Eco-ethics

Why conserve? Reasons to sustainably manage, protect resources, eco-services, biodiversity and wild places. Copy of a screencast I made recently.

Caring, compassionate capitalism...contradiction

Capitalism, favouring private ownership, maximising private profit, decisions made by a free market, economic growth as the primary aim – is currently the subject of many party leader speeches. Reference has been made by Tory PM Cameron, Lib Dem Deputy PM Clegg and Labour Opposition Leader Miliband to making capitalism, as it currently works, more: responsible; moral; compassionate; caring – and thus popular and acceptable. This, at least, is an acknowledgement that capitalism is now operating: irresponsibly; immorally; uncaringly; without compassion – and that its popularity and public acceptability has suffered. However, along comes a chance for action that would send out a strong signal that significant change in the whole system is coming – and absolutely nothing is done, just as nothing was done by previous governments.The already very wealthy RBS boss Stephen Hester is allowed by the Govt to receive a bonus of about £1 million on top of his £1.2 million annual salary. RBS was saved using many billions of taxpayers money and is 82% publicly owned, the PM has said we are all in difficult economic times together, has said he wants to tackle excessive pay and bonuses...words, words, only words. See here, here and here for more.

The solutions offered up by the Tory/Liberal Govt, previous Tory and Labour Governments and the current Labour Opposition are those of capitalism – the very thing they have all described as deficient in some way. Coalition Ministers talk of: the importance of finance; the deficit and its ‘correction’ through cuts and freezing public sector pay; economic growth as essential; how we must remove obstacles to growth; how growth should be led by private enterprise; their pro-market, pro-business, pro-competition agenda. They say high taxes on rich people and companies could send them abroad. Private, market incentives are to operate in Royal Mail, the NHS and Higher Education. Has it occurred to them that solving the problems of capitalism with more capitalism may well be like solving the problems of alcoholism with more alcohol? Show me a version of capitalism that is or can be developed to be socially sustainable because it shares wealth fairly and environmentally sustainable because it does not rely on and run down finite resources and you will get my attention!!   

More posts on capitalism:

http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/697599

http://vowlesthegreen.blogspot.com/2010/10/capitalist-ideology-dominates-cuts.html  

http://vowlesthegreen.blogspot.com/2008/09/cabot-circus-consumerism-capitalism.html
http://vowlesthegreen.blogspot.com/2010/11/house-of-cards-economics.html

BS3 Campus

Take a look at: http://bs3campus.org.uk/ and consider signing the epetition and getting involved if you can. I'm looking into how Sustainable Knowle might work with those involved in this (we contributed to the public consultations in some detail back in 2009).

Sustainable Knowle: the neighbourhood transition group: BS3 Campus

Independence initiative

I'm a strong supporter of independence for Scotland and so am following this debate with interest. Nations should run themselves and determine their own future. I hope Scotland's people vote for independence - or at least for 'devo max'. I've always admired, whilst not always agreeing with, the SNPs Alex Salmond, now Scotland's First Minister, who has today announced the question he intends to put to the Scottish people in a referendum - "Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?". Interesting day to make this announcement, with people celebrating Burn's Night tonight - though the timing may just be coincidence of course!

Car crap

More than 15,000 motorists a year are caught jumping red lights in Bristol, it has been revealed.

The Avon and Somerset Safety Camera Partnership says a total of 15,500 drivers and motorcyclists were caught on camera going through red traffic lights last year...(more here).

No surprise here. In fact the figure is very likely to be much higher than 15,500 a year - this is only those drivers that have been seen and successfully photographed. Anyone who drives around Bristol a bit, as I do, knows that you dont have to be out on the road for long on any one day before you see all sorts of driving offences and breaches of the Highway Code: overtaking on the inside, weaving from lane to lane, through red lights, driving very close behind you, sudden and sharp braking, sudden acceleration, through zebra crossings when people are waiting to cross or are still on the crossing, generally not allowing space and time to pedestrians and bikes, irresponsible parking eg on double yellow lines and on corners, general speeding -including from one set of red lights to another...Many of these people must have more money than sense because they are increasing their chances of a very costly - and more serious - accident and wasting away their fuel with grossly inefficient driving - some of these may be the first to moan about fuel prices too!   

BBC News - Newsnight - China's appetite for work and wealth

BBC News - Newsnight - China's appetite for work and wealth

Better Bristol

We need to talk about Bristol - and why it just can’t get things done like other cities. says the Post. Why can’t Bristol get things done like other cities? Not sure that Bristol is that much worse than the average - this would need quite a bit of looking into to establish properly. That aside however, I do agree that Bristol doesn't get things done. The key reasons as I see them: petty party politics and very poor cooperation between the parties; lack of vision and proper strategic thinking; frequently poor quality candidates coming forward to be councillors, spokespersons and cabinet members; relatively low status of being a councillor; ineffective and inefficient council systems and organisation; lack of joined up thinking resulting in lack of coherence and sometimes contradictory policies and practices; poor attitude towards consulting and involving the public genuinely - and poor attitudes in the public towards getting involved; being stifled and slowed down by the political system as a whole, in particular by central govt. These are pretty fundamental problems that only a large cultural change can solve - and I strongly suspect this is far from limited to Bristol.

Stockwood Pete: Transport Planning

Pete tells about about the council's response to his good sense questions and responds - How on earth can we ever get a fit for purpose public transport network if we can't even find out where people actually travel?

Stockwood Pete: Transport Planning

Overpaid Ormondroyd

Occupy Bristol protesters question leaders over pay rates.Why have so many comments on this story simply attacked those asking the questions? Its the issue that counts and tactical rather than fair argument is a distraction from the very important matter of who is paid what and why - and whether its fair and deserved. The current Chief Executive Jan Ormondroyd (pictured) is paid £107,000 per year more now than in 1998 - 122 per cent more than her predecessor 14 years ago. This £7600 a year rise every year for ten years, way above inflation and bearing no relation to the performance of Bristol City Council, cannot be right. Less than 10% a year says one person - but this sort of level of sustained increase has only been given to those already well paid and wealthy. Where's the justice in that?

Sound science?

On badgers the Government and the National Farmers Union state that the scientific evidence backs culling. The Humane Society, The Wildlife Trusts and the Mammal Society amongst others dont think the evidence is there to support a cull. The contrast in views of the scientific evidence is pretty stark eg Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman saying 'We can't escape the fact that the evidence supports the case..' whilst Mark Jones, of Humane Society International UK refers to 'compelling scientific evidence that it will be ineffective...'. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16183926. If there are likely to be 'no end of difficulties', as PM David Cameron said on Countryfile last weekend, is the policy of culling trials a good one?

