Bahamas tax exile celebrates Scottish wind farm victory

    Bahamas resident Jack Hayward.."Don't worry dear.You can't see the bloody things from here'

    A controversial wind farm development in the Monadhliath Mountains in the Highlands of Scotland has been approved by the Scottish government despite huge opposition from local people and environmentalists. The 33 turbine farm and the massive infrastructure of roads,power lines and substations will cover a remote and ecologically sensitive site and at 2000' above sea level will be an highly visually intrusive industrial development in an area popular with walkers and wildlife observers.

    The windfarm in the Monadhliath Mountains was recommended for approval by Highland Council despite opposition from more than 1,500 people, three community councils, the John Muir Trust and the Mountaineering Council of Scotland.
    Sigrid Rausing, owner of neighbouring Coignafearn Estate and youngest daughter of Tetra Pak billionaire Hans Rausing, warned the “vast structures will be a testament to our folly of allowing landowners and corporations to exploit the public impulse to protect the environment”.
    Ms Rausing was in Barbados yesterday, but said earlier: “This part of the Monadhliath has high ecological sensitivity, with abundant blanket bog and a suite of birds protected by European law. This proposal is neither green nor sustainable. It is economically unviable without government subsidies.”
    Mountaineering spokesman Chris Townsend said: “This is destroying the environment in order to protect it. I see no reason why wind farms need to be built in uninhabited wild areas. At 2,000ft up this one will be highly visible.”
    Allan Johnston, of RES in Scotland, said: “Everyone here is delighted with the positive decision by the Scottish Government. Dunmaglass is an ideal location for a windfarm' Conservationists however point out that the hugely profitable wind industry see every inch of the UK as 'an ideal location' with no regard for ecological degradation or visual impact. No problem when most of the developers live abroad or in the south east of England!
    No one was available for comment at Dunmaglass Estate yesterday, including owner, Bahamas-based billionaire Sir Jack Hayward.



Post Title

Bahamas tax exile celebrates Scottish wind farm victory


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/bahamas-tax-exile-celebrates-scottish.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

A380 Build Rate and Rolls-Royce Trent 900 Rate Readiness

    Found a newsreel article on the Aviation Week website regarding deliveries of the A380. Airbus has fallen short of its reduced delivery target of 20 aircraft in 2010 due to Trent 900 deliveries from Rolls-Royce, for the 20th aircraft, being impacted by the Quantas in-flight failure. 
    Ironically, this aircraft is destined for Quantas and will now be delivered in the first weeks of 2011. A further aircraft for Singapore has also been deferred due to business class seat shortages.
    But, the article goes on to detail an Airbus statement which reads as follows:

    "In a note to employees, Airbus CEO Tom Enders notes that by “implementing the operational improvement actions we decided a year ago, we have achieved huge progress on the A380 program this year. Outstanding work and lead-times in our [final assembly lines] have been reduced considerably, production costs have come down and our ramp-up from two to three aircraft per month is well underway."

    So, taking the positives from this statement, Airbus are close to a build rate of 3 per month and with approx. half of 2011's planned deliveries being Trent 900 engined, that is an average 6 engines per month required from Rolls-Royce.
    Elsewhere, Airbus should still achieve a record 500 plus aircraft deliveries in 2010 (461 as at 30 Nov), and have taken 50% more orders than expected so, with Boeing having also delivered 386 aircraft (as at Oct), the Aerospace sector is sounding healthy despite the 787/A380 issues.

    Link to Aviation Week 

Post Title

A380 Build Rate and Rolls-Royce Trent 900 Rate Readiness


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/a380-build-rate-and-rolls-royce-trent.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Red Kites still falling victim to illegal poisoning

    The number of red kite breeding pairs in Scotland is higher than it has been for at least two centuries, but there are still concerns over its survival.The illegal use of poison baits on sporting estates continues to hamper the full population recovery of the bird, which was hunted to extinction in Scotland in the 1870s, according to RSPB Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).

    During this year’s breeding season, fieldworkers managed to locate 166 breeding pairs in Scotland, 17 more than in 2009 with Ross-shire recording 53, the highest since reintroduction in 1989.A minimum of 291 young fledged over the past year, a rise of 57 on the previous year, making it one of the most successful reintroductions in UK history. The species has thrived in England since 1989 and has the fastest growing bird population south of the Border.

    The red kite recovery in Scotland remains slow and at times stagnated, according to RSPB and SNH.They say that despite a positive breeding season this year, one factor that continues to pose a problem to red kite recovery in Scotland is illegal poisoning. As scavengers, red kites are particularly vulnerable to this activity. So far in 2010, six birds (three in the Highlands, two in Tayside and one in Dumfries and Galloway) are confirmed by the Scottish Government as having died this way.

    In an unprecedented move, more than 200 of Scotland’s leading landowners wrote to the Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham in May denouncing the poisoning of birds of prey.
    The Herald

Post Title

Red Kites still falling victim to illegal poisoning


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/red-kites-still-falling-victim-to.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Companies on a Mission – Book Review

    Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

    Companies on a Mission
    Entrepreneurial Strategies for Growing Sustainably, Responsibly, and Profitably
    by Michael V. Russo
    with a Foreword by L. Hunter Lovins
    Cloth 272 pages, 4 tables, 15 figures
    Published by Stanford University Press 2010
    Companies on a Mission book_smlISBN-10: 0804761620
    ISBN-13: 9780804761628
    Price $27.95
    E-book
    ISBN-10: 0804774285
    ISBN-13: 9780804774284
    Price: $27.95

    As the Library Journal states this is a well-written and informative business book that provides valuable tips and background for anyone interested in starting up or managing a socially conscious company.

    It is very informative but definitely not a book that you can read in a week for you will be forever making notes on some sticky note pads to stick into the pages in order to go back to it later too – maybe – implement some of the ideas.

    "Companies on a Mission” brings academic rigor to the age-old notion of 'going well by doing good' and mission-driven companies succeed, as Mike Russo makes crystal clear in this compelling book, not just because their missions make them greener, but because they make them better. They create quality products, garner a fanatical following, and engender innovation, passion, and fun for employees and customers alike.

    But, they also tend to fall flat on their faces when, like the Roddicks with Body Shop, and others, the company and the brand gets sold off to big companies that don't have the same ethos.

    While the Roddicks had great morals in business when the company was bought out by L'Oreal things very much went downhill, as far as most of us in the green movement are concerned, and the same also happened to so many other ethical companies when they were bought up by other companies, Rowantree and Cadbury's being just some other examples.

    The book is a highly informative and extremely well-written analysis of the creation and growth of ecologically and socially minded firms and it provides a balanced assessment of both the opportunities and the risks that enterprises face in trying to combine social and environmental accountability and survival in the marketplace. While Russo in his book maybe focusing on small firms, the lessons it offers are relevant to all businesses seeking to position themselves and their products as eco-friendly and/or socially responsible. Only, I would think, the bigger the company, especially them publicly owned, that is to say, being one with shareholders, of how ever many, the more difficult it will be.

