no more runways

Quite apart from the climate-related issues, Alex Thompson (of More4 news) made an excellent point about the foolishness of the government's decision to approve a third runway at Heathrow, in last night's Snowmail message.

He wrote:

Forget all the green stuff. It is simply this. The aviation business is contracting, not expanding, because of the current bust. Fact. If bust becomes boom more people travel, more people burn oil. Oil's a diminishing resource, so the price goes up. So fewer people travel because fewer people can afford it. So in a bust aviation contracts - and it will in a boom as the oil runs out. They're sunk either way. So who needs bigger airports?

That may be a pithy summary, but it's a very accurate description of a very straightforward - but often misunderstood - argument.

wave pictures nearly carbon neutral

Surely making a play for being Britain's hardest working bands, or just intent on wringing every last royalty out of their record deal (I'm sure it's the former), the marvellous Wave Pictures have yet another new record out this week - the Pigeon EP. This would ordinarily be interesting in itself, for their ramshackle, naive and yearning songs have shone very brightly this year, but it's particularly interesting in that the band are promoting the single as the 'greenest single ever'.

In order to make what they hoped would be the world's first carbon neutral EP, the band (and their engineer) walked to the solar powered studio where they recorded the four songs (actually made in tandem with fellow Moshi Moshi labelmates Slow Club), then uploaded the results directly to the internet afterwards. There's no art work, no physical product, and no press-release to accompany it. Unfortunately they didn't quite manage their aim of going fully carbon-neutral, as they needed to fire up their servers to deliver the songs to iTunes - but that aside it's pretty impressive stuff.

What you really want to know, of course, is whether the songs are as good as those on the band's wonderful Instant Coffee Baby LP, or the even better Just Like A Drummer single which followed it. No fear of disappointment here - on a couple of listens every song is a winner, but the best is Long Island, a live-favourite of such wondrous beauty that is was almost inexplicable that it wasn't recorded for the album.

It's been worth the wait though. The Wave Pictures are not just busy and environmentally aware, then, but also bloody brilliant.

vote tory, (don't) go green

Shocking, ominous stuff from the Guardian:

David Cameron has failed to convince many of his MPs that man-made global warming is a serious problem, according to a poll that finds widespread sceptisicm across parliament about the issue.

A third of Tory MPs who responded to the survey questioned the existence of climate change and its link to human activity. Two-thirds said tackling climate change should not be a priority for local councils.

A significant number of MPs from other parties also told the survey they had doubts on the issue. Overall, the results suggest that up to a fifth of the MPs who have been debating the UK's climate change bill do not understand, or choose to ignore, the science on which it is based.

Fuuuuuuuck.

going fishing

In Brighton - as in a lot of other cities, I'm sure - it's quite common to turn a street corner and see, perched on a garden wall or outside someone's gate, a box of possessions which are up for grabs. They're usually books, sometimes CDs, occasionally unwanted gifts. Larger items occasionally appear; microwaves, book shelves, chairs. I usually stop and have a look. A while back I grabbed an 'Indie Top 20' VHS from a box on St. Michael's Place. Recently Vic nabbed me a paperback copy of 'Him With His Foot In His Mouth and other stories' by Saul Bellow from a cardboard box on Compton avenue (which was much appreciated).

Last night me and my girlfriend went for a walk, idle in the summer sun, hoping we might find a pub and some cats to make friends with on the way (we did - The Chimney House, and a cat-caucus near Seven Dials, three podgy animals sat in conference, enjoying the weather). On the way I spotted a box of abandoned items and suddenly bent over, leafing through a box of abandoned items - mostly magazines.

"What on earth are you doing?", my girlfriend asked.

I looked up at her, puzzled.

"Just seeing if there's anything worth taking", I replied, squinting up at her.

She looked at me with mild disgust.

"In someone's recycling?"

I looked at the box, which had the Brighton and Hove council logo on its side; straightened my back; said nothing; and walked on.

a green 2008?

There's an interesting piece on the Hii Dunia blog this week about John McCain and the possibility that the next US President will be an active defender of the environment. It's a thoughtful, optimistic piece, and worth a read. The author, Daniel Furr, concludes:

"It is difficult to predict who will win the general election in November and how their administration will benefit the people of America. However; the environment is now a significant issue in American politics and all candidates have promised to defend the green agenda on the international stage. Both parties now understand the importance of the American role towards the climate of the planet. Regardless of the result: the future of America will be bright, prosperous and green".