Why the differences in assessing the science? When can we and do we trust science and scientists? Here's my screencast on some questions to ask on this topic:


  

Talking teaching

I've been following the debate today about Education Secretary Michael Gove's  'plans to simplify and shorten the procedure for handling inadequate teachers' (see here). Whilst I would not take Gove's line exactly I do think we need to take tough action on the general competence and contribution to school-life of teachers. Before moving on to the higher education sector I spent ten yrs as a full time secondary school sciences and maths teacher and five yrs part-time followed by a spell teaching part-time in a sixth form college. I've seen some very poor teaching in each workplace, including some from those who'd been in the profession for many years and some who were new. I'd say the numbers were a single figure percentage of the hundreds of teachers I've worked with. As it happens my view on the numbers is reasonably consistent with controversial former chief inspector of schools Chris Woodhead's estimate of 15,000 teachers - less  than 5% - not up to the job (see here). 

As a parent I've now seen my daughter go through primary, secondary and college education (she's now applying to uni's) - and my view on teacher competence has hardened. I dont think we have more than a single figure percentage of incompetent teachers BUT when the incompentent teacher or two or three in the school is the one impacting on your child and their school you really experience the huge and wide-ranging effects it has (I withdrew and then home schooled my daughter through seven IGCSE's for the last fourteen months of her key stage four ie age 14-16).

The secondary headteacher emerged as largely a windbag who did not actually listen and respond to you. A few teachers impacted very negatively on my daughter. The local college also had a small number of bad teachers. Most of the school/college teachers were competent though and there were a few gems too - but every school/college I've worked in and every one I've experienced as a parent has had a high ability to close ranks and protect itself as an institution. They have had strong conservative (small c) attitude to change. This has allowed problems to persist and has in some cases magnified them. We thus desperately need genuine, open argument on this issue - but we aren't getting it and there's not much prospect of it because of entrenched attitudes and widespread deployment of a range of argument tactics on both sides (see screencast below).

The Daily Politics debated the issue today for instance - but based discussion largely on the fact that only a very small number of teachers have been struck off for incompetence over several decades (see here). Much better and more complete to consider this figure and that fact that 40% of teachers have abandoned the profession within three years, not all but some of this due to competence issues in addition to low pay, low status, the poor behaviour of pupils, high house prices and the prospects of easier and better paid alternatives for graduates (see here) . This raises issues of who is training to teach and then entering the profession and why. Many of them should never have taken the step to begin with. Maybe some of the teacher training is not up to the job either. The job can be a tough one, especially early on and this makes early support and action from good school management and leadership crucial - and it should come from all in the organisation, Heads, Deputies, senior and less senior teachers, other school staff, unions, pupils, governors, parents....though especially Heads.

Here's a screencast on genuine argument vs tactics used in arguments. You find these tactics and others everywhere but politics in particular is absolutely loaded with them for much of the time.

Happiness humbug?

This ('Bristol is 'not a happy city' says poll') is really badly reported, though the issue is an interesting one. If 1 in 5 say they are not happy that leaves 4 in 5 that said something else...from neither happy nor not happy through happy to very happy one assumes. So, how is the Post headline justified? We have a few more people in one national survey who said they are not happy, compared the average - but that's not the same as 'not a happy city'. We need more information!


There's also the issue that this is only a snapshot - and is a self-assessment. Don't levels of happiness go up and down somewhat? What is happiness in any case and over what timescale are we talking? And how are happiness levels best assessed?

The story also mixes up happiness and contentment. The two are not the same. Being content is being satisfied, accepting and having desires that are reasonably restrained. Happiness is thought of as being pleased, feeling gladness or joy, though maybe its not so straightforward as this. For more sense than this article and to explore wellbeing as opposed to just happiness and contentment I'd read Martin Seligman's book 'Flourish'.

Seligman interviewed on newsnight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-Vhjmdp4nI&feature=related

Proper progress?

The folly of only adding when producing national accounts aand viewing progress in narrow terms.

Just say no to Nadine Dorries' abstinence education bill!

Just say no to Nadine Dorries' abstinence education bill!

A Vision For Our Forests | Jonathon Porritt

A Vision For Our Forests Jonathon Porritt

Stockwood Pete: Imprudential borrowing

Stockwood Pete: Imprudential borrowing

People's paradigm

The idea to get lots of people involved in saying what they want Bristol to be like in the medium and long term is a really good one. See 'Occupy Bristol protesters draw up their vision for Bristol 2050'. There's no meaningful, democratic and effective medium and long term planning in the UK and this clearly needs to change. The intentions of Occupy Bristol are a bit different from the Post headline though - since Occupy advocate wide participation it wont be 'their' vision as such, it will be the visions of the people that come forward to make contributions. So, its over to Bristol's people...send your ideas to occupybristol@riseup.net  I very strongly agree that wider public participation means better decisions, not least because its more likely that local knowledge and good sense is included and people will have ownership of actions that result (as any exercise needs to go beyond ideas) and back them up in their own lives. Here's the story in the Post: 
PLANS to create a vision for the type of place people would like Bristol to be in 2050 will be discussed by protestors on College Green.


The Occupy Bristol camp is planning a series of open meetings to plan a future for the city.

A protester, who gave his name as Luther Blissett, said: "Neither the electoral cycle nor the product planning horizon are far enough away to allow us to be utopian, to hope for better futures. There is very little thinking about the medium and long term.



"The people's 2050 will try to inhabit this vacuum.


"It will not be a top-down document or plan that anyone tries to rigidly enforce, it will not be in that sense 'The Plan'. It will simply be a conversation that develops, spawning hundreds of little plans, counter plans and, crucially, actions.


"We hope that by looking forward 40 years we can provide a platform for the people of Bristol to come up with some interesting ideas about how we want our city and society to be organised."


This project has been inspired by the existing Bristol 2050 project but protesters say that only references the city's business leaders and should include the public.


Mr Blissett added: "There's plenty of evidence that wider public participation in decision-making means better decisions – because it means more knowledge and ideas go into the mix. The people's 2050 is an alternate vision, and we want your input."


The group asked people to send "utopian hopes and desires for Bristol 2050" in word or picture form to occupybristol@riseup.net.

Join the dots

Copy of a screencast I put together introducing some of the key elements of systems thinking::

Safe systems?

