When the London Stock Exchange closed yesterday, it became possible to compare the year-end positions for 2010 and 2011. The FTSE 100 was down 5.6% over the year. Banks fell more sharply. Oil and gas shares rose. The High Street remains in dire straits, partly due to the impact of online shopping, partly due toContinueContinue reading “End of the Beginning”
Category Archives: Environment
Missing the Obvious
There’s a water crisis looming. The Coalition wants us all to be more careful. Hippy conservationists seem to agree that water meters, dual-flush toilets and garden water butts will take the pressure off. Maybe sharing showers or bathwater would help. All of which is nonsense. It’s nonsense because we would actually have more than enoughContinueContinue reading “Missing the Obvious”
Crooks In Command
The Western Daily Press leads today with a story about an open letter from wildlife groups in Wessex and Cornwall “incredulous” about the Coalition’s “stunning disregard” for the natural environment, citing the Chancellor’s recent description of it as a “ridiculous” barrier to economic growth.Tony Richardson of the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds)ContinueContinue reading “Crooks In Command”
Tackling the Taboos
“There are those who say the system is broke. It’s not. That’s how it was built. It is there to make rich people richer.” Bilbo GoranssonIn parts of Wessex, second homes are an epidemic. In the coastal communities of south Devon, including towns such as Salcombe, second homes and holiday lets now account for overContinueContinue reading “Tackling the Taboos”
One-Way System
“Localism is about liberating the natural desire of local communities to become more prosperous. The notion that communities choose decline and reject prosperity is perverse, wrong-headed and not based on evidence.”So says Eric Pickles. Two questions then for the obese obfuscator.If he’s that sure that local communities, left to themselves, will destroy their environment, acceptingContinueContinue reading “One-Way System”
A Rock and a Hard Place
For those who value our environment, and those who care about the future, there is a distinct lack of choice on offer from the London parties. The Tories and their glove puppet want to turn the planning system into a developers’ charter, telling us that localism doesn’t, after all, do what it says on theContinueContinue reading “A Rock and a Hard Place”
New New New Labour
Time was, long ago, when among the London parties a leader’s speech to conference was about how best to put the party’s purpose into action. Not now. Today the leader is there to explain what the party’s purpose is. Or is this week. Or until the polls suggest the nuance isn’t quite honed yet. WhatContinueContinue reading “New New New Labour”
Eradicating Ecocide
Go for it!
Panic Over?
“The question remains whether, as the Berliners say, ‘the situation is desperate, but not hopeless,’ or ‘hopeless but not desperate,’ as the Viennese used to put it.” Walter C. Dowling (US Ambassador to Korea), 1957 Consider three documents. The first is the State of the South West Report 2011, which informs us that human activityContinueContinue reading “Panic Over?”
Ecocidal Maniacs Rule!
“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum – even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the systemContinueContinue reading “Ecocidal Maniacs Rule!”
Wessex Regionalists 