Herb's blog

Greenpeace and Facebook unite on renewable energy

2012-01-07T17:51:00.002Z

http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2011/dec/greenpeace-facebook.cfm

The Battle for Bauhaus: How A Movement Failed to Protect Its Name

2012-01-06T14:24:00.004Z

Interesting Spiegel article at http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,807202-2,00.html

100 Jahre Erdplatten-Theorie: Der verlachte Revoluzzer mit der Weltformel

2012-01-06T14:22:00.002Z

Interessanter Spiegel-Artikel unter http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,807228,00.html

Radio debate with Roger Helmer MEP

2011-07-19T15:49:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I had an opportunity to (briefly) debate wind farms, nuclear power and energy policy in general with Roger Helmer MEP on BBC Radio Leicester. You can listen to the brief recording (approx. 10 minutes) by clicking here.

Ragwort

2011-07-01T12:40:00.004+01:00

According to extensive work carried out by Swansea Friends of the Earth in conjunction with Buglife, the Invertebrate Conservation Trust, ragwort is a plant that is very valuable for biodiversity. Like many plants, ragwort contains certain poisonous chemicals and there have been cases of animal poisoning. However, it would appear that the risks associated with ragwort tend to be grossly exaggerated in the media and other publications from bodies such as the British Horse Society.
Further information can be found on the Swansea FoE website, on Ragwort blog and at Ragwort Facts.

Wanlip wind turbine: Beauty or Beast?

2011-06-16T18:46:00.000+01:00

On 16 June I took part in a BBC Radio Leicester phone-in programme to discuss Severn Trent's wind turbine at Wanlip. I'm not sure why this was a big story today - after all, the appeal decision was published back in March and has been listed on the Pro Wind Alliance website as a success story for weeks! In any case, you can listen to a recording of the programme by clicking here.

Royal future in hands of royal couple

2011-04-26T17:06:00.000+01:00

Good Opinion piece in today's Leicester Mercury. Click here to read it.

Nuclear Monbiot

2011-03-30T01:44:00.004+01:00

See below for nuclear-related e-mail I sent to George Monbiot on 16 April 2009.

Unfortunately he didn't bother to reply. Judging from his recent blatantly pro-nuclear statements, it would appear that he has lost the nuclear plot.

On a related note, see also http://herbeppel.blogspot.com/2011/03/i-have-non-nuclear-dream.html

*******************************************************
Subject: Let's resist the atomic menace
From: Herbert Eppel
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:44:53 +0100
To: George Monbiot
CC: ...

Dear George

I don't know whether you remember, but we met and had a brief chat at the Road Block conference in Birmingham a couple of years or so ago.

I regularly read your excellent, thought-provoking and indeed witty columns in the Guardian - today's hilarious statement "Carrier bags were so poorly represented in my sample that I am considering reporting the matter to the Royal Society for the Protection of Plastic Waste" followed by the serious message "Yes of course we should wage war on the plastic bag. But it should be our 1000th environmental priority, not our first and - in some cases - only one" is another classic!

However, in view of the fact that I having been campaigning (more or less actively and in various roles and wearing different hats) for energy efficiency and renewables and against nuclear power for 20 years, I am somewhat alarmed by the apparent U-turn by some environmentalists (including, apparently, yourself) who seem to see nuclear power as a necessary evil for solving the climate change problem, which I feel plays right into the hands of the nuclear lobby.

While I feel that people like Lovelock, for example, can quite easily be dismissed as having lost the plot, things become a little more tricky when pro-nuclear statements come from eminent people such as yourself.

I strongly feel that nuclear power is not only undesirable for numerous, well-documented reasons, but also unnecessary, as demonstrated by Germany's nuclear exit strategy, for example. (Incidentally, whatever the outcome of the forthcoming elections, I sincerely hope the Greens will be back in government in order to ensure that Germany actually sticks to the nuclear exit strategy!)

Here is a good article, if you haven't seen it already:
<http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2009/04/germany-the-worldsfirst- major-renewable-energy-economy?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-April8-2009>

Quote: "It's ambitious, but Germany can be running on renewable energy by 2050 if there is the political will."

No doubt Britain could do it too if it didn't keep getting side-tracked by climate numpties etc.

In summary, I strongly feel that anti-nuclear campaigners should stand firm and united against the 'atomic menace'.

Best wishes

Herbert Eppel, wearing the following hats, among others:
Pro Wind Alliance www.ProWA.org.uk,
Leicester FoE http://www.LeicesterFoE.org.uk,
HE Translations http://www.HETranslation.co.uk

I have a (non-nuclear) dream...

2011-03-28T12:39:00.002+01:00

In view of yesterday's amazing/historic election result in Germany (see below), I'm dreaming of a time when: a) the British electorate might be similarly concerned about nuclear issues, and b) the outdated British (in particular English) election system might have changed sufficiently to allow similarly amazing outcomes.

See also extract from today's edition of UK Nuclear News below.

