Some like it hot

In discussions yesterday, I learnt of a little known conference which took place in New York during March. it was widely ignored by the British press, and politicians, one can only reason that it was because the findings were in direct conflict to the global warming containment measures which the government are putting so much emphasis on. Clearly CO2 emission control and other related measures are a big revenue earners, and anything which rocks the boat is seen as unhelpful. It is unfortunate that most people in Britain are being denied a balanced augment.

This is the matter as summarised in The Spectator by professor Philip Stott:

Why has the UK media, in pretty well all its forms, failed to report ‘The Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change’, signed in New York on March 4, 2008?” The meeting at which the ‘Declaration’ was agreed [‘The 2008 International Conference on Climate Change’, March 2 - March 4] was attended by over 500 people (scientists, economists, policy makers, etc.), with over 100 speakers delivering keynote addresses, or participating in panel discussions. Sadly, I think we know the answer, and it is one that reflects very badly on our supine UK media [the only exception of note appears to be The Sunday Telegraph, March 9: ‘Climate dissent grows hotter as chill deepens’]. If ever evidence were needed of the dangerous ‘control’ of our media by pernicious grand narratives, then this is surely it.

And the Manhattan Declaration itself? This is it:

‘Global warming’ is not a global crisis

We, the scientists and researchers in climate and related fields, economists, policymakers, and business leaders, assembled at Times Square, New York City, participating in the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change;

Resolving that scientific questions should be evaluated solely by the scientific method;

Affirming that global climate has always changed and always will, independent of the actions of humans, and that carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant but rather a necessity for all life;

Recognising that the causes and extent of recently observed climatic change are the subject of intense debates in the climate science community and that oft-repeated assertions of a supposed ‘consensus’ among climate experts are false;

Affirming that attempts by governments to legislate costly regulations on industry and individual citizens to encourage CO2 emission reduction will slow development while having no appreciable impact on the future trajectory of global climate change. Such policies will markedly diminish future prosperity and so reduce the ability of societies to adapt to inevitable climate change, thereby increasing, not decreasing, human suffering;

Noting that warmer weather is generally less harmful to life on Earth than colder:

Hereby declare:

That current plans to restrict anthropogenic CO2 emissions are a dangerous misallocation of intellectual capital and resources that should be dedicated to solving humanity's real and serious problems.

That there is no convincing evidence that CO2 emissions from modern industrial activity has in the past, is now, or will in the future cause catastrophic climate change.

That attempts by governments to inflict taxes and costly regulations on industry and individual citizens with the aim of reducing emissions of CO2 will pointlessly curtail the prosperity of the West and progress of developing nations without affecting climate.

That adaptation as needed is massively more cost-effective than any attempted mitigation and that a focus on such mitigation will divert the attention and resources of governments away from addressing the real problems of their peoples.

That human-caused climate change is not a global crisis.

Now, therefore, we recommend -

That world leaders reject the views expressed by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as well as popular, but misguided works such as An Inconvenient Truth.

That all taxes, regulations, and other interventions intended to reduce emissions of CO2 be abandoned forthwith.

Agreed at New York, 4 March 2008.

500 scientists, economists, policymakers and business leaders, eh? Bang goes that consensus!

More from The Spectator here

Symphony for the Devil

Well the house position continues to be less than desirable, so i have taken the decision to move agents again, and have effectively sold my soul to the estate agent that is Foxtons.
Foxtons have a reputation for hard selling, and hard drinking, so lets hope the first will lead to celebrations involving the second. They have also suffered from bad press associated with some of their selling tactics, and were in dispute with one of the ex-Blue peter presenters over management fees for a flat she rented out.

All I know is that they are reputed to get the highest price possible for the properties they handle, and will hopefully tap into a market which has so far eluded Haarts and Hamptons ( Too many aitches there shurely....ed).

In the meantime we have started to view a few flats as we monitor whether the prices of these is falling. Chiswick Village is an area which has an abundance of property for sale. of its four 1930s red brick blocks, three border either the underground or overground, so we are favouring the fourth block which does not. There are 280 flats in all, so I am wary of substandard communal heating, higher than average service charges and the overall internal decor. I am currently canvasing on the local Chiswick web site to see if I can gain any intelligence.

Another of the blocks we were considering has just been identified with asbestos infestation, and each tenant has been handed a one-off bill for £25,000 for decontamination. i think we will give that one a miss for the moment.

