Thanks to Janey Doyle , Wiltshire BBC Online News for the Headline.
Apparently the solar panels with this construction would be four miles wide and two miles long with panels that would stand roughly the height of a double decker bus.
Not surprised the Council and the locals are objecting to it , sounds an absolute monstrosity and apparently the substation is some distance away from the site that would connect it to the National Grid, so where would all the power go?
Oh well, it’ll have to go to Central Government for approval and guess what will happen.
Thanks to Reuters News and BBC News Online for this Headline
It’s hard to know how this could possibly be happening. Apart from the fact that Chrystia Freeland does have Ukranian heritage, and just happens to have played Trump at his own game when it came to negotiating tariffs on behalf of Canada when she was Minister of International Trade (2015 to 2017). Ms Freeland also is an ex- journalist, which seems increasingly a qualification to be successful in Politics.
Interestingly enough on her mother’s side during the aftermath of World War two her mother was born in Germany in a hospital administered by the US Army. Chrystia herself was born in Canada and until her recent appointment by Zelensky was MP for Toronto.
So Zelensky is beefing up his International Economic Power with the aim of reconstructing Ukraine when the War is over , if it is ever over. Meanwhile with houses in Canada, Ukraine and London, Chrystia is well placed to cover the ground wherever she is needed.
Thanks to Jimmy Rice output editor Sky News Online for the Headline
Glad to say someone is addressing the dearth of support there is for people who are economically challenged and cannot access the appropriate levels of internet support. Nowadays it is essential to have access to the internet and we need to make the information that makes it so more available to people.
In an economy that has been led by people with their head in the clouds for far too long, there have been so many left behind. The internet, ie. e.mail, web site searching and doing transactions online is now a necessary part of life. It needs to be accessible and secure . Security is key, we must not shy away from that fact. With accessibility comes responsibility too.
I’m glad to see that some of the Private Providers are offering deals for those who are economically challenged. Though again I think it’s dangerous that there are people out there in the UK , who for whatever reason cannot access anything and it is unacceptable that a Government of any Country allows that situation to occur. It should be part of every Citizen’s rights and a duty of the Government to ensure fairness and accessibility.
Thanks to Michael Ribbeck of the Swindon Advertiser for the Headline
In my mind to keep everyone that is frail safe they should have access to this service for free. Also we should value the service and the people that work to provide it. It should be like how the Japanese view their care, that it is an “honour” to care for people who cannot care for themselves.
Apparently those that do have the telecare service pay what they have always paid along with the budgeted increases but have noticed a deterioration in the service. That is not right. If they pay more the service should improve
With the modern digital culture and high speed broadband, everyone should have access to help if they need it . It should not be a question of if people need to pay for a better service.
The opportunity should be to review what is needed , where it is needed and what is the most effective technology and human input to achieve it. In the long run that will save money and reduce distress for those who need the support.
Thanks to Euro News online and Gregory Holyoke for the Headline.
This article is inspiring as it tells me about a place called Arwa Amba in northern Ethiopia where a group of Ethiopian’s have set up a community that has the values of equality , peace and pacifisim. The purity of the idea came from a young Ethiopian man who saw the unfairness in his daily life and wanted to live a different way.
It has survived and thrived successfully and consists of around 500 to 600 people currently living in the northern mountains of Amhara over 550 kilometres from the capital , Addis Ababa. It’s principles as a community have addressed poverty, exploitation and gender inequality. For me it represents a beacon to everyone else not just in Ethiopia but throughout the World.
It has faced challenges to survive over the last thirty years it’s been part of the Ethiopian Landscape. At the moment, however, it faces it’s biggest challenge . As the Peace Lovers are surrounded by warring factions on all sides.
My hope is that the conflicts that they are surrounded by do not destroy what surely should be preserved as a better way to live than arguing about money and land rights.
Thanks to Liam Gilliver from Euro News Online for the Headline
PFA’s are known as forever chemicals as they take ‘forever’ to break down therefore when the products they are made of are disposed of then they stay in the earth , water and air of the planet we live in.