Germany

An estimated quarter of a million people took to the streets in four German cities on Saturday to call for the closure of all nuclear power plants in the country. The demonstrations in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Munich were organised by a wide range of environmental groups and supported by the main opposition parties in parliament—the Social Democratic Party, the Greens and the Left Party. The German federation of trade unions (DGB) also put its name to the list of sponsors and its chairman was the main speaker at the rally following the march in Berlin.

World Socialist Web 28th March 2011

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/mar2011/gdem-m28.shtml

Morning Star 27th March 2011

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/102752

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition was defeated in its southwestern heartland and failed to win control of a second state as the anti-nuclear Greens vote surged to a record, forcing her to reassess energy policy. The Greens were poised to enter the regional governments in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate after state elections yesterday conducted in the shadow of the nuclear disaster in Japan. In Baden-Wuerttemberg, the Greens were set to lead their first state administration, ejecting Merkel’s Christian Democrats from power in Stuttgart after 58 years.

Bloomberg 27th March 2011

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-03-27/merkel-s-nuclear-policy-under-fire-as-greens-surge-in-elections.html

Telegraph 27th March 2011

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8409736/Angela-Merkel-suffers-further-election-blow-over-nuclear-policy.html

Guardian 28th March 2011

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/27/german-green-victory-fukushima

Four nuclear power companies are preparing lawsuits against the German government in the wake of its decision to idle seven of the country’s 17 nuclear-power stations. Officials at the companies – Germany’s Eon, RWE and EnBW and Sweden’s Vattenfall – said no top-level decisions had been taken, but obligations to shareholders made suits “almost an imperative”.

FT 28th March 2011

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3d2319bc-588f-11e0-9b8a-00144feab49a.html

We owe the internet for changing the world. Now let's learn how to turn off

2011-02-23T08:53:00.002Z

Next time we have people round for dinner or meet friends in the pub etc. and they get carried away with their blasted smartphones, I'll point them to this article that appeared in the Guardian's Comment is free section yesterday:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/22/internet-learn-to-turn-off

Oma Ziska (Franziska Gutfleisch)

2011-02-20T20:23:00.002Z

Bin beim Aufräumen gerade mal wieder auf den Nachruf auf meine Oma Ziska (Franziska Gutfleisch) aus dem Mannheimer Morgen vom 19.11.2002 gestoßen und finde, dass sie durchaus endlich einmal eine Erwähnung im Internet verdient hat!

Swan & Rushes real ale pub, Leicester

2011-02-05T11:06:00.002Z

'Re-discovered' an excellent traditional pub just up the road yesterday evening - see Swan & Rushes website at http://www.swanandrushes.co.uk/

Germany's Energy Research Plan

2010-10-31T14:08:00.000Z

Oct 29, 2010 © Germany.info

German Education and Research Minister Annette Schavan recently presented Germany's new energy concept and the research investments that will support it in an editorial that appeared in the renowned international weekly journal Science.

"The 'Energiekonzept' (Energy Concept) foresees an end to the country's dependence on fossil fuels and defines key milestones to achieve by 2050, including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent (compared to 1990 levels), the modernization and insulation of buildings, and a decrease in electricity consumption by 25 percent," Schavan states in the editorial, published in the October 15 edition of Science.

"By spring 2011, the German government will present a detailed new Energy Research Program that outlines important research tasks to support these new goals," she added.

"Renewable energies will play the major role in restructuring Germany's energy supply. These sources already generate about 16 percent of Germany's energy, including wind and hydropower, biomass, geothermal, and photovoltaic power," said Schavan.

Germany's global leadership in Green Tech innovations was based on major ongoing investments in research and the dissemination of technology, Schavan moreover underscored.

"In 2010 alone, the German government will spend approximately 1 billion euros on energy and climate research," she said.

A new 40-year Energy Concept for Germany was presented by Chancellor Angela Merkel on September 6 in Berlin. She hailed it as "a revolution in the field of energy supply" that would create the most efficient and environmentally sound energy system worldwide in Germany.

Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

Hermann Scheer, Leading Advocate for Solar Energy and "Hero for the Green Century"

2010-10-31T14:07:00.000Z

Hermann Scheer (1944-2010): German Lawmaker, Leading Advocate for Solar Energy and "Hero for the Green Century" in one of his final interviews

No Need for Nuclear

2010-08-23T13:27:00.001+01:00

At last, a "No Need for Nuclear" 'coalition' has been formed.

See http://www.noneedfornuclear.org.uk.

Britain is at a 'nuclear crossroads', and I believe it is not too late to stop the nuclear renaissance madness.

Argentina in the semi-finals???

2010-07-03T18:58:00.005+01:00

This is what showed up on the FIFA website shortly after the Germany v. Argentina match.
Note: ARG listed for the semi-finals!The FIFA at www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/calendar.html has since been corrected.

