Is anyone listening?

Right a few things to get off my chest tonight, mostly based around the fact that this Government has created an atmosphere of governance where no-one listens to public opinion. Obviously the big issue around this is the massive furore over the road pricing thing. So like a million and a half ill-informed selfish pricks knee jerked they're way onto the Downing Street website and clicked to show their disapproval at driving costing them a bit more...maybe...if they drive during rush hour...in a city. Now I don't really have an opinion just yet about the scheme, obviously my knee-jerk says its a good thing but I admit I am uncomfortable about the monitoring aspect of it, but thats neither here nor there. What is interesting about this is the amount of excitement that Tony Blair/Downing Street (I doubt he actually wrote that email) responded to public concern and then that he went ahead and ignored it.

Isn't it sad that power is now so concentrated around the little No.10 bubble that it comes as a great shock when Blair realises that not everyone is willing to go along blindly with his schemes. That upsets me as does the going along and doing it anyway. I mean in this case it makes sense, I mean after all, all that is happening is a review and trial. I may be biased because I happen to agree that drivers need more sticks (and carrots) to give up the little tin box addiction but the arrogance of not really paying attention to public concern is fucking irritating. I mean they didn't even pretend that they were going to pay attention to the concerns people were having, just that they were going to explain why they were going to go ahead and do it anyway. It reminds me of the futility we all felt while marching against the Iraq war. That morning, as similar amounts of us converged on London to show our displeasure, Blair made a similarly patronising statement about him being glad that we lived in a country where people could express their disagreement with those in government and that he would seek to answer our concerns. At no point did he say "and if enough of you show up and are articulate in your reasoning then I may accept that I've lost track of the people who elected me and think again" but there ya go. Piss off Tony, we're bored of you now.

Here's the full text of his email. I haven't read it but I'm sure it's delightful, and i'm sure the comments are equally amusing!

On a similar note, something I blogged about last year has come to an inevitable conclusion today. East Sussex County Council voted to allow the building of a waste incinerator in Newhaven (Residents angry as incinerator plan approved) . I won't bother telling you again why its a terrible idea because I already have, but please read around it and make sure this kind of thing stops happening. This is particularly odd because I'm currently temping for East Sussex County Council and I heard someone mention something about TV cameras today and didn't really think anything of it. I've been keeping up to speed on this issue and I work at the building where the decision was made but I had no idea it was happening until I got home and read email, way to go with the consultation ESCC!

Finally as an update, the Nisshin Maru is still drifting (read an update here), and teh Japanese are still refusing help. Greenpeace now have an email form, which is way better than the one I did, that will go to the Japanese government so fill it out. Oh and while you're there check out the webcam on the Greenpeace boat - cool almost live pics of the Antarctic seas!

Three blogs about governments of varying levels from around the world not listening to their constituents. Isn't democracy great?

Japanese Whaler Emergency

This has to be a short one as I'm in a bit of hurry but it is very important.

The Beeb has posted a story about a stranded Japanese whaling ship that is in danger of spilling fuel in an area near the largest Adele penguin colony in the world ( Japan urged to 'use Greenpeace'). Greenpeace have a boat in the area that can tow the boat away from the colony and thus avert a possible massive environmental disaster (Greenpeace ready to tow striken whaling ship) but the Japanese are so far refusing to accept help. Now no doubt Greenpeace were there to cause trouble for the whaler but the issue is now bigger than a dispute between Greenpeace and the whaling industry.

They need to be forced to let Greenpeace intervene. With that in mind my old buddy Milli comes into the equation. Send him an email (david.miliband@gsi.defra.gov.uk) asking him to urge the Japanese minister for the Environment (this guy) to take action.

This is really fucking important so please do it now and ask your friends to it as well. What follows is the text of the email I've sent to Milli (on a lighter note this has got me thinking about hwo might be Vanilli - I want Ruth Kelly but I have no reason to say that), feel free to nab it or write something a bit more eloquent:

Dear Mr Milliband,

As I am sure you are by now aware the Japanese whaling ship the Nisshin Maru is stranded in the Ross Sea in Antarctica. Chris Carter the Conservation Minister for New Zealand has urged the Japanese to accept Greenpeace's offer to tow the ship clear to avoid a possible environmental disaster were the ship to start spilling fuel


I ask you to urge Masatoshi Wakabayashi, the Japanese Minister of the Environment, to accept intervention by Greenpeace to solve this problem before it causes an avoidable catastrophe.

I look forward to hearing of your timely action.

