Saturday 20 December 2014

Cosy up

How much notice do you take of your Dad's opinions?  Seriously... or your Mum's opinions or your partner's or your sibling's or even someone you respect who's older than you?
I'm asking, because a very good article in The Ecologist, which I think deserves to be widely read, brings a new light to this question.  It's succinct, readable, and when I got to the section headed "It's the money, stupid" in bold font.... even I was bowled over by the length of the list of politicians.
Head over to "Nuclear power trumps democracy" by Donnachadh McCarthy. He is a former Deputy Chair of the Liberal Democrats. Here's the link http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/2587477/nuclear_power_trumps_democracy.html

Well, that's reason enough for me, but there is another cogent article, this time by the editor of the Ecologist, OliverTickell, about keeping the U.K's status as a WMD (weapons of mass destruction) state and about tritium production. It's entitled "Bombs Ahoy! Why the UK is desperate for nuclear power"
I prefer "Peace on earth. Good will towards men." Do some politicians miss out those words when they sing the carol?




Friday 22 August 2014

Lessons from the past.

Throughout this year's Edinburgh Festival, a play called 3000 Trees was performed at the fringe.  It's based on a man called Willi McRae.  He was a human rights champion and an anti nuclear campaigner. In fact, the play was about the untimely death of William McRae.
By some strange coincidence, there were two plays with the same title, both about the death of Willi McRae, being performed at the festival. One was by George Gunn  and the other by Andy Paterson. 

In the comments below the description of the former play, is a lead to an article in Electric Scotland written by John McGill, Scotland - UN founder and secretary.
 A little way down,  he describes how his own car had previously been shot at  ... An attempted murder and a murder...What else could it have been? This led me on a trail through the reports available on the internet.
The starting point came from the testament by a former Strathclyde P.C.. Donald Morrison,
 http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/210087/I-will-sign-affidavit-tying-MI5-to-McRae-murder
which was recently made more relevant by another article, http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/492477/Police-probing-killing-of-SNP-activist-have-interfered-with-my-statement
One line stood out for me in The Herald Scotland report, which says that the Scottish lawyer had also had a puncture on his way back to his country cottage...which he was never to reach.   If he did have a puncture, had someone fired at the tyre? Was it that which led up to his death? If so, then perhaps John McGill was fortunate that the bullet which hit his car had missed the tyre and hit the body of the car. It was also fortunate, perhaps, that Willi McRae was still there to advise him which police station to go to.
Willi McRae would have been vulnerable while he was changing the tyre.... and it takes time.
It was reported that the damaged tyre was on the back seat of the car, but the rolls of maps tied up in pink ribbons and the spare briefcase which had been seen there by the police constable, were nowhere to be found in the car.
Why would anyone want to murder Willi McRae? It could not have been suicide. Even I understand that people don't shoot themselves behind the right ear and then completely dispose of the bullet casings, wipe the gun clean of finger prints and throw it at least 40 feet out of the car window.
One thing is for sure, he was renowned for his success in leading the successful opposition to the storing of nuclear waste in the hills around Mulwharcher, which led to a public inquiry, and which the protesters won.
"Nuclear waste" McRae sad, during the inquiry, "should be stored where Guy Fawkes put his gunpowder". 
According to The Scottish Express, and other reports, he, himself, was on the verge of being elected  to Westminster on the back of his anti-nuclear campaign.
As I understand it, Willi MacRae was soon to have given evidence at a preliminary hearing which would lead to a  public inquiry into the fast-reactor proposals for a "European Demonstration Reprocessing Plant'' at Dounreay.  The day before the shooting, he had told John McGill about information he had regarding the plans for storing nuclear waste.: "They're going to bury the stuff where the sand never dries!"  John McGill explained that this referred to a proposed underground storage facility at Applecross sands. Willi McRae carried a copy of the Dounreay papers with him at all times, (his office and homes having been repeatedly burgled), but they were not seen by the people who went to assist him, when he was found unconscious in his car.
Another well known anti nuclear campaigner, Hilda Murrell, had been murdered three years before in 1984.  A pacifist and famous rose grower, she was passionately against the dumping of nuclear waste and was due to present a paper at the Sizewell B inquiry entitled "An Ordinary Citizen's View of Radioactive Waste Management".  She was, it has been recorded, very worried that something was about to happen to her.
The U.K. is not the only place that this apparently, happened.  In the USA, Randolf and Joy Thompson, found themselves having to flee Pennsylvania after they had tried to make public the fact that the radiation releases from Three Mile Island were far higher than than the government and industry acknowledged.
http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/04/post-4.html
 All this was a long time ago; one would hope that it could never happen again. One asks "What kind of industry needs to go to such lengths to cover up the truth?"

