Just Stop Oil cakes king Charles

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Image of Just Stop Oil after ‘caking’ King Charles wax model at Madame Tussauds. A Just Stop Oil image.

Having bought tickets to Madame Tussauds, at just after 10.30 the two Just Stop Oil supporters stepped over the rope barrier separating the King from the public and smeared the model with chocolate cake.  It’ll clean up.

Eilidh McFadden 20 from Glasgow and Tom Johnson 29, a painter decorator from Sunderland then made the following statement:

“We are here because we seek to protect our freedoms and rights, because we seek to protect this green and pleasant land which is the inheritance of us allLast year at COP 26 in Glasgow Queen Elizabeth said [2]: “The time for words has moved to the time for action!”

Her successor King Charles III – on the continued heating of our world has said [3]“We are feeling the effects of all of this now, and disasters are increasing with terrifying frequency and intensity, and causing unprecedented levels of physical and economic damage.”

“no nation, no region and no population will be inured from the impacts of food, water and energy insecurity, and the resulting economic and political insecurity that arise from our seeming utter determination quite literally to test this planet to destruction”

“In every sector of the economy there are solutions available now”

“For the past, what,  40-50 years I have been driven by an overwhelming desire not, to be confronted by my grandchildren – or yours, Ladies and Gentlemen, whom I mind about equally as much – demanding to know why I didn’t do anything to prevent them being bequeathed a poisoned and destroyed planet.  Now, of course, we are indeed being confronted by these very children, demanding immediate action and not just words.”

“The science is clear. The demand is simple: just stop new oil and gas. It’s a piece of cake”

[from a Just Stop Oil press release]

Continue ReadingJust Stop Oil cakes king Charles

Congratulations to Rishi Sunak

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Congratulations to Rishi Sunak on becoming UK's prime minister today. 

His short-lived predecessor Liz Truss was not only in denial of the climate crisis but was actually actively hostile to renewable energy. Even though she only served 45 days, she imposed a windfall tax on renewables and nuclear energy only and promoted exploitation of oil and gas in the North Sea by issuing new exploration licences. [I am not supportive of nuclear energy.] 

The climate is in crisis. It's deteriorating and we're regularly breaking temperature records in UK despite so-far having it very easy compared to the rest of the World. It can't be simply denied as the Tories have been doing.  Denial of the climate crisis is insane. It's going to get worse and extreme protests like closing the M25 are going to increase, the idea being that the protestors are stopping normal conduct of life that is killing the planet. 

Hopefully Rishi will tax the rich to pay for public services. He should know - through being filthy rich - that they're not even going to notice it. 
Continue ReadingCongratulations to Rishi Sunak

‘Devastating’: Right-Wing Swedish Government Shutters Environment Ministry

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“It is impossible to describe more clearly how little this government values ​​the environment and the climate,” said the leader of the Swedish Greens.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is jake-johnson-200x200.jpg

JAKE JOHNSONOctober 19, 2022

In one of its first moves after taking power Tuesday, Sweden’s newly elected right-wing government scrapped the country’s environment ministry, drawing outrage from opposition lawmakers who say the step threatens to undermine the nation’s chances of meeting its climate targets.

“They don’t care about our common future. Expect huge cuts in green funding.”

Per Bolund, the leader of the Swedish Greens, wrote on social media that the axing of the environment ministry shows “how little this government values ​​the environment and the climate.”

“This is a historic decision with devastating consequences for environmental issues,” Bolund added, noting that Sweden will now be without a separate environment ministry for the first time in five decades.

Pär Holmgren, a Swedish meteorologist and member of the European Parliament, also expressed outrage on Twitter.

Following the change announced by right-wing Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, new environment minister Romina Pourmokhtari will work under the minister for energy, business, and industry, Ebba Busch.

Busch is the leader of Sweden’s Christian Democrats, part of the right-wing coalition now governing the country after winning a slim majority in September’s elections. The bloc includes the Sweden Democrats, a far-right xenophobic party.

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that “Kristersson’s government is heavily dependent on the nationalist Sweden Democrats, the only party in parliament that doesn’t back the country’s target of having net zero emissions by 2045.”

“The four-party alliance that agreed on forming the new government last week said they would seek to lower fuel prices, partly by reducing the percentage of biofuels that has to be mixed into gas and diesel to the minimum level required by the European Union,” Bloomberg noted. “That would make it more difficult to reach a target of reducing transport emissions by 70% by 2030.”

Kristersson is also pushing for an expansion of nuclear power, aiming to reverse earlier efforts to dismantle the country’s reactors.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Kristersson said “Sweden’s goal on electricity production would change from ‘100% renewable’ to ‘100 percent fossil-free,’ which leaves room for nuclear energy.”


Republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) licence.

Apologies for bad news Sunday, this blog doesn’t do denial of reality.

Continue Reading‘Devastating’: Right-Wing Swedish Government Shutters Environment Ministry

‘A real and present danger’: NHS cuts will put lives at risk, health leader warns

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The lying EU bus promoting money for the NHS when all the anti-EU shites are anti-NHS Neo-Liberal shites.
The lying anti-EU bus promoting money for the NHS when all the anti-EU shites are anti-NHS Neo-Liberal shites.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/oct/23/a-real-and-present-danger-nhs-cuts-will-put-lives-at-risk-health-leader-warns

Raiding the NHS budget or scrapping plans to rebuild crumbling hospitals would plunge the health service into its deepest crisis in decades. This was the stark warning this weekend from Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, who said the government is “living in a fantasy land” if it believes it can cut funds to the NHS without endangering patients.

Jeremy Hunt promised spending cuts of “eye-watering difficulty” last week after becoming chancellor of the exchequer. Yet he also did not reverse his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng’s decision to scrap the £7bn health and social levy that had been earmarked for the NHS.

Taylor, whose organisation represents hospitals, ambulance trusts, mental health care, community care and GP services, said his members were issuing the “starkest warning” about “the huge and growing gulf between what the NHS is being asked to deliver and the funding and capacity it has available”.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/oct/23/a-real-and-present-danger-nhs-cuts-will-put-lives-at-risk-health-leader-warns

Apologies for bad news Sunday, this blog doesn’t do denial of reality.

Continue Reading‘A real and present danger’: NHS cuts will put lives at risk, health leader warns

Guardian Exclusive: 90% of schools in England will run out of money next year, heads warn

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https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/22/exclusive-90-of-uk-schools-will-go-bust-next-year-heads-warn

Nine out of 10 schools in England will have run out of money by the next school year as the enormous burden of increased energy and salary bills takes its toll, the Observer can reveal.

Early data from the National Association of Head Teachers – results of a survey of its members are due later this month – shows that 50% of heads say their school will be in deficit this year, with almost all expecting to be in the red by next September,when their reserve run out. This comes as Jeremy Hunt has made clear that all departments, including education, will be expected to make cuts as part of the government’s debt reduction plan, to be announced on 31 October.

Headteachers and academy leaders are warning that further spending cuts will push many schools and academy trusts over the cliff, and result in most schools having to lose essential teaching and support staff. “There are no easy fixes left,” said Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT. “Schools are cut to the bone. This will mean cutting teaching hours, teaching assistants and teachers.”

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/22/exclusive-90-of-uk-schools-will-go-bust-next-year-heads-warn

Apologies for bad news Sunday, this blog doesn’t do denial of reality.

Continue ReadingGuardian Exclusive: 90% of schools in England will run out of money next year, heads warn