So the search goes on, but first and foremost we need a buyer for SC. That said, it is a double rollover tomorrow!!

Window on my world

In August of last year, I was extolling the virtues of having a shed, but was disappointed that mine did not have a window. Well on Sunday I sorted that problem.

The side wall of the structure was suffering a bit from the battering it takes form the prevailing wind. It sweeps in off the Irish Sea and down the Dee Estuary and batters us most of the year. Indeed, the house could be called 'Wind House' rather than 'Hill House' such are the number of days one can sit comfortably in the garden.

So, rather than replace the timbers, I thought I would fix a plastic sheet in a DIY window frame. It all went well and I now am able to find tools and other artifacts without rooting around in the semi-darkness, with the light of the door to assist me.

Now like all projects I take on at home, one job inevitably led to three others, I wonder if there is a law to cover this? Anyway, I cleared out about three black sacks worth of rubbish so can now see the workbench and have sufficient storage space to get me through the coming months. I really must get that old battered armchair and a sky dish, then I will be made up!!

Schools out for Summer

The papers are full of news today,of the potential strike by teachers scheduled for this Thursday. It would be a major event for a profession which has never gone on strike before. I suspect the reason for not taking industrial action previously is that it would be difficult to find another day for teachers to take given they are on vacation most of the year, and need to fit their quota of 'Baker Days' into the remainder of their working time.

The average wage of a teacher is higher than that of nurses and policemen already, and I know which I would consider to be more valuable to society.

Times have changed haven't they? When I was at school, teachers were seen as the ultimate authority, they were pillars of society and head teachers commanded huge respect within their local community. Parents would not dare to keep their children off school unless they were on their deathbed, and nearly all teachers ran extra curricular activities after school. These activities were conducted for the benefit of the children, and not because the parents were at work and could not, therefore, pick their little Johnny or Annie up until later in the evening.

These days teachers are less inclined to conduct activities outside core hours, they are fearful of political correctness, health and safety and positive discrimination, and they are geared to teaching children to pass examinations, not to turn into generally well educated children who are able to make the transition from childhood to adulthood seamlessly. Much of this is out of their direct span of control, although they are happy to use the excuse as its suits them.

The following example shows how standards have slipped in Maths, for example.


1. Teaching Maths In 1970
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for £100. His cost of production is
4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

2. Teaching Maths In 1980
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for £100. His cost of production is
4/5 of the price, or £80. What is his profit?

3. Teaching Maths In 1990
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for £100. His cost of production is
£80. Did he make a profit?

4. Teaching Maths In 2000
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for £100. His cost of production is
£80 and his profit is £20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

5. Teaching Maths In 2007
A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and
inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the
preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of £20.
What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class
participation after answering the question: how did the birds and squirrels
feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers. )

6. Teaching Maths 2017
أ المسجل تبيع حموله شاحنة من الخشب من اجل ‎100 دولار‎. صاحب تكلفة الانتاج من
الثمن‎. ما هو الربح له؟

OK, its a bit flippant, but many a true word spoken in jest.

The strike this week will force many parents to take time of work to mind their offspring, something I am sure which will rebound on the teaching community in the long run. Here is a sure way of winding a teacher up though. When they say rather self righteously that they have 20 years teaching experience, just reply 'no, you have one years experience repeated 20 times'. They will go bright red and argue how wide and varied the annual teaching cycle is, trying to amplify their justification for striking. I feel a hundred lines coming on......

The Empire strikes back

There is a shop on Twickenham Green in West London which sells Storm Trooper outfits modelled on the suits worn in the Start Wars films. I understand there is a serious sub-culture surrounding these suits and the use of them. Fanatics are booked for Star Wars exhibitions, weddings, theme parties and night club events, and the people who embrace the Force take great pride in their appearance.There are a number of variations in the design of the suits and the worst thing a person can do is mix and match, definitely a no-go.

Now however things have taken a sinister turn. The person who manufactured the helmets for the original films, Andrew Ainsworth owns the shop. In 2004 he discovered one of the original helmets he had made in a cupboard in his home in Twickenham.

After successfully selling it to a collector, he began to manufacture the outfits once more, through his company, Shepperton Design Studios. He found a legion of Star Wars fans willing to pay up to £1,800 for a suit and helmet. Lucasfilm responded in 2006 by suing Mr Ainsworth. A judge in California awarded the firm $20 million (£10 million) in damages for copyright infringement, unfair competition and trademark infringement. It has now brought the case to Britain to ensure that this decision is enforced here. The case is currently being heard.

