British democracy is not good enough

It's an interesting time here in the UK because annual political party conferences are happening and people are finally coming to realise that all the broken promises of the Labour party mean that it's very likely there may be a Conservative party victory in the UK general election we will have in 2010.

Many who remember the last Tory reign, that ended in 1997, may be wondering what the fuck went wrong.

Britain is a country that holds up democracy as a great thing. However, there is still a bizarre public perception of polarisation between the (traditionally left wing) Labour party and the (traditionally right wing) Conservatives. Labour and the Tories are still believed to be different even though they are now almost equally full of shit. I believe that without proportional representation here in the UK, the main third party, the Liberal Democrats, is often seen as speaking the most sense, but will likely never get anywhere because polarised constituencies using a majority system will more often go to one extreme or the other.

I'm not saying that moderatism is always the answer, but isn't it strange how so many situations are actually helped by taking a step back, taking all views into account and doing what is genuinely best for all?

I'm afraid we come back to how thoroughly grim western democracy is. Especially since those traditional left/right boundaries have been broken down into give, give, give, me more, more, more. What's to choose?

Strike a light! Brussels Bulb Ban Bourgeois Backlash

The traditional incandescent light bulb is on the way out - and some people aren't happy. (It's probably not just the middle classes, but never pass up a good headline.)

From September 1st in the EU it will be illegal to manufacture these bulbs, or for shops to buy in new stock. Shelves have already emptied in various countries and whenever reported, lots of people have been up in arms, trotting out all the tired old, ignorant stories about how different variants of energy-saving bulbs are all rubbish.

For example, they must have been a bit torn at the Daily Mail, what with this being an excellent opportunity for an 'EU stamping all over our choice' piece, yet having to balance that up with the 'we don't want to look like evil planet-hating bastards' angle, resulting in this fairly restrained entry. Check the storm of comments though, they are fab.

Really though, whilst the change hasn't really been publicised much in the UK, this ban is undoubtedly a good move. Energy will be saved and people will save money. All good.

It inspired me to write a little verse...

Arc! Light a candle!
We are gathered here today to fi-lament the passing,
Of an old fixture watts lux run out.
Brilliant in their day, truly incandescent, they would have volted forth, stuck a tungsten out at their usurpers,
Possibly even ballasted or lamped them.
But they grew dimmer, passed into the shade - and now argon.
Switched off.
We commit them to the halide ground.
And now we turn the spotlight on to to those who have LED the way to be energy-saving,
To stop the climate getting edison-screwed.
Reflect in peace.
Lumen.

Big Tissue

Hello folks!

Greenpeace have recently chalked up a victory for their Kleercut campaign.

One of my last posts a couple of years back concerned Kimberley-Clark (the people who bring you Kleenex and other paper tissue products) and their consistent plundering of wood from endangered forests in order for you to blow your nose on them (or whatever).

Kimberley-Clark have done the standard greenwash thing in the time since then, pointing out in adverts how many lovely trees they do plant etc. However, they have finally bowed to pressure from Greenpeace and others and decided to adopt some much improved environmental policies.

They've "set a goal of obtaining 100 percent of the company’s wood fiber for tissue products, including the Kleenex brand, from environmentally responsible sources." I like that word 'goal' don't you? Anyway, this includes sourcing FSC certified timber and more recycled fibre so it's actually a bit of a result. It's going to take them at least a couple of years to sort much of this out though.

Some people criticise Greenpeace for not being hard line enough, but there's no doubt their policy of being open to talk with big industry has reaped rewards over the years. In line with their 'no permanent enemies' stance (and I presume much smarming from K-C) they have also suggested people praise Kimberley-Clark's stance and made this comedy 'making up' film:



That said, I won't be adding Kleenex to my shopping list anytime soon. Once they've actually achieved their 'goal' I might think about it. How about you?

Happy returns...

Hello!!!

Your Recruiting Officer has returned! My apologies, I really was gone for some time. Nice to see the blogosphere is still standing. Although it's been an interesting couple of years for our world I note that not all ills have been righted - so let's see if we can lend some more weight, condemn the bad, praise the good, and generally have a good time in the process.

RO

Act II

Night's dark fingers crept into the settlement and tightened their grip, as the waning sunshine drew far and away, over the edge of the boundary walls, the reddened sky marking its vow to return good and strong the following morning.

The sentry and his lad stood watch, the father all alert and the boy hugging himself against first chill of the evening.

A long time passed without event, until, suddenly but faintly, a song could be heard, far off on the forest road, and with time it grew louder.

"Hark!" said the sentry, "I know that song! It's an old tune our Recruiting Officer would sing, to put cheer in our hearts on the hardest of days. But he's been gone too long now, it cannot be. Or can it?"

The song grew steadily louder...

AWOL-ness...

Goodness me, I haven't posted for nearly three months!  I can assure you, your Recruiting Officer has been very busy in the garden battling the adverse effects of this summer's wet weather and doing all manner of exciting things.  I have even managed a holiday.  Abroad, no less!  Anyway, perhaps more of that soon.  In the meantime I hope anyone stopping by is well - and hopefully I will manage another post or two before my time is up.  :-)

I can't talk now, I'm doing a three point turn...

I was driving home this evening after going out to buy some bits for the garden and on one of the roads approaching my house, which is about a car length in width, there was... a car. Sort of stretched right across the road at a bit of an angle like someone was doing a three point turn and got a bit bored.

I pulled up, waiting for something to happen and then, eventually, it kind of lurched across the other side of the road and on to the pavement.

The reason? The plank was actually on the phone. He didn't even stop after he mounted the pavement. I couldn't quite believe it, but there it was. It must have been a really important call. Or perhaps he was just a twunt.

I favoured him with a steely look and my 'taking the phone away from your ear' mime, that I learned from the Rozzers on Road Wars on Sky TV.

It does rather go to show how distracting people find mobile phones though. Even though we've had this phone/driving ban in place for some time and they have now upped the fine and points, I don't appear to see fewer people doing it.

Kimberly-Clark's Kleercut - Wiping Away Ancient Forests

You may have seen the ads here in the UK, or indeed elsewhere in the world, where the makers of Kleenex, Kimberly Clark, plonk down a big blue sofa in your high street and ask people to 'let it out' - i.e. relate some tale of woe that makes them cry so, yes - you've guessed it, they feel the need to reach for a Kleenex tissue to wipe away their tears.

These ads have been showing in the UK for months now and I've always thought it would be funny to spoof them, based around the fact many people find it very sad Kimberly-Clark feel the need to cut down ancient forest to provide virgin pulp for their paper products and the pitiful percentage of recycled paper they contain.

Well, Greenpeace in New York City in the USA went one better and hijacked a Kleenex filming session as part of the Kleercut campaign against them (a previous post on this here). This is priceless, check it out, clicky here - http://kleercut.net/en/letitout

Happiness is a warm gun...

There have, perhaps, been more worthy things to write about recently, however, will the US ever give up its love affair with guns? Another shooting, more kids killed. There will undoubtedly be another bit of a kerfuffle, then the US gun lobbies will say how it's a God-given right to shoot your neighbours in the head if they piss you off and actually how that's very unlikely what with how safe guns are and then we'll be watching something similar again soon enough, just like we are now after the last time. US gun law is bizarre - even when it exists. Easier gun accessibility equals more gun-related incidents. It's not rocket science is it?

For the fallen...

Here we lie,
Battered and bruised.
I never thought it would end like this.
Unused.