The Evening Post headline 'Oldbury deemed safe' is misleading as it makes no sense to declare something 'safe' ie free from risk. This is not what the assessments of UK nuclear power stations have tried to do. What does make sense is to talk about degrees of risk ie the probability occurrence of various hazards. 'No major weaknesses' in UK nuclear stations is not the same as safe - better to say that certain risks have been found to be low probability. The development of life on Earth is thought to be an extremely low probability event - but here we are!

Bristol's empty homes

No mention in this report 'Plans for 10,000 new homes in Bristol back on agenda' of any efforts to bring the 7000 empty homes in Bristol into good use. Surely making optimum use of houses already built should come before consideration of new house building, especially on green land?

Christian Community Christmas

Priests brawl in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity:  Scuffles have broken out between rival groups of Greek Orthodox and Armenian clerics in a turf war at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.


Bemused tourists looked on as about 100 priests fought with brooms while cleaning the church in preparation for Orthodox Christmas, on 7 January.

Palestinian police armed with batons and shields broke up the clashes.

Groups of priests have clashed before in the church, built on the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born.

"It was a trivial problem that... occurs every year," Bethlehem police Lt-Col Khaled al-Tamimi told Reuters.

"No one was arrested because all those involved were men of God," he said...

Full BBC story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16347418.

Superficiality

The Pope said we need to "see through the superficial glitter". Er...knowing the power of imagery, hasn't the Catholic Church used a fair bit of 'glitter' itself? See picture. They know how to sell themselves. Many other religions have done likewise - so lets cut through the superficial and look for the substance.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16328245



Efficiency drive

This sort of energy efficiency and renewable energy scheme (here) is long overdue but whilst the headline is current and active saying 'Ten-year energy efficiency drive will create jobs' the first sentence of the story immediately damps that down, referring to 'council plans to develop' the scheme.

Its good to see this project but £2.5 million over ten years, less than a quarter of a million per year, does not amount to a 'multi-million pound' scheme in my book - unless the council is going to get much more money from a range of other sources (are they?).

Work on 6000 homes and buildings is a decent start but Bristol has hundreds of thousands of homes and buildings, which gives some perspective to this. The 1500 jobs figure sounds more like hope than realism given the amount of money per year mentioned here.

Though the council setting up its own energy company to operate at arms length is a good move I'd ideally like to see many community based energy companies in the city - and I just hope the council is more dynamic than it has proved to be and gets on with it! Having said that they have been and are not helped by central govt policy, so lets see that change for the better.

These developments should be driven by our need for energy security, community resilience and what best science says about the rate at which we need to be cutting fossil fuel use and carbon emissions - if you work back from what they say to the consequent energy efficiency and renewable energy plans you get investment figures that are much higher and orders of magnitude more installations.

Sustainable suggestions

‘Creative’ and ‘exciting’ ideas sought for derelict depot land Bristol Temple Meads station. Er...its right next to Temple Meads so doesn't that strongly suggest a sustainable transport development of some kind and/or something that large numbers of people would need to get to...like an arena? Also next to a river with big water movements, which suggests a renewable energy facility...

Diversity and dynamism

Great column here by Peter Madden, Chief Executive of Forum for the Future, the sustainable development charity:

I WAS speaking at a conference in the Watershed recently, about whether Bristol should have an elected mayor. One of the delegates stuck up his hand and asked why there were so few Bristol-born people there?

He argued that there is a serious division in the city, with so-called 'incomers' pushing themselves forward to run things, ignoring what 'genuine locals' want.

Now, as an 'incomer' myself, I responded by saying that Bristol is – and always has been – an inclusive city. In fact, it has been from medieval times, when it saw the arrival of Welsh, Irish, Cornish and Jews, to recent decades, when it welcomed Afro-Caribbeans, Polish, South Asians and Somalis. Indeed, I subsequently discovered that Bristol has had ethnic minority citizens for centuries, with a person of African heritage recorded as living in Bristol as early as 1641.

Given this long history of people coming into the city, I said there shouldn't be some kind of 'birth-test' whereby only people who were born here get to have a stake in the city. Go back far enough and surely everyone was an outsider once?

OK, perhaps I am touchy on this because I'm originally a Londoner. But I have chosen to live here. My kids were born here and I'm bringing them up here.

I've committed to Bristol, and I do contribute as much as I can to making Bristol a better place.
Certainly, lots of other people who have chosen to live here – rather than being born here – feel the same passion and pride about the place.

And I do think that incomers bring lots of dynamism – not just to Bristol, but to cities in general. Cities are places people move to in order to improve their lot. If incomers weren't allowed to do anything leading in this city, what would the alternative be? Should we all just to sit back and let things float along? Is that really going to give us a dynamic 21st-century Bristol?

You wouldn't expect to hear people in London say: "Why aren't the Cockneys running everything?" A world class city is open and inclusive.

However, where I think the questioner did have a point – and it was one reinforced by the Dean of the Cathedral – was in his view that we live in a very divided city. Outside London, Bristol is the most unequal city in the UK and there are certainly big chunks of the population who feel that their needs and priorities aren't being properly met.

The challenge, then, is not so much about Bristol-born versus outsiders, but whether we live in a genuinely inclusive city, where discussions about the big priorities include – and respond to – all the people who live here.

So, maybe the next time there is a big debate on how to run Bristol in the future, it should happen in Southmead, Easton or Hartcliffe, rather than on the Harbourside?

Cameron's Christianity?

More creationist Free Schools planned for 2013 opening

'Cameron's traditional Christian values' to be in action in Bedford, Barnsley...? This from the British Humanist Association:

More Free Schools are being planned for opening in 2013 by creationists or groups with links to a creationist organisation, the British Humanist Association (BHA) has learned. The BHA has concerns about proposals in Bedford and Barnsley, in addition to plans in Sheffield and Newark that the BHA had commented on earlier this year.

In Bedford, Destiny Christian School is being proposed by the Miracle Church of God in Christ, and if approved to open, will be a member school of the Christian Schools’ Trust (CST). At an open meeting attended by a BHA supporter, the group were asked about their policy on creationism and responded that they believe creationism is science and intend to teach it as such.

In Barnsley, the independent Barnsley Christian School is hoping to enter the state sector as a Free School. Like Destiny Christian School and Sheffield Christian Free School, Barnsley Christian School is a member of the CST. The CST is founded by creationist Sylvia Baker, author of Bone of Contention, and while not every CST school advocates creationism, the organisation as a whole has a statement explaining that the organisation is creationist and recommending the teaching of creationism in its member schools.

