Labour trying all to hold on to power

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Gordon Brown and his cronies that were the British government of before the 2010 General Election do everything to hold on to power despite having lost the election, and this includes throwing spanners in the world of the negotiations between the Tories and the Liberal Democrats.

There is many a “new” democracy that has been formed in the recent years that must wonder as to how the politicians of this country dare try to tell them how to run their countries with them here doing the things that they do.

It was obvious to most but those absolutely blind that there was going to be an easy way for the Brown regime to relinquish power unless there was such a majority from another party that they just could not have done differently.

Gordon Brown said when the Nick Glegg had decided to talk to David Cameron first that he supported that and then immediately called him per telephone and tried to get him to go with Labour.

Aside from the fact that that party no longer is the Labour Party and should be ashamed to still use the name of a party that people died for, the current leaders of that party should be ashamed of the fact that they are running contrary to the will of the people, and that they lie to the people.

But that has not bothered them before so, I guess, why would it do so now.

Unless I am entirely mistaken I am seeing the British people, who so loudly demanded a change, ending up being stitched up by Gordon and his ilk refusing to back down and in actual fact trying to undermine negotiations between Tories and LidDems.

Mr. Brown, the nation has spoken. How do the right thing and tell Her Majesty that you are going.

© 2010

It is not “It's the economy, stupid!” but it is the stupid economy.

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The economy, oh my G-d! The stupid economy.

The problem with the economy, global and national, is that it is all but a giant ponzi scheme, only that no one seems to realize it.

The talk is always about economic growth as an indicator of a healthy economy and this is all dependent on people buying and buying more and new. But what was in all those old days when goods lasted and people did not buy as much. How did it all work then, for working it did and just fine.

For some reason ever since the beginning of the 20^th century and especially since after the two world wars the idea of the economy need to grow and grow moths by month, year by year, through permanent consumption, hast taken root.

It is a mad race by manufacturers and vendors to sell ever more products and to sell more next week than this week; never satisfied with just selling enough to make a reasonable profit and living. More and more it has to be, until everything goes south, finally.

The adage of “what goes up must come down” also holds true in this case, though not necessarily for prices; they seem to be for ever rising.

Everything is geared to growth but what is this growth? It is built upon factored in obsolescence in products in a way that would not have been the case somewhere around fifty years ago. Then things were made in such a way that they would last and could be repaired. Now everything is made with the view of breaking down not long after the warranty expires and then being irreparable – often due to a repair being several times the costs of a new product – and needing to be replaced.

Thus we have factored waste into the economy and this waste is causing us much grief in more than one area.

How did the people function in days gone by when this obsolescence was not factored into products; when in fact longevity was the aim? They worked and were happy with what they could make from the sale (and repair) of their products without even a thought of having to create a growth in the market.

Growth came in when they designed and made new products, maybe, and people bought those from them too, but not by making products in such a way that the customer had to buy new soon after again.

They would have lost customers in those days because quality and reliability were the watchwords, and people demanded that products they spent good money on lasted.

When a product said “Made in Hon Kong” you knew it was going to be cheap and nasty and for a time that also applied to “Made in Japan” and “Made in Taiwan”, but that changed when industry suddenly realized a way of exploiting the labor force in those countries, especially in Hong Kong and Taiwan, as they do now in China.

In addition to the products being made cheap, though not as cheap to the purchaser, they are expensive in the long run, due to the environmental costs and the need to being replaced all the time, as they no longer last much further than a few weeks or months after the warranty expires with the resualt of needing then to be replaced.

Another common problem nowadays is obsolescence of the consumables part of, say, computer printers. You may have only bought the printer a few months ago but suddenly find you cannot get any ink cartridges for it, neither as originals nor as generic ones. Both printer and cartridges have been superseded and that's it. You need to buy a new one.

Those are just the few examples of the stupid economy that commercial greed has created without any concern for the consumer and with less for the environment and the Planet and we must change this stupid economy back to a sane one, an economy where people and the Planet matter and not simple “growth”, as it is called, and profit to shareholders.

It is up to us, each and every one of us, to force this change. We can do it.. Every action can force change.

© 2010

Could Britain be the next Greece?

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

UK budget deficit 'to surpass Greece's as worst in EU' according to European Commission.

European Commission's spring forecasts put UK budget deficit this year at 12% of GDP – the highest in the European Union and worse than Treasury estimates, and this could have dire consequences.