Do take a look and see what you think. I have to admit that, at a time when I dread picking up the paper every day, fearing more news of the Tory revival, I don't share Daniel's good opinion of either McCain or the ghastly David Cameron. But in a funny sort of way, I hope he's right.

Lots more thoughts on this from me in the comments box on Daniel's post, so probably best to tell me I'm wrong there, rather than here.

OK Commuter

Writing for this blog way back in 2005 I criticised Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke for not making much of an impact whilst appearing on a TV News discussion about Climate change and the British governments’ inaction up until that point.

Thom Yorke had been invited onto the programme as a representative of Friends of the Earth, an organisation he has had an association with since 2003. During the discussion he was clearly ill-at-ease and made little effort to hold the then British Secretary of State for the Environment, Margaret Beckett, to account for the government missing its own climate targets. At the time I saw this as a missed opportunity and declared myself not impressed with Thom's muddled responses. However, I've since realised that his confusion about the issues at the time was shared by many. Knowing how best to lobby to make a positive impact in the battle against Climate Change is not always as straight forward and as clear cut as it may seem.

Since that appearance Thom Yorke has been as much in the public eye (in the UK at least) for his Climate Change campaigning as for his band Radiohead. His advocacy for Friends of the Earth and more specifically their 'Big Ask' campaign has lead him to guest edit the highly influential 'Today' programme on BBC Radio 4 and make efforts at improving the green credentials of his band, including ruling them out of attending this years Glastonbury festival due to concerns over the availability of public transport to the site.

The latest stage of Mr Yorke's assault on Climate Change has involved him being asked by the Observer Newspaper in the UK to 'guest edit' it's Sunday magazine. Under his editorial control Yorke requests an interview with the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, asks for a feature on the German town of Freiburg (which has been labelled 'the worlds' greenest') and oversees several other green features culminating in it being called the 'Climate Change Issue'.

His interview with the London Mayor hardly turns out to be a grilling, more an amicable chat, but then Yorke's no journalist and his candid manner is perhaps more successful in getting a response from Livingstone, that others would struggle to illicit. They talk on the Velib cycle system and the chances of a similar scheme implemented in London. Yorke wonders aloud at the level of resistance to change by big business and finance institutions in London and their attitude to helping the environment. He even wants to know if the UK is pressing ahead with Nuclear Power because the Prime Ministers' brother works for EDF, a major French power company which is behind many Nuclear new builds. Does he expect the Mayor to answer this following Gordon Brown's recent show of support for Mr Livingstone bid for another term in office? It is this style of questioning that allows us to hear (qualified) support for Tory leader David Cameron from the mayor and an insight into the complexities of working with people and organisations who in the past you may have criticised but whose partnership is now crucial in order to take action on the environment.

In his candid editor's letter Thom reveals that although he was pleased to support Friends of the Earth he did have reservations because, as he puts it, "I’ve based my life on touring and the rock industry is a high energy consuming industry". This might be in anticipation of criticism when groups like Friends of the Earth use high profile spokespeople whose lifestyles it may seem at first run contrary to the organisation's aims. However it seems that it was the unwillingness of FotE to be "holier than thou" and not wanting to preach, which led them to ask this otherwise high-carbon-emitting rock star to join their ranks.

This surely should be the point. Thom Yorke doesn't have to have the answers and can be as unsure and as confused with many of the often conflicting points about Climate Change as the rest of us. The article he requests on the green town of Freiburg, for example, turns up as many complications and questions as it does answers.

By his own admission he doesn't know what is always the best route to take, hasn't made much of an effort to speak to many politicians and is only latterly realising how his lifestyle and work contribute to changes in the Earth's climate. He is, then, just like all of us, and full of the questions and uncertainties that many of us hold when faced with a problem as big as Climate Change.

The battle to curb Climate Change is one primarily of education, awareness raising and activism. To this end, Civil Society - including Friends of the Earth with Thom Yorke - has played an enormous role in the lobbying of Governments and big business, in rasing awareness, and provoking action.

Thom Yorke's position, it seems, is that of a man without all the answers but who has a clear passion and commitment. He has made affirmative action in relation to his own profession and lifestyle, all solid and commendable commitments to lowering his personal impact on the environment.

