Tag Archives: #HeadlineTherapy

#HeadlineTherapy Norwegian influencer buys failed property development in Spain to build ‘self-sufficient’ eco-community

Thanks to Beatriz Olaizola of El Pais 50 Online for the Headline

So what happens to old property developments when they get old and die because they ran out of money, it happens quite a lot, the money flushes around and we wait while someone comes up with a bright idea to resurrect something from the rubble.

The Joya de Planes ( The Jewel of Planes) was one such project with plans for 450 houses beside a reservoir in the mountains of Alicante. Political skullduggery allowed this plot of land to be developed as it was previously owned by a Politician and despite many objections the approval for development was given and disruptive work continued until the property bubble burst in 2008 .The developer had no more funds to complete the work. Under new laws the land has now received protected status due to it’s high environmental value.

Enter in essence a new developer, a Norwegian and her Romanian Husband. They bought the land from a Bank and two private Citizens for an undisclosed sum. They do have plans which they are going to submit to develop an” eco-village”, including a school, shops and even a health centre which will need to be approval in this area of Environmental Interest.

The houses will mainly be attractive to foreigners and the development is likely to take the form of a sort of gated village, separate from the local residents who currently number 700 people. The development has received the support from the local mayor of Planes who also happens to be the deputy chief of the Infrastructure Department of the Regional Government of Valencia.

This project is mainly based on a Social Media Project run by the Norwegian lady who has gendered over 1 million hits and has started selling plots on the proposed development. Little has been agreed by the local villagers.

Surprisingly though the Mayor is already saying that any costs such as street lighting and road maintenance will have to be covered by the New Developers themselves as they local Government will not be able to afford it from their tax revenue.

The development of a Modern Eco -Village is a development by any other name and it remains to be seen what happens to the development and if it does indeed bring any benefits to the local area. Without sound financial backing , I’m not sure it’s going to work.

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#HeadlineTherapy Gas and oil prices soar and shares tumble on fears conflict could escalate

Thanks to Osmond Chia and Natalie Sherman from BBC Online News for the Headline.

The main talk around what is happening in the Middle East in our house centres around prices , that everything will go up and fuel and energy prices which have seemed to have steadied will now become unaffordable. Suddenly the prospect of not being able to do things that we now take for granted comes into play.

In truth , the advisors and analysts can produce as many graphs and detailed comments on the effect on inflation and interest rates as they like. The real effect is that we are being asked to not do things, not travel, not buy what we like from the shops, reduce our consumption, live like monks and not to rely on having any power ( energy wise or voting wise).

Waste is everywhere and certain governments just want to ensure that their War Machines and the Business’s behind them don’t collapse. Forget the little people.

It does feel incredibly unstable and for what reason? The Middle East is incredibly beautiful and it’s big enough land wise for it’s various populations, they need to learn to live together and Western Governments need to stop interfering with their infrastructure and their economies.

Also they need to stop encouraging us to buy Heat Pumps as they are not efficient and we really need to find ways of looking after our consumption of energy more rationally. I predict the traffic on the roads will reduce and having a car will become a luxury. The problem is that business’s and therefore choice will not survive.

The British Government have thought they can take the consumer for a ride , well there’s no more to give or take; with House Prices, Fuel Costs and Education loans, I think most working people are actually broke and looking at their standard of living dropping like a stone.

I saw on the news that President Trump has a rash on his neck, well if I’d got myself into the mess he’s made I think I’d develop a rash too.

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#HeadlineTherapy Bus drivers will ‘resume strike’ on Friday if ‘serious proposal isn’t met by Isle of Man Government.

Thanks to ITVX News online for the headline.

I’ve always been fond of buses and public transport generally , ever since being driven to work by a bus driver who had to deal with heavy snow, take a diversion and pick up passengers who otherwise would have been stranded. In my mind he was as heroic as Indiana Jones.

