPO”. It adds: “Parliament has never had the opportunity to debate the role of what is arguably one of the most powerful publicly funded bodies in the UK.”
One police source told The Times: “I would be amazed if ACPO survived the election of a Conservative government.”
That's the good news, ACPO is a scandal;
Tory policy on policing and law and order is still being formulated,....
That's the unbelievable news, had no one told them there was likely to be an election soon and we want to know what they propose?
Posted by The Englishman at 6:38 AM
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March 7, 2010
Bang Tofu King Rights
Don’t mock my lentils: vegans to get discrimination rights - Times Online
VEGANS and teetotallers are to be given the same protection against discrimination as religious groups, under legislation championed by Harriet Harman, the equalities minister.
A code of practice explaining the legal implications of the equality bill states that religions need not be mainstream or well known for their adherents to gain protection. “A belief need not include faith or worship of a god or gods, but must affect how a person lives their life or perceives the world.”
The code, drawn up by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, singles out vegans, who do not eat any animal products or wear leather, as meriting protection from religious discrimination.
Do hard drinking carnivores also merit protection, or are they not girly enough to need it?
Posted by The Englishman at 7:59 PM
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Gone Walkabout
The Aborigines who've walked for 40,000 years | The Observer
Aborigines have handed down songs and legends about their lands for generations. Today they form an unbroken link to a mythical past – and a key to the future
The open landscape, the incomprehensible sweep of time, these men who have something none of the rest of us have, a continuous tie to songs, to stories, to art, to law, to a country and a path all going back at least 40,000 years. No other humans can claim this. It's difficult to believe that anything can pass down unchanged, though, for a thousand generations. Is that really possible? I also have trouble disengaging my modern critical mind.
Probably best not to disengage, stories like this need a healthy dose of scepticism. And quite what we are meant to learn from a culture that hasn't progressed in 40,000 years I'm not sure.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:50 PM
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Rhino Farming
China buys up African rhinos ‘to farm for horn’ - Times Online
RHINOS, among the world’s most endangered and iconic animals, are being farmed on Chinese wildlife reserves in order to harvest their horns, a report by international conservation monitors has suggested.
The monitors have found that China has imported 141 live white rhino from South Africa since 2000, far more than is needed for tourism purposes.
They have also gathered evidence that the aim of the purchases is to set up rhino farms.
“The suspicion is that these rhinos are being aggregated into herds and farmed for their horns, which are valued for medicinal purposes,” said Tom Milliken of Traffic, the wildlife trade monitoring network.
Good news all round you would think, wild rhinos will be less valuable and so safer, rhino horn can be harvested from live rhinos (it is only hair), the number of rhinos will increase and as the farmed ones will be well looked after.
So why is everyone up in arms about it?
Posted by The Englishman at 7:45 PM
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Quotes of the day
Raedwald: I've said before, anyone can make whatever 'lifestyle choice' they like, so long as they pay for it themselves. They can kill themselves with cocaine, overdose on rent boys, pickle themselves in Bollinger and bear bastards enough to staff a laundry - but don't ask me to live a frugal, industrious and responsible life to pay for it. Because I've had enough.
I Wish I Had Said That -
Yes, it would be nice to have evidence-based policy-making. But even if we can't get that, perhaps we can do away with policy-based evidence-making.
Posted by The Englishman at 4:14 PM
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March 6, 2010
Bob Ward and Erroneous Tree Rings
"hide the decline".
As is now well known, this phrase was referring to the practice of adding the instrumental temperatures since the 1960s to a proxy record compiled from tree rings that erroneously indicated a cooling over the last four decades of the 20th century.
The tree rings just happen to be in error on the recent bit of temperature history where we can check them, but are obviously right back 700 years ago, yeah right.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:49 AM
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March 5, 2010
Best Street in Britain? Google Fail
The general public was called upon by Google Street View to nominate their favourite streets...Strong contenders for the Most Picturesque Street include New College Lane in Oxford...
Many a time I have walked down there on my way for some late night sustenance, follow the street in the video above and see if you agree.
But, but, but the camera doesn't go through the arch to carry on down
Queen's Lane
And you can't go up Queen's Lane to get to the prettiest bit either.
If Google is going to send out PR on streets at least they could actually bloody photograph them.
Posted by The Englishman at 11:54 PM
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Friday Night is Music Night (No MGs Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:05 PM
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Met Office Admits Can't Forecast Beyond Five Days
BBC News - Met Office seasonal forecasts to be scrapped
"..the science does not exist to allow an exact forecast beyond five days, or to absolutely promise a certain type of weather."
It said the UK is one of the hardest places to provide forecasts for due to its "size and location", making it "very hard to forecast much beyond a week".
However, it said its short-term forecasts are "extremely accurate".
The Met Office added that it would work towards developing the science of long range forecasting.
Posted by The Englishman at 12:40 PM
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Annual Tractor Blogging
Posted by The Englishman at 11:01 AM
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Lifting the Lid on Council Buggers
Research conducted by Big Brother Watch reveals that there are now 68 local authorities secreting microchips in the bins of residents, up from 42 a year earlier
To read the full report, which includes detailed information on every local authority, please click here.
