tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44537603832491348922024-03-13T10:20:11.465-07:00The GreenmanGreen politics, philosophy, history, paganism and a lot of self righteous grandstanding.Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.comBlogger309125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-37379248196233074272023-07-30T08:39:00.376-07:002023-08-14T10:15:42.642-07:00Sinéad O'Connor<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRQlDt470WLnwi4uEu0jzBvT3dvx_EM8AFPCAF1wFBk65VuA7ZXTp5kgTAC-nYRrlfQbejkoO8FaV8-AoWqTnkqCIdOK3CbvwbDncbfA2UrohD2IoUiFrtTaMqgd4hlgXqt-Nqj46tNLdn1ZCnpO8QZaYqe0vlMOsjpXO6pyY7UpBgviRmKuVHS_tKoBY/s391/340px-Sin%C3%A9ad_O%E2%80%99Connor_(cropped).webp" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="340" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRQlDt470WLnwi4uEu0jzBvT3dvx_EM8AFPCAF1wFBk65VuA7ZXTp5kgTAC-nYRrlfQbejkoO8FaV8-AoWqTnkqCIdOK3CbvwbDncbfA2UrohD2IoUiFrtTaMqgd4hlgXqt-Nqj46tNLdn1ZCnpO8QZaYqe0vlMOsjpXO6pyY7UpBgviRmKuVHS_tKoBY/s320/340px-Sin%C3%A9ad_O%E2%80%99Connor_(cropped).webp" width="278" /></a></div><div>TRIGGER WARNING: I will be discussing the issue of child abuse in this blog.</div><div><br /></div>It's been seven hours and fifteen days since I found that Sinéad O'Connor had been taken away. <div><br /></div><div>We've lost many talented musicians in recent years, but none have moved me as much as that of this amazing, talented, beautiful Irish artist.<div><br /></div><div>Like most people, I became aware of Sinéad when the single <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-EF60neguk" target="_blank">Nothing Compares 2 U</a> was released in 1990. Even as someone who prefers their music to arrive on albums, I could tell this was an amazing recording. The video was both artistic and touching, with Sinead shedding a real, unscripted tear, whilst looking fabulous and like no other artist.</div><div><br /></div><div>I was saw her play the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury that year. As this was before the days of big screens, and I was a long way back in the crowd, 'saw' is perhaps not the best word. But I did hear her. (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwmDQlPDwvQ&list=LL&index=1" target="_blank">A recording of her set can be heard here.</a>) The single was also being played by almost every stall that had a sound system, I remember. It was effectively the theme tune for the festival. People find it hard to believe now, but she really was talked about as being an Irish Madonna. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-zBZumF_kiuPiXZQsUuuFfnMSaYCAbZGV4iwcML7gBv5nO6aAIF4gVQUZOlW4If9bK6FDlcdII_vdz4V7UAOTLFgbWkUIFGqk8XfPBXs3aJurIdoHCk5qZ-DxlLC_q0_opLufRS7dSjMgrMERbC9ROHa8vNcNA80SoaFhRpnYT755jGMIAI-kItLHo2g/s365/Sinead_rips_into_the_Pope.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="273" data-original-width="365" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-zBZumF_kiuPiXZQsUuuFfnMSaYCAbZGV4iwcML7gBv5nO6aAIF4gVQUZOlW4If9bK6FDlcdII_vdz4V7UAOTLFgbWkUIFGqk8XfPBXs3aJurIdoHCk5qZ-DxlLC_q0_opLufRS7dSjMgrMERbC9ROHa8vNcNA80SoaFhRpnYT755jGMIAI-kItLHo2g/s320/Sinead_rips_into_the_Pope.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Then came the infamous Saturday Night Live performance in 1992. This was the days before the internet, and I didn't even own a TV at the time, so I knew of this only as a news item. We're used to rock 'n' roll people shooting from the hip, but there was nothing impulsive about this act of rebellion. From the Ethiopian flags on the microphone to the Bob Marley song <i>War</i> she sang, everything was thought through. The picture of the Pope itself had belonged to her late mother and she been carrying it round waiting for the moment to destroy it. </div><div><br /></div><div>It nuked her career, but then she was never going to be the pop princess the record company wanted. I didn't see it at the time, but her <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKeJifOXAnA" target="_blank">appearance at the Bob Dylan tribute later that year is justifiably famous</a>. When I watch the video now, and see her, so young and fragile, as she is booed by the crowd, it is still gut wrenchingly awful, right up until the moment Kris Kristofferson whispers in her ear "<i>don't let the bastards get you down</i>" and she launches into an acapella version of <i>War</i>. What's less appreciated is how significant the occasion was for Sinéad. Bob Dylan was her hero, whose music comforted and inspired her after she'd been floored by the death of Elvis. This was not a minor gig for Sinéad. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvrO5kw0kCD3KQp4VFic_Gr6VGC0_rSNkbp-3Eky6n0840sSVtLlGzMI_Qu_ABcZKplbC05Vph7FyFIzBZ1YQtU_UnAjNhe0g8jl2-UtokgQh5CEqlQoTRZnBZJ2SBsTdJbyiafIEZI7niwOY-CeIdC4tFf8NTzidzK8C8m4WFj2DwWez2TqAtuaj3os8/s2048/361660142_819917262838212_1572720535076598225_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvrO5kw0kCD3KQp4VFic_Gr6VGC0_rSNkbp-3Eky6n0840sSVtLlGzMI_Qu_ABcZKplbC05Vph7FyFIzBZ1YQtU_UnAjNhe0g8jl2-UtokgQh5CEqlQoTRZnBZJ2SBsTdJbyiafIEZI7niwOY-CeIdC4tFf8NTzidzK8C8m4WFj2DwWez2TqAtuaj3os8/s320/361660142_819917262838212_1572720535076598225_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />I respected her for this, but I knew almost nothing about the issues she was trying to raise. I was hardly a fan of the Catholic Church, but the criticisms of the Church at that time were of the <i>Father Ted</i> variety, where priests were idiots, but not monsters. That changed a little over twelve months later when I found myself working for the Simon Community in Cork City. </div><div><br /></div><div>There I started to encounter the Ireland that Sinead was trying to tell people about. The other volunteers of the Simon Community either came from abroad, like me, or from the fringes of Irish society. The later were often themselves survivors, or at least witnesses, to abuse in Convent Schools or other Church establishments. Child abuse was, literally, never talked about in Ireland in the press, and the very few cases that came to light were usually referred to as 'incest', not abuse. From the Social Workers I encountered I also learnt how some abusers they had identified were effectively untouchable due to patronage from the Church. These people weren't priests, but just influential members of the congregation. What we didn't ask was why the Church didn't want any investigations. Nobody else asked either and Sinéad remained a loan, marginalised voice. But during the two years I lived in Ireland this all changed. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOvUdOoyoy0F2D1o1Hk2OszbgdqeiHpkzR7iaSlu9tZ-TMP6iavxljjT9D9JU39iJaluWJoJbhA1T9tU8XjJhKeP8cBNCfH8gX_07bOLTfZGB4DcmXjk89bnnala37Dli8BnC8DGjEiER4Mf8ksVvLIY0IJHkfT1aoak3tewec5blhcJ5Vmrs5N4CgQfQ/s768/sinead_o_connor_rock-768x321.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="768" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOvUdOoyoy0F2D1o1Hk2OszbgdqeiHpkzR7iaSlu9tZ-TMP6iavxljjT9D9JU39iJaluWJoJbhA1T9tU8XjJhKeP8cBNCfH8gX_07bOLTfZGB4DcmXjk89bnnala37Dli8BnC8DGjEiER4Mf8ksVvLIY0IJHkfT1aoak3tewec5blhcJ5Vmrs5N4CgQfQ/w400-h168/sinead_o_connor_rock-768x321.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>First came the case of Brendan Smyth, a priest from Northern Ireland who'd been arrested for child abuse in Belfast, but who had then fled to the Republic, where the Catholic Church and the government protected him for three years. This was was not a minor scandal - it brought down the government - but at the time the issue was mainly one of cross-border extradition, always a difficult issue during the Troubles, rather than the abuse itself. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then in 1995 the bubble burst. There was a new case in the papers every month, it seemed, and this time they weren't being brushed under the carpet. Some people still refused to accept the truth. I remember one woman ringing in to a radio show to say that we should forgive priests as they were being deliberately tempted by Satan, and others simply chose to ignore the facts, but for most ordinary Irish it was now obvious that Sinéad had been right. </div><div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisDmppDfyxiLE9incOFMzy5yXDULwgpLTZzeb9Cn1k1l30q8sPk8Qv_V-X3QtaDQ4jZMP-wA6_MEcyuqJXtyH6XZ0wUuT2pNmMHrHDBOD5YJkLQEVG-A6sY0TS5pJHylVNLE_CNXD5d03y51ohsjbGqvtAYQwOeDji_InEgGxxRR0CHhUp01CU0_kJCuA/s320/mtiwnja4njm0mdqznzk0otu2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="320" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisDmppDfyxiLE9incOFMzy5yXDULwgpLTZzeb9Cn1k1l30q8sPk8Qv_V-X3QtaDQ4jZMP-wA6_MEcyuqJXtyH6XZ0wUuT2pNmMHrHDBOD5YJkLQEVG-A6sY0TS5pJHylVNLE_CNXD5d03y51ohsjbGqvtAYQwOeDji_InEgGxxRR0CHhUp01CU0_kJCuA/s1600/mtiwnja4njm0mdqznzk0otu2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>How closely she was personally linked to abuse we would only later learn. She was named Sinéad after the mother of the doctor who delivered her. He was Eamon de Valera Junior, the son of a former Irish President. In a strange piece of synchronicity, it would later emerge that de Valera Junior had been involved in the covert kidnapping of children from the Magdalene Asylums to be adopted by childless couples. The Asylums, where single mothers, sometimes rape victims, were incarcerated for life were yet another Irish scandal. Sinéad herself went to a reform school next to one Magdalene Asylum, and as a punishment she had to spend a night with the elderly ladies who's spent maybe sixty years in these prisons. This incredibly sad, and frightening experience was turned by Sinéad into one of her earliest songs, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBTEEZSV6sA" target="_blank">Take My Hand</a>. <p></p><p>But Sinéad didn't just witness abuse, she experienced it at home, from her mother, whilst that picture of Pope John Paul II looked on. This didn't just change her life, it changed her and she was eventually diagnosed with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Thanks to my work experience in Ireland I have gone on to become a qualified Social Worker. I have done child protection work, but I have also worked with abuse survivors and have been privileged to have them tell me their stories, sometimes before they told anyone else. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgedhXSxo-mRSOH7tyTLg2V8v7pJjw-9K_sz44fyPlNjfFsE9EsWIwmi1HZ11GyGqd5KgOAR817d0gh644OIGmFht32ipjoI4JCuz5ihQAyTwqwaGIKNV9bU0NNXvSFkzhftSgTBi3MBvPBTptGZyuc2igTAXT8CLeeosYuBW9FJhjOORKOAjdbVAbVt4Q/s320/Michael_collins_dvd.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="215" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgedhXSxo-mRSOH7tyTLg2V8v7pJjw-9K_sz44fyPlNjfFsE9EsWIwmi1HZ11GyGqd5KgOAR817d0gh644OIGmFht32ipjoI4JCuz5ihQAyTwqwaGIKNV9bU0NNXvSFkzhftSgTBi3MBvPBTptGZyuc2igTAXT8CLeeosYuBW9FJhjOORKOAjdbVAbVt4Q/s1600/Michael_collins_dvd.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>This takes courage, and Sinéad was over the course of her life to show great bravery in describing herown abuse. Unfortunately, there is rarely a happily ever after in these stories. She had to live with the scars of her early life. Her mental health problems, her family and relationship issues, even her changes of faith, are totally familiar to those of us who work with survivors. You can help people like Sinéad, but you can never take away the damage that has been done. I'd have loved there to be a fairy tale ending to her story, but there never was going to be one.</span></div><p>Just before I left Ireland I had the opportunity to appear as an extra in the film <i>Michael Collins</i>, a dramatic, and realistic, depiction of how Ireland became free, and stars Liam Neeson as the title character, and the late Alan Rickman as Eamon de Valera. Sinéad sang on three songs on the soundtrack, and her collaboration with <i>The Chieftains </i>on the project would also give us a version of <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keWnPZOd2cw" target="_blank">The Foggy Dew</a></i>, which is one of my favourite tracks by her. </p><p>The final song of the film is <i>She Moved Through The Fair</i>. Mystical and haunting, there is no other Irish trad. song like it and nobody, not even Van Morrison, has ever sung it better than Sinéad. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWIaP0NnEOQ" target="_blank">She would recorder an even better version a couple of years later</a>, which I've always loved, although now it is almost too poignant to listen to. </p><p>I'll admit I've shed a tear for the death of Sinéad; for the death of a remarkable talent, a fearless activist and a beautiful but damaged soul. But I also mourn for the many other lives lost or diminished by abuse in families and institutions, both in Ireland and elsewhere. May we all, just like Sinéad did, work to ensure there are fewer victims in future. </p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZDiqjoq_ncj_0-EI8M2gBXKnw7ldLm8yWvq9grB1DgKuA69FxhOshzXOCedsXZn9LoV3iL79zQ8ABKJtYFBaHK6xvaPN5v_JcRVZaVUd1TL6u_PObUIN2CgF04E9ZttnopHg75nm7DnG4kvpmckIG4YkFZGf5qZLH00WzVKY96Uozu9QYFzEDfoEijjM/s1222/sinead-oconnor-funeral-photos-09.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="1222" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZDiqjoq_ncj_0-EI8M2gBXKnw7ldLm8yWvq9grB1DgKuA69FxhOshzXOCedsXZn9LoV3iL79zQ8ABKJtYFBaHK6xvaPN5v_JcRVZaVUd1TL6u_PObUIN2CgF04E9ZttnopHg75nm7DnG4kvpmckIG4YkFZGf5qZLH00WzVKY96Uozu9QYFzEDfoEijjM/w400-h259/sinead-oconnor-funeral-photos-09.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><p></p></div></div>Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-52350569002131801452023-01-15T10:55:00.003-08:002023-01-15T10:55:24.795-08:00Worm Stones<p> <b>Location:</b> Glossop, Derbyshire</p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GQ6hmQ2ixRU/WdnxCdbn_WI/AAAAAAAAJcA/RrsxCF2SzOAUWistUnOih6a8AJF-aJXDgCLcBGAs/s1600/Worm%2BStones%2B17082016.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GQ6hmQ2ixRU/WdnxCdbn_WI/AAAAAAAAJcA/RrsxCF2SzOAUWistUnOih6a8AJF-aJXDgCLcBGAs/s400/Worm%2BStones%2B17082016.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Many of the liminal places in this blog aren't just on the edge in the imagination, they also occupy a place somewhere between certainty and speculation about the past.<br /><br />Every square metre of Britain was, of course, once pagan, and mystics of old would have looked at every natural wonder and given most them a place in their shared mythology. Very occasionally we have an historical record of sorts. More often we have nothing at all. Sometimes, though, we have a clue.<br /><br />The Worm Stones stand on Shaw Moor, clearly visible from the A624 as you leave the market town of Glossop heading towards Hayfield. They stand on the edge of open access land. To their east is Chunal Moor, and then the high plateau of Kinder Scout. To their west is the Greater Manchester urban conglomeration. Depending on your point of view, they either stand guard over the town, or hold back the urban jungle.<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D51xTIV2pK0/WdnzMferl6I/AAAAAAAAJcM/nU_kCMqmaakk1MYPj2LameE0wVSPWUZDACLcBGAs/s1600/Worm%2BStones%2B19804%2Btwo.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D51xTIV2pK0/WdnzMferl6I/AAAAAAAAJcM/nU_kCMqmaakk1MYPj2LameE0wVSPWUZDACLcBGAs/s400/Worm%2BStones%2B19804%2Btwo.jpg" width="400" /></a>For most ramblers they are, at most, a place for a rest and a sandwich. There is a, now very hard to find, footpath that leads to the shooting cabin that can be seen to the north, or you can carry on to the trig point called Harry Hut, then turn left to climb Kinder, <a href="http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2745260" target="_blank">passing on the way the wreck of a Liberator bomber.</a> This crashed during World War Two, and is one of the better preserved wrecks in the area. Although both crewmen were injured, they lived to tell the tale, which was unusual.<br /><br />Long before that though this was the land of the pagan Brigantes. This was before the Romans came, and then after they left it was the home of the Anglo-Saxon Pecsaetan tribe, who were equally pagan but in a different way. The Pecsaetans have left us little but their name, which means peaklanders. Glossop also got its name from the Anglo-Saxons and was originally Glott's Hop. Glott must have been somebody in his time, which was probably the seventh century, and his Hop was his valley.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jAgbyseMcbc/WdnzSS_6IVI/AAAAAAAAJcQ/KCsjbIZ0jDMscbMI-MNsJytuQ1S9fwPkQCLcBGAs/s1600/Perfect%2Bwalk%2B021.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jAgbyseMcbc/WdnzSS_6IVI/AAAAAAAAJcQ/KCsjbIZ0jDMscbMI-MNsJytuQ1S9fwPkQCLcBGAs/s400/Perfect%2Bwalk%2B021.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>We don't know how old the name Worm Stones is. However, there is reason to think that it too might be Anglo-Saxon. In the language of their mythology a <i>drake</i> was a flying dragon, like Smaug in<i> The Hobbit</i>, but a dragon without wings that crawled was a <i>wyrm</i>. A better translation would be 'great serpent', and wyrms are clearly related to the beasts of Egyptian, Ancient Greek and Biblical stories.<br /><br />Visit this place with that in mind, and it is not long before the eroded limestone brings forth a face and other features. These rocks on which the occasional weary walker rests his bottom could easiy be a sleeping dragon, a secret guardian of this wild place.<br /><br />Tread carefully then, and respectfully.Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-75953813684578761502022-12-11T04:46:00.205-08:002022-12-12T23:22:41.737-08:00Review of the Year 2022<h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>January</b></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmbSMY_v_Dy9GiQilj9on_lSi67pQXAZrO3A49qgQ4jJQnLfeID72UMkjIDSjiQoo32V90mQKydi2rx7P-9W8ZSZ4jIIbttOiF5zD5fH2rbONM3hkvJA4sadPdOFbbkFai5jRM3LuFv32raYKMr8Rxl8di5RX3LFGWm7UFaEeHN4T4yk4PqEmYhhUt/s3000/Cheadle%20Wilmslow%20Express.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2003" data-original-width="3000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmbSMY_v_Dy9GiQilj9on_lSi67pQXAZrO3A49qgQ4jJQnLfeID72UMkjIDSjiQoo32V90mQKydi2rx7P-9W8ZSZ4jIIbttOiF5zD5fH2rbONM3hkvJA4sadPdOFbbkFai5jRM3LuFv32raYKMr8Rxl8di5RX3LFGWm7UFaEeHN4T4yk4PqEmYhhUt/s400/Cheadle%20Wilmslow%20Express.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
The big news is a jury acquits the protesters who toppled Edward Coulston's statue into Bristol harbour.
