13 November 2011

Youth Unemployment - The Real Issue

In amongst all the fantastical numbers that economists bandy around at the moment, there are some frightening figures that get lost in amongst the other seemingly more pressing numbers.  Amongst these, youth unemployment is the most worrying and is p...

10 November 2011

European Bailouts And The Structure Of The Financial System

There has been a lot of news recently about European bailouts, sit-ins and protests around St Paul's (there is also an anti-capitalist camp by Grey's Monument in Newcastle and probably elsewhere, but as usual London-Centric news of the UK largely ign...

25 August 2011

Is There Any Need For Sustainability?

I have recently read Tim Jackson's "Prosperity Without Growth - Economics for a Finite Planet".  It proposes that we refocus how we manage our economies to take into account the limits on the earth, but is rather vague exactly how we should do this -...

31 December 2010

Breathe The Air, Relax And Just Be

What have I learnt through my attempts to understand the matrix that we call life, if anything?  What have I learnt by seeking to comprehend ideas that are beyond the wit of man and certain beyond my ken like the origin of species, creation, time, ma...

26 December 2010

We Are All In the Matrix

The matrix shimmers.  The world shifts an iota and your eyes refocus. 

11 September 2010

Should We Encourage People From Countryside To Cities?

...Self doubt gets you thinking.  I am still thinking through my concerns about Fairtrade and I wonder whether I've got it arse over tip. 

15 August 2010

Electoral Systems For The UK (Part 2)

...This follows on from last week's blog

13 August 2010

Where's The Economy Really At?

I have been intrigued by comments by Mervyn King and others about the state of the economy, as I am not sure whether they ever take into account the real situation for small companies.  So I thought I would briefly blog some notes about Steenbergs at...

08 August 2010

Electoral Systems For The UK (Part 1)

I was roundly castigated for being a political ignoramus with my first look at electoral reform, which was probably sound.  However, far from being deterred, I still want to continue to try and understand the debate in spite of the heckling, and see...

06 May 2010

I Just Don't Get Proportional Representation

As we're potentially heading for a hung parliament or a very closely matched parliament, I wanted in my mind to consider the idea of proportional representation as it is something that's going to be on the table in any post-election discussions that...

27 April 2010

That's No McGuffin!

Is global warming the perfect McGuffin?  I have never really understood what Alfred Hitchcock meant by a McGuffin; for me it always seemed like the cinematic equivalent of the Zen concept of "the sound of one hand clapping", i.e. there is no sound an...

25 April 2010

Main UK Political Parties On Climate Change And Global Warming

There is a general political consensus that climate change is the number one environmental issue and there seems to be general agreement on how to address the problem, now that arch global warming skeptics like Boris Johnson and Nigel Lawson in the C...

13 April 2010

Environmental Policies from Key Parties - Part 1

I have purposely started by reviewing key environmental areas and international development other than climate change first, as they are just as (if not more) important than global warming.  In particular, I have looked at the following key areas - w...

07 April 2010

First Impressions On UK Political Parties From Green Agenda

As promised, I have started the process of looking at the main political parties from the perspective of the environment and international development.  I think I may have bitten off a bit more than I had expected with this, but I will continue.  Yes...

28 March 2010

Global warming - what's the fuss all about?

I have to admit to becoming more skeptical about global warming since I began studying at The Open University on an Environmental Studies and Science Course.  I doubt that becoming less convinced about much of the stuff written about global warming w...

21 March 2010

Review of Green Ideas in General Election

The UK's General Election will be held soon - the weight of money is for it to coincide with the Council elections slated for 6 May 2010 but these could probably be shifted to coincide with a later General Election which must be latest of 3 June 2010...

16 March 2010

Steenbergs Fairtrade Vanilla - Some Background

I tried to post a response online at The Times in relation to their article but they wouldn't post it - perhaps it was too long or too partisan.  In any case here are some further details on Steenbergs vanilla. 

02 February 2010

Carbon Offsets and Steenberg Carbon Footprints

Every year on slightly ad hoc basis, I sit down and try and calculate our carbon footprint and then offset for the greenhouse gasses that make up our carbon footprint.  It's a guesstimate because it does not include all aspects of the Steenbergs busi...