Kind Regards,

I'm Back and More Environment Stuff

First up, apologies for the lack of posting since forever. I'm back and I should be able to be regular from now on. I'm also going to change tack a bit and keep thsi blog purely current affairs (I've got others where I can sound off about Anna Nicole Smith and Hot Fuzz).

Now on to the important things. I'm afraid I'm sticking with the theme of climate change (isn't it kind of stunning that in the year since I last posted the same issues are still stuck in the same places). Two reports from the BBC have struck me today. One - Nuclear review 'was misleading' - shows how little the UK government has actually the thought about nuclear power before deciding to move forward. They've chosen this as the easy 'don't upset the electorate' option and frankly it disgusts me. It's terrifying when a Tory leader who is a despicable person realises that renewable power is what people want to hear about (even if he is just doing it as a headline grabbing part of his party's rehabilitation) and the leader of Labour doesn't. The report is about the fact that a judge ruled today that when putting together it's nuclear power review last year that it didn't properly consult and presented some misleading information to the consultees. David Milliband (bless the little twat) then insists (in stunning display of 'I could run at a million miles an hour if I wanted to I just don't feel like it' playground petulance) that the Government could appeal but they've decided not to and also that the report doesn't criticise the information but rather the consultation process. Which is a lie. Mr Justice Sullivan said that the information provided was 'misleading' (check out the Greenpeace press release). Go Milli! In my book if the information on which you base your report is misleading and false then the report itself is going to be misleading. But there ya go.

Also from the BBC today comes news that Tony Blair wants to set limits for raises in temperature above a level which would cause catastrophe (Leaders plot path to climate deal). The pointlessness of setting targets for reducing climate change to a level that would only cause a bit of a world ending disaster is obvious but what really gets me about this is that most climatologists agree that global temperatures are going to rise by a couple of degrees over the next century because of what we've all already done to the planet. It's wrong to concentrate on the limiting temperature rise when we've got no real idea how much impact anything has (that's not to say it doesn't have an impact, just that we can't calculate how much of a temperature increase each coal power station creates). What we should be doing is setting wide ranging, enforceable targets for reducing emissions, from transport to households to power generation. There is no magic bullet, this is going to take a wide ranging approach that is going to need people to make changes to the way they live their lives. What Blair is proposing is a way to let us all sleep a little better. You know, when a flood kills millions in Asia and the water doesn't recede we can all go "Well the Government is trying to limit temperature rise so I don't need to stop taking 14 flights to the end of the road every year".

To continue with the theme the always excellent Comment is Free on the gruaniad website has a great thread started by a piece by Jeremy Seabrook about taking responsibility for climate change - All Together Now.

I'm Back and More Environment Stuff

First up, apologies for the lack of posting since forever. I'm back and I should be able to be regular from now on. I'm also going to change tack a bit and keep thsi blog purely current affairs (I've got others where I can sound off about Anna Nicole Smith and Hot Fuzz).

Now on to the important things. I'm afraid I'm sticking with the theme of climate change (isn't it kind of stunning that in the year since I last posted the same issues are still stuck in the same places). Two reports from the BBC have struck me today. One - Nuclear review 'was misleading' - shows how little the UK government has actually the thought about nuclear power before deciding to move forward. They've chosen this as the easy 'don't upset the electorate' option and frankly it disgusts me. It's terrifying when a Tory leader who is a despicable person realises that renewable power is what people want to hear about (even if he is just doing it as a headline grabbing part of his party's rehabilitation) and the leader of Labour doesn't. The report is about the fact that a judge ruled today that when putting together it's nuclear power review last year that it didn't properly consult and presented some misleading information to the consultees. David Milliband (bless the little twat) then insists (in stunning display of 'I could run at a million miles an hour if I wanted to I just don't feel like it' playground petulance) that the Government could appeal but they've decided not to and also that the report doesn't criticise the information but rather the consultation process. Which is a lie. Mr Justice Sullivan said that the information provided was 'misleading' (check out the Greenpeace press release). Go Milli! In my book if the information on which you base your report is misleading and false then the report itself is going to be misleading. But there ya go.

Also from the BBC today comes news that Tony Blair wants to set limits for raises in temperature above a level which would cause catastrophe (Leaders plot path to climate deal). The pointlessness of setting targets for reducing climate change to a level that would only cause a bit of a world ending disaster is obvious but what really gets me about this is that most climatologists agree that global temperatures are going to rise by a couple of degrees over the next century because of what we've all already done to the planet. It's wrong to concentrate on the limiting temperature rise when we've got no real idea how much impact anything has (that's not to say it doesn't have an impact, just that we can't calculate how much of a temperature increase each coal power station creates). What we should be doing is setting wide ranging, enforceable targets for reducing emissions, from transport to households to power generation. There is no magic bullet, this is going to take a wide ranging approach that is going to need people to make changes to the way they live their lives. What Blair is proposing is a way to let us all sleep a little better. You know, when a flood kills millions in Asia and the water doesn't recede we can all go "Well the Government is trying to limit temperature rise so I don't need to stop taking 14 flights to the end of the road every year".