Leicester Mercury

2010-05-27T16:53:00.001+01:00

I just discovered that the Leicester Mercury recently enhanced the functionality of its online article archive by adding a facility to display overviews of articles/letters in which named individuals appear. To view the archive of my recent contributions click here

Blinkered walkers stealing beauty

2010-04-26T20:16:00.002+01:00

"Best-selling author Will Self argues that urban-fleeing walkers’ tunnel vision of the countryside is both damaging and self-defeating…"

This thought-provoking article was published in the Spring 2010 edition of the Ramblers' magazine. The online blog version is followed by several equally thought-provoking comments

1970: Willy Brandt in Erfurt - Geschichte einer deutsch-deutschen Annäherung

2010-03-19T20:59:00.002Z

Vor 40 Jahren trafen sich Bundeskanzler Willy Brandt und der Vorsitzende des DDR-Ministerrates Willi Stoph in Erfurt. Ein historisches Gipfeltreffen im Kalten Krieg.

Coalition Infighting Leads Merkel to Flirt with the Greens

2010-02-17T18:52:00.003Z

A very interesting article in today's Spiegel International suggests that "Angela Merkel's coalition of conservatives and the pro-business FDP is looking unhappy and brittle after three months of infighting. Merkel is responding by sounding out future alliances with the Greens. A major state election in May could provide the chance for a major new experiment in German politics".

Read the whole article here.

It neatly brings me back to one of my favourite subjects: proportional representation.

Proportional representation

2010-02-17T11:58:00.004Z

A Leicester Mercury reader submitted a letter outlining the benefits of proportional representation. I couldn't resist leaving a comment, pointing to my previous blog entry on the subject.

Know your garden bird song

2010-01-29T13:39:00.004Z

Today's online Guardian contains the best garden bird identification facility I have come across so far.
You simply move the mouse over the small bird pictures and a corresponding bigger picture appears together with the relevant sound.
Excellent!

Lord Healey accepts lifetime achievement

2009-11-06T10:33:00.000Z

I found reading this profoundly upbeat and positive article rather inspiring, in view of all the recent doom and gloom surrounding politics and politicians.
Incidentally, I also found the recent Desert Island Discs programme with Lord Healey very interesting. (Unfortunately it is no longer available for "listen again")

The Berlin wall had to fall, but today's world is no fairer

2009-10-31T01:16:00.000Z

Interesting article by Mikhail Gorbachev in today's Guardian.

Silly freebie requests

2009-10-08T07:10:00.000+01:00

Interesting article on "silly freebie requests" at Greenbang.com

Nuclear news (UK/Germany)

2009-10-04T10:46:00.002+01:00

This article suggests that the UK new nuclear-build programme is wobbling.

Meanwhile, I suspect public anti-nuclear opinion in Germany is so strong that no-one would seriously suggest a new nuclear-build programme, although following the recent elections the new government, while fundamentally honouring the agreed nuclear exit strategy, is likely to grant extensions to the agreed residual operating times for (at least some of the) existing plants.

The article on p. 3/4 of the current edition of Nuclear Monitor contains more details.

Landslide could be warning shot we should not ignore

2009-09-16T09:37:00.002+01:00

Interesting article in today's Press and Journal by Nicola Barry:

LANDSLIDES are only good if they happen for your party in an election. But when you come face to face with the real thing, see the raw power of nature in action, it can be truly terrifying.

You cannot have failed to notice the TV and press coverage of the massive slippage on the A83 at Rest and Be Thankful, in Argyll. A massive 1,000 tons of mud and rubble crashed down the mountainside and blocked the road for the second time in two years at almost exactly the same place.

I was driving home after speaking at a conference at Tarbert, a lengthy enough journey at the best of times. Then I came face to face with a blocked route and a mammoth 60-mile diversion to circumvent the mess. I was not alone. For the next four days, hundreds of drivers had to make the same extended detour.

We have had serious landslides here in Scotland. Remember the one which trapped 50 people and isolated the entire village of Lochearnhead in 2004? They are caused by prolonged heavy rain – and we have seen plenty of that this year.

Climate change scientists believe these conditions will become more common in the UK, making landslides more frequent. According to experts, the rock which forms the foundation of the hill at Rest and Be Thankful is so smooth that any extensive rainfall will dislodge the top soil. This soil has nothing beneath it to hold it in place, so it forms a mass of moving earth and stone; a veritable avalanche which hurtles down the mountain at a terrifying speed.

I have had my doubts about climate change. But when you witness, first-hand, the result of something as awesome as a hillside collapsing, you do wonder whether we should give the believers more credence.

The first question which entered my head was how far had I been from a really nasty accident? And, how many drivers were close when the rumbling landscape decided to relocate itself hundreds of feet down the mountain.

We do, at least, know that landslides are caused by prolonged heavy rainfall. It could have got me. It was only just as I was leaving Tarbert that the landslide was reported. I was just in time.