In a few days' time, the people of Scotland will vote on whether they want to become independent or stay in the union. The country is exceptionally rich in wind and wave power.  If they choose independence they can become nuclear free.
http://www.banthebomb.org/ne/scotlandnato.pdf 

Sources.
Mullwhacher Enquiry, against nuclear dumping there, and joint founder of the "Oystercatcher Movement", against dumping in Glen Etive, was the nuclear lobby's most formidable and feared antagonist in Scotland - See more at: http://www.scottishrepublicansocialistmovement.org/Pages/SRSMWhoKilledWillieMacRae.aspx#sthash.7r3LNoHr.dpuf
Mullwhacher Enquiry, against nuclear dumping there, and joint founder of the "Oystercatcher Movement", against dumping in Glen Etive, was the nuclear lobby's most formidable and feared antagonist in Scotland. - See more at: http://www.scottishrepublicansocialistmovement.org/Pages/SRSMWhoKilledWillieMacRae.aspx#sthash.7r3LNoHr.dpuf
Mullwhacher Enquiry, against nuclear dumping there, and joint founder of the "Oystercatcher Movement", against dumping in Glen Etive, was the nuclear lobby's most formidable and feared antagonist in Scotland. - See more at: http://www.scottishrepublicansocialistmovement.org/Pages/SRSMWhoKilledWillieMacRae.aspx#sthash.7r3LNoHr.dpuf
http://www.electricscotland.com/independence/scotEUMcRae.pdf
http://www.whale.to/c/death_of_william_mcrae.html
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/the-death-of-willie-macrae-1.688252
http://www.scottishrepublicansocialistmovement.org/Pages/SRSMWhoKilledWillieMacRae.aspx
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/the-mcrae-mystery-960817
http://www.fantompowa.net/Flame/william_mcrae.htm
"Oystercatcher Movement", against dumping in Glen Etive, - See more at: http://www.scottishrepublicansocialistmovement.org/Pages/SRSMWhoKilledWillieMacRae.aspx#sthash.Sas2PZyb.dpuf
 http://www.disclose.tv/forum/willie-macrae-murder-t87205.html
http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2014/07/01/from-the-province-of-the-cat-29-the-struggle-of-life-and-death/
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/492477/Police-probing-killing-of-SNP-activist-have-interfered-with-my-statement
http://3000trees.com/ http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/210087/I-will-sign-affidavit-tying-MI5-to-McRae-murder
http://www.theguardian.com/law/2012/mar/20/who-killed-hilda-murrell
 http://www.theguardian.com/law/2012/mar/18/hilda-murrell-michael-mansfield?guni=Article:in%20body%20link
http://hildamurrell.org/
http://hildamurrell.org/source-documents/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilda_Murrell
http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/04/post-4.html

Wednesday 18 June 2014

Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting. A petition to the UN. China's secret state transplant business.

One of the most important petitions I think I have ever come across is the petition to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, calling for the immediate end of forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong Practitioners in China.
Incidentally, this isn't just Falun Gong practitioners being persecuted, but other groups including Uighurs, Tibetans and house Christians.
The petition is open for you to add your support until November 30th 2014.  To quote from the DAFOH website, "Between July and December 2013, nearly a million and a half people from 50 different countries and regions signed the petition to call for an end to this unprecedented evil.  On December 13th the EU adopted an urgent resolution on organ harvesting in China."
There is a lot more information and the link to the petition on the DAFOH home page. http://www.dafoh.org/ There is also a very good video.
In May, the International Conference on Organ Transplantation took place in London and  Falon Gong practitioners in the UK gathered outside the conference venue in Westminster to raise public awareness of the way organ transplant operations are carried out in China and to collect signatures for the petition.
As well as the Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting website, there is more information and up to date news at the website of the International Coalition to End Organ Pillaging in China.  I would urge anyone who would like to really understand the issue and not be placated by official statements, to visit their news and articles section... I found them all to be very helpful... but especially the public lecture, given in the University of Toronto by David Matas, a lawyer who knows a great deal about  human rights violations in different countries, including China. The lecture is entitled "Flip flopping in China over sourcing organs from prisoners".
Thank you.






