energy

.
Belatedly the mainstream media seem to have realised that there is something wrong in the state of GB. We have a discussion on immigration in the Spectator here which tells us, something we had all known- namely that we have a huge hidden unemployment figures,( using a technique copied and refined from Mrs Thatcher), that most of the 3 million new jobs created under Nulabour have gone to immigrants and foreign workers and that the cost benefit ratio is minimal if not negative. The article says that the taboo on discussing immigration is only just being lifted.

abused prisoners

The Independent tells us that the two most common 'crimes' committed by women and girls are: escaping from home and illegal sexual relations. The first carries a maximum penalty of 10 years, the second 20. These are two of the most common accusations facing female prisoners in Afghanistan.

Two-thirds of the women in Lashkar Gah's medieval-looking jail have been convicted of illegal sexual relations, but most are simply rape victims – mirroring the situation nationwide. The system does not distinguish between those who have been attacked and those who have chosen to run off with a man. A female shura, or consultative council, was established in Helmand province last week to try to combat the injustice of treating an abused woman as a criminal, and not a victim.

MacShane
Now that our MPs have signed away our rights via the Lisbon Treaty/Constitution they have very little to do as Westminster is subservient to Brussels: alas few of our MPs seem to have grasped this. No longer needed to run our affairs they use the free time to demonstrate their grasp of world events, or not as the case may be. So Denis MacShane has written in the Telegraph on the subject of Georgia and it is pure Denis, see HERE. MacShane sets off with a reference to events of 40 years ago -

Czechoslovakia was once described by a Conservative prime minister as "a faraway country of which we know nothing".

Note how the Prime Minister does not have a name and wonder how candid today's PM would be if asked a searching question about Georgia. For MacShane is confusing his readers with his quotes and may himself be confused. The quote about the faraway country was by Neville Chamberlain in 1938 (and is misquoted) and 40 years ago, 1968, Alexander Dubček was the leader of Czechoslovakia when the Russian tanks rolled across the border to end the period known as the Prague Spring.

candle

While the government debates subjects such as: climate change/global warming , world poverty, democracy in other countries, female education in Afghanistan, gay traffic warden quotas and so on, our little part of the world may well be falling apart. Before the lights go out perhaps it would be sensible for our present government to have some sort of reasonable energy policy.

Our nuclear and gas powered plants are coming to the end of their lives, lots of our coal and oil powered stations will be closed because of EU rules (the Large Combustion Plant Directive - LCPD), we are planning on spending a fortune building hugely subsidised and inefficient wind farms , which even a German government report as long ago as 2005 severely criticised. Yet another huge sum is required to enable the power they produce to feed the national grid. The EU Emission Trading System costs yet another tranche of our diminishing income and contributes further uncertainties regarding investment and future planning by power companies, who need to do something other than send out legions of employees urging us to change power company.

Too late

The EU is developing confidence with its worldwide importance. We have an EU force being sent to Chad, only 4 months late, to help solve the problem of security for Dafur refugees. It was unfortunate that the Chadean rebels (UFDD) just happened to choose the same time to attack the capital N'Djamena,as that chosen for the EU force to enter Chad. They used helicopters supplied by Russia to help do so.The French now have 1,100 troops based in Chad under a military treaty and will lead and provide half of the EU force. The latter sport an armband with a little ring of stars. So the EU is now put in the invidious position of supporting corrupt President Déby. Admittedly there is that oil pipeline to Cameroon to protect.