    This also was obvious with the sale of Body Shop, for instance, for while the Roddicks may not have wanted to sell the fact that the company was listed on the stock market and was owned by a fair number of big shareholders who saw this as a chance of making a quick buck the company was sold off to a company that is less than ethical in many of its operations.

    But that is my opinion as to the way some of such companies went from good to bad, so to speak, and has, actually, nothing to do with the book.

    However, the book is a most valuable source of information and ideas as to how to run a mission-driven company (and the size should not matter) and how to maintain the flow.

    Definite worthy of study and worth its price. Only I cannot understand why the E-book sells at the same price as the printed and bound version.

    © 2010

Post Title

Companies on a Mission – Book Review


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/companies-on-mission-book-review.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Cuban doctors and nurses in Haiti put the world to shame

    The doctors and nurses of communist Cuba are the backbone of the fight against cholera in Haiti

    by Michael Smith (Veshengro)Cuban doctors on Haiti1 It is they who are the real heroes of the Haitian earthquake disaster, of the human catastrophe on America's doorstep which Barack Obama pledged a monumental US humanitarian mission to alleviate, and where all what happened was a US military invasion.

    IS it the fact that those heroes are from America's arch-enemy Cuba, whose doctors and nurses have put US efforts to shame, that their efforts receive little or no recognition in the world's media?

    A medical brigade of 1,200 Cubans is operating all over earthquake-torn and cholera-infected Haiti, as part of Fidel Castro's international medical mission which has won the socialist state many friends, but little international recognition.

    Observers of the Haiti earthquake could be forgiven for thinking international aid agencies were alone in tackling the devastation that killed 250,000 people and left nearly 1.5 million homeless. But, Cuban healthcare workers have been in Haiti since 1998 and so when the earthquake struck the 350-strong team jumped immediately into action. And amid the fanfare and publicity surrounding the arrival of help from the US and the UK, hundreds more Cuban doctors, nurses and therapists arrived with barely a mention. Most countries were gone within two months, again leaving the Cubans and Médecins Sans Frontières as the principal healthcare providers for the impoverished Caribbean island.

    The arrival of the US military forces supposed to come to help the people of the island looked to all intents and purposes from the position of a military-trained onlooker like myself as an invasion.

    As I wrote at the time, the landing and disembarkation pattern of the US helicopter gunships that were landing and supposedly carrying aid was that of an invading force taking over the landing zones and securing them by means of firepower.

    Figures released last week show that Cuban medical personnel, working in 40 centres across Haiti, have treated more than 30,000 cholera patients since October. They are the largest foreign contingent, treating around 40 per cent of all cholera patients. Another batch of medics from the Cuban Henry Reeve Brigade, a disaster and emergency specialist team, arrived recently as it became clear that Haiti was struggling to cope with the epidemic that has already killed hundreds.

    Since 1998, Cuba has trained 550 Haitian doctors for free at the Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina en Cuba (Elam), one of the country's most radical medical ventures. Another 400 are currently being trained at the school, which offers free education – including free books and a little spending money – to anyone sufficiently qualified who cannot afford to study medicine in their own country.

    What did America do? Nothing.

    Cuba's contribution in Haiti is like the world's greatest secret. They are barely mentioned, even though they are doing much of the heavy lifting. The Cuban traveling doctors have served as an extremely useful arm of the government's foreign and economic policy, winning them friends and favors across the globe.

    Could not America have done the same? Sure they could have but that would not fit in with the free market policy and the aim of companies to exploit places like Haiti or military aims of taking over that small island nation.

    The best-known program of the Cuban medics is Operation Miracle, which began with ophthalmologists treating cataract sufferers in impoverished Venezuelan villages in exchange for oil. This initiative has restored the eyesight of 1.8 million people in 35 countries, including that of Mario Teran, the Bolivian sergeant who killed Che Guevara in 1967.

    The Henry Reeve Brigade, rebuffed by the Americans after Hurricane Katrina, was the first team to arrive in Pakistan after the 2005 earthquake, and the last to leave six months later.

    There is a lot that we all could learn from Cuba and not just from its doctors and nurses if we, that is the USA and the UK, would just be prepared to permit a look.

    © 2010

Post Title

Cuban doctors and nurses in Haiti put the world to shame


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/cuban-doctors-and-nurses-in-haiti-put.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Study shows that over-cleanliness negatively affects immune system

    by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

    noantibacterial-soap_sml How many more studies will they need. Some years back – and I wrote about it in “Grandma was right after all... a little dirt does not hurt” – the discovery, which every Elder knew, was made that a little dirt is, in fact good for kids.

    In a never-ending quest to eliminate human contact with germs, science has given society a number of hygienic chemicals. Among these chemicals are Triclosan, found commonly in anti-bacterial soaps, toothpaste, and many other products, and Bisphenol A (BPA), found in the protective lining of food cans. A new study from researchers at the University of Michigan (UM) in Ann Arbor suggests that these chemicals may be detrimental to the immune system and cause allergies.

    Both Triclosan and BPA are classified as endocrine-disrupting compounds. They interfere with the body's natural synthesis, transport, and other processes of hormones.

    Researchers from UM used samples from adults in the United States and children over age 6. They compared concentration of these chemicals in the urine with cytomegalovirus antibody levels and diagnosis of allergies or hay fever. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) antibodies and allergies/hay fever are indicators of alterations of the immune system.

    "We found that people over age 18 with higher levels of BPA exposure had higher CMV antibody levels, which suggests their cell-mediated immune system may not be functioning properly," said Erin Rees Clayton, research investigator at the UM School of Public Health and first author on the paper.

    They found that children with high levels of Triclosan had a higher propensity for allergies and hay fever. This means that overexposing children to antibacterial soap and other "clean" products actually has the opposite effect of making the child sicker.

    "The Triclosan findings in the younger age groups may support the 'hygiene hypothesis,' which maintains living in very clean and hygienic environments may impact our exposure to micro-organisms that are beneficial for development of the immune system," said Allison Aiello, associate professor at the UM School of Public Health and principal investigator on the study.

    Surprisingly, age played a factor in this study. For example, adults with high levels of BPA also had higher CMV levels, while children under 18 did not.

    More research, they reckon, needs to be done to establish a definite causal relationship. Their question is as to whether people really sicker from over-using hygienic products or whether they use those products because they are sicker? Researchers need to study the long-term effects of BPA and Triclosan to see how they affect the immune system.

    The proof, however, has been in the studies that were done in Italy some years ago that showed that children who grew up in over-clean homes were sicklier than those that grew up in homes where they were exposed to some dirt, especially out of doors.

    Triclosan and BPA are both dangerous, and not necessarily for the same reason. An overuse of Triclosan does the same as too much antibiotics, namely creates also superbugs, that is to say bacteria and viruses that become resistant to the anti-bacterial, antibiotic and anti-viral drugs and compounds.

    If it comes to getting rid of nasties there are much better cleaning agents, natural ones, that do equally well as do Triclosan and its like and one of those is acetic acid, CH3COOH, also known as ethanoic acid, in other words, vinegar and using this might just help our kids and all of us.

    And allow our kids to get dirty once again... a little dirt does not hurt.

    © 2010

Post Title

Study shows that over-cleanliness negatively affects immune system


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/study-shows-that-over-cleanliness.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Death and the Daily Mail.