Sunday 15 June 2014

You have to be joking..... You're not!

Thanks to an article by Alan Simpson, Labour MP for Nottingham South from 1992-2010, and published recently in the Morning Star, I discovered that EDF proposes to have company volunteers who will... 'go out into the community and schools to tell the story.'
Yes, on the streets... Hundreds of them, jogging.  "Their stated objective will be to 'normalise nuclear to consumers.' " He also, in the same article, explains briefly how the nuclear power industry uses Public Relations in relation to MPs. and it's a bit of an eye opener.
Frankly, the idea of hundreds of EDF volunteers jogging round the streets trying to normalise nuclear, strikes me as quite funny.  The company volunteers going into schools, does not.
A quick Google search for the EDF website, revealed that they have been offering the "Pod", a free programme for greener schools,...  to our educational establishments and according to the Met Office figures, posted I guess some time ago, this has been ongoing since 2008 and had more than 14,300 schools involved and over 3.7 million school children involved.  If you are wondering what the Met Office has to do with EDF, well, the web page I found had it neatly subtitled, "Education >> Collaboration >>  Working with EDF Energy."
Don't get me wrong, some of the things that they do are really good and they are "collaborating" with some excellent organisations. It reminds me of Monsanto's and Bayer's funding towards "National Pollinator Week" in the USA from June 16th to 22nd. The Organic Consumers Association would  appreciate it if you would share their article http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_30250.cfm
 It also reminds me, perhaps unfairly, but then that's the way my memory works, of some research that the NIS (Nuclear Information Service) and Medact did over a two year period and made public in February. They found that over fifty British universities, that's over a third of British universities, receive funding from the Atomic Weapons Establishment, AWE. Although much of the work supported by AWE is "Blue sky" research and not aimed at any special application, some of it is considered to have"dual use" potential. This is the link: http://nuclearinfo.org/article/awe-aldermaston/atoms-peace-investigation-int-links-between-uk-universities-and-atomic
In a following short blog post, which I found very helpful, they examined  AWE's own comments, which led them to this conclusion, "AWE aren't funding research in universities for philanthropic purposes: they're doing it because they think the results will be of use to Britain's nuclear weapons programme."
This means, the way I see it,  that even if you think you are going to be doing research purely for the good of humanity, there could be a horrible twist to it.  You can find out which universities are involved from the article and I shall be blogging about this again later!

Meanwhile back at EDF and their company volunteers, who, I gather, will be taking  "Talk Service " into schools:
"The concept is simple. Use the best advocates – our people – to talk to colleges, schools and other organisations in the communities where we work. The aim is to create open and honest dialogue and to help people understand more about the industry."
 Really? Well, if that's the case, perhaps it would be only fair, and in accordance with a balanced education, if the schools invited someone from CND or Greenpeace, or the local groups campaigning against new nuclear power plants or nuclear waste, to come along and give their views at the same time. Not, by the way, a troll in anti-nuclear clothing, but a genuine, clear thinking, moral activist.
Are children in Britain today taught to think for themselves, or is it "Don't rock the boat, we have to keep the sponsors happy." ?
Happily, across the Irish Sea, which is apparently the most radioactively polluted in the world, there are school students who seem to be very aware of the problems.  I don't think that EDF would cut any ice with the then 14 to 17 year olds who made "Nuclear Winter" an animated film which was given a special recognition award at the recent International Uranium Film Festival in Rio de Janeiro. 
"A ship dumps its cargo of nuclear waste in the Artic, stirring something strange up from the depths".
Wow! http://www.pureproject.ie/what-we-do/pure-animation-movies/ (Scroll down a few films to find it... but worth the trip.)



Friday 30 May 2014

Rio's International Uranium Film Festival 2014 announces winners.

