The Waste Incinerator at Edmonton
Whilst I was in IKEA, I took this picture of the waste incinerator at Edmonton.
The Waste Incinerator at Edmonton
To some the incinerator is controversial and some such as Greenpeace want it shut down.
The solution to a lot of rubbish is recycling, but then the proportion recycled in London is lower than in many other parts of the country. It is probably easier to get people to sort their rubbish in larger sizes of dwelling, as they have more space for the various bins. So at the end of the day, there will be either a lot of waste for landfill or incineration. Hackney tries hard and the recyclers are a sensible bunch, but are all of the residents.
So whether people like it or not, there will always be a need for incineration.
Perhaps we should follow the Austrian solution.
Fridenreich Hundertwasser was a controversial Austrian artist and architect.
I remember seeing somewhere that he didn’t like incinerators, so Vienna asked him to see if he could do better. He came up with the waste powered heating system at Spittelau powered by waste.
District Heating System at Spittelau
It certainly looks better than Edmonton.
So perhaps we should get the best artists and architects to design incinerators and other buildings like power stations and sewage works so we can be proud of them. Isn’t that what Joseph Bazalgette did with Abbey Mills? Obviously, we must also get the technology right, so the only things that emerge from the plant is energy and clean air and water.
A properly designed plant would be so much better than the alternative of landfill.
The other technology we need is an automatic system that sorts rubbish into the various types of recyclables and what must be buried or burnt. But that will come in the next few years!
I’m also very much in favour of rewarding councils that recycle a high proportion of their waste. trucks are easily weighed on leaving and return from the depots, so it is easy to work out how much rubbish is recycled overall. You could even work it out on a round-by-round basis and reward the operatives and residents appropriately.
But I am against weighing individual bins, as that is unpopular on the one hand and could lead to all sorts of unsavoury practices on the other.
I do think though, that it might be possible to incentivise people to recycle bottles and akuminium cans, by paying a collective bounty to the area round the recycling points. I laid out my thoughts here.
Struggling To IKEA
Well not really struggling, but you wouldn’t have thought that getting a few simple baskets would be so difficult.
IKEA Branas Basket
The picture shows one of their Branas baskets.
To fit out my bedroom I need eight. So I thought I’d buy them on-line when I bought the storage frames that will hold them. But and this annoys me so much about IKEA, they were one of the products that can’t be bought on-line. But they did have lots in stock at Edmonton. As I did have a couple of spare hours and I wanted to take some pictures close to their store. I decided to go and get some this afternoon.
So I took the Victoria line to Tottenham Hale and then got a 192 bus to IKEA.
I had worried that the boxes might not be flat-pack, in which case they would be difficult to manage on the bus, back to either Tottenham Hale or almost to home if a 341 turned up.
But my worst fears were unfounded as the boxes were flat and I reckoned I could carry four, in two IKEA blue bags. So perhaps half-an-hour soon after arriving and after perhaps ten minutes in the queue to pay, I was back at the bus stop, waiting for a 341 to move up to the departure stop.
Shopping on the 341 Bus
As you can see from the picture, the two bags with their cargo of boxes fitted in the luggage space on the bus, which sped me to within two hundred or so metres from my house.
Three boxes were quickly put together, but the fourth lacked a bottom and will have to be returned.
I did phone the store to see if they could post me a bottom, but rules is rules and it will have to go back to store with the till receipt.
So instead of two trips for eight boxes, it will now be three!
At least though, I don’t pay the fares for the bus and tube.
The Sellafield Five Are Released Without Charge
When I first saw this story a few days ago, I thought it was quite a waste of police time. So now the five, who were arrested have been released without charge.
How much did this all cost the taxpayer?
An Uplifting Moment
There is an old Chinese proverb that says that a long journey starts with a single step. This is actually a mistranslation of Lao-Tzu. A better form is “Even the longest journey must begin where you stand.”
What it doesn’t say is that there are a lot of steps in a long journey.
I was walking down Upper Street this lunchtime and I saw an aircraft crossing over the Angel. Even at that distance, I saw it was a biplane and despite my supposedly bad eyesight, I thought it was a de Havilland Dragon Rapide.
de Havilland Dragon Rapide Over Islington
This picture was taken when it crossed in front of me, as I stood by Barclays Bank at the start of Essex Road.
So why is this an uplifting moment? I seemed to be the only person who spotted this iconic aircraft from the 1930s and despite my dodgy eyesight, I was able to identify it and then take several photographs.
My only regret was that I only had my little Nikon CoolPix.
So perhaps I’ve taken another step along that long road!
Blunders
I like this quote from Friedrich Neitzsche
Is man one of God’s blunders? Or is God one of man’s blunders?
I know where I stand.
Libel Reform Campaign
I received this letter from the Libel Reform Campaign, whose aim is to stop the law of libel being used to silence critics.
Look out on BBC 1 tonight at 10:40pm for the next part of the BBC libel series: See You in Court. The program will follow science writer Simon Singh through his case and through the beginning of the Libel Reform Campaign.
We have been scrutinising the Government’s draft Defamation Bill since its publication in March, and tomorrow we will be appearing before a joint committee of the Lords and Commons in Parliament to tell them what we think, and discuss the Government’s proposals. You can come along to Committee Room Six between 9:30 to 10:30am to support us, or watch online on the Parliament website [http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/joint-select/draft-defamation-bill1/].
We’re heaping pressure on Government to ensure they deliver a bill that is fit for the internet age. The bill isn’t quite there yet so if you haven’t already done so, please ask your MP to sign EDM 1636, to show their support for substantive reforms [http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2010-11/1636]. You can find your MP and their email address at www.theyworkforyou.com.
I have written and urge everybody to do the same.
Here’s my letter.
I am writing as one of your constituents who has spent a lifetime developing ideas, that bring wealth, employment and better standards of living not just to this country, but hopefully the whole world. I am also deeply concerned about the effect our libel laws have on medicine, science, journalism and literature. I very much support the Libel Reform Campaign, especially as my late wife was a barrister, who knew the field of defamation and its limitations and excesses well, although she practised in a more worthwhile field.
I would urge you to sign cross-party EDM 1636 Libel Reform welcoming the publication of the Government’s recent draft defamation bill and calling for improvements to fully protect citizens’ rights and the public interest.
I believe, along with the Libel Reform Campaign, that any individual whose reputation is damaged by a false and defamatory statement should have recourse to the law. But beyond that we need to protect discussion of matters of public interest and expressions of opinion.
This draft bill recognises that England’s libel laws are unfair, outdated, complex and costly, and that as a result they chill free speech. It must ensure that final legislation matches our objectives.
Will you please sign EDM 1636 Libel Reform or if you can’t then pleasesign other EDMs that indicate support for its objectives?
Feel free to copy.
More Works At Dalston Junction
The pavement at Dalston Junction station was partially blocked again yesterday and the bus-stop had been moved back a hundred metres.
More Roadworks at Dalston Junction Station
But at least it appears there are only putting in new kerbs. Hopefully, to make a permanent bus stop outside the station.
Strength Through Adversity
Sarah Stevenson has just become World Champion at her weight in taekwondo in South Korea.
The 28-year-old from Doncaster only made a belated decision to compete in South Korea as both her parents are seriously ill – her mother Diane has terminal cancer and her father, Roy, a brain tumour.
But she still won. Well done, Sarah!
Stories like this give me the strength to continue my fight!
The Anonymous Widower 