The right-wing snowflakes were up in arms about it, but more sensible heads spoke up for the right of juries to let off whoever they wanted. As someone who had been found Not Guilty by a jury <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2022/jan/07/lawyers-jump-to-juries-defence-as-tories-fume-at-colston-four-verdict" target="_blank">I felt obliged to speak up, and The Guardian printed my words</a>. <div><br /></div><div>Greenpeace, meanwhile, have us getting up very early to put up posters of their CEO Ken Murphy, as part of the campaign to stop them buying soya animal feed grown on what used to be the Amazon rainforest. </div><div><br /></div><div>Protest of all types looks to be going to be a lot harder in future. I go to a 'kill the bill' demo and the GMP PLOs make a point of telling me they know who I am. At least I know who to go to in the event of an identity crisis. <div><br /></div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>February</b></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-nT_oS5ThzlnuB0xncjp8SVlhNNaKSHmzAhSacM1n6vF9o-xM_OpjkKg6NVXS7eYW61v0WOwanChcBbAbKkMFSfuP4utJRAOn070DwseyCX91PuDUb520D79Kvm8qVa27G5nS0uMz-w-zg_61PZkw017zfuHiR1ej660iDuaQhJ_scmExwL3EjbwF/s3000/dsc_0163.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="3000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-nT_oS5ThzlnuB0xncjp8SVlhNNaKSHmzAhSacM1n6vF9o-xM_OpjkKg6NVXS7eYW61v0WOwanChcBbAbKkMFSfuP4utJRAOn070DwseyCX91PuDUb520D79Kvm8qVa27G5nS0uMz-w-zg_61PZkw017zfuHiR1ej660iDuaQhJ_scmExwL3EjbwF/w400-h266/dsc_0163.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwpffTEI685vx3en67ZReTg" target="_blank">I get to pretend I'm an academic as I give the opening talk in a day organised by Liverpool Hope University to discuss COP26</a>. It was an interesting day, which also includes a talk on the legacy of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, which is moving. </div><div><br /></div><div>Greenpeace, meanwhile, has us out and about in the rain making some nature art behind the Whitworth Art Gallery. I think we did all right. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_aVQ6mgigPKbYbxmubotRKnP5GrCza4nX_n2ZuHm501DE5cuEqgykYBwh49jo9ez-Vyu6LzLLj0MPtg5cSxaqxJMdAieHssFH39_aek2NvIcZlfP1EtvR1jAiwTFcKv9YuzcL-XCs4XOH7R__GV-eZAIgrXGzSP5usJlnebJhjYoYxVaG_cDNNdYK/s817/274825483_343228461066346_8413942780976772291_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="817" data-original-width="526" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_aVQ6mgigPKbYbxmubotRKnP5GrCza4nX_n2ZuHm501DE5cuEqgykYBwh49jo9ez-Vyu6LzLLj0MPtg5cSxaqxJMdAieHssFH39_aek2NvIcZlfP1EtvR1jAiwTFcKv9YuzcL-XCs4XOH7R__GV-eZAIgrXGzSP5usJlnebJhjYoYxVaG_cDNNdYK/s320/274825483_343228461066346_8413942780976772291_n.jpg" width="206" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I also get to take part in what a world record attempt. The aim was to have the most people ever bivvying out, which is camping without a tent. I wander off in the dark and make a shelter from the wind on the edge of Kinder Scout. It's clear night and the temperature drops below zero. Fortunately I get my fire ging before I freeze. The stars are amazing, but I sleep like a log and wake up staring at blue skies. It was a good night. A record of sorts was set, but Guinness isn't happy with the paperwork so it isn't an 'official' record. </div><div><br /></div><div>The big news in February though was the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This would be the focus of some actions over the rest of the year, see me doing some work with refugees and transform my Twitter feed into a military sitrep. </div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>March</b> </h3><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHnSAAU9PHICAIsk0kr7CfbyRdIzyxrgzepzY1SR88YgoIdT11Il0hZQfTIybhz7aW8VK14CK5uBVhg5wKRL1V4cWJKCGN5VRcItnceVxgQGQgikgBKVIJx_S56HNpl2PsXrZ0emaEEhZzflpwsFMbRLeqAW_qFl5zqDA-BsuNx0UufPIpgtVDLWv_/s4160/Chunal%20Moor%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHnSAAU9PHICAIsk0kr7CfbyRdIzyxrgzepzY1SR88YgoIdT11Il0hZQfTIybhz7aW8VK14CK5uBVhg5wKRL1V4cWJKCGN5VRcItnceVxgQGQgikgBKVIJx_S56HNpl2PsXrZ0emaEEhZzflpwsFMbRLeqAW_qFl5zqDA-BsuNx0UufPIpgtVDLWv_/w400-h300/Chunal%20Moor%202.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />A project for Greenpeace Unearthed has me running round the moors chasing fires. It's not a bad way to spend my time, although it does lead to one incident of being surrounded by gamekeepers who aren't too happy about it. It's an important story as our peat moorlands are a huge carbon sink, far bigger than our forests, and they are being destroyed so rich people can shoot fat birds. <a href="https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2022/05/30/satellites-fires-burning-england-peatland-grouse-shooting/" target="_blank">In the end Greenpeace gets the info for their story from satellite photos. </a></div><div><br /></div><div>
I also go to a youth strike in Manchester, but it's a bit of a sad affair as the previous organisers have all gone off to university and not been replaced. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9_oIkcopZoF5i7GUiL7ShM3i5t8aH1xuKkVYcf5ZmmZ9CYVpmSCZ4pEFQduBCO5kXIpdi5IRp5ziMiKcHKF4JKBtkx5vARXGVsi1hllC1iuhwuR0WX4y7Yxg0dhtuwwNGmPCdGW-Z1bYoWoRTFjR_rSA-_D5H41CcZHpc7GNIqaSMySVQwQwBlbSK/s4000/dsc_0192.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2670" data-original-width="4000" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9_oIkcopZoF5i7GUiL7ShM3i5t8aH1xuKkVYcf5ZmmZ9CYVpmSCZ4pEFQduBCO5kXIpdi5IRp5ziMiKcHKF4JKBtkx5vARXGVsi1hllC1iuhwuR0WX4y7Yxg0dhtuwwNGmPCdGW-Z1bYoWoRTFjR_rSA-_D5H41CcZHpc7GNIqaSMySVQwQwBlbSK/w400-h268/dsc_0192.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>We also continue our campaign against Tesco, this time in the daylight. <div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>April </b></h3><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHTF1y40t77ziaLshDzUnE1p8HNoy6Fjorvcsg7QGOMlPh4Bf7G96_5cH0ZgANGVwKXfWm6UcC4ouWqOHMP7HQspIxsEIAOwVNmGBbOGLSj2hx78ckmnSauJOEFwOUAR9B3bAz9k7BdzF1CQHBRtFe9gbQSBiZAFzRdUHHWVuoaMdgzpzHryeW5Xma/s1440/FRIYTGEWYAMLwOL.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHTF1y40t77ziaLshDzUnE1p8HNoy6Fjorvcsg7QGOMlPh4Bf7G96_5cH0ZgANGVwKXfWm6UcC4ouWqOHMP7HQspIxsEIAOwVNmGBbOGLSj2hx78ckmnSauJOEFwOUAR9B3bAz9k7BdzF1CQHBRtFe9gbQSBiZAFzRdUHHWVuoaMdgzpzHryeW5Xma/w400-h300/FRIYTGEWYAMLwOL.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>I get to go to a party at a brewery. Cloudwater Brewery in Manchester have produced a beer to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass called Right To Roam, so they invite me along to give a little talk and give me free beer. I invite some of the Greenpeace group along and we have a good time. </div><div><br /></div><div>There are more celebrations in Hayfield so I go along. In a tent I find the Labour Party, the Ramblers Association and the National Trust, in other words all the groups who opposed the mass trespass in 1932. There is at least the Morning Star, representing the more radical flank of the left who actually organised the event. </div><div><br /></div><div>Patagonia ask me to lead their walk on the actual anniversary. They shut up their shop and bring a coach load of people out to hear me talk about the events of 1932. We walk the National Trust 'Mass Trespass Route' in excellent weather, collecting extra people as we go. It was a good day out and I hope my grandfather, an inveterate trespasser, would have been proud. </div><div><br /></div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>May</b></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJAaf7qaPpkYZNZJTbbKxblfS_BIC2mK0wK6H7jmDVYZ9uhgYJfkGM1HqxOpHzeoUB_Y9e_8MgJxImUtQSWxET1amI0bR5HW124uo6q-MzkVbzGEoGU-mnpaFE7PKQLbXllR4kVJEnTY6o1ea1Ecg5uiTFAIeAApjJ1UQf0vs3nPHtoAyb87hvEPfI/s4160/IMG_20220518_123323872.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJAaf7qaPpkYZNZJTbbKxblfS_BIC2mK0wK6H7jmDVYZ9uhgYJfkGM1HqxOpHzeoUB_Y9e_8MgJxImUtQSWxET1amI0bR5HW124uo6q-MzkVbzGEoGU-mnpaFE7PKQLbXllR4kVJEnTY6o1ea1Ecg5uiTFAIeAApjJ1UQf0vs3nPHtoAyb87hvEPfI/w400-h300/IMG_20220518_123323872.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Greenpeace had been tracking Russian oil tankers since the war in Ukraine began and in May one was spotted heading towards England and <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2022-05-16/greenpeace-blocks-russian-diesel-tanker-at-uk-fuel-terminal" target="_blank">Greenpeace had a reception committee waiting</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Two days later I was camped out in a layby near Grays wharf on the Thames in Essex waiting for a lorry carrying the Russian fuel to leave the terminal. I ended up being tasked to follow a Tesco tanker, and so I started an embarrassingly low speed pursuit across eastern England which eventually took me to Stalham on the edge of the Norfolk Broads. I get the photos and Tesco, who banned Russian Vodka, are caught bang to rights. The action was a huge success, reinforced six months later when the people who blocked the ship are acquitted, and no more Russian fossil fuels enter the the country, legally at least. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv6kM_qDFiMerzLJ6qqbyZ05T89vxQjhyRJD3J21iTSfiARRvEBWCUbznmY5-s0Vt6sQIrIINvGFLWy_khWTaP0hurKYCUf-i_APULSM3GGjC85uU-LpIkciKxBZuLYHu9eq1Gs4CLZ6PBCITTVITsofkcR1yIlHYsbagQSfeiwOoQ4AKGkhAH8w1z/s4160/IMG_20220514_132511384_HDR%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv6kM_qDFiMerzLJ6qqbyZ05T89vxQjhyRJD3J21iTSfiARRvEBWCUbznmY5-s0Vt6sQIrIINvGFLWy_khWTaP0hurKYCUf-i_APULSM3GGjC85uU-LpIkciKxBZuLYHu9eq1Gs4CLZ6PBCITTVITsofkcR1yIlHYsbagQSfeiwOoQ4AKGkhAH8w1z/w400-h300/IMG_20220514_132511384_HDR%20.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />In May it was The Big Plastic Count. This is a bit of a hit, both on the streets and in the media, and helped keep pressure on companies to reduce the amount of pointless plastic they produce, trying to balance out the pressure Big Oil is putting on them to use more. </div><div><br /></div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>June</b></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHxwWgtIM0fhWozr5hjE_Y9dzXH8o8z2QJXeXyso-u_cy8dO3RaAUMYmfee7k4SR2empsytWgm_RQtj5G-zcnw3IV4nFnsWm3c4rjiJhOni-FdPLOeMZVlTknbz7iNmGeh7ZibWNIQdwrfE2vCNfRcIQxA3Xv-UxDxJ01oDCZsKZS40sPr6zf_tPnO/s2158/IMG_20220618_145856094cropped.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2108" data-original-width="2158" height="391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHxwWgtIM0fhWozr5hjE_Y9dzXH8o8z2QJXeXyso-u_cy8dO3RaAUMYmfee7k4SR2empsytWgm_RQtj5G-zcnw3IV4nFnsWm3c4rjiJhOni-FdPLOeMZVlTknbz7iNmGeh7ZibWNIQdwrfE2vCNfRcIQxA3Xv-UxDxJ01oDCZsKZS40sPr6zf_tPnO/w400-h391/IMG_20220618_145856094cropped.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div>Something new in June was electric rallycross. World Rallycross had became the first FIA world series to go electric in 2021, and the rival American series Nitro Rallycross followed suit this year. They also came to Lydden Hill in Kent so we could see them first hand. </div><div><br /></div><div>Once you got used to them sounding like Scalextric cars it was great motorsport. With 1000bhp on tap it they certainly shifted. The series uses identical cars that aren't based on road going vehicles, so the event was also notable for no car company or fossil fuel sponsorship at all. Rallycross is one of the friendliest sports around and so we were able to chat to the drivers about the cars. They loved them. Swede Robin Larsson won. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW8XtnRhZs1vaZSG5343Q0vaWEIbeYI2wXsFucL1Q7BNjguQazkwJB6r_3yXonIH1UBBFPm9mh2KoepdTtKD3Siv5EcD72E7uj61se176T9Hm-iuS5thhCa_aNbkOyD-J9i1okajlUG3PcGkC0xBSSsyF5jEugM9TlXMOCVTXUZqyIx84NmKzEwoCH/s4160/IMG_20220621_195939439_HDR.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW8XtnRhZs1vaZSG5343Q0vaWEIbeYI2wXsFucL1Q7BNjguQazkwJB6r_3yXonIH1UBBFPm9mh2KoepdTtKD3Siv5EcD72E7uj61se176T9Hm-iuS5thhCa_aNbkOyD-J9i1okajlUG3PcGkC0xBSSsyF5jEugM9TlXMOCVTXUZqyIx84NmKzEwoCH/w400-h300/IMG_20220621_195939439_HDR.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div><div>A quick change of clothes and I was off to work at the Glastonbury Festival for Greenpeace. I had a great team and it was a lot of fun, if rather hot. My duties included being a roadie for Easy Life and Self Esteem, and guarding the DJ booth for Mel C. I also had to test the drop slide and stir the shit - literally. Best of all though was hanging around in the Greenpeace crew area, which had its own bar, and fire pit, with people I'd not seen since before Covid. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggo87abuZipdEse1E8glcvCTfsd_73PUvup0e5qUQykZ-GpZwNlvreujBkGxeSuPf6ZIN1fReMHGlEzzVInn7IOmzNqhoixBE6UX-PhoimlkC0xbfa6Im9hf8qY9zWwfs_xKd0UbR8jSoA_Y-1fr02QMSF5FWi5d3syEeoG8AudOklyOuMunSgfW62/s4160/IMG_20220625_000752322.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggo87abuZipdEse1E8glcvCTfsd_73PUvup0e5qUQykZ-GpZwNlvreujBkGxeSuPf6ZIN1fReMHGlEzzVInn7IOmzNqhoixBE6UX-PhoimlkC0xbfa6Im9hf8qY9zWwfs_xKd0UbR8jSoA_Y-1fr02QMSF5FWi5d3syEeoG8AudOklyOuMunSgfW62/w400-h300/IMG_20220625_000752322.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>Then there was the music: Seize the Day, Suzanne Vega, Kate Rusby, Jarvis Cocker, Skunk Anansie, Robert Plant, Gong, Steve Hillage, the Arcadia rave field, Greenpeace's own Rave Tree (running until 5AM and 20 metres from my tent) and the amazing Paul McCartney playing one of the best sets I've ever seen. </div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>July</b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXgXlLxr6ipAdDqtRqF73Sy_DZMMIdJ216wFBArsnHwB9nUDfMsN91Cx9vkxrYS99Cq7Vi93aoTAEbXgY5ew8QZz5rh6zOBrkSx9ItNv_fIbsvjtE99c0xlQWx68dbqwy7-4SNsE1ce0i7hNzXW39_e5Um_myOMpHlk7uYZ3Z9890WRdJJ14f8rU9i/s4160/IMG_20220729_161618307.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXgXlLxr6ipAdDqtRqF73Sy_DZMMIdJ216wFBArsnHwB9nUDfMsN91Cx9vkxrYS99Cq7Vi93aoTAEbXgY5ew8QZz5rh6zOBrkSx9ItNv_fIbsvjtE99c0xlQWx68dbqwy7-4SNsE1ce0i7hNzXW39_e5Um_myOMpHlk7uYZ3Z9890WRdJJ14f8rU9i/w400-h300/IMG_20220729_161618307.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Unfortunately, after two years of dodging the virus, Covid finally got me at Glasto. Fortunately, thanks to three doses of Pfizer, I don't even get a single day off work. After a week I feel better and venture out to watch a game of T20 cricket. Phil Salt of Lancashire stumped Michael Pepper of Essex, and then in the next innings Pepper returns the favour by catching Salt. </div><div><br /></div><div>Meanwhile, climate change gave us a summer like no other. Even in Glossop the Mercury hit 37 degrees, hotter than when I was on my honeymoon in Barbados or the work trip to Majorca all those years ago (it was a tough job, but somebody had to do it). Mountain rescue had to retrieve a guy who had a heart attack going for a walk and one of my elderly clients died in his home. It was a couple of days like I'd never experienced before, but will no doubt experience again. </div><div><br /></div><div>It had cooled down a little by the time my boys and I went for our annual camping expedition to Eryri National Park. We climb the Glydders. Glydder Fawr is now two metres taller than last time I went up it, making it a 1000 metre peak at last.</div><div><br /></div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>August</b></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij5pXifjNWVBjzL0Tna2TlnhgWHrcxWlVAbMo70Fxn-xeoKCjdLR0fgOYpBBGwsWh8Nw5LjUeST-c4vjowhBmCytCFa-PqhwV8oOHIE5BR5xkloFwh8HiDgkbzAeP4gZRtFj1dm8N979vKyZf8cjSOtwj4icOb_2X5-jkDRoth301Jt6AbLkP5d0JV/s3000/dsc_0301.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2003" data-original-width="3000" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij5pXifjNWVBjzL0Tna2TlnhgWHrcxWlVAbMo70Fxn-xeoKCjdLR0fgOYpBBGwsWh8Nw5LjUeST-c4vjowhBmCytCFa-PqhwV8oOHIE5BR5xkloFwh8HiDgkbzAeP4gZRtFj1dm8N979vKyZf8cjSOtwj4icOb_2X5-jkDRoth301Jt6AbLkP5d0JV/w400-h268/dsc_0301.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The UK government started approving new North Sea oil and gas fields. Protests stopped the Cambo field last year, but there were more, including the Jackdaw gas field. The government approved the field, but Greenpeace put in a legal challenge. </div><div><br /></div><div>I decided to do my bit it and organised a little protest in Manchester as part of a national day of action. Three members of the Greater Manchester Police service turned up to watch us, but all went well. Stephen Pennels gets the prize for best dressed activist. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw7ON4_f1SWJlsTjwhol8ByxXAxiZo58mm52Q5hHOcQvT4Ulw5PVcADLuniPe-P9hsmEJpQlhtVpGTuVAEsTQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /></div><div>The heatwave is drying up our reservoirs and so Greenpeace send a CBeebies presenter up to be filmed walking around the Woodhead reservoir. I advised on where to park and where to go, but I also think the Derwent makes a better place to show what a climate crisis looks like, so I pop out and film myself.</div><div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>September</b> </h3></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvuEU000LJ9a-y2giUYX3ekGnCs2Lxg4d6lu59jiOgVIaxxCCgJietoAWLi-w_6dqb7fDFZQT3jcNyd7GENnGGvFiCjMEibo6IhmHvEoT0TJC5N7vr6e2dUcy8guaDC5qIKtU8pnI885obmQtASlDynjHueRJzaIx9ne49ZuRtdeDwg2b9eK5o_oti/s600/GP013T1_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvuEU000LJ9a-y2giUYX3ekGnCs2Lxg4d6lu59jiOgVIaxxCCgJietoAWLi-w_6dqb7fDFZQT3jcNyd7GENnGGvFiCjMEibo6IhmHvEoT0TJC5N7vr6e2dUcy8guaDC5qIKtU8pnI885obmQtASlDynjHueRJzaIx9ne49ZuRtdeDwg2b9eK5o_oti/s320/GP013T1_.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />In September the Queen dies, having clung onto life long enough to sack Boris Johnson, which must have given her some pleasure. Her funeral gives us two weeks respite before Liz Truss's mini budget blows up the economy. </div><div><br /></div><div>I remember the one time I met the Queen, which was a Greenpeace protest outside Canada House in 1998. A giant banner saying God Save Canada's Rainforest had been hung from Nelson's Column, and my job was to remove the crowd barriers to allow some fake Mounties through. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUsy9c74f7mTQZMeqjQdshdbDbImdRZ1icZkltHP33BMBh4xEKdNybp6v_4utUvR6V5TI5gi0CkCUlHIpzMbiinUT33iqNjnjIwTWDYhkci-njPSStRlvMU7OkalCnk9Ti2ixGrFM-3TnDh3y60iw3o4jlQgdtFyoO31xPPvKopFCtdOkNQds78o6M/s1640/305208352_186201727132340_2442064312517723126_n.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUsy9c74f7mTQZMeqjQdshdbDbImdRZ1icZkltHP33BMBh4xEKdNybp6v_4utUvR6V5TI5gi0CkCUlHIpzMbiinUT33iqNjnjIwTWDYhkci-njPSStRlvMU7OkalCnk9Ti2ixGrFM-3TnDh3y60iw3o4jlQgdtFyoO31xPPvKopFCtdOkNQds78o6M/s320/305208352_186201727132340_2442064312517723126_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Back in 2022 we go to the Wilmslow Car Free Street Festival. The good citizens of the down give their chauffeurs the day off and leave the Rollers in the garage and have a party in the high street. It's not exactly Reclaim the Streets, but its fun. </div><div><br /></div><div>Our new Prime Minister lifts the moratorium on fracking and so campaigning against shale gas starts again. I get interviewed on Radio Manchester about why this would not a good idea. This was one radio interview I did not need to prepare for. </div><div><br /></div><div>Also this month I start doing some overtime helping Derbyshire County Council check on the welfare of the Ukrainian refugees people in the county are hosting. They're an interesting bunch of people, both the hosts and the guests. </div><div><br /></div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>October</b></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8kwv2WGtm2FN_MgYwkmyeUju_0jZlz1xFNOcRMbXdJD3kaZPrHayimjg5VnXOfuZEh0Kcr6R-RPzVWmC9ihXISL_VJgNNmZ8Uxs58XHWoxjHgibMjqWvpGSgMPzsf2xYJc33Lon3ejvyK-0RVhbg0OFAuGgYdGoy7yr69winBClx649W_l1Il8xE6/s1024/Green_Summit_17thOct2022115-1024x683.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8kwv2WGtm2FN_MgYwkmyeUju_0jZlz1xFNOcRMbXdJD3kaZPrHayimjg5VnXOfuZEh0Kcr6R-RPzVWmC9ihXISL_VJgNNmZ8Uxs58XHWoxjHgibMjqWvpGSgMPzsf2xYJc33Lon3ejvyK-0RVhbg0OFAuGgYdGoy7yr69winBClx649W_l1Il8xE6/s320/Green_Summit_17thOct2022115-1024x683.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>It's Andy Burnham's fifth Green Summit and I go along. Compared to the first two there is a lot to celebrate now. Manchester is now on its way to getting a publicly owned, all-electric bus fleet, whilst Liverpool and Manchester are teaming up make the Northwest a renewable energy centre with a hydrogen plant and tidal barrage. Considering how little actual power Burnham has it's a great achievement. I also get a free lunch, free beer and the invaluable chance to talk to business leaders and local NGOs. The main thing the former want is a government policy. Almost any policy. </div><div><br /></div><div>The opposite of a green economy, Liz Truss's ecocidal government, came to a sudden end only a week later, felled by a Labour motion on fracking. When the dust settles we realise that not only have we finally won a campaign that looked pretty hopeless nine years ago, but we took out a Tory Prime Minister in the process. That's a good result by any measure. </div><div><br /></div><div>Also this month I meet Warm Homes Whitfield for the first time, a group of people who've come together to campaign for renewable energy and home insulation as they can't afford to heat their houses.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>November</b></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxFjWUtMDaF26PB9fYOz7fuPxMgULIEzYFhZJ3hpc6dWf6N0srlZGD305KoVkeTnz609JkuUHCK27y0YJOjSQ2NDWCVK_qFXOHl2SEBtsZO6p_DJRNe2PhrU4H5KXqKQvuyDsq_xnYqHozIPtKkpZjuLKlYrPyJ64tvIedsPp7Nwx3N9zjbgVH8x_1/s3000/DSC_0664.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2002" data-original-width="3000" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxFjWUtMDaF26PB9fYOz7fuPxMgULIEzYFhZJ3hpc6dWf6N0srlZGD305KoVkeTnz609JkuUHCK27y0YJOjSQ2NDWCVK_qFXOHl2SEBtsZO6p_DJRNe2PhrU4H5KXqKQvuyDsq_xnYqHozIPtKkpZjuLKlYrPyJ64tvIedsPp7Nwx3N9zjbgVH8x_1/w400-h268/DSC_0664.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Greenpeace launches a new film. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ddMqUqDdF0" target="_blank">Called The Cost of Living it was made in the Rother Valley and shows how people are having to come together to survive the energy crisis.</a> </div><div><br /></div><div>The Manchester Greenpeace Secret Squirrels help with the publicity.