Let us hope that it is because of his activism that Yorke is an optimist on the subject of climate change - "unlike pessimists such as James Lovelock, I don’t believe we are all doomed” he says. It is his belief in human behaviour - being able to be the the solution to climate change as well as the instigator - that is both endearing and commendable about Yorke. As he writes;

“...isn’t it funny how in the space of a year we went from listening to sceptics who denied this was happening to suddenly say we’re all doomed – how interesting that both scenarios demand that we do nothing. That can’t be right. You should never give up hope”.

Right on Thom!

[Blogging by Dan]

embarrasing admission

I'm rather ashamed to say that I thoroughly enjoy Harry Hill's TV burp, but I do. It's certainly as good as Charlie Brooker's TV Burp, over on highbrow BBC4 (or do I mean Charlie Brooker's Screen Wipe? - can't be sure). Hill is occasionally very funny - for the last few weeks he's been picking on the TV show Weird Creatures, presented by Nick Baker - wherein the protagonist goes looking for rare animals... and never finds them. What's the point, Hill asks? This week Baker was looking for a basking shark. Here's a bit of dialogue from his analysis:

Hill: But hang on, he's found one! Hasn't he?
Footage plays of Baker spotting something in the sea.
Baker: "We've hardly left Penzance harbour and we already have what has to be the second weirdest fish in the world after the basking shark. It is the sunfish".
Hill (disappointed): Oh, no, it's the sunfish. What about over there?
Cut back to the footage
Baker "Well, that's our consolation prize - we have a grey seal".
Hill: A seal? I thought we were looking for a shark?
Back to the footage.
Baker: "The otters more than make up for our limited success with the shark".
Hill: No they don't! I tuned in to see a four and a half metre shark. It's a shark programme. If you'd have told me it was a seal and otter programme I wouldn't have bothered!
Cut back to Baker pointing out specific breeds of gulls, circling over the sea.
Hill: Seagulls!? You're just filming anything now!
Cut back to a bit of Baker's film - he's filming another boat and there is a dog aboard.
Hill (incredulously): That's a dog!
Now Baker's film shows him swimming in the water. He points at the coast.
Baker: "That's Cornwall".
Hill (outraged): That's not even an animal!!!

Maybe that doesn't work unless you saw it, but it was very funny - certainly now that David Attenborough has filmed everything beautifully in one series or other, TV nature shows these days all seem to be about filming the unfilmable and the obscure - jaguar hunting in South America or whatever. Never mind that - just show us some cute monkeys. Don't bother with the sharks, though, we've given up on them.

5 minutes of electrical rest

This is almost certainly pointless, but quite a nice idea anyway:

Participate in the biggest mobilization of Citizens Against Global Warming!

The Alliance for the Planet [a group of environmental associations] is
calling on all citizens to create 5 minutes of electrical rest for the
planet. http://www.lallianc e.fr

People all over the world should turn off their lights and electrical appliances on the 1st of February 2007, between 1.55 pm and 2.00 pm in New York, 18.55 for London, and 19.55 for Paris, Brussels and Italy. 1.55pm in Ottawa, 10.55 am on the Pacific Coast of North America, 1.55 and 2.00 am in Vietnam.

This is not just about saving 5 minutes worth of electricity; this is about getting the attention of the media, politicians, and ourselves.

Five minutes of electrical down time for the planet: this does not take long, costs nothing, and will show all political leaders that global warming is an issue that needs to come first and foremost in political debate.

Why February 1? This is the day when the new UN report on global climate change will come out in Paris.

This event affects us all, involves us all, and provides an occasion to show how important an issue global warming is to us. If we all participate, this action can have real media and political weight.

That's in about half an hour's time. I would take part, but I'm just about to have a bath, and I'm scared of bathing in the dark. Creepy.

the environment and assistant

A little more about categories:

Am making good progress with labelling stuff now - I think I'm more than half way through the nine hundred odd posts and some of the category pages are coming together - some are pretty much unpopulated still though. I noticed from my stats that someone, probably Nat, took a look at the environment category this morning, and found only one or two posts there. Should be more than twenty now, as I tried to address that section at lunchtime.

