One of the most telling aspects about the British Monarchy is just
which companies have made Royal Warrant Holders.
Many of these companies are boycotted as a result of their activities.
Here is a list of just a few of them: –
–Boots.
– Coca Cola.
– Samsung
– Shell.
&
They also purchase ‘sporting firearms’ from Holland & Holland,
which is another company that should be closed down.
It’s time for the royals to rethink their shopping list!
Energy Issues.
I keep reading about the high prices which the energy companies
charge to their customers within Britain.
This is related to the problem of Fuel Poverty.
At the same time there is a major debate about energy subsidies.
This goes hand in glove with the idea of giving tax breaks to
‘green energy’ and carbon capture projects.
The problem about this is that the nukiller industry getting in to
the act, and erroneously claiming that these power plants help to
halt climate change.
This is the kind of argument which George Monbiot has fallen for:
– despite the fact that the mining and transport of uranium contributes to climate change.
Yet take away all of these subsidies,
and what do you get?
The use of solar and windpower as the cheapest form of energy production.
Some Real Alternative To Energy Production.
Of course the real challenge is to cut down upon the use or
energy,
or better use just what energy we do produce.
This should be done in conjunction with a major push to introduce
better energy conservation measures throughout the UK and the world.
Rather than give tax breaks to the energy companies,
it would be much better to put the money in to energy saving
measures.
Just cutting VAT ( Value Added Tax ) on double glazing,
or sales tax as it known in the rest of the world,
might be a good starting point.
At present the Energy-saving materials in the UK are VAT rated as 5%.
All energy conservation products should become zero VAT rated !
At the same time a lot of the present problem of fuel poverty,
and pensioners being killed as a result of hypothermia,
could be alleviated by increasing the Winter Fuel Payment from
the present derisory level of just £200 a year.
Such measures would be cheaper for us all in both the long and
short term too.
In the long term all these measures might help to cut down our
taxes and other expenditures,
and increases the amount which is paid out in pensions.
Thus in turn it would alleviate the whole set of problems which come with fuel poverty.
When I was a child in the 1950s and 1960s people would talk about purchasing items on the ‘ Never Never’.
i.e. By hire purchase.
This expression goes with the
‘Use Now and Pay Later’
way of thinking.
It also goes hand in hand with a way of thinking which includes
that of paying by credit card,
‘pay day loans’,
increasing personal loans
building up national debts,
and in turn the kind of global financial mess we are all so familiar
with right now.
The same principle also seems to apply when it comes to just how
we all will have to continue to pay to look after nukiller waste for
many centuries after these plants have been closed.
The Daily Mail has just published the following news story which
illustrates this point:-
The most toxic pond in Europe: Sellafield will cost £10bn to make safe.
In the same news story they point out that once the nuclear fuel is
removed from the newly decommissioned nukiller power plant at
Oldbury, that these used fuel rods will be stored untouched upon site until at least 2096.
That is some 84 years in to the future.
If nukiller power is the ultimate example of ‘built in obsolescence’,
then we really are going to take a long time to pay for it on the
Never Never.
Back Then And In To The Future.
Some problems take a long time to solve,
while others get worse over the years.
This is certainly the case when it comes to just how we will have to deal with the long term problem of nukiller waste.
Back In The 1970s
Here is what the UK nukiller authorities had to say about this problem way back in the late 1970s:-
– – –
Waste disposal
If nuclear power is to go ahead to its full potential acceptable ways must be found of dealing with radioactive wastes, especially the long-lived fission products. At present high level radioactive wastes are stored in liquid form mainly at Windscale in Cumbria; but to reduce the need for surveillance it is planned to convert them to glass blocks. After a period of supervised storage these will be disposed of either deep underground or on or under the ocean bed. Britain is working in association with other countries to assess the suitability of a number of geological formations for the disposal of radioactive waste. Granite and other hard rocks, clays, shales and salt are being looked at to study porosity, heat resistance and other relevant properties, both in the laboratory and in the ground at the proposed burial depth of about 300 metres. The rocks that are of interest are widely distributed: much of Britain’s granite is found in Scotland, while other rock types are found predominantly in England and Wales. Research and testing will need to go on for several years before a demonstration disposal site for high level radioactive waste can be identified.
Source:
Scotland and Nuclear Power.
UK Atomic Energy Authority.