    An ice climber on Cautley Spout 

    The tragic death of of 54 year old Climbing Instructor, Dave Church from County Durham who was leading the popular ice climb of Cautley Spout in the Howgill Fells on the Cumbrian/Yorkshire border, highlighted the yawning chasm of understanding between the climbing community and the general public. Many climbers were outraged by comments left by some members of the public when the story was covered on the conservative Daily Mail's online site. The most common misconception and cause of 'Angry of Tunbridge Wells' outrage was that climbers were risking their lives at the taxpayers expense. For the typical Daily Mail reader,paying taxes for anything other than increasing the military budget or the Queen's allowance is considered beyond the pale! However.... in the UK, all mountain rescue teams are manned by unpaid volunteers who earn their living outside of the mountain rescue service.. The vast majority of MRT members are however, involved in mountain activities in some capacity. Either as climbers or hill walkers. These teams are usually charity registered and self funded through public donations or sponsorship from private companies. It might come as a huge shock to Daily Mail readers but all mountain rescue team members offer their services for FREE!
    It must have been difficult for the widow of Mr Church after just two months of marriage and his friends and family to read such misinformed and spiteful comments albeit on the site of a media not renowned for intelligent objectivity and compassion.
    Thankfully,the splenetic uninformed missives from some of the more neanderthal members of the public on the Mail site provoked a huge reaction from friends,
    mountain rescuers and outdoor activists whose replies were essentially in the same vein as this piece.
    Sadly,the next time a climber dies in the mountains and it reaches the pages of the tabloids it will inevitably provoke another wave of spiteful hand wringing from the suburban beige brigade!

Post Title

Death and the Daily Mail.


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/death-and-daily-mail.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

National Grid, LNG, and Portfolio Diversification!

    Interesting read on the Guardian website today re. National Grid and the importing of Liquified Natural Gas. The article relates a visit to the company's new terminal (the world's largest outside of Japan and Korea) which, it is estimated, can supply up to 20% of the UK's annual demand.
    The UK now has 3 terminals in total which should be able to supply up to 50% of annual demand but the article goes on to forecast that by 2020 the UK will need to import 70% of its annual demand from all sources ie the pipelines and LNG terminals. 
    According to the International Energy Agency there is an unexpected global gas glut that could last for a decade as new means of producing "unconventional gas" from coal seams and shale are found. It also seems that oil companies such as Shell will soon be producing more gas than oil for the first time.
    However, the article quite rightly maintains that there is still significant risk to supply from price competition. 
    But, interestingly for me it groups a number of my investments together as having significant stakes in the same immediate future, these being: BP, BG, Centrica, Scottish and Southern, and NG. Each company does have other strings to their bows, but finding, recovering, and supplying natural gas, in one form or another, does have a significant impact on their viability and profitability and as it stands each company is only one link in the total energy supply chain. 


    So, it is worthwhile considering this in the context of portfolio diversification as it may be that holding these 5 companies or similar is not really diversification at all. Although, on the flip side it is a significant group holding in a finite, indispensable commodity albeit one that is in a "temporary" global glut. 
    That being the case it also stresses the need to look at these investments strategically as long term investments, at which point consistent earnings and dividend growth become very significant as a regular means of shareholder returns alongside potential, but longer term, capital growth. I will look at this further later but of the 5, 4 are in my Value, Income and Recovery portfolio and 1 is in my Growth and Speculative.

    The Guardian article on National Grid's LNG terminal can be found through the following link:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/dec/27/lng-transforms-uk-gas-supplies

Post Title

National Grid, LNG, and Portfolio Diversification!


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/national-grid-lng-and-portfolio.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Mapping sustainable communities in Hackney

     More info on UCL’s Mapping sustainable communities in Hackney project. There’s also a link in the list of websites below to the Justice in the Green website. It includes more information, reports and short films on the work undertaken in Millfields in 2008 and 2009 so do take a look. 




    Matthew Wood-Hill, Postgraduate Teaching Assistant, MSc Environment and Sustainable Development, Development Planning Unit, UCL:
    “Previously the students' work has been structured according to specific areas in and around E5. This year the project has taken an interesting turn, using a more thematic approach to how the Marshes and other green spaces in the vicinity are being used. The six themes being addressed by individual student groups are:
    • Creative Arts Expression;
    • Unstructured Play;
    • Collective Sports;
    • Cultivating Spaces;
    • Being with Nature; and
    • Moving through Nature.
    As with previous years we are examining as the key concept the potential for the creation 'environmental justice' in the area in relation to these themes. The groups have specific community organisations with whom they are encouraged to work with in their research, and we hope that the emphasis on a theme rather than a geographical areas can provide the chance to look at broader linages between the different themes, and how they conflict/interact with each other.  

    We can now confirm the date and place of the student's presentations of the work they have been doing over the past couple of months. The event will take place in the Wally Foster Community Centre, just off Mabley Green, between 10am and 4pm on Friday 14th January. I'll update you again when we have more information (such as, for example, when each specific student group will be presenting). The invitation is extended to all members of the community and local residents, so you are more than welcome to attend and to publicise this on your blog if you wish. We hope to run another event or exhibition that will be far more community rather than student-oriented sometime in February.”

Post Title

Mapping sustainable communities in Hackney


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/mapping-sustainable-communities-in.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Broken Promises

    by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

    BrokenPromises Epsom, UK, 12/28/2010: The year, which is about to come to a close in but a few days, has been a year full of promises by this or that politician.

    In America, already begun the year before, it was the current President, Barack Obama, and in Britain the coalition government between Tories and Whigs, lead by David Cameron.

    When in opposition Cameron promised that, amongst other things, he would bring back “park keepers” in every publicly owned park but in reality such jobs are currently being cut left right and center because of government cuts.

    President Obama promised that the American people would get a descent health service, and especially those that were being screwed by the insurance companies but the reality is a fudge that still benefits only those that can afford to pay for their health care and the insurance companies.

    He also promised to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and deal with the detainees, which are in fact held illegally, fairly. Another broken promise there.

    Many of the promises, it is claimed, could not be kept due to legal restraints and especially the fact that the government coffers are empty. Whose fault is that?

    It is not the fault of the public sector workers, the park keepers that Mr. Cameron had promised for every park, and the poor people who cannot afford health insurance, but the fault of the very government for bailing out the banks which were, so they said, “too big too fail.”

    No company should ever be too big to be allowed to fail and how come it was only the banks that got bailed out but not industry in general.

    When in Britain old and established companies were feeling the squeeze and were headed for the scrap heap not a single penny was forthcoming from the government coffers but there was money available to bail out the banks that caused no end of grief.

    Everywhere we look there are broken promises by politicians and I doubt that the new year will be any better.

    In fact millions of public sector workers in Britain and elsewhere are facing the loss of their jobs and with the way that things stand very bleak prospects, especially those that are over a certain age, and especially so as any welfare is dependent on finding non-existent work within a year.

    We can but wonder as to whether the return of the workhouse may no be just around the corner in Britain and the way things stand no one would blink an eyelid, as long as they are safe.