Most of my time has been spent on the posts detailing Assistant, and one thing which comes across very strongly is that fact that over the years we've hosted files for downloading in dozens of different, usually temporary, places - meaning that half of the photo links and pretty much all of the song links in the Assistant archive don't work at all. However, I fixed this last night by finally organising some webspace of my own on which to host files, so in a few days time, once I've uploaded them all and fixed the links in the archive, you should be able to explore the dozens of studio recordings, demos, rehearsal takes and live recordings which I've posted over the last five years. I'll let you know when they're all active, should you be interested, and might re-post some of the best bits.

Sidebar is still, incidentally, short of my list of favourite posts, more than a few links outside, and other bits and bobs. Will get there eventually.

Apologies if all this categorising and restructuring posting is of no interest to anyone but me - doing an overhaul of your possessions (whether they are photographs, journals, songs or plain memories) gives you an opportunity to dig through old thoughts and you invariably find things to talk about as a consequence - even if they are a little self-indulgent. Should be back to normal soon.

big waves in little brighton

In case you haven't noticed it's been bloody windy recently - have a quick glance at this video, by Clive of 1000 thoughts or less, if you wanna see what it's been like in Brighton. Exciting.

oh, this is really encouraging

a succint burst of frustration in yesterday's Guardian Diary...

"We are not in the least bit amused to hear that Margaret Beckett's ministerial Jag warmed its engine for fully 15 minutes yesterday while waiting for the environment secretary to emerge from a climate-change review press conference. We are positively grumpy to hear that when MPs on the Commons environment, food and rural affairs committee flew to California last week to learn about its approach to climate change, they travelled to the airport in individual chauffeur-driven limousines. And we are downright discomposed to learn that, when Tony Blair and his party of 50 flew to Oz last week, they did so on an 18-hour 45-minute charter flight (a record) in a Boeing 777 with 220 seats. This 9,200-mile jaunt, the Diary's indefatigable Saleem Vaillancourt reckons, consumed 120 tonnes of jet fuel and produced 2.32 tonnes of CO2. Four days after it landed, TB was off to New Zealand for talks on the environment. Sod off the bleedin' lot of you, frankly."

...was followed by a qualifying statement today:

"OK, so we (or rather the Diary's hopelessly incompetent Saleem) were wrong. When TB flew with 50 others in a chartered 220-seat jet to Australasia last week to discuss global warming, the flight produced 373 tonnes of CO2, not (as we said) 2.32 tonnes. That, it seems, was Tony's personal contribution to the greenhouse effect".

Good to hear that the government is taking climate change seriously.

kyoto: blair admits to 'changing my thinking about this'

Oh for fuck's sake.

"In a debate, hosted by former US President Bill Clinton in New York, Blair said he was not hopeful of another major agreement on targets to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for climate change.

Instead, he talked enthusiastically about focusing on technology-led solutions, the process favoured by America, Japan, China and India, but rejected by environmental campaigners and other leaders, including Britain's own minister responsible for climate change minister.

He also back-tracked on his previous insistence that tackling climate change would not damage economic growth, warning 'no country is going to cut its growth or consumption substantially' - a phrase that echoes anti-Kyoto arguments of President George Bush."

More here

katrina update

As Hurricane Rita surges towards Texas, now's a good time to get a quick update on the death toll wreaked by Katrina, still thankfully well below the estimates of 10,000 or so which were being discussed in the days after the levees broke. Not that the figures aren't shocking enough already, especially taken with the caveat that they are still expected to rise as crews are only just getting to some of the areas which were most badly flooded.

Alabama 2, Florida 11, Georgia 2, Louisiana 799, Mississippi 219 = Total 1033

Thanks to Norm for pointing me to the CNN report which quoted those numbers.

blackmail and the reinforcement of stereotypes

Funny, while I was distracted with events concerning Doonesbury, more important things were happening over at John's excellent Shot By Both Sides blog, which is - now - sadly defunct. Having caused offence with a particularly bleak bit of satire, John found himself in hot water because some scumbag decided to take up the issue with John's employers and tried to get him fired, which is clearly a completely outrageous and cowardly way to behave. Even the more temparate types over at Harry's Place have taken exception to this appalling behaviour. You can see John's goodbye message here, and keep up with him over at The Sharpener. Thanks to Andrew for bringing that to my attention.

