Tuesday 23 September 2014
Giving a Frack...
(WORK IN PROGRESS - PLEASE IGNORE FOR NOW!)
I seem to have a rather predictable writing style... which is that I set-up my line on something and then attempt to justify or prove it...
But I then tend to fizzle out and give up before my argument gets convincing.
I suppose I should state facts, conclude and leave any decisions up to the reader... but then, what's the point of a Blog if it is not personalised?
I am not writing academic essays here (although, no doubt, I'd make the same failing with those as well!).
Anyway, so on to Fracking.
A Mystery...
Fracking is getting some pretty bad press right now so I don't really need to set up much in the way of a rant to underpin my idea that it is a bad thing.
Unsurprisingly, it is probably getting the worst reports in the U.S.A. right now, as (a) that is where it is being developed the most and (b) the States has a firmly established and active Environmental Movement that provides vocal opposition, at least at a local level.
For me, I am worried about the recent tests that have taken place here in the UK, particularly in Sussex and Lancashire, where an evil seed is being tempted to germinate and grow... a seed that may be very hard to kill off in the future once it established itself.
Unlike many large-scale, dirty industrial methods and techniques, Fracking is not as selective in where it is undertaken. Indeed, it is quite unbiased in that it does not care if the area is affluent or poor, flat or hilly, pretty or ugly... sites can potentially pop-up anywhere if conditions beneath the ground are conducive...
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty? Perhaps.
A highly-urbanised spot in the Home Counties? Maybe.
A flood plain in the midst of an important agricultural area? Why not?
http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/issues/fracking_background_information_33157
The Government gets to call the shots with these kind of projects and Vetos any NIMBY interests with a heavy-hand.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23730308
http://www.foe.co.uk/get_involved/fracking_petition_41121?ic_number=45953882&m_sourcecode=LM1401131&product=CAMP&utm_source=lyris&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email&MID=2976764&hq_e=el&hq_m=2976764&hq_l=4&hq_v=c7e9779773
Earthquakes?
xx
Desperation? Are there alternatives?
xx
////
I'LL GET BACK TO THIS LATER! SORRY!
Thursday 18 September 2014
Scottish Independance... why it's a bad thing. (A last minute opinion!)
Just a quick few, badly thought out, comments regarding the Scottish independence referendum, which is taking place today as I write this.
Basically, I'm not for it.
Not, of course, that I have a say in the matter... but a 'No' result WILL have an impact on my life in some form AND, in a sense, will also change my current/future attitude towards the country and influence the possibility of me taking future trips there.
My last three holidays have all been to Scotland. I love the place and also have many Scottish friends... But what's interesting there I suppose is that these passionately Scottish friends aren't allowed to vote in the referendum because they no longer live there!
Anyway, without going too deep, I'll just say that my main reason for thinking the Union is worth keeping is because the 'Yes' cause has got the wrong target in their sights.
The problem with the political infrastructure in this country right now, and its Local, Regional, Devolved and National Governments, is not that 'England' is too dominant...or that the Conservatives don't care for the average child born in The Gorbals... (even if that might be true!)... it is the dominance of the capital of London. And.... the shackles that the Casino gaming-like world of stockbrokers and big banks has us ALL tied to.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29238037
True, Scottish 'Yes' campaigners are encouraging their (possibly soon-to-be-ex)partners in the North, or Cornwall, or Wales to follow their suit and try and break free too, but let's be realistic about this: that is silly talk.
Cornwall does not need independence, it just needs help.
And Scotland does too.
These last minute 'MaxDevo' offers do smack of desperation, but the tactic might just actually win it for the 'No' vote as I type this... with more devolved powers than ever before given to Scotland to help them manage their own affairs.
I admit, I quite like devolution in principle. But surely it only comes about because we are useless at keeping a highly centralised, unitary government focused and organised?
But all that aside, I'm much more simplistic in my view about all this...
I think it's a storm in a teacup really and that we shouldn't in this day and age be saying things like "the Scottish are One People!" and that we, south of the border, are another. We are all the same and I hate seeing people drawing lines in the sand, whether it's trendy, tourist friendly 'Yes' campaigners in kilts or nasty, poorly-educated EDL marchers.
