Growing inequality

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

The Institute of Fiscal Studies has published a report comparing this year to that of 1977, the Silver Jubilee year.  Of course it does not tells us anything anyone with common sense does not already know, that those on a the higher payer bracket are getting considerable more in comparison to the majority.

They highlight the inequality by using the median not average as most politicians and media use, and state:

There are numerous ways of illustrating the way in which the gap between
the rich and the poor has increased. In 1977, the person 90% of the way up
the income distribution had an income 1.7 times as high as the person in
the middle of the distribution and 3.0 times as high as the person just
10% of the way up the distribution. By 2009–10, this person at the 90th
percentile had an income more than twice the median and more than four
times as high as the person at the 10th percentile.
The figures for those at the very top are even more dramatic. The income
share of the richest 1% has nearly trebled. Even after tax, the richest 1% of
households took home nearly 9% of all income in 2009–10 compared with
3% in 1977.

The also mention how the make-up of the workforce has changed with more women in work than men.  And of course, the type of work has shifted to banking and public services.  Another issue is education, with education leading to more equality.  Looking at their figures, the opposite has happened in this country.

In 2011, nearly a quarter of the working-age population – and a third of
those aged 25 to 30 – were in possession of a degree. Only 3% had a
degree back in the late 1970s. The change has been more dramatic for
women than for men. Proportions of men and women with degrees are
now the same. In 1977, only two women in a hundred were educated to
degree level compared with five in a hundred men. At the same time, the
advantage conferred by having a degree in terms of higher earnings has
actually increased. The huge increase in the supply of graduates has been
more than matched by an increase in demand.
At the other end of the educational spectrum in 1977, nearly 80% of
working-age people had left school at 16 or earlier, compared with just
over 40% now.

Though in their summary, they appear to downplay the inequality and state that materially we are better of.  Not those at the bottom, who are struggling to heat their homes and have enough nutritional food on the table.

IFS report

CDP-Cities-2012-Global-Report.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

The Carbon Disclosure Project, Cities-2012 has just been published.  I have only skim-read it, but one glaring error is the fact it has a report from Greater Manchester not the City of Manchester.  Further down in the Appendix, it does have the City of Manchester but the data relates to Greater Manchester.  So, how reliable can we believe this document to be.  As usual it is mostly about what City Authorities say they are going to do, not what they have actually achieved.  With regards to the City of Manchester, basically nothing.

CDP-Cities-2012-Global-Report.pdf (application/pdf Object).

The did issue a report criticising the UK Governments lack of action on making reporting of carbon emissions mandatory.

Lack of UK Government action on mandatory reporting disappointing

Shale Gas (fracking)

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

On Thursday 31st June, I attended a presentation given by Ed Hough of the British Geological Society at the University of Manchester.  As well as giving an insight into the the geology behind shale gas and its history.   When was introduced, the person doing the introduction made reference to another lecturer who dismissed what had been reported in the media as being absolute rubbish.  Which did cause a few titters amongst some of the audience.  

He did give the reasons why companies and some governments are keen to pursue the exploitation of this resource.  The UK is expected by 2020 to import 80% of its fuel from overseas.  That 40% of primary energy is derived from gas.  That the UK has very little storage capacity, together leading to a supply gap.  He did mention the fluctuation of gas prices, but made no reference to the future markets and commodity traders causing these large variations in price.  He emphasised that the UK was sitting on a potential 20 trillion Cubic Feet of shale gas. 

There was a list of all the companies interested in shale gas extraction in the UK.  And a chart was produced showing the amount of fluid used and it which was produced from a report from the GWPC.  The chart showing the amount of fluids used, is courtesy of the EPA.  

Ed Hough, try to play down the amount of chemicals used as of being a small percentage of the amount of total fluids used, 3,000,000 gallons.  But it is not the percentages you should be looking at the actual amount in gallons used.  For example, Hydrochloric Acid which is a highly corrosive liquid, amounts to 3,690 gallons.  These fluids are injecting in at a rate of approximately 45 gallons per minute over the initial drilling and fracking process.  Ed Houghs, like All Consultancy: http://www.all-llc.com/publicdownloads/ALLShaleOverviewFINAL

try to play-down the toxic and environmental damaging aspects of these chemicals by stating they are used in domestic processes.  Would you drink a thimble of Ethylene Glycol, an anti-freeze which is highly toxic?  He also went on to dismiss other concerns reported in the media, groundwater contamination by methane and other pollutants, methane escaping to air, correct treatment of waste water, contamination of water courses, radioactive waste (gamma rays) and earthquakes.  That in well maintained and sealed wells most of these issues are improbable or very unlikely.  Like the, Fukushima or Deep Water Horizon. 