With all his archives gone (please reconsider that, at least, John) the only way to acquaint yourself with John's writing (apart from on his new home) is to dig around in the google cache for SBBS, which is what I just did, and which is where I discovered a link to an intriguing article from last week's paper that I missed, which basically suggests that all those horror stories we heard after Katrina decimated New Orleans about raping, murdering and infanticide are largely - so far - unsubstantiated. It doesn't take a great leap of the imagination to speculate that much of the information spread around the US media pandered to two reliable desires; that for a good, gruesome story, and the desire to reinforce the idea that poor people and black people revert automatically to an innate savagery as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

Here's the article:
Gary Younge - Murder and rape - fact or fiction?

It's clearly the case that looting and criminality were rife in New Orleans in the days after the crisis (incidentally, hardly anyone mentions how the city's drug addicts were deprived of a fix while they were stranded, which explains much of the looting of pharmacists and hospitals) , and history does has countless examples of how men abandon convention and submit to their basest instincts in certain circumstances (the unmentionable behaviour of Russian troops in the latter stages of the Second World War being perhaps the best example; Anthony Beevor describes them 'regarding women almost as carnal booty'. Abu Ghraib springs to mind, too). But it is shocking how badly and how half-heartedly they attempted to correct the vastly negative impression first given. Which makes you wonder, what do they want you to think about black people?

the place where the bible belt came unbuckled

The situation in New Orleans continues to escalate from the disasterous to the obscene. Things are getting no better. In fact, they're getting worse. First I wake up to an article in the Guardian by Howell Raines, the former editor of the New York Times, who paints a picture of New Orleans, as "a golden bowl of memories, both sacred and profane", before damning the appalling inaction of both local politicians and the US government in the face of a crisis which needed dealing with quickly. There seems something slightly crass about using a disaster such as this as a platform for denouncing Bush, but Raines argues that every disaster has a political dimension. In this instance, he concludes:

"The church-going cultural populism of George Bush has given the United States an administration that worries about the house of Saud and the welfare of oil companies while the poor drown in their attics and their sons and daughters die on foreign deserts."

Since I read that, things have just got worse; to articulate the spiralling chaos, I'll turn to Krishnan Guru-Murthy's message in tonight's snowmail (a daily email from team behind the Channel 4 news):

"The news out of New Orleans is getting harder to believe every hour. The world's only superpower seems to have lost control of the situation. Thousands of people are still stranded without food, water or medicine. Tens of thousands more homeless.

Lawlessness is spreading around the city with police and national guard trying to control things but ambulances and rescue helicopters have been shot at by armed thugs. Those stranded at centres like the sports stadium are in appalling conditions with grim sanitation and supplies. There are attempts to get a few thousand people a day out of the city as the Mayor has ordered the forced evacuation of everyone, but it is pitifully slow and the people have little or nothing to go to. As for the bodies - there is still no reliable estimate of those dead. But now the Mayor and a senator have put it in the thousands.

People are starting to ask whether or not the warning and evacuation was mishandled. If people are being forced to leave now then why not at the weekend before Katrina struck? And there are increasing voices emerging about the warnings that were ignored.

Federal funds were denied to strengthen the levees. Was America so obsessed with fighting terror that it forgot what homeland security really means? And does the demographic breakdown of those worst hit - predominantly poor and black have anything to do with how little was done to help them?"

Christ.

the aftermath of katrina

As is so often the way, when it's information you're after, you can't do much better than going to Wikipedia, even if it's information on something as current and changeable as Katrina, the storm which has ripped through New Orleans and Mississipi. The ever evolving entry there is a work of wonder; this kind of information is priceless.

The web is, of course, heaving with information on the events; it's all fairly overwhelming stuff; water, bodies, chunks of broken concrete, oil rigs sent along with the tide as if they were dingies. In one apartment block alone in Biloxi over 30 people died. New Orleans seemed at first to have been afforded a last minute reprieve as the storm veered south, but the damage done was horrifying enough, and things have worsened since; three of the levees protecting the city from the rising floodwaters have been breached. At the moment The Guardian is quoting over 80 dead. It will clearly be significantly more than that. I just read another report attributing 80 dead to Biloxi alone.

In New Orleans looting, predictably, has broken out and martial law has been declared. I don't find this at all surprising - a city with as much poverty as New Orleans will inevitably encounter looting at a time like this. I've read several blogs which express bewilderment that as many as 300,000 people failed to evacuate, but a few acknowledged that many of New Orleans poorest citizens had no transport; it seems that little public provision for evacuation was made. It was faintly chilling seeing footage of the Superdrome, which had been opened for those who could not leave, full of shivering, terrified people. Chilling too that so many with no provision to leave were black.

