Eco bullying

Everyone talks a good environmental game, but very few actually know the rules, so the standard of play is very poor indeed. In the United Kingdom we have a series of disconnected environmental “signals” and schemes and consultations.
 
We have to be dragged almost screaming by the European Union into any cogent environmental laws and [...]

Solar Planning Laws Change

I have been handing out plenty of environmental brickbats to Government Ministers so it is really pleasant to award an environmental bouquet to Caroline Flint, who is the Planning Minister and another to Malcolm Wicks, who is the Energy Minister.
They have instituted changes to the planning rules which will make planning permission for home solar [...]

Home Information packs and energy efficient homes

People have been grumbling about Home Information Packs. These are surveys which a seller must buy and then have available to potential buyers when a home is marketed. “HIPS” are supposed to contain lots of useful information but enquiries show that less than 7% of potential buyers actually bother to read the Home Information Pack, [...]

Who is listening now?

People have compared the present state surveillance powers to those in the old communist eastern bloc countries. The comparison is unfortunately true. We are spied upon by the state (whose only justification for existence is to serve and protect us), as rigorously and with as little control and with as little respect for our fundamental [...]

Holding terror suspects without charge is locking up democracy, freedom and justice

On the 28th October 1940 Italy invaded Greece. The invasion inspired my father Nicolas Kyriakides to join the Cyprus Regiment of the British Army in Alexandria; he, along with other Cypriots, was promised that if Cypriots joined the Army after the defeat of the Axis forces Britain would grant Cyrus independence. A higher proportion of Cypriots [...]

EU renewable energy targets - renewable heat is part of the solution, not the problem, dummy!

The European Union will legally require each country in the Union to meet a certain fixed percentage of its energy by renewables by 2020 if plans announced yesterday are approved, as they are likely to be. In the case of the United Kingdom that fixed percentage is 15%. The United Kingdom has got off very lightly; [...]

Cards of Identity

In November personal information of 25 million people was “lost” by the Government. Since then there have been many cases of personal information being lost. The most recent case involves the personal information of 600,000 people, which has been lost by the Ministry of Defence. 
As well as the loss of data, stored in computer readable [...]

Stamp Duty, zero carbon homes and other gimmicks

Stamp Duty Transfer Tax is a jolly way for the Government to raise money. Traditionally, Governments have used Stamp Duty as a means of raising tax for hundreds of years; it was one of those taxes to which the American colonists objected. If you wanted to become a solicitor eighty or so years ago you [...]

Fines for Network Rail and Fines for People - but no sauce for the gander

It is much better for the environment if you can take a long journey by rail, instead of by air or plane. Unfortunately the rail way system in the United Kingdom has suffered from under investment for decades. The original railway infrastructure was built to high standards; it still needed to be maintained but maintenance [...]

Let’s restrain detention without trial

If you are in the United Kingdom and are suspected of being involved in terrorism you can be arrested and detained by the police for up to twenty eight days without be charged with any criminal offence. The Government plans to increase this 28 day period to 42 days, citing the great threat and complexity [...]