The BHA has already commented on applications to open a Free School in 2013 by Sheffield Christian Free School and Everyday Champions Church, who are also creationist groups. In November, Everyday Champions Church had a meeting with officials at the Department for Education (DfE) to discuss why their application to open in 2012 was rejected, and their local MP, Patrick Mercer, additionally met privately with Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove to voice his support for the bid.

Other creationist groups have also applied to open Free Schools in the past, without their views on creationism getting public exposure. One example is The King’s School in Nottingham, another CST school that openly teaches creationism in science, also previously applied to open a Free School, both in 2011 and a second time in 2012, though it is unclear if the school intends to apply again in 2013.

BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson commented, ‘It is easy to see the appeal of Free Schools to certain religious groups, not only because they have freedom to discriminate in employment and admissions but because of the considerable latitude they have over the syllabus taught, which would in practice permit schools to promote religious dogma in place of objective teaching on issues such as creationism. Even more concerning is that so many groups with openly creationist positions believe they have a chance of receiving government approval for their schools to open within the state sector as Free Schools.

‘In supporting and coordinating the ‘Teach evolution, not creationism!’ position statement, we are calling on the government to make statutory and enforceable the current guidance that creationism and ‘intelligent design’ should not be taught as science in schools, and to ensure that all state-funded schools must teach evolution. Without such measures, the risk that one of these creationist schools will gain approval to become a Free School remains.’

Crystal ball forecasting

60,000 new jobs from the new transport plans in and around Bristol?? Story here. This will sound like a gross exaggeration to many people. On what basis have they made this claim exactly? Crystal ball gazing? This is an argument technique many use to try to justify schemes, such as new roads, that many local people have concerns about. Chief executive of Bristol Airport and transport lead for the Local Enterprise Partnership Robert Sinclair say they believe this is the figure but of course they have an interest in talking up developments they favour - and the only people backing them up in the report are business and political figures who have the same interest, so they add no weight to the claim at all. So, all we are left with is a jobs figure a few say they believe in and no substance.

Cameron's Christianity Codswallop

David Cameron's pronouncements yesterday on Christianity are confused and send out mixed messages. He trumpets that we are a Christian country, when for many practical purposes we are not (see here) - Cameron himself said he was only a vaguely practicing Christian and over half the country said they were non-religious in the latest social attitudes survey! He calls for the revival of traditional Christian values but says he is full of doubts on major theological issues (see here). He's hardly setting a Christian standard is he, so what is he playing at?

His stated idea is that the return of Christian values would help us fight our 'moral collapse'. He's wrong to think that Christianity and the Bible or any other religion and its texts are the basis of our morality. Human beings developed a sense of what is right and wrong long before any formal relgions existed and very likely for evolutionary reasons.

Instead of pronouncing on Christianity his focus should be on effective, practical action to tackle the poor moral standards so evident in politics, policing, banking and financial services, in the media, and in the Christian Church itself. I'm fed up with expenses scandals, police corruption, greedy bankers and business-people, 'mafia-like' newspaper organisations, sexism, homophobia, child abuse scandals...and the advocacy of materialism we've long had from all political colours.

He should be looking at the privileged, influential position of Christianity in the UK and planning to make us a better secular society. He should think through whether the Bible is actually a consistent guide to anything at all. Richard Dawkins says in his book The God Delusion that '...the Bible is not systematically evil but just plain weird, as you would expect of a chaotically cobbled-together anthology of disjointed documents, composed, revised, translated, distorted and 'improved' by hundreds of anonymous authors, editors and copyists, unknown to us and mostly unkown to each other, spanning nine centuries...unfortunately it is this same weird volume that religious zealots hold up to us as the inerrant source of our morals and rules for living.'

David Cameron should recognise that actually his doubt is a good thing. Doubt means you are thinking. It means you are asking questions, not accepting the status quo - seeking change for the better. Doubt helps us break away from unjustifiable traditions. With no evidence for the existence of God - quite the contrary in fact - and no convincing arguments either, why believe? If there is a God why is there so much undeserved suffering in the world eg those homeless, cold, hungry, thirsty, lonely, subject to war, terrorism and crime, in hospital...? As Woody Allen said God 'is an underachiever' !

The 400th anniversary of the King James Bible that prompted David Cameron's comments has its significance of course. This book is a major, if not the major work of English literature. Atheist Richard Dawkins sums this up nicely in The God Delusion, '...the main reason the English Bible needs to be part of our education is that it is a major source book for literary culture. The same applies to the legends of the Greek and Roman gods and we learn about them without being asked to believe in them.'.

*http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16231223

*http://www.humanism.org.uk/news/view/952

*http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16224394

*http://www.bristol247.com/2011/12/12/your-say-on-what-grounds-can-we-claim-to-be-a-christian-country-68525/

Council Consultation Codswallop

Excellent letter from Anne Lemon Secretary of the Bristol & District Anti-Cuts Alliance here. Reproduced below,

BRISTOL City Council's process of scrutiny and consultation on the budget cuts proposed for 2012/13 is a sham. Discussions are taking place based on the absolute minimum of information that the Lib Dems think they can get away with publishing.

Unless there is a major fightback the budget, which includes the expected savings from closing and privatising care homes and day centres, will be agreed on February 28. But the details of the closures/privatisation and the impact on users and the community won't be announced until mid-March. You can already hear Barbara Janke and Jon Rogers telling us "It was agreed in the budget" if anyone suggests the facilities should stay open. Similarly over £1 million is to be saved by privatising Youth Services, yet no detailed proposals are available.

Either the detailed proposals on these important services must be published now, or the closure/privatisation policies should be removed from the budget. Any attempt by the council to approve the policies as part of the budget without being prepared to discuss the details in public is nothing less than underhand.

Hitchens vs Blair

Following his death, millions will, along with me, be greatly missing Christopher Hitchens, his speaking and writing. Here's a clip to illustrate:



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16212418

Planet, people, problem

Bit of discussion on population between me and rocketbob here following some letter about countryside protection from development. Here's my most substantial contribution:

Yes rocketbob population is a very sensitive issue in many ways, as you say for religion and racism, to name just two. All the more reason for wide-ranging, inclusive debate before any changes are decided on. It wont be easy. I would propose we aim for optimum population by reason, information, education and any changes we can establish a reasonable consensus on. This has the advantage of breaking the taboo on this debate and being less controversial but the disadvantage of perhaps not being enough to achieve meaningful change fast enough. Its better than no action at all and allowing problems to build such that we are forced into draconian action by events. The point is on a finite planet and in a finite city resources available are limited and so there are limits to population size and growth rate whether we like to acknowledge them, as you do, or not.