I think Ed Houghs gave himself away when he said he was working with these companies and did say, ‘we’, a few times.  Nothing was said of Global Warming or Climate Change as Marc Hudson of Manchester Climate Monthly pointed out to Ed Houghs, during question time.  As Lawrence said after the presentation, geologists are there to find resources for companies to exploit. 

Figure 6 depicts a horizontal well, which is composed of both vertical and horizontal legs. The depth and length of the well varies with the location and properties of the gas-containing formation. In unconventional cases, the well can extend more than a mile below the ground surface. 

Is Manchester’s future going to follow that of Catalonia

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

Richard Leese, the leader of Manchester City Council has pushed his dreams of turning Manchester into another Barcelona unceasingly.  This is despite the fact that Manchester has high unemployment and a number of children in poverty.  He has continued with his policies which only benefit multi-national companies and starve the City of any real inward investment.  I wonder if he has bothered visiting Barcelona again, to see the unfinished buildings and the blight the City is now suffering from?  Has he not noticed the unfinished buildings here in Manchester, the empty office blocks and empty retail units.  Then there is the EU grants which cannot be fully accounted for and the EU may want to claw back.  Reading an article about Catalan, of which Barcelona is the capital City on the Share Centres web-site.  I started to wonder if we were heading the same way as Catalonia? 

But then there is the problem of local government debt. Catalonia is a wealthy region. Perhaps you could say that the region is to Spain, what California is to the US. And it has one other thing in common with California – it carries enormous debts. Its President Artur Mas displays all the hallmarks of a troubled man. On Friday, he said at a press conference: “We don’t care how they do it, but we need to make payments at the end of the month. Your economy can’t recover if you can’t pay your bills.” This year the region has to refinance 13 billion worth of euros. But how? The citizens of Catalonia do their bit, but, according to Reuters, a quarter of their savings are already in patriot bonds, and that source of funding is now dry. The region could turn to the banks, but, again using Reuters as the source, the region next door Valencia paid out 7 per cent interest on a six month bank loan recently. And that is not really affordable – or so we are being told.

But Catalonia is just one of 17 regions. Last week Moody’s downgraded the rating for Catalonia, but also downgraded three other regions: Murcia, Andalucia and Extremadura. In all, the regions that make up Spain have to re-finance around 36 billion euros of debt this year.

Mr Mas wants to see central government underwrite loans to the regions.

But this is the scary thing. It is generally agreed that Spanish house prices have further to fall. And with unemployment running at nearly 25 per cent of Spain’s labour supply, how can further falls in Spanish house prices not result in more defaults, more bad debts, more bank losses, and the need for even more bail-outs?

How can Spain possibly manage such a situation?

Only through getting many more of its work force into productive jobs can this problem begin to be fixed. But too high a proportion of the workforce only has experience working in construction, and the Spanish construction industry is not likely to recover for a very long time.

 

Sustainable Communities Act

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

This is the reply I received from Tony Lloyd, MP for Manchester Central: 

Dear Mr Sudlow

Please find enclosed a copy of the reply I have received from the Department for Communities and Local Government about the forthcoming regulations under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007.

Clearly we need to keep pressure on the Government on this.

With best wishes,

Yours sincerely,

Tony

Tony Lloyd MP
Manchester Central 

This was in reply to an e-mail I had sent him about the delay in the Sustainable Community regulations: 

Dear Anthony Lloyd MP,

Thank you for your support on various issues but I am very concerned about the very long and ongoing delay to the required Sustainable Communities Act regulations. This delay has now been going on for over nine months.

Only when these regulations are made can people get involved in the ‘bottom-up’ process of the Act and use it to help local shops, services and communities.  It has been shown many times, especially in countries like Austria and Denmark, that 'grass-root activism' has a far better success rate than 'top-down' initiatives.

The longer this delay goes on, the greater the risk that the initial enthusiasm for the Act will turn into cynicism and disillusionment.

Please could you write to Communities Minister, Greg Clark, urging him to make the Sustainable Communities Act regulations urgently? Thank you.