So, what would you do in such circumstances? Try and reverse your car, with all the dangers that would entail? Try and outrun it? Or, would you freeze like a rabbit caught in headlights, unsure of what to do? If you did freeze beneath 1,000 tons of rubble and mud, the next person you’d meet would be your Maker.

This prompts two questions: will such a landslide happen again, especially at the now notorious blackspot, the ironically named Rest and Be Thankful? And, what can be done to prevent it? No doubt, the greatest engineering minds in Scotland will be applying themselves to this very point.

Of course, your response to this column will depend on where you stand on the whole issue of global warming, whether you believe the world is about to come to a very heated end or that the whole argument has been hyped by people who should know better, ie: scientists.

If they are right, climate change and pollution combine to make a dreadful legacy for future generations, for our children’s children.

Many of the consequences of the way we have ignored the delicate balance of our natural world, are already coming home to roost.

Years ago, meteorologists forecast intense thunderstorms; so bad they would bring flash flooding across the country. We have already witnessed these.

Equally, you may have noticed that, during the last few years, instead of complaining about damp, cloudy Scottish summers, we have been reduced to moaning about the excruciating heat and humidity, always followed by relentless, torrential rain.

The 2003 heatwave, remember, killed 27,000 people across Europe.

In recent years, The Scottish Government approved powers to crack down on wasteful homeowners and businesses; a move, incidentally, hailed as the world's most ambitious emissions targets – in some quarters. Measures voted through included the power to fine householders and companies if they do not take action to improve the energy efficiency of their houses and buildings.

We conveniently forget that so many of our daily activities affect the environment. One of the most important is how much carbon dioxide we emit because that is the gas which contributes to climate change. It is the same with water. We forget how lucky we are to have pure, fresh, water to quench our thirst when so many countries do not. We forget how central water is to our lives. We drink it, wash and swim in it, cook and clean with it and perform basic sanitary tasks such as flushing the loo with it.

We use litres of the stuff, thoughtlessly, day in, day out. When will we ever stop and think about the damage we do?

We have seen with catastrophes such as the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, that when Mother Nature gets her dander up, there is not a lot trivial mankind can do to dissuade her. Hurricane Katrina tore its way through the beautiful city of New Orleans, destroying homes, people and cars. It uprooted houses, trees and power lines, leaving death alongside devastation.

The incompetence and indifference demonstrated by the US Federal Government was little short of a disgrace. People were frogmarched from what remained of their homes and bussed two or three states away, not knowing when or if they would ever return. Most of us watching the tragedy unfold couldn’t believe what we were seeing. These scenes must be coming from the Sudan or Somalia, but America? But would we, as a nation, cope any better?

We need to make dramatic lifestyle changes.

Take in this statistic: one long-haul return flight can produce the same carbon footprint as driving a car for a whole year. So, if the landslide I almost encountered last week WAS a sign of climate change, it is a warning shot across our bows which we must not ignore.

Forty-five years of the US Wilderness Act

2009-09-16T07:21:00.001+01:00

Brilliant images on the Guardian website

Digging for victory again

2009-09-11T00:02:00.005+01:00

Interesting article in today's Guardian by Madeleine Bunting:

In an era of profound anxiety, the great claims made for home-grown veg are more convincing

Some praise her dress sense, others her warmth, and others celebrate her as a powerful role model; but perhaps the most astute move of America's first lady was to plough up the White House lawn for a vegetable garden. Now she has her first harvest, with 225lb of food grown so far, and over 50 varieties of vegetables.

The role of the wives of world leaders is all about symbolism. They are tightly constrained by what they can say and how they can intervene in public life, but what they can do is communicate by example. And Michelle Obama chose an intervention which, as they say, was absolutely on the money. It shows a canny knack of how to identify and ride a growing tide of public sentiment.

Because over the last two years, vegetable growing has gone from being a grandad's hobby to hip. The most unlikely gardeners now regularly discuss their runner bean crop, how to keep slugs off the courgettes, and their preferred type of chard. People with hectic lifestyles and tiny urban gardens are still eager to discuss tomato seeds. This has gone well beyond a rural fantasy of self-sufficiency. The results are evident in unprecedented waiting lists for allotments (estimated at 100,000 earlier this year) and the sales of vegetable seeds, with UK companies reporting increases of 30% in 2007 and another 40% in 2008. There are similar reports in the US.

It's easy to put this down to a straightforward response to tough times and the recession. But there's more to it than that, because – let's be realistic – by the time you've bought your seed, slug repellent and compost, you're unlikely to have saved that much money. This is not primarily driven by economic need.

The point at which this zeitgeist really struck me as curious was when an acquaintance – a successful property developer – told me she was keen to sell her home-grown cucumbers on her street with an honesty box. There is something much more interesting here than a search for cheap food.

Obama has linked her digging with the importance of healthy eating; a fifth of US children are reported to be obese. Can growing veg shift eating habits? Thousands of UK schools have developed vegetable gardens in the hope that growing a vegetable can encourage a child to eat one: a moot point, but probably worth a try. (My results have been mixed given my tendency to serve up a healthy portion of insect life in the veg.)