Dont take my word for it. In Sir David Attenborough’s view, there is no major problem facing our planet that would not be easier to solve if there were fewer people and no problem that does not become harder — and ultimately impossible to solve — with ever more. We must find agreed ways to achieve optimum population in cities, countries and around the globe and especially those with already high populations, those with intense impacts and those with very rapidly growing population and impact intensity. See: http://populationmatters.org/

______________________________________________________

*We [Bristol] have a population of about 441,300 - the largest city in the South West.

*Bristol's population is expected to reach 559,600 people by 2028

*http://www.bristol.gov.uk/node/4169

*World population reached an estimated 7, 000, 000, 000 ie 7 billion last month.

*http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15391515

*2 extra people every second, that is 200,000 each day or nearly 80,000,000 per year is human population growth on this planet - all needing food, water, warmth, shelter and aspiring to have good choices and a decent life.

'Let them eat carbon'

Roger James: Climate change deal is no good for the planet Bristol24-7

Excellent article - here's an extract:

...These, then, are the achievements, but sadly these still leave the planet and particularly its poorest people hurtling towards catastrophic climate change. We have a roadmap, a timeline which might become a protocol, but meanwhile crucial action to limit greenhouse gas emissions is postponed for nine years.

Scientists believe global mean warming could reach about 3.5°C by 2100 with the current reduction proposals on the table. They are definitely insufficient to limit temperature increase to 2°C. Approximate estimates indicate that the most extreme costs will be felt in West Africa and South Asia, with residual damage of 3.5% of regional GDP for 2°C warming and 5-6% for 3°C warming.

With a 2°C warming, adaptation costs would be half those associated with a 3°C temperature rise. Global emissions, which have risen by nearly 50% in the past 20 years, must peak within the next five years. The prospect of stronger action on emissions in the years ahead was minimised, ensuring no new, deeper targets would take effect before 2020...

Badger culling

Anger as badger culling given go-ahead for next year - Nature - Environment - The Independent

Also see: http://www.bristol247.com/2011/12/15/bristol-mp-vows-to-fight-badger-cull-decision-23128/

Bristol: Carbon City

Really Cllr Kent is deluded - he blows his trumpet very loudly indeed when he says Bristol will get the transport system it deserves. Cllrs love it when they can announce they've got money for something almost no matter what it is. For a start building a new road will ultimately add to the congestion and pollution existing now at high levels - its already very costly to business in pounds and costly to people in health and the environment in lost quality and quantity. Bus Rapid Transit is often not the best technology - and persistently asking just a few questions at public meetings on BRT reveals environmental decision making 'systems' that are simply not joined up thinking. Whatever happened to building a low carbon city with a high quality of life for all, the aim of Bristol Green Capital?

See http://www.bristol247.com/2011/12/15/bristol-to-finally-get-transport-system-it-deserves-15367/

Eco-Eddy??

Cllr Richard Eddy says he sympathises with '...the desire to protect our precious countryside from major development ' (here **). Why then does he favour constructing the South Bristol Link Road through it, stressing that he is a 'long-standing supporter of getting it finished' (see here)? Obviously protecting the countryside is not that high on his agenda - and mostly features in his world when seeking public political advantage with greenspeak!

Or is this more of Bristol Tory Cllr Eddy's special kind of 'logic'...the kind that allows him to say that the link road will 'ease congestion'(see here), despite all the weight of research evidence and experience for decades that shows building roads encourages car use which quickly fills them up to the point of congestion.

________________________________________________

**(Great letter on countryside protection from James Burden and Des Baker on the same page by the way - go to the link they give for more http://www.cpre.org.uk/ )

Lord Mayor's limo

I see that Bristol's Lord Mayor may have to have his limo written off after an accident (see here). Er...why should Bristol's Lord Mayor be provided with a car in the first place? Or a chauffeur to drive it? And what about the expense of the Mansion House (pictured)? And any other expenses and trappings of Bristol's Lord Mayor...Why not sell the car and house, get rid of the Lord Mayor and use the money directly to help keep public services alive? No doubt some would point to the Lord Mayor's charity work or promotion of the city but there are too many unmeasurables to know whether having a Lord Mayor really pays its way - and we can easily see what the expenses are (see picture). Maybe having some other person from the council doing the basics of what the Lord Mayor now does without the frills would be better. These are hard times that will get harder in the coming years - and we are all supposed to be in it together!!

'Green' Investment 'Bank'

I’m strongly in favour of a Green Investment Bank and if Bristol can be its home that’s great (see here, though beware the scary photo!). But is what the government is proposing a bank at all given that it will have no powers to borrow until 2016 at the earliest and only then if certain fiscal targets are met? And will it really be green in the sense of impacting big-time on establishing a sustainable society? There is a danger of it simply being there as a very limited pot of money that can’t impact much on the long term. £3 billion seems to have become up to £3 billion when the first figure was too low to begin with. It has to avoid putting money into dodgy energy from waste schemes to sustain green credibility too.

We’ve all seen reports of bank mismanagement in recent years. Will this bank have a board that turns out to be highly competent, broad-based and representative of economic, social and environmental priorities? It must be there for a broad range of purposes, foremost being beginning the establishment of a society we can sustain, generating quality of life for generations to come - profit in the broadest and best sense.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/04/green-investment-bank-economy-coalition

http://www.gibbristol.co.uk/

Environment Agency - Drought to be 'commonplace' by 2050s

Environment Agency - Drought to be 'commonplace' by 2050s

Campaign For Better Transport: how to reduce the need to travel - Make a difference - The Ecologist

Campaign For Better Transport: how to reduce the need to travel - Make a difference - The Ecologist

Plastic pollution

Here's a good report about a serious but still low profile pollution problem. Film producer Jo Ruxton tells us about plastic pollution and her documentary 'Away' about it. http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/man-monster-threatening-oceans/story-14123137-detail/story.html

..."People kept mentioning this gyre – a sort of enormous vortex of oceans currents – in the middle of the Pacific, that was drawing together an enormous mass of waste plastic," she says.

"It was all washing off the beaches and being flushed through the drains of the Pacific rim countries – mostly the United States – and was being swept up by this natural gyre, until it was all massing in the middle of the ocean – like a sort of enormous floating island of plastic, miles across and many metres deep.
"I later discovered that it wasn't just happening in the Pacific. There were similar gyres of plastic pollution in all the oceans of the world – the one in the North Atlantic that we contribute towards here is every bit as sinister as the Pacific gyre.