Rather remarkably, the premier is in Glossop, hosted by Warm Homes Whitfield. I'm master of ceremonies and once I've collected Heather from the station and sorted out the audio-visuals, I host a debate about what it means for the people of Whitfield and what the government needs to do. There are some moving words and a few tears. Our MP doesn't turn up, which isn't a huge surprise, but it's a good start for a new group. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUVoU3SpKpkaatk0FmtJK2SxFNktwGFkJJTxBayllKk0ACUF1KQwv8paSXpbAqwTt033GG96LzeHrDhoVE2fsP-ggmtO1Sl1pKWXWNNPUoekYili07HOcOF1LSBviecMQxI965gBCTwIxxUHMBPlUgPxpdo4NwBrdij81WTOfOEeaweE9Fr4QiHmVS/s1022/874f697f-73f1-4c06-96b5-6e29692d8dea.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1022" data-original-width="893" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUVoU3SpKpkaatk0FmtJK2SxFNktwGFkJJTxBayllKk0ACUF1KQwv8paSXpbAqwTt033GG96LzeHrDhoVE2fsP-ggmtO1Sl1pKWXWNNPUoekYili07HOcOF1LSBviecMQxI965gBCTwIxxUHMBPlUgPxpdo4NwBrdij81WTOfOEeaweE9Fr4QiHmVS/w350-h400/874f697f-73f1-4c06-96b5-6e29692d8dea.jpg" width="350" /></a></div><br />We then show the film in Manchester, and this time our invited guest turns up. Afzal Khan, MP for Manchester Gorton is complementary about our film and says he wants to show it in parliament, which is a result.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jzb5F58yRmI/Y5XPNTgYMQI/AAAAAAAAfM0/iyqgw_DFUwIGvaxSIawEwdprasp4h28nQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screening%2B-%2BThe%2BCost%2BofLiving%2B.mp4" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jzb5F58yRmI/Y5XPNTgYMQI/AAAAAAAAfM0/iyqgw_DFUwIGvaxSIawEwdprasp4h28nQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screening%2B-%2BThe%2BCost%2BofLiving%2B.mp4" width="320" /></a></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>December</b> </h3></div><div><br /></div><div>And so our campaigning year somes to an end. Manchester Greenpeace's final act is to take Sami, it's climate change fighting polar bear, for a pub crawl around the Christmas markets. She ends up in Night and Day bar listening to a set by the rapper Devlin. The bar has some legal issues, so it's great to be able to support it. Sami has a good time too.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxNm30yyV5bG2G7uLjdnb2TsmkyW0Zj7CZtpjqFNLFMhDWjtrimxS9CCIoUgOeIDygzTGjpjLAZDMC1C0gkXw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><div><br />So that was 2022. A war, a heatwave and some progress but not as much as we need. Roll on 2023. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
</div></div>Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-6940699317480311392022-11-11T14:00:00.006-08:002022-11-11T14:03:03.289-08:00Cockersand Moss Temple<b>Location:</b> Cockerham, Lancashire<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sgeXSfbFQbg/Wcqyvf2ltyI/AAAAAAAAJbU/zQbgaqCv778aItTSGnZRX30GYirk1mjkwCLcBGAs/s1600/Tolkien%2BTrail%2B021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sgeXSfbFQbg/Wcqyvf2ltyI/AAAAAAAAJbU/zQbgaqCv778aItTSGnZRX30GYirk1mjkwCLcBGAs/s400/Tolkien%2BTrail%2B021.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Cockersand Abbey is the remains of a twelth century Christian priory, located between Blackpool and Lancaster on the Lancashire coast. All that remains today, apart from a few fragmens of wall, is the octagonal chapter house, and only because the it was used as a mauseleum by the local landed gentry. It stands on the edge of concrete sea defences, with a view of Heysham nuclear power station. Nearby a coastguard station stands empty and derelict. Perhaps not the most liminal place you can imagine, but there is more here than meets the eye.<br />
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In 1718 two Roman statuettes were found nearby. They have since been 'lost' - which we can read as stolen - but the inscritions of them have been recorded. These state that the figures were dedicated to <i>Mars Donotus</i> and <i>Mars Nodontis</i>. Now we are all familiar with the pantheon of Roman gods Mars, Jupiter etc. But when you get a god with a double barrelled name, like these, it usually means that the Romans have grafted on to a local deity the name of the god they think he or she most resembles. An example is <i>Sulis Minerva</i>, the goddess of the baths in Bath.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qh5tYe1G4n0/Wcqzg4_hnJI/AAAAAAAAJbc/-17FUVg0XjYtNjYuYcsMuy9IZ-ZEYWAeACLcBGAs/s1600/Tolkien%2BTrail%2B022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qh5tYe1G4n0/Wcqzg4_hnJI/AAAAAAAAJbc/-17FUVg0XjYtNjYuYcsMuy9IZ-ZEYWAeACLcBGAs/s320/Tolkien%2BTrail%2B022.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Donotus and Nodontis are probably the same chap. A local spelling, or a mispelling, of the Celtic god Nodens, who has a well preserved temple in Lydney Park, Gloucester-shire. Nodens, who also appears as one of the good guys in H P Lovecraft's mythos, appears to be the British version of the Irish god Nuada, who appears in the <i>Lebor Gabála Érenn, </i>otherwise known as the Book of Invasions, as
the man with the silver hand to helps the good people of the Tuatha De
Danaan defeat the Fir Bolg, but dies in the final battle.<br />
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So thanks to the Romans we know name of one of the local Celtic gods of this area. The odds are that there was a tmeple round here then. We don't know where abouts exactly, but in the past the marsh would have been a lot marshier, and as neither Pagans nor Christians like getting their feet wet when they worship, both the abbey and temple were probably built in about the same place. <br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3rVAAbBRH0g/Wcq4gTnJOFI/AAAAAAAAJbs/UDlBzT5Up7I5p6KKo7ajE5OC1B2VbqPGwCLcBGAs/s1600/Appleby_Camp%2B%25285%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3rVAAbBRH0g/Wcq4gTnJOFI/AAAAAAAAJbs/UDlBzT5Up7I5p6KKo7ajE5OC1B2VbqPGwCLcBGAs/s320/Appleby_Camp%2B%25285%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
When visiting Cockersand Moss then you need a bit of an imagination.<br />
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Ignore the sea wall, the nuclear power station, the nearby farm with its huge slurry tank, and even the crumbling stones of the abbey, and think your way back to Britain before the Romans arrived, when all that would have been her was the wind, the sea, the marsh, and whatever simple temple was built here. <br />
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If you do so, then you can perhaps get close to how it may have been, two thousand years ago, when our ancestors visited this desolate, and probably dangerous, marsh to worship the warrior god with the silver arm.<br />
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<b>References</b><br />
<h5>
<a href="http://roman-britain.co.uk/places/cockersand_moss.htm"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><em><i>http://roman-britain.co.uk/places/cockersand_moss.htm</i></em></span></span></a></h5>
<h5>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><em><i>The Roman Inscriptions of Britain</i> by R.G. Collingwood and R.P. Wright (Oxford 1965)</em></span></span></h5>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sYokh3dmb30/Wcq46NNK2OI/AAAAAAAAJbw/6D_iR03L7L8qstaphcVX26H9I1scnbKygCLcBGAs/s1600/NUADA-CONQUESTS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="1000" height="272" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sYokh3dmb30/Wcq46NNK2OI/AAAAAAAAJbw/6D_iR03L7L8qstaphcVX26H9I1scnbKygCLcBGAs/s400/NUADA-CONQUESTS.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.jimfitzpatrick.com/shop/celtic-irish-fantasy-art/nuada-the-high-king/">Nuada The High King by Jim Fitzpatrick</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-45375982297215446942022-10-02T14:08:00.006-07:002022-10-02T14:09:50.537-07:00Dave Foreman Obituary<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9az1QdzrBNg_T9_8UqyPXFPlghB0Hn46nHt7KHGE-5YpXZcUc0IJ6TTSr1J5jRT_-tfgunXceSR4FBnDApMYJ0AKuhR6gFY5j5--POtSpkBSDVFSptQhxleaMbVXhHV1c9F2aD8Swqe8nfn1ldZprPun-8udgyGMMnFee3yW82AIPj_Wjuf8sL_GV/s1140/Dave%20Foreman%20(1).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="1140" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9az1QdzrBNg_T9_8UqyPXFPlghB0Hn46nHt7KHGE-5YpXZcUc0IJ6TTSr1J5jRT_-tfgunXceSR4FBnDApMYJ0AKuhR6gFY5j5--POtSpkBSDVFSptQhxleaMbVXhHV1c9F2aD8Swqe8nfn1ldZprPun-8udgyGMMnFee3yW82AIPj_Wjuf8sL_GV/s320/Dave%20Foreman%20(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Dave Foreman, who died last week aged 75, was an American radical environmentalist who helped to found the radical environmental group Earth First! He was throughout his life a controversial figure, but also a fearless champion of non-human life on Planet Earth.<p></p><p>Foreman was born into a military family in New Mexico. He started his career as an activist by campaigning for the unsuccessful Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and he spent the 1960s being active in Young Americans for Freedom, a right-wing group opposed to hippies and the peace movement, although he also worked as a teacher in Zuni Indian reservation. He briefly joined the US Marines - whilst the Vietnam War was raging - but was dismissed after going AWOL. </p><p>By 1973 though he was working for Wilderness Society, a venerable Washington based group that mainly campaigned for the preservation of Federal lands. Despite the seventies being 'the decade of the environment' Foreman became disillusioned with the professionalisation of the environment movement and it's increasing reliance of alliances with government and big business. It was on a weekend expedition away from DC that idea for Earth First! was formed. The story has been somewhat mythologised, but what everyone agrees on is that Foreman was hiking in the Pinacate Desert with four friends and lamenting the state of the Big Green groups when Foreman suddenly called out 'Earth First'. The group had a name and, thanks to Foreman's friend Mike Roselle, a logo of a clenched fist. To this would be added the motto 'no compromise in the defence of Mother Earth'</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO0n5U2vfPeREUPr6LdnlJ_5dWdUKavhSRjwFyXYzn8GXJiUi0NbLncpwCfphsKDDe8hYjDUrFEhdwrHmzyz_IVMw_OFupBPQ27TOZDC8D9Mm53cmPaY1PIXpQySN7OBqT9qtnwih2TKJrXnPq7Zv-4dwVd-ixz7BOaMFmd_CnuFXpI0ssQcbsdzsV/s630/010730.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="442" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO0n5U2vfPeREUPr6LdnlJ_5dWdUKavhSRjwFyXYzn8GXJiUi0NbLncpwCfphsKDDe8hYjDUrFEhdwrHmzyz_IVMw_OFupBPQ27TOZDC8D9Mm53cmPaY1PIXpQySN7OBqT9qtnwih2TKJrXnPq7Zv-4dwVd-ixz7BOaMFmd_CnuFXpI0ssQcbsdzsV/s320/010730.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>A huge influence on Earth First! was the writer Edward Abbey and his book <i>The Monkey Wrench Gang</i>. The story was a neo-Western in which the four heroes wander the American South-West blowing up logging, mining, and construction equipment. Earth First! was never to be that radical, but the emphasis on action over lobbying, decentralised organisation over national structure, and campaigning in the wilderness rather than the Capitol, was to be the hall mark of the new group. <p></p><p>The groups first action was to roll a fake crack down the Glen Canyon dam. Glen Canyon was the legacy of a Faustian pact by the Sierra Club and the government, where they agreed to not oppose the flooding of the canyon in return for dams in the Grand Canyon being cancelled. Unfortunately, they agreed the bargain before they'd seen Glan Canyon, and only then realised their mistake. Destroying the dam had been an ambition of Abbey's Monkey Wrench Gang too.</p><p>Earth First! soon moved on from publicity stunts and radical conservation proposals, to taking direct action, mainly to preserve ancient forests. When road blockades didn't work they went into tree sitting, and then to the more controversial tactic of tree spiking. </p><p>The annual gathering of the organisation was called the Round River Rendezvous, named after an Obijwa myth. Given Foreman's background there was not surprisingly a right-libertarian vibe to EF! in those early years, which earnt it the nickname 'Rednecks for Wilderness'. Foreman helped fuel this idea with controversial statements such opposing giving food aid for the Ethiopian famine and opposing immigration into the USA. But as the eighties rolled on more left-wing anarchists started to join EF! leading to tensions with the old guard. At the 1987 Rendezvous Edward Abbey was heckled, which did not go down well with Foreman. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgERKXJMCaw0dGHEeDn3Cih6wmO29SdXNwHnkL9C33nyKWOV9LjkOhviNO_kE1F7XlwkWLTGhalqUoaOGfvWBmuvJizHtSti6XYkNCsP23qu6yAqFTo3y0YRo3E3-UkenHpE_subT9AYEoxypaMNeJcnDkt2UlfsmnZkOiBZ7P0BPsAg3DFCKDcyiIf/s500/s-l600.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgERKXJMCaw0dGHEeDn3Cih6wmO29SdXNwHnkL9C33nyKWOV9LjkOhviNO_kE1F7XlwkWLTGhalqUoaOGfvWBmuvJizHtSti6XYkNCsP23qu6yAqFTo3y0YRo3E3-UkenHpE_subT9AYEoxypaMNeJcnDkt2UlfsmnZkOiBZ7P0BPsAg3DFCKDcyiIf/s320/s-l600.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>These tensions resulted in a debate between Dave Foreman and the political philosopher Murray Bookchin. Bookchin's theory of social ecology was in many ways the opposite of the Deep Green philosophy Foreman had adopted. however, their correspondence remarkably produced more light than heat, as resulted in the book <i>Defending the Earth</i>. Foreman apologised for, and clarified his more controversial views, whilst Bookchin spoke of his admiration for Foreman as a champion of the Earth. Differences remained. Bookchin was suspicious of the anti-humanism in Deep Ecology, whilst Foreman was concerned that many anarchists were 'anthropocentrists'. Nor did he believe conservation could wait until 'after the revolution'.<p></p><p>By the time the book came out though Foreman was about finished with Earth First! but in 1990 he was still closely enough associated with them for the FBI's COINTELPRO to try to set him up. FBI special agent Mike Hain joined the group and befriended Foreman and others. Hain planned a mission to bring down power lines to a nuclear power station. The FBI agent bought the cutting equipment himself and drove the team out into the desert, where the SWAT team was waiting to arrest them. Foreman was not on the raid himself, but was arrested on conspiracy charges. He acquitted of the more serious offences but given a suspended sentence for the misdemeanour of giving a copy of his book <i>Ecodefence: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching</i> to an FBI informant. The Bureau in the end spent $2 million discrediting Foreman and Earth First!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgthcTbRqMYbRF7k5LvEpG__gyqqLX9fu2kUJSuCzqwi0soUgjldHroTafvzpVbBnOmsFc51INbAwzrczKPG1AX4GHeeRi9yXVNvGPYept85GApfDizKRLI8q6JIt0Qi0GXiyg-oxH3vc9wwOmifWVBKM2lpTIR1pCMeJwV777En7UHEDVd0n-5y8_D/s1255/Earth%20First.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1163" data-original-width="1255" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgthcTbRqMYbRF7k5LvEpG__gyqqLX9fu2kUJSuCzqwi0soUgjldHroTafvzpVbBnOmsFc51INbAwzrczKPG1AX4GHeeRi9yXVNvGPYept85GApfDizKRLI8q6JIt0Qi0GXiyg-oxH3vc9wwOmifWVBKM2lpTIR1pCMeJwV777En7UHEDVd0n-5y8_D/s320/Earth%20First.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In 1991 Foreman co-founded the group that became known as the Wildlife Network, a more mainstream conservation organisation aiming to preserve the diversity of wild places. In 1995 he completed his journey from the mainstream to the radical fringe and back when joined the board of the Sierra Club, one of the Washington based Big Green organisations Earth First! had been created to oppose, although he was to leave again before the decade was over though as once again his views on immigration caused controversy.<p></p><p>In 1992 Foreman had coined the term 'rewilding' and this is what he dedicated his energies to in the last two decades of his life. He set up the Rewilding Institute with the aim of doing more than just preserve what was left of America's wild places, but instead to bring back apex predictors and create a more diverse wilderness. Like Earth First!, rewilding was an idea that was to go far beyond what Foreman initially envisaged.</p><p>That indeed is the dilemma of Dave Foreman's life. Despite being a distinctly right-wing libertarian with some extremely conservative views, he ended up being the catalyst for groups around the world that have mainly been embraced by people with diametrically opposed political views. Personally, I am one of them, but if we are to indeed save, and rewild, the Earth we need people from across the political spectrum to care for the environment. If everyone on the political right was a Dave Foreman, we'd be in much better situation than we are.</p>Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-19503396421620991272022-09-24T09:42:00.008-07:002022-09-24T09:49:05.150-07:00Lindow Moss<p> <b>Location:</b> Wilmslow, Cheshire</p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zYPRIfe3Xas/WcgUt76TzVI/AAAAAAAAJaQ/cngdNH7sLqUOMTL3RAMX70nva8-XNavjwCLcBGAs/s1600/100-0054_IMG.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zYPRIfe3Xas/WcgUt76TzVI/AAAAAAAAJaQ/cngdNH7sLqUOMTL3RAMX70nva8-XNavjwCLcBGAs/s400/100-0054_IMG.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>If you want to know what a liminal place was for the ancient Celtic people of this land, look no further than Lindow Moss, in Cheshire.<br /><br />Located next to the well-healed commuter town of Wilmslow, where the 1% of Greater Manchester live, not a lot of the original moss is left.<br /><br />However if you visit Lindow Common, on the outskirts of the town, preferably in the early morning, when the dog walkers are thinner on the ground, and ideally when a mist still hangs over the waters of the mere, you get some idea of what it was like here two thousand years ago. Seeing your reflection in the black water, the Otherworld of Celtic myth, a place of light and shadow, joy and terror, that lurks just beneath or below our world, can seem very real.<br /><br />Most of the rest of the moss has now been drained, allowing the peat that has built up over the centuries to be dig up and used as an extremely unsustainable form of compost. In 1984 it was peat cutters who found the person who makes this area famous: Lindow Man, or, as the locals called him, Pete Marsh.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zkMKrOTlc8s/WcgW3-Nb_1I/AAAAAAAAJac/eOSuAkN9oIQvfqImUMEmUSOFxS2seOuXACLcBGAs/s1600/Lindow_Man_reconstructed_face.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="305" data-original-width="200" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zkMKrOTlc8s/WcgW3-Nb_1I/AAAAAAAAJac/eOSuAkN9oIQvfqImUMEmUSOFxS2seOuXACLcBGAs/s320/Lindow_Man_reconstructed_face.jpg" width="209" /></a>What they actually found first was the head of a woman. The police used the discovery to prompt a Mr Reyn-Bardt to confess to the murder of his wife in 1960, but it turned out the body was much more interesting, being nearly 2000 years old.