Sincerely,

Patrick Sudlow 

And here is the official reply: 

Dear Tony,
Thank you for your email of 26 April to Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, enclosing correspondence
from Mr Patrick Sudlow, Hulme, Manchester, about the
forthcoming regulations under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007. I have been asked
to reply.
We have been discussing the scope of the regulations with Local Works as well as with
the Local Government Association to ensure that they are content with the forthcoming
regulations. While these discussions have contributed to the time taken in making the
regulations, I believe they were necessary to ensure the regulations helped support the
management of Sustainable Communities Act proposals and appeals.
We hope to make the regulations within the next few months .
..-
ANDREW STUNELL MP

 

Friends of Chorlton Meadows

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

There is an event on at Chorlton Ees which some people may be interested in:

Wildlife taster session – Sat 2nd June 10.30 to 12.30 at Chorlton Ees. This will be an introduction to the From Grey to Green project, explaining why it is important to record flora and fauna. There will be a walk around the local area demonstrating how the course will teach people to identify and record wildlife. The aim is to explain to people how they can contribute to protecting sites and conserving species through recording and to encourage people to sign up for future courses.

Friends of Chorlton Meadows.

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

At last, some of the International Community is taking some action against Israel, not enough but a start.

occupiedpalestine's avatarOccupied Palestine | فلسطين


[ 26/05/2012 – 02:17 PM ]

CAIRO, (PIC)– The general assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday adopted unanimously a draft resolution submitted by Arab countries including Saudi Arabia condemning the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip.

The assembly approved the resolution with 56 votes in favor, six against, 48 abstentions and 72 absent.

The resolution called on the Israeli occupation authority to immediately end the closure it is imposing on the occupied Palestinian territories especially at Gaza crossings, which caused a serious shortage of vital medical needs, and to reverse its policies that led to the deterioration of the health conditions of Palestinians and rendered many of them dead.

The resolution also demanded Israel to end its restrictions on the movement of medical personnel, vehicles, and patients and to enable them to reach health institutions in occupied Jerusalem and outside it.

WHO called for improving the health…

View original post 785 more words

Interview: Mary Heaney of MMU

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

My thoughts on Manchester Climate Monthly’s recent article on Manchester Metropolitan University.

manchesterclimatemonthly's avatarmanchester climate monthly

MCFly co-editor Arwa Aburawa interviews Mary Heaney, Director of Services at Manchester Metropolitan University, whose responsibilities include the environmental sustainability agenda

Besides saving money, what are the reasons MMU is taking green action?

Money isn’t actually the top priority for us in terms of sustainability – it’s our corporate social responsibility. We are an organisation that devotes it self to the next generation and we think it’s absolutely incumbent upon us to be responsible in the way we operate and look at the way that we function from everything from the amount of chemicals the cleaners use to me pulling down the blinds when I leave that this room is bearable the next day to the way we operate our labs. It’s about being part of the solution, I guess.

Another top motivator that MMU talk about is that preparing students for new realities and embedding green thinking makes them…

View original post 1,572 more words

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

With all the evidence from the USA and Australia, you would of thought our politicians would have banned this nonsense. But no, they believe this will be the answer to or energy insecurity, business as usual. This will result in a massive environmental catastrophe which will not be possible to remedy.

gasdrillinginbalcombe's avatargasdrillinginbalcombe

A recent presentation by the owner of UK fracker Cuadrilla reveals the company plans to inject tens of thousands of gallons of Hydrochloric Acid (HCl) into its frack sites in the UK.

The presentation – by AJ Lucas, 42% owner of Cuadrilla – reveal that Balcombe can expect sixteen thousand gallons of HCl to be pumped 800m under the village. Hydrochloric acid is typically used neat – its main function is to clean the tiny spaces between subsurface rocks at the start of the fracking process.

The presentation shows that of the fluids Cuadrilla intend to inject underground, 0.125% will be HCl (see p 21 of the presentation). A typical well uses 12.8 million gallons of fluids (based on 1.6 million gallons per frack and 8 fracks per site). For Balcombe this would mean a total of 16,000 gallons of pure hydrochloric acid forced into the ground.

The company…

View original post 203 more words

New Report Busts “Carbon Neutral Biomass” Myth

Posted on by Patrick Sudlow

Another report emphasizing the real reason companies are pushing t o build biomass plants. They are not carbon neutral nor are they clean and green.

User's avatarBioenergy Action

A new report from Carbon Trade Watch shows how the massive push by government and industry toward biomass power generation (and the subsidies it receives) is based on the erroneous believe that biomass produces no emissions or is low-emission. As the report makes clear, this is nonsense and in addition to emissions throughout the supply chain that put biomass on a par with fossil fuels, the rush to biomass in dedicated power stations or to co-fire with coal is creating new genetically modified monoculture tree plantations and is increasing deforestation in some of the most biodiverse parts of the planet.

With a demand for biomass in the UK predicted to be 80 million tonnes burned each year, and the UK stock only 10 million tonnes, now is the time for urgent action to stop industrial biomass power generation before it’s too late.

You can download the Nothing Neutral Here report for all the details, and read through the…

View original post 523 more words