More pressing is the clear up operation; god knows how complicated and lengthy a process it will be, nor what dangers the rapidly stagnating flood water will pose. Reports suggest that one possible solution is dropping 3,000lb sandbags from above to try to plug the gaps in the levees. Meanwhile, Bush has cut short his 45 day holiday to 'help out'. That's all they need.

Meanwhile, Mike the admin is OK, and so are his wife and 3 cats, so that's good. And apparently "a 3-foot (0.9-metre) shark had been spotted cruising the flooded streets"...

dear thom

Last night Channel 4 News ran an extensive interview involving minister for the Environment Margaret Beckett, Friends of the Earth Director Tony Juniper and Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke. It followed a report on the launch of a new Friends of the Earth campaign to raise the publics awareness of the amount of Carbon that is being released by us all when we do things like for example go out and buy Radiohead CDs.

The use of these 'concerned rock stars' is positive, I think. Chris Martin and Michael Stipe for example have unselfishly raised the profile of Oxfam campaigns on Poverty and Trade. I don't doubt Thom Yorke's convictions or beliefs, but unfortunately last night he failed to show any passion and didn't display much knowledge on the subject. He was left floundering at one stage blurting out "oh alright I haven't started yet...." when Jon Snow quite correctly asked him about the changes he's made to his own lifestyle. It was funny, but as there was a Minister of state present whose government has achieved little in real terms (missing many of its own targets) on Climate change I felt it was a missed opportunity. Mrs Beckett looked relieved and exonerated as the only flak she took was from Jon Snow and she was able for much of the interview to use the old Blair tactic of acknowledging there was still much to do.

Whilst by its nature Climate Change has to be tackled internationally we can only lecture others (the largest growing pollutants India and China and especially the United States) if we lead by example. At the moment we have little to show for all the recent (excuse the pun) hot air. Pointing this out was left to the man in the middle Mr Snow, whilst Mr Juniper prevaricated and Mr Yorke looked ill at ease. More research and conviction next time please Thom!

--------

The growing importance of pressure groups both here and overseas demonstrates the detachment many feel towards politics. More and more of us are getting involved in some sort of direct action in response to the inequalities faced by the majority of the worlds population and the ongoing destruction of the worlds environment. These are weighty, complex, big and scary issues that have to be tackled by all currently enjoying the power and the wealth (that's us) now before irreparable damage is done. The political establishment is deliberately dragging its feet because the solutions to all this are unlikely to win any elections. It means fundamental grass roots change in our lifestyles and societies and who wants to do that after a hard day at the office? The myth that we can carry on getting ever wealthier is about to be exploded. We can't. We, after all live on an increasingly polluted planet of finite recourses and space. This does not fit into the equation of ever increasing economic growth.

So what to do? Well, read up on the situation, find out those who are campaigning for what you think is right, buy the wrist band if necessary and at the risk of sounding like a 1970's student radical, organise and campaign!

[blogging by Dan]

the decline and fall of david bellamy

Back in July David Bellamy wrote an article titled 'Global Warming: What a load of poppycock!', which - despite its faintly endearing title - was itself a load of absolute rubbish (he quoted a petition signed by 18,000 'scientists', whose signatures included, on closer inspection, 'Ginger Spice' and 'Michael J. Fox'). Now he's at it again. He's claimed that many of the world's glaciers

"are not shrinking but in fact are growing ... 555 of all the 625 glaciers under observation by the World Glacier Monitoring Service in Zurich, Switzerland, have been growing since 1980".

In the Guardian today George Monbiot deconstructs the 'scientific' data which led Bellamy to this claim, and reveals - predictably enough - that it's a combination of thoroughly bad science, out of date research, invisible sources and, unbelievably, Bellamy's own carelessness.

"While Bellamy's source claimed that 55% of 625 glaciers are advancing, Bellamy claimed that 555 of them - or 89% - are advancing. This figure appears to exist nowhere else. But on the standard English keyboard, 5 and % occupy the same key. If you try to hit %, but fail to press shift, you get 555, instead of 55%. This is the only explanation I can produce for his figure. When I challenged him, he admitted that there had been "a glitch of the electronics"."

