Peerages for money in the UK

The story is basically as above , problem is that the Labour Party has kept it quiet and not told the overseeing body as they are claiming they didnt need to as the cash came in as commercial loans - thereby obviating naming the Partys' benefactors .

The story appears to be a storm in a teacup at first sight , although the Press is having a bit of a field day about it .

The story that will be emerging soon , however, is how many of these 'loans' were forgiven and thus never paid - The Media has to be asking these questions soon and they've years to investigate . Its curious how many MPs are saying NOTHING isnt it ?

news casts in Cuba

Well, giving news to guys in Cuba via the embassy - its got to be one of the dumbest things Ive ever heard .
For starters , it'll get the backs up of the authorities ; it will infuriate the locals [I reckon] and it will create a horrible precedent for use by other embassies .
This has to be the work of Bush- its got all the hallmarks of neanderthalism - it creates nothing and destroys lots and needed a seriously dumb intellect to devise it .
For the world, however, it could give us a boost. Why cant Cuba throw all US citizens off the island in retaliation for this US propaganda ? That includes Guanatanamo Bay personnel of course .
If you think I'm off my trolley , think what would happen if Iran [say] did the same in your capital city ? and how you'd feel ,of course.

USA almost gets Top Al Qaida Leaders

Well The US found some leaders were in a village in Pakistan/Afganistan so they bombed it.
They killed women and children to try to do this assassination .
Isn't this terrorism ? If not it's murder ......
We are allied to this monster .....

bird flu update

well earlier last year now, I was complacent about the bird flu epidemic , and the publicity started dying down as soon as the media worked out that 60 deaths in 9 months didnt constitute a crisis .
Now however, things are looking a tad worse.
With about 5 deaths in about the same number of days in a relatively localised area of Turkey - something has changed ....
Either the virus is now easier to get passed on from fowl to human , or else it's finally maanaged to go direct from human- human ?
I'm not a medical guy, but to my simple mind, if its 'just' easier to get from fowl-human , then this MUST mean that the virus is nearer to becoming a human pathogen and so MUST ? be now slightly possible to go direct human-human , or if not ,its a gnat's crotchet away from it [as they say]
Let's hope it stays that way , or if not that it becomes seriously less lethal in it's end form .
On an end note : virus' dont 'stay that way'
Im sorta glad I live in the countryside now [albeit with 6 hens next door]
Why is it that the media blew it up out of all proportion last year , and now are reporting it, but downplaying it ? It smacks of government guidelines somehow ...

Blair president of The EU ?

Well he tried , gave away loads of their money to try to get the CAP sorted//scrapped , then what happens .......... France and Ireland both said 'tough' ..... you'd think he would learn wouldnt you - the EU was set up for France's benefit and so was always unlikely to give the EU cash cow a decent review .
The common agricultural policy is exceedingly silly and should be scrapped - it manages to impoverish every state in the union and also at the same time hits poor countries by reducing their food export potential . In a word , mad...

Falluja and phosphorus

Well this one is a little more sinister.
The US admitted that it used phosporus on the citizens of Falluja , and that it is a legal substance.
If my memory serves me right , white phosphorus and a sticking agent is known colloquially as Napalm ?
The UK said it's troops used phosphorus as a smoke screen [ it does burn cloudy], The US stated they used it on insurgents.
methinks the US gov't is being economical with the truth here.
I was seriously worried about the news blackout during the Falluja escapade - see earlier on in this blog [probably titled falluja] as it seemed obvious to me that it had to be a repressive campaign, but I didnt think they'd napalm the city ! [just shoot loads of innocents]
Is it any wonder there is unrest there and emnity towards the yanks ?
I just cannot believe this has happened. The way that politics seems to work in the US is that just before[ maybe a couple of months] there's little rumours that dont seem to go anywhere [the govt covering its tracks hurriedly?], then it comes out big time in the end- remember Al agraib [ok so I cant spell] jail - maybe the Dick Cheney farce was to try to squash interest in this atrocity ?

Dick Cheney and the yellow cake

I know this is a bit late in chatting about, but lost how to get back on here....
Anyway the story goes that Dick Cheney covered up the fact that Saddam hadn't tried to buy yellow cake from NIgeria and said he had.
He may have done that, but The US was in full cognicance of the facts as it was the UK that 'uncovered' the evidence and the CIA [or whoever] rubbished it and Blair had to back down. It was in the UK media big time when it happened, so I presume it was in the US papers also ?
This is IMO a purely dirty tricks jobbie

Hurricane thoughts update

I haven't looked back at the last post from Katrina, but think I said that the disaster was a once in a hundred years, so shouldnt happen for about the next ten years [increased rate due to global warming].
I was reading why these hurricanes happen, and apparently it's due to the water temperature in the Gulf.
Higher temperatures in the water [ a hurricane requires a temperature of 26C i read] basically mean that the vapour pressure is raised and requires less energy to evaporate the water which is the basic motor for these beasties .
Vapour pressure is NOT a linear function of temperature and a small increment in temperature creates a disproportionate increase in the water's vapour pressure, thus a temperature of 30C would give rise to a much higher destructive force than if it was 26C.
Thus if global warming is happening - and the evidence strongly supports this, then the next time that New Orleans is flooded will be in the next 2 years - look at the temperatures in the UK- its something like 5+ of the highest temperatures recorded have been in the last 10 years. [ this is the prelude to the UK freezing believe it or not- I know it sounds daft but the Gulf stream has not yet been stopped ].
If this is correct then the Kyoto agreement is a waste of time , and something more drastic is urgently needed - its already too late to save bits of Louisiana and Texas. Mr Bush , can you now turn your head to save New York ?