"I was so intrigued that I arranged to go out and see it. In my naivety, I had imagined millions of plastic bottles, but it was more insidious than that.
"A lot of it is small pieces of plastic – tiny pieces, small enough to be swallowed by fish and whales – the big plankton eaters are particularly prone to swallowing it up.

"At first glance the water looks immaculate, but dive below the surface and you are surrounded by these millions of pieces of plastic, which have generally at some point either blown off landfill sites, or been washed down streets into sewers and eventually out to sea.

"It takes 20 years for the plastic to reach the centre of the gyre, so we're not even seeing our recent pollution there yet. When you realise that in the last 20 years we have produced and discarded more plastic waste than in the entire century before that, you'll start to realise just how enormous a problem this is turning out to be.

"We have to start asking why we produce so many non-reusable items out of a material that is non-degradable. We have to start acting on this right now."...

..."The real problem is that these plastics don't degrade, so they're not going anywhere. They're just building up and up. And the problem is not just that they can kill creatures by blocking their digestive system. These tiny pieces of plastic are also carrying numerous toxins, that can easily get into the food chain.

"For example, one of the fish that is consuming this plastic is the little lantern fish, which is in turn the prey of the tuna, which of course we eat. So these toxins very quickly return to us, and research is showing they could potentially be leading to everything from certain kinds of cancers to certain kinds of arthritis – both of which I've had....

...Jo has named the film simply Away."It's where people's rubbish goes," she explains.

"You ask anybody where their waste goes, and they say they just throw it away. There is no magical 'away' – people have to realise that it all ends up somewhere. Often that 'away' is in the middle of our oceans."

For more details about the project, visit the website at http://www.plasticoceans.net/ .

New economic model needed

This letter in the Post (copied below) from nine environment and wildlife organisations is pretty much spot on:

THE environmental movement has spoken out repeatedly against policies that put short-term profit ahead of our countryside and wildlife, eroding our natural capital and quality of life.

But rarely have we been as incredulous as we were last week on hearing the Coalition's autumn budget statement. The stunning disregard shown for the value of our natural environment not only flies in the face of popular opinion but goes against everything the Government said in June when it launched two major pieces of environmental policy – the Natural Environment White Paper and the England Biodiversity Strategy.

It is increasingly clear that society needs a new economic model [perhaps something like the one I've sketched out - see image] that accounts properly for our natural capital. Yet with this statement, its "red tape challenge", sudden cuts to solar subsidies, and its ill-conceived planning reforms, the Government is continuing an out-of-date approach that casts regulation and the environment as enemies of growth.

In a region like the South West, one that trades beyond all on the quality of its environment, this is madness.

Is the environment really an obstacle to economic productivity or is it in fact the very basis of it, as well as of our national well-being? Not a hard question to answer and there is an increasingly powerful body of evidence that demonstrates this, including the Government's own National Ecosystem Assessment.

How can the Prime Minister tolerate this gaping intellectual and political inconsistency, and walk with open eyes down a policy path that condemns future generations to a lower quality of life and to a massive and costly struggle to rebuild the country's natural riches?

We appeal to you Mr Cameron to show leadership and champion long-term, sustainable economic policies that will bring much-needed prosperity without destroying all that millions hold dear.

Harry Barton, Chief Executive, Devon Wildlife Trust;
Mike Birkin, Regional Campaigner, Friends of the Earth;
Simon Cripps, Chief Executive, Dorset Wildlife Trust;
Trevor Edwards, Chief Executive, Cornwall Wildlife Trust;
Steve Grainger, Chief Executive, Avon Wildlife Trust;
Gary Mantle, Director, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust;
Dr Gordon McGlone, Chief Executive, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust;
Simon Nash, Chief Executive, Somerset Wildlife Trust;
Tony Richardson, South West Regional Director, RSPB

Euroland: grand??

The recent EU summit agreement - the UK aside - to economically integrate, harmonise and centralise is aimed at creating a fiscal union. I cant see how the agreement solves the fundamental problems with the nature of the euro zone though, either economically or politically. Can economic harmony be achieved with socio-economic systems as varied as Greece and Germany, Spain and the Netherlands, Italy and Denmark, Portugal and Sweden? Wasn't it always going to be a problem having one exchange rate over such a huge area? And what of the politics of this? Surely the attempt to bring together such diverse economies - almost creating one much larger country - is likely to cause huge political problems as the people in those countries realise the implications of what has been agreed? There's no realistic joined-up - systems - thinking here. The plan for Euroland is not grand.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8947625/EU-treaty-David-Cameron-stands-as-the-lone-man-of-Europe.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/dec/09/eurozone-countries-treaty-exclude-britain

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/16131346

Wonderful World Wonderful David Attenborough

Just take a look at this:

What A Wonderful World With David Attenborough -- BBC One - YouTube

If this is released its going to number one for Christmas - and could raise a good deal of money for a charitable cause(s). Release it BBC!!

Equality - not

I assume that those vehement critics of Occupy Bristol (see here) are happy with huge and unfair inequality that exists - perhaps they are even advocates of it. The 2010 report, An Anatomy of Economic Inequality in the UK showed that the richest 10% of the population are more than 100 times as wealthy as the poorest 10% of society - and comparison between the richest here and the poorest in the world is of course even worse.

Large scale income inequality cuts quality of life and eats away at the fabric of society. Look at the evidence here http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/why . We should adopt income inequality as one of the key indicators of progress in our society and urgently enact measures to cut inequality (see http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/why/remedies ).

Savage for Mayor? Uncivilised?

The book - High in Hope - and all the surrounding hype sounds like John Savage's (and through him Business West's) bid the become the Elected Mayor of Bristol! Has he ruled out this possibility??

The project says '...by 2050 the area’s [Bristol's] population will have massively increased, perhaps by as much as 500,000, meaning 300,000 jobs will need to be created and a further 200,000 homes built.'

Dont they have any grasp of the unsustainability of this? Given the unsustainability isn't it reasonable to try now to shape the future we want? Better to at least make an effort rather than simply going along with 'crystal ball gazing predict and provide' as if its an inevitability we can do absolutely nothing about.

More here:
http://www.bristol247.com/2011/12/08/lets-end-curse-of-poverty-in-bristol-by-2050/

http://www.bristol247.com/2010/07/05/bristol-group-call-for-new-debate-on-elected-mayor/

http://bristolmayor.org/about/

Power to the people

This Post headline is not accurate. It says 'Move to give city greater power' when in fact its just city leaders that would get the power - and of course if we had an Elected Mayor as the govt want then that power would be mostly in the hands of just one person. Yes to more power locally - but give that power to local people, neighbourhoods and communities eg give them the power to recall local politicians who prove themselves inept or corrupt and genuine opportunities to participate in decision making between elections.