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>The next year the even better preserved body of <a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=808672&partid=1">Lindow Man</a> was found. A healthy young man, who had done no hard labour prior to his death, he was naked and died either by strangulation by a leather cord, a blow to the head, drowning, or possibly all three. He also had traces of mistletoe in his stomach, a plant sacred to the Druids. His 'triple death' mirrors that recorded in Celtic myth, and coupled with the liminal place in which he was found, suggests human sacrifice. We can't be sure, and don't know if he was genuinely posh, or just given a year or so of living like king in exchange for being given a ritual death.<br /><br />Radio carbon dating places his death in approximately the first century AD, right about the time that the Romans were conquering this part of the known world. Could Lindow Man have been an offering to the Gods, asking them to turn back the seemingly unstoppable legions with their suspiciously straight roads?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WSZSDuq4gPA/WcgjNGhk6LI/AAAAAAAAJas/aRMOxAq62b0Ac0BD-9PZTnqv1-32Vqp0wCLcBGAs/s1600/CAR2%2B%252817%2529.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="992" data-original-width="1600" height="198" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WSZSDuq4gPA/WcgjNGhk6LI/AAAAAAAAJas/aRMOxAq62b0Ac0BD-9PZTnqv1-32Vqp0wCLcBGAs/s320/CAR2%2B%252817%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>When I first came to this area it was also to stop something. As anyone who visits the place will immediately notice, we are right next to Manchester airport here. In 1997 protesters were occupying land nearby to stop the construction of a second runway, living in primitive camps. I, like the notorious human mole Swampy, was busy digging myself into the clay soil, with the aim of making it more difficult for us to be evicted, and hoping I would not be sacrificing myself in the process.<br /><br />In the end we were all removed by the forces of law and order, and just before the construction crews moved in, archaeologists were allowed to explore the area. Underneath our camp they found the remains of a bronze age village.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ripCnv2_jbI/WcgkLPV0HiI/AAAAAAAAJa4/2VrQZBrJTa4gKtxcnmR3B5kGhelRU24RgCLcBGAs/s1600/100-0038_IMG.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ripCnv2_jbI/WcgkLPV0HiI/AAAAAAAAJa4/2VrQZBrJTa4gKtxcnmR3B5kGhelRU24RgCLcBGAs/s320/100-0038_IMG.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Did the people of this village know Pete Marsh, I wonder? And if so, what did they do when they<br />realised their magic had not worked? Did they continue to visit this liminal place, and to worship the old gods, or did their faith come to an end?<br /><br />I didn't stop Manchester Airport's second trunway either, but I still visit the moss. On one day in April 2010 my faith was rewarded though. An Icelandic volcano had grounded flights, and I walked across the moss to an airport that was as silent as the woods I passed through. For a little while I could pretend we'd won. <br /><br />So this is a very special liminal place for me, one that links this world to the Otherworld, the present to the Celtic past and my life as it is now to the more carefree days of my youth.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o68p4jiU7jE/WcgSQHdMnlI/AAAAAAAAJaA/1q_T3dsCThEfShIF0BV7Es-_nLjdOw26gCLcBGAs/s1600/100-0052_IMG.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o68p4jiU7jE/WcgSQHdMnlI/AAAAAAAAJaA/1q_T3dsCThEfShIF0BV7Es-_nLjdOw26gCLcBGAs/s400/100-0052_IMG.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />Incidentally, ignore the grid reference for the location of the find given on Wikipedia, in the guide book and the various press releases. The actual spot is just off Moor Lane. Peat cutting has now finished here, so nobody knows if there are more bodies waiting to be discovered, including the unfortunately Mrs Reyn-Bardt.Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-19882040294516776492022-01-16T07:08:00.003-08:002022-01-16T07:08:29.240-08:00Liminal Places of England<p> <i>If the <b>doors</b> of <b id="yui_3_10_0_1_1506282624817_278">perception</b> were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite' </i></p><div style="text-align: right;">William Blake<i></i></div><br />A liminal place is a threshold between the mundane and the numinous. It is somewhere where you can be 'between the world's'. The Romans used the word 'numinous' for the divine or the supernatural, and Tolkien would later use and adapt it for his Atlantis-like island, Numenor.<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UB5pWpBgOJg/WcgMOjpIbUI/AAAAAAAAJZw/Bzq7GPpibS48b_k5crhql9fvwaiGOjReQCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCF1148.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UB5pWpBgOJg/WcgMOjpIbUI/AAAAAAAAJZw/Bzq7GPpibS48b_k5crhql9fvwaiGOjReQCLcBGAs/s320/DSCF1148.JPG" width="320" /></a>In 1972, the year after the first Glastonbury Festival, Janet and Colin Bords produced a book called <i>Mysterious Britain</i>. It was a guide to Britain listing a smorgasbord of hitherto distinct subjects: ley lines, UFOs - which were so popular at that time that the Glastonbury Fayre had a space set aside for them to land - as well as stone circles, holy wells, ghosts, 'pagan' folk customs and King Arthur.<br /><br />The book was part of the 're-enchantment of Britain', a second era of romanticism, when hippies and flower children, fed on the vibes emanating out from San Francisco, sought Avalon in England's green and pleasant land. In doing so they linked up with the Celtic revival movement and the rebirth of paganism in the British Isles.<br /><br />The publication of similar books persists to this day, and it seems I own most of them. As a result I have now been to enough of these otherworldly spaces to write my own blog. So here are the places that have moved me most. Whether it is their history or their beauty, their use by pagans old or new, their importance to Celtic culture or the counter-cultures; what they have in common is that they are places for retreat or spiritual contemplation.<br /><br />Visit them yourself, please, but follow these rules: be reverent to the genius loci of the place, travel wisely, litter not, and leave only your footprints behind you.Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-46265914310339845072022-01-03T11:37:00.002-08:002022-01-03T11:40:40.464-08:00Review of the year 2021<p><b>January</b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgs-1CJ0Dso8heBGGEukpFLgVUL4jt9AxKt1dwrz754aLNNb6jOFMjVRH6MIfErnTKa0cnGNAjmHikyLA2QMflCHB8CwAMTxTyVR7olxyl5AY2g6E-tU9Gk0QUNHM6gxZjrn5gHzfV_wUZ_iom_-PhD9eqiCZleTt2wwzb-mn5FIKcayXvK6GLwplxD=s4160" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4160" data-original-width="3120" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgs-1CJ0Dso8heBGGEukpFLgVUL4jt9AxKt1dwrz754aLNNb6jOFMjVRH6MIfErnTKa0cnGNAjmHikyLA2QMflCHB8CwAMTxTyVR7olxyl5AY2g6E-tU9Gk0QUNHM6gxZjrn5gHzfV_wUZ_iom_-PhD9eqiCZleTt2wwzb-mn5FIKcayXvK6GLwplxD=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></div>2021 began with us all in lockdown, which put a bit of a limit on how much campaigning we could do. Still, it meant I could enjoy the snow that we had.<div><br /></div><div>Down in London though a certain Mr Daniel Hooper and co. are deep underground at Victoria station, trying to stop the HS2 high speed railway line. Dan, when he was under the alias Swampy, 'stole' my socks in 1997 after I apparently lost a drinking game, so I wasn't going to let him have all the media attention.</div><div><br /></div><div>I sent The Guardian an email saying that they could be getting to the tunnels-starting-to-fall-apart stage, and The Guardian rang straight back as apparently they were at the tunnels-starting-to fall-apart stage.<br /><p>In the end everyone is safe, although HS2 wasn't looking so good, and I got my fifteen seconds of fame.</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/29/hs2-protesters-conditions-euston-tunnel-deteriorating">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/29/hs2-protesters-conditions-euston-tunnel-deteriorating</a></p><p><b>February</b></p><p>Lockdown made campaigning difficult still, but the Manchester Greenpeace Group still managed a celebration of walking and cycling. We didn't manage to get out together, but we cycled on our own and I spiced the pictures and videos together to make a short film. Bea had the best job, of pedalling round the Manchester CYCLOPS, a new style of junction where the traffic lights synch to the cyclists. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j8sVW14Rsoc" width="320" youtube-src-id="j8sVW14Rsoc"></iframe></div><br /><p><b>March</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhEjddk3j_uNKOLeeuRDbx1PhedpJdkS8LPc7ZfRO5uQpqiEwD7Q0iK0IO-vka3I0MKCCWU1fizSeXzkOksoeOFk5lh-iqZ2_vJh3zMbL2cerWZpZ4xVl-KgKh0x6rl-KmjvuCLR5J0zLe1yk0gXZzO9rK_ivVokG8QIbmZtRh2PzjvPwH_-ovBA1Hm=s536" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="536" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhEjddk3j_uNKOLeeuRDbx1PhedpJdkS8LPc7ZfRO5uQpqiEwD7Q0iK0IO-vka3I0MKCCWU1fizSeXzkOksoeOFk5lh-iqZ2_vJh3zMbL2cerWZpZ4xVl-KgKh0x6rl-KmjvuCLR5J0zLe1yk0gXZzO9rK_ivVokG8QIbmZtRh2PzjvPwH_-ovBA1Hm=s320" width="320" /></a></div>In March the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission failed to take any action on catastrophic overfishing, more proof that are oceans are not safe from industrial fishing. We took minister Zac Goldsmith to task online over this.<br /><br />Meanwhile lockdown gave me plenty of time to explore my local corner of the Peak District National Park, in particular the bits in between the bits I usually walk around. I found a few new waterfalls, and some quite places I will try to visit more often.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>April</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEje4Nz0SFV_d3XrvJzd7NMQtuHb6qnqMsIJUt5cMTxsX33SLpRdP3t4a4CMuuIh5BVHFE3BDTTo6WUeNbhYHiXX7FQiNefrqiq8DFiCw6EYYrdfGItwYLTIP0iyKDArpo8QmFlAE1cgYwFZ05MC_SCJzGImm3Y9DtbKFgIVGlRfy2YCBOnQR-DO1xgH=s1032" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="1032" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEje4Nz0SFV_d3XrvJzd7NMQtuHb6qnqMsIJUt5cMTxsX33SLpRdP3t4a4CMuuIh5BVHFE3BDTTo6WUeNbhYHiXX7FQiNefrqiq8DFiCw6EYYrdfGItwYLTIP0iyKDArpo8QmFlAE1cgYwFZ05MC_SCJzGImm3Y9DtbKFgIVGlRfy2YCBOnQR-DO1xgH=w400-h216" width="400" /></a></div>And finally we are allowed out again to play. Sort of. Ocean floor mining is a new threat to our oceans, not that they needed another one, and on that Greenpeace intends to campaign on.</div><div><br /></div><div>We weren't allowed to meet the general public yet, but we did make a nice banner and got to hang it off various places around Manchester.</div><div><br /></div><div>Steve Speed took some decent photos, and one ended up in the Morning Star. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>May</b></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgC528_gNOqCvD5QIxhBJaLp3GwZTClZTfe_9Ng6BiqbNTPaSnGplBqfA5foLyF0SUGvi_demOUGNiTruWqmHmNIR5YVdR-UlN7dKhVMF2Eqhs78jD-V3x8HVXX8B4u2e05danJEAJgcZ-JNG49NW1cUvIlULmy6jBjaA93WleMFdKFlkoB_K0uk0F5=s4160" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4160" data-original-width="3120" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgC528_gNOqCvD5QIxhBJaLp3GwZTClZTfe_9Ng6BiqbNTPaSnGplBqfA5foLyF0SUGvi_demOUGNiTruWqmHmNIR5YVdR-UlN7dKhVMF2Eqhs78jD-V3x8HVXX8B4u2e05danJEAJgcZ-JNG49NW1cUvIlULmy6jBjaA93WleMFdKFlkoB_K0uk0F5=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></div>The lingering pandemic may have still prevented us meeting real people, but we were still able to carry 'secret squirrel' missions in the dead of night. <div><br /></div><div>Deforestation is the major driver of climate change after buring fossil fuels, and most of that is animal agriculture. We don't import much meat raised on former rainforest into the UK, but we import a lot of animal feed grown in Brazil, and the main company doing this is Tesco.</div><div><br /></div><div>In order to let people know about this the Manchester Greenpeace 'secret squirrels' carried out a number of dawn raids on Tesco stores, leaving chalked messages outside. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Greenpeace group also decides to go wild camping this month. Unfortunately, we pick the wettest day of the year so far and nearly drown just getting to the site. However, I set up the tarp and light the fire and we all have a good time, even the dog. <br /><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>June</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTtlUf-711E6djjxeifnHR-pVxodTh_JTXVh1rsksvMn-Z0HPS0e7pY2s4YjblHJlLNavZ4AQqaDiYEyGICUt54RLu70QEyip3KLI9zVN2TqqkgHDbaHVKFA2xb-ELQda6mlo6wccqPddbgmltQIFH64DrJ3cgljNDl5-akSQH7D6QFqU-T7pWlpU1=s2500" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1667" data-original-width="2500" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTtlUf-711E6djjxeifnHR-pVxodTh_JTXVh1rsksvMn-Z0HPS0e7pY2s4YjblHJlLNavZ4AQqaDiYEyGICUt54RLu70QEyip3KLI9zVN2TqqkgHDbaHVKFA2xb-ELQda6mlo6wccqPddbgmltQIFH64DrJ3cgljNDl5-akSQH7D6QFqU-T7pWlpU1=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></div>We're still targeting Tesco, and Greenpeace pay a proper photographer to come out with us. We take the poor chap for a rather long walk around Manchester and Salford, but we get some really good pictures back.</div><div><br /></div><div>Also, in June a little reunion was arranged for the anti-fracking tribe. Old friendships were remade, much was drunk, and we remember those we stood with who are no longer with us. In the UK, at least, shale gas will now stay in the ground. </div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>July</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiln7tQG4MMBRh3iFhPK6P9ZRle78jwIsZ3c-GXxET4KGAPoEjSks8kQhYSl17qLRviNYhwrwmo9Y1TTOTQ7hKlVW5QjC82Z8A5zA7miph6pEVHD3d91T-odhof5W5uB8t6mH2vURLw9DjuvKCZWl-g6nmllzxT8Eyu5TW0s56Wfxsw2BDPnZWmqOTR=s4000" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2670" data-original-width="4000" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiln7tQG4MMBRh3iFhPK6P9ZRle78jwIsZ3c-GXxET4KGAPoEjSks8kQhYSl17qLRviNYhwrwmo9Y1TTOTQ7hKlVW5QjC82Z8A5zA7miph6pEVHD3d91T-odhof5W5uB8t6mH2vURLw9DjuvKCZWl-g6nmllzxT8Eyu5TW0s56Wfxsw2BDPnZWmqOTR=w400-h268" width="400" /></a></div>And it's Tesco again, but this time in the daylight. The aim is to deliver a letter to every store in the country, and to be photographed outside. Seeing as there are over 100 branches in Manchester alone, that's a challenge. The shop managers though, when we meet them, are mostly supportive of the campaign, which shows how difficult it is to pick heroes and villains in this game.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>August</b></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhglLI-QR6NaKucQPpLsTOhiqtstfKui4pwyZ7XlqG6O1GTJuJxoNhGWBtOb4Khf76WiOVavQAflbMYnCyECKHuDKzE-AP4DpX1dp2oKp_jmVaMX1PEODgqz_jU9CtlwTolbAEsa2w2RM45_aIyJGSiNwTXwDp1Mb6GzuVJmidmBPsP_5V6i_zlHY4g=s4160" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhglLI-QR6NaKucQPpLsTOhiqtstfKui4pwyZ7XlqG6O1GTJuJxoNhGWBtOb4Khf76WiOVavQAflbMYnCyECKHuDKzE-AP4DpX1dp2oKp_jmVaMX1PEODgqz_jU9CtlwTolbAEsa2w2RM45_aIyJGSiNwTXwDp1Mb6GzuVJmidmBPsP_5V6i_zlHY4g=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div>Tesco campaigning continued. However, as it was summer, I thought I did deserve a sort of a holiday, so Number two son and I went off for a few nights camping in Cambridgeshire, and I now have a new favourite camp site.</div><div><br /></div><div>Fen End Farm near Cottenham is an off-grid, organic orchard where you can pitch your tent amongst the trees and be alone with the stars. It has composting toilets, home-made apple juice and firsts rate facilities and is run by friendly people. I brought my own tent, but their yurts and tipis looked very tempting for next time. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>September</b></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0u9_T36rEjtuZ9UE9CmvbS_agK_gLwrQi_kNcPZghlo10qILTB5Bc8NB6EjbaGhIuxxrgyntzbuSTMBrccPAfetY9Ze4a2vv7h7J2YlnvJOA6NhNbaQst3JemEG_kueQtI-G0Mj37lb_-p3HBHhNur-ax922z8NtX2utti_zNckrOcUwG7m0zlo0V=s808" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="808" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0u9_T36rEjtuZ9UE9CmvbS_agK_gLwrQi_kNcPZghlo10qILTB5Bc8NB6EjbaGhIuxxrgyntzbuSTMBrccPAfetY9Ze4a2vv7h7J2YlnvJOA6NhNbaQst3JemEG_kueQtI-G0Mj37lb_-p3HBHhNur-ax922z8NtX2utti_zNckrOcUwG7m0zlo0V=w400-h384" width="400" /></a></div>Normality returns by degrees, and we get to go to a festival. Wigan Diggers is always fun, and this year our stall celebrated 50 years of Greenpeace. </div><div><br /></div><div>This year was especially exciting for our Sami as she got to meet two of her heroes; Jeremy Corbyn and Maxine Peake. Jezza got to blow out the candles on our small, but perfectly formed, vegan birthday cake.</div><div><br /></div><div>Elsewhere, celebrations of Greenpeace's half century were relatively restrained. This was not really a time for resting on laurels. There were some interesting online events though, and I got to 'meet' some of the significant people in the history of the organisation, including Susi Newborn, one of the founders of Greenpeace UK. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEisl8LA074SN_apqviKYe21C6d93a3O0OP6Zhs3cZOYc4SVvNatCg1B_FdV76-3dwvx9ToGzRITZUKwYqg_nZW8K9mntZX7vXO97fBmtTna4KkIrmFyhh8jzpUVx7gcfZWS-MuyuQ3_GpbjBiT0s3nIXVI4AZ7-OaGaYjMlIN7K2COfahrEaObHzmPg=s4032" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEisl8LA074SN_apqviKYe21C6d93a3O0OP6Zhs3cZOYc4SVvNatCg1B_FdV76-3dwvx9ToGzRITZUKwYqg_nZW8K9mntZX7vXO97fBmtTna4KkIrmFyhh8jzpUVx7gcfZWS-MuyuQ3_GpbjBiT0s3nIXVI4AZ7-OaGaYjMlIN7K2COfahrEaObHzmPg=s320" width="320" /></a></div>My own contribution to this, as someone who has been involved for about half of those fifty years, was to appear <a href="https://mcrgndpod.buzzsprout.com/919177/9177065-put-your-body-where-your-mouth-is-50-years-of-greenpeace" target="_blank">on the Manchester New Green Deal podcast.</a></div><div><br /></div><div>The Greenpeace group were also out and about in Chorlton, getting ready for the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. Greenpeace UK was making a tapestry with contributions from groups around the country, and we set some small people the job of making our offering. Using the theme "No Planet Bee" they made little hexagrams of what they would like the future to look like.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>October</b></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVyaoCjQVpIvAUpm7iiRgVFRptAoTyoBT5XE-Diq_6T8PyGPi8I7QnWkBANz3RK3604WGcVAurye8wgj4vjIKTaoAzwAGH37Ritt3jIyWSTdYQyQPvL9oCtCdVZS1xHvZHnsg8r6bR1F7sXfZOanJAQFxBVC7kuSUSVSIF-V9LYQy94AcH_R7jNTDc=s4032" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVyaoCjQVpIvAUpm7iiRgVFRptAoTyoBT5XE-Diq_6T8PyGPi8I7QnWkBANz3RK3604WGcVAurye8wgj4vjIKTaoAzwAGH37Ritt3jIyWSTdYQyQPvL9oCtCdVZS1xHvZHnsg8r6bR1F7sXfZOanJAQFxBVC7kuSUSVSIF-V9LYQy94AcH_R7jNTDc=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div>The Tory Party was in Manchester and so there was a demonstration. It was a decent turnout, probably the biggest post-Covid gathering outside of a Black Lives Matter demo. </div><div><br /></div><div>We formed a climate block at the back of the main event, and as a result were the last to arrive at the Castlefield Bowl. </div><div><br /></div><div>As far as the press were concerned, we needn't really have bothered, but it was great to be back out with real people again.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqxCNpsJzEomlxqWeqMBYFNUv0Uc28u9YE9vp-5ZDA_dCMuLy66i-r5KrPnIGmlkLWQPeHjjpcA5v2R6681suTlsfXN0eWUe4IjNH-SdWAGvrguO2fxz9wXgPZyx1ALs_rmIKoRYWKj7tFYfuXLG3faTaTzooy-hQcf5cF23i8aRECXsMn6BPmUhuF=s4160" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3120" data-original-width="4160" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqxCNpsJzEomlxqWeqMBYFNUv0Uc28u9YE9vp-5ZDA_dCMuLy66i-r5KrPnIGmlkLWQPeHjjpcA5v2R6681suTlsfXN0eWUe4IjNH-SdWAGvrguO2fxz9wXgPZyx1ALs_rmIKoRYWKj7tFYfuXLG3faTaTzooy-hQcf5cF23i8aRECXsMn6BPmUhuF=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Also in October, Greenpeace sent us a<br /> cardboard cut-out of Tesco CEO Ken Murphy. It was actually a rather flattering one, as he he's a lot trimmer in our version than real life. Anyway, we took our cardboard Ken on tour round some of the branches in central Manchester.</div><div><br /></div><div>Tesco are apparently feeling the pressure, but they weren't throwing in the towel. This looks like a being a campaign that's going to be a long haul. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>November</b></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZ6AztQVqU4AGtH4zNgM4mYpECqidnAu-H9bF0y2-_qhPF3L47XxGGiQSQEYQJ-RA3wdxna4X8ojNtKkclMuU7O_0qca8GFY3XFhNbgOOnq76kakswXmxFIucfX2lFTEaqupca1VkIrXFZufv0asryz8Youl_6O83hNvbnWq19MBVgW3hKa_YoVSh1=s4032" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZ6AztQVqU4AGtH4zNgM4mYpECqidnAu-H9bF0y2-_qhPF3L47XxGGiQSQEYQJ-RA3wdxna4X8ojNtKkclMuU7O_0qca8GFY3XFhNbgOOnq76kakswXmxFIucfX2lFTEaqupca1VkIrXFZufv0asryz8Youl_6O83hNvbnWq19MBVgW3hKa_YoVSh1=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div>So, after six years of waiting it's finally COP26, the most important international conference on climate change since Paris in 2015.</div><div><br /></div><div>There were various lead up events, including a big Youth Strike, which I was at, and an early morning 'secret squirrel' mission to display messages from people on the front line of the climate crisis on a disused building before the big march in Manchester.</div><div><br /></div><div>As for the march itself, it was a bit stressful, but it got there in the morning. I was one of the compares on the stage, and Covid meant a quarter of our invited speakers failed to turn up, one sending her apology by text whilst I was opening the rally. In the end though it was a success. Our speakers were almost all women and people-of-colour and mostly trade union or refugee activists.</div><div><br /></div><div>We also had a decent turnout. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM1-IlBDNjg" target="_blank">This video gives an idea of how many people there were. </a></div><div><br /></div><div>The march over, I went up to Glasgow myself. In Paris six years ago there was a state of emergency due to terrorist attacks, this time it was Covid. This meant wrist bands and queuing to get into venues. This made it all rather less spontaneous and anarchic, but it was a still a chance to meet activists from around the world. The theme of the week was climate justice and in particular Loss and Damage, which, thanks to the demonstrations at the weekend, was discussed at COP for the first time. </div><div><br /></div><div>This is a little video I put together afterwards. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4FWSnkyiULk" width="320" youtube-src-id="4FWSnkyiULk"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>Also in November, the Glossop Guild invited me back to do an evening lecture on the history of Greenpeace. It's an easy audience and it goes down well. </div><div><br /><div><b>December</b></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBW8t-j3BVZdbPv25yO6ygsF0M7RSR6LdCszdrO-mJe_xdz6BC02Ao5NKli-_Z87igBzz7_UoP4NThtG9Mgd1gqfeFwly8jxc5JLsLJDCGT87LFF6FwNgVq4fmHEg1uzGD5s5_1kGAz22heVOOizq5-uYdfSCNYRefeaVaMrpbm98xVjzIuY-SMtKs=s1280" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBW8t-j3BVZdbPv25yO6ygsF0M7RSR6LdCszdrO-mJe_xdz6BC02Ao5NKli-_Z87igBzz7_UoP4NThtG9Mgd1gqfeFwly8jxc5JLsLJDCGT87LFF6FwNgVq4fmHEg1uzGD5s5_1kGAz22heVOOizq5-uYdfSCNYRefeaVaMrpbm98xVjzIuY-SMtKs=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></div>And with that I was done with activism for the year.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was difficult to point to any major successes for the green movement during 2021. COP certainly wasn't one.</div><div><br /></div><div>However, come the end of the year things were looking better. The number one film on Netflix as the year ended was Don't Look Up. A film with a strong message about climate change denial, it was actually pretty good. More importantly it started a conversation about the climate crisis amongst people who don't usually talk to crusty eco-warriors. </div><div><p></p></div></div>Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-53496247541058293962021-02-01T11:40:00.001-08:002021-02-01T11:40:18.291-08:00Review of the year 2020<b>January</b><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WUZGnk0q2gA/X_OBqWyY6TI/AAAAAAAASYo/9YoXkCIgnKUChIoUIgAzPJaUMrtSBU76ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/2M3A1998.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WUZGnk0q2gA/X_OBqWyY6TI/AAAAAAAASYo/9YoXkCIgnKUChIoUIgAzPJaUMrtSBU76ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2M3A1998.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Hard to remember now, but 2020 started out just like any other year.</div><div><br /></div><div>In November Glasgow was supposed to be hosting the COP26 Climate Change Conference, but before that the UN was supposed to be voting on ambitious plans to make a third of the world's oceans marine protected areas. </div><div><br /></div><div>Greenpeace were championing this and lats year I'd been in London when the Esperanza had set sail on a pole-to-pole voyage to promote the treaty. Now we were in the final furlong and we planned a series of events in the run up. First up was a series of exhibitions across the country, including Manchester. We had big glossy pictures, we had a 3D viewer type thing, and we had a Greenspeaker presentation. All we needed was the actual treaty which we were fairly confident we'd have by the end of summer. Then along came Covid.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>February</b></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j8lQmZ4yrZE/YAiMQl7vc8I/AAAAAAAASic/iM58Cv6gYbYfk1JCP0VZshMGZTiivIbZQCLcBGAsYHQ/s903/Hopton%2BHall%2B2019%2B%25283%2529.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="903" data-original-width="677" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j8lQmZ4yrZE/YAiMQl7vc8I/AAAAAAAASic/iM58Cv6gYbYfk1JCP0VZshMGZTiivIbZQCLcBGAsYHQ/w240-h320/Hopton%2BHall%2B2019%2B%25283%2529.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>Covid-19 had arrived in the UK by the start of February and it was fairly obvious to those of us who could understand exponential growth that it would be a big problem very soon. Whilst the government decided to go for 'herd immunity', and <a href="http://thesnufkin.blogspot.com/2020/04/did-johnson-see-financial-opportunity.html" target="_blank">the Prime Minister saw an opportunity for the free market to make a killing</a> (he wasn't wrong there) I started treating a visit to the supermarket like an expedition to the Moon. </div><div><br /></div><div>Meanwhil,e life went on as normal. I made my annual trip to see the snowdrops at Hopton Hall, which officially marks the start of spring, and I went to see the Mongolian band The Hu at The Ritz, who were great despite only knowing five words of English between them. Little did I know it would be a while before I went to another gig. </div><div><br /></div><div>I also got to go on some secret Greenpeace training as something fairly large was in the pipeline, but I couldn't tell anyone what. </div><div><div><br /></div><div><b>March</b></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-siB3fAGS-yg/X_NwJI8MnFI/AAAAAAAASYU/XOfj59mrg2Yas74ADlNatQ5uag_mUAkZwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/St%2BAnnes%2BSq.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-siB3fAGS-yg/X_NwJI8MnFI/AAAAAAAASYU/XOfj59mrg2Yas74ADlNatQ5uag_mUAkZwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/St%2BAnnes%2BSq.JPG" /></a></div>Covid was well on its way by March, but Greenpeace had one great national action first. The target was Barclays, which finances more fossil fuel projects than any other UK bank, but instead of everyone going to London this one was devolved to twenty or so independent teams each tackling three or four local branches around the country. </div><div><br /></div><div>The teams would get up very early in the morning (of course) and superglue the locks shut on as many branches across the country as possible. Then the front would be decorated with some incredibly hard to remove sticky posters. Finally, there'd be a bit of spray painting on the pavement.</div><div><br /></div><div>There were also to be several mobile displays that would pop up at selected branches. I was team leader on the Manchester branch saboteurs, and also Legal Liaison for the Manchester mobile display. However, Greenpeace being Greenpeace I could tell either team anything about the plans the other team had. </div><div><br /></div><div>It didn't quite go like clockwork, but it was near enough. Three Manchester Barclays were decorated and then the mobile unit appeared on Market Street. The police were friendly enough to the people that came with the caravan, until they found out what the secret squirrels had done, after which they arrested anyone. Whilst I waited for them to be released, I got to see the unique site of the police helping people break into a bank.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was the early hours of the morning before everyone was released, by which time I had been awake for 24 hours. Fortunately, we found a hotel prepared to admit them at that time, and fortunately they had enough gumption to get themselves all back home again once they'd had a night's sleep. I bid the team goodbye, and then four hours later I was back in work. </div><div><br /></div><div>Halfway through March I turned fifty. The government still hadn't announced a national lockdown, but I cancelled my party anyway. As I had a bit of spare time on my hands, I took the opportunity to make this little video instead.<br /> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tq1fN4kqtfY" width="320" youtube-src-id="tq1fN4kqtfY"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>And then we went into lockdown. 24 hours after being told by my boss I was panicking about nothing the office was evacuated and we all became home workers. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>April</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Activism took a bit of a back seat in April, mostly due to lockdown, but also because I was seconded to a hospital discharge team. It was a surreal experience. Covid patients don't really need Social Workers, as they usually either leave on their own two feet, or else feet first. Instead, I was trying to keep hospital beds free by moving on non-Covid patients ASAP. <br /> </div><div><b>May</b></div><div><br /></div><div>The Covid crisis continues, and Manchester hospitals reach peak crisis, at least for the first wave, which keeps me busy.</div><div>
<div><b>June</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Lockdown ended, but we didn't return to normality, but instead we entered a strange Covid world. </div><div><br /></div><div>However, there were up sides. The oil price had effectively gone negative, with oil tankers sailing round in circles as nobody wanted to buy the stuff. We'd celebrated the ending of fracking in Lancashire last December, but it was not clear it wasn't coming back any time soon. <a href="http://thesnufkin.blogspot.com/2020/06/how-we-ended-fracking-in-uk.html" target="_blank">This is my, admittedly biased, view of how we won. </a></div><div><br /></div><div><b>July</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kNKmYIYiBVs/X_NquHb8kBI/AAAAAAAASYI/1FkNT8uyIC0O_XONvzmFjm0VE3kSvmrHQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Nell%2BLane%2BChorlton.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kNKmYIYiBVs/X_NquHb8kBI/AAAAAAAASYI/1FkNT8uyIC0O_XONvzmFjm0VE3kSvmrHQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Nell%2BLane%2BChorlton.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>In July we finally got to go out and about and do some real campaigning.</div><div><br /></div><div>With fewer cars on the road, and 'pop up' cycle lanes around Greater Manchester, it was great to be a cyclist in the city. Although we wanted Covid to be over we didn't want 'normal' back. We wanted to keep the clean air. </div><div><br /></div><div>Local councillors across the country had been telling us that whilst they were getting pushback on low traffic schemes from the car lobby, but weren't getting the support they needed from the Greens. So, Greenpeace gave us some stencils and we bought ourselves some chalk and went off to have some fun leaving sustainable transport messages on the road. Some of them disappeared overnight, but some stayed visible for several weeks.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>August</b></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yew9b-wHnjI/X_6uUj7BJyI/AAAAAAAAScM/fWaLiCNH1LAxL72CF9WGvip8XIMk8C7JwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200729_154258923_BURST000_COVER_TOP.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yew9b-wHnjI/X_6uUj7BJyI/AAAAAAAAScM/fWaLiCNH1LAxL72CF9WGvip8XIMk8C7JwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_20200729_154258923_BURST000_COVER_TOP.jpg" /></a></div>Holidays were something that wasn't easy in the new Covid world, however I did manage a few days camping with my boys. </div><div><br /></div><div>We pitched our tents in the Eden Valley, just outside Appleby, one of my favourite little places. </div><div><br /></div><div>We aimed to climb Scarfell Pike, Britain's highest mountain. Getting to the mountain was an adventure enough. The drive from Appleby took us over the Kirkstone, Wyrnose and Hardknott passes. This usually a fun drive, but this being summer and foreign holidays being out, they were full of people in oversized SUVs failing to negotiate the narrow roads.</div><div><br /></div><div>Eventually we started on the climb, taking the slightly more interesting Mickledore route, which also avoided most of the crowds. We met them again at the summit, but the weather was good, and we had the rare sight of looking down on Great Gable with all the peaks of the Lake District spread out below us.</div><div><b>September</b></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b4xCWxC_c6Q/X_6u0nitiaI/AAAAAAAAScU/CxVQUXO1YK8ibQyWdgPR1e3YUM4xwE3OQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/hrh49h.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b4xCWxC_c6Q/X_6u0nitiaI/AAAAAAAAScU/CxVQUXO1YK8ibQyWdgPR1e3YUM4xwE3OQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/hrh49h.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In September I discovered that one of my best friends had been keeping secrets from me. Despite knowing for nearly two years that an international team of astronomers, led by Cardiff University's Professor Jane Greaves, had found signs of life in the clouds of Venus, Dr Robert Massey didn't bother telling me. </div><div><br /></div><div>However, others were not so circumspect and in the days before the surprise announcement, at an online press conference run by the Royal Astronomical Society, it was fairly obvious what was happening as Venus by Bananarama and the quote "Life finds a way" by Jeff Goldblum's character in Jurassic Park were trending on astronomy Twitter streams. </div><div><br /></div><div>Less than thirty scientists in the world knew about this discovery, but they failed to keep the secret for less than two years. How the keep the climate change conspiracy going for so long I've no idea.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>October</b></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z28AH9VQNUI/X_OB_3eXq_I/AAAAAAAASYw/ZD5tQEjgPZsL9XMC1apwLy-mszlpLgIgQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Manchester%2B04102020%2B%25285%2529.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1363" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z28AH9VQNUI/X_OB_3eXq_I/AAAAAAAASYw/ZD5tQEjgPZsL9XMC1apwLy-mszlpLgIgQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Manchester%2B04102020%2B%25285%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>And finally, some real activism.</div><div><br /></div><div>Whilst we'd all been in lockdown ranchers in Brazil had been burning the rainforest in Brazil, resulting in the worst fire season for a decade. Also being trashed was the Cerrado, Brazil's savannah. The chief villain was JBS Global, the world's largest meat company.</div><div><br /></div><div>The reason was animal agriculture. Very little of the actual beef came to the UK, but a lot of the soya animal feed did. About half of that soya was being imported by just one company: Tesco. So, they were our target.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LOjvJvj_QN0/YBcA1oCcPYI/AAAAAAAASwQ/fOUiyeuYiMEvvFY245kkRcMJR0XFquHGQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20201011_053451520.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LOjvJvj_QN0/YBcA1oCcPYI/AAAAAAAASwQ/fOUiyeuYiMEvvFY245kkRcMJR0XFquHGQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_20201011_053451520.jpg" /></a></div>The 'rule of six' limited our options, but six people is enough for an early morning postering expedition. The size of these posters, and the fact they were in six bits that had to go up in the right order, made this a tricky operation. Our main target was also in the city centre, which was full of drunk people, and police officers looking after them, even at 4AM. Plus the shop was open 24 hours a day.</div><div><br /></div><div>However, the Manchester Greenpeace Group have a crack team of 'secret squirrels' and the Market Street branch was done not once, but twice, whilst the oblivious staff stacked the shelves inside and GMP rounded up rowdy revellers just metres away. We also visited some of the branches out in the suburbs, but they were a lot easier. </div><div><br /></div><div>With almost every Greenpeace group in the country doing the same thing, and a visit by the national NVDA volunteers to Tesco's HQ, the company was feeling the pressure. They begged the government to step in and pledged a 300% increase in their animal-based food. However, the big demand, that they drop JBS, they still held out on. We will be trying again in 2021.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>November</b></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hsqvAvZDqzg/YBhXkdZgooI/AAAAAAAASxA/W3trwLvrzeYJIgdHd8f-2ZpbdvLacJIygCLcBGAsYHQ/s919/Screenshot%2B2021-02-01%2B193258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="919" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hsqvAvZDqzg/YBhXkdZgooI/AAAAAAAASxA/W3trwLvrzeYJIgdHd8f-2ZpbdvLacJIygCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/Screenshot%2B2021-02-01%2B193258.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>If Covid hadn't happened I would have been in Glasgow this month for the COP26 climate conference. Five years after Paris this was the one where the progress towards the Paris Agreement goals would be reviewed and hopefully improved upon. Instead, we were back in lockdown again in. However, with Johnson chairing and Trump representing the USA there probably wasn't much chance of the latter, so it was probably as well things were delayed. </div><div><br /></div><div>All activities were online again, including the Manchester Greenpeace Group taking on the Merseyside Group in a quiz. As my family come from both Liverpool and Manchester, I was the neutral host and the end result was a very neutral draw. </div><div><br /></div><div>The bigger news in November though was that Joe Biden won the US Presidential election. Suddenly the prospects for the delayed COP26 next year looked a lot brighter. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>December</b></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z_NZtP2UkyQ/X_OCKElxJHI/AAAAAAAASY0/3_x_w7z13SMfeVQI8nxlvPYbzR4BvkS-ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20201219_143323249.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z_NZtP2UkyQ/X_OCKElxJHI/AAAAAAAASY0/3_x_w7z13SMfeVQI8nxlvPYbzR4BvkS-ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_20201219_143323249.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In December I became a medical pioneer, sort of, as I was one of the first people in the country to get the Pfizer Covid vaccine. Invented by a Turkish immigrant living in Germany, and made in Belgium, it was the perfect anti-Brexit drug and gave me no more than a sore arm for a few hours. Also, my 5G reception was no better and no secret messages came through from Bill Gates.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Greenpeace had us out and about again celebrating low traffic infrastructure. We visited the famous Manchester CYCLOPS, but found it was almost impossible to photograph unless you had a helicopter. However, we found some other spots to take our pictures.</div><div><br /></div><div>So that was my year. A lot less activism than usual, but enough to pay my rent on planet Earth, I hope. The Manchester Greenpeace Group did enough for me to make the annual video, and here it is.<br /><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy8VfsxJlN_lw8roI1wSqrSrdMtTZCcNAtcmQteF6lLGDfOf0ziOmUwBcKSmhBsROR4K5MquHIsNPepHX8A1g' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div><br /></div>Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-70765707415891249152020-06-20T08:25:00.002-07:002020-11-19T14:14:29.631-08:00Top 5 Edward Abbey BooksAnyone reading this blog who has heard of Edward Abbey will probably know him for one thing: he wrote the book The Monkey Wrench Gang and so gave rise to the environmental group Earth First! <br />