Great claims are made for home-grown veg: in particular, that it generates a better understanding of the food production process and the natural resources of soil fertility and water on which it depends. Under this rationale, a crop of leeks is a crash course in environmental awareness. Similarly, the considerable effort required to nurture a crop of tomatoes on to the dinner table brings a new dimension to food waste (the promises that growing veg is simple are wide of the mark, and one presumes Obama's success has been dependent on some expert advice). One has a much better sense of the effort and resources required to produce food and the horror of all that going to waste.

Also lurking in the background of this fashion is a profound anxiety that the future looks so uncertain that the produce of our window boxes may be all that stands between us and hunger. There are still plenty of people who remember digging for victory in the second world war, and their children and grandchildren now feel the need to make sure those gardening skills, once common, don't go to the grave. The example of Cuba is held up as the model: Havana managed to produce much of the food it needed within its city limits after its oil-based agricultural sector collapsed in the early 90s. Whenever oil prices edge up, it probably prompts another jump in the demand for seed potatoes at B&Q.

Deutschland ist Europameister(in)

2009-09-10T23:30:00.004+01:00

Bericht in der Frankfurter Rundschau
(weckt Erinnerungen an das 5:1-Debakel von 2001)

Birgit Prinz
(Bild: dpa)

Helsinki. Das Transparent war schön zentral postiert. Genau in der Mitte der Gegentribüne, dort wo die finnische Spätsommersonne die Menschen immerhin bis Mitte der ersten Halbzeit richtig wärmte, hing das weiße Laken – und gefährlich rote Farbe hatten die Autoren für ihre pfiffige Botschaft sehr passend auch noch benutzt. "10.9.09 – England’s Nightmare" stand da geschrieben, wobei das "Night" sorgfältig durchgestrichen und durch die vier Buchstaben NEID ersetzt worden war. Beim Schlusspfiff des EM-Finals zwischen England und Deutschland prangte der Spruch noch immer auf der Tribüne – und die DFB-Auswahl mit Cheftrainerin Silvia Neid war, wie schriftlich angekündigt, tatsächlich zum Albtraum für die Engländerinnen geworden.

Ein echter Tiefschlag war die 6:2-Flut von Helsinki, ausgelöst durch die deutschen Fußballerinnen, für die Kickerinnen von der Insel. Bei einem kontinentalen Dauersieger – der Titelgewinn der DFB-Elf war der fünfte in Folge – sind die Gegner an Niederlagen ja gewöhnt. Aber nicht an solche, zumal in einem Finale. Andererseits war die erfolgreiche Verlängerung des Abonnements zumindest eine Stunde lang alles andere als ein Kinderspiel. "Ein Duell auf Augenhöhe" hatte Bundestrainerin Neid prophezeit – nach ihrem ersten EM-Titel auf dem Chefsessel klang das dann so: "Mit acht Toren, mit einem 6:2, hätte ich bei zwei so guten Mannschaften niemals gerechnet."

Witz und Tempo

Im Gegensatz zu den Norwegerinnen, die der DFB-Elf im Halbfinale vor allem mit enormem körperlichem Einsatz das Fußballerinnenleben eine Halbzeit lang zur Hölle machten, hatten die Spielerinnen aus England neben ihrer starken Physis auch reichlich Tempo und Spielwitz zu bieten. Die erste aufregende Szene – ein Freistoß der Engländerin Fara Williams einen Meter neben das Tor (9.) – re sultierte noch aus einer Standardsituation. Anschließend jedoch kam so richtig Fluss ins Spiel – und die Neid-Elf machte als erste Ernst.

Professor David Elliot, Open University, criticises New Labour Policy On Nuclear Energy

2009-09-10T14:17:00.003+01:00

Published on the Claverton website

*******************************************

Nuclear expansion? Not in my name

The public debate and the government consultations in 2006 and 2007 on nuclear power were framed in the context of a replacement programme for existing reactors scheduled to close. On this basis it has been suggested that there was if not a clear consensus then at least a majority in favour.

However, subsequently the government began to talk about going beyond replacement. For example, in May 2008 Prime Minister Gordon Brown commented ‘I think we are pretty clear that we will have to do more than simply replace existing nuclear capability in Britain’ while Secretary of State John Hutton said, that, although it was up to the private sector developers, he would be ‘very disappointed’ if the proportion of electricity generated by nuclear did not rise ’significantly above the current level’. In Aug 2009, Malcolm Wicks MP, the PM’s Special Representative on International Energy, produced a report calling for a UK nuclear contribution of 35-40% ‘beyond 2030?. Currently the UK gets 13% of its electricity from nuclear sources.

