Europe - Getting Stuck In

Submitted by Mortal Mindy on Thu, 2015-05-14 06:38

The Twonks had promised the UK a referendum on Europe by 2017 - IN or OUT of the EU - thats less than two years away, as if there isn't enough mess from the last five years to sort out ... mebbe Cameron wasn't expecting to win and the pages on his diary were deliberately left blank ... perhaps he was considering his very own grande depart ... but hey ho it would seem that the French and Germans have already made plans for 2017 that may just slightly get in the way ....

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/11/david-cameron-european-u...

“The mood now is definitely to accelerate the process and give us the option of holding the referendum in 2016,” one source said. “We had always said that 2017 was a deadline rather than a fixed date.”

George Osborne, the chancellor, will meet other European finance ministers at a summit in Brussels on Tuesday... "

So what are the Labour Camp doing?

Our local Labour MEP's have been keeping a shrewd eye on all things European:

Jude Kirton-Darling: What does Britain and Belarus have in common ? http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jude-kirtondarling/human-rights-act_b_72...

Richard Corbett : "Get on board" http://www.britishinfluence.org/an_open_letter_to_david_cameron "Nowadays, the European Union is anyway one big, ongoing reform process. Right now, we (yes, we: Britain and our neighbouring countries, working together) are undertaking a massive and ongoing review of European legislation. For instance, we’ve just implemented a fundamental reform of the common fisheries policy. We’re investing heavily in cross-border competitiveness, deepening the single market, and updating our environmental protection rules. We’re improving transparency, rewriting the rulebook about how European laws are made, and hard-wiring impact assessments into the legislative process. And we’re focusing our efforts on areas where we all agree that acting together at European rather than national level will save money, or improve effectiveness, or both."

Hmmm - so mebbe the Twonk funded Tour de Yorkshire conveniently held one week before the General Election (thinks there some law about local authoritys funding political activities ....purdah or somin) but hey ho Democracy rules ... so mebbe the Twonks scored a few points?

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/apr/28/tour-de-yorkshire-sage-1-c...

Nope still can't see those 1.5 mil people lining the route ... ah well 'choose your weapons carefully' as me Pa used to say ...

Anyhow on a local level yours truly was 'surprised' (polite) to be elected to represent Newby Ward ..... be afraid, be very afraid .... best not mention wardrobes & Narnia .... nope not a touch of Lycra in sight ... however on a more serious note the 'blank' diary already has a memo :-)

How do working people get from Newby to Eastfield Industrial area and vice a versa - safely, efficiently and erm healthily. On a bike?

Might need to adjust some undergarments ;- )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA7ML0iYz_0

ever the optimist

http://www.iflscience.com/environment/worlds-first-solar-cycle-path-surp...

8 Comments

Cern - update

Submitted by Mortal Mindy on Wed, 2015-06-03 07:38

fascinating ... no concerns about Cern? Lost for dark matter, hey ho make some up - this is a whizz.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32976838

"Sometime after 0530 BST on Wednesday, operators at the control room in Geneva will guide two beams of proton particles around the LHC before slamming them into one another at designated points along the 27km-long underground ring.

Huge detectors stationed at these positions will record the energetic smash-ups, capturing the information necessary to identify exotic new particles in the sub-atomic wreckage...

Because dark matter is expected to be "invisible" at sub-atomic as well as astronomical scales, physicists will have to look for indirect evidence of its production. One of the key signs that dark matter may have been generated is an apparent imbalance in momentum before and after a particle collision known as "missing transverse energy".

Waterloo & the EU

Submitted by Mortal Mindy on Fri, 2015-06-19 08:50

'History has stopped repeating itself'

from Richard Corbett MEP:

http://www.richardcorbett.org.uk/waterloo-200/

Two centuries after Waterloo, its consequences remain extremely significant in the ongoing historical narrative of Britain’s relationship with the rest of Europe — but there is far much more to this story than nationalism. The battle ended over 20 years of conflict in Europe and brought about over 50 years of peace and stability. While war was to rage on our continent many more times up until 1945, Waterloo reminds us that shifting national alliances are simply not a recipe for stability.

Indeed, the original motivation behind the creation of the European Union was about saying ‘never again’ to war. After World War II, we simply had to find a better way of doing things — to substitute age-old rivalries by merging their essential interests — to create the basis for a community among peoples who have been long divided by bloody conflicts.

Of course, we still have robust arguments – but we now we have them across a debating chamber or a negotiating table. It’s somewhat better!