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However, there's a lot more to Abbey than just the guy who invented monkey wrenching, and a lot more to read by him than just the Monkey Wrench Gang, although that is very much worth reading. In fact, Abbey is not only my favourite author from what we can broadly call the American Right, he's one of my favourite nature authors from the New World. Considering the country has produced Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Grey Owl and Aldo Leopold that's high praise. And, yes, I do know Muir was born in Scotland and that Grey Owl was actually a bloke called Archie from Hastings! <br />
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1. The Brave Cowboy (1956) </span></b><br />
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Abbey's first real novel, and his best. To people who come to Abbey via The Monkey Wrench Gang this novel explains exactly where he is coming from. The book is a 'modern' Western, although the term is a little strange as it was written more than sixty years ago, meaning the novel is set nearer in time to the real Old West than the present day. Abbey is not a part of the environmental movement, but he was intimately connected to what was once the American Frontier, especially the deserts of the southwest. <br />
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The hero of the book, John W 'Jack' Burns is a cowboy loner who scrapes a living herding sheep. He lives simply in the desert, cutting fences and refusing to carry any form of identification. When his friend Paul Bondi, a more conventional kind of anarchist, is arrested for refusing the draft, Burns has the cunning plan of getting himself arrested so he can bust them both out of jail. Bondi, quite sensibly, decides this plan is mad, so Burns has to make his escape on his own, pursued by the police and the US Air Force. The mountains are a challenge he and his horse can deal with, but the four-lane freeway is not. <br />
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The novel is taunter than The Monkey Wrench Gang. The single protagonist, and the struggle against modernity being reduced to one man and his horse against the system, makes it a better story. I think it's the best thing Abbey ever wrote. It's also the only Abbey book to be mad into a film. Called Lonely Are The Brave it starred Kirk Douglas's chin as Jack Burns, and is apparently one of the actor's favourite movies. Considering what else he's been in that's quite a compliment. <br />
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2. Fire On The Mountain (1962) </span></b><br />
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Abbey is of the American Right. However, whilst the likes of John Wayne saw no contradiction between the Western frontiersman defending his home, and the Green Beret torching those of the Vietnamese, Abbey did. His nearest literary contemporary was the sci-fi writer Bob Heinlein. If The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress had been set in Utah rather than space it could have been an Edward Abbey book. However, for Heinlein, the US government could do no wrong. For Abbey it could, and usually did. Fire on the Mountain is interesting because it is about the confrontation between two American institutions that other Right Wing writers praise equally with no contradiction: the frontier rancher and the US Air Force. <br />
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The plot is paper thin, and the ending downbeat, which makes it the weakest novel on this list. It is enhanced slightly by the plot device of the story being told through the eyes of a child, and somewhat more substantially by Abbey's exploration of the issues raised, and his peerless description of the natural beauty of the American southwestern. To most people's eyes the desert where the hero makes his home is a poor place to live, and the city where the USAF wants him to move to is a paradise, but in Abbey's accomplished hands this paradigm is reversed. This is the worst book in this list, but still worth reading. <br />
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3. Desert Solitaire (1968) </span></b><br />
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As you've probably seen by now, Abbey's chief virtue is his ability to write about the desert of the American southwest in mythic terms. He almost doesn't need a plot for his stories. This theorem is proved by his best non-fiction work, Desert Solitaire. Using incidents in his life whilst working for the National Park Service in the fifties, Abbey describes rivers, deserts, plants, animals and visitors to the Arches National Park where he worked. The result is some of the most beautiful nature writing in American literature, and a warning of the erosion of the wilderness by humans. <div><br /></div><div>The longest chapter concerns a journey down the Glen Canyon shortly before it was plugged by the Glen Canyon Dam. This monstrosity has a special place in US environmental history. In the early 1950s David Brower and the Sierra Club fought desperately against the construction of dams at Echo Park and Glen Canyon. They won against the battle against the first and thought they'd won a major success, until they actually had a look at Glen Canyon. Brower, who would subsequently found Friends of the Earth, was told "Echo doesn't hold a candle to Glen Canyon", and Abbey would agree. The damn appears in several of his subsequent books and the monkey wrench gang spend some time trying to figure out how to destroy it. Which, of course, brings us onto that book. <br />
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4. The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975) </span></b><br />
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So, this is it, the one people have heard of, the story that gave us 'monkey wrenching' and started Earth First! What's it like as a book? <br />
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Well, it's a bit flabby. There's no real plan to what the Gang do, and no real antagonists that they're up against, apart from some fairly lightweight local vigilantes. However, as a guide to how to take radical direct action it's pretty good. A better question though is who the Monkey Wrench Gang are. They are an odd bunch. <br />
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First, you have Doc Sarvis, a surgeon by day, and arsonist by night, who at the start of the story is burning down the billboards that screen the freeway from the desert. His money bankrolls the gang, and he also provides the moral compass, insisting that no-one is killed or injured. Sarvis only just counts as an intellectual, but even so he's an unusual character for an Abbey novel. However, he's no fan of technology, being unable to even drive. <br />
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Next, there's Bonnie Abbzug, who's even less of a typical Abbey creation. Firstly, she's female, and secondly, she's a complete hippy. She's also in a relationship with Doc, even though he's more than two decades older. You suspect there's a bit of wish fulfilment here, but her role in the quartet is to be the foil to the men, who usually ignore what she has to say. You can't really argue Abbey was a feminist. <br />
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Then there's Seldom Seen Smith, the only proper local. A 'Jack' Mormon, Seldom Seen is the outdoorsman of the party. His survival skills keep the gang alive, and he is also the one who most often waxes poetic about the beauty of the desert. In this respect he is speaking in the author's voice. <br />
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Finally, there's George Washington Hayduke. He not only has a patriotic name, he's done his patriotic duty and served in Vietnam with the Green Berets. It's Hayduke's military skills that the gang use in their sabotage missions, but, he's no John Wayne. Captured by the enemy in Vietnam, Hayduke goes native and takes their side, an American Viet Cong. Bob Henlein might write about lunar colonists acting like the Viet Cong, but only Abbey wrote about one of America's own becoming one. Hayduke, alone amongst the gang, is based on a real person, Abbey's friend Doug Peacock, a man who, after serving as a special forces medic in Vietnam, turned his back on human beings and took to hanging out in the woods with grizzly bears. <br />
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The gangs rampage around the desert is fairly random, and they attack road construction equipment, mining gear and any bulldozer they find. They are helped by the fact that all the plant they come across is unlocked and unguarded. If only real ecotage was so easy! The beauty of the American Southwest is vividly described, of course, but this is no sermon on saving the planet. The book spends a lot more time on how the gang carry out their sabotage than the why. This is even more apparent at the end, when some of the gang are caught and dragged before the authorities. You'd expect some dramatic courtroom showdown, in which the folly of trashing the wilderness is brutally described. Instead, the gang plead the fifth, deny everything, and plea bargain their way to minimum sentences. This is not the Gandhi way. <br />
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This novel can be a bit hard to understand then if you are expecting a Walden or a Silent Spring. However, it's more explicable of you see the Robert Crumb illustrations, like the one above. This book is, at heart, a Western, only a Western were the outlaws are the heroes. <br />
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5. Hayduke Lives! (1990) </span></b><br />
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Four years after the Monkey Wrench Gang, a disillusioned former executive of the Sierra Club, called George Forman, broke away from the mainstream environment movement to form the radical environmental group Earth First!. Like the monkey wrench gang, Earth First! would carry out acts of covert ecotage. Like the gang, they would deny everything if caught. In due course Earth First! would evolve and spread around the world, becoming in the process more liberal in its attitudes and broader in its tactics, but in the early days it was very much in Abbey's image. Their official motto was "Back to the Pleistocene". Their unofficial motto was "Rednecks for wilderness". <br />
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Abbey was a hero of the group, and a regular at their yearly Rendezvous. However, as his involvement in activism grew, his writing diminished. But he wasn't done yet, either with books or the gang. In 1990 the foursome returned, in the sequel Hayduke Lives! <br />
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Sequels to great books are usually disappointments, but surprisingly, Hayduke Lives! isn't. In many ways it's actually better than the original. The plot is a lot tighter, for a start, and unlike the scattergun approach of the first book, there is a single antagonist - the giant drag chain digger called the GEM that is coming to despoil the desert. <br />
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Perhaps what's more interesting is the characters that pop up in the book. As well as the return of the gang, an unnamed cowboy turns up to help them, who is almost certainly Burns from Brave Cowboy. There is also an appearance by the real Earth First!, mostly in the form of fictional representatives of the real organisation, although EF! founder Dave Foreman has a cameo. They are peripheral to the main plot, but it's clear from the way they are written that Abbey really loves his children. It's fortunate perhaps that they are so peripheral, as they are so god-like in their beauty and bravery that they would have unbalance the book. There is also, at the very end, a cameo by a real environmentalist. I won't spoil the surprise, but you can probably guess their name. Unfortunately, along the way, Abbey commits the only unpardonable sin of his career.<br />
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Amongst the scenes in the book is a visit to an Earth First! Rendezvous. Bernie Mushkin, a blowhard who calls the Earth First!ers fascists, before getting into his car and heading back east. Mushkin was a caricature of Murray Bookchin, whose theory of social ecology connected the destruction of the environment to the oppression of humans. Bookchin could be a pretty combative character, and in criticising some of the more misanthropic aspects of Earth First! Bookchin had called Dave Foreman "a patently anti-humanist and macho mountain man" pedalling "a crude eco-brutalism".</div>
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The real Bookchin, though, was nothing like Munchkin, the East Coast corporate environmentalist more at home in committee rooms of Washington DC than the forests of Washington State. He'd grown up in the Bronx, the son of Jewish immigrants, and his European family had all been exterminated by the Nazis. He'd first earnt his activist credentials as a union organiser in a car factory. However, despite his urban upbringing, he was a keen trail walker and was almost as at home in the wilderness as Abbey. </div>
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A few months before Hayduke Lives! came out, Bookchin had had a debate with Dave Foreman. It turned out they had more in common with each other than differences, and Bookchin was able to say he stands "shoulder to shoulder with everyone in Earth First! who is trying to save the wilderness". However, by 1990, it was far from clear if Earth First! stood shoulder to shoulder with Foreman and Abbey. The racism and sexism of the 'rednecks for wilderness' was being challenged by younger activists, and the frontier libertarianism was being replaced by proper anarchist thinking. The late Judi Bari, who was being blown up by a bomb planted either by, or with the connivance of, the FBI at about the time the book came out said that Earth First! wasn't just a bunch of monkey wrenchers but "a social change movement". The world had moved on and Abbey had become a bit of a dinosaur.</div>
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But then Abbey had never really fitted in to anyone's politics. He was encouraging people to burn their draft cards nearly two decades before the Vietnam War. He would throw beer cans out of his car as he drove along, arguing that the road had already destroyed the wilderness. He said racist things about Mexicans, but suggetsed that each deported illegal be given a rifle and a thousand rounds of ammunition, in the hope that they would overthrown the oppressive governments they were fleeing. </div>
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Hayduke Lives! was his last work, published after he'd gone the way of the dinosaurs. By the time it was published his friends had buried his body in the arizona desert, so he could become part of the wilderness he loved. He was man who loved the vanishing American frontier for what it really was, not what people made it, and he wrote about it in a way few others had managed. </div>
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If you haven't read one of his books yet, then please do so. </div>
</div>Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-9899998325320832812020-06-19T13:13:00.004-07:002020-06-29T07:16:04.498-07:00How We Ended Fracking In The UK<div class="separator">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Preese Hall</span></b></div>
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On April Fools Day 2011 an earthquake hit east Lancashire. Registering 2.3 on the Richter scale, it caused traffic lights to topple and a railway bridge to crack. The police station in Blackpool shook, even as worried homeowners rang in thinking they were being burgled. </div>
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The cause of the quake was pressure testing at a fracking well at Preese Hall, Lancashire. The government immediately announced a two-year moratorium, and the people of Britain learnt a new word. Cuadrilla Resources, the company concerned, said that this was nothing to worry about. What they didn't reveal at the time was that the quake had fractured their drill. The moratorium was essentially superfluous. They wouldn't be doing any drilling again at Preese Hall, or anywhere else, for a while. </div>
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For most people, even most environmental activists, this was the first they had heard of fracking. Before then it had been something on the periphery of our awareness. Most serious ecologists were aware that the dash for gas, which had allowed Mrs Thatcher to close the coal mines, and BP to announce they were the good guys now, was not a good thing. It had slightly reduced carbon dioxide emissions, but at the cost of a new generation of fossil fuel infrastructure that would keep last thirty years or more. That fracking was something more than a new type of gas was probably lost on most of us at that time.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Balcombe</span></b><br />
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If the Lancashire quakes woke a lot of people up to the issue, it was events in West Sussex in the summer of 2013 that put fracking firmly in the centre of protest in the UK. Successful protests require three factors: a cause, protesters and a location. The Lancashire earthquakes had moved fracking up the list of causes, but this was not the only concerns with fracking. This was a new fossil fuel, and extracting it contaminated the air and the groundwater. 50 ton lorries would industrialise quiet English villages. Fracking was a cause that ticked a lot of boxes<br />
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Protesters, though, aren't as easy to find as you think. There would always be locals who don't want it in their back yard, but they would require help to make their voices heard. Bigger green groups could send out teams to do stunts, but people prepared to camp out 24 hours a day, seven days a week to stop something are pretty rare. However, barely a year before the test rig arrived in Balcombe in July 2013, the Occupy London protests had come to an end, and some of those people still wanted to change the world. </div>
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Environmental campaigns can either target areas of local beauty, or issues of global importance. Fracking, did both. Also, unlike the big fossil fuel projects campaigners were usually up against, which were usually huge opencast mines or off-shore drilling operations, fracking took place at small sites close to where people lived. Almost anyone in the UK would be able to drive to a fracking site, and enough people would be able to walk to one to cause a problem. </div>
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With the three legs of the protest in place, the first anti-fracking direct action in the UK kicked off at Balcome, West Sussex, in July 2013. Balcombe had everything the media wanted: sunshine, weird people, lots of action, and, best of all, it was close enough to London for the journos to be back for evening drinks at the club. And then, for good measure, the police accidentally arrested Caroline Lucas, the Green Party's only MP.</div>
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The industry's take was that the protests had only delayed the test drilling by five days. This may even be true, but it missed the point. Balcombe had made fracking the sexiest eco-protest in the country. For better or worse, activists forget about roads and airports and made their way to Balcombe. </div>
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Opinion pollsters started talking about the 'Balcombe bounce. Up until then the number of people who had an opinion on fracking was too low for it to be polled, but now three quarters of the public had an opinion. Fracking was now on everyone's radar, not just the ecologists. That public opinion was pretty evenly split on the issue, with 40% opposed, 40% in favour and the rest undecided. The war wasn't won, but those were figure the ecologists could work with.</div>
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Once people opened their eyes to fracking, it was clear what a threat it was. Applications to explore for shale gas were everywhere. Anti-fracking groups were also popping up all over the place to oppose them, but the situation was confusing. There was a real danger of energy being scattered too widely to be effective.</div>
