Monsata, one of the leading Agrochemical companies pushing the EU, to allow GM foods to be grown in the EU, uses pesticides, fungicides and herbicides to protect it’s GM crops. These chemicals are very powerful and are having an adverse affect of humans, flora, and fauna. They now want to use geo-engineering technology to sow the skies with their chemicals. It is time these companies were closed down.
biokerosene-take-off-in-the-wrong-direction (application/pdf Object)
A recent report from the Dutch and Indonesian FOE, highlights how the poor in Indonesia are being adversely affected by affluent Western life-styles. It is time, people in the West must realise, they must change their life-styles to more sustainable ones. Stop flying and using their motor vehicles less or even better not at all, will go a long way to reduce the adverse impacts of the rich on the poor.
biokerosene-take-off-in-the-wrong-direction (application/pdf Object).
Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority
When I worked for Greater Manchester Waste, some of my colleagues bumped into Stephen Jenkinson, the Chair of GMWaste. They saw him with a computer animation of what was supposed to be Bolton Thermal Recovery Facility (waste incinerator). They had to point out to him, that their were no roller-shutter doors to the tipping hall, as shown in the computer animation. In fact, in the seven years I worked there, I like many others on site, never saw Stephen Jenkinson, it did not know what was going on, at the incinerator.
When Viridor were in the process off, taking over GMWaste, I did alert them to some of the problems on site, and even warned them they were taking over a poisoned chalice. The incinerator, was an out-dated design when it was built, about 1978/9. It had been badly maintained and still was. During bidding for the GMWaste, SITA had sent consultants to look at replacing the incinerator with a new conbuster. This is something that should of been done, when the boiler and turbine were built in 1999/2000. Something, I pointed out to Viridor, and the fact a survey carried out by their contractors, was inaccurate in several places. One, of which was these mysterious roller-shutter doors to the tipping hall, which did not exist. The point of having roller-shutter doors is to contain the odours and dust, so should only be open when a vehicle is entering or leaving.
Both Stephen Jenkinson and Neil Swannick, both showed a lack of leadership which of course resulted in the infamous fridge/freezer mountains fiasco, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1477340/A-mountain-of-unwanted-fridges-with-nowhere-to-go.html clowns the pair of them. And what did Stephen Jenkinson managed to do, get a position in the GMWDA group which is supposed to oversee Viridor. Something akin to, the poacher turning gamekeeper. The PFI was contested by Sita:
http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/legislation/sita-confident-manchester-legal-action-will-proceed Sita (who have decades of experience of operating incinerators) recognised the incinerator needed replacing, as it should have been in 1998/1999. Viridor were informed of the problems there, but ignored my advice, that the plants was mismanaged: http://ukwin.org.uk/2009/05/05/bolton-incinerator-should-close-whistleblower/
The truth about US employment rates
An article on the real employment figures for the US from The Share Centre, Bears and Bulls column. The US is the real problem, economically, though the US has kept people focused on Europe’s problems. The US, like the UK has continued printing more debt (Quantitative Easing), which is only delaying the inevitable crash.
The myth behind US job figure
Friday 3 February, or Golden Friday as it was described here, saw the best collection of economic data released in a very long time, but perhaps the pick of the tops was the US job figures. Employment rose 243,000 in just one month, and the US unemployment rate fell to 8.3 per cent – the lowest level in three years.
But drill into the data, and suddenly the story does not look so good. In fact, it is tempting to say we were sold a lie.
Bear: The figures really are quite simple. In 2011, the civilian population of the US rose by 3,565,000, and yet the labour force only rose by 1,145,000.
In other words, last year 2,420,000 people dropped out of the US labour market.
According to Mike ‘Mish’ Shedloc and his MISH’S Global Economic Trend Analysis web site, when you take into account: US civilians who want a job, but have given up looking; people who dropped out of the unemployment list because their unemployment benefits ran out; those doing part-time work, but want permanent work, then the true US unemployment rate is 15.1 per cent.
And the US, just like the UK, is seeing real wages fall. Last year, US average hourly earnings rose by 1.9 per cent, but during the same period US inflation was 3.0 per cent.
Actually Mish is not alone in expressing fears about the misleading nature of US job data. He is joined in his lament by a certain B Bernanke.
Yesterday, the Chairman of the Fed told the US Senate that: “It is very important to look not just at the unemployment rate, which reflects only people who are actively seeking work.” He added: “There are also a lot of people who are either out of the labour force because they don’t think they can find work, or they are in part-time jobs.”
Manchester Council’s pension to fund ‘homes-to-buy’?
An article in today’s Manchester Evening News, mentions;
Council chiefs have unveiled radical plans to help the housing crisis by launching a ‘Manchester mortgage’ for first-time buyers – and £25m of pension cash is to be used to build new homes.
What is needed, is more social housing to be built not ‘homes-to-buy’. We have high unemployment and those in employment, are struggling to pay their way. There is also the issue, of house prices being over-inflated, and a major adjustment is overdue. What will happen then, especially to the pension funds money? This is more, ‘pie-in-the-sky’ thinking by this incompetent Labour council.
patricktsudlow 