I hope I don’t pretend to have expertise on everything. On fracking I have none. My entirely amateur views on the subject are that the major risk appears to be pollution of aquifers. The UK seems too seismically stable for earthquakes or volcanoes to be a serious concern. I am not terribly worried about the local environmental consequences of the installations – human activity of all kinds detracts from the natural environment in a sense. This spot was doubtless a great deal more pleasing aesthetically before Dundee was built upon it. But then Dundee has a great deal more human utility.
It is also plain to me that humans are going to have to burn fossil fuels for a while yet, despite the very obvious fact that we also need to put much more energy and resource into developing renewable alternatives.
So I am not opposed to fracking in principle, which I know will upset some people. But nor can I understand the hurry. Fracking is being undertaken on a very large scale in the United States and elsewhere. Onshore fracking is not actually a new technology at all, but its widespread use is new. Given concerns especially about the effects on underground water supplies, why don’t we just wait for thirty years and see how it turns out elsewhere? That should give time for a good accumulation of evidence.
The hydrocarbons are not going anywhere – they will still be there in thirty years time and I predict will be a good deal more valuable. So my entirely unprofound, non-fundamentalist and dully pragmatic view on fracking is that there should be a thirty year moratorium. Then we can think about it.
Habbabkuk,
You sad desperate fuckwit,youda done well in the Stasi.
TV licence dodgers are patently not terrorists and its just another sinister function creep use of what should be last resort powers.
Youre a pathetic fool trying to defend the abuse of such serious powers.
Idiot shill.
Saving space in Israel with cemeteries in the sky
By Chris Boyette, CNN
October 22, 2014 — http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/22/world/israel-sky-cemeteries/
In the Indie too today.
Perhaps I should not quote the late Tesco founder, Jack Cohen….’Pile em high,……..’ !!
Shock horror. BBC and Sky going OTT on Ottawa shootings.
Shots fired inside Canada parliament
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29724907
Canada: Police Hunt Gunmen After Soldier Killed
The public are told to stay away from roofs and windows after reported shootings at several locations in Ottawa, including a mall.
http://news.sky.com/story/1358205/canada-police-hunt-gunmen-after-soldier-killed
::::
Is May locking down Westminster? Terrrrr alert.
‘It was time that the TV licence dodgers had the fear of God put up them.’
Habbabkuk you sound like Colonel Blimp. Do you believe people who don’t polish the heels as well as the toes of their shoes should be flogged?
May’s record on getting an inquiry into historic child abuse is appalling. A deliberate ploy to kick it all into the long grass I would aver. They are protecting Brittan. What happened to the Janner case? Cyril Smith? etc etc
22 October 2014
Legal challenge launched over abuse inquiry chair.
Fiona Woolf told committee chairman Keith Vaz she wanted her behaviour to be regarded as ”open and transparent”
Inquiry head defends Brittan links
Child abuse investigations
Kincora move ‘disappoints’ Robinson
A victim of historical child sexual abuse has launched a legal challenge to the choice of Fiona Woolf as the chair of the inquiry investigating the issue.
A judicial review application, seen by the BBC, claims she is not impartial, has no relevant expertise and may not have time to discharge her duties.
Labour wants Mrs Woolf to meet abuse victims amid concerns over her links to former Home Secretary Lord Brittan.
Downing Street said it had “full confidence” in her doing the job.
BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith said he believed the government would do everything it could to “cling onto” Mrs Woolf given that her predecessor in the role had already stood down and the inquiry was being asked to produce an interim report by the end of March.
/..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29719090
:::
Over and over again, the abused children are betrayed and receive no justice.
eg
Police ‘let down’ abuse-risk children
A whistleblower tells the BBC hundreds of people at risk of sexual exploitation in Sheffield were let down by police.
Police chief warns of more abuse cases
MPs demand ‘Rotherham files’ answers
Rolling in the aisles.