The government has also indicated that it saw a major role for exporting UK nuclear technology and expertise. Gordon Brown has indicated that he believes the world needs 1,000 extra nuclear power stations and has argued that Africa could build nuclear power plants to meet growing demands for energy. In 2009 a new UK Nuclear Centre of Excellence was announced to ‘promote wider access to civil nuclear power across the world’ with an initial budget of £20m, along with ‘up to £15m’ for a Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre.

I cannot support any of the above policies or views. As a lifelong Labour movement activist and long standing Labour party member, I have struggled to live with various New Labour policies to which I have been opposed with increasing difficulty, not least in relation to the Iraq invasion. The new policies on nuclear will I believe lead to major long-term global security problems, in terms of the proliferation of nuclear weapons making capacity and the potential for nuclear terrorism. The policies on nuclear could also undermine energy security and environmental sustainability, since money, manpower and other resources will be diverted away from renewables and energy efficiency, which I see as the only long term options for a sustainable energy future, nationally and globally.

I have made these points regularly in various forums, including SERA, of which I was a founding member. But the commitment to an expanded nuclear programme seems set in stone and indeed is deepening. A Policy Statement on Nuclear is due soon. I doubt if it will go much beyond what the government has already said- that it welcomes the 12GW or so of proposal that have come so far from the private sector. In fact the various contenders- EDF, E.ON etc, have ‘reserved’ a total of 23.6GW of grid links for new nuclear capacity with National Grid. That’s about the same as the wind power capacity we are aiming to have by 2020. But as EDF have pointed out, there are operational and economic reasons why a major expansion of nuclear would be incompatible with a major expansion of renewable electricity generation.

The Labour leadership, and I fear many party members, cannot see the lunacy of this approach. I have therefore, reluctantly, decided to resign from the Labour party, not least since I find it impossible to canvas on its behalf.

This will coincide with my retirement from the Open University after 38 years trying to relay rational and sustainable approaches to technology and energy policy to a wide audience. But I wont be going quietly into the night! For example, Iíll be continuing to produce Renew, the bimonthly newsletter on renewable energy development and policies, on an independent basis: see http://www.natta-renew.org

David Elliott,
(soon to be Emeritus) Professor of Technology Policy,
The Open University

Peter Maffay wird 60

2009-09-09T05:37:00.002+01:00

Bericht in den Deutschland-Nachrichten des Auswärtigen Amtes:

Peter Maffay wird 60 – ehrlicher Rocker mit sozialem Engagement

Peter Maffay: Konzert des deutschen Saerngers auf der Kindl Bühne Wuhlheide am 09.06.2009 in Berlin

Er war Schlagerstar und wurde zum Rocker – heute ist Peter Maffay vor allem für sein soziales Engagement bekannt. Am 30. August feiert er seinen 60. Geburtstag und gleichzeitig sein 40. Bühnenjubiläum. Geboren wurde Maffay im rumänischen Siebenbürgen. Mit 14 Jahren kam er zusammen mit seinen Eltern nach Bayern. Anfang der 70er Jahre wurde er zunächst mit dem Schlagerhit "Du" bekannt, später etablierte er sich als Rockmusiker mit deutschen Texten.

Der Mann gilt als "ehrlicher Rocker" und als netter Kerl. Doch Peter Maffay ist mit diesem Image nicht zufrieden. Diese Etiketten gefallen ihm nicht. "Das ist ein bisschen leichtfertig. Das sind Schlagworte. Da steht dann so ein Image, das nicht wirklich tief geht. Ich kenne andere, die sind viel ehrlicher als ich, und werden nicht so bezeichnet", sagt Maffay.

"Es gibt eine ethische Ausrichtung, nach der versuche ich zu leben, und da spielt Ehrlichkeit eine Rolle. Aber ich habe in meinem Leben auch schon gelogen, Dinge vertuscht und geheim gehalten oder nicht ausgesprochen, obwohl ich sie hätte aussprechen sollen. Ich bin da keinen Deut besser als irgendjemand anderes."

Seine Fans allerdings sehen das nicht so. Bis heute lieben sie seine großen Hits wie "So bist Du", die "Tabaluga"-Musicals oder seine Interpretation von "Über sieben Brücken musst Du gehen". Mit seinen sozialen Projekten hat Maffay in den vergangenen Jahren auch die Herzen vieler weiterer Menschen erobert.

Mit seiner Ehefrau und seinem kleinen Sohn lebt er bei München und auf Mallorca. Eigentlich läuft alles bestens, doch Maffay ist ein Getriebener. Vielleicht sei seine Vergangenheit auch ein bisschen Schuld daran, meint er. Die Kindheit im damals kommunistischen Rumänien hat Spuren hinterlassen. In Rumänien war alles grau, erinnert er sich. Individualität war nicht erwünscht. Er wollte ausbrechen.