The British budget deficit will swell this year to become the biggest in the European Union, overtaking even Greece, the European Commission said just before the 2010 general election in the UK, held on May 6, 2010.

The Commission's spring economic forecasts put the deficit of the United Kingdom for this calendar year at 12% of GDP, the highest of all 27 EU nations and much worse than the Treasury's own forecasts.

While the Treasury may have made such a forecast they have, ever so kindly and nicely, left the people of the country totally in the dark, claiming that we are well out of the recession and all such fairy tales.

The UK's budget shortfall was the third largest in the EU last year but will overtake both Greece and Ireland this year, according to the forecasters. Greece's measures to tackle its public finances problems are projected to cut deficit to 9.3% of GDP.

Worries about Britain's public finances – in their worst state since the end of the second world war – continue to unnerve financial markets and analysts are divided over whether a hung parliament will have the clout to rapidly reduce the deficit.

Alas, the government of the day, still the government at the time of writing, despite the fact of having, basically, lost the election, is trying too hide this truth of the state of the country's public finance from everyone and even seems to make itself believe that the problems are not there.

It is time that we all woke up to reality that we cannot go on spending money that we do not have, whether personally or as a country. But, alas, as per usual, while the people begin to understand that the government still in on a different planet in a different universe. Not that they are not there anyways most of the time.

© 2010

'Pakistan Taliban' behind NY plot, says US AG

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

… and pigs fly, says I

The US claims to have evidence the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attempted car bombing in New York's Times Square, according to Attorney General Eric Holder.

The Attorney General stated the militants helped to facilitate the plot, and "probably helped finance it".

This is despite the fact that US officials had previously rejected claims by the group that it was behind the 1 May plot. So who are we to believe?

A Pakistani-born US citizen has been charged with the attempted bombing in New York's tourist quarter a week ago.

Faisal Shazhad, 30, from Bridgeport, Connecticut, has co-operated with investigators, and admits receiving bomb-making training in the Pakistani region of Waziristan, prosecutors have said.

"We've now developed evidence that shows that the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attack," Mr Holder said on ABC television's Sunday current affairs talk show "This Week".

Please, I urge my readers to look at the term, note the US government states that is has “developed evidence” showing that the Pakistani Taliban are behind it. They have developed evidence, AC Holder says, and it is the term of developed that bothers me most of all and it should do everyone.

While AC Holder may said there was nothing to suggest the government of Pakistan was aware of the plot let's not be too surprised if suddenly the drone and missile attacks on Pakistani sovereign territory be claimed to be to hit the Taliban that designed this attack.

Let us also not forget that in the hours that followed, a claim of responsibility by the Pakistani Taliban was dismissed by the New York police. The city's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, said there was no evidence the attempted bombing was the work of al-Qaeda or any other big terrorist group.

So, what is the US panning now? A full scale attack against Pakistan? Would not surprise me but it sure would be a bad idea.

© 2010

Recycle scheme a wheel success

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

A bicycle recycle scheme, organized by sustainable transport charity, Sustrans, has provided a group of seven to 11 year olds at Edenbrooke Primary School, in Belfast, with recycled bikes.

On Monday 10th May, 2010, Councillor Pat McCarthy will be attending Edenbrooke Primary School, in Belfast, Ulster, to congratulate the group of 19 children on receiving their recycled, renovated bikes, and heavy duty bike locks.

Sustrans has worked with the school since October 2009 and appointed Jill Mcdonald as the school’s Bike It officer; a dedicated member of staff to help children overcome the barriers that are preventing them from cycling to school. Jill ran a number of cycle events before initiating the pilot recycle scheme after noting that a number of children in the school didn’t own their own bicycle.

Various Belfast City Council recycling centres donated discarded bikes to the scheme, whilst staff from the Bike Dock shop helped to repair the bikes to their former glory. The project, funded by Belfast City Council and Bike Hub, will also provide cycle training for each child to increase their confidence and cycling ability and heavy duty locks, to ensure the bikes can be kept secure.

Jill McDonald comments, “I’m delighted with the success of this pilot project. The children that have received these bikes are over the moon. We’ve received great support from Belfast City Council, Bike Hub and the Bike Dock shop, without their help the scheme wouldn’t have been so successful.

“The new bikes mean that children who wouldn’t have been able to cycle now have the opportunity to travel to school, and on other journeys, in a way which benefits their health and the environment.”