As previously noted I went outside and tipped my bin over to have a look under the lip at the top - and here is what I found...
I can't seem to get it back in....
Posted by The Englishman at 6:54 AM
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Spinning the Climate
Climate scientists must be absolutely honest about data | David Colquhoun | guardian.co.uk
If we want the public to continue to trust us as scientists, we must be absolutely open and never resort to spin or PR
It is no excuse, but it is perhaps a reason, for misconduct that the pressure to publish and produce results is now enormous in academia....Application of Thatcherite principles to science results in dishonesty, just as it does among bankers. That is what happens when science is run by people who don't do it.
It is not uncommon to read that science needs better PR. That is precisely not what is needed. PR exists to put only one side of the story, which makes it an essentially dishonest occupation. Its aims are the very opposite of those of science. The public aren't stupid: they often recognise when they are getting half the story.
It is particularly unfortunate that many universities have developed departments with names like "corporate communications".
The answer for climate science and indeed science in general has to be total openness. There is a growing trend for researchers in a variety of fields to place all original data and analysis methods openly on the web. That trend does not yet seem to have reached all of climate science yet, but it is the only way forward. Some people object to total openness on the grounds that the other side tells lies. In the case of climate change (and in the case of junk medicine too) that is undoubtedly true. The opponents are ruthlessly dishonest about facts. The only way to counter that is by being ruthlessly and visibly honest about what you know, and why.
Climate scientists plot to hit back at skeptics - Washington Times
Undaunted by a rash of scandals over the science underpinning climate change, top climate researchers are plotting to respond with what one scientist involved said needs to be "an outlandishly aggressively partisan approach" to gut the credibility of skeptics.
In private e-mails obtained by The Washington Times, climate scientists at the National Academy of Sciences say they are tired of "being treated like political pawns" and need to fight back in kind. Their strategy includes forming a nonprofit group to organize researchers and use their donations to challenge critics by running a back-page ad in the New York Times.
"Most of our colleagues don't seem to grasp that we're not in a gentlepersons' debate, we're in a street fight against well-funded, merciless enemies who play by entirely different rules," Paul R. Ehrlich, a Stanford University researcher, said in one of the e-mails.
ABC JOANNE NOVA - The money trail
Sceptics are fighting a billion dollar industry aligned with a trillion dollar trading scheme. Big Oil's supposed evil influence has been vastly outdone by Big Government, and even those taxpayer billions are trumped by Big-Banking.
The big-money side of this debate has fostered a myth that sceptics write what they write because they are funded by oil profits. They say, follow the money? So I did and it's chilling. Greens and environmentalists need to be aware each time they smear with an ad hominem attack they are unwittingly helping giant finance houses.
The US government spent $79 billion on climate research and technology since 1989 - to be sure, this funding paid for things like satellites and studies, but it's 3,500 times as much as anything offered to sceptics. It buys a bandwagon of support, a repetitive rain of press releases, and includes PR departments of institutions like NOAA, NASA, the Climate Change Science Program and the Climate Change Technology Program. The $79 billion figure does not include money from other western governments, private industry, and is not adjusted for inflation. In other words, it could be…a lot bigger.
What the US Government has paid to one side of the scientific process pales in comparison with carbon trading. According to the World Bank, turnover of carbon trading reached $126 billion in 2008. PointCarbon estimates trading in 2009 was about $130 billion. This is turnover, not specifically profits, but each year the money market turnover eclipses the science funding over 20 years. Money Talks.
Unpaid sceptics are not just taking on scientists who conveniently secure grants and junkets for pursuing one theory, they also conflict with potential profits of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Barclays, Morgan Stanley, and every other financial institution or corporation that stands to profit like the Chicago Climate Exchange, European Climate Exchange, PointCarbon, IdeaCarbon (and the list goes on… ) as well as against government bureaucracies like the IPCC and multiple departments of Climate Change.
Ultimately the atmosphere is what it is regardless of fiat currency movements. Some people will accuse me of smearing climate scientists and making the same ad hominem attacks I detest and protest about. So note carefully: I haven't said that the massive amount of funding received by promoters of the Carbon Catastrophe proves that they are wrong, just as the grassroots unpaid dedication of sceptics doesn't prove them right either. But the starkly lop-sided nature of the funding means we'd be fools not to pay very close attention to the evidence. It also shows how vapid the claims are from those who try to smear sceptics and who mistakenly think ad hominem arguments are worth making.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:35 AM
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Death By Resource Allocation
Fire chief: I was right to forbid shaft rescue - Scotsman.com News
Mr Stewart, of Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, had arrived at the scene of the accident to take care of media duties. But when he found himself the senior officer at the top of the disused mine shaft, the 38-year-old decided to take command of firefighters who were poised to mount a rescue mission.
Mr Stewart, who has 17 years' service, explained why he stopped the paramedic going into the hole, even though he was harnessed up and ready to go.