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The plan of the NGOs, as far as there was one, was to focus on one county council and get them to reject fracking as a first step. There were several possibilities for this, but in the end Lancashire was the target. Not only were Cuadrilla more advanced in their plans, but they were also much more politically connected. John Browne, the former BP boss, now Lord Browne, was the chair of Cuadrilla and owned 30% of the company. He had a job in the Cabinet office, from which he made a series of appointments to government departments. </div>
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The government was clearly prepared to spend political capital on fracking. When Greenpeace got thousands of people to refuse to allow fracking under their homes the government responded by changing the law. The government was also clearly taking its instructions from the industry. When it sent out press releases about the number of jobs fracking would produce it didn't use the estimates of its own civil service, but the higher figure emailed in by the UK On Shore Operators Group. </div>
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The industry was quite aware of the risk from protest. In 2010 a documentary had come out about fracking in the USA called Gaslands. It concentrated almost exclusively on the risk of water contamination, but had alerted people to an industry that engulfed areas of the USA. Also, just before Balcombe, there had been a series of protests in Romania about fracking. The global risk assessment company Control Risks had produced a report on anti-fracking protests, and had assessed the level of protest in the UK as 'significant'. It suggested a four point strategy to deal with this: 'acknowledge grievances', 'engage community', 'reduce impacts' and 'create more winners'. This would be used when the next anti-fracking protest happened. </div>
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Barton Moss, on the edge of Greater Manchester, was where the company IGas planned to test drill in November 2013. The travelling army of direct action protesters arrived and set up camp along Barton Moss Road. But Barton Moss wasn't Balcombe. It was wet, it was winter, and it was on the fringe of a northern city. The press wasn't really interested. The Guardian might have been, but there was the Ken Loach trial going on, and they only had one journalist north of Watford Gap. </div>
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However, whilst the protests at Barton Moss were not national news, they were local news, both on TV and in the papers. What's more, they were local news across the whole of the northwest, including Lancashire. This meant that when the local councillors who were to vote on Cuadrilla's application to frack more sites sat down to their pie and mash, they saw Barton Moss on the TV.</div>
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IGas gave up on issuing press releases, and so it was up to the police to put out the press releases. This followed the usual playbook of well-meaning locals and violent outside agitators. The police themselves felt they lost this contest. The government too lent a hand. David Cameron didn't come to Manchester, but he went to a site in Lincolnshire and announced 'gold standard regulation' and 'more winners' in the form of a money for local authorities who frack. Lord Browne meanwhile appeared to acknowledge mistakes the USA. IGas had been promising bungs for local sports clubs, so the four point plan was going well. Except that it wasn't. The protests continued and local support was growing. </div>
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The actual job of dealing with the protectors, as the activists styled themselves, fell to the police, who were not above dirty tricks. The police had a number of legal powers they could use against the activists, but they were only effective on the Public Highway or private land. Barton Moss Road was a public footpath and a private road. The police solution to the public footpath was to steal the sign. The solution to the private road was to pretend it was a public highway and arrest people anyway. They would then be released on pre-charge bail and if they went back to Barton Moss they'd be arrested again for breach of bail. The result of all this was over 200 arrests, almost all of whom would subsequently be acquitted. </div>
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A more serious incident occurred just after New Year. The police claimed a flare had been fired at their helicopter as it came in to land at nearby Manchester City Airport. Nobody in the camp saw this, neither did any of the cameras at the airport, on the M62 or in the nearby Barton Moss Young Offenders Unit. Forty-eight hours later the police descended on the camp and turned it upside down. </div>
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After that, though, it was hard to keep the protests out of the news. Public opinion in Manchester changed. Support for fracking still remained high, but the 'don't knows' gradually came off the fence on the side of the againsts. Rallies at the site increased in size, and then moved to the city centre. One held in March 2014 became the largest anti-fracking rally so far in the UK. It didn't make the national news, but was reported in the local news of every town and village at risk of being fracked. By the time IGas packed up and left, it was clear they were not wanted. One measure of the campaign's success was that when the first election for mayor of Greater Manchester was held in 2016 none of the major candidates, not even the Tory, were in favour of fracking. The winner, Labour's Andy Burnham, declared he would do all he could to stop IGas coming back. </div>
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Campaigners from Frack Free Lancashire were regular visitors to Barton Moss. Up until then, they had fought its battles in village halls and borough councils. Now the activists from Lancashire had a bigger field to play on. They had their first experience of direct action, of speaking at large rallies talking to the global media.</div>
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The timing of the Barton Moss protests also worked out perfectly for them. No sooner had the protectors cleared away their camp, leaving Barton Moss Road cleaner than it had been before the campaign, than Lancashire County Council started hearing Cuadrilla's applications to frack Preston New Road and Roseacre in Lancashire. </div>
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The decision was postponed repeatedly, and the councillors were threatened with personal financial liability if Cuadrilla were refused. But in the end the council rejected both applications. Everyone knew Cuadrilla would appeal, and that the final decision would be made by the government, who were hardly neutral. However, it was a huge victory for Frack Free Lancashire, and a potential delay of years for Cuadrilla.</div>
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With Lancashire stalled, the focus of the campaign moved across the Pennines to the North Riding of Yorkshire, where Third Energy wanted to drill in the little village of Ryedale. The activists in Ryedale seemingly had the odds against them. A Conservative majority in the local council meant Third Energy had political support. The drilling would take place on an existing industrial site, and the gas would be piped away, which reduced the tactical options. </div>
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However, in the end the campaign in Ryedale was the best organised anti-fracking campaign in the UK. It helped that the Vale of Pickering was drop dead gorgeous, and that the huge fracking lorries looked completely out of place in the little village with its tiny roads. However, most of the praise needs to go to the activists themselves. They ran a great campaign. They used the press well, they were creative in their actions, they worked very hard to keep tensions between the camp and the locals to a minimum, and they deservedly won.</div>
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How they won is still not completely clear, but it appears the government decided it was not going to spend any more political capital on fracking Yorkshire. Third Energy were bankrupt, but then none of the companies prospecting for shale gas in the UK were minted. These operations were loss leaders, and if fracked gold was struck they'd sell up to the big players. Then, once the place had been fracked out, they'd declare themselves bankrupt and pass the clean-up cost on to the government. Everyone knew that was how it worked. So, it was a bit of a surprise when, in January 2018, the government announced it would 'review' Third Energy's finances before giving them the go ahead. It was an oblique way of saying 'no', that stopped the government admitting it had made a U-turn. A major factor in this decision appears to have been a parallel campaign against Barclays bank, Third Energy's main funders. Barclays had fossil fuel investments all over the world, but fracking, it seems, was just too toxic for them.<br />
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But, of course, fracking wasn't just a risk to a couple of places in the north of England. On a shale gas map of the UK most of England ended up painted red, including a huge crescent of affluent Tory shires from the Lincolnshire to Kent. True, when the licenses were issues, they were heavily skewed towards the Labour voting north, but nobody could seriously doubt that if the industry got going, they wouldn't be coming to the home counties at some point.<br />
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Other players were also hovering on the fringe. Ineos, the UK's largest private company, bought up a lot of second-hand plant from Poland and announced it was interested in shale gas, not to sell, but to use in its chemical industries. Square in their sights was Eckington, in Derbyshire.<br />
<br />
However, people weren't taking this lying down. Up and down the country anti-fracking groups were springing up. Some were little more than a social media page, but others, like Eckington Against Fracking, were large and well organised enough to not need outside help. Opposing fracking may have only been 'local news', but it was local news in most of the country.<br />
<br />
What was more, direct action took place wherever, and whenever, it could. From Daneshill in Nottinghamshire, to Horse Hill in Surrey, the frackers turned up and found themselves facing slow walks and lock-ons. A, supposedly secret, meeting of the shale gas industry at Manchester Airport found itself the centre of a surpise protest. At Upton, Cheshire, the anti-frackers got onto the site first and there was an old-fashioned eviction of a defended camp which included towers and tunnels. No sooner had the police cleared the last protector, at the tax payers expense, than IGas said they weren't interested any more. The fracking revolution appeared to be running into the sand.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Preston New Road</span></b></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-feuC5CVZvCY/Xu0b6H6hUbI/AAAAAAAAPko/31HUxNhU-1M16CYf8aXGGT-dBGo9l2SjgCK4BGAsYHg/s1020/PNR10052017.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1020" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-feuC5CVZvCY/Xu0b6H6hUbI/AAAAAAAAPko/31HUxNhU-1M16CYf8aXGGT-dBGo9l2SjgCK4BGAsYHg/w400-h266/PNR10052017.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
And so the focus moved back to Lancashire. The government gave Cuadrilla the go ahead to frack at Preston New Road in October 2016, but deferred the Roseacre decision. Allegedly, this was at the request of the company, who didn't have the resources to do both at once. Cuadrilla evidently thought PNR, which was on a main road, would be an easier proposition than the little village of Roseacre. The next month Bianca Jagger led the largest anti-fracking march yet, at least 2000 people, through the streets of Manchester. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Work started on the construction of their drill site in January 2017, and so did the protests. At first there was a 'gentleman's agreement' that the protesters would stand in front of each lorry for exactly fifteen minutes, but pretty quickly this broke down and it was a free for all. Lancashire police upped their presence. They called in help from other forces, when some of the out of town coppers behaved badly they went back to keeping it in house. Soon it was costing them £450,000 a month.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Work continued, even as fracking died in Ryedale and elsewhere. By the end of 2018 Cuadrilla were ready to start fracking. By this time the PNR site had seen virtually every type of direct action possible. There had been slow walks and lorry surfing, lock-ons and silent protest from big green groups, little green groups and locals. Cuadrilla managed to keep going through all this and finally they fired up their pumps and pressurised their well. The result was an earth tremor. Not as big as 2011, but big enough to shut them down. They tried again, but once more the earth moved. By Christmas they'd taken their rig down and removed the pumps.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Then in February 2019, as Theresa May cleared the decks for a Brexit general election, the government turned down Cuadrilla's application to frack Roseacre. At about the same time it told the company it would not be relaxing the rules on earth tremors that had stopped the drilling before Christmas. The tide had turned against the frackers. Cuadrillla's equipment returned to the site, but once again the ground shook and they had to stop. Boris Johnson became the Prime Minister the government announced a moratorium on fracking. Then, last week, UK Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng said what everyone suspected: fracking was over. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Frack Off</span></b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1IU0P4M_Wr8/Xu0cLW82H7I/AAAAAAAAPlA/bTQFVbs3-RANm5gjDUBZW-ShISQjj3Z4ACK4BGAsYHg/s960/73388553_10155746655964229_4222411378381553664_n.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1IU0P4M_Wr8/Xu0cLW82H7I/AAAAAAAAPlA/bTQFVbs3-RANm5gjDUBZW-ShISQjj3Z4ACK4BGAsYHg/w400-h400/73388553_10155746655964229_4222411378381553664_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
And so, like the government's road building program in the nineties, and GM crops in the noughties, fracking had been defeated by a combination of lobbying and direct action, carried out both nationally and locally. It is a significant victory, and one everyone involved should be very proud of. Fossil fuel projects are at their most vulnerable when they are in their infancy, and we were right to take the opportunity when it was offered. Compared to other fossil fuels, fracking was always vulnerable. Technically, it was always going to be a challenge in the UK. Financially, it never looked secure. Politically, the gas was in exactly the wrong place. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The campaign against fracking brought together a wide variety of disparate people. Residents of leafy villages joined up with former Occupy protesters. Big green groups worked with grass roots campaigners. Direct action people worked with political lobbyists. Some of the feuds were epic, but on the whole the coalition held together well enough to win. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But this was no easy victory. The political influence of the fracking industry, especially Cuadrilla was huge; far out of proportion to the size of the industry. As a result the government was prepared to do incredible things to please the industry, including over-riding local democracy and changing the law. Their PR campaign, inspired by the Control Risks report, was sophisticated. Almost the entire tabloid press parroted the industry line, and even supposedly serious papers like the Telegraph indulged in tabloid style attacks on activists. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Ultimately, this was a political campaign. Every time the government changed the law, overruled a local planning decision or appeared in a photo call with the industry they expended political capital. The activists made the cost of fracking so high that in the end the government was unwilling to pay it. For the money men the uncertain political support made the industry look like a bad risk. The result was that a new fossil fuel was going to stay in the ground. It's not the end of the war, but it's a significant battle won.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-46482088572633268512020-05-10T03:12:00.000-07:002020-05-10T03:43:12.014-07:00Guns, Germs, Steel, Colonies and Coal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BMZO9iHLtqE/XrfVzwDWHNI/AAAAAAAAPB8/G4w-mHQNqYYf3HjMQdf4IGN_FpnGcZeywCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Destroying_Chinese_war_junks%252C_by_E._Duncan_%25281843%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="681" data-original-width="1040" height="260" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BMZO9iHLtqE/XrfVzwDWHNI/AAAAAAAAPB8/G4w-mHQNqYYf3HjMQdf4IGN_FpnGcZeywCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Destroying_Chinese_war_junks%252C_by_E._Duncan_%25281843%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
In July 1972, the biologist Jared Diamond found himself on a
beach in New Guinea. By chance, he bumped into Yali, a local politician. What
Yali wanted to know from the scientist was:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“<i>Why is it that you white people
developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had
little cargo of our own?</i>"</blockquote>
<br />
It took Diamond a little while to answer, but
the result was a book he wrote twenty five years later. His answer was that
this was mostly an accident of geography.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Guns, Germs and Steel </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OZUn3hL6FeQ/XrfXQJyCgCI/AAAAAAAAPCk/NYIwM9zLZmI6W3gChX8Sdh9G1Xl2ru60wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Jared%252BDiamond%2525u2019s%252BContinental%252BAxis%252Btheory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OZUn3hL6FeQ/XrfXQJyCgCI/AAAAAAAAPCk/NYIwM9zLZmI6W3gChX8Sdh9G1Xl2ru60wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Jared%252BDiamond%2525u2019s%252BContinental%252BAxis%252Btheory.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The basic building blocks of civilisation are plants and animals that can be
domesticated. As the largest of the continents, Eurasia has far more usable
flora and fauna than any other continent. What's more, the East-West axis of
Eurasia allowed these edible plants and tame animals to be propagated across
all the major civilisations of the continent, west to Britain and east to
China. European crops grow very well in southern Africa, but the harsh climate
of sub-Saharan Africa lies in the way, meaning that cows and grain couldn't
reach the bottom of the continent until Europeans learnt to sail the oceans.
The Americas, meanwhile, were host to a decent number of useful species, from
maize to potatoes, but they were each stuck in their particular climatic niche
and couldn’t spread north or south.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Better farming led to higher population densities, but there were consequences
to large numbers of people and animals living together, consequences that we
are still living with today: disease. However, whilst the viruses and other
pathogens from domesticated animals killed millions, the survivors passed their
immunity on to their children. This meant that when the people from the Old
World went to the New, Americans died in vast quantities of European diseases,
but Europeans did not die of American bugs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eRsHBQ8FvFE/XrfV_LptROI/AAAAAAAAPCE/fwTrSF3WVGwbIX6JVpXqSU2d7wt90P5-gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/main-qimg-edf1844a99560056b66ad0319b5fb65c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="756" height="208" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eRsHBQ8FvFE/XrfV_LptROI/AAAAAAAAPCE/fwTrSF3WVGwbIX6JVpXqSU2d7wt90P5-gCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/main-qimg-edf1844a99560056b66ad0319b5fb65c.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
That is, in essence, the argument in Diamond’s book. But whilst it’s as good as
far as it goes, there is a huge elephant in the room: China. China enjoyed all
the benefits of the Eurasia farming inheritance. As the source of many of the
world’s infectious diseases her population’s immunity was as good as anyone’s.
