How green is my valley?

Quote of the Week

h0wgreenismyvalley — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:38:34 +0000

“Insurrection is an art, and like all arts has its own laws.”

Leon Trotsky

The door revolves…again

h0wgreenismyvalley — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 14:09:15 +0000

Joy unconfined at the news that the former chief medical officer (for England) has joined a global lobbying firm working in the private health industry.

Sir Liam Donaldson retired last year and now works for APCO Worldwide as a member of its “international advisory council”. The company’s UK healthcare clients include Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and the British Association of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers.

So another senior civil servant has slid into a comfy berth in an industry he was previously monitoring! Sir Liam will doubtless splutter that he had no thoughts of future employment when he was responsible for the nation’s health. But, honestly, how does he know about his own subconscious motivation??

While the new broom is out for the Murdoch empire, how about jamming it in this dodgy revolving door?

Norwegian Thoughts

h0wgreenismyvalley — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:01:17 +0000

I’m among the thousands of people who’ve been crying in front of the TV as the dignified Norwegians show us all how to behave in these situations.

But there’s a much smaller group, apparently comprising Charlie Brooker, me, and about three other people. Charlie and I have reservations – and then some – about the way events were reported. I’ve no desire to bang on for ages about this, but could someone from the mainstream media answer these 2 questions:

Why are you continuing to give the Norwegian Nazi exactly what he wants?
How many revolting little nutters do you think are currently preparing their own atrocity? Whatever the number, I’m sure they’ll have a nice manifesto and airbrushed photos ready for their ascent to global superstardom….

Why is it only Charlie who can grasp this incredibly obvious point?

Stat of the Day

h0wgreenismyvalley — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:14:56 +0000

In the 1960s Sweden and the UK had similar levels of income inequality. By 2005 the gap between the two had increased by 28%.

Source: The Equality Trust, July 2011

Murdoch Quote of the Day

h0wgreenismyvalley — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:19:06 +0000

“Shut up you homophobic cow”

Actor Ross Kemp to his then wife Rebekah Brooks, responding to her verbal abuse of gay MP Chris Bryant

(What very strange heroes this affair is creating!)

Absolutely no gloating. None at all.

h0wgreenismyvalley — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:25:10 +0000

The Murdochs are on the run – down to their last few squillion. The toxic redhead has fallen on her sword (how long before she gets some cushy little sinecure?) And Fox News continues to spill its neocon bile . So, while it’s been a good few days, I’m not quite in gloat mode. Not here anyways…I’ve been doing it on facebook instead!

Murdoch Quote of the Day

h0wgreenismyvalley — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 20:47:13 +0000

”Not the misconduct of a few rogues or a few freelancers, but, I have to say, law-breaking on an industrial scale, dependent at its worst on its links with the British criminal underworld”

Gordon Brown, Former British PM

(I don’t often agree with Gordon, but in this case…..)

Nuclear Jellyfish (and Bernard Ingham)

h0wgreenismyvalley — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 14:58:20 +0000

Those of us who want to see wind power as part of the weaning off fossil fuels get a lot of stick from the pro-nuke lobby (see my exchanges with Sir Bernard Ingham below) because the wind doesn’t blow all the time. One of my fellow Greens amusingly remarked that this is like not growing apple trees because they only produce fruit in Autumn! That said, it’s a genuine drawback to wind turbines and the main reason we want a mixture of renewables.

I was entertained therefore to hear that the Torness nuclear plant recently had to shut down for 2 days because of….jellyfish! Now this isn’t the MAIN argument against the nukes – that would be the danger of radiation poisoning and Fukushima/Chernobyl-style mishaps. It does scotch the “100% reliable” argument, though. Doesn’t it, Sir Bernard?

Eco-economic quote of the week

h0wgreenismyvalley — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 14:08:16 +0000

“Economics – and macro-economics in particular – is ecologically illiterate”

Tim Jackson: Prosperity Without Growth

My Favourite Archbishops

h0wgreenismyvalley — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 12:14:44 +0000

For international readers: Dr Rowan Williams is the Archbishop of Canterburyand thus the biggest cheese in the Church of England. The good doctor has been in hot water recently because he was openly critical of the government’s slash’n’burn approach to the welfare state. Not only that, but he made the entirely reasonable point that most of what they’re doing was absent from the pre-election posturing – sorry, campaigning.

Dr Williams (see also Quote of the Week 8.2.10) thus gains a sought-after place in my Episcopal pantheon. Here are some other preferred primates:

Archbishop Oscár Romero of El Salvador, assassinated at the altar in 1980. Why? For sticking up for the poor in opposition to the military junta. His most famous quote: “Stop the repression!”
Archbishop Hélder Câmara of Brazil. Most famous quote: “When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist”
Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury during the darkest days of Thatcherism. He managed to get well up Mrs T’s nose on a number of occasions, thus endearing himself to millions of others.
Desmond Tutu. For obvious reasons.