Indeed, and pathetic though this sounds, I personally long for a future where we all come together as one, with no fences between us... rather than a world where we retreat behind fences that we should never have built. I know that is basically the contextual and historical setting for the Star Trek universe, but so be it!
Further, I find it interesting to see how some, wildly contrasting, people have come together in support of the 'Yes' vote.
We all know that the 'Better Together' team is a very shaky partnership of various Tories, Labour MPs, Social Democrats, ASDA-Walmart bosses, environmentalists... even George Galloway... and so on, but just think about the various right-wing elements joining up with your Russell Brands and your Vivian Westwoods as well. It's just as odd a bunch!
Off topic, I wonder if Russell Brand has ever given any thought that his consistently-aired 'Trews' YouTube channel philosophy of suggesting that humans need to break down the corporate* and political walls and live in small communes world-wide is merely a semantic shift (plus a swapping of some Eastern Spirituality and falafels for some fundamental Christianity and guns) from what most Libertarians and Tea Party activists in the USA are also saying right now? "Just sayin'!"
(* I note with interest that his YouTube account is fully 'monetised'... so why is that? N.B Here's an interesting angle from Private Eye.)
Anyway, what I'm saying is that you cannot look at the whole background story and compare it to that of other historical struggles - for example, say, the Québécois movement in Canada... even if the story of the political campaigns are VERY similar.
Scottish people are British people. English people are British people. They speak the same language in the main, and they look the same, and they like the same things.
Quick question:
I'm not going to Google this to cheat so hopefully someone out there reading this can inform me:
Has Alex Salmond ever spoken (at length) in Scottish Gaelic during any Scottish Parliament debates? I'm interested to know...
***
Talking of mixed(up)-cultural heritages, Braveheart is just a film by the way - and (although I think most people know) is wildly inaccurate (and I love it by the way)... so it still amazes me that some people cling to it as an inspiration for all this.
Moreover, the Union of 1707 is proof that Scotland and England has been tied by a friendship (of sorts, true) rather than the normal story of British Colonialism and land-grabbing that we see elsewhere. Indeed, one mustn't forget that England/Britain bailed out Scotland after its disastrous attempt at colonial expansion itself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darien_scheme
What's amazing is just how many Scottish people have contributed to or enriched the country AS A WHOLE over the past 300-400 years. From inheriting a Scottish king in 1603, to having three consecutive Prime Ministers in recent times with strong Scottish bloodlines.
True, if they had stayed inside Scottish borders they may have helped their home nation just as well, if not more... but who's to say they wouldn't have left anyway?
***
There are so many un-addressed economic concerns (and not just with currency questions, oil reserve estimates and nuclear submarine bases) with the independence movement that I feel a 'Yes' vote would do more harm to the Scottish people overall than do good... but I do hope I'm wrong, whatever the outcome.
Oh... and one last thing...
I don't want the inescapable prison of consecutive future Conservative Governments, which may be the result of Scottish independence for us in what is left of the United Kingdom after the referendum.
Scotland brings balance to the political game in the UK, even if it doesn't quite do enough to break the current Centrist tumor of the two party domination due to the first-past-the-post scheme.
As much I believe that the SNP are just Scotland's version of UKIP (yuk!)... we need them... in a full and whole United Kingdom, rather than a broken one.
ZeeOx.
Basically, I'm not for it.
Not, of course, that I have a say in the matter... but a 'No' result WILL have an impact on my life in some form AND, in a sense, will also change my current/future attitude towards the country and influence the possibility of me taking future trips there.
My last three holidays have all been to Scotland. I love the place and also have many Scottish friends... But what's interesting there I suppose is that these passionately Scottish friends aren't allowed to vote in the referendum because they no longer live there!
Anyway, without going too deep, I'll just say that my main reason for thinking the Union is worth keeping is because the 'Yes' cause has got the wrong target in their sights.
The problem with the political infrastructure in this country right now, and its Local, Regional, Devolved and National Governments, is not that 'England' is too dominant...or that the Conservatives don't care for the average child born in The Gorbals... (even if that might be true!)... it is the dominance of the capital of London. And.... the shackles that the Casino gaming-like world of stockbrokers and big banks has us ALL tied to.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29238037
True, Scottish 'Yes' campaigners are encouraging their (possibly soon-to-be-ex)partners in the North, or Cornwall, or Wales to follow their suit and try and break free too, but let's be realistic about this: that is silly talk.
