What’s Up
Rant: Planning Palarva
Last night the Government hammered home the final nails in the coffin of the Planning application process, to ensure that the public no longer had any grounds for objection.
And in their usual chicken-shit style, they have also fobbed off responsibility for the unpopular decisions to an unelected quango, in a vain attempt to shield themselves from a voter backlash next election.
+20Bye Bush (a poem)
Written in the wake of this week’s visit by the evil bastard…
You started out with buying off Republican selection,
you had your cousin rig the votes in Florida’s election,
your daddy talked to his old pals, Donald, Ken and Dick,
and they agreed to help you give democracy a kick.
+26Farewell Liberty – It was nice knowing you
No real surprise that last night the government managed to push it’s new anti-terror legislation through Parliament, albeit with the narrowest of margins.
Despite the fact that this bill is likely to be killed before it reaches the statute books (either in the house of Lords unless the government invokes the parliament act, or in the EU human rights commission, which the government can’t influence too much), I can’t help but wonder what the hell the Whitehall worms are thinking.
+23Rave: The Future of Energy?
Already being done in New Zealand, but worth a look:-
…and this is worth a look too:-
GM bacteria that excretes crude oil
+23Hmmm – that sounds familiar
Nice to see bonnie Prince Charlie talking about protecting the rainforest from ever-increasing deforestation.
Most importantly, Charles is talking about the introduction of a rainforest tax, paid by wealthy countries to countries such as Brazil, in exchange for not continuing with the unrestricted chop-slash-and-burn approach.
Just over a year ago, we suggested the same thing
Looks like we are still ahead of our time ;)
+19Election Inspiration
Despite the suggested small increase in voter turnout, today’s local council elections got me to thinking about a different way of doing things…
Firstly – let’s assume that Douglas Adams was right: the mere fact that someone wants to represent you in parliament should immediately exclude them from ever being allowed to do so.
But if no-one who wants to be an MP or councilor is allowed to be and assuming we agree that at least part of the job is necessary, how do we decide who does the job?
+17Winter returns
This morning we woke up to the rather picturesque sight of an unexpected snowstorm on Saturday night. 4 to 5 inches of snow and not a tyre track or footprint to be seen.
See the photos.
It’s not unknown to have snow in April, but it’s been a fair few years since we had such a heavy dusting, especially after such a mild winter and with an early spring.
The view certainly beats any TV rubbish and being on a Sunday I didn’t have to drive in it (result!)
Shortly after the photos were taken, the sun peeped out between a break in the clouds and within an hour it was all slush. Never mind… 
+13