    It is time that we came to the understanding that our elected representatives do not represent us in any way whatsoever and that their only interest – in the main – is what they can get out of it, be it in financial or other gains. The people are just a minor hindrance.

    There is no distinction of the color of their flags under which they rally nor of their creeds. They are all in it only for themselves and for their cronies and have no regard for the people who may have elected them. Unless, that is, the way it would appear, you are one who can fund things for them.

    Companies too are, predominately, and not just companies, even public service employers, interested in what money they can make and save by shedding workers and then making other individuals left do the jobs of three or four.

    A change is needed in the way our countries and everything are run and a new economy is needed too. In both cases it has to be the adage “where people matter” but presently they seem to matter nowhere. Unless that is, they happen to be abroad, where the UK is spending over half a billion pounds on aid.

    Let's get real and let's consider our own people first. No one is going to help us in times of crises. We have to do it ourselves. So why do we have to run to everywhere else?

    The time for a new way has come, one where we consider local issues before those further afield and that is as to “government” the same as to food and the economy.

    We need to slow down our lives, our economy and our countries, and we must reign in our politicians and their falsehoods.

    © 2010

Post Title

Broken Promises


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/broken-promises.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Guantanamo Bay won't be closed down soon

    by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

    The illegal prisons camps of Guantanamo Bay on the Island of Cuba will not be closed down any time soon and that despite of the promises made by US President Barack Obama when he took office.Camp-x-ray-detainees But, then again, this is just one of the many promises to the United States people that he has reneged on or that he has simply broken, period.

    The US government had to admit that the President's promise cannot and will not be met and that the prison camps at Guantanamo Bay on Cuba will remain for some time to come and that the so-called “illegal enemy combatants” being held there and their future will remain in limbo.

    The prison camp of Guantanamo Bay has been controversial from day one and the declaring of those there as “illegal enemy combatants” even more so. Human Rights campaigners and -organizations have been criticizing the conditions in the camps on Cuba. In addition to that the actions of the US soldiers and those of intelligence and security services personnel gave ammunition to Islamist anti-American propaganda, some not without reason, no doubt.

    In spite of all these problems it will not be possible to close the prison camps on Guantanamo in the foreseeable future. President Obama had wanted to close down the Guantanamo prisons at the beginning of the year but, according to White House speaker Robert Gibbs, this has been prevented by “legal” reasons.

    He said that it will take a “while” before the plans for the closure of the prisons at Guantanamo can be realized and put into practice. It turns out to be very difficult to put the inmates of the prisons through the American legal system or too deport them and budgetary constraints do not allow the building of an alternative prison nor does it make the transfer of the prisoners to existing American jails possible.

    Mr Gibbs speculated that a draft is in existence for legislation that will make the unlimited detention of some – for this we should, maybe, read “all remaining” – prisoner at Guantanamo official. However, so it is said, it will given them, at the same time, the right to challenge the legality of their detention there. Please do not make me laugh.

    For Gibbs stated further that some will of those prisoners, which are illegally held,and we must not forget that, will be held in detention at Guantanamo – or elsewhere in military jails – for ever.

    Obama has, as said, made many promised that he has decided not to keep when he realized that there was opposition. He could close Guantanamo by executive order in the same way as he could have given the American people a decent health care system that would free at the point of delivery. But he has not been willing to use ExOs in those matters.

    The majority of prisoners in the prison camps at Guantanamo Bay have been snatched from the streets of a variety of countries and brought there by extraordinary rendition, including from the streets of Britain and the fact that those people are being held there doe not make our streets any safer. In fact, it gives ammunition to all those that want to fight a jihad against the West.

    America, which claims to be the great bastion of liberty, appears to be so different in reality. I mean when the President can even consider to sign the order to a US citizen who may, or may not, be a terrorist, living abroad to be “terminated with extreme prejudice” or when one wants to go after people who have embarrassed the US government like it was done by Wikileaks, what is one to think of that country? Bastion of liberty certainly does not come to mind.

    © 2010

Post Title

Guantanamo Bay won't be closed down soon


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/guantanamo-bay-won-be-closed-down-soon.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Old Christmas trees give life to other trees

    Old Christmas trees help other trees grow year-round in Parisian neighborhood parks

    by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

    After all the festivities of Christmas are done and dusted comes the question as to what to do with the Christmas tree around with so many of the festivities have taken place. christmas-tree-recycling-sign-paris While many municipalities, in the USA and in Europe, now have recycling programs for Christmas trees which are recycled by being turned into mulch or compost it is not everywhere you can actually see how yesteryear's Christmas trees help other trees to grow. In Paris, France, you can.

    Every year since 2007, the City of Paris has been running a program under which it opens up tree collection points at 95 parks and gardens throughout the city, according to the entrepreneurial news portal Springwise:

    <<Consumers need only bring their trees to the collection spot nearest them. From there, the tree will be crushed and used to enrich the soil in local parks, serving to restrict weeds and reduce evaporation. This is Paris's fourth year of recycling Christmas trees in this way, and the program is growing rapidly. From 15,000 trees recycled in 2007-2008, the number grew to 27,150 in 2009-2010.>>

    This way, as Springwise points out, the benefits of recycling stay in the local community – and are very visible. When spring comes, Parisians can stroll back to the local park where they donated their Christmas tree, and know that they have done their part to keep it green and beautiful.

    This here, once again, shows that the real tree is much better than the fake one when it comes to being eco friendly as it can be recycled in a way that allows other trees and plants to grown and thrive even though that the decaying mulch will, in fact, release the CO2 the tree has absorbed during its life. Unfortunately this method is not CHG neutral as would be the burning of such trees, as is done in some other municipalities, for heating homes.

    Real trees, however, will beat fake ones any day and that for more than just the reason of being capable of being recycled in an environmentally friendly manner.

    When I was a child we used to collect Christmas trees in the neighborhoods from folks and burn them for heat. But not before we had cut out the bit of the tree that could be made into things that could be sold on markets, such as wooden whisks.

    Recycling of Christmas trees should be an integral part of the waste management strategy of every municipality, of every borough, and I am sure that some folks might be prepared to do it for them, who could also salvage parts of the tree from which to make such aforementioned whisks, for instance.

    © 2010

Post Title

Old Christmas trees give life to other trees


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/old-christmas-trees-give-life-to-other.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Doubts raised over plans to hive off English nature reserves.

    Secret Government negotiations to dispose of England's most precious wildlife sites in a big money-saving exercise are in tatters.Wildlife charities which the Government had assumed would take over the running of 140 national nature reserves are refusing to do so without new funding, which would run into many millions of pounds. Their insistence on a big cash injection as a condition of any transfer may mean the whole idea will be scrapped.

    The reserves, which range from the Lizard in Cornwall to Lindisfarne in Northumberland, and in size from three-quarters of an acre at Horn Park Quarry in Dorset to 22,000 acres of the Wash, represent many of the finest wildlife sites in the country. There are 224 of them, 140 run by the Government's wildlife agency, Natural England. Harbouring such distinctive habitats as ancient woodland, chalk grassland and lowland heath, and sheltering rare species such as nightingales, orchids and red squirrels, the reserves are regarded as the jewels in the crown of British nature conservation.
    Since the election, however, Conservative ministers from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have been trying to get rid of the sites run by Natural England. Ministers have been engaged in confidential talks to try to get several wildlife charities to take over the running of the reserves.