Lawyers for Mr Ainsworth are arguing that the copyright has expired, because the uniforms were pieces of industrial design rather than works of art.

Lucasfilm has made in excess of £6 billion from merchandise sales off the back of the Star Wars films, so they are certainly the Empire in this particular battle. Mr Ainsworth is counter suing for a share of this £6 billion over the last 30 years. Lets hope that Luke Skywalker is batting for the good guys again.

Field of Dreams

Blimey! what a weekend. The house was invaded by our youngest and his mates, seven in all I think, who came down to support 'Trotter' who was playing on the wing for Birkenhead Park in their EDF Intermediate Vase cup final at the RFU in Twickenham Stadium.

How jealous was I that he got to run out on the hallowed turf, but good luck to him. I have known 'Trotter' almost as long as Kieran, and Maxine the same, so it was only right and proper that we went along too. I am, after all, a fully paid up member of 'Park'. Trouble was it kicked off at 10:00, being the first of three finals.

Anyway, there must have been over 1000 people watching, maybe more, as Exeter, Northampton and Leicester supports drifted in during the second half, and as a final it was not half bad.....Park took the lead with a few penalties, then Chester (for it was a local derby) scored a fairly soft try, but Park battled back to be leading 14-18 and they dominated the second half without putting the game to bed. 'Trotter' was playing pretty steady, a few good breaks and some sound defence, when sadly he was thrown a slow looping pass by his centre. If it had gone to hand it was glory time for 'Trotter' , but the Chester winger had all his Christmases instead, intercepting and running seventy yards to touchdown under the posts. 21-18 win for them, then. Still 'Trotter' managed to score later so the weekend was not a total disaster!!

The Masters, the first of the four major golf tournaments, was being televised this weekend, and it brought to mind a contrast between most major sporting events and golf. 'Trotter' was one of the few who can tell their kids they have played at Twickenham Stadium, and trod the same sods as many legends of the game. The final was one of five which the RFU and EDF collaborate to try to get grass roots players playing there. Football has its Amateur Cup and FA Vase aimed at lower league players running out at Wembley, but your average (or below average) Sunday league player has very little chance of playing there. There are amateur races at Aintree and Ascot for jockeys or point-to-point riders but again they are limited.

With golf, however, anybody can effectively turn up, pay their green fee and tread the same turf, putt on the same greens and shower in the same facilities as Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Bobby Jones, Seve Ballesteros or any of the other famous names associated with the sport. Indeed, while playing Valderama in Spain a few years ago, I was delighted at the 17th to chip over the brook and onto the green for three, two putting for a five. I was only too happy to point out that at the Ryder Cup a few weeks earlier, Tiger had failed with his chip and found the brook, only managing a bogey. So for one hole, and one hole only, I was better than Tiger!!

The irony of course ,is that Augusta, where the Masters is always held, is almost impossible to play as a visitor, but hey, there are enough other top courses around to more than make up for it.

Banking on a sale

Welcome news from the Bank of England today as they reduced the base rate by a quarter of one percent to use the official jargon. Whether that is enough to encourage somebody to buy my house remains tobe seen, but I suspect not.

Things are quite quiet at the moment. There are occasional viewings, and the odd silly offer by a developer who has noted the house has been on the market a while and wanted to test how desperate I am to sell. I am happy to bide my time at the moment, although would be tempted to take a lower offer if I can see the price of flats dropping. At the moment though they are holding up pretty well in Chis.

I had to laugh last week . One of the houses over the road which was sold in June last year for £1,075,000 has just been offered again for, wait for it, £1,550,000. Now I known the Polish workforce are competitive, but that is one hell of a margin to be seeking in less than a year and in a depressed market. Its also on for almost twice what I am hoping for. It will be interesting to see if it gets shifted.

I am considering changing agents, or even going dual, but I need to see what they can offer me in incentives . It may even be time to consider Foxtons as an option, but I suspect they would want an arm and a leg in commission.

So with the warm weather just round the corner and May being the start of the viewing season, it will be interesting to see if I can accept an offer within twelve months of it going on the market.

Bring me my chariot of fire........

How sad to read that the Dean of Southwalk cathedral in London, the Very Reverend Colin Slee, has banned the singing of the hymn Jerusalem.

Apparently all Church of England cathedral Deans have the power to decide which hymns are sung during services in their domain.