To continue with the theme the always excellent Comment is Free on the gruaniad website has a great thread started by a piece by Jeremy Seabrook about taking responsibility for climate change - All Together Now.

On a Ming and a prayer

Well it's over and once again in British politics mediocrity wins out. No-one has, or can, complain that Ming The Homeliness can be considered a bad choice. It's just not a good one. Campbell is a senior statesman and a great man, he's done a lot of great things throughout his life and is a fantastic politician. He's just not the man to grab British politics by the scruff of its neck and drag it away from the centre. Even someone who would take the Liberal Democrats towards the Right then at least it would force Labour back to the Left a little. Instead Ming is going to head quick sharp for the centre and nothing is going to change. Maybe they'll pick up a few seats and hold the balance in a hung parliament at the next election. Woo. Great, so we get even more compromise and fudging and status quo.

I'm not sure that Chris Huhne or Simon Hughes has what it takes to lead the party to victory or at least the opposition benches but I know for sure that either one of them would have constructed a policy agenda that would have challenged the Centrist apathy of the other two. Cameron is Blair mark 2 and Blair is Thatcher with less testosterone. The world is crying out for a compassionate, decisive and socially responsible leader willing to make hard unpopular and much considered decisions. Not someone who governs by focus group and reading The Sun. The Lib Dems were the only party to call Tony on the Iraq destruction, to bang the drum for strict environmental reform and to talk seriously about introducing PR. This was Charlie's doing, I can't imagine Ming causing such a fuss.

So it's back to sqaure one and I must admit I'm not feeling good about the near future for British politics.

There's not much up yet but the Gruaniad already has some comment up - http://politics.guardian.co.uk/libdems/comment/0,,1722004,00.html - read it and, well, weep.

Whimsy

There was nothing of note in the news today particularly so I figured I'd share with the assembled masses what has been occupying my time today.

Avril Lavigne got fit... and grown up! What's that all about? - http://www.hollywoodtuna.com/?p=875 - I bought her first album when it came out like 5/6 years ago and must admit I enjoyed it for a summer, haven't listened to it since, and I did have a bit of a crush on, she was cute skater girl and there weren't many of them around at the time... leave me alone. But here we are a few years later and despite the fact that if I'm honest she still looks a little bit like rat she's looking pretty darn good. Maybe its the hair. It might also be because she's Canadian (I have a bit of a thing).

Evangeline Lilly has been accused of looking at little like a man, and OK she's quite broad of shoulder, but she's still really really hot. Ok maybe these pictures from Egotastic! don't do her justice - http://www.egotastic.com/entertainment/celebrities/evangeline-lilly/evangeline-lilly-bikini-tutu-ridiculous-000967#more - in that the bikini looks like something you see on a badly dressed four-year-old and she's pulling a funny face but these older ones - http://www.egotastic.com/entertainment/celebrities/evangeline-lilly/evangeline-lilly-bikini-tutu-ridiculous-000967#more - she looks bloody fantastic, like lean mean sex killign machine. I've had conversations in the past about how if one woman had to shag you death which woman would it be... well Evangeline Lilly looks capable and well I think I could enjoy... can you imagine how hard she would ride!

Over on I Watch Stuff! they posted a image from Spidey 3 a few days ago -http://www.iwatchstuff.com/archives/2006/02/spidermans_new_costume_unveile.html - the buzz seems to be that this is a black costume and therefore we're looking at Venom. I don't mean to pee on the fire of fanbiy buzz... but its the hue of the picture, is grey/blue/blck picture, to give mood... to make it look depressing. Venom would not be sitting like that plus he doesn't wear a costume that's what he looks like! Oh and someone is claiming you can see hobgoblin in the reflection in the eye piece... but luckily not even fanboys are takign this seriously. In other film news there is widespread derision at the idea of Misha Barton playing Supergirl. I don't see why, she's got that doe-eyed charm that you associate with the character, plus I think she could be be ballsy... I've never read Supergirl, but from what I understand its not like she's Wonder Woman... anyway here's the story - http://www.iwatchstuff.com/archives/2006/02/mischa_barton_as_supergirl.html

Finally, again its been around a while but no-ones really commenting on it. The teaser for MArie Antoinette the new Sophia Coppola with Kirsten Dunst is online - http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/marieantoinette/ -I'm not convinced personally. Although despite her being a 'snaggled toothed whore' (thanks The Superficial) I rate Kirsten as an actress and Sophia has been outstanding so far so I'm guessing it'll be good. Looks a lot more kinetic than Coppola's previous efforts and as usual the music is fantastic, I guess there just doesn't seem to be a plot there - to me it has a faint whiff of Plunkett & Macleane about it and that aint a good thing.