Thirteen atomic documentaries and movies from eleven countries were awarded five Yellow Oscars and eight Special Recognitions at a ceremony held in the Modern Art Museum Cinematique. What an array of films to choose from, though; more than sixty movies, documentaries and animations from over twenty countries! This is the link to the winners: http://www.scribd.com/doc/226956062/Yellow-Oscar-Winners-2014
The good news, for me, is that although the festival is over, the films are archived and you can find trailers and whole films under 'past IUFF's' and look at them again, at the website of the International Uranium Film Festival. The festival also travels to different countries around the world. I'd love to write about them all tonight, but at least I can reference them and write about them in future posts. It's one thing saying " Do you remember that bit in the film where...." and another to be able to say "Here's the link to..." and let people who may never have seen it, understand what is so important about it.
So "Thank you" to the directors of the film festival and their team and "Thank you" again to all the people who made the films.
A complete "First" for me was the use of sand animation in a beautiful tribute to the children of Chornobyl by Kseniya Simonova, called "Eternal Tears" http://simonova.tv/en/blog/article/in-rio
As a child she grew up in a seaside resort in the south of Ukraine on the Black sea, where children came from Chornobyl  after the accident....but let her tell you about it, herself, in this moving little film.
What struck me as especially poignant, although she didn't mention it, was that the the clouds of radio-active contamination from the accident would probably have blown over the very place she was living as they crossed the Black Sea on their way to Turkey and other European countries.

Sunday 18 May 2014

Common knowledge

On May 15th, in Rio de Janeiro  hundreds of people took part in a march against the alleged corruption surrounding the building and re-vamping of the world cup football stadiums and against their huge cost, in a country where the money could have been spent on services to the people. There were protests in other cities as well.
I like the fact that the Brazilian people, who are famous as a nation of football lovers, have the courage and insight to stand up for what is really important.
Not far away, in the same city, in the Modern Art Museum, Flamengo Park, more uncomfortable truths were being aired on the second day of  the International Uranium Film Festival.
This festival is unique, gathering together films from around the world by filmmakers who have the courage to make films about the nuclear industry process from uranium mining, to atomic bombs and nuclear waste. These films are often made with risk to the film makers themselves.  They can show the real picture of what people are suffering .. they tell the truth about wind-born radioactive particles and the contaminated food chain... Sometimes the films are short animations and darkly humorous; sometimes they are fictional; sometimes, documentary. 
Somewhere, they take the facts from being common knowledge to a small community of people to becoming open knowledge in the global community. When you know that the water you have to give your children to drink is contaminated, you probably want the rest of the world to know why.
I strongly recommend reading the descriptions of the films, the directors' statements and watching some of the films or the trailers, which there are links to.  The progamme and notes made compulsive reading for me and left me humbler and wiser.  This is the link http://www.scribd.com/doc/222613160/4th-Rio-de-Janeiro-Uranium-Film-Festival-2014-Program-English 
or go directly to the festival's brilliant website http://www.uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/  and follow their direct link to the programme.




 

Sunday 4 May 2014

Brilliant short trailer for International Uranium Film Festival - Worth going viral.

This is a link to the trailer for the International Uranium Film Festival. I think it is absolutely brilliant! (It's very short). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUTjJ_drmp0 
The festival is held in Rio de Janeiro a few weeks before the FIFA world cup football.
Also  promoted on Nuclear-News

Saturday 3 May 2014

Red sand from the Sahara

A few weeks ago a mixture of fine red sand and dust blew into Britain  from the Sahara.  It travelled thousands of miles before it landed and, within a few days, there were people complaining of grit in their eyes and warnings were put out for anyone with respiratory difficulties. Schools in affected areas were advised to keep children indoors during lunch and playtime.
Apparently, once lifted from the ground by strong winds, clouds of dust can reach very high altitudes and be transported worldwide, covering thousands of miles.  The U.K. met office gave an elegant description and put up a short video of the route the dust took..
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/learn-about-the-weather/weather-phenomena/sahara-dust
I read that dust from the Sahara has been blown as far as Florida, five thousands miles away.
As usual, this set me thinking.
We know that the sand was there, because we could see it, feel it, cough it, sneeze it. It was definitely there. We also know that one of the ways radioactive particles can travel is in dust blown into the air and carried in the same way as the sand. We can't see them and we may not know that they are doing us any harm until years later, but there they are, hitching a lift in a dust storm and no passport control can keep them out.
This week Mochizuki posted in Fukushima Diary that 10,000,000 Bq of Cesium-134/137 are emitted from 4 crippled reactors every single hour
  http://fukushima-diary.com/2014/04/fukushima-prefectural-gov-shrank-fallout-survey-still-10-million-bq-of-cs-134137-emitted-from-fukushima-every-hour/
 I don't think that the radioactivity is just going to stay around Fukushima. Meanwhile, you can understand why some parents who actually live in the area are unhappy about letting their children play outside.
How do you find out about what's really happening to people affected by the nuclear power chain?  One way is from films. From May 14th  to May25th, the International Uranium Film Festival in Rio De Janeiro is showing films chosen from all those submitted, at the Modern Art Museum.
http://www.uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/ 
It's the place to go, but if like me, you can't get there, the festival has a  great website and, from past experience, once the films go up, you can learn a lot about them. They also have a good archive of films, and one of them is Abita  a short animated film about children who can't play outside because of the radioactive contamination. It's about their dreams and realities and you can watch it at this link.:
http://www.uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/arquives/films/462-en/past-iuffs/iuff-2013/usa-2014/new-york-city/sunday-feb-16/at-1-30pm/1121-abita-children-from-fukushimaI  
Abita is a beautifully told story, full of poetry and imagery. I just wish it hadn't had to be made.





