Influence

I simply do not understand the argument that Britain should have influence in the world. That argument is used as a justification for remaining in the European Union, not trying too hard to change the constitution of the European Union, and a whole host of other political, economic and environmental decisions.

The proposition that Britain should have influence in the world seems to be based upon either or both of  underlying propositions

Processing Cases

I wonder what people think of justice when they meet it for the first time; perhaps it would be more accurate to use “the legal process” instead of justice, because judges of most kinds seem to be intent on processing their work as a matter of priority; processing cases is important, but it is only worthwhile if it done justly, and so much is not done justly these days; perhaps it was always thus. 

I despair when so much judicial time is wasted on process, instead on being devoted to seeing justice done.

James Hansen and Norman Baker

The debate about climate change goes round and round in circles. Each time the debate starts we seem to learn less about climate change because we get more confused. The problem with going round in circles is that eventually the destination is the same as the departure point. You never reach the end of the journey. Your energy has been wasted.

High Speed, High Cost, High Vanity

The National Audit Office has questioned the business benefits of the government’s proposal to build a high speed rail link from London through Birmingham and to the North of the country. It is expressing a view that is shared by many people, not just those whose homes or businesses will be blighted by the new railway line.

Rough Winds in May

Yesterday as much rain fell on South Wales in a day as normally falls in the month of May. Unseasonably cold temperatures make the British Isles rather unpleasant now; hail has fallen upon some and in London rough winds have shaken those buds brave enough to appear, even though their appearance has been delayed by the cold weather until now. Snow has fallen in Devon, once called the British Riviera in May.  Centrica, owner of British gas, has sold 20% more gas to households in the past six months than it usually sells over the same period in past years.

The Syrian Problem

Every day and in every way the fighting in Syria becomes more violent, more deathly and more obscene. It is impossible to define which group of fighters are the good guys and which group are the bad guys. There are claims of the use of nerve gas, although no one has yet used depleted uranium shells. There are claims of mutilation of corpses. Many innocent civilians are dead and many more are injured.

Maintaining Disbelief

The usual tactic for someone who is losing an argument to adopt is to change the argument. Another tactic is to interrupt the person who is winning the argument and not let him or her finish. There are probably a hundred ways to appear to be winning an argument while actually losing it.

Golden Bells in Poplar

When I was seven years old or so and my parents wanted to spend some time together in our small maisonette above the Home and Colonial shop in Chrisp Street Market, they would send their three children to Sunday School.
We walked though to the eastern part of Poplar to the London City Mission at Fiveways.

400 Parts Per Million and Rising

Those who measure the atmospheric carbon dioxide at Mauna Loa have recorded in March 2013 a monthly average concentration of 397.34 parts per million compared with  394.45 ppm which was recorded in March 2012.  The April figures are not yet our but in May the average concentration exceeded 400 ppm, which level of concentration the earth has not experienced for more than 5 million years. It is, in my view, certain that the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration will average more than 400 ppm by the end of this year.

We are, as humans, moving into a new place.

http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/#mlo

The Overwhelming Problem

We accept that energy in a closed system cannot be created or destroyed; it simply transforms from one kind of energy in one place to another kind of energy in another place. We accept that mass in a closed system cannot be created or destroyed. Mass and energy bear a special relationship. To each other and that matter may be converted to energy provided the energy retains the same mass.

These are clues, not solutions to the overwhelming problem.

We do not know if our thoughts ideas and feelings have energy or mass; our measuring devices are too crude. When ideas are running at speed through the brain, does it give the brain more mass? The brain certainly requires more energy to enable those thoughts to run through a mind. Where do our forgotten memories go to hide? Where do the memories of the dead reside? Memories and ideas transform into the words and actions that we have created and passed, by conduction or radiation as an inevitable inheritance to those around us that come into contact with us.

But when we die, where do our feelings go?