So I was saddened to read about the Vannin (in my mind Valiant) Bus Drivers on the Isle of Man having to resort to strike action to achieve equal rights for all drivers whether full-time, part-time or casual. When they are working, whatever hours they are doing they are all doing the same job and should be given the same reward.

The dispute relates to fair , consolidated and pensionable pay and requires fairness to be applied. I really don’t think that the Isle of Man Government and Bus Vannin Management have a leg to stand on.

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#HeadlineTherapy Waste firm starts turning used nappies into fuel.

Thanks to Hugh Casswell BBC News Online for the Headline

Using four chambers on a new machine that cost £1.5million to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

The first chamber in the machine will crush the nappy and sanitary waste into a compactable form while the rest of the chambers use aerobic digestion, biology and drying to safely break down the waste and convert it into inert non-organic matter, which can then be burnt and used to create energy. The material that comes out of the process is a kind of floc which can be used as a coal replacement but with a much smaller carbon footprint and of course with no biological nasties.

It sounds a no brainer as the modern nappy and sanitary towel is something that is made not to break down for convenience sake of the user. However, the waste will remain present in landfill for up to 500 years.

It’s estimated that about 400,000 tonnes of nappies are sent to waste every year, heaven knows what the amount of sanitary products are , currently most will end up in landfill.

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#HeadlineTherapy Blind refugee found dead in New York after being released by immigration authorities.

Thanks to Ana Faguy and BBC News for the Headline.

A 56 year old man who had lived in Myanamar(formerly Burma) and had to leave due to ethnic violence has died on the streets of New York having been arrested, detained and then left at a coffee shop some miles from his or his families residence. The authorities had investigated his right to be in New York and had ascertained they were valid. This was despite the fact the man, Nurul Amin Shah Alam was blind and did not speak any English.

In the article the Border Authorities implied it was kinder to drop him off somewhere warm and comforting like a coffee shop , rather than just kick him out of their premises after interrogating him. This argument fails miserably when it turned out that the coffee shop was closed. Somewhat worse was that the Homeland Security Department wrote a summary of what happened saying that he “showed no sign of distress or disability requiring special assistance.” The man was blind.

The temperatures in New York after dark were heading into minus figures, having probably never risen above 1-2 degrees the whole day. The people who left Shah Alam didn’t care , they just wanted their burden removed.

What is even more infuriating is that Shah Alam had the right to stay, otherwise they would have sent him to one of their holding areas where he would have been at least safe and warm even if the conditions may have been overcrowded.

Instead despite establishing that he had been given sanctuary in America, he was abused by a system which clearly has no respect for humanity.

There will be an investigation but the fact remains, Shah Alam had family in New York who could have been contacted and would have looked after him. It was pure cruelty to leave him on the freezing streets.

It was a random woman who had seen him lying down and” moving a bit” (three hours previous) to her report to the Police that she had seen him lying down and not moving. On the arrival of the Police he was discovered to have passed away, having presumably died of the cold and neglect.

This is an absolutely tragic story of human indifference.

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#HeadlineTherapy Major bank faces £600 million hit after UK mortgage lender collapses.

Thanks to Temie Laleye and GB News for the Headline

The bank in question is Barclays who appear to have been duped into lending to an unscrupulous UK mortgage lender “Market Financial Solutions”.

It’s all in the administrators hands now. The evidence shows that multiple loans were improperly secured for a number of single properties, leaving a massive shortfall in the loan to asset ration and leaving lenders exposed to losses.

There is worse news , according to Bloomberg more than £2 billion ( I assume the figure is correct and isn’t $) in loans to the bridging loan and buy to let mortgage provider (Market Financial Solutions) were provided by Wall Street Firms.

Pretty scary stuff, money chasing money and a House of Cards Scenario. Let’s hope it’s not the World that catches the cold from the plague of financial services double dealing.

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#HeadlineTherapy The family-owned soda firm that still uses returnable glass bottles.