Five a day

Very informative feature on the BBC website showing that on average from 1999 to 2010 five people were killed on the roads every day (see map of road deaths in the Bristol area for this period - click to enlarge). The time lapse maps are really striking.

Britain has one of the best records in the world for road casualties. However, hundreds [more like thousands] still die on the roads every year. In 2010, the police recorded 1,850 deaths, 22,660 people seriously injured and 184,138 who received light injuries.

About this data:

Using official data recorded by police in Great Britain between 1999 and 2010, we have plotted every road collision in which someone died. In all, 36,371 fatalities are marked on this interactive map [click link to BBC site bottom of this post]. You will also find partial data for Northern Ireland, for 2004-2009.

Detailed information about each crash is recorded by the police at the scene. It is subsequently transferred onto a computer database. This is available to researchers from the Economic and Social Data Service. As with any large collection of data, there will be errors and omissions that occur in this process and some of these will be found in this map. The BBC apologises for any distress or offence that may be caused by the inclusion of these errors.

If you find any errors, please use the feedback form below and let us know. We will endeavour to correct them where possible.

Feedback: Road casualties feature

Answers to some of your frequently asked questions are here.

BBC News - Every death on every road in Great Britain 1999-2010

Video games increase aggression and recklessness: Susan Greenfield

Its certainly right to debate this more - and look at all the research and the views of a wide range of stakeholders. Generally I'm with Prof Greenfield on this one. If people were moderate in their use of video games and screen-based stuff generally perhaps there wouldn't be an issue - but many seem to be heading in the opposite direction!

BBC News - Video games debate: Susan Greenfield and Tom Chivers

Neuroscientist Baroness Greenfield claimed people who play a lot of video games can have an increase in "aggression and recklessness".

She is leading a debate in the House of Lords on Monday evening about the impact of digital technologies on the mind.

But The Daily Telegraph's science writer Tom Chivers said people can use screens and still talk to others, and research shows those with an active life in social media tend to have a more active "real life".

Elected Mayor for Bristol?

Change the way things are run locally:yes. More power locally:yes. Make decision making more effective and representative: yes. Mayor for Bristol, or perhaps Greater Bristol: no. The options on the referendum ballot paper for next May wont include those we really should be considering, such as proportional reprentation for local govt elections, a recall system for local councillors, proper devolution of power from city level to neighbourhoods and communities, additional mechanisms to facilitate participation in city-wide democracy between elections - these things truly empower people and so are real localism as opposed to the sham we get from the coalition govt.

Video: Should Bristol have an Elected Mayor? This is Bristol

On closing the gap between rich and poor

Author Danny Dorling claims the British people need to learn the lessons of the 1930s and do something about the growing gap between the super rich and everyone else.

BBC News - Author Danny Dorling on closing gap between rich and poor

Autumn Statement: visionless

George Osbourne's Autumn Statement could have been used as an opportunity to put our economy on the right road. This chance was wasted. It could have been used to set us on the road away from the unequal, unfair, wasteful and polluting rat race we have – it did not. It could have helped create a way of life we can afford in both economic, social and environmental terms – it did not. It could have helped create the jobs that need people, by building on the resources of the people – it did not.

It could have helped to build a more self-reliant and stable economy – instead we are still reliant on a system of international finance which cannot last much longer. It could have started to establish an economy which can be sustained into the future, without killing our environment and exploiting the people – it did not. Instead the Chancellor produced a statement totally lacking is any vision of a better society at all. Actually pretty much par for the course as far as such statements - and budgets - go.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15937446

George Monbiot – Big Farmer

George Monbiot – Big Farmer

South Bristol link road bulldozed through (along with many others)

The Treasury neatly side-stepped a year's work by experts, campaigners and civil servants on 45 local transport projects in the DfT's 'development pool'...as the Chancellor announced he was providing funding for all 45 schemes and gave the go-ahead to the Kingskerswell Bypass and the South Bristol Link Road to grab headlines...

...As well as the Kingskerswell Bypass and the South Bristol Link Road, the go-ahead was also given to the Lincoln Eastern Bypass, the A164 Humber Bridge to Beverley, and the A43 Corby Link Road...

We are all justifiably angry as ourselves, the Kingskerswell Alliance and Transport for Greater Bristol had hired consultants to produce an evidence-based response to the funding bids showing major flaws in the plans. Instead it appears the schemes have been bulldozed through to allow the Chancellor to do some headline grabbing posturing today.

Analysis of the Kingskerswell Bypass showed that it would simply move traffic jams further down the road. It would also be environmentally devastating, trashing the habitats of rare bats, birds and newts. The South Bristol Link Road will at best shave just 2 minutes off journey times, and passes through Common Land and the green belt.

This is unlikely to be the end of the road for the campaigns as there are grounds for legal challenges now, and later there will most likely be protests.

Roads blog Campaign for Better Transport

Long-winded decision on Bristol's green spaces branded 'waste of time'

The principle of flogging city green spaces was always wrong - we need more green spaces not fewer! What's happened in practice has added insult to injury - the council has wasted time, wasted money and badly misdirected their efforts when they have a lot of things on their plate. This situation was on the cards from the start and I remember repeatedly saying so from the earliest opportunity. Someone should do a study on how often and to what extent Bristol City Council shows this pattern of behaviour across the range of policy.

Long-winded decision on Bristol's green spaces branded 'waste of time' | This is Bristol

Mabinogogiblog: OccupyBristol workshop reveals Dictator-friendly Communist Position

Mabinogogiblog: OccupyBristol workshop reveals Dictator-friendly Communist Position

The Luddites: Everything you know is wrong! | Red Pepper blog | Red Pepper

The Luddites: Everything you know is wrong! | Red Pepper blog | Red Pepper

Sustainability and action

Screencast making sustainablity clearer, more measurable, assessable - and most importantly making it action focussed.

Sustainability: some general definitions

Screencast I've put together about some of the various ways sustainability has been - or can be - defined, as well as asking how satisfactory these definitions are especially in terms their focus on action.

A Beginners Guide to 'Occupy' on Vimeo

A Beginners Guide to 'Occupy' on Vimeo

George Monbiot – Wealth Destroyers

Great piece here:

George Monbiot – Wealth Destroyers

Environment is...

Some thoughts on what is meant by the term 'environment':

Aye! But for what??

Whatever your political views you have to admit that this situation is ludicrous. What kind of MPs are content to cast their vote without knowing what the vote is about? Sheep are more thoughtful and independent-minded it seems.