A Swedish Defense Farce
What Submarine in Sweden?
by JAN OBERG
Lund, Sweden.
You have heard that Sweden is hunting a ”submarine” and that it is ”presumed to be Russian”. Here is an example Financial Times of October 21 – which incidentally also announces that the Swedish Prime Minister vows to increase defence spending.
Not the slightest evidence
There are only three problems with this:
1) There is not the slightest evidence of there being anything military, neither that it is a submarine nor that, whatever the object might be, it is Russian.
2) Even with CNN, BBC and AlJazeera this is nothing but speculative low-grade yellow press journalism.
This is possible in the field of defence, security and peace because much less is required of journalists when they write about these matters than when they write about, say, domestic politics, economics, sports, books or food and wine. In these fields you are expected to have some knowledge and media consumers are able to check.
3) It serves other purposes than bringing you information: either to increase further the negative image of Russia, push Sweden into full NATO membership – see the remarkable offer by NATOs former Allied Supreme Commander, Stavridis about NATO to come and help Sweden – or to scare the Swedes into feeling that it is necessary to pay even more to the Swedish military (a mechanism also called fearology).
Virtually every aspect of the media hype is based on prejudices instead of interest-based analysis and on partial and paid expertise that follows the ‘party line’. Russia has ‘denied’ it is there; Holland has ‘dismissed’ that its submarine should be there.
With one or two exceptions, all Swedish and international media have avoided asking: Could it be something else but a sub and somebody else but the Russians – or nothing at all?
The alleged-ness of it all is good enough to pass for objective reporting in the – alleged – free media.
/..
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/22/what-submarine-in-sweden/
I have noticed that although the Spectator has a wonderful old school establishment openness towards many ideas with which it might not hold much truck (possibly a development of the old idea that you could say anything as long as it was in Latin and thus had a limited readership) this openness does not seem to apply to fracking and that on fracking it just seems (to me anyway) to be a PR mouthpiece.
Another thing that’s to be added, to the extremely long list of Scottish inventions, sex, apparently it was invented in Scotland, I’ll say no more.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29661446
@Mary. The US neocons dragged the UK into the “war on terror” in 2001, France in 2011, and finally Canada in 2014. They have an awful lot to answer for…
Fiona Woolf told committee chairman Keith Vaz she wanted her behaviour to be regarded as ”open and transparent”
—
They certainly have way with words don’t they. Notice that she could have said she wanted it to be open and transparent. Instead, she’s looking for a perception of openness and honesty. I hope people are no longer fooled by the doublespeak… it has been going on for so long.
Mind-blowing video soundbite:
http://rt.com/news/198184-ukraine-girl-death-stadium/
(name misleading… but a very close call at Donetsk 52000 seater Football Stadium)
KingOfWelshNoir
“‘It was time that the TV licence dodgers had the fear of God put up them.’
Habbabkuk you sound like Colonel Blimp. Do you believe people who don’t polish the heels as well as the toes of their shoes should be flogged?”
_________________
Good God, do people still polish the toecaps of their shoes? You could have fooled me!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good God, do people still polish the toecaps of their shoes? You could have fooled me!
________________________
Habb-itual Nonsense Spewer.
Yes, quite, fooled regularly, indeed.
@Habby: I’ve always paid my license fee. If the BBC told just 1% of the truth about what has been happening in Ukraine in recent months, I might renew the license fee. Otherwise, the TV will be permanently connected to the Internet instead. Others think similarly, although irked about different issues. BBC are killing themselves off…
Peacewisher
“@Mary. The US neocons dragged the UK into the “war on terror” in 2001, France in 2011, and finally Canada in 2014. They have an awful lot to answer for…”
_________________
Is that little bit of bollocks all you have to say about the Ottawa slayings?
Here’s what I say : the Ottawa slayings show once again that Islamic terrorism is alive and well, that it has a long reach, and how justified are the measures being taken by the UK authorities to prevent similar acts of terrorism being carried out on British soil. It follows that the UK authorities should be given every support in their endeavours.
