How do We get Drugs out of the Music Business?
Yesterday we had the tragic death of Whitney Houston. Not necessarily from drugs, as we don’t know yet. But it does seem that every star in the music business seems to have fought addiction at some time. And in many cases, it’s killed them or assisted them on their way!
They set a very bad example to young people! And to everyone in fact!
But last night at the Grammys did anybody speak up against drugs? Not that I have seen in any report! They gave Whitney Houston a tribute, but didn’t say how stupid she was to get involved in drugs and alcohol.
WIll This Greek Package Work?
The Greek government passed a new package of austerity measures last night as this report says. but will the Greek public accept it? As Greeks by repute seem to feel that taxes are optional, I doubt that this deal will stick.
Could Fracking Be The Saviour of the North?
I can remember a documentary on the BBC in probably the 1960s about how a Scottish company extracted oil from shale rock. I don’t know whether they still do. I have just found this museum to the industry and it says it closed in 1962.
According to today’s Sunday Times, there is enough shale gas in the shale deposits mostly in the north of England to last 70 years.
Now I know extracting shale gas is controversial, especially, where the process of fracking is used. There was controversy in the Blackpool are, as fracking was blamed for a couple of small earthquakes. Read about it here.
But then there was controversy, when horseless carriages first arrived on British roads and they had to be preceded by a man with a red flag.
I’m not saying there is no risk from fracking, but I do think, that with proper research fracking will be safe to use in many places in the world.
And eventually, it will be used in many places in the UK, when the problems are sorted out. After all, we mined coal for years, despite the subsidence risk nearby.
And remember that for the same amount of energy coal produces forty-percent more CO2! This is because coal is pure carbon, whereas natural gas is a mixture of Hydrogen H2 and Methane, CH4, so it produces a large proportion of water when it burns.
Hopefully, I’ll know more later in the week, when I have gone to the Geological Society of London to hear a lecture.
The other thing about shale gas in the UK, is that it is located where we need jobs; in the north of England. So it becomes a vote winner for whoever wants to play the shale gas card.
Any extraction of shale gas, should be linked to two measures.
1. A local extraction tax, that goes directly to the local authorities over the extraction. This was proposed in the seventies, by someone I knew, as a means of pursuing oil extraction in places like Surrey, which in his knowledgeable view was one of the most likely places to find oil in the UK. Imagine the fuss it would create if large quantities of oil were found under say Epsom. But if Surrey got enough money to build everything they needed, the reaction of some might be different.
2. Full insurance for any buildings damaged by extraction process.
Politicians and the press will see it as a simple black and white issue. Most will be against! I see it as a multi-coloured jigsaw, that must be based on sound technology.
I would start by setting up an well–funded Institute of Fracking, at a university that has the reputation to recruit some of the best researchers in the world. It may prove that fracking is a dead end but if it showed that it was economically viable in the UK, we would reap the benefit in spades.
I have just found this article from the American Consumer Institute. It makes a lot of interesting points. Note that the United States has a local extraction tax in some or all states and this seems to push opinion in various directions.
I think the worst thing we could do is ban fracking, with the second worst being to ignore it.
Whatever we do, because we have so much of this gas, we should set up some form of research institute.
There is also a page of expert opinion to the Qradilla report on the links between fracking and earthquakes at Blackpool.
Give Mothers tax break for home help, Cameron told
This was the headline on the front page of The Times today.
Lt is not a new idea, as I heard it from a senior civil servant in about 1980.
He was in the Department of Employment and had proposed that if you employed someone properly out of your salary and paid their taxes accordingly, then you would get tax relief. It wouldn’t be just for cleaners, babysitters and gardeners as in the current plans, but for any legitimate purpose.
Thus, if you were in a high paid job and perhaps felt, you’d like to start a small business, then you could employ someone to investigate if it was feasible.
As it says in today’s front page, it would cut the black economy and raise extra revenue.
It was eventually dropped, as the government’s model of the economy had no knowledge of the black one.
I hope they do now!
Lottery Fever in Nottinghamshire
Over the last few months, there have been a couple of large ottery wins in Nottinghamshire. The last one is reported here.
There has been the usual mutterings about regional bias, but it’s just a statistical freak.
Of course now, a lot of stupid people in the county will play, as they think the area is favoured by the draw.
I never play the lottery or scratch cards, as they are just a tax on the poor and the stupid.
The Bailing of Abu Qatada
In some ways this might be the best thing, as I suspect that it will be easier to monitor him outside of jail than inside it. I also think inside of jail, it will be easier to convert people to his stupid views. Various reports have shown that jails are a fertile recruiting ground for extremists of all kinds. And not just Islamic!
If we can’t pick up all conversations and communications, we aren’t as bright as we think we are. But he’s made some powerful enemies, who don’t have any qualms about killing who they want to.
And I don’t mean the US! They could get him to a US court very easily if they wanted to, because of Blair’s one-sided deal over extradition.
Our biggest problem, will probably be stopping someone killing him. After all, every right wing nutter might think, they could have their five minutes of fame. But then most of them aren’t that brave and don’t like the thought of life in jail. Indiscriminate car and parcel bombs are more their style rather than targeted assassinations.
King’s Troop Say Good-Bye to St. John’s Wood
Today was in some ways a sad day, but also a proud one, as the King’s Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery marched through St. John’s Wood for the last time, as reported here in the Westminster Chronicle. They were on their way to fire a salute in Hyde Park to mark the start of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
In the next day or so, they will ride to their new purpose-built barracks at Woolwich.
Tomorrow, they will probably be on most front pages.
One Rule for the Council Leader Another for 11,000 On Council Waiting List
If you read this article in the Daily Mail, you’ll understand the overwhelming sense of not playing fair, I got from seeing a report on this on the BBC London News tonight.
There’s an old phrase about justice not only having been done, but having seen to be done!
I of course don’t know the ins and outs of Liam Smith’s case, but having had housing difficulties many years ago, I can sympathise with those on the waiting list. If as the BBC says Mr. Smith earns enough to rent in the private sector, he should do the decent thing and stand aside for one of the less fortunate in his borough.
Too Fat For His New Sofa
This was from today’s Sunday TImes.
A disgruntled consumer says her £2,000 sofa suite should come with a “weight warning” after her husband was told he was too fat to sit on the edge of his seat.
Perhaps if he lost weight, they might be able to buy a better quality sofa for the same money.
Forget the Superbowl! The Biggest Game Tonight Will be the Battle of Rosario
Last time there was a small skirmish in the South Atlantic, we had just a few dozen marines on the Falklands and South Georgia. This time, I hope we’re better prepared militarily, with HMS Dauntless, probably a submarine, several advanced fighters and quite a few ground troops.
I suspect though that the troops won’t be watching the Superbowl, as at the same time the opening salvo in the next skirmish in the South Atlantic will be taking place in Rosario. This time, though it will be eleven brave women, armed just with sticks, taking on Argentina in the final of the Champions Trophy, after beating the other old enemy, Germany, in the semi-final, yesterday, as is reported here.
I suspect the Duke of Cambridge wishes he could take a few people to the match in his Sea King.
The Anonymous Widower 