Tuesday 1 April 2014

The EU consultation on state aid for the proposed new nuclear power plant, Hinkley Point C. Quick copy and paste submission. Closed 7/4/2014

 The consultation closed 7/4/2014.  THANK YOU to everyone who wrote in.

This is the submission done by Global 2000 ,which they say you are welcome to copy and paste  - Just add your name, email  address and the date at the end.  Send to stateaidgreffe@ec.europa.eu  
You don't have to send it all and if there are any other points you want to raise, the scruffily put together facts in my last blog might be useful. There are some good links there too.



To: EU Commission - Directorate-General for Competition
E-mail: stateaidgreffe@ec.europa.eu

Subject: Hinkley Point C
I am very concerned about the current plans of the UK government to make a new nuclear power plant possible by granting enormous support for it.
We would like to encourage the EU Commission to stick to its clear analysis, because we as CITIZENS/ NGOS/ BUSINESS in the UK do not want to be forced into paying a fixed high electricity price to EDF for several decades, with no chance of the possibly of making use of lower electricity prices.
It does not seem fair to me, that one type of energy receives this amount of support in addition to the fact that EDF would get this size of contract without even having had to win a tender, because EDF simply received this deal competition-free.
The supplier AREVA became known in the past years for having severe problems with the construction of its “flagship reactor” EPR on time: The ongoing cost increases! Delay of completion is ongoing both at Olkiluoto and Flamanville, so it cannot be expected that EDF would complete the EPR reactors at Hinkley according to schedule. The delay at the Finnish site Olkiluoto is already 5 years, Areva was reported as having left the construction site a month ago, so no new reliable date is known.
There are many more possibilities to secure the electricity supply for the UK. It does not enhance energy diversity and independent supply if the enormous amount of up to £17 billion in public subsidies is spent on two units of EPR.
We are convinced that the state aid for Hinkley Point C would be at the expense of other energy forms in the UK, because the money set aside for the support of low-carbon projects up to 2020 (counterparty body) will be spent mostly on the new NPP.
The Carbon Connect report[1] shows that the investors can expect bigger returns on the Hinkley project than with comparable projects thus proving that the Hinkley Point C project would not only receive state-aid, but to such a high level, that it is over-compensation.  Furthermore the EU Commission made clear that the existence of market failure need be doubted, because in Finland and in France the reactors were ordered without granting state aid as is now planned for Hinkley.   The UK government’s plan for the next NPP, is utterly incomprehensible to us, because the EU Commission characterized the chosen financing model (CfD – Contracts for Difference) with the following words:
…the CfD is conceived to entirely eliminate market risks from the commercial activity of electricity generation, for a period of time, the initial 35 years of operations of the plant.”
This is an extreme preference for one type of electricity generation, one specific project of one specific investor, which we believe the EU Commission will not see as compatible with the rules of the Common market.
 From.
Email:
First name:
Last name:
Date:



             http://www.policyconnect.org.uk/cc/research/report-future-electricity-series-part-3-power-nuclear

Monday 24 March 2014

Your voice in the EU. about the proposed new nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point C in Somerset.UK

A few weeks ago, Global 2000, part of Friends of The Earth, Austria, contacted me about writing to the EU commission for competition.  They already have a brilliant, fast, submission  for people to send, but it's in German, so  here are some scruffy facts and a quick DIY guide for people I've put together in English. It would be lovely if lots of us wrote.
                                         *****************************
Update: "copy and paste letter" now available in next post  http://dandelionithappens-dendelion.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-eu-consultation-on-state-aid-for.html

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

The EU commission opened a public consultation  on March 7th for a month about the U.K. state aid case for the new nuclear power plant, Hinkley Point C. 

