I think we knew that - by Richard... Tuesday, November 09, 2010

I think we knew that - by Richard... Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Plans to make European motorists use more biofuels could take an area the size of Ireland out of food production by 2020 says the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP). This, we are told is based on plans that countries have submitted to the EU detailing how they intend to meet their legal requirement to include 10 percent of renewable energy in all transport fuels by 2020.

Actually, we wrote this in March 2008 and again in July 2008 - with dozens of other pieces - so what took so long?. But even now, these people are not being straight. IEEP calculations suggest that the indirect effect of the switch to biofuels will be to take between 4.1m and 6.9m hectares out of food production. But, on the basis of a ten percent quota, the actual amount of land needed - according to EU estimates - is more like 15.6 million hectares.

In fact, the variables suggest that the amount of land needed ranges from 11-46 million hectares, depending on the crops grown, the agricultural systems used and the quality of the land. Either way, the area needed is much more than the IEEP calculates, and its estimate is bad enough, showing that if the EU does pursue its quotas, people really will be going hungry.

When you add the fact that biofuel production from farm crops such as corn takes 29 percent more energy than is yielded by the fuel itself - and that does not include the distribution energy to transport the ethanol – it is plain to see that this is a policy of madness.

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The EU goes on and on - by Richard...

The air has been taken out of the carbon trading market, says Fox News. The only national carbon trading market in the US will close its doors next month, due to stalled legislation in Congress and Republican gains in the midterm elections

Yet we also hear that the EU has said it will sell 300 million carbon-dioxide permits by the end of 2012 from a reserve to spur clean-energy projects and vowed to "minimise" the impact of the sales on market prices.

The European Investment Bank will sell the €4.3 billion ($6 billion) of CO2 allowances from the post-2012 reserve for new companies in the EU emissions-trading system and disburse the revenue via national governments "to aid projects for carbon capture and storage and renewable energy."

Let the market rule and trade is worth nothing. Give it to the regulators and they can magic $6 billion out of thin air (which we then have to pay). There has to be a lesson there.

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When Irish eyes are crying - by Richard...

I have a very strong affection for Ireland, having spent many happy days there, both sides of the border. Even during the Troubles, in the heart of Belfast, I found the hospitality outstanding.

It is thus singularly unpleasant to read this about the impending economic collapse of the country. Ireland is effectively insolvent – the next crisis will be mass home mortgage default, writes Morgan Kelly, professor of economics at University College Dublin.

The Irish people deserve better – deserved better.

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Now we shoot them - by Richard...

Two schoolboys, we are told, have been given detention after refusing to kneel down and "pray to Allah" during a religious education lesson at Alsager High School, near Stoke-on-Trent.

And did I look at the date of the article? No ... Who is the idiot who assumed it was current? And just saw this:

Parents were outraged that the two boys from year seven (11 to 12-year-olds) were punished for not wanting to take part in the practical demonstration of how Allah is worshipped.

Parents said that their children were made to bend down on their knees on prayer mats which the RE teacher had got out of her cupboard. They were also told to wear Islamic headgear during the lesson on Tuesday afternoon.

Deputy headmaster Keith Plant said: "It's difficult to know at the moment whether this was part of the curriculum or not. I am not an RE teacher, I am an English teacher. At the moment it is our enterprise week and many of our members of staff are away".

"The particular member of staff you need to speak to isn't around. I think that it is a shame that so many parents have got in touch with the Press before coming to me. I have spoken to the teacher and she has articulately given me her version of events, but that is all I can give you at the moment."

A statement from Cheshire County Council on behalf of the school read: "The headteacher David Black contacted this authority immediately complaints were received. Enquiries are being made into the circumstances as a matter of urgency and all parents will be informed accordingly."

"Educating children in the beliefs of different faith is part of the diversity curriculum on the basis that knowledge is essential to understanding. We accept that such teaching is to be conducted with some sense of sensitivity."

As WFW points our, this is an abuse of our education system. But it is also an indication of where the problem lies. And, if they can't see it, now is the time we start shooting the bastards.

But the article was in 2008 ... what happened then ... does anyone know?

Ah ... a happy ending.

The teacher, Alison Phillips was initially suspended – following which there following a lengthy investigation, when the school concluded that the accusations were inaccurate, and said the lesson had contained "acceptable role play" activities.

However, Cheshire East Council then said on the school’s behalf that "After full consideration of a range of other professional issues, the governing body was satisfied that an irretrievable breakdown in the relationship between employer and employee had occurred and that the employee should be dismissed from her post."

In May 2009, the fair Alison was fired. We don't have to shoot them after all! Damn.

And the next time someone sends me a cutting, PLEASE warn me if it isn't current.

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