Peacewisher
“Otherwise, the TV will be permanently connected to the Internet instead.”
________________
That is fine. You are not watching TV as defined by the relevant acts and therefore you do not need a licence. You are being honest. The scum I was referring to aren’t.
You may not like it, Habby, but it is the truth. I’ve just heard on the radio how the conservative government of Canada forced joining the latest neocon coalition through despite opposition from both Labour and Liberal opposition. Of course, now they’ll all be taken in by the wave of patriotism and realise that the conservatives were right, and join the war party. I care passionately about every life, and what you say is highly disingenuous.
Mary
“Shock horror. BBC and Sky going OTT on Ottawa shootings.
Shots fired inside Canada parliament
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29724907
Canada: Police Hunt Gunmen After Soldier Killed
The public are told to stay away from roofs and windows after reported shootings at several locations in Ottawa, including a mall.
http://news.sky.com/story/1358205/canada-police-hunt-gunmen-after-soldier-killed
::::
Is May locking down Westminster? Terrrrr alert.”
_______________________
There is probably no need to lock down Westminster, Mary, since the public authorities are probably doing a fine job in ensuring that the terrorists amoung are rooted out, tried and put away for a long, long time before their plots can bear fruit.
I should imagine that the Canadians, having seen how long the reach of Islamic terrorism can be, will be taking a leaf or two out of the UK authorities’ book in future.
Your mockery of the dangers of terrorism and of anti-terrorism methods would, I imagine, be a little muted if you or someone close to you happened to fall victim
to an act of terrorism, you stupid woman. Be ashamed of yourself!
Peacewisher
“I care passionately about every life,..”
_________________
Yes, the subjects of your various comments make that very clear. Not.
You are not as bonkers as many of your fellow Eminences, but your moral compass is as far off course as theirs’.
It isn’t terrorism when soldiers are attacked. That risk goes with the territory when you’re a member of the military. (I speak as a retired U.S. naval officer.)
Habbabkuk: “ It follows that the UK authorities should be given every support in their endeavours.”
They probably would get more support, if the pretence of stopping terrorism was not used for the security services to do whatever they want. Expanding powers in the name of “state security” has long been an unwelcome development, stopping only when the people decide that they have had enough – if indeed, it can be stopped by public pressure at that point. Such powers have also been the source of much injustice and corruption. There’s nothing unique about the UK in this respect, so our authorities are above such abuses.
Arresting or harassing people for, say, taking a photograph of well-known landmarks, is an abuse of power. So is locking people up without charge, something the police are only too keen to do when they “know” that person is guilty, despite having no evidence. Or holding and beating people who they find to be a nuisance to the powers that be.
Using anti-terrorism powers to persecute protestors is also intimidating, abusive and has a severe chilling effect on the freedoms we are supposed to enjoy in this country. Freedoms which have been taken away by our own UK authorities – not by terrorists.
Given the way authorities gleefully punish, intimidate, threaten, spy upon, detain all too many of us lawful citizens, while being incredibly secretive about their own activity and expenditure of our money, it gets kind of hard to extend them “every support”.
Would you like to substantiate that, Habby?
Zionist support is alive and well in the Zionist outpost of Canada under the control of Harper and Baird to such an extent that many Canadians were joining the IDF in the recent mass slaughter of Palestinians.
Read and learn. Chapter and verse here. The author is Canadian and knows his facts unlike some on here who will remain nameless. His website – http://yvesengler.com/
‘Canadians Join IDF: Harper’s Government Silent
by Yves Engler / August 24th, 2014
When is a Canadian who leaves this country to join a foreign military force and participate in the killing of innocent civilians, including children, called a terror tourist and sent to jail?
a) Always;
b) Never;
c) Only when that person joins a military force the Conservative government disagrees with.