The EU Directorate- General for Competition would really like to hear from you!

The more people who write, the better; you don’t have to be an expert.  
…..  You can email them at  stateaidgreffe@ec.europa.eu  
 You have until April 7th to write and it’s an opportunity to tell them how the possibility of higher electricity prices will affect you, especially if you are running a business.      *Help on how to write at the end of the post! 

 Background:   The government would give EDF a strike price of £92.50/MWh … (around twice the current rate) for the electricity. This would be index linked and fixed for 35 years from the time the nuclear power plant is supposed to start production in about 15 years’ time.
This means  that householders’, businesses’, industries’, schools’… electricity bills might have to cover much larger energy costs than from renewables, as well as their suppliers’ costs.

The UK government would also give EDF a very large loan to help build the nuclear power plant as well as other benefits.  If they, later, build two more of the same design at a second site at Sizewell B in Suffolk, the strike price would fall to 89.50/MWh.
Meanwhile, the cost of solar and wind are falling and expected to go on falling, as are the costs of other low carbon renewable energies. 

 Solar energy:
 The STA  [The Solar Trade Association]  has asked for a strike price of £91/MWh in 2018 and expects this to fall to £86 by 2019, falling year on year thereafter, paid over 15 not 35 years and with no nuclear style small print permitting a possible increase in strike price once those terms are set.”
…Quote from  Seb Berry, head of public affairs at Solarcentury and board member of the STA.
 Why did the Government fix a higher strike price for 2019 than they asked for?
http://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/decc_unveils_new_solar_strike_prices_for_2015_onwards_2356
  
Wind energy
The European Wind Energy Association says onshore wind costs could fall to £48/MWh by the 2020s potentially making it the U.K.’s cheapest power source.
(Also from page 6 Item 7)

And that’s just mentioning two of the low carbon renewable energies!

The EU commission commented on the affordability of electricity from the proposed new nuclear plant:
“The measures, moreover, could hardly be argued to contribute towards affordability – at least not at current prices, when it will instead and most likely contribute to an increase in retail prices….”

Also, If you have any connections with the renewable power industry, or you know anyone who has….the  EU Directorate-General would especially like to hear from you and them.
 One of the points the commission made was:
The Commission notes in this respect that a support  mechanism which is specific to nuclear energy generation might crowd out alternative investments in technologies or combinations of technologies, including renewable energy sources,………”

 The NFLA,CNFE and Stop Hinkley Media release says:
Renewable technologies will be unfairly constrained by the size of the Levy Control Framework funds available, the bulk of which will probably be used up by Hinkley Point C after 2023, despite the fact that solar and offshore wind are likely to be cheaper by then.”

Expert opinions have already been submitted, but this truly is a public consultation.... Will you be able to export to Europe  if other countries are paying a fraction of our electricity costs by 2023?   If someone comes up with a great idea for a new renewable product are the funds going to be there to help?

This is a real chance for people power .... don’t  let’s waste it! You can ask the European Competition Commissioner  to declare the State Aid which the UK Government proposes to give to Hinkley Point C as illegal.

*How to write to the commissioner.
 There is a list of important points you might like to add in the media release  below. Use one point, or use them all, it doesn’t matter.

Your letter
_________________________________________________________________________________
To
The European Commission
The Directorate-General for Competition
State aid Registry
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 200
1049 Bruxelles/Brussel
BELGIQUE/BELGIË
From
first name *
Last name *
Email *                                                                                                               
Your Message
subject *
opinion *
  
Date
__________________________________________________________________________________

There is more information on each of the points at
and  facts at  No 2 Nuclear Power
‘From “No Public Subsidy “ to “State Aid”’
and this is the link to the full EU document!

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­





Wednesday 19 February 2014

See it, even read about it, don't miss it.