Cllr Pat McCarthy, chairman of the council’s Health and Environmental Services Committee, adds, “We’re delighted to have been involved in this project as it is a great example of our ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’ message at work, but more importantly, through our partnership with Sustrans, we have been able to make a real difference in the community. It’s great to see so many of the pupils taking off on their new set of wheels as it will also be a great benefit to their health and environment.”

Sustrans works with 10 Bike It schools in Belfast , in partnership with Bike Hub as the main funder, and support from Bike Dock Bike Shop on Ravenhill Road.

It would be good, in my opinion, to see this scheme to go nationwide, and even Europe-wide, to give bicycles to children that will benefit from them.

The idea behind this seems great and we must see that we can expand it farther.

© 2010

Enecsys to reveal solar PV micro-inverter technology for highest reliability

Enecsys to reveal solar PV micro-inverter technology for highest reliability at Intersolar Europe 2010

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Enecsys Limited is to reveal details of its ground-breaking solar PV grid connected micro-inverter technology at Intersolar Europe 2010 in Munich, Germany, June 9 – 11. The company’s solar micro-inverter will be on show for the first time, complete with its wireless smart monitoring system. Enecsys will discuss the design innovations that have been used to enhance the reliability of its micro-inverters to the point at which their life expectancy matches that of PV solar modules. The company will also discuss the accelerated life tests that underpin the expected reliability of the product.

The Enecsys micro-inverter was developed in Cambridge, UK, and is manufactured in Europe. It is the first solar PV micro-inverter designed to meet the technical requirements of both European and US markets. There will be a demonstration of the Enecsys smart monitoring software at the booth.

Enecsys will launch its solar micro-inverter and monitoring system at a press conference at Intersolar Europe 2010 on Wednesday, June 9th.

Enecsys was incorporated in Cambridge, UK in 2003. The company’s award-winning solar micro-inverter technology was originally developed at Cambridge University, one of the world’s most revered centres of technical innovation. More information is available at www.enecsys.com.

Micro-inverter architectures, with an inverter located behind each solar module, are now being widely deployed to overcome the disadvantages of conventional string systems with central inverters. Enecsys micro-inverters reduce the cost per harvested watt of energy by 15% - 25% over the life of the system. Shading caused by clouds or obstructions have minimal impact on overall system performance because power is harvested from each module individually, rather than from groups of modules strung together. This also means that installations can mix and match different modules and do not need to be on the same roof plane, multiple planes can be used to harvest more energy and systems are scalable. A potential single point of failure – the central inverter – is eliminated and dangerous high-voltage DC is not produced, according to the makers.

Not wishing to sound anti here but I, while well understanding the need for an inverter if AC is wanted, cannot see why an inverter per solar panel, for instance. Panels should be designed in such a way that they produce 12 V DC and then put together in such a way that only that voltage is being produced though the amperage being increased. The current thus produced should then charge a bank of batteries and only if AC is required should an inverter be needed.

We would really make good use of renewables if we would, finally, understand that we do NOT need 240V AC 50Hz (or 117V AC 60Hz) for most things. The opposite rather.

Most appliances today, with the exception of white goods for the kitchen, e.g. cooker, fridge, washing machine, etc., all run on voltages of 12V DC or below and requiring power converters (transformers) to step down the voltage and turn it into DC.

Your laptop, netbook, or even your desktop PC all run on low DC voltages (as long as you no longer use a CRT monitor with your desktop PC) and use much more power than necessary, in the conversion. Would they be directly fed with 12V DC and then, where needed a step down would be achieved by means of semiconductors the wattage would be so much less.

That, however, would require a completely new infrastructure at home, with a 12V DC lighting and socket circuit and one for higher voltage for use with the kitchen appliances, if required.

While everyone in power is very reluctant to suggest that and industry too – for they make good money on the big turbines and panels – this is a way that we will have to go, simply already for the fact that the wind does not always blow not do PVs produce always enough current during the day either.

This means that we need to have a way of storing the energy and that needs batteries and AC cannot be stored.

Therefore we need to work with DC of 12V, which also will make panels and especially turbines so much cheaper. In fact, as far as wind turbines are concerned, you can build your own with a windmill and an automobile/truck alternator. Not that business will tell you that. They all ride the green bandwagon and hope for huge profits from the green requirements that will come into force in the next couple of years.

© 2010

British political system has gone wrong

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The British system has turned from a parliamentary government to a presidential government where the PM and his cronies rule rather than the people.

