Kill off the wrinklies - by Richard... Sunday, October 17, 2010

Kill off the wrinklies - by Richard... Sunday, October 17, 2010

Booker has been doing some homework, on which basis he asks:

Is there any subject on which more nonsense is talked and written than the mind-blowing proposals being bandied about by the Government for meeting our EU target of generating, within 10 years, 30 per cent of our electricity from renewable sources? (That is roughly six times the current total, meaning that we have by far the most challenging target of any country in Europe.)

He then comes up with the total annual bill for the dream (nightmare is probably more accurate) of meeting our EU renewables target, which comes to at least £22 billion. That's considerably more than the entire wholesale cost of Britain's electricity generated from all sources last year, at £18.6 billion. He says.

In other words, these measures alone would much more than double our electricity bills, for producing on average – and very unreliably – barely as much energy as we get from a handful of conventional power stations.

In reality, Booker adds, there isn't the faintest chance that any of the Government's targets will be met. But the massive diversion of resources that it is doing its best to encourage will not help when it comes to filling the looming 40 percent gap in our electricity supplies, as 17 of the older nuclear and coal-fired power stations are forced to close. There is virtually nothing, then, in these plans to ensure that we can keep Britain's lights on.

To all that, comment levels are high, well over 100 at just gone midnight Saturday. One of the comments reads:

Being close to pension age with next to nothing in income, I'll just go without the heat and light. I'm sure the same will apply to many thousands even more vulnerable than me. It was Labour's policies that has brought on this energy crisis. But it seems a good way to cull the ill and aged - so should go quite some way to giving the new Tory government some of the savings it needs!

And that is the size of it. Kill off all the wrinklies and you slash spending. That has to be the reason for this policy. Come to think of it, the SS got it all wrong. If only they had called themselves "greenshirts" and designated gas chamber operatives as "green jobs", they might still be in business.

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It is a ...? - by Richard... Saturday, October 16, 2010

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, sh*ts like a duck, it is a ...?

If you have a series of, Anglo-French naval treaties, the kermits are paying you for your carrier development, you have signed an agreement on joint carrier operation, and you are about to ditch the JSF, the aircraft you are going to buy for your carriers is ...?

But never worry, 13th Century Fox is on the case. Close your eyes and sing this happy little song - everything will be alright.

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Blowing cold and hot - by Richard...

Even if early-season snow is not that uncommon in the area, it's still snowing in parts of the Adirondacks, USA, which are seeing the season's first significant snowfall. Two inches of snow fell Friday at Lake Placid and higher elevations experienced heavier accumulations. Snow also fell across higher elevations in Vermont. Killington had four inches of snow by midday Friday.

And the pic that tells the story comes from this report, showing a truck passing over Sherburne Pass on Route 4 in Killington, Vt., as an unexpected snowstorm dumped a blanket of snow on higher elevations in Vermont.

When it comes to our turn, and the brass monkeys are shedding spherical objects, German entrepreneur Siegfried Rotthaeuser and his brother-in-law have the answer. From China, they are importing "small heating devices", which they have branded "heatballs."

Rated either at 75 or 100 Watts, these personal heaters also give off considerable amounts of light, which gives them a useful secondary role. For convenience, these translucent glass devices can be fitted into standard lamp holders, which previously took 75 or 100 Watt light bulbs of the type now prohibited by EU law.

On their website the two engineers describe the heatballs as "action art" and as "resistance against legislation which is implemented without recourse to democratic and parliamentary processes." We are not sure quite what they mean by that second statement, but we look forward to the first batch of heatballs arriving in this country, hopefully before the expected snows arrive.

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