June 1979
– – –
All handling processes involving radioactive materials are carried out remotely until the fission products are removed. The concentrated fission product waste extracted during reprocessing is at present stored in stainless steel tanks. The tanks are double-walled and are located in concrete vaults which are themselves lined with stainless steel. The fission product waste that has accumulated in this country over the last 25 years is stored in some 14 stainless steel tanks at Windscale. The total volume is about 750 cubic metres, the size of a four-bedroom, family, detached house. The storage of liquid fission product waste is well established and safe, but there are advantages in making it solid for more effective disposal. A process to convert this waste to a solid, glass-like form for long term storage is being developed and will be installed at Windscale in due course. The process comprises mixing the liquid waste with silica and borax and heating the slurry in a furnace to form glass. The glass is cast into cylindrical, stainless-steel sealed containers which can be stored under water in ponds. The glass is chemically inert and practically insoluble and thus the radioactive waste is permanently “locked-in”.
Source:
Energy from the atom.
2 – nuclear fuel.
British Nuclear Fuels Limited.
1978
– – –
Right Now and In to the Future.
The amount of this radioactive waste has really grown since these words were published.
There is a lot more such waste which is currently being produced,
and a lot more will be produced in the decades to come. *
While we have learnt just how silly it is to ever contemplate the storage of this waste in shale or salt.
– There is still the question of just how you might make such places safe by keeping out ground water ?
&
– Just how to prevent any major earthquake damage to these depositaries?
I was not reassured about the long term safety of these nukiller waste dumps when I read these pamphlets some 35 years ago, and I still believe that this is a problem which can never be solved by those who run the nukiller power industry.
* Unless we manage to close down all of the nukiller power stations.
Right Now.
There is an increasingly optimistic prospect that the proposed two
new EDF nukiller plants at Sizewell and Hinkley may not be
built.
If Centrica be also be persuaded to pull out of new build,
then what we will have left are just the existing plants to close down within the UK.
In to the future.
The real problem with campaigning about nukiller power is that
it involves some very long term thinking.
Within 30 – 40 years Sizewell could be a island if sea levels
continue to rise as the result of global warming.
While at Bradwell the decommissioning process
will not be completed until 2087.
That is 75 years from now,
by which time all of the current anti-nukiller power activists will be dead.
In to the centuries to come.
This says nothing about all the other long term problems about
the safe storage of nukiller waste which will pose major problems
in the centuries to come.
In other words: –
We not only need to think about short term campaign to stop new
build and closing down the existing nukiller plants,
but make sure that what’s left over at the plants does not become
an environmental danger in the years to come.
This means we will all need to do some very long term thinking,
and that must also be a very different way of thinking.
Gothic thinking.
It all reminds me about those who built the Gothic cathedrals.
They would plan and work upon them,
while also knowing that they would be long dead after the
buildings were completed.
It’s a very long term vision of a nukiller free world which we now
need to start thinking upon.
It’s a very long term campaign for us all.
Following the news that both E.ON and RWE are pulling out of a
project to building new nukiller plants in the UK,
there has been a lot of speculation about which companies will
buy in to Horizon.
One of the companies which has been mentioned in this context is
Westinghouse.
Westinghouse already own the Springfields plant in Lancashire
where nukiller fuel rods are manufactured.
Westinghouse has been in the ownership of Toshiba since 2006.
Another subsidiary of Toshiba is the
Toshiba Power System Company,
which is heavily involved in the nukiller power industry.
Here is a quote from their website: –
‘ The Power Systems Company’s capabilities cover the full
spectrum of power generation systems, including high-efficiency
thermal and hydro power generation, renewables such as
geothermal and wind power, and nuclear power, all essential for
realizing the stable electricity supply essential for powering our
modern world.’
I doubt that many people in japan believe that line after the disaster at Fukushima.
Toshiba needs to be reminded about just how dangerous nukes can be.
Following that you can also boycott Toshiba –
until they pull out of the nukiller power industry.
There is no such thing as a safe nukiller power plant,
&
there certainly is no easy way to clean up the mess after any
nukiller power disaster.
The word at both Fukushima and Chernobyl is that it’s much
more of a dangerous situation that we face than the last time
anyone looked at what was happening at these sites.
After the Chernobyl Nukiller Power Plant disaster of the 1986 a
sarcophagus was built over the plant.
Now a quarter of a century later there is to be a new sarcophagus,
known as a Safe Confinement (NSC or New Shelter),
built over the plant.
The reason for this is that plant is currently leaking a lot of
radiation,
while we still don’t know what the full state of the present
sarcophagus might be.