    Initially, ministers wanted to sell the nature reserves outright, but quickly found there were no takers. So for several months they have been talking about handing them over to the National Trust, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Wildlife Trusts Partnership, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, the Woodland Trust, Butterfly Conservation and Plantlife.  These charities do not object in principle to taking on the reserves, and all have the necessary expertise to run them. However, they have raised a number of objections, the key one being money, and in a written warning to Defra, the charities state that "Government must ensure sustainable funding packages are in place to support delivery throughout the length of service delivery agreements". Translation: you will have to pick up the cost for the whole length of the time we run one of your former nature reserves.

    There is a further financial caveat: the charities insist that the government must comply with regulations which safeguard staff when their jobs are transferred. This means that the Government will have to guarantee the salaries and pension arrangements of Natural England employees now managing the reserves, which are likely to be more generous than those prevailing in the charities.The full cost to Natural England of running its reserves is £9.9m annually: this is made up of £4.5m for maintenance and other running costs, and £5.4m in staff costs. If the wildlife charities together insist on a similar sum for taking on the reserves, the potential savings will simply disappear. Some observers think this puts the whole idea in jeopardy. A senior government source admitted that it was now having to "think through lots of different funding models".

    Yet money is not the only hurdle. The charities are also insisting on a strict regime of safeguards for any reserves which are transferred, or for any of the landholdings of the Forestry Commission which the Coalition plans to sell off. They say that there should be "no net loss of biodiversity, heritage significance or public access" as a result of the transfer of land.The charities' tough conditions have emerged because their document, which has not been officially published, has been made available on the website of the wildflower charity Plantlife, and this is the first public acknowledgement of the discussions which have been going on. Victoria Chester, Plantlife's chief executive, said the charities were all agreed that the Government had to be involved in funding.

    England's most precious wildlife sites

    The Lizard

    The Lizard national nature reserve in Cornwall is a remarkable mixture of habitats, from majestic cliffs and beaches to coastal grassland and inland heaths. The wildlife star is the chough, the crow with a red bill which is also the county bird of Cornwall. In spring the swaths of cliff-top wild flowers are breathtaking and the heaths are ablaze with colour in summer.

    The Wash

    England's largest nature reserve is one of the country's last great wildernesses, an internationally important wetland site in Norfolk and Lincolnshire whose mudflats and saltmarshes represent one of Britain's best winter feeding areas for waders and wildfowl. Its star species include waders and one of the largest breeding colonies of seal in the UK.

    Lindisfarne

    The Northumbrian island of Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, has a twinfold importance: its monastery was one of the key sites of early Celtic Christianity and it is a superb wildlife site. Its most typical habitat is the sand dunes which in summer are alive with orchids and insects. Its special birds are wintering wildfowl and waders, including pale-bellied brent geese from Svalbard, wigeons, grey plovers and bar-tailed godwits.

    Horn Park Quarry

    Britain's smallest national nature reserve has been listed for its geology: the disused limestone quarry, once worked for local building stone, contains preserved fossils from the Inferior Oolite, which dates from the Middle Jurassic period, particularly ammonites. Public visits to the site can be arranged.
    The Independent

Post Title

Doubts raised over plans to hive off English nature reserves.


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/doubts-raised-over-plans-to-hive-off.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Pandemic outbreak of Swine flu sweeping through Britain

    A pandemic outbreak of swine flu is sweeping through Britain even though 70% were vaccinated last year

    swine-flu-treatmen_1395505c

    by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

    London, UK, 12/27/2010: A pandemic of Swine flu is sweeping through the UK despite the fact that 70% of Britain's over-65 population was vaccinated against swine flu last year. This year, that number is nearly the same with 68.5%. But flu vaccine proponents insist that until everyone is vaccinated, the flu will continue to infect people.

    What these vaccine advocates absolutely will not admit, however, is how many of those who are sick with the flu this year also got vaccinated last year. This little detail is left out of every mainstream media report on vaccines and the flu. They simply refuse to mention this all-important number, leaving readers to leap to the incorrect conclusion that only those who were not vaccinated get sick with the flu. An assumption which is false. 

    In fact, of the 450 critical care beds in England that are now occupied by flu patients, we can safely assume that most of those infected patients are people who received flu vaccines in the past, including the swine flu version that was being given in 2009.

    The side effects of the vaccine, and worse still of the Tamiflu anti-viral drug that was given against the Swine flu, were horrendous. I know, I had the swine flu and was given Tamiflu.

    Such statistics are never made available to the public or the press, of course. To release such statistics would expose the Great Lie of the vaccine industry: That flu vaccines simply don't work on 99 percent of people!

    In fact, it would appear that in many cases the people who are most susceptible to catching the flu are precisely the very same people who get vaccinated. This could be because vaccines weaken the immune system in the long run, leaving you more vulnerable to future infections. A bit like taking antibiotics too much.

    They deny your immune system the opportunity to practice its own adaptive response to invading microorganisms or viruses, thus, it would appear, causing your immune system to atrophy in the same way that a wheelchair-bound person will experience leg muscle atrophy.

    The immune system is a lot like a muscle: Use it or lose it!

    But flu vaccines provide weakened viruses to the immune system (along with other preservative chemicals that can be extremely dangerous to neurological health). It's sort of like working out your muscles at the gym but having your trainer do all the heavy lifting for you. Obviously you're not going to have very strong muscles in the end because your body won't need to invoke a very strong adaptive response.

    The same is true with vaccines and the flu: If your body is exposed to weakened flu viruses year after year, it gets lazy and weak, and when it one day comes into contact with a full-strength virus circulating in the wild, it's not in good enough shape to handle the challenge.

    In addition to all that there is a serious Vitamin D deficiency going on in Britain, due to underexposure to sunlight, and we may, so it is reckoned, soon see the reemergence of rickets in our children.

    A person who is vitamin D deficient will also have an alarmingly weak immune system response because vitamin D activates the immune system to do its job. In people with extremely low vitamin D levels, even vaccines containing weakened viruses won't solicit an antibody response.

    It would therefore appear that the flu vaccine just cannot and will not work in the great majority of those to who it is given and in addition to that many, in fact, develop the very flu against which they just have been vaccinated, often a month or two after the event – the authorities always claim that that will just be a mild form – due to the fact that they have a weakened immune system.

    Much of this weakened immune system and immune system response of the population is due a variety of factors of which the lack of Vitamin D might be the biggest, so at least according to some research. However, in my mind there is no doubt that poor diet, often, nowadays, nothing but fast “food” and the lack of contact with the “fresh air” and Nature, probably play a much greater part here.

    However, no one is allowed, so it seems, to challenge the assumptions of the vaccine quacks and industry bodies.

    The vaccine-pushing quack medical community believes that if they could magically convince 100 percent of the people to get vaccinated, they would have this problem licked. In their own minds, they have unscientifically convinced themselves that a vaccine equals automatic and full protection against a flu virus.