Caroline Lucas Scandal that many MPs have no idea what they're voting on

Thoughts of a Wall St. occupier

So little about this in the media generally, so was pleased to see something here:

Thoughts of a Wall St. occupier Red Pepper blog Red Pepper

Blog Action Day 2011, Oct 16 - Food

Since 2007, Blog Action Day has focused bloggers around the world to blog about one important global topic on the same day. Past topics have included water, climate change and poverty.

This year, Blog Action Day will be held on October 16, which coincides with World Food Day, so naturally our 2011 theme is FOOD

Find out more about Blog Action Day

To take part in Blog Action Day all you need to do is register your blog and then on October 16, 2011 post your blog about food with the #BAD11 tag.

Bigger Bristol??

Bristol's Tory leader Cllr Peter Abraham, says the council stands in the way of city interests but wants to extend control under one bigger Bristol authority to Kingswood, Keynsham, Portishead*... This potentially spreads the problems still further. He's been a very prominent feature of local politics on the council for decades but it appears it has not occurred to him that he is therefore part of the problem. He refers to the need for a new order so maybe voters should start by getting rid of him and the rest of the old order.

...Mr Abraham wants Bristol to be ambitious but feels the council often works against the city's best interests rather than for them.
He said: "I think my job as leader of the Conservative group is to get this council as a credible council.
"Bristol is a great place to work and live and even in times of great economic difficulties we are successful.
"But Bristol is successful in spite of the city council not because of it.
"I also want to be realistic. This is a city that seems to promise and not deliver.
"I think that's the perception. I think we tell people we're going to do things before realising we can't do them.
"How long have politicians been promising an arena? Then we had the Knowle West regeneration, with pages of Anthony Negus saying no one would be interested in doing it any other way.
"Then within three months it's all changed. Why don't we get it right?
"What I want is a new order in this city."


*Let's make Bristol bigger This is Bristol

Why throw £75 billion into a banking black hole?

The Bank of England today announced that it is to inject a further £75bn into the economy through quantitative easing.

Responding to the decision, Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas said:

"While it's clear that quantitative easing is one of the only options left to get our ailing economy off its knees, the Bank of England's decision to usher in £75bn worth of unregulated QE is problematic.

"Unless we impose constraints on private banks to ensure the money reaches the real economy, we're effectively throwing money into a banking black hole - a recipe for systemic economic failure and further social inequality.

"What we need is properly regulated quantitative easing directed towards actually creating jobs, increasing lending to small businesses and facilitating the move towards a green economy.

"A job creation strategy like the Green New Deal, for example, would ultimately pay for itself by generating incomes and boosting emerging green industries.

"As the average annual energy bill reaches a shocking new high of around £1,000 per household, surely now is the time to consider a green quantitative easing programme to help fund energy efficiency solutions such as home insulation to help keep people's bills down, and create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process."

Caroline Lucas Caroline calls for green quantitative easing as Bank of England announces £75bn injection

Lucas leadership impact

Look who is making her mark ! Again - previously ‘MP of the Year' in the Scottish Widows & Dods Women in Public Life Awards; ‘Best All Rounder' in the Total Politics End of Year MP awards; ‘Newcomer of the Year' by the Spectator... http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/2011/08/which-of-the-class-of-2015-are-making-an-impact-neildotobrien-has-the-answers.html

Euro: no

'Bailout for Greece' - but is it? Isn't it more a bailout for bankers who lent to them, a bailout for corrupt politicians who fiddled Greek national accounts, a bailout for those who have and still seek to protect their euro currency project and the closer political union across the continent...The idea of a common EU currency, the euro, was always a daft idea - poor economics and poor politics. Just look at the situation now. Greece is on the edge, perhaps already over it, economically and socially. It cannot devalue its currency as its in the euro and it is having its economic policy dictated to it by other countries. Its already very difficult in Greece and whatever they do there is going to be more pain but they would be better getting out of the euro - and it would be better if the whole euro project was brought to a controlled end or very significant scale down. But instead...

Greek PM presses EU leaders for new bailout tranche: The Greek prime minister is having a day of talks with fellow EU leaders to approve a new bailout tranche Greece needs to avoid bankruptcy in October.
George Papandreou is meeting European Council chief Herman Van Rompuy and others in Warsaw before seeing French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris.
International inspectors in Athens to decide whether Greece should receive the 8bn euros (£6.9bn; $10.9bn).
Protesters forced the rescheduling of a meeting on Friday morning.
Meanwhile, the expansion of a general bailout fund for the eurozone looks on track for approval...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15120696

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14418539

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14977728

Planning for...destruction

Given the public's emphatic rejection of the plans to sell off our forests, you might have thought the government would tread more carefully with its reforms to the planning system.
But no. The proposed new planning framework now out to consultation is, if anything, a worse threat to our countryside, because "economic development" (read "developers' profits") will override environmental protection...

Planning reforms are bigger threat to our countryside than forest sell-off Caroline Lucas Environment guardian.co.uk

BBC News - European Commission financial tax opposed by UK

Our country is being shortsighted here, backing banks and preventing the EU from offering a lead to the world: The UK has said it will "resist" a financial transaction tax on EU members proposed by the European Commission.
The tax would raise about 57bn euros ($78bn; £50bn) a year and would come into effect at the start of 2014.
Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said banks must "make a contribution" as Europe faced its "greatest challenge".
The UK said it had no objection to a financial tax in principle, but it would have to be introduced globally.
A transaction tax would need the approval of the UK in order to be implemented across the EU...

BBC News - European Commission financial tax opposed by UK

Saudi woman to be lashed for driving car - Telegraph

This apalling and outrageous news from the UKs 'ally': A Saudi woman has been sentenced to to 10 lashes for challenging a ban on women driving.

Amnesty International reported the sentence just two days after Saudi King Abdullah granted women the right to vote and run in municipal elections...

Saudi woman to be lashed for driving car - Telegraph

China population to become world's biggest polluters - Telegraph

China's carbon emissions for each member of its population could overtake that of Britain as early as the end of next year, it has been revealed.

The prediction comes in a report which shows that the country's carbon footprint is expanding far faster than predicted.

A combination of an infrastructure building spree and the ramping up of carbon-intensive industries after the 2008 financial crisis means China is now being catapulted into the ranks of developed world countries when it comes to per person CO2 emissions.

China already emits more carbon per person than France and Spain and on current trends will surpass the United States in per person emissions as early as 2017, according to the report conducted by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment agency and sponsored by the European Commission...

China population to become world's biggest polluters - Telegraph