A Few Words To The World Nuclear Association.

This week I was on a  Kick Nuclear picket outside of the Central Hall Westminster.

This is where the World Nuclear Association was holding its 37th Annual Symposium.

Delegate to this years gathering came from such companies as: –
Westinghouse, EDF, AREVA, Rosatom, Urenco, BHP Billiton and TEPCO.

At the start of start of yesterdays morning session a few remarks were made about the PR problems which the industry now faces.

Just to illustrate this point: –
The Complete text of the Kick Nuclear leaflet was read out to the gathering.

Here is that text: –

Planning For More Disasters.

Today the World Nuclear Association is holding its 37th Annual Symposium at the Central Hall,
Westminster.

This year the conference is entitled Back To Business.

They will be discussing a radioactive future for us all.

– Yet children in the Ukraine are still being born with chronic illnesses, which results from the Chernobyl disaster.

– Yet the Fukushima nuclear disaster is still unfolding.

– Yet rising sea levels threaten to engulf many existing atom plants, such as at Sizewell on the Suffolk coast.

– Yet we still don’t have any long-term solutions about just how to safely store all the existing radioactive waste.

– Yet the nuclear industry still wants to construct more atomic plants, such as at Hinkley in Somerset, Sizewell in Suffolk, and many other places around the world.

Back to Business Poses a Danger to Us All.

There is an alternative to such a radioactive future.

– We can get our power from non-polluting small-scale local wind, tidal, solar and wave power sources.

We can cut our power consumption by insulating our homes

We can create a better future for us all.

Kick Nuclear. c/o 5 Caledonian Road,
LONDON NI.

http://kicknuclear. org

Question The SAMI Certificate.

The Security Association for the Maritime Industry international
certification programme is an scheme run by SAMI
( The Security Association for the Maritime Industry ).

Referring to these Standards & Certification,
SAMI states that they have introduced:
‘a level of compliance and scrutiny to ensure that the maritime
industry can easily identify reputable private maritime security
companies.’

One of the companies which has gained this certification is the Trident Group.

It is also one of the 30 membership companies which makes up SAMI.

During may Lloyd’s List identified some Trident armed guards in a video shooting at a pirate skiff  .

Here are two quotes from the newspaper story: –

‘ The International Association of Maritime Security Professionals
issued a statement on its website stating that the PMSC in the
video had employed a questionable use of force … ’

While SAMI stated that it: –
“clearly demonstrates that clarification on the rules for the use of
force is needed”

Clearly the activities of  Trident,
and worth of  the SAMI certificate,
do need to be very closely examined.

An ‘Armed Force’ & Not A Constabulary.

There is yet more evidence about how the Civil Nuclear Police
Authority [ C.N.P.A. ] views itself as running an ‘Armed force’,
rather than a more traditional constabulary.

This evidence comes from a news piece about Brigadier Mike Griffiths,
[ soon to be Chief Executive of the C.N.P.A. ] ,
in the Carlisle based News & Star.

Within the article their is a reference to the Civil Nuclear Constabulary as being a ‘specialised armed force’ which is currently responsible to DECC ( the Department of Energy and Climate Change ).

Though it has just too many links to the MOD ( War Office ) for my liking.

Griffiths is currently the British Army’s director of personnel,
and holds the title of Colonel of the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment.

Paper Targets

Here is the latest CNC tender which is now online.

Paper Targets for the Civil Nuclear Constabulary.

‘ Paper targets which comply with either the ACPO recommended type for re-qualification shooting or which comply with the CNC requirement for tactical shooting practices.’

This contract is worth £10000 – £ 15000.

I wonder which companies will be interested in supplying all this paper?

CNPA Annual Report 2011-2012

The Civil Nuclear Police Authority Annual Report & Accounts 2011-12 is now online.

Of particular interest are the following: –

– Page 14 – Firearms training.

– Page 18 – Which refers to its relationship with the Special Branch.

– Page 19 – Which shows the CNC exposure to radiation .

– Page 23 – Which refers to Hinkley.

and

– Pages 25 – 26 on climate change & greenhouse gases.

What is very noticeable throughout the report are lots of photographs of the CNC carrying some very heavy-duty weapons.

Very Scary !

Cuts Cuts Cuts Cuts Cuts Cuts Cuts and More Cuts, or The Real Cost Of The 2012 olymics.

