Urgent Fixing Required !

Single-minded, colluding, and ruthless. That is how I have come to see those who are our leaders in government, finance, industry, the media and business and all of their cronies. 

Efficient in obtaining deals, circumventing rules, eschewing morality and going for short-term interest maximization, usually access to money, which then buys them everything else from control to sex. 

It's not rocket science, it's just too sick to watch at times.  And yet, it is our responsibility to bring the raging alpha males to a halt, to break up their rings and right what has - once again -  gone so terribly wrong.

How much time do we have left, I wonder? 

To the Right and Honourable

The Right and Honourable David Cameron 

MP Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 

10 Downing Street,
London SW1A 2AA.

Tuesday, 27th June 2013

Dear Mr Cameron,

We are deeply concerned about this government’s approval of shale gas exploration in vast areas of the UK, including Sussex.  

Hydraulic fracturing, the technology used the process of extracting trapped methane gas from deep subterranean rock, has a well known history of potentially far reaching negative effects on surrounding areas, including toxic ground water contamination, radioactive contamination from radioactive isotopes released from shale rock during the process, as well as causing seismic shocks such as witnessed in Lancashire.

In addition the process would destroy the character and appearance of our communities and spoil Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (ANOB) by pockmarking it with shale gas wells, condensate tanks, waste fluid pits, pipelines, compressor stations and frequent heavy road tanker traffic.

As residents who are raising families in this area, we are concerned about the short sighted approach of your government.  Hydraulic fracturing for methane is not only an irresponsible attempt to address our energy needs, but it is also uneconomical as this capital intensive approach draws resources from the development of renewable safe energy.  

Fracking for shale gas and coal bed methane is not an intelligent response to Britain's energy needs. It would provide gas for the next fifteen to twenty years, after which Britain would be in exactly the same energy predicament it is in now, except that our landscape would be destroyed, water courses irreparably contaminated and we would have poured countless tons of methane and CO2 into the atmosphere.

By hand of

Residents of Sussex

In Good Time

I am in a place where I am best
With myself
I have heard laughter’s sweet chimes
Ebb in good time
‘Tis a solace that life’s claws are soft

Frack Off !

At some point investment banking became so complicated that the very clever guys at the top were having a hard time remembering the rules themselves.

Instead they invented new ones and applied them rather selectively as they went around on an ever faster spinning carrousel of profit margins, lending practices and back office deals.

The rest is history.

All of us groaned and some camped, but eventually most of us picked up and moved on in order to give our national GDPs a good push, because surely that’s what’s needed - a sturdy growth index! With more of us working at lower rates and many of us working basically for free, this should not be too difficult, right?

But then, those very clever guys are also working away hard - at the next back office deal! With governments desperate for capital and jobs, they see their chance to secure permits, licenses, and subsidies.

Riverstone, a private equity firm that invests in oil and gas exploration, determined that now is the time to invest in hydraulic fracturing (fracking), the new gold rush in gas exploration. Their money is causing a great deal of damage in the UK where Cuadrilla Resources, the drilling company sponsored by Riverstone, is pumping chemicals into the ground to release trapped gases, causing seismic shockwaves and burning faucets.

They have moved into Sussex now and the locals joined them for a tea party next to the drilling hole. Our turn this time:

Frack off and go home, guys!

You go buddy!

“I have a great life and I want to enjoy it!” Jules

Don't Breathe!!

Over the past decade since my first pregnancy, recommendations to expecting mothers have turned into a virtual torrent of “Things to avoid.”

From the well-known no-nos of nicotine and alcohol it soon came to include undercooked meat, dishes containing raw eggs and raw milk products and before too long was extended to caffein and fish containing heavy metals, which is pretty much all fish.

With most of the culinary fun thus moved onto the blacklist, pregnancy became a time of austerity, of broccoli sprouts and mint tea...no wait, does mint tea induce premature birth?

But all of this is nothing compared to the recently published list of potentially (although not proven) harmful items to avoid when expecting.  From canned food, to fresh fruit wrapped in plastic (uh...) and from new cars to cosmetics the list liberally extends to all of life.

Truly, how can pregnant women be so careless to breathe if their home is next to a busy road?