Numerous ministers in the current federal government have loudly denounced the radicalization of Canadian youth in foreign wars. Last year, the Conservatives passed a law that further criminalizes “leaving or attempting to leave Canada” to commit terrorism. Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney recently said the government is “try[ing] to monitor networks that recruit and radicalize youth.”
Two weeks ago Somali-Canadian Mohamed Hersi was sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempting to join al-Shabab. Arrested at Toronto’s Pearson airport before leaving, Hersi was not found guilty of committing or plotting a specific act of violence, but according to the presiding judge, was “poised to become a terror tourist”.
Yet our government does nothing to hundreds of other Canadians who join a foreign military force to daily terrorize millions of people and often use explosives to kill thousands, most of whom are civilians.’
[..]
Canadians in the IDF benefit from various Canadian financed support programs and may also find other Canadians stocking their equipment. About 150 Canadians serve as volunteers on Israeli army supply bases each year through Sar-El. Saving the IDF millions of shekels, Sar-El takes out ads in the Canadian Jewish News calling on individuals to “Express your Zionism by serving as a civilian volunteer on an Israeli army supply base.”
There are a number of other registered Canadian “charities” that aid the Israeli army. Money sent to Disabled Veterans of Israel or Beit Halochem (Canada) and Canadian Magen David Adom for Israel support the IDF in different ways. Established in 1971, the Association for the Soldiers of Israel in Canada (ASI), which gives tax receipts through the Canadian Zionist Cultural Association, provides financial and moral support to active duty soldiers. In what amounts to a modern day blood libel, Israeli major general, Orna Barbivay, told ASI Canada’s 2012 fundraiser, “The IDF doesn’t just represent Israelis, but Jews all over the world.”
Various Canadian organizations have long supported the Israeli military and individuals from this country have directly participated in its violence. At least 25 volunteers from the Greater Toronto Area fought in Gaza during Israel’s 22-day 2008/2009 assault that left some 1,400 Palestinians dead. Similarly, during Israel’s 2006 attack on Lebanon the Canadian Jewish News reported that “Canadian youths leave home to join Israeli army.”
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/08/canadians-join-idf-harpers-government-silent/
Lysias
“It isn’t terrorism when soldiers are attacked. That risk goes with the territory when you’re a member of the military. (I speak as a retired U.S. naval officer.)”
_______________________
You may have served, but you are still talking bollocks. To be shot in your own country “goes with the territory”?
If it isn’t an act of terrorism, which word(s) would you use to characterise/define the attack and slaying?
What word would I use? How about “murder”? Why do we treat so many garden variety crimes now as terrorism?
Mary’s “default mode” wasted no time in kicking in, did it.
The first mention of the Ottawa slayings on here was at 18h12.
I made a couple of comments at 19h41 and 19h54.
And just a little over one quarter of an hour after my second comment, in weighs Mary with a 41 line “comment” on……Israel and Zionism!
Pavlovian in behaviour, obsessional by nature.
Lysias
“Why do we treat so many garden variety crimes now as terrorism?”
_______________________
Well of course it IS murder – murder with terrorist intent and motivation. Known in short as terrorism.
Mary
“Zionist support is alive and well in the Zionist outpost of Canada under the control of Harper and Baird to such an extent that many Canadians were joining the IDF in the recent mass slaughter of Palestinians.”
___________________
Is the implication of the above (and the rest of your post) that
(1) Canada had it coming
(2) the killing of the soldier was justified
(3) you personally would reply “yes” to the above two questions?
Are you an apologist for terrorism, Mary?
Glenn_UK
Well, if you do not feel that the authorities should be supported in their efforts to forestall and prevent terrorism in the UK, that’s OK with me, Glenn.
If it’s not terrorism, there’s no need to accuse anyone of being an apologist for terrorism.
Was it terrorism when U.S. troops did commando raids on North Vietnam and killed North Vietnamese troops, or when U.S. troops killed Iraqi troops during two wars (and maybe now during a third)?