In the debate in Britain today, when the more pragmatic reasons, and indeed selfish reasons, for having a European Union are at the fore, and when there is much debate about the policies and priorities of the Union, this original motivation is often taken for granted or even forgotten. Yet we do so at our peril. We need only look just beyond the borders of the EU, to Ukraine, the Middle East or North Africa, to see how precious is the stability is that we have created here.

When we squabble over the EU budget or other irritations, it is worth recalling the words of (I think) a recent Finnish Prime Minister, who asked “What economic value do you place on an hour of peace?”

Hmmm ... is that why he is not standing for the Labour Leader Ship?

irresistable ;- ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVGSKVkkyhc

Corbyn & Cecil

Submitted by Mortal Mindy on Fri, 2015-07-31 08:16

Jeremy Corbyn - Royal York Hotel, York, Sat 8th August @ 3 O'clock - (provisional)

http://www.jeremyforlabour.com/jeremy_corbyn_plans_national_education_se...

Meanwhile ;-/ http://newsthump.com/2015/07/30/migrants-dying-in-channel-tunnel-urged-t...

Leo's ;-0 "As another explained, “Look, you can try to make me care about an immigrant as much as a lion all you like, but it won’t work, because they’re completely different.”

“One is nothing but a selfish predatory creature that takes whatever it wants and would sit on its arse all day letting someone else feed and support it if it could, and the other is an immigrant.”

Progress? Hmmm ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzmCg1B9Q2M

The EU: & Yorkshire Water

Submitted by Mortal Mindy on Fri, 2015-11-06 09:29

http://www.richardcorbett.org.uk/making-a-splash/

"According to Yorkshire Water, Europe-wide agreements on environmental standards for rivers, drinking water and bathing water all continue to steer investment for the company, helping to make it commercially viable for them to invest millions in improving water quality."

Hmmm ... water water everywhere and not a drop to drink.... opens the links.

The sting :

Blue Flag? Erm, Cyprus has a blue flag ....

http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/interactive/bathing/state-of-bathi...

North Sea Energy Grid

Submitted by Mortal Mindy on Thu, 2015-11-12 09:07

http://northeastlabour.eu/labour-meps-vote-favour-developing-european-ne...

"The Eriksson Report, named after the draftsman, recommends a wide range of measures to increase interconnectivity between EU Members States and neighbouring nations. These recommendations included ambitious targets for interconnection, improvement of national grid networks, targeting of areas which are currently lacking connection and allocation of funds for projects.

The report had a particular focus on the North Sea, which is seen as a region which will benefit the most economically from the creation of new interconnectors. The report notes that the creation of a North Sea Electricity Grid could save consumers and business up to €13 billion per year by 2020."

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2014_2019/documents/itre/pr/1063/...

In the Pirate Data Bank

Submitted by Captain Qahn on Thu, 2016-09-22 07:17

Inverse: https://www.inverse.com/article/21244-reykjavk-data-centers-iceland-pira...

"Innovation in data infrastructure, both physical and legislative, is an Icelandic speciality. In 2010, the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI) was passed unanimously by the oldest standing parliament in the world. This legislative framework was designed to transform the country and its capital city into safe havens for information by providing strong legal protections, unrivaled by any other country on Earth...

"There’s also a lot of local expertise. Having homed NATO bases for the US nuclear early-warning system during the Cold War, Iceland has been a key data hub since the inception of the internet. Data sent back and forth between Europe and North America is bounced along submarine data cables that plug directly into Iceland’s internet infrastructure.

More impressive still, Reykjavik’s energy grid is powered entirely by geothermal and hydroelectric sources. Iceland’s volcanoes and glacial rivers provide virtually unlimited sustainable energy for data centers, and at dirt cheap prices too. When the servers get too hot, smart ventilation systems open up and allow the sub-arctic winds to cool the systems at near-zero cost.

Because of its unique natural assets and its population’s determination to leverage them, Reykjavik, which has the same population as Evansville, Indiana, could become a global leader for all things digital. Two-thirds of Iceland’s population live in the metropolitan area, which is poised to become to data what Zurich is to finance."

Cool.... chilling.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37428122

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH3Fx41Jpl4

Schtum about the Reds of late, thats cos its all been a bit 'pants'. Insulated or isolated.

One day .... mebbe.

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/comment/chuka-umunna-labour-party-much-prote...

"But we cannot allow bullies to take over our movement and force out any part of the Labour tradition, all strands of which have the right to a voice whoever is the leader. The Labour family is bigger, better and stronger than that. Our diversity has always been our greatest strength and this is no better exemplified than by the broad church of our movement – community activists, faith groups, trade unionists and more – all working together able to vigorously debate, in a spirit of solidarity and mutual respect. This is what we must to return to.