So here we go: –

Cuts in education.
Cuts in the number of hospital staff.
Cuts in library expenditure and opening hours.
Cuts in spending upon Museam and art galleries.
Cuts in social spending.
Cuts in the support for public transport.
Cuts in the support for energy conservation.
Cuts in help for the elderly.

Cuts.
Cuts.
Cuts.

Yet millions & millions are being spent on the 2012 olymics.

My prediction for next year
2013 : –

More cuts in education.
More Cuts in the number of hospital staff.
More Cuts in library expenditure and opening hours.
More Cuts in spending upon Museam and art galleries.
More Cuts in social spending.
More Cuts in the support for public transport.
More Cuts in the support for energy conservation.
More Cuts in help for the elderly.

While we will still be paying for the 2012 olymics.

While tax payers money is still being spent on Nukiller weapons.

Going Underground Or Just Going Missing ?

A couple of years ago I put together a few notes for an article
about people who have to go and live underground,
or just go missing.

The idea of this article was to examine just how people might live
this way within an increasingly networked society.

In my notes I referred to Bob Robinson as B,
although I now know that his real name is Bob Lambert.

I never got much further than penning these few notes.

It is highly unlikely that I will ever complete this piece,
but you might find these notes of some interest.

– – – – – – – – – – – –  — — – — – — – — —

The Networked Society.

What ever happened to B?

We can all tell stories about people we spent some time with in ones younger years, but with whom we have lost contact.

B was someone that I knew as a political activist over a
quarter of a century ago. Over time I moved on and lost
contact with him.

Continue reading Going Underground Or Just Going Missing ?

Vertical Wind Turbines.

There are a lot of people who do not like wind turbines to be
placed in the countryside.

The real problem is not where they are constructed,
but how to generate electrical power just where it is needed the
most:  –
i.e.  In our cities or urban centres.

I was in centre of Bristol last week, and came upon the site of a
vertical wind turbine which is installed on top of a roof.

It looked very elegant indeed.

There are a lot of very good technical reasons why this type of
vertical turbine in ideal for use within urban areas.

The are many different models to choice from.

Some of them are also being used in offshore wind farms.

There are also a lot of very imaginative designs for windturbines
which have been and are being developed right now.

I look forward to the day in which they become just as common a
sight as the urban fox.

Setting The Standards

There are some things which just annoy me,
those which worry me,
and others which really alarm me.

Fire extinguishers being used to prop doors open,
a failure to appreciate the importance of regular fire equipment
tests,
missed fire drills,
&
the failure to hold regular health and safety surveys combine all
of the above for me.

It is not because I’m worried about all the fire or Health and
Safety regulations as such.

It is not because I’m worried about complying with the legal
requirements to do so.

My concerns are far more fundemental than that.

It is because failing to deal with these things can result in either
someone being either killed or seriously injured.

Failures in the past.

It was a failure to deal with the dangers of fire in the past which
resulted in the kind of fire regulations which we now have in place.

For example: –

The Triange fire.

The Kings Cross fire.

The Tooley Street fire.

&

That at the Alhambra Theatre which resulted in the creation of theatre fire curtains.

It was also as a result of trade union action to save peoples lives
that these health and safety regulations came in to place in the first place.

This is an ongoing campaign.

Setting the standards.

We should not be forever going on about it’s a nuisance,
or costs too much money and time to do.

We should not just be complying with the various fire,
or Health & Safety standards.

We should  setting our own much higher standards.

This goes hand in hand with campaigning to improve what are in
the building regulions.

As radicals we should be working to create living spaces which
go way beyond the regulations,
and show just how this can be done.

Meanwhile in Cumbria.

Which brings me on to the very latest job vacancy for the
Civil Nuclear Constabulary.

It’s for a Health and Safety Officer based at Windscale/
Sellafield.

The best line in this ad being:

‘ We help keep the nation safe. You keep our people safe.’

Now how’s that for an interesting way of thinking?

Samsung On Jeju Island

Yesterday I took part in a protest outside of the Samsung shop on Tottenham Court Road.

Here is why.

The Korean Government are destroying Kangjung Kurumbi in order to construct a new naval base.

It is on the Jeju Island.

Samsung are the main construction company which is building the new Jeju navel base.

Samsung are a major arms company.

There is an International Campaign for the Health and Labour Rights of Samsung Electronics Workers

Join the Global Campaign to Save Jeju Island.

And More ….

Samsung are also one of this years Olympic sponsors,
which is another reason why we should all boycott the event.