This can also be seen in that the 2010 general election was worse than many of those in the new democracies in countries that we recently have occupied and decided to give the wonders of modern democratic politic.

It would appear that there was ballot stuffing and especially postal voting frauds, disenfranchisement of voters who were excluded from voting after having cued for hours, and, so it is understood, that groups of voters were ushered in past those that were cuing. And still the Labor Party lost.

Despite the fact that the people loud and clearly told the Labor Party and Gordon Brown that it is time for a change and that they no longer want him and his ilk he is still squatting in No.10 Downing Street and still claims to be the Prime Minister because, under the system that is so archaic that it should no longer be used, the Conservative Party, who got most votes, does not have an overall majority, and thus, a hung parliament has occurred.

And Britain dares to try and teach the world about democracy when we close polling stations with hundreds of people waiting to cast their vote. This was either total incompetency on the side of the Returning Officers and staff or intentional.

In some cases there were not enough ballot papers and no new ones could be obtained.

How difficult is it to estimate how many ballot slips one might need when an area had x-amount of registered voters. It is simple; one ballot paper per registered voter. It does not require a mathematical genius now to work that out.

What Britain needs, and many could also hold true for any another country, is a total overhaul of the political system to one where the people really hold the power and not some professional politicians.

© 2010

Greenwash everywhere

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Recently I wrote about the cloth tea bag and about the reinvention of the glass bottle for carrying (TAP) water, and at a much earlier time I have dealt with the “money for old rope” issue and also the greenwashed “Eco Button, and I wonder, to be honest, what it is going to be next that I will have to tackle.

It is not the products themselves that I have a problem with but the fact that they are being made out to be so green and environmentally friendly and marketed, often, with total greenwash and are sold at prices that are just not affordable to most ordinary punters.

US$18 and more for something that you can make yourself by simply repurposing and upcycling, in this case a glass bottle, makes no sense and is a rip off.

While I had and still do have an issue with the cloth tea bags – set of 3 for $9 – the idea of those has been around for donkeys years and been used by the poor folks of America especially in lieu of a metal tea infuser, which were expensive in the 19th century, for instance.

There seem to be no end of individual “artists”, as well as small and large companies, who seem to look at the green consumer as someone to be milked and nothing more.

Ethics? What ethics?

They seem to be employing the selfsame tactics as all capitalists do; creating a need which really is a want by claiming that this or that product is ever so green and needed for a real green lifestyle and then going after maximum profit.

I had hoped, and I sure am not on my own in this, that we all would be looking at it in a different light, including those that make things for sale, but everywhere I look there seems to be nothing but greenwash, with very few exceptions.

How, for instance, can one market bottled water as “ethical water”? And still some do. Very much in the same way as some have started to market concrete and plywood as green and environmentally friendly.

If it would not be so very sad that the ordinary punter is, as per usual, being bamboozled and fleeced, one could but laugh about it.

Talking of things bamboo, as in bamboozled; that plant, or more precise, grass, is yet another one of those where greenwash is rather liberally applied.

Bamboo flooring is being tauted as a green alternative to hardwood flooring. How that can be thus beats me for bamboo flooring is, in fact, a laminate flooring and bamboo cannot be made into planks, for instance, and boards.

The same is true for clothing made from bamboo fiber. Bamboo fiber is nothing more than a viscose and produced in exactly the same way. Nothing green about it, whatsoever, except the plant in its original form.

Integrity and ethnics seem to be short in supply even among those that produce “green” products and goods and who provide “green” services.

Even and especially products from recycled items seem to the most expensive, with one exception, it would seem, and that is TerraCycle.

The green consumer is being taken to the cleaner and, alas, he or she often does not even realize that.

And end must be put to those sharp practices and we use discernment of the highest order and must vote with our pocketbook. That is the only way the message will ever get across.

© 2010

Upcycled “TAP” Bottle

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Some people try to sell us the glass water bottle for use with TAP water as the latest green thing for around twenty bucks. Sure we can do better than that ourselves for less money, and we definitely can.

Instead of spending between eighteen to twenty two dollars for a bottle with a little fancy designs on we can make such a bottle ourselves for basically nothing. I have done so and that twice over.

There are sure a couple of different bottles out there that can be upcycled to make such a glass water bottle for our own use and I shall just give two ideas here below:

You will need:

A glass bottle (I have used a Snapple lemonade one for one and a Ketchup bottle for the other) ... and that is it. The Ketchup bottle comes from a Sainsbury's Basics Tomato Ketchup and is a little bigger in capacity than the Snapple one though the Snapple one is my favorite.

