ALAN SIMPSON
News from Somewhere Else
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Tipping or turning: the choice is still ours We are in a bad place; a really bad place. The IMF predicts that the Covid pandemic will shrink the global economy by 5% this year, with a cumulative loss of around $9 trillion. Britain’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) records a ‘lockdown’ economic collapse of over…
(Freedom and Democracy) Across the world, sports men and women have been ‘taking the knee’ in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. What troubles me is the prospect of this becoming a trivialised gesture, wrapped up in processes that change nothing. Stripped of specific, disruptive, demands it could slip intothe trough of gesture politics.…
The images of motorway tailbacks, even before Britain’s lockdown period officially loosened, brought two things home to me. The first was that, without clear leadership, crises always take you perilously close to collective insanity. I’m sure none of the families who decided it was a good moment to nip off to the coast (or the…
Labour’s Green New Deal faces a torrid credibility test. The world, post-Covid, will be nothing like the one preceding it. There will be no ‘V’ shaped economic recovery. Britain will struggle to avoid further economic decline. No one will be queueing up to shop their way out the current crisis. Large numbers of consumption-based jobs…
The Portal: another world is possible “A sense of cosmic specialness is no guarantee of good stewardship.” David Wallace-Wells “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to…
“Everything we do during and after this crisis must be with a strong focus on building more equal, inclusive and sustainable economies and societies that are more resilient in the face of pandemics, climate change, and the many other global challenges we face.” This call could have come from any of the Labour Leadership candidates,…
Transformation Moment
My pamphlet 'Transformation Moment' is intended to support the case for a radical shift in energy thinking; as much about democracy as technology, and about 'systems' rather than just supply.
Come one, guys. Johnson has only ever had an occasional and accidental relationship with the truth. Why the surprise?
Boris Johnson has been reprimanded by the UK’s statistics watchdog over his inaccurate claims about child poverty levels falling in recent years.
https://t.co/7uR0Lwi0he via @financialtimes
Not quite the post-Brexit ‘leadership’ claim on the side of the bus:
England highest level of coronavirus excess deaths
England highest level of excess deaths in Europe
Office for National Statistics analysis shows how countries compared in the first six months of the year
www.bbc.co.uk
We’re in a #ClimateEmergency, @RishiSunak wants to fund a #greenrecovery, @theCCCuk says we need #electrification of heat. So why are we still extending gas? Who’ll pay for it to be disconnected in 10 years? @mynottingham @age_uk @eonenergyuk
Just a reminder, environment, consumer & animal welfare groups have been excluded from this commission by @trussliz. Make of that what you will. I conclude that the commission is absolutely no substitute for guaranteeing high standards in law.
Ambiguously, this may be Johnson’s first truthful statement. ‘No Travel’ may truly be the only risk-free option during the pandemic.
Downing St advice to everyone planning to go abroad for their summer holidays:
“No travel is risk-free during this pandemic.
Anyone travelling abroad should be aware that our travel advice and exemption list is under constant review as we monitor the international situation”.
I am loving these videos of formerly car-choked streets now filled with bicyclists.
Paris is young again.
By @schlijper
Sadly, nor is this government. We’re in for 5 years of kleptocracy. These are the lessons (and the donations) Boris seems to have taken from his Russian friends.
these questions aren’t going away any time soon
EU is effectively making China help pay to clear up the Covid & climate mess through this new measure: "From 2023 there will be a tax on goods imported into the EU from countries with lower carbon emissions standards than the bloc."
Factbox: What EU leaders agreed on the post-COVID recovery package
European Union leaders reached a deal on Tuesday on a package of measures to boost their economies after the coronavirus pandemic, agreeing to borrow ...
www.reuters.com