When we look at those who inspired us to go into politics, not only our party’s founders, but champions of social justice around the world – like Martin Luther King, Mahatma Ghandi and Aung San Suu Kyi – they faced much greater hurdles than any present day member and supporter of the British Labour Party. They would never have waved the white flag and walked away from their cause. Nor should we."

PKB ...

Ah, so .... no shit Sherlock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs-8gK8Cn4Q

City of Culture - Port Side

Submitted by Captain Qahn on Fri, 2017-03-24 20:02

http://www.richardcorbett.org.uk/hull-city-culture-industry-innovation/

"... And this brings me neatly on to Siemens, where plant director Jason Speedy, Chris Mackinnon and their teams were equally welcoming and gave me a tour of the amazing wind turbine blade factory and the rest of the huge, 78 football-pitches-sized Alexandra Dock site where they store the 75-metre blades and the 90-metre turbine towers.

Siemens have invested £160 million in this industry-leading wind turbine production and installation facility, which will supply DONG Energy for the Race Bank wind farm off the Norfolk and Lincolnshire coasts.This is a huge boost to the UK’s offshore wind industry and to the Humber regional economy; to date Siemens have created some 700 jobs for people in the city and surrounding hinterland, with the eventual figure to reach 1,000.

In addition, the wider Green Port Hull, with its 500 hectares of development land, is set to attract further investment and create even more employment opportunities. Indeed, the long-term vision is to make the Green Port not only a centre for offshore wind power production, but to create opportunities in biofuels, waste to energy, solar, wave and tidal power generation..."

Meanwhile :

http://news.sky.com/story/artificial-island-is-planned-on-dogger-bank-fo...

"The 2.5 square mile island will have a harbour, runway and homes and will be built at Dogger Bank, a large sandbank in a shallow part of the North Sea, about 62 miles from England's east coast.

The island will serve as a hub for thousands of wind turbines and solar panels and, with the island being in a relatively shallow part of the North Sea, building wind turbines will be easier.

Electricity from the island hub will be sent via sea cables to several nearby countries, including Britain.

Also set to benefit are the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Belgium...

(at 6 fathoms?)

"Wind turbine parks from several nations could be linked to the island, turning offshore parks into "coastal parks".

That will mean long cables won't be needed and moving the energy will be cheaper.

Staff, equipment and assembly workshops would be stored on the island, also keeping costs down.

Danish firm Energinet.dk will work with the German and Dutch branches of TenneT to build the island and the three will sign a deal at the North Seas Energy Forum in Brussels on 23 March.

The next step is a feasibility study."

Oh. That could take a while ... Just so long as you're not dredging up the 'lost at sea' ..

https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/news/first-meeting-north-seas-energy-foru...

Eh, so : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwtoJqehgoA

"Britain's SSE today unveiled plans to hike its stake in the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm to 37.5 per cent.

SSE and Norway's Statoil both bought 12.5 per cent stakes in the development from former consortium partner Statkraft, taking their total shares to 37.5 per cent each. Innogy, the subsidiary of Germany's RWE, continues to own the other 25 per cent.

Mike Seaton, SSE's director of wholesale development said: "This acquisition represents the next step in the development of the Dogger Bank offshore wind development. SSE will continue to work alongside the remaining partners in the Forewind consortium to progress these projects."

Perth ... is that a Pit?

http://sse.com/investors/

"SSE played a proud role in Scotland’s hydro revolution, which began in 1943 with the Hydro Electric Development Act. This delivered electricity across the Highlands and dramatically improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Scots.

But building dams and power stations across Scotland’s rugged landscape was no easy feat. For example, workers at St Fillans set a world tunnelling record in 1955, when they ground their way through 557 feet of rock in just a week.

By the mid 1960's, Scotland could boast of 56 dams connected by over 600km of rock tunnel, aqueducts and pipelines...."

Oh. Oi!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39381324

Glugg... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQJDxCP64ZQ

NB : Hmmm .. yep the Ozzies did the Hydro thing first .. and they never gave up.. (Snowy vids I watched em all ;-))

Anyhoos ... this 'review' & missing links:

The Great Transition :

http://rationalmiddle.com/movie/the-great-transition/

just in case : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5QEAXcLV-E

Colonisation of Academia.

Meanwhile: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/03/24/worlds-largest-artifici...

How very silly.