    And yet even they won't dare ask this simple question: Of all the people sick from the flu who are right now lying in Britain's hospital beds, what percentage were vaccinated against the flu last year or this year?

    The flu vaccine propaganda, of course, demands that people never be allowed to collide with the scientific facts about how many people who are vaccinated against the flu still catch the flu anyway. (The flu re-infection rate.) That's why you will NEVER see an honest answer to this question released by hospitals, vaccine companies or vaccine-pushing doctors.

    Keep taking your flu jabs, everybody. But don't ask whether they actually work, because that question isn't allowed to be asked in the cult of medicine that dominates the sick-care landscape around the world today.

    We wouldn't want actual science to interfere with a really profitable con job now, would we?

    The diet of so many people, old and young alike, today lacks (fresh) fruit and vegetables and to a very great degree are, as I have indicated above, are made up of highly processed foods and more often than not in the form of fast “food” of the McDonald and similar variety.

    The reason I put the word food in inverted commas is because I would not regards McD's and similar stuff as food and of no nutritional value whatsoever. Therefore, stuff like that does nothing for the immune system, rather the opposite. No wonder that people are ill all the time.

    Environmental factors too, play a part, I grant that much, as can be seen with the increase of respiratory illnesses and allergies. We have really screwed up the world and our bodies to boot.

    © 2010

Post Title

Pandemic outbreak of Swine flu sweeping through Britain


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/pandemic-outbreak-of-swine-flu-sweeping.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Dublin has announced measures for water rationing

    by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

    19122

    As if Ireland did not already have problems enough now the country's capital has to start water consumption due to lack of it. That is lack of water not lack of consumption.

    Dublin City Council has pleaded with residents to turn off their taps as water supplies run low.

    Authorities also fear people filling baths to conserve water for themselves, as report of the problem spreading from the capital with water shortages now reported around Ireland.

    Around half of local authorities in Ireland are restricting the flow of water with threats of cutting off people who use too much water being proposed.

    During two night in the beginning of December 2010 Dublin City Council took the measure to restrict the supply of water in all areas, from 7pm to 7am.

    Measures such as these should bring it home to all of us, whether in Eire, the UK, elsewhere in Europe, the USA and Canada, or wherever, that water is a resource that is by no means ever bountiful (I know, even not when we have had floods) and that we must do everything to preserve water.

    Man cannot live without water and neither can animals, whether wild or livestock, or plants and without enough water everything will die.

    The aqua cycle seems to have been severely disrupted and turned on its head by the very fact that we all simply use too much of that lovely wet stuff, and we don't even want to talk about the leaks that take weeks and months often to get repaired by the utility companies.

    We must do more to look after that most precious resource of water and preserve it where we can.

    © 2010

Post Title

Dublin has announced measures for water rationing


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/dublin-has-announced-measures-for-water.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Launch of new compostable checkout bag

    by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

    Yeah! Right! Compostable is a very stretchy word, much like recycled and we will tackle the latter at another time.

    A company in Oxfordshire is the first in the UK to offer a 100% compostable checkout bag.David Cameron visits Polythene UKPolythene UK has produced the Polycomp bag, which contains biopolymers made up of starch and according to the company they biodegrade fully within just 10 days, as soon as mirco-organisms are present.

    The process is accelerated even further when temperature is increased, for example during the summer season, where the bugs are more active in the garden.

    The bags are certified as fully biodegradable and compostable according to the European norm EN13432, which was set up to regulate products which are disposed of in composting sites and maybe that should give us the real hint here; the term “ products which are disposed of in composting sites.”

    Polythene UK's managing director James Woollard said: “I figure that as checkout bags are something we all use and as we are all about to start having to buy rolls of compostable bags - due to changes in the way our food is being recycled - then why not make one bag that does both jobs?

    “That way consumers will be able to buy their compostable bags at the checkout for the same price as they would spend on the rolls of bags, use them to take their shopping home, then reuse them in their green bins, so their food waste can go for anaerobic digestion or other composting methods.”

    The company, based in Witney, were boosted a visit from David Cameron in November, who discussed the potential of the checkout bags further with James Woollard.

    Mr Woollard hopes to persuade consumers, supermarket buyers, and government members to switch to a 'greener' option.

    He said: “Although compostable checkout bags are already being successfully used in places like Belgium, UK supermarkets are currently resisting the idea due to the additional cost.

    “However I am confident that one of the major chains will be forward thinking enough to offer the first truly environment solution to the UK's plastic bag problem.

    “And with the drive of both consumer and government support I am certain that the switch to this 'greener' option is not too far down the line.”

    The checkout bags will be on display at the easyFairs ECOPACK show in February 2010 at Birmingham's NEC.

    From the term that I highlighted earlier, namely “products which are disposed of in composting sites” I would gather that this bag may be called “compostable” and may be thus but not within 10 days in your compost heap in the back garden. Absolutely no chance.

    We have been there with the bio-plast (also from corn starch) bags for the kitchen caddies. They took in tests – my own ones – up to 2 years to compost in a domestic composter.

    Why, pray, do we need to have still plastic bag when reusable cotton, jute, etc., bags can be had at a reasonable price or which anyone with a little sewing machine skill can make?

    When our mothers and grandmothers went shopping or sent us to the shops as kids it was with a reusable shopping bag of a variety of materials, and this is not so long ago. This should be the way to which we should, nay must, return.

    © 2010

Post Title

Launch of new compostable checkout bag


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/launch-of-new-compostable-checkout-bag.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Obama restores Republican wilderness cuts.

     The Obama administration has restored U.S. land managers' powers to curb development on vast tracts of America's back country, undoing what conservation groups called a "no more wilderness" policy put in place under President George W. Bush.

    U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced on Thursday that the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will again have the authority to set aside large areas of federally owned territory in the West that it deems deserving of wilderness protection.It would still be up to Congress to decide whether to grant those areas formal wilderness status, putting them permanently off-limits to energy development and other commercial uses.An official wilderness designation by law prohibits the building of roads or other structures, or any human activities that would alter the natural landscape, such as farming, logging, mining, or oil and gas drilling.

    In years past, lands classified by BLM as eligible for such protection were to be protected as de facto wilderness until or unless Congress acted.But Salazar's new "wild lands" policy gives BLM latitude to allow limited energy development or other activities in such areas, even if they "may impair wilderness characteristics.""For the last seven years, the BLM -- which manages more land than any other federal agency -- has not had a comprehensive national wilderness policy," Salazar said."Americans love the wild places where they hunt, fish, hike and get away from it all, and they expect these lands to be protected wisely on their behalf."

    The new policy reverses a 2003 out-of-court settlement by then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton with former Utah Governor Michael Levitt that effectively put millions of acres of public land outside BLM's land management purview.The deal outraged environmental and conservation activists who feared the decision would open up 2.6 million acres in the American West to unfettered mining and oil and gas development."That should never have happened," Salazar said of the agreement.

    Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch denounced Thursday's policy shift as a "brazen" attempt by the Obama administration to usurp congressional control of wilderness designations."It is time for this administration to put the needs of Utahans and other Americans above those of a few radical special interest groups who want to make the nation's public lands their own personal playgrounds," Hatch said in a statement. "I will continue to do everything I can to ensure that it does and that the authority to designate wilderness stays where it belongs -- with Congress."The BLM manages 245 million acres of public lands, mostly in 11 Western states.

    Salazar said the new policy is in line with the BLM's multiuse mission of balancing recreational activities, livestock grazing and energy production with wild land conservation and preservation. Thousands of Americans make their livings from those public land uses, he noted."Wise stewardship isn't just the right thing to do, it's good for business and it's good for jobs," Salazar said.
    Reuters

Post Title

Obama restores Republican wilderness cuts.


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/obama-restores-republican-wilderness.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Bring Back Domestic Science

    Bring back “Domestic Science” to our schools

    by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

    domestic-science1 For decades British schools have taught what in later and latter years came to be known as “Domestic Science”, though primarily as “cooking” and “home making” to the girls. Only in later years, before the subject was abolished, was it also compulsory for boys, as indeed it should be.

    Today most girls leaving school, and the boys definitely, have no idea how to cook a meal for one or so a family, from scratch, and while the home has to take a great of blame for this, the school system too must shoulder a fair amount of it.

    Having not gong through the school system anywhere – thank G-d – I cannot say how much on other domestic skills the “Domestic Science” curriculum contained, such as sewing, etc., but it should and boys equally should learn how to sew and how to repair clothes as should girls.

    It would do good for the boys that see sewing as sissy and as beneath them to remember and consider that most top tailors and fashion designers are not women but men, and men's outfitters have always been. And no, most were and are not gay.

    For boys, in the time when “Domestic Science” was, basically, the sole domain of girls, there were the DIY lessons, from which girls were, in the main, excluded. But neither exclusion should be and such subjects should be open to,(and even compulsory for, both sexes.

    Both cooking and sewing, and other, let's call them “domestic crafts”, must be taught to both sexes and the same must be for “woodwork”, as it was, I think, called, or technology and such nowadays, so that both are capable of cooking a meal, looking after themselves in that way, repair their clothes and if this be only sewing on a button, or fix an electric plug, etc. to build a bookcase from scratch or even scrap wood.

    Those skills will, of that I am certain, become, once again, extremely important as things are about to change significantly once we have come to the final end of cheap oil and we may have to be able then, alone for reasons of costs, be able to repair things again and to make things for ourselves, and this includes growing our own food at home, where possible, and to make meals from such home-grown food.

    All those skills must, in fact and reality, become part of the curriculum of a new “Domestic Science” or “Domestic Skills” education in our schools. But the home has to pay its part here too.

    So, lets bring back “Domestic Science” to our schools and let it starts at elementary school already.

    © 2010

Post Title

Bring Back Domestic Science


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/bring-back-domestic-science.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Lakeland “in the kitchen” – Spring 2011 – Preview

    by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

    6215_KIT1_2011.indb Epsom, UK, 12/26/2010: In the next couple of days or so this latest catalog from Lakeland will be dropping onto customers' doormats and into their letterboxes and it is, once again, a catalog that is well worth a very close look for those interested in green issues and saving money while cooking, for instance.

    On page 3 already it starts with the “Scudle” the use of which will help reduce food waste and while the material may not fall under “green” the food savings factor will.

    The catalog then continues with preserving bottles and other food storage jars and containers on the next page and also further inside of it.

    Home bread baking, which is becoming ever more popular by the week, it would appear, is being taken care of on pages 34 and 35 of the catalog, with 3 different types of bread makers on the latter page, and breathable bread storage bags and other bread storage containers on page 41.

    healthy food preparation, as in cooking, is also, pardon the pun, catered for in the form of a number of steamers, slow cookers (crock pots), and pressure cookers, starting on page 64 with the EXQ steamer, run on electric, and the stainless steel steamer on page 93 which is for stove top use on the hob.

    Both the slow cookers – electric, obviously – and the pressure cookers – some electric and dome for stove top use – come in a number of different types and prices. Crock pots are brilliant for cooking food, whether roasting meat (though somewhat different in taste from oven roasted), to doing vegetables or one-pot meals, such as casseroles, slowly and tasty. I would have never thought that I'd ever make use of a slow cooker that much but I rather use that than the oven and not just because of the energy savings by using the crock pot.

    Steamers too are brilliant for cooking, especially, as far as I am concerned, vegetables and I am sure that once you have started using a steamer for your veg you do not ever want to go back to boiling them. Pressure cookers too are generally extremely energy efficient and produce great tasting healthy food.

    Other products in the catalog too are worth looking at such as the lovely pestle and mortar sets for creating your own freshly prepared herbs and spices and pestos.

    Once again a catalog full of interesting products as far as energy saving and such is concerned.

    © 2010

Post Title

Lakeland “in the kitchen” – Spring 2011 – Preview


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/lakeland-in-kitchen-spring-2011-preview.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Britain says it will ignore medical advice on pesticide-spraying

    by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

    The public will not have to be notified when crops, fields or parks are being sprayed with pesticides potentially harmful to their health, despite warnings from the British Medical Association.

    172895Campaigners have reacted with dismay to a Defra announcement that farmers and greenkeepers will not be required to notify residents when they are spraying pesticides.

    The British Medical Association (BMA) had advised the government that it should introduce mandatory notification of spraying to alert 'vulnerable groups such as those suffering from respiratory problems'. Defra's own consultation on the issue admitted that the public believed the current voluntary approach was not working and that public signs indicating spraying had taken place should be compulsory.

    However, the government has ignored the public and medical profession, saying: “We do not believe it is appropriate to introduce a statutory requirement for operators to provide advance notice of planned spray operations to members of the public living adjacent to sprayed land.”

    Pesticide campaigners said the government was pandering to the interests of industry. “The reason they are not prepared to do anything is their ideological dislike of regulation, it is not based on science,” said Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN-UK) policy officer Nick Mole.

    The UK is required to show how it will meet new EU rules on pesticides due to come into force at the end of 2011. Defra said it only planned to make 'minor changes' to existing voluntary measures, which will mean calls to ban pesticides in areas used by vulnerable groups, such as school playing fields and parks, will also be ignored.

    Farming minister Lord Henley defended the move, saying he was following 'sound scientific evidence'.

    “By making a small number of changes to our existing approach, we can continue to help feed a growing global population with high-quality food that’s affordable, while minimizing the risks of using pesticides,” he said.

    Pesticide campaigner Georgina Downs said it was 'outrageous' for Defra to suggest it had no compelling evidence to justify a ban on the use of pesticides in certain areas.

    “The prohibition of the use of pesticides in the locality of homes, schools, children’s playgrounds, hospitals and public areas is absolutely crucial for public health protection, especially that of vulnerable groups,” she said.

    Nick Mole said a 'key opportunity' to bring in a targeted reduction in pesticide use and advance notification warnings had been missed. One that 'gives lie to David Cameron's view to make this the greenest government ever'.

    But who can continue to believe any claims that David Cameron made before he came to power as Prime Minister.