From reports Ive seen in the papers [The Times- not a rag that tends to lie], papers via the government published in the States about Global warming have been consistently doctored to give the impression that it is a phenomenum that *may* or may not be happening- words like 'is' have been changed to 'maybr' and so forth .

the next flu epidemic ?

There are still periodic news reports about the next flu pandemic- the above report says dozens of people in Indonesia have caught this disease.
This is almost an order of magnitude higher from the last update I read [albeit from a very low base].
Could it be coming at last? Hope not, but I worry about these low level alarm bells from , presumably, the scientific community- they tend to know what they are on about.......

New Orleans toll

What's with the casualty lists on this disaster?
The official count is about 150 according to our papers with a senator ? saying up to 10,000 - a slight difference you may think.....
Then today our papers reported that 25,000 body bags had been delivered ...
Is the US Govt trying to hide the full extent of the problem, if so it's not doing it very well?
Now it turns out that the guy responsible for drawing up and implementing the damage limitation may have spiced up his CV before he got the job.... oops.....
The whole thing stinks for what is undoubtably the most powerful country on Earth- it should not have been allowed to happen [ the loss of life that is- hurricanes are probably beyond even the USA]

Elephant grass ,shoots and leaves

This is an amazing 'discovery' and needs shouting from the rooftops..........
It's simple and world transforming and will ? happen.
Basically biomass growing suffers from inefficiency usually from the processing required to turn it into useful energy.
This stuff grows very quickly, and is suitable for putting directly into a generating plant, more or less, as is.
Apparently putting 10% of land under grass would generate 10% of that country's power.

Why is this BIG NEWS?
Firstly, most first world countries have an over efficient farming industry which creates surpluses.
This requires subsidies to get rid of. Certainly in the cases of the EU and USA this has led to serious disagreements and had been partly responsible for the latest breakdown in talks over the next GATT agreement. [the rest of the world complain that subsidies distort trade amongst the poorer countries- very true]
In the case of the EU, it has created farm produce that is expensive in the shops and takes 30% ? of the EU budget in subsidies to farmers, which in turn has created serious tensions amongst its' members about possible reform.
Secondly, we can have a 'grass cycle' of power generation
Power made this way is CO2 neutral- the grass fixes CO2 from the atmosphere into the plant, then is released on burning.
Thus we have a chance of reducing CO2 emissions of up to the limits of present agricultural excesses [ and if the first world alters it's diet a little or more land comes under agriculture, more]
It would thus slow down Global Warming at a stroke and at little cost.
Thirdly [and related to the above], Kyoto agreement becomes workable, and the USA could quite easily agree to this.

So, we increase Third World wealth, we cut out farm subsidies [ therefore reduce taxes?] , we reduce CO2 emissions and thereby maybe save Bangladesh,New Orleans etc.

ITS WONDERFUL !

New Orleans and the government

I think the population of the USA should be mobilising to do something about this.
A disaster that has been widely publicised as going to happen in books, documetaries and the like as going to create a disaster, seems to have been ignored at the planning stage, as when it happened, the White House seemed to ignore it for about a week, with hardly any food, little policing and basically no help.
Is this what happens when you elect a president with no brain ?
The warnings were issued before it happened, so where were the extra defences erected ?
Lastly, who would position a city with a population approaching a million souls on the seafront, in a hurricane region 20 feet below sea level ?
The loss of life [ estimates done a couple of years ago suggested 20,000 souls] is absolutely appalling and I grieve for them as this should have been totally stoppable, at least in the short term- till the city was evacuated and abandoned in say 2015 or whenever it seemed to becoming too dangerous to live there.

