ALAN SIMPSON
News from Somewhere Else
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Are local authorities equipped to reach net zero? “Only rapid and drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in this decade can prevent climate breakdown” – Sir Patrick Vallance, Chief Scientific Advisor. This Inquiry could not be more timely or important. Before the last election, I set up scientific briefings for MPs calling for a step…
The ‘Sun Ship’ (Das Sonnenschiff) is a small community in the Vauban district of Freiburg. Built in 2004, it is one of the earliest examples of ‘energy-plus’ housing; developments that generate more electricity than the community itself consumes. Powered entirely by solar energy (and storage), and designed to high standards of natural heating and cooling,…
Something big is happening; really big. All the pillars of smug certainty are beginning to crumble. Nothing captured this more than the ‘waste’ sculpture taunting the G7 Summit in Cornwall. The ‘Mount Recyclemore’ sculpture – made from dumped e-waste materials – symbolised far more than the 53 million tonnes of electronic goods the world throws…
What a mess we are in. Labour loses the Hartlepool by- election with a 16% swing to the Tories. A new North-South divide is opening up. With the exception of London, Labour no longer holds the hearts and minds of its conventional heartlands. So much for new leadership, new vision. What on earth is going…
Labour is lost. I say this in sadness more than anger. Anger is no substitute for answers. It clouds the fact that the Left could be just as lost as the Right. Boris Johnson has bought himself some ill-deserved credibility; slowly loosening the lockdown rules and stepping up the vaccination programme. Both are welcome. But…
I find it hard to accept it is 7 years since Tony Benn died. I miss his wisdom, foresight, kindness and humour. Worse still, whether the country realises it or not, we are all the poorer for the loss of Benn’s political acumen and vision. Faced with some of the biggest existential challenges in human…
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.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Daily Telegraph:
"Britain needs to push for net zero and not blame its current power problems on the breeze dropping"
https://t.co/JxFmrK8WGP
…and the drugs trade must keep trading so there are enough problems on the streets to justify intervention services.
UK government claims people must keep flying to help cut carbon emissions https://t.co/gYzU6Z4UiX
Don’t worry. The police have kettled the flooding and 4 million gallons of water are being charged with obstruction.
Yesterday @ExtinctionR blocked some motorways.
Today, the thing they’re warning everyone about did the same. This one takes a lot longer to disperse.
Nîmes, France.
#ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #extinction
Maybe Australia is just trying to re-establish its reputation as a (climate) criminal colony.
If Australia's allies were worried that the country might cause them problems at upcoming #COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, the events of the past week should leave little doubt in their minds. It will. - My latest (with thanks to @hcregan) https://t.co/CR0XGYI6Qt
But the good news is that Boris will announce he’s postponing Armageddon for a couple of hundred years and that all Britons will be given free passports exempting them from extreme weather events.
2 years later... Environment Bill may be delayed for a *4th time* + pushed to other side of COP26, according to this: https://t.co/d8skT1tGtn
We really need to focus on these ‘discourses of delay’ as today’s key tactics of the fossil fuel lobby. No point in fighting the wrong battles.
Big oilâs âwokewashingâ is the new climate science denialism
Academic researchers say the fossil fuel industry has a new tool to delay efforts to curb emissions â a social justice strategy
www.theguardian.com
Playing dodgems with migrant boats in the Channel has to be one of the dumbest ideas yet. Ineffective, illegal and life threatening, it will (again) make the British government look complete plonkers.
Channel crossings: Migrant boats could be turned back in new UK move
France is strongly against the tactic, accusing the UK of breaking international maritime law.
www.bbc.co.uk
Go easy on the guy. He was still in the ecstatic afterglow of his meeting with Elvis.
Gavin Williamson claimed he met Marcus Rashford… he hasn’t
https://t.co/sjvRpqDQ6d
Looks like another great example of British COP(OUT)26 Leadership
🚨 NEW EXCL via @SamCoatesSky ... Leaked government emails reveal ministers have bowed to pressure to drop key climate commitments from the UK-Australia trade deal in order to get it over the line. References to specific temperature commitments will disappear. 1/3 🚨
Harry needs to get over his stiffy for Corbyn. A more serious journo would ask why the Leader who would have kept us out of adventurist wars is abused while the one who took us in is feted? Or why so many on the Labour Left face expulsion/suspension? Perhaps when Harry grows up??
Classic Corbyn. Sitting in Commons without a mask and only puts it on when he realises he's on camera as Diane Abbott was speaking next to him.