The Aqua Lung Olympics

Three years ago the British news media reported, almost gleefully, the smog levels inBeijingbefore the Olympic Games were being hosted.  We were treated to pictures of the air pollution and it was not a pretty sight. The Chinese managed to clean up the air, temporarily, before the Olympics were actually held, by a variety of [...]

Global Warming slowed down by Aerosol Particles

Most of us have got used to thinking about climate change in terms of emissions of carbon dioxide. We have at the back of our minds that methane emissions are also a problem and that there are other greenhouse gases that humans put into the atmosphere. But climate change is not just caused by greenhouse [...]

Official figures are influenced by official agenda

When disasters happen, reports on the news either under or over estimate the extent of loss of life and damage. The reports are usually based on official estimates and officialdom has a tendency to use figures that suit officialdom. If the event is caused by an external threat then it can be used as a [...]

Bring Back Battersea Power station

For fifty years Battersea power station provided electricity to part of South London. It is located on the side of the Thames and coal barges used to arrive (usually from Newcastle) and cal was transferred into the furnaces of the power station where water was turned into steam, which was driven through turbines to generate [...]

The Pace of Climate Change

There are hundreds of different measures that people employ when it comes to climate change. Large institutions with deep pockets, like NASA or theUnited Kingdom’s Met Office use sophisticated measures which measure temperatures and events in tens of thousands of places. Some folk take their own personal measurements every day. There is a lot of [...]

No Sweet Showers

“When that April with its showers sweet The drought of March has pierced to the root” The long hot summer ofLondonstarted in February. Londoners have for centuries been used to a dry March followed by a warm wet April; May is usually a reasonably rainy month. However April and May have proved dry months in most [...]

Greed and Politicians

There are some trends in public life in which are regrettable. The spectacle of self justified greed is not a pleasant sight. It creates moral obesity. Public service has become confused with self service. In the past few months five members of Parliament have been jailed for being fraudulent with their expenses whilst serving the [...]

A Simple Guide to the Action in Libya

According to the West, they intervened in the Libyan civil war because of grave concern at the escalation of violence and heavy civilian causalities, gross violations of human rights, torture and summary executions, intimidation of the international media attempting to report these matters, and the need to protect civilians. Those were the prime reasons, set [...]

How to make an earthquake

I have already written about the risk of pollution and the global warming effect of exploiting shale gas. Many dismiss these concerns, but there is scientific evidence that supports the dangers of exploiting shale gas. Recently another unforeseen danger of shale gas exploitation has come to light – the possibility that the fracking process in [...]

The End of the World is Nigh – Sooner or Later

The world started it seems with a big bang and the world was supposed to end, according to one cleric, on 21st May last at 6 pm, although I am not sure what time zone applied. That end of the world date has now been revised to 21st October. The end of days is best [...]