As I write this blog, it's around one o'clock in New York City, and it's around six o'clock in London. This means that if I were planning on what to do, if I were New York City this afternoon or evening, I'd perhaps have time to think about going to a film.. and if I was going to a film, I know where I'd be heading.
Today is the last day of the travelling Uranium Film Festival's stop over in the USA.
 Film after film by courageous, innovative and talented directors  have been shown over the past few days and culminate in an evening of three films, "08:15 de 1945", "In My Lifetime" and the film based on the famous book of the same name, "Quietly Into The Disaster"...
To find out more, go to the festival's website, http://www.uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/traveling-festival/usa-2014/new-york-city/wednesday-feb-19
 Meanwhile, on this side of the Atlantic, a report which has taken two years to compile was launched by NIS, The Nuclear Information Service, and Medact. It states that over fifty (over one third) of British Universities have received funding from the Atomic Weapons Establishment. http://www.nuclearinfo.org/article/awe-aldermaston/atoms-peace-investigation-int-links-between-uk-universities-and-atomic 
I am so grateful for the people who keep showing us what is happening, when a whole lot of other people would rather they didn't!


Thursday 6 February 2014

Listening to the director of the film discussing it.

If you are in Washington DC or in New York City in the next couple of weeks, there is a rare chance to see some films you may not have come across.  You may also be able to hear several of the directors of the films discussing them as part of a panel about the theme they are in.
At a time when old fashioned copyright can be transformed into a form of modern censorship, when concealed censorship is probably as common as direct censorship in some countries...but at a time when, happily, there is so much protest against the disregard for individual privacy, liberty and the freedom to know... then this is perhaps a good time to find out from films, that history which governments would perhaps prefer we did not know.
This chance is being brought to the USA by the travelling Uranium Film Festival. The films are being shown at the Goethe-Institut, Washington DC from February 10th-12th 2014 and at the Pavillion Theater in NewYork City, from the 14th-19th February 2014.
One of the films to be shown is  "Nuclear Savage: The Islands of Secret Project 4.1". This is about the nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands in the 1950's and the subsequent treatment of the people of Rongelap. Another is "Tailings", about a 200 acre heap of toxic uranium waste.. just outside Grants, New Mexico where after 30 years of failed clean up, the waste has contaminated the air and the water.
Both directors will be on the panels for themed discussion and there are other excellent films to be seen and discussed.  More details are on the Uranium Film Festival website; the Washington and the New York City films are there with pictures and links to previews, and there is plenty of real information about all the films.
At last, some countries are waking up to the bright and powerful future of solar and wind power... If  ever there was a cogent reason why this is so utterly necessary... as well as being wonderful (!) I would suggest that you visit the website to find out...or better still, if you are in Washington or New York and can make it....see the films.








The London (U.K.) Underground strike.

Usually if there is something which is causing problems in a lot of people's lives, you hear complaints, grumbling, muttering. Having been out and about today in London... and queued for longer than usual at the bus stop, I didn't hear one complaint by people about the strike by underground workers... not one.
People weren't enjoying it and there was a lot of quiet information being offered on which bus to catch or how long the wait would be...but no complaints... Just a determined stoicism.
This backs up a survey done by the RMT, from which I quote:

Tube Users Oppose Ticket Office Closures

RMT Commissioned Survation to seek the views of Tube users to find out their views on Ticket Offices.
The survey of a thousand tube users demonstrated overwhelming opposition the proposals to close ticket offices. 
•         71% of tube users would be quite concerned or very concerned if ticket offices were closed down
•         52% of tube users had experienced being unable to buy tickets from a machine because it was broken
•         Tourists , essential to the London economy , are even more worried about ticket office closures with 81% either quite concerned or very concerned.
•         Amongst those who voted for Mayor Boris Johnson in 2012 56% said that they would be less likely to support a candidate for Mayor who acted to close ticket offices after pledging to keep them open.
•         78% of regular commuters said that they thought current fares are too high.

I personally think people are also very concerned about safety at tube stations and not finding help when they need it.
There is a leaflet put out by the RMT, "Why we are striking". It is downloadable from their website  as a pdf.  They are asking people to email London Mayor Boris Johnson mayor@london.gov.uk and Mike Brown, MikeBrown@tfl.gov.uk
For suggested text for an email visit www.rmt.org.uk/everyjobmatters