"Deswegen bedeutet mir Autarkie so viel - selber sein Leben bestimmen zu können und nicht am Rockzipfel von irgendjemandem zu hängen. Das ist in meinem Leben immer etwas ganz Wichtiges gewesen", sagt Maffay. Sein Ziel ist es nicht nun mehr, sehr viel Erfolg zu haben, sondern einfach nur Balance, Zufriedenheit. "Wenn ich dieses Gleichgewicht auf Dauer verlieren würde - ich verliere es ja manchmal, das ist ja normal - aber wenn ich es auf Dauer verlieren würde, das wäre schlecht."

In einer neuen Biografie "Auf dem Weg zu mir" berichtet er aus seinem Leben. Dort erzählt er, wie er gekämpft hat, um nicht nur als Schlagersänger sondern als Rockmusiker wahrgenommen zu werden und ganz nach oben zu kommen.Heute ist Maffay etabliert. Vor kurzem hat er in Berlin mit Bundesaußenminister Frank-Walter Steinmeier die Weltlage diskutiert. Und er hat noch viel vor: Die von ihm gegründete Peter-Maffay-Stiftung hat damit begonnen, in seinem Geburtsland Rumänien ein Therapiezentrum für traumatisierte Kinder auszubauen.

www.maffay.de

How the collapse of Lehman Brothers pushed capitalism to the brink

2009-09-04T15:20:00.000+01:00

The Guardian has an interesting account of how the global financial crisis unfolded.

Proportional Representation

2009-09-03T16:35:00.003+01:00

Disappointingly, William Hague never bothered to reply to the open letter I sent him back in May.
Meanwhile, pressure to reform the British voting system and make it more democratic will hopefully keep mounting.
Another example of such pressure was published in today's Guardian.

Obituary: Edward Goldsmith

2009-08-29T14:55:00.001+01:00

Edward Goldsmith: Environmental campaigner and writer who founded The Ecologist magazine (The Guardian)

Cyclist beware: don't stray from the towpath

2009-07-31T15:29:00.001+01:00

Hilarious article in the Guardian today.

Call for end to phone books

2009-07-31T14:25:00.002+01:00

T Wright complains about being ripped off for paper-based phone and broadband bills (Mailbox, July 21). I think it is all a matter of perspective and/or marketing angle.
When paperless bills were first introduced, companies offered a discount for customers such as myself who opted for the more environment-friendly and surely more economic paperless billing method.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that some customers aren't amused if they are suddenly charged extra for a paper bill, rather than receiving a discount for paperless billing.
In any case, when it comes to telephone services, it seems to me that a very environmentally and economically sensible way forward would be to confine the annual ritual of distributing paper-based phone books and Yellow Pages to the scrapheap of history.
Herbert Eppel, Leicester.

Published in the Leicester Mercury.

Vestas is too vital to lose

2009-07-24T20:43:00.000+01:00

For Guardian article and my comment click here.

British industry faces a long slog out of the recession, CBI says

2009-07-22T20:54:00.000+01:00

For Guardian article and my comment click here.

Staff occupy Isle of Wight wind turbine plant in protest against closure

2009-07-21T21:00:00.000+01:00

For Guardian article and my comment click here.

One giant leap for a greener Britain

2009-07-20T20:57:00.000+01:00

For Guardian article and my comment click here.

Illegitimate war

2009-07-18T15:02:00.000+01:00

Here is my letter in the Leicester Mercury on this subject.

Swinford inquiry underway

2009-07-16T17:02:00.003+01:00

Exciting times - the Swinford wind farm inquiry is underway.
Here is a link to an article and plenty of comments in today's Leicester Mercury.

The £4,000 Eco Home

2009-07-12T13:16:00.002+01:00

Puublished in Metro,
8 July 2009

Britain's green revolution will power economic recovery

2009-07-12T12:38:00.000+01:00

Great stuff, I just wish they would stop portraying nuclear power as green!

Lucky Strike

2009-07-08T19:21:00.008+01:00

Brilliant photograph on the front page of today's Leicester Mercury showing lightning striking the Seventh Day Adventist Church in London Road.

Climate denial 'astroturfers' should stop hiding behind pseudonyms online

2009-07-08T17:01:00.001+01:00

I have been thinking along similar lines for some time, i.e. the media should find some way to stop anonymous blathering on comments pages.

I rarely read comments pages because I usually regard them as a high blood pressure health risk.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2009/jul/08/climate-denial-astroturfers-pseudonyms

Dinosaur v. High-tech Windmills

2009-07-04T06:22:00.002+01:00

Ken Whiton, President of Republicans for Environmental Protection's New Mexico Chapter, hit the nail on the head by saying "I believe the solution is to phase out the dinosaurs of the past and embrace the technologies and solutions of the 21st century". Quite right!

Paul Gipe adds link to ProWA website

2009-06-30T13:09:00.000+01:00

Wind guru Paul Gipe adds link to ProWA website with a subheading of "A voice of reason in the British Isles not connected to any trade association" on hist website under Debunking the Myths about Wind Energy.

