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Off Topic News & Current affairs (merged)

Discussion in 'Charlton' started by ForestHillBilly, Feb 6, 2020.

  1. The Penguin

    The Penguin Well-Known Member

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    Yes you're right. We have built a civilisation around the wonderful benefits of fossil fuels. Too successfully really, and now wwe can't wean ourselves off them. If we had listened to the climatologists 50 years ago ...if, if if.
     
    #1601
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  2. Ubedizzy

    Ubedizzy Well-Known Member

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    It does feel as though, given our current society, that unless we can replace fossil fuels with something which is environmentally friendly but which can also produce as much if not more energy, then we are buggered either way.

    I've always thought we should be doing more to harness the natural, immense energy source contained within our tides and rivers but I’m not an expert and it seems whenever it gets suggested it is quickly dismissed as too expensive.

    At some point we might need to forget about the costs of this and whether someone can make a profit from it and start developing this natural source of energy while we still can. It seems to me that out of solar, wind or tidal, tidal is the most reliable and has the biggest potential.
     
    #1602
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  3. The Penguin

    The Penguin Well-Known Member

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    We need them all. Being an island yes tidal energy looks good, but we're quite windy too. China is even developing technology to capture solar energy from space and deflect it back to earth. Horses for courses, depending on the climate of each country.
     
    #1603
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  4. Ubedizzy

    Ubedizzy Well-Known Member

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    Yes, the sun can go in (especially if Yellowstone goes up again), we can have still weather, but the tides and rivers will never stop. It’s a vastly under used resource.
     
    #1604
  5. Ubedizzy

    Ubedizzy Well-Known Member

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    And yes, solar energy from space sounds like it’s got potential, but presumably hugely expensive.
     
    #1605
  6. The Penguin

    The Penguin Well-Known Member

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    Shouldn't worry China too much!
     
    #1606
  7. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    Chalk another one up for the Woke mob;

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-59084446

    Intolerance of any dissent is their watchword.

    Higher and further education minister Michelle Donelan said: "It is absolutely appalling that the toxic environment at the University of Sussex has made it untenable for Professor Kathleen Stock to continue in her position there. No academic should ever have to fear for their personal safety.

    "The
    sustained campaign of harassment and intimidation she has faced is deplorable and the situation should never have got this far."
     
    #1607
  8. The Penguin

    The Penguin Well-Known Member

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    Just one more example of the New Puritanism which is becoming more common on all sides.
     
    #1608
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  9. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    BORIS: It's one minute to midnight blah blah blah...

    Interviewer: So Mr Johnson, will you stop a new coal mine opening here in the UK?

    BORIS: Erm... it's not my department. Excuse me, I've got a plane to catch...

    <doh>

    So much for "It's time for Action".
    The British Prime Minister won't even stop one coal mine from being opened.
    How much of a sacrifice would that really be?

    So why should I give up driving, give up eating meat, give up heating my home properly?
    Show some leadership fo f**k's sake Boris.
     
    #1609
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  10. The Penguin

    The Penguin Well-Known Member

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    The plane is a private jet, therefore he doesn't need to rush.
     
    #1610
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  11. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    With "sustainable" fuel so we're told.

    What does that mean?
    The Jet runs on sunflower oil?
    Or the fuel itself is just as nasty as regular jet fuel, but it's made from renewable sources rather than mineral oil?
    Either way, the tons of toxic chemicals it will leave in the atmosphere will do just as much damage.

    Aren't there any trains running between Glasgow and London? (or wherever it is he's going).
    My sympathies are shifting by degrees towards Greta with every passing day.
     
    #1611
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  12. The Penguin

    The Penguin Well-Known Member

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    Boris sticks his finger in the air, sees which way the wind blows, and follows it. He was a climate-change denier as recently as 2015.
     
    #1612
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  13. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    :emoticon-0164-cash: TORY SLEAZE :emoticon-0164-cash:

    Get caught? No problem. Just change the rules.
    Funny how there was no apparent clamour to move the goalposts until now.

    Members of Parliament should not have other jobs st the same time.

    How many of them have lucrative places on boards at multiple companies?
    It's obvious that will open up all kinds of opportunities for lobbying and corruption.
     
    #1613
  14. Butterfield

    Butterfield Well-Known Member

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    I can’t remember where I read it, but I agree that MPs should wear suits like race car drivers, with their sponsors logos showing
     
    #1614
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  15. Ken Shabby

    Ken Shabby Well-Known Member

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    The key word being corruption. But I don't ever think I've seen a parliament where corruption is so cheerfully shrugged off with no consequences. Where is the incentive to obey the rules when the party will come to the rescue and bail out the infractors. The UK has rapidly moved out of the Eurozone when is comes to good government, and now seems to be on a level with the likes of some of those central American banana republics. And yet the Tories still hold a comfy lead in the polls.
     
    #1615
  16. The Penguin

    The Penguin Well-Known Member

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    They still have a loyal tribal base, which Labour doesn't any more. Labour has lost Scotland, and England is strongly pro-Brexit, which is reflected in the government. Keir Starmer has made no impression as leader of HM Opposition, and his lack of leadership means Labour is as split as ever. Accordingly the Tories feel, probably rightly, that they can do what they like and get away with it.
     
    #1616
  17. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    Fairness and morality in public offfice is like Justice.
    Not only must it be done, it must be seen to be done.

    Endless appeals and getting off on technicalities and changing the rules is not fairness seen to be done.
    These things just erode public trust ever further.
     
    #1617
  18. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    Another thing while I'm on about MPs...

    None should be allowed to be elected to the Commons until they have worked for at least 10 years at another job.
    And I mean worked. Not polished a board room chair with their backsides.

    We don't need pure-bred politicians with no experience of working life.
    Any more than we need hereditary old buffers who can sit in the Lords because Charles II was humping their great great great great grandmother.
    Or silly old Bishops.
     
    #1618
  19. Ubedizzy

    Ubedizzy Well-Known Member

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    Oh ye of little faith.....I knew good old Boris and the 'peoples friend' Jacob would come good.

    Having spent the whole of yesterday arguing to suspend the rules that would suspend their MP and having won, Boris has obviously stuck his finger in the air and sensed the change of public mood and accordingly is going to change the Tories direction and allow their MP to be suspended for 30 days. That'll teach the scoundrel. I wonder how bothered he is by a 30 day suspension with that £500,000 still safely tucked away in his back pocket.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59163961

    Still, Labour really don't stand a chance at the moment with their politicians, who repeatedly fail to understand how the public choose who to vote for.
     
    #1619
  20. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    I'll freely admit my primary motivation for where I put my 'X' since the late 1990's has been Britain's EU status.
    Jimmy Goldsmith, Nigel Farage and finally Boris got my vote.

    Next time around, I think the Pandemic and Housing might be top of my priority list.
    There is no point building more homes, only for them to be bought up by foreigners.
    By that I mean rich people who don't live in this country, and either leave those homes empty or rent them out far too expensive for working folk to afford.

    That has to stop.
    Labour have said they will stop it.
     
    #1620

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