Cornwall does not need independence, it just needs help.
And Scotland does too.
These last minute 'MaxDevo' offers do smack of desperation, but the tactic might just actually win it for the 'No' vote as I type this... with more devolved powers than ever before given to Scotland to help them manage their own affairs.
I admit, I quite like devolution in principle. But surely it only comes about because we are useless at keeping a highly centralised, unitary government focused and organised?
But all that aside, I'm much more simplistic in my view about all this...
I think it's a storm in a teacup really and that we shouldn't in this day and age be saying things like "the Scottish are One People!" and that we, south of the border, are another. We are all the same and I hate seeing people drawing lines in the sand, whether it's trendy, tourist friendly 'Yes' campaigners in kilts or nasty, poorly-educated EDL marchers.
Indeed, and pathetic though this sounds, I personally long for a future where we all come together as one, with no fences between us... rather than a world where we retreat behind fences that we should never have built. I know that is basically the contextual and historical setting for the Star Trek universe, but so be it!
Further, I find it interesting to see how some, wildly contrasting, people have come together in support of the 'Yes' vote.
We all know that the 'Better Together' team is a very shaky partnership of various Tories, Labour MPs, Social Democrats, ASDA-Walmart bosses, environmentalists... even George Galloway... and so on, but just think about the various right-wing elements joining up with your Russell Brands and your Vivian Westwoods as well. It's just as odd a bunch!
Off topic, I wonder if Russell Brand has ever given any thought that his consistently-aired 'Trews' YouTube channel philosophy of suggesting that humans need to break down the corporate* and political walls and live in small communes world-wide is merely a semantic shift (plus a swapping of some Eastern Spirituality and falafels for some fundamental Christianity and guns) from what most Libertarians and Tea Party activists in the USA are also saying right now? "Just sayin'!"
(* I note with interest that his YouTube account is fully 'monetised'... so why is that? N.B Here's an interesting angle from Private Eye.)
Anyway, what I'm saying is that you cannot look at the whole background story and compare it to that of other historical struggles - for example, say, the Québécois movement in Canada... even if the story of the political campaigns are VERY similar.
Scottish people are British people. English people are British people. They speak the same language in the main, and they look the same, and they like the same things.
Quick question:
I'm not going to Google this to cheat so hopefully someone out there reading this can inform me:
Has Alex Salmond ever spoken (at length) in Scottish Gaelic during any Scottish Parliament debates? I'm interested to know...
***
Talking of mixed(up)-cultural heritages, Braveheart is just a film by the way - and (although I think most people know) is wildly inaccurate (and I love it by the way)... so it still amazes me that some people cling to it as an inspiration for all this.
Moreover, the Union of 1707 is proof that Scotland and England has been tied by a friendship (of sorts, true) rather than the normal story of British Colonialism and land-grabbing that we see elsewhere. Indeed, one mustn't forget that England/Britain bailed out Scotland after its disastrous attempt at colonial expansion itself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darien_scheme
What's amazing is just how many Scottish people have contributed to or enriched the country AS A WHOLE over the past 300-400 years. From inheriting a Scottish king in 1603, to having three consecutive Prime Ministers in recent times with strong Scottish bloodlines.
True, if they had stayed inside Scottish borders they may have helped their home nation just as well, if not more... but who's to say they wouldn't have left anyway?
***
There are so many un-addressed economic concerns (and not just with currency questions, oil reserve estimates and nuclear submarine bases) with the independence movement that I feel a 'Yes' vote would do more harm to the Scottish people overall than do good... but I do hope I'm wrong, whatever the outcome.
Oh... and one last thing...
I don't want the inescapable prison of consecutive future Conservative Governments, which may be the result of Scottish independence for us in what is left of the United Kingdom after the referendum.
Scotland brings balance to the political game in the UK, even if it doesn't quite do enough to break the current Centrist tumor of the two party domination due to the first-past-the-post scheme.
As much I believe that the SNP are just Scotland's version of UKIP (yuk!)... we need them... in a full and whole United Kingdom, rather than a broken one.
ZeeOx.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)