He said: "I spoke to the paramedic and asked him some questions, if he was trained to work at height, or in confined spaces or familiar with any fire and rescue kit.
"The answer to all of those questions was that he was not trained in any of them.
"I explained to them as the officer in charge I could not let him access an area like that without appropriate training or equipment.
"It was not my intention to allow any more resources into that shaft."
"Resources" "Media Duties" "Appropriate Training" - When firemen start talking like this all is lost,
Posted by The Englishman at 6:19 AM
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March 4, 2010
Suing Big Oil For Causing Hurricanes
Hurricane Katrina victims to sue oil companies over global warming
"The plaintiffs allege that defendants' operation of energy, fossil fuels, and chemical industries in the United States caused the emission of greenhouse gasses that contributed to global warming," say the documents seen by the AFP news agency.
The increase in global surface air and water temperatures "in turn caused a rise in sea levels and added to the ferocity of Hurricane Katrina, which combined to destroy the plaintiffs' private property, as well as public property useful to them."
The suit, claiming compensation and punitive damages from multinational companies including Shell, ExxonMobile, BP and Chevron, has already passed several key legal hurdles, after initially being knocked back by the lowest court.
Other companies named in the suit include Honeywell and American Electric Power, with the residents charging that "the defendants' greenhouse gas emissions caused saltwater, debris, sediment, hazardous substances, and other materials to enter, remain on, and damage plaintiffs' property."
Bring it on, I would be fascinated to see the evidence.
Posted by The Englishman at 9:49 PM
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Climate Change Religious Wars
Climate emails inquiry: Energy consultant linked to physics body's submission | The Guardian
Evidence from Institute of Physics drawn from energy industry consultant who argues global warming is a religion
Gill wrote: "If you don't 'believe' in anthropogenic climate change, you risk at best ridicule, but more likely vitriolic comments or even character assassination. Unfortunately, for many people the subject has become a religion, so facts and analysis have become largely irrelevant."
How very dare he say that! Obviously he must be hounded and barred from expressing an opinion. Unlike Tim Nicholson:
Judge rules activist's beliefs on climate change akin to religion | The Guardian
Tim Nicholson entitled to protection for his beliefs, and his claim over dismissal will now be heard by a tribunal
Posted by The Englishman at 9:48 PM
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Biofuels - A Letter to The Times
Sir, After soliciting opinions from 300 “experts” (presumably without any well-informed algologists, photobiologists or plant biochemists among their number) the UK’s Carbon Trust has created an Algae Biofuel Challenge, a £16 million fund to support the development and large-scale production of algal oil. Sadly, this initiative disregards half a century of worldwide research and the constraints imposed by the laws of physics. It is based on the belief that microalgae are ten times as productive as other “plants” even though there is no evidence that cultivated algae are able to accumulate substantially more biomass, during a period of sustained growth, than other green organisms. When comparisons of productivity are based on the normal period of growth, the yields of biomass are similar, regardless of species or locality.
Intensive agricultural practice of any sort rarely uses less fossil fuel energy than the solar energy that it conserves as biomass. Biofuels do not, therefore, lead to an appreciable sparing of carbon dioxide emissions that could not be better accomplished by the most modest means of energy conservation.
David Alan Walker
Emeritus Professor of Photosynthesis, University of Sheffield
And that is what I think is called an academic bitch-slap from a real expert to the wannabe experts....
Posted by The Englishman at 6:38 AM
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Miliband lines up loft insulating jobs for after the election
Fuel bills will pay for eco-upgrades
More than 10,000 homes a week will be given 'eco-upgrades' under Goverment plans to make every home in Britain environmentally friendly.
Energy companies will work with local authorities to carry out the ambitious refurbishment programme "street by street" and "house by house".
Mr Miliband admitted households will pay around £50 per year to subsidise the nationwide scheme through fuel bills but insisted that this would be outweighed by savings in the long term.
The Home Energy Management Strategy is expected to create up to 65,000 jobs. To protect consumers against "cowboy eco-builders" a new accreditation scheme will ensure minimum health and safety standards for workmen.
So a state regulated army of turkey workers under local authority control will go "house to house" demanding householders alter their properties to conform with Mr Miliband's dreams and we all will pay for this scheme.
Is there a box to tick that says I've already paid to insulate my castle and I don't want to pay again or be bothered?
Posted by The Englishman at 6:27 AM
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Tales from my youth
Milton Friedman did not save Chile | Naomi Klein | guardian.co.uk
If one person deserves credit.. it is .. Salvador Allende, Chile's democratically elected socialist president.
... the country has endured a tragedy that elsewhere would have been an apocalypse … It's not by chance that Chileans were living in houses of brick – and Haitians in houses of straw –when the wolf arrived to try to blow them down...the reason Chile is a prosperous nation with "some of the world's strictest building codes.
Thatcher Out! Support The Miners! Free Nelson Mandela! It is reassuring to be reminded that in Guardian World somethings never change.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:26 AM
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