I read 15 years ago? [I've been interested in global warming/man-made catastrophes since 1967] that of many aspects if global warming was to become a reality , one of the consequences would be much more/fiercer hurricanes in the Carribbean . It looks like they may well be correct in which case it could easily happen again within 10 years. Oh, another one was New York freezing up- but that looks like it isn't going to start happening this year [ but the seeds of New York's destruction are already in place- apparently 30% there already and growing quickly]

What did I read in 1967 ? Well, it was that aircraft pollution could cause a thinning of the ozone layer.
Most of the Global problems affecting us today have been known about for many years, it's just that people have chosen to ignore them as it wouldn't affect them before the next election

Please Mr Bush, please, do something about energy useage in that vast country of yours before it becomes too late [ another prediction was that the UK would become largely not too good for life- same as New York, so I am intimately involved as to what happens over there]

internet pornography banning UK

Well, our dear Government is at it again....
This time it is trying to ban violent pornography on the Web.
Firstly, they did this with sex and violence on TV in the 70/80s and this quickly degenerated in everyone's minds [ everyone that is who was against showing sex on TV ] as being interpreted as sex or violence..... That is the first fear I would have on this.
Secondly, there is the definition of sex itself [say in a BDSM sense] when consensual sadism does not necessarily have penetrative sex involved. Thus to be effective this legislation would need to cover all touch between 2 or more people where pain was involved- say that would encompass seeing childbirth on the web at possibly it's most extreme silliness. Mind a lot of sports would also need to be banned- football, rugby to name just two - that'd help the popularity of cricket :)
Thirdly, there is the definition of violence itself. Is spanking violence - must be . Is a comedy where someone throws a saucepan at her partner followed by a make up in bed part of the banned stuff- must be ?
Fourthly- how can they persuade other countries to ban these websites - it would be a huge joke..........
Once again, our dear overlords have done a kneejerk. Why do they always insist on legislation ?
The only way this could be workable is to try to ban non consensual stuff on the web whether its got violence in it or not- but that opens loads of cans of worms........

Israel and Gaza

Wow, it's happening.
Forgive my cynicism, but where are they going to rehouse all these political pawns that have been uprooted ?
My guess would be the West Bank ...........
For all Jews that think that their occupying lands are theirs by right , please look at Northern Ireland and the mess we got into there and how long the problems lasted.

plane noise

I've always thought that the 57 dBA noise limit on overhead planes referred to the plane not giving a 57dBA noise on the ground, and where it exceeded that, then compensation was required to the residents below.
Think I was little simplistic in my assumption there, especially as I've often heard planes at far, far above that level , certainly in Fulham and thereabouts [and just assumed they were flouting the regulations].

The noise level is averaged over a year to ascertain the plane noise level [ I have no idea how they subtract from 'natural sounds' [car noise, fireworks, birdsong etc]

Noise measurements are NOT linear- and the pressure [noise level] doubles every 3 dB.
A noise of 57dBA is about the same as in an office, ie pretty damn quiet and you certainly wouldnt object at that level. I realise that this is now out of date, but Concorde is equivalent to 120 747's in noise terms [ no wonder some countries banned it from overflying ! ].

IMO, this is an absolute disgrace and should be changed say to overhead noise being no more than 70 dB at any time or something like taking into account the frequency of overflys.

Maybe this would be too labour intensive to do, in which case something like 66dB averaged over a peak hour may be easier?

wow Lib dems speak with straight tongue

today a Lib Dem MP? said we should legalise all drugs including heroin !
At first sight- shock, horror !
Think about it, impersonally
there is and always will be , a demand for drugs.
at present this demand is fulfilled by drug dealers. As it is against the law, this demand is reduced, both by people enot wanting to be outside the law [ zilch almost] and also by supply/demand curve, ie the worlds' governments reducing the supply thereby increasing the price [that's all that can happen].
I was buying cannabis in 1975 at £120/ oz (28 grammes). Today the price for top quality stuff [much stronger] is about £100/oz .
In purely economic terms, the worlds' govts have failed totally and they should admit it and face reality.
I do not take nor have ever taken many other recreational drugs so I'm not *too* biased, in fact I reckon heroin is f'ing stupid to use as is coke etc.
BUT..... I think we should legalise ALL drugs and tax them , and use some of the money derived from them to educate all people who may want to use them, so they know the dangers associated with each drug physiological,mentaly and addictiveness.
The way to cut down on drug useage is via knowledge not via criminality
I personally reckon that drug/sex whatever legislation is partly driven by the politicians hope that their kids won't start ..... partial proof : the age of consent seems to drop by 2 years/ generation- ie they reckon that cos they started having sex 2 years before they should, it should be legal for their offspring.

longer drinking hours in UK pubs

The Government is to allow longer opening hours in UK pubs- in part to cut down on violence as people won't be thrown onto the streets at the same time anymore.
Finally, it seems, everyone is up in arms as they worry about more drunken violence etc due to more alcohol consumed.
Let us look at the facts.
1. People who want to get drunk in pubs, most can achieve this aim either just through pubs or from night clubs if they need to.
Those few who cannot do that, may drink more.
In a worst case scenario, the other 99.9% of this set will continue to achieve their aim, but will presumably take a little longer [ go out later maybe?]
Thus the Bill must achieve it's primary aim , even if it doesn't achieve it's secondary ideal, to foster *Continental style* boozing.
It is a Law that cannot be abused [ except for more drinking during the week- and increasing throwing sickies maybe- but people can stil do that under present legislation ] and should be welcomed as a superb piece of lateral thinking .
I commend it to he House, and please could its' critics think about it.....