    I remember how the now Prime Minister when in opposition time and again stated that he would “bring back the Park Keeper” as resident staff to all publicly-owned parks and open spaces but what is happening now? Park staff, especially resident park staff, are cut and CABE, the organization that ran “Park Force”, is being closed down. So much for the promises of the now Prime Minister.

    While we know that the previous government wasted most of the money that the country had and the former Chancellor of the Exchequer left a lovely note for the current Chancellor saying that there was no money left the way this new government is running things certainly is entirely contrary to the promises that they were elected on.

    It would appear that the old adage of “How do you recognize that a politician is lying?” with the answer being “His lips move” is all too true for it does not seem to matter which side they are on they are not interested in the people but only in themselves.

    © 2010

Post Title

Britain says it will ignore medical advice on pesticide-spraying


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/britain-says-it-will-ignore-medical.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

The Young Market Gardeners – Book Recommendation

    by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

    TYMGcover_sml2The Young Market Gardeners
    by Ethelind Fearon
    Published by Lutterworth Press, London
    First published 1953 (which also appears to be the only time)
    Price: 10s. 6d. net

    A book full of commonsense as to market gardening and vegetable, etc. gardening in general and not just for youngsters.

    The book is written in the first person, as if by a young person, and is very funny at places that will make the reader laugh out loud. I certainly have done so more than once.

    The Young Market Gardeners is a book that is easy to read and the gardening advice and truths are easily absorbed.

    Obviously, the money terms are something that many today will no longer have any knowledge of, e.g. Pounds, Shillings and Pence, with a Pound Sterling being made up of twenty shillings and a Shilling being made up of 12 pence. Also the compost brands and those of pesticides, etc., are something that, like £, s. and d., are part of history. Some also may have a problem with the measurements of things as Imperial measurements of inches, feet, etc., are also no longer part of most people's knowledge and the same is true for temperatures in Fahrenheit, unless one is in the USA.

    Despite those little things, however, this is a book that should be put back into print quickly, in the way that it is written without changes of any sort, as it teaches some rather valuable lessons regarding the growing of vegetables. Alas, presently, this book is very much “out of print” and but a few copies seem to be left and those that do appear for sale seem to be rather costly.

    If a copy can be found for a decent price then it is well worth acquiring it and that fast and then holding on to very tightly.

    The Young Market Gardeners is a book that will become a much needed resource again in time to come, of that I am sure, and thus it would be good to republish it, even and especially as an E-book.

    © 2010

Post Title

The Young Market Gardeners – Book Recommendation


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/young-market-gardeners-book.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Snow Disruption

    by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

    hammond Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has asked the Chief Scientific Adviser to review the probability of severe winter weather becoming a regular feature and he plans to use the Chief Scientific Adviser’s advice to establish whether there is a case for greater investment in winter resilience in the future.

    David Quarmby’s independent report into the response to the severe weather experienced earlier this month is published today. Speaking to the BBC, Mr Quarmby said “It’s certainly not true to say that the government and local authorities have not been prepared. So far as salt goes, I think we have been very ready for this particular winter. It’s just that it’s come early and been very severe.”

    Mr. Hammond expressed sympathy for stranded travelers whose plans have been disrupted by the severe weather, saying that he understood that it was “particularly stressful just a few days ahead of the Christmas break.”

    He added: “Nonetheless, the reality is that, with further severe weather forecast, Heathrow is likely to be operating at reduced capacity for the next few days and passengers need to recognise it may not be possible to reach their planned destinations this week.

    “Once we’ve got through the problem, once we’ve got things moving again then we will have to have that discussion and find out exactly what went wrong, and most importantly what went wrong in handling passengers who were stranded.”

    Addressing the road network, Mr Hammond said that salt stocks were at a much higher level than last year under Labour, and that a national strategic salt reserve now existed for the first time to support local authorities.

    The problem, however, has not been an isolated British one. Other EU countries that have been hit by severe snow and ice, even countries such as Sweden, have had serious problems. Only no one seems to be mentioning it in the UK.

    Germany too had to shut a number of its airports and on the roads and rails there has been chaos.

    I am really amazed though that the likes of Germany and Sweden, who never seemed to have much problems in the past in severe winters, seem to be having problems now. Did everyone really think that the climate was going to be changing to so much warmer that we no longer needed road salt, grit and snowplows. It really would seem thus.

    The theories as to why we have been having three consecutive cold winters recently are many and one of them the one that because of the ice melt – supposedly – in the Arctic the winters will be colder here in Northern Europe, including Britain.

    What, however, if it has nothing to do with that at all but with a possibility of the Gulf Stream having left us? That possibility has looked rather on the card, and it is being caused, more than likely, by the damage that we, humans, have done to the ecosystems at the Equator, especially as regards the Amazon Basin and the rainforests in that region.

    If that be the case then we better get used to a much colder overall weather pattern/climate in countries such as Britain seeing that London, England is about on the same latitude as is Toronto in Canada. Welcome, therefore, to a much more arctic Britain.

    Therefore the governments, and the public, better get prepared for a completely new era of weather even though it is not new, as Britain has had very cold periods before (and I am not talking of the Ice Age here) such as in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, for instance.

    Preparations may have to include more salt for gritting roads, snowplows and especially a way of insulating homes and buildings in general.

    As to road, rail and air travel in such times we may have to come to terms with the fact that that may just not be possible for a while when such weather hits us. And the way things do appear in due course much of this traveling may no longer be in the real of feasibility any way once the era of cheap oil has come to an end; an end that is close to hand.

    © 2010

Post Title

Snow Disruption


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/snow-disruption.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Cutting costs with web conferencing

    Cutting costs with web conferencing for the Public Sector

    by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

    Cut costs with web conferencing – but take care to manage the cultural transition well

    With public sector spending high on the political agenda, Adobe Systems' Will Cawthorne argues that web conferencing is one of the best ways of cutting costs - and offers advice on the practical and cultural issues that need to be managed to encourage take-up.

    He said: “In this new age of public sector austerity - and indeed openness - one area of expenditure that is coming under increasing scrutiny is travel. Only recently the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles published details of all his department's spending over £500. He revealed that last year alone the department spent more than £1.5m spent on hotels and transport - including £635,000 on taxis and cars.”

    And he continued: “At Adobe we are firm believers that web and video conferencing can make a real dent in these kinds of costs. Indeed, Adobe has been proactive in integrating its own online conferencing solutions to ensure that colleagues can collaborate remotely, hold meetings and facilitate 'anywhere' learning.”

    BUT, let me tell you, you DO NOT need to use Adobe. There are far better and cheaper service available from other sources.

    I to anyone, and especially the public sector, which is in dire financial straights at present, to look for alternatives in video conferencing and to look especially, as with other software too, at Open Source software and at web based services, some of which are free to use even.

    Many conferences can be held online, either via video conferencing software or via web based service and even entire exhibitions could be held virtually. While it is not entirely the same as visiting an exhibition on terra firma it could save a lot of money and reduce the environmental footprint of an organization tremendously. So, it is good for your finance and for the Planet.

    © 2010

Post Title

Cutting costs with web conferencing


Post URL

https://national-grid-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/cutting-costs-with-web-conferencing.html


Visit National-grid-news for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Popular Posts

My Blog List

Blog Archive