Thank you to Gemma Handy and BBC News Online for the Headline

Twig’s Beverage in Shawano County in Wisconsin continue to use glass refillable bottles to provide their customers with their well known soft drinks which are made with sugar and not high fructose corn syrup.

There most well known product is “Sun Drop” a citrus-flavoured soft drink developed in the 1940’s.Today the brand is owned by US drinks giant Keurig Dr Pepper, but Twig’s continues to make their drinks under license for sale in Wisconsin and remains an independent family run Company.

Some of the refillable glass bottles are as old as 60 years old and are still going strong. This is truly an amazing business model which with an estimated 127 billion plastic bottles purchased every year in the United States Twig’s is a beacon of hope to everyone that there is a better way of providing for the consumer.

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#HeadlineTherapy “Dog ambassadors” to be deployed at beauty spot.

Thanks to Sarah Turnidge and BBC Online News for the Headline.

The beauty spot is near Stroud and is a common where free roaming Cattle can be grazed by ancient right and is managed by the National Trust.

A suggestion has been made to have volunteer “dog ambassadors” to encourage people to do what they should be doing ie. dispose of dog waste safely and also to be aware of the danger to livestock of dogs that are out of control and that are a danger to themselves and others.

I do think it could be a voluntary role that would be helpful Nationally. There is such a strong ethic among dog owners that they know what is best , that I think it would be a difficult but a worthwhile task.

We all need sometimes to be reminded what is appropriate and I do like the idea that a ” Dog Ambassador” is making sure that the dog is being looked after by the owner, the dogs need to be protected from us , just as much as we need to be protected from bad behaviour from owners.

It’s the first time I’ve heard of this and it does seem a good idea.

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#HeadlineTherapy Ex-MP main beneficiary of Covid fraud , court told

Thanks to Steve Jones, Bradford Crown Court and BBC News Online for the Headline

In a Crown Court in Bradford a Court Case is in progress where an ex Government Justice Minister appointed by Gordon Brown is on trial along with several others for basically saying they were running a Covid Testing facility and in actual fact they were giving out false results or no results at all to an unsuspecting population and getting a Government handout for doing so . It’s estimated that they made £6 million in 31 days.

Thankfully we are seeing some of these cases come to fruition, the five people involved who are on trial are charged with fraudulent trading, causing a public nuisance and money laundering.

Remembering back to those times and the fear that overcame us all with the situations that arose where normal social interactions ground to a halt and suddenly we were separated from loved ones at key times in their and our lives. We couldn’t see them in hospital or attend funerals for the sake of protecting everyone from infection. The charge of causing “a public nuisance” seems to me an understatement.

However it is a relief to see justice in action, it is horrific that all this money has been wasted and that no one in Government was qualified to say that these people were charlatan’s and should never have been put in the position they were. Justice Minister indeed!

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#HeadlineTherapy Chocolate kept in anti-theft boxes as shops warn it’s being stolen to order

Thanks to Simon Browning and BBC Online News for the Headline

Easter is coming and Chocolate is going to be in demand. Shelves full of the stuff, some better quality than others. Believe it or not in one London shop they are having to lock up ” Cadbury Dairy Milk” as it’s been targeted by thieves who obviously have no taste, haven’t they heard of Green and Black’s 70% Organic Cocoa?

Hidden pockets in coats to stash away Cadbury Cream Eggs. Sad to say these thefts have a knock on effect on retailers, both on their bottom line and on staff morale. It’s no big deal a few bars of chocolate is it?

Thankfully the Police are taking it a bit more seriously as they realise these are repeat offenders who get away with it once and keep on coming back with their rucksacks to fill with illicit contraband.

I don’t know what will be the most expensive Chocolate Egg in the shops this year, but if someone walks up to you in the pub and offers you one for a tenner, you can bet your life that they are not doing it out of the kindness of their hearts but leaving a trail of frustration and angst in their path. All for the sake of Chocolate.

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