He didn't request a correction, however. Not good enough! Bellamy joins the ranks of 'scientists' who have to be thoroughly unscientific in order to justify their opinions about climate change. It is hard to convey, Monbiot writes

"just how selective you have to be to dismiss the evidence for climate change. You must climb over a mountain of evidence to pick up a crumb: a crumb which then disintegrates in the palm of your hand. You must ignore an entire canon of science, the statements of the world's most eminent scientific institutions, and thousands of papers published in the foremost scientific journals".

Read his article in full in the Guardian here, or on his website - with references - here.

cheap flights

An interesting (if not actually entertaining) article by Mark Lynas over on his blog today (and in the new edition of New Statesman, too). Lynas calls for the government to turn its attention to environmental matters now, and if they've any sense they'll follow his advice.

Lynas writes:

"'The environment' is still seen as a soft-focus poor relation to the real hard-politics issues such as health, the economy, asylum-seekers, and so on. Throughout the election, it was the issue that dared not speak its name. The problem was not that it was too controversial: on the contrary, it wasn't controversial enough. Green issues are still so unimportant electorally that, last November, Labour admitted quite freely that it would not meet its own climate-change targets. Unlike Iraq, the environment is not even worth lying about.

Our political system is gripped from top to bottom by a peculiar kind of cognitive dissonance, where politicians openly acknowledge that environmental issues are the most important ever to face humankind, and yet even as they utter these words, business as usual hums on in the background."

Reading the article in full has spoiled my day somewhat. I've been looking at summer holidays and marvelling over the cheap flights. Cheap, yes. Impossibly damaging, er, also yes. One of those situations where I won't even pretend my moral side will win out, but that's a shame.

butane and plastic bags

The links run down;

I've been off-colour and not-blogging, apologies; here's a bunch of TV things quickly that bear further investigation.

- courtesy of Adam Bowie's weblog, news that Adam Curtis's peerless The Power of Nightmares is being edited into a two and a half hour film to be shown at Cannes. The idea that this might lead to showings in cinemas across the US is very welcome.

- There must have been a few sighs of relief at the BBC when Michael Palin revealed that - contrary to rumours - he's not stepping down in his role of chief traveller for the BBC, and will be doing another trip once he's had a year of putting his feet up, which is I think quite reasonable given all the strolling about in the service of good telly he's done previously.

Palin's news, then, might come as a slight blow to Simon Reeve, whose programme, 'Holidays in the Danger Zone' - his pitch for the Palin role - looks pretty ace. There's an interesting article about it in the Guardian, which you can read here:

The Guardian: Welcome to Nowhere.

So this means that it's just David Attenborough that needs replacing, then. I thought last week's candidate, Steve Leonard, who was the dashing and rather manic host of the new 'Journey of Life', was a million times better than Alan Titchmarsh, although he was infuriatingly keen to fill every frame with some exciting movement of his own - a natural history presenter emerging from the sea, dashing in a swimsuit? Whatever next? Hard to imagine the beeb getting Attenborough to produce his own Ursula Andress moment

- While we're on the subject of cult TV - I enjoyed 'Dr Who' a lot this week. Apart from the first ten minutes of the first episode, I think it's been crap so far (although I never watched the show the first however-many-times round).

Anyway, last week's episode, which told of alien space-weapons ready to be 'deployed in 45 seconds', was ace. Not sure I think much of Christopher Ecclestone though - it seems to me that you've got a continuity problem if you have a Doctor who is gung-go and excitable in the face of annhilation, blithe in his dismissal of humanity as 'just getting started' and relatively without fear - and yet is asked to make a sudden emotional speech about his fears of losing Rose. This was the first time Ecclestone has really had to act since the first episode and - although capably executed - was confusing when you compare it to his portrayal the rest of the time. Too much inane grinning kind of undermines the serious moments. Still - a very funny episode, farting gags excepted.

- last thing - tonight; do I watch Question Time with those two tory blokes and Charles Kennedy, or Supersize Me??? Advice appreciated.


Enough TV. Just had an email from funnyman and labour campaigner John O'Farrell, entitled 'Vote Labour or the hamster gets it'. Fucking idiot - it'll take a bit more than that to convince me. A bit more than this, even, although it's fairly persuasive:

Polly Toynbee's Guardian column from yesterday - worth reading.