Power to the People

How ridiculous is that as a title for a serious and much needed report?

A report is today being published, and going largely unnoticed, that says that we need a major shake-up in the way that government is elected and operates. No kidding. After travesty that was the last election, Labour getting about 20% of the popular vote and nearly 60% of the seats etc. The report, the result of a commission led by Baroness Kennedy and containing a genuinely broad representation of society - witness a Radio 1 DJ, a sports coach and a former director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts - was designed presumeably to tell us that the younger generation (ie people like myself) are apathetic about the political process, are entirely apolitical and are content to let the party's bicker because after all one party is pretty much like the other right? Well that's not what they found. They found a swell of politcal opinion, a massive and I would say angry dissolutionment with the current political climate and desire to do something to change it all.

"The disenchantment cuts across all sections of society, but the political class just do not get it. They do not realise how deep the alienation runs. A bit of reinvention by the political parties will not be the answer. More fundamental reform is needed if we are to re-establish a democracy fit for a 21st-century People."

Says Kennedy in a fantastic rabble-rousing editorial in today's Independent - http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article347992.ece - All of which leads to the fact that what people want is a real input into the way their country is run.

There's also a fantastic opinion piece in The Telegraph - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/02/27/do2701.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/02/27/ixportal.html - which raises again the idea of reform to the second house and that Gordon Brown may well advocate an elected second house. To be honest its never been something I’ve had strong views on, ok when I was younger I hated the Lord because they seemed to represent to kind of stuffy past-it generation that I so detested, but recently I’ve begun to see the worth in the Lords, they seem to vote with their conscience, they debate along idealogical rather political lines and I like that, a Platonic ideal of the philosophical ruler. The system, with hereditariness and the selection by the governing party etc, does seem to create a stayed and conservative bias. So perhaps the way forward is to play it like the US supreme court, life members nominated by the ruling party and voted on by the entire house. It does then create that sense of a lofty philosophical group debating the moral and practical consequences of any legislation. Of course life-peers are open to corruption one ruling party can stack the house with their own cronies and dictate the political climate of a generation, so maybe you limit terms, but that to me seems a little wishy-washy.

Who knows, I just hope this new report and a new batch of leaders can finally effect the change that the public clearly want so we can dispel the idea that people (younger people in particular) just don't care about the world they live in anymore.

Blair's ridiculous short-sightedness

I've recently started getting involved in my local Friends of the Earth group. They asked me to do a leaflet drop protesting against a new waste incinerator in Newhaven on the south coast. Initially when I was told about it I thought it was probably one of those short-sighted tree hugging things that FOE tend to do, the sort of wooly, not in our backyard stuff that put me off them for years. Turns out however that this thing will be taking waste from all over the south-east, transporting it via polluting road links and burning it at this huge incinerator that will create massive amounts of pollutants and reduce the amount of recycling that occurs. My favourite part of all this is that the company that is building and running the thing abviously needs some kind of reassurance that it'll be able to make some money out of the whole thing. Thus the local council will ensure that certain levels of waste will reach them each year. This utter ridiculousness means that instead of having an incentive to reduce waste they will have an incentive to keep it the same levels its currently at.

The reason our beloved Government likes these incinerators is because they reduce the amount of waste going into landfill. A good thing, I hear you say, well yes but only if it means that we are polluting less and recycling more. Which this doesn't do.

It's all part of Blair and the like's short term, short-sighted response to climate change. It goes hand in hand with their idea of building new nuclear power stations. It's stop gap, it'll reduce pollution in the short term but what happens to all that waste, who's gonna prove that these damn power stations are safe and it's not even liek its cheaper that renewable and micro-generation.

I'm not overly au fait with all the science of it but the arguments that FOE make are compelling even to someone with little knowledge like myself.

Check out the protest against the Newhaven incinerator - http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/local_groups_and_campaigns/se.htm - and send off a letter of protest. Also read up on why they oppose nuclear - http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/resource/general_readers.html#nuclear_power

And then have a look at the Goverment's reasoning for it all - http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/review/index.shtml