After washing out well and – maybe – if you want – sticking a label on that says “TAP” the bottle is ready for use. That simple and zero bucks, and only a little hot water and dish soap.

Truth is that for a while there will be a smell of the Ketchup and/or the lemonade in the bottle (the scent seems to be retained for a while in the seal of the cap) but that should not be too much of a problem.

The positive points here are that first of all the bottle came for nothing and two that it has taken a bottle that otherwise would have been thrown out of the waste stream. Green all around. Much greener than making new bottles for this purpose and then selling them at an extortionate price.

© 2010

Belgium bans the book

Victory for environmentalists as Europe moves towards an opt-in system for phone books?

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Belgian Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne has announced on Twitter that Belgium would adopt an opt-in system for residential telephone directories.

From 2011, white-pages directories will not be delivered in Belgium unless a customer requests one and let's hope the same will be true for the business pages as well.

The development signals a decisive shift away from mass-produced paper directories, which are often unused, putting pressure on land-fill sites, expending severe carbon emissions and wasting water and oil during production and recycling.

The white pages opt-in system in Belgium could save 3,000 tonnes of paper. The UK could spare a staggering 36,900 tonnes of paper and 32,538 metric tonnes of carbon emissions with a centralized opt-in service. This figure is based on the delivery of three different types of directory to UK households, and a predicted 41% reduced circulation - an independent poll of 1000 UK residents found that 41% don’t use phone books for directory inquiry information anymore.

Belgium’s position will heap pressure on Ofcom and other paper directory providers to move with the times. Ofcom regulations currently state that all public telephone providers must supply customers with a printed directory on request. In practice only BT fulfills this obligation, sending a white pages directory to all householders in the UK.

The term says “on request”, does it not. So why do we still get bombarded with the books, and also the Yellow Pages?

I have not used a paper directory for I do not know how long. If I cannot find the number online it will not be in the directories either as it will be unlisted.

In March 2008 Ofcom proposed removing the obligation to send a white pages directory on request. Two years on, no action has been taken.192.com say the environmental stakes are too high for any further delay.

192.com have been running a ‘Say No To Phone Books’ campaign and have attracted over 12,000 signatures to their Downing Street ePetition, which calls for the government to set up an opt-in system for phone books. The petition has recorded the fifth largest response ever for an environmental petition on the site.

Dominic Blackburn, Product Director at 192.com comments, “Britain wants to be a leading low carbon economy, and a nation-wide opt-in system would show we’re taking the lead in tackling waste. Belgium’s example should prompt other European states to follow suit, and Britain should be at the forefront of that. A Europe-wide opt-in system would be a massive plus for the environment and complement the EU directive to reduce landfill.

“Given the ongoing environmental burden of unused directories and mass public support for an opt-in system, we’re calling on Ofcom to take things a step further and say that BT should only deliver white pages directories on request and set up an opt-in system just like Belgium.”

It is more than obvious, I should think, that 192.com's campaign against the phone books, the paper ones, is resultant of commercial interests rather than the calimed environmental concerns and many of their statements ring to my ears like greenwash too.

However, as far as I am concerned, I do not use a phone book, though I still get them delivered to my address and all those books do is clutter up the shelves. The same is true with the Thompson's Local Directory that is also delivered.

192.com claims to be the UK’s most awarded online directory, helping find people, businesses and places for millions of users every month. On 192.com, users can search over 700 million records including free directory enquiries, edited electoral roll information, local business listings, interactive mapping, aerial photography and property reports.

What they don't say is that a number of those searched are not FREE but have to be paid for. If i want to search the electoral roll I go to the Library where it is free and the rest of the stuff is also found elsewhere online for free.

On the other hand the information that the annual production of phone books in Britain alone uses around 90,000 tons of paper and enough electricity to power 59,000 homes for a year.

Phone books also, so the source at 192.com, consume 680,000 barrels of oil, the annual consumption of 67,000 people, and two billion litres of water, enough to fill 800 Olympic swimming pools. From production to recycling, these phone books use 79,360 metric-tonnes of carbon emission.

And that is rather a staggering bit of waste of energy and resources. Maybe CDs with the directories would be an idea for BT to release, even as an ISO to be downloaded from the Web, maybe.

© 2010