A spokesman for Southwark Cathedral said: "The Dean of Southwark does not believe that it is to the glory of God". This seems to be in direct conflict with advice given to registrars who conduct civil weddings in registry offices and other public authorised venues.

When we were married we were advised that we could not use Jerusalem as it did have religious connotations

I wonder if William Blake knew what a can of worms he was opening

Rickyyyyyyyy!!

The BBC soap opera Eastenders, occasionally comes up with some gems as part of its dialogue.

I am reminded of the quote Mo Slater came out with prior to attending one of Ian Beales parties....'I hope there is a cheese and pineapple hedgehog' she said,'it isn't a proper party without one of those'

Memories of childhood came flooding back, when you always dived for the hedgehog, and then removed the cheese before plonking the cocktail stick and pineapple back in the display. I have to say though, that I can't think when last I attended a party which incorporated the hedgehog as part of its running buffet.

My recent golf trip to Portugal though brought one of Dot Cottons philosophical sayings to mind. 'Buy cheap, buy twice', she once said. Now how many of us have suffered from these words of wisdom when buying electric power tools, screwdrivers or sports equipment. These days you usually get what you pay for.

I was team captain of the Sixhitters and needed team shirts and outfits for the match and the final dinner. Given the gear was probably only going to be worn once, and thrown away, there was only one place to go, Primark. Primark is owned by British Associated Foods, and is the flagship brand in their portfolio. It has embraced the Tesco motto previously attributed to food, 'pile em high, sell em cheap', and focused it on the clothing market.

Much of their stuff is crap, but with polo shirt at £5 and £3 for a pair of white shell suit trousers which can double as cricket flannels, I was not too bothered. Neither made the return trip from the Algarve.

If I was in their marketing team, I would be exploring the possibility of opening stores in Aiya Napa, Ibiza and other 'kids' resorts. People could then fly EasyJet with hand luggage only, buy their outfits in the resort, and leave them there on departure. The money they save on hold bags should cover their t-shirts and leggings requirements!!

The way to utilise the Primark brand is simple. Be choosy, select the stuff which will last,both from a fashion perspective and durability, and mix and match them with other more accepted high street or designer outfits. That way you will be dressed individually and at reasonable cost. I buy their mens fashion trousers, but avoid the blue chinos, as they have a tendency to go green after washing, and their cashmere sweaters can last a season. Otherwise I treat Primark like a fancy dress shop. Suits you Sir!

The Moose is Loose

I should be posting more regularly now the vacation silly season at IBM has concluded. In previous years employees were permitted to carry up to five days into the following vacation year, but from 2007 they introduced a 5th April deadline. Use your vacation by then, or lose it. Consequently a large percentage of the Company are away during March and early April. I was no exception.

I have just enjoyed six very pleasant days in Quinta d'Lago near Almancil in Portugal, playing golf for the Moose and Algarve Cups, as well as finding myself embroiled in an unexpected battle for the 'Parrot'.

Twelve like minded individuals participated in the event, and for the Moose Cup they were divided into two teams, The Six Shooters, and The Six Hitters, each player being named after a famous firearm, or a famous one day cricketer. The Moose Cup is competed for each year as a memorial to a previous tourist, Robert Elk, who died some years ago and was affectionately referred to as Moose.

Day one was played on the greens of the Pieneros Altos course, and saw the Hitters take a commanding lead. Day two, on the demanding greens of the Quinta South course saw the Shooters storm back into contention, but a halved contest in the final captains four ball saw the Hitters hold on for a 10.5 v 7.5 victory.

The Algarve Cup is played over four days, with the best three scores counting towards the final total. Scores were low this year, with excess of alcohol and tricky pin positions contributing to the mix. Chris 'Shelter' Anderson ran out winner and his pleasure at winning the trophy was almost matched by his delight at backing himself with the bookie at 13-1 E/W.

I managed to be involved in some notable events during the six days. My co-driver and I were wacked by a Land Rover as we crossed a road in our buggy!!! I managed to drink almost a bottle of Vodka one night, as I was obviously seen as a threat for the title, and nobbled!! and I almost won a trip to Florida for the Greg Norman $10M hole in one challenge, when I pitched my ball six inches from the hole on the nominated qualifying green.

But the highlight of the week was to be presented with the 'Parrot' as a symbol of some outstanding shot making on the course rather than in the bar! Sadly though, the shots mostly went in the wrong direction and I consequently came last. Pretty poor Polly all round!