This legislation has taken a long time to come into force, considering the great French Environmentalist Jacques Cousteau was a pioneer in showing the World the beauty of the sea and how it could be decimated by waste and abuse caused by human activity.
Even now , the legislation has been watered down, with Tefal the French owned non-stick pan company preventing the products that they use to achieve their non-stick coating being banned as Tefal has said that they stopped using PFOA’s ( a forever chemical known for it’s heat resistance properties) in 2012 and what they use now( another forever chemical) , has no record of being linked to cancer causing properties.
In truth I would never buy a non-stick pan or indeed an aluminium pan coated with non-stick. I tend to go for stainless steel, cook at lower temperatures and try not to burn stuff. I suppose with eggy bottoms then a good scrubbing brush with a bit of bicarbonate soda works miracles. So I’m not so sure how successful Tefal is but like Renault, the French like to protect their industry so the Tefal lobbying obviously worked.
The good news though is for clothes and make-up , products that use PFA’s when there are perfectly good alternatives to make the product are now banned. Result
Let’s face it the majority of us want to avoid risk and will not buy products however cheap that cause illness and desolation. Well done the French Government and let’s hope everyone else will follow.
Thank you to Suzanne Leigh and BBC Online News for the Headline
I choose not to continue the media hype, it’s a case currently highlighted and does not need me to further publicize the complainant.
Frankly when the incidents occurred that caused this debacle, the lady concerned was 15 years old, so I cannot see how you can argue that she was capable of making a decision that would mean her Citizenship of the UK would be revoked. So personally I think the Government is trying to defend that which cannot be defended.
However, as the Media (probably the liberal media) has taken hold of this and has made two films about it, with a lot of discussion in newspapers and television about the case. The said young woman now is in a refugee camp in Syria with no nationality as her Bangladeshi parentage does not entitle her to live in Bangladesh either, the Bangladeshi’s have refused her entry to Bangladesh.
She was born in the UK and has up until she left the UK at 15 only ever lived in the UK. Went to school here. So refusing her reentry and encouraging her to go to Bangladesh, stinks of the worst drunken pub rascist saying ” go back to where you came from” to someone who is a second generation Britain , but who is not as white as said rascist.
This was our Government then and it seems our Government now wants to follow through on that line. Which absolutely seems incredible to me and strikes me as desperation for votes from the quiet majority of homespun supremacist’s who crawl out of the woodwork to vote in elections that matter to them. Anything to do with race or the death penalty.
I have no idea what the Security Forces know about this woman and if there are concerns about her motives. The reality is that if she does return to the UK then she should be closely monitored and it must be quite clear to her that if radicalisation is still part of her make up , then that is a criminal offence and will be treated as such. We are not powerless, and we need to be able to deal with that should it occur, using the Criminal Laws of this Country.
What I find unacceptable is the emphasis on her appearance and this hair, makeup and sunglasses idea , it shouldn’t matter what she looks like. She was born in the UK and she is our problem or if the Human Rights Lawyers and Her Media Supporters are right our solution , not anyone else’s.
Yes she may need financial support when she comes back, let’s face it with youth unemployment in the UK as bad as it is , she may have needed that anyway if she stayed. What is everyone so scared of , do we not think we have the resource to deal with her. I actually think if we continue to disown her and leave her in what is the maelstrom of the Middle East that we may turn her completely against any chance of leading a humane life. She was misguided at 15, I’m sure lots of people have made mistakes at 15 , and wouldn’t expect to pay for that mistake for a lifetime. If she has committed international crimes try her, but to continue denying her rights that she was born with , is basically wrong and makes the Government look foolish.
This is an AI generated image which represents the fear of the unknown.
Thanks to James Rodger Content Editor at Birmingham Live for the Headline
Apologies to those of you in the World who have serious snow. As you can see by the headline, we in this part of the United Kingdom are worried at the threat of 2 inches.
