Latter-day Geography Lesson

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

LATTER-DAY GEOGRAPHY LESSON

This, quoth the Eskimo master
      was London in English times :
step out a little faster
you two young men at the last there
the Bridge would be near on our right hand
and the Tower near where those crows stand —
we struck it you’ll recall in Gray’s rhymes :
this, quoth the Eskimo master
was London in English times.

This, quoth the Eskimo master
      was London in English days :
beyond the hill they called Clapham
boys that swear Master Redtooth I slap ’em
I dis-tinct-ly heard–you–say–Bastard
don’t argue : here boys, ere disaster
overtook her, in splendour there lay
a city held empires in sway
and filled all the earth with her praise :
this quoth the Eskimo master
was London in English days.

She held, quoth the Eskimo master
      ten million when her prime was full
from here once Britannia cast her
gaze over an Empire vaster
even than ours : look there Woking
stood, I make out, and the Abbey
lies here under our feet you great babby
Swift-and-short do–please–kindly–stop–poking
Your thumbs through the eyes of that skull.

 A poem by R.A.K Mason, 1924 I was taught at school which I thought was referring to London after the nuclear mutual annihilation.  It is in fact a prophecy of were we are heading because there is no political party taking climate change and sustainability seriously. 

Why Climate Action Won’t Be Like Civil Rights | ThinkProgress

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

An interesting article on why it is so difficult to get the message across about climate change and the need for urgency in taking action.

Why Climate Action Won’t Be Like Civil Rights | ThinkProgress.

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

Instead of spending the money on schools and hospitals for the local communities as Shell originally promised and cleaning up the environmental they have caused in the Niger Delta. They spend money on armed forces to suppress the local communities. Petrol and diesel from Shell’s forecourts should be called ‘Blood Oil’.

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Bloxham of Urban Splash fame has become a multi-millionaire (£60 million) who has made a fortune from receiving tax-payers to demolish council estates, to only build shoddy energy insufficient and unsustainable homes to buy. Then claims he has no money to undo the damage he has done to this historic building.

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

Why the NHS needs more funding with higher pay for nurse, auxiliary and domestic staff and not privatisation.

SKWAWKBOX's avatarSKWAWKBOX

My wife is a staff nurse at a large NHS hospital, on a ward where pretty much every patient is seriously ill or is able to do very little for themselves and so requires ‘full care’. To protect patient confidentiality, I won’t say which hospital or what type of ward, and I’ll use ‘them’ instead of him/her.

I’ve written before about the government’s plans to reduce public-sector wages in lower-paid parts of the country – which are usually Labour strongholds, and so can be ‘punished’ with minimal negative consequences for Tory electoral performance – and why these are economically stupid. At the same time, the government wants to reduce pensions for doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers in all parts of the country, while increasing their retirement age and raising pension contributions – even though the claim that public pensions are unaffordable is a lie.

And then, of course…

View original post 1,148 more words

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

Local residents who were moved out of Ancoats to make why for Urban Splash were promised to be rehoused in flats, find the promises meant nothing. Bloxham is a multi-millionaire from millions of tax-payers money. Why work for a living, and yet he is not called a benefit cheat or scrounger, he is lauded.

Energy-from-Waste-Report.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

This is a report I have just come across from the IMechE about Energy-from-Waste.  One serious flaw with this report, is the assertion than we have a strict regulatory framework.  In the UK we do not, just like the banks and Health & Safety, is is a self-reporting, self regulation regime which the banks have shown to be totally inadequate.  I worked on an EfW plant and know what happens.  Until we have a proper regulatory regime, with firms having to use BAT (Best Available Technology), then we should not be building waste combustion (incinerators) plants.
The one thing, I did like about this report, is the section on Denmark, near the end.  Where it mentions, they had their first District Heating system in 1930 and that since the 70s they have moved away from large centralised power plants, to smaller local CHP plants.  Plenty of lessons here for the UK.

Energy-from-Waste-Report.pdf (application/pdf Object).

Is the natural gas industry buying academics?

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

I thought I would reblog this blog about academics receiving funding from ‘fracking’ companies who then post reports stating ‘fracking’ is safe.  They have not only denied ground-water contamination but even reported it geologically safe after a number of earthquakes after ‘fracking’ has taken place.  I believe this is more evidence why ‘fracking’ should be banned in this country.

Is the natural gas industry buying academics? 

One of the reports mentioned in the blog above, mentions past coal mining activity in the past in an area of concern.  Read-heading it reminded me of the fact Lancashire was heavily mined.  Even under Manchester, there are numerous abandoned coal seams, with the ex-Commonwealth Games stadium on the former pit of Bradford Colliery, closed in about 1968:

PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE NORTHSTAR 1 CLASS II INJECTION WELL AND THE SEISMIC EVENTS IN THE YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, AREA 

Tory donors benefit from contract awarded by Minister

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

I have been busy trying to do an assignment for a postgraduate module.  But this article, struck me as to why we need to bring an number of services back into  Public ownership.  The only people who have benefited from privatisation of services, from buses, railways, social services and the NHS under Labour and Tories, are business people.  There are no benefits for those in need, there is no ‘trickle-down effect.  These people make money out of the tax-payer and politicians are happy about this, because they benefit as well.

Tory donors benefit from Government contracts.