Building the new sarcophagus will be a major civil engineering project.
My only Question is just how long will it be before that in turn
needs to be replaced?
Griffins.
Griffins are mythological creatures which protect the gold.
They are used in the coat of arms of the City of London,
& thus upon the helmets of the City of London police.
Griffins are also used upon the crest of the Civil Nuclear
Constabulary, which is why many anti nukiller activists refer to
them as Griffins.
A Mix and Match Police Force.
One of the most interesting trends in policing over the last few
years has been the way in which police forces help each other out.
For example:
After the riots in Haringey last year,
it became very common to see the streets of Turnpike Lane and
Wood Green patrolled by none metropolitan police offices.
e.g.
From the Strathclyde force,
etc, etc.
Earlier this year I was on the protest at the Hinkley and Sizewell
nukiller power plant protests.
At Hinkley the local Somerset police were on duty outside of the
plant.
At Sizewell the local Suffolk police were on duty outside of the
plant.
While the security just inside these EDF owned nukiller plants
was being provided by a private security company.
The Shape of the Future Nukiller Police.
Now comes the news that the Cumbrian police are being asked to
provide security at the Sellafield ( Windscale ) plant.
This is so that in future:
‘the nuclear constabulary will deal solely with anti-terrorism issues’.
Boots, Truncheons, & Iodine Tablets.
Apart from the cost aspect of local police forces undertaking to
‘protect’ nukiller plants,
there is another question which comes to my mind.
Given the move towards that mix & match form of policing.
then will all those police officers who are deployed at nukiller
plants be given extra training and equipment to deal with any
future radiation leaks?
Will they now all be provided with iodine tablets,
or guider counters as part of their standard equipment ?
or
Is this yet another ill thought out set of ideas?
It would be interesting to learn just what rank and file police
officers think about these issues.
Books.
Some books contain such horrific images that I would be very
reluctant to show them to anyone who has no need to view them.
Such books include: –
Ernst Friedrich.
Krieg Dem Kriege
( War against war ).
&
Lord Russel of Liverpool.
The Knights of Bushido: A Short History of Japanese War Crimes.
Both of these works contain very important information about the
horrors of war, but there they also have some very disturbing
photographic images.
The same also applies to those works which describe the effects of
Atomic Bombs dropped at Hiroshima & Nagasaki.
What applies to books about war also applies to those works
which show the medical effects of radioactive leaks from Nukiller
Power stations.
War is Not a Game.
Many media images of soldiers just show men in combat or
on military parades.
This also extends to the model soldiers which are on sale in toy
shops. Most of these models either glorify war, or show soldiers
engaged in acts of violence.
This is why many pacifists are concerned with the sale of war toys.
It is very rare to come across model soldiers as the casualties of war, or in need of medical Help.
Veterans for Peace.
Veterans for Peace UK has recently been established with the following Aims:-
– To resist war through non-violent action.
– Support persecuted war-resisters.
– Counter militarism in society through education.
– Increase public awareness of the costs of war.
– End the arms race and to reduce and eventually eliminate
nuclear weapons.
&
– Abolish war as an instrument of national policy
As ex soldiers they have experienced the truth about war.
They deserve to be heard.
I spend a lot of my time visiting art galleries, which is why I have come to the
following conclusion:-
That the classification of art can sometimes prevent us from really understanding
just what the artist is or was doing.
I’d like to illustrate this observation by looking at the work of two artists.
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne ( 1839–1906 ) has traditionally been thought of as an Impressionist
painter,
yet in many ways he was more than that.
Just look at these painting:-
L’Estaque
1883–1885
The Bay of Marseilles, view from L’Estaque
1885
Still Life, Drapery, Pitcher, and Fruit Bowl
1893–1894
&
The watercolour
Mill at the River
1900–1906
If you look these works closely enough you will realise that they are more cubist
than impressionist in nature.
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh ( 30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890 ) is always referred to as being a
post-Impressionist painter.
What are less commented upon are his drawings.
For example:-
Cypresses (Les Cyprès), 1889
or
Starry Night, after the painting, 1889
Now just start looking at his paintings such as:-
The Starry Night, June 1889
Wheatfield with Crows, 1890
and
Cypresses, 1889
What will then become very obvious to you is that many of his paintings were no
more and no less than drawings in colour.
Understand that,
and start to look at the rest of his works with a fresh eye.
These observations about looking afresh at works of art can also be applied to political thought.
Just you think about it.