The media just don't get Jeremy Corbyn. They are looking at everything he does and saying 'a normal political leader wouldn't do that'. Of course he doesn't. That is why so many people voted for him in the leadership election.
He went to an anniversary service for the Battle of Britain. He did wear a tie, which was surprising. He didn't sing the national anthem. Shame! Disrespect!
Nothing of the sort. If, like me, he doesn't care for gods and he thinks the monarchy is an anachronism, why would he sing 'God save the Queen'?
I like a bloke who does his own thing, not the things people do because everyone else does them.
Showing posts with label New ideas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New ideas. Show all posts
Wednesday, 16 September 2015
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Power to the people
Ecotricity, the company from which I buy my electricity, have just put up two wind turbines at Ballymena in Northern Ireland which will be used to provide power to the Michelin tyre factory there.
This is what people did 100 years ago. The Lots Road and Greenwich power stations in London were built in the early 1900s to provide power for trams and underground trains.
There was no National Grid. If you wanted electricity for your business, you had to build a power station.
Over time, we built bigger power stations to provide power to whoever needed it and now, it is apparently the Government’s responsibility to ensure that we have enough generating capacity to keep all our fridges and iPads running.
Ecotricity are not just making money from supplying electricity, they are looking to find better ways of providing it. The wind turbines at Ballymena follow a couple Ecotricity put up in Dundee for the Michelin factory there. They say that delivering electricity to a specific business is more efficient than adding that capacity to the grid.
Good for them. We need new thinking in this business. Instead of calculating how much electricity we are using, how much we might use in the future and building gas or nuclear stations to deliver that, why don’t we work out how to use less electricity and how to generate some of it ourselves?
The ARM company which makes chips for mobile phones and tablets, got rich by producing chips which needed less power than those produced by Intel. A government would get lots of green points if it told manufacturers their fridges and TV sets had to use 30% less power by 2015 or else.
And it is possible to build houses which use next to no electricity for heating or cooling. Why not make this part of the building regs?
It is also possible to generate electricity from the daylight which falls on glass. Tiny amounts so far, but I’m confident that clever youngsters can work out how to generate enough power in our own homes to run the energy-efficient devices we will all have if the government takes my advice.
We don’t need more power. We need to work out how to use less.
This is what people did 100 years ago. The Lots Road and Greenwich power stations in London were built in the early 1900s to provide power for trams and underground trains.
There was no National Grid. If you wanted electricity for your business, you had to build a power station.
Over time, we built bigger power stations to provide power to whoever needed it and now, it is apparently the Government’s responsibility to ensure that we have enough generating capacity to keep all our fridges and iPads running.
Ecotricity are not just making money from supplying electricity, they are looking to find better ways of providing it. The wind turbines at Ballymena follow a couple Ecotricity put up in Dundee for the Michelin factory there. They say that delivering electricity to a specific business is more efficient than adding that capacity to the grid.
Good for them. We need new thinking in this business. Instead of calculating how much electricity we are using, how much we might use in the future and building gas or nuclear stations to deliver that, why don’t we work out how to use less electricity and how to generate some of it ourselves?
The ARM company which makes chips for mobile phones and tablets, got rich by producing chips which needed less power than those produced by Intel. A government would get lots of green points if it told manufacturers their fridges and TV sets had to use 30% less power by 2015 or else.
And it is possible to build houses which use next to no electricity for heating or cooling. Why not make this part of the building regs?
It is also possible to generate electricity from the daylight which falls on glass. Tiny amounts so far, but I’m confident that clever youngsters can work out how to generate enough power in our own homes to run the energy-efficient devices we will all have if the government takes my advice.
We don’t need more power. We need to work out how to use less.
Monday, 31 October 2011
How would you spend it?
Two items in the news this week fit together rather nicely - the protesters in the City of London are calling for some new thinking and The Guardian published its brilliant graphic showing what the Government is spending our money on.
I’m all for new ideas coming from the public. They tend to be more sensible than the ideas governments put forward.
And I’m all for a new look at how governments - Left or Right - spend our money.
On the left of this table is how the coalition government is currently spending our taxes.
On the right, the changes my government would propose.
The main savings come from Defence spending. Do we still need the army, navy, air force and nuclear deterrent we needed when we were threatened by invasion by Germany 60 years ago?
The world is different now. The threat of invasion no longer exists. We use our military forces to attack other countries, not to defend our own.
There are threats, but do we need military might to defeat terrorism, or is intelligence a better weapon?
My government would slash Defence spending and beef up GCHQ.
I’d also cut international aid. How much of the £7.68 billion is doing good and how much is simply going in to venal pockets? We should be looking towards Europe, not towards Africa.
Finally, I would cut the amount we spend on collecting taxes. We need a simpler tax system which needs fewer taxmen and women to administer and fewer lawyers to investigate.
The savings from those three areas would reduce our borrowing and cut the amount we have to pay in interest charges.
There must be other new ideas out there. My government does not have exclusive rights to wisdom. The figures are public. How would you spend it?
I’m all for new ideas coming from the public. They tend to be more sensible than the ideas governments put forward.
And I’m all for a new look at how governments - Left or Right - spend our money.
On the left of this table is how the coalition government is currently spending our taxes.
On the right, the changes my government would propose.
| Total spend, in billions | 691.67 | Suggested spend | 625.49 | ||
| Work, pensions, benefits | 160.68 | 23.23% | 160.68 | 25.69% | |
| Health | 105.60 | 15.27% | 105.60 | 16.88% | |
| Education | 58.34 | 8.43% | 58.34 | 9.33% | |
| Revenue and customs | 45.78 | 6.62% | 24.21 | 3.87% | |
| Debt interest | 43.90 | 6.35% | 39.51 | 6.32% | |
| Defence | 39.46 | 5.71% | 3.46 | 0.55% | |
| Local government | 37.80 | 5.47% | 37.80 | 6.04% | |
| Scotland | 34.88 | 5.04% | 34.88 | 5.58% | |
| Business | 24.04 | 3.48% | 24.04 | 3.84% | |
| Wales | 15.87 | 2.29% | 15.87 | 2.54% | |
| Transport | 12.32 | 1.78% | 12.32 | 1.97% | |
| Home Office | 10.45 | 1.51% | 10.45 | 1.67% | |
| Justice | 9.46 | 1.37% | 9.46 | 1.51% | |
| Ireland | 9.05 | 1.31% | 9.05 | 1.45% | |
| Climate | 8.06 | 1.17% | 8.06 | 1.29% | |
| International | 7.68 | 1.11% | 3.46 | 0.55% | |
| Culture, media, sport | 7.02 | 1.01% | 7.02 | 1.12% | |
| Others | 61.28 | 8.86% | 61.28 | 9.80% |
The main savings come from Defence spending. Do we still need the army, navy, air force and nuclear deterrent we needed when we were threatened by invasion by Germany 60 years ago?
The world is different now. The threat of invasion no longer exists. We use our military forces to attack other countries, not to defend our own.
There are threats, but do we need military might to defeat terrorism, or is intelligence a better weapon?
My government would slash Defence spending and beef up GCHQ.
I’d also cut international aid. How much of the £7.68 billion is doing good and how much is simply going in to venal pockets? We should be looking towards Europe, not towards Africa.
Finally, I would cut the amount we spend on collecting taxes. We need a simpler tax system which needs fewer taxmen and women to administer and fewer lawyers to investigate.
The savings from those three areas would reduce our borrowing and cut the amount we have to pay in interest charges.
There must be other new ideas out there. My government does not have exclusive rights to wisdom. The figures are public. How would you spend it?
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