This is genuine concern as there may well be a shortage of grit, the grit delivery lorries may be in for a service or in truth the drivers may have been made redundant having refused to agree to changes in their employment contracts which the local Councils have imposed in order to save money from already restricted budgets. There are always good reasons why things don’t happen.
So when you are stuck on the Motorway and your cell phone signal has stopped due to the cold weather be grateful that you were warned about this situation and you were told to travel only if your journey is necessary. Was it necessary? Do people just randomly hop in their cars and go somewhere without reason. Are they prone to snow blindness or just plain stubborn?
The article was a bit naughty really on two fronts. I think it was written to make me read the adverts and generate revenue and also the weather maps the journalist refers to say the worst snow will be in Ross and Cromarty which is in Scotland not England which might have ten inches of snow. So a mere two inches seems pretty miserly.
In truth there is no guarantee this snow will happen, I think actually it’s just something to write home about. Still “Snow Day” isn’t until the beginning of January when everyone will be going back to work after their holidays. Maybe they just want to depress us even further with the thought of having to scrape the outside of the car ( for those of you without heated windscreens) or topping up the windscreen wash in the freezing cold. Never mind having to fit winter tyres or snow chains as those in Serious Snow Countries do.
Thanks to Nick Alipour, news reporter for Sky News Online, for the Headline.
My initial thought was I wonder where that is and I was surprised to read it was the Philippines. Yes a rarely reported fight between Maoist Insurgents and the Phillipino Government has been going on for 56 years with the numbered dead being 60000 as a result of the conflict.
Each Christmas Day during those 56 years they have respected the locals need for a day of Peace and have had a ceasefire. One year a period of four days was proposed, however, there seems to be a theory that either side can use the ” Christmas Peace” for propaganda purposes, the people on the ground whose daily lives are affected are by the conflict are so desperate to have peace that the protaganists use the “Christmas Truce ” to persuade the people that they “care” about them.
Once Christmas is over, however, it’s back to the fight for their beliefs and the conviction that they know what is best for the population and to fight is necessary.
The article explains that there are more “conflicts” going on in the World than anytime since World War Two. It’s a sad fact and I don’t need to tell you which one’s grab the Headlines. The Peace Research Institute in Oslo has identified 61 conflicts that were active in 2024 so most don’t reach the eye of the general public .
The pain and suffering for the populace in those conflicts, not covered by the Global Media Machine, may avoid sensationalism of the suffering of the population ; but are those that are not covered , not covered because it is not in the Global Interests to do so? After all who owns the media? The old adage follow the money works well here.
A rural skirmish which enables land , oil or mineral rights to be distributed elsewhere, or picked up at a knock down price may be the real reason behind not reporting the facts. Land that would otherwise be fertile and farmed with a good water supply may be cleared of people for the sake of mining. Rural farming is inefficient and we need to progress. We need growth, more than we need the people to grow.
These may be the Global Goals of enterprises who have long lost the promise of Empire and now rely on their business partners and interests to maintain the status quo. Using Global resources to fill the coffers of their bank accounts to have financial security and have a banking industry that will offer self- perpetuating finance to those whose next project/ fight is on their to do list.
Thank you to Wendy Hurrell BBC Online News for the Headline
Nice to know that Sir David Attenborough loves his home town , particularly the area he was brought up in London, which is Richmond, South-West London , on the door step of the borough’s Royal Park which Sir David has been enthralled with since a child.
He is nearing his hundredth birthday and still making wildlife films , but this one “Wild London” must be a labour of love. From the humble hedgehog to the introduction of Beavers by the Ealing Beaver Project.
There have been, over the years ,films made about wild animals in London, I remember seeing one about foxes after the scare stories of foxes entering peoples houses in London. I think some woman thought it was after her young baby. Truth is if people in Cities can learn to live with their wild animals everyone will be better off and if the Powerhouse of energy and knowledge that is Sir David Attenborough is behind it then all the other organisations’ promoting wildlife are being helped too.
Lovely to hear that Sir David is still as enthusiastic about the Wild as he was when he started out and that he got the chance to make a programme in his own home town.
thenotsomightyom 