Call on Lord Mandelson to save wind energy jobs

2009-06-30T13:06:00.002+01:00

Here is another chance to do something about the Vestas wind power plant: http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/press_for_change/vestas_petition_20414.html?ic_number=191954&m_sourcecode=CLONLINE&product=CLIMATEONLINE

See also previously announced petition (now closed) at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/WindEnergyJobs/

UK joins International Renewable Energy Agency

2009-06-24T13:04:00.001+01:00

Good news:
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2244715/uk-set-join-international

Denmark to power electric cars by wind

2009-06-20T13:03:00.000+01:00

Interesting: Denmark to power electric cars by wind in vehicle-to-grid experiment - see http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/19/denmark-wind-electric-cars

Climate Protection Pays Off

2009-06-16T16:00:00.001+01:00

The German Federal Environment Ministry has published a brochure entitled Climate Protection Pays Off - essential reading, especially for the dinosaurs who keep moaning about the costs of climate protection measures. The brochure is available via this link:
http://www.bmu.de/english/climate/downloads/doc/37944.php

Open-source hydrogen car takes to the road

2009-06-16T15:58:00.002+01:00

Excellent news:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/16/hydrogen-car-open-source

Open letter to William Hague: Time to take proportional representation seriously

2009-05-31T20:17:00.000+01:00

Dear Mr Hague

BBC Question Time is one of my favourite TV programmes these days, and on 21 May I attentively watched another very interesting episode.

I found myself in agreement with virtually all your statements and sentiments, but I'm afraid I felt that your credibility as a potential future foreign secretary was somewhat undermined by your off-the-cuff remark about proportional representation.

Look at Germany, for example. Modern Germany is celebrating its 60th birthday this year. Far from "one party being in office all the time", Germany has had a range of different coalition constellations, and the special proportional representation election system that was implemented there after the war is working very well indeed.

The German system was developed based on previous experience and with a view to avoid the problems and mistakes of the past. In simple terms, half the seats are elected on a first past the post basis, while the rest are distributed proportionally. Crucially, the system has a so-called "5% hurdle" that prevents fringe parties from entering parliament.

It is high time for Britain to take proportional representation seriously and move away from the present system of "elected dictatorship", where a party can end up with a massive majority in parliament with little over 30% of the vote and can then basically do what it wants for the next 4 or 5 years, with little scope of intervention by the opposition parties.

Yours sincerely

Herbert Eppel, Leicester
www.HETranslation.co.uk

30 October 2006 - an Eventful Day

2006-11-24T06:00:00.002Z

Today was an eventful day for the NoWideningM1 Alliance!!!

See
BBC News
Photo show
Leicester Mercury
NoWideningM1 website

Sadly, our 'boat cat' died on the same day :-(

Recent impressions from Germany

2005-12-14T05:27:00.000Z

This photo (courtesy of VDI-Nachrichten) speaks for itself!

IT - Thunderbird: How to change "undisclosed recipients" in bcc messages

2005-12-02T05:56:00.000Z

Instructions provided by Parish in the Thunderbird support newsgroup.

The file that has to be modified (en_US.jar) is located in C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\chrome

****************************************************************
1. *Backup en_US.jar*
2. Create an empty directory - C:/foo for this example.
3. Using WinZip open en-US.jar and extract composeMsgs.properties to C:/foo but make sure you check "Use folder names"
4. Open C:/foo/locale/en-US/messenger/messengercompose/composeMsgs.properties in your favourite text editor.
5. Find the text (it's line 227)
6. Edit the text to taste and save the file.
7. In WinZip, open en-US.jar again and click the Add icon, then
+ navigate to C:/foo
+ leave *.* in "File name"
+ check "Include sub-folders" in the "Folders" panel
+ select "Freshen existing files" in the "Actions" drop-down
+ click "Freshen with wildcards"

Note the steps in 7. are important as they ensure WinZip replaces the existing file, rather than add it as a new file in the root (without a path)
******************************************************************

I would still be interested in finding out how to get rid of the ":;" characters at the end of the To field.

IT - How to verify e-mail addresses without actually sending messages

2005-11-09T07:22:00.000Z

This is something I had been wondering about for some time, and thanks to some expert help from the Thunderbird newsgroup (Bill McCartney in particular) I finally got to the bottom of it today.

Here is the procedure:

1. Export address book(s) as *.ldif file(s) and rename the file(s) to .txt

2. Use a program called Email Finder Pro to extract the addresses and rename the output file to *.lst - note that support for the program has been discontinued, but Bill kindly sent it to me, and since there don't appear to be any restrictions on distribution I have placed it here for downloading.

3. Download and install ListMaster Pro (LMP) .

4. In LMP, under File > Config enter your DNS Server IP (in my case this is shown at the top of this page) and your e-mail address (ideally this should be an address that matches your ISP).

5. Open the previously saved *.lst file (File > Load - change the file type box at the bottom to [*.lst] so the file will show up), then select "Verify all addresses".

6. "Sit back and enjoy the show", as it says in the LMP help file, which you should read, because it contains useful information on how to interpret the results.