So why was it Europe, and not China, that conquered the world? Diamond suggests
the answer was political, that as China became a Universal State with no
enemies of equal stature, she did not have the drive to improve that the
warring European nations had. This is probably not right.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Instead, the next piece of the jigsaw is provided by Kenneth Pomeranz in his
book The Great <br />
Divergence. Comparing Europe and China pre-1800 he looks at all
the reasons that are given for subsequent European domination, such as
political and financial institutions, culture and economics, and so on, and
finds almost all of them all wanting.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WNAWewRj3vI/XrfaRrr0vvI/AAAAAAAAPCw/co4-oLUZPx435JHrGlKv9kUDLXlWJUvEwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/lrg_worldphysicalpacific1to30_lrg.6a3b7f3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="362" data-original-width="600" height="241" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WNAWewRj3vI/XrfaRrr0vvI/AAAAAAAAPCw/co4-oLUZPx435JHrGlKv9kUDLXlWJUvEwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/lrg_worldphysicalpacific1to30_lrg.6a3b7f3.jpg" width="400" /></a>The one factor in which Europe did enjoy and advantage though was it’s American
colonies. China had the vast Pacific to its east, whilst Europe had the more
manageable Atlantic. The ship technology developed to navigate the stormy seas
of western Europe could cross the Atlantic to reach the New World, but the
Pacific was impassable to Chinese vessels. Superior military technology, and
techniques, allowed Europeans to take what they wanted by force. Guns, germs
and steal really.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Great Divergence </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
However, even with the spoils of an entire continent to be
ruthlessly exploited, as well as the first factories, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Europe, as a whole, was not richer than China in 1800. Parts of Europe, like
England, were far wealthier than the Chinese average, it is true, but equally
parts of China, like the Yangtze Delta, were richer than the European average.
The West only starts to accelerate away from the East in the nineteenth century
when it begins to use significant amounts of coal. Now this is a complicated
issue, because China has vast amounts of coal too. So why was the Industrial
Revolution powered by anthracite from Wales, not Inner Mongolia? Pomeranz puts
this too down to geography as well.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lx_DfDFgDTM/XrfWLy1mywI/AAAAAAAAPCM/1jeVFWVQLo8HnESzIVjgDXe6Q0Ip0F7AwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/20130831_woc324_0.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="332" data-original-width="595" height="222" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lx_DfDFgDTM/XrfWLy1mywI/AAAAAAAAPCM/1jeVFWVQLo8HnESzIVjgDXe6Q0Ip0F7AwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/20130831_woc324_0.png" width="400" /></a>Chinese coal is mainly in the north, and the chief problem with extracting it
is stopping it catching fire. With European coal mines the major issue was
draining the water out. To solve this the Europeans, led by the British, used
steam engines. In 1800 steam engines were grossly inefficient. However, when
used in coal mines this didn’t really matter. Being based at the mine itself,
not only were there no transport costs for the fuel, but they were able to run
on the lowest quality coal that didn’t really have a commercial value anyway.
Thanks to this free energy the European economy received an injection of free
calories that were not dependent on the limited resource of land.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
More significantly though, as steam engines were used more, they improved and
became more efficient. Engineers like Watt became justifiably famous, but
really this wasn’t the work a few geniuses, but a gradual improvement based on
experience. With usable steam engines came railways, steam ships and all the
paraphernalia of the industrial revolution. European heavy metal blew the Asian
economy out of the water, in some cases literally.<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IbkBSR8zCjE/XrfWjGBdyjI/AAAAAAAAPCc/4ueNZUMBK3gkxfeMiNK_La6-8hSVG8SXgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/00wattJ4EX1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="305" data-original-width="545" height="223" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IbkBSR8zCjE/XrfWjGBdyjI/AAAAAAAAPCc/4ueNZUMBK3gkxfeMiNK_La6-8hSVG8SXgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/00wattJ4EX1.JPG" width="400" /></a>So, there we have it. Not proven, by any means, but it is at least a theory
that is consistent with the facts. Europe, for a while, was the dominant force
in the world due to accidents of geography. Eurasian farming was the best.
Eurasian diseases were the worst. Europe was gifted the Americas as colonies,
and her coal reserves posed exactly the right sort of problems for the
development of steam engines.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<b>Sources</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<i>Guns, Germs, and Steel </i>was first published by W. W. Norton in March 1997 by
Jared Diamond</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<i>The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy</i>
(2000) by Kenneth Pomeranz</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
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<![endif]-->Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-33450685963328746472020-04-24T03:57:00.003-07:002020-04-24T20:25:35.162-07:00We saw a crisis. He saw an opportunity.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bxx6UwEp0KY/XqLFYjk4moI/AAAAAAAAO7s/zwmtilSh828lAuqXycVG2o7nYrzfgOmQQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/bj_unleashed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bxx6UwEp0KY/XqLFYjk4moI/AAAAAAAAO7s/zwmtilSh828lAuqXycVG2o7nYrzfgOmQQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/bj_unleashed.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
It will go down as one of the most fatal political miscalculations in British history.<br />
<br />
A deadly virus has recently been unleashed on the world, and across the globe countries are locking down and contact tracking all victims. However, in the United Kingdom the Prime Minister told us that we were going to 'take it on the chin'. Our experts knew better than everyone else's experts, and we were to pursue a policy of 'herd immunity'. One month later and at least 20,000 people in Britain are dead, with at least as many again expected to fall victim to Covod-19, and one of them was very nearly Prime Minister Boris Johnson himself. What went wrong?<br />
<br />
Let's rewind to 3 February 2020. The theme of the day is Brexit, and the Prime Minister is to give a big speech in Greenwich in which he lays down the gauntlet to the European Union. The day before Johnson's speech the Philippines had reported the first death outside of China and the first cases had been confirmed in the United Kingdom. Three days before that the World Health Organisation had declared Covid-19 a global emergency. In China 170 had died, and, as well as the Philippines, cases had by then also been reported in Russia, Spain, Sweden, Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Singapore and the USA.<br />
<br />
So, what did Johnson say in his speech? Mostly it was about deregulation. Britain was not going to follow the rules set down by Europe. He did not say we'd privatise the NHS or be eating chlorinated chicken, but this was certainly the gist of what he was saying. However, he did also mention Covid-19, and this is where it gets interesting. This is what he said:<br />
<br />
<i></i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><i><span style="font-size: large;">"there is a risk that new diseases such as coronavirus will trigger a panic and a desire for market segregation that go beyond what is medically rational to the point of doing real and unnecessary economic damage, then at that moment humanity needs some government somewhere that is willing at least to make the case powerfully for freedom of exchange ... the UK is ready for that role."</span></i></i></blockquote>
<i>
</i>
By the end of the day the focus had changed to the attempt by, the Johnson administration to give a private press briefing to selected journalists, locking out the more sceptical, which led to a walkout by the political press corps. Johnson's references to the coronavirus were forgotten. So, what do we make of them now?<br />
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4jr3CQwODe4/XqLGA7nSznI/AAAAAAAAO70/W0gfak5yuL8z7S-6IwnT5L3niGOCqIyGwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/terrifying-graph-shows-just-how-bad-uk-coronavirus-death-toll-may-be.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="883" data-original-width="1514" height="232" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4jr3CQwODe4/XqLGA7nSznI/AAAAAAAAO70/W0gfak5yuL8z7S-6IwnT5L3niGOCqIyGwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/terrifying-graph-shows-just-how-bad-uk-coronavirus-death-toll-may-be.jpg" width="400" /></a>Possibly, maybe probably, they were an attempt to introduce a bit of topicality to the boringly<br />
repetitive theme of the Brexit negotiations. Possibly they were the start of a strategy to respond to the virus. Equally likely they were both: a quick ad lib that would become a strategy.<br />
<br />
Johnson's attitude to Brexit has always been strange. Not only has he wanted to have his cake and eat it, he has, it seems wanted to have the popularity of having 'Got Brexit Done', without actually having to do it. Brexit has always been a rebellion in search of a cause, so was it Covid-19 that gave Johnson the cause he wanted? Did he see the virus as a way of showing Great Britain's exceptionalism? Of being the champion of swashbuckling free-marketism standing up to the nanny state which overreacts to a bit of man 'flu?<br />
<br />
When he was struck down himself, colleagues said that Johnson was the sort of person who was intolerant of illness in others. A man of great privilege, very little empathy and, until that point, good health, he saw no risk worth wrecking his precious economy for. Instead he blundered into the worst crisis for the country since the Second World War.<br />
<br />
But is it possible that this was worse than a mistake? Did the Prime Minster see the reaction to Covid-19 around the world as 'panic' and not 'rational'? Was he prepared to sacrifice a significant chunk of the population for a free market competitive advantage and Brexit? The evidence seems so: the speech, the 'herd immunity', the lack of testing, the refusal to take part in the EU ventilator and PPE schemes. It all fits a pattern. It was Johnson's advisor, Dominic Cummings, who (allegedly) said '<i>protect the economy, and if that means some pensioners die, too bad</i>', and it seems the Prime Minister went further than that and saw an opportunity to not just protect the economy, but gain a competituve advantage from the crisis.<br />
<br />
But that is not what has happened. Not only have tens of thousands of people die needlessly, but the country faces and longer lockdown that most others because we didn't act when we could. Now if that doesn't make you angry, nothing will.<br />
<br />
<br />Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-18197644574258669462020-03-14T02:55:00.003-07:002020-03-14T02:55:33.230-07:00Now Is The Time To Live Our Values<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<img alt="Totnes sustainability town • Naked Wild And Free" height="265" src="https://nakedwildandfree.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/CFD_the_square.jpg" width="400" /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Ready or not, Covid 19 is here. Despite trying gamely to live up
to <a href="https://www.politics.co.uk/news/2011/10/18/boris-reveals-his-political-hero-the-mayor-fr?fbclid=IwAR2gysqCIxtCysJlPtB2EZL4X3QhB_xmdE0yA9M0kqm8pNyvQNh7dq2eXEU" target="_blank">his political hero, the Mayor in Jaws</a>, our Prime Minister
has now, reluctantly, agreed to start the process of shutting down modern,
post-industrial life. What lies ahead is grim, but, as the old saying goes, a
crisis is also an opportunity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Environmentalists in the whole
like to talk about how to replace the 'essentials' of modern life with greener
alternatives; renewable energy, electric cars, ethical jobs and low-impact
products. Fair enough, as this is the language people listen to. What we tend
to do in our own lives though is actually ditch these trappings of modern life:
turn off the TV, leave the car behind, ditch the high-pressure job and buy
less. We walk the walk, but we tend not to talk the talk. Now that needs to
stop. Coronavirus is forcing the whole country to live like us, and we need to
use this chance to promote our way of life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<img alt="Stalled relief efforts raise anger and confusion in Sandy ..." height="216" src="https://static.timesofisrael.com/www/uploads/2012/11/Superstorm-Sandy_Horo.jpg" width="400" /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">We've been here before. In the
wake of natural, and unnatural disasters in the USA the government has fled
town, and the private sector has not stepped in. People have had to step in and
fend for themselves and their neighbours. Transition Towns became survival
towns. This is going to happen here. Social care will collapse, hospitals will
be overrun and your vulnerable neighbours will be left stranded. They will need
you. We need to step in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">But as well as making ourselves
useful, and visible, we also need to make ourselves relevant. We need to use
every online forum, and every human contact, to show that a life less
pressured, less mobile and less dependent on technology is a life very much
worth living. We have demonstrated this to ourselves, now we need to show the
world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The future starts here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-51973922579120396362020-01-05T07:04:00.005-08:002020-01-13T12:09:25.953-08:00Review of the Year 2019<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<b>January</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jy8uYV5Lmls/Xge1fRTXNvI/AAAAAAAANxw/fjDmYZdzvWcahmMshKUjWwn_XLAbVlZFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/DSC_00ee69.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jy8uYV5Lmls/Xge1fRTXNvI/AAAAAAAANxw/fjDmYZdzvWcahmMshKUjWwn_XLAbVlZFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/DSC_00ee69.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
First campaign of the year: single use plastic. Perhaps not the most important issue in the world right now, nor the most urgent, but the one that it's currently easiest to make progress on. Greenpeace made a list of the worst offenders and Sainsbury's came last, as usual, so that's where we pitched up on the third Saturday of the year.<br />
<br />
The manager of Salford branch didn't take very kindly to us, and we were asked to leave. We went off to campaign somewhere friendlier, but marked the place down for a return visit.<br />
<br />
<b>February</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uEnwzFHYM0U/Xgez_qMRgcI/AAAAAAAANxo/5VTY3ALVR7sQtY8SL4BZDJ0lptlfZ6XFgCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG-20190209-WA0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="904" data-original-width="550" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uEnwzFHYM0U/Xgez_qMRgcI/AAAAAAAANxo/5VTY3ALVR7sQtY8SL4BZDJ0lptlfZ6XFgCEwYBhgL/s400/IMG-20190209-WA0001.jpg" width="242" /></a></div>
Weird weather arrived in February and Glossop looked like it was supposed to do in the Peak District tourist brochure, or at least what it would look like if Glossop had replied to the email and was actually in the brochure.<br />
<br />
A few days later though I was sat in the sunshine by the river in Ashford-on-the-Water in a t-shirt with my feet in snow. Global Weirding indeed.Te chnically it's an unstable polar vortex caused by climate change, but 'weirding' is a much better description.<br />
<br />
Our plastic campaign continued, and got a bit more 'secret squirrel', which was fun. The supermarket managers we met varied from the angry to the actually supportive. We made a point of marking the nasty ones for a return visit and leaving the nice ones alone in the future.<br />
<br />
Also in February I found myself custodian of the Greenwire Social Media Activists Group, a bit of a shock to a neo-Luddite like me. Basically I just posted up stuff from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex on how to use Twitter. She knew her stuff at least.<br />
<br />
<b>March</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Or1BMjMTZsQ/Xge3cA_oxJI/AAAAAAAANx8/gycf5Fg-naUraH7eAU4jfuSn7DYZDIAHACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Sami%2Bin%2BManchester.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Or1BMjMTZsQ/Xge3cA_oxJI/AAAAAAAANx8/gycf5Fg-naUraH7eAU4jfuSn7DYZDIAHACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Sami%2Bin%2BManchester.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
The High Peak Green Party organised a showing of the Bruce Parry film Tawai, and then didn't mind not being mentioned in the publicity, which was nice of them. The film was interesting, but Bruce Parry's spiritual take on the loss of the rainforest didn't really cut it with me: no, we are not all responsible, some people are very, very guilty indeed.<br />
<br />
Our next campaign was climate change. To start things off we took Sami, our climate change fighting polar bear, for a night out in Manchester. People in Manchester are usually friendly, but when you have a large, cuddly bear with you they are even friendlier. The Hen Party were particularly welcoming to him.<br />
<br />
March was also Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham's second Green Summit. This time we got some details on what he was actually planning, and it was both startlingly radical and also considerably less than what's needed. Chris Boardman was a revelation in his commitment to making Manchester a cycling city. I also learnt a lot about electric cars.<br />
<br />
<b>April</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QdRtHw7mk7s/Xge9Sy1uX4I/AAAAAAAANyI/0XlO6EcJn3M2Iz6-9Ot_XAp7rW1CFf13gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_3235.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QdRtHw7mk7s/Xge9Sy1uX4I/AAAAAAAANyI/0XlO6EcJn3M2Iz6-9Ot_XAp7rW1CFf13gCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/IMG_3235.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
Our plastic campaign continued, and the 'secret squirrels' of Manchester Greenpeace decided to visit the Salford Sainbury's store in the early hours.<br />
<br />
Also in April I finally got to see Kate Rowarth, the author of Doughnut Economics, speak. She was addressing a bunch of geography teachers, and perhaps the most interesting aspect of the evening was hearing them introduce her by saying the "<i>current economic system is not fit for purpose</i>", which is not the way geography teachers used to speak. We also had drinks afterwards amongst the dinosaurs in the Manchester Museum, which was fun.<br />
<br />
In April 2019 it was 87 years since grandad Porter went on the Kinder Scout Mass trespass. <a href="https://vimeo.com/267620124" target="_blank">The previous year Jordan Carroll of WellRedFilms made a short documentary about the trespass, and included me in it.</a> Thanks to a student nurse from Sheffield, the Manchester Greenpeace group was persuaded to organise another walk to commemorate it. The weather was absolutely atrocious, with non-stop heavy rain. However, people turned out including a pregnant Social Worker and the Derbyshire badger cull saboteurs, so it was worth it.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kQRhEOPGPPM/XgfDSvtOdyI/AAAAAAAANyo/T0866ohCR2k1nFbQTmUEWZVfqGfWe5d4gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Espy%2Bvols.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kQRhEOPGPPM/XgfDSvtOdyI/AAAAAAAANyo/T0866ohCR2k1nFbQTmUEWZVfqGfWe5d4gCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Espy%2Bvols.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
The Greenpeace ship Esperanza came to London in April, possibly for almost the last time, as she's getting on a bit and has been a Greenpeace ship for 19 years. I volunteered my services as a tour guide for a day and had fun showing people around the former Soviet naval tug boat. She was about to set off on an epic journey from the Arctic to the Antarctic as part of <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/publication/21604/30x30-a-blueprint-for-ocean-protection/" target="_blank">Greenpeace's next campaign, which is to make 30% of the world's oceans marine protected areas by 2030.</a><br />
<br />
Once the public have had their look we got a peak about, and then went off for a drink with some of the crew. I headed back to Glossop, and work, just as Extinction Rebellion were arriving in town. They were to have a lot of fun.<br />
<br />
<b>May</b><br />
<br />
<div>
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aCHrtpPkYQ4/XhHUHR6idPI/AAAAAAAAN1o/LGfw9IxP8P8u_HDSuT0b2bxJQAq6KkvQQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Sami%2Bat%2BYouth%2BStrike%2Bfor%2BClimate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="637" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aCHrtpPkYQ4/XhHUHR6idPI/AAAAAAAAN1o/LGfw9IxP8P8u_HDSuT0b2bxJQAq6KkvQQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Sami%2Bat%2BYouth%2BStrike%2Bfor%2BClimate.jpg" width="265" /></a>In May I went to my first Youth Strike for Climate. I travelled into Manchester in an environmentally friendly way, and ended up staying longer than I planned as Northern Rail had messed up their trains again. It was wonderful to meet so many enthusiastic young people, even if it did make me feel old, not only because I was three times the age of the organisers, but that this was a new movement I had no connection with at all. Even XR I felt slightly attached to, as many people I've know from Earth First! and Climate Camp were part of it, but this was properly a new generation. Sami came with me, and got to meet Andy Burnham. </div>
<div>
<br />
The next day it was Envirolution, Manchester's best free day out. Once again we had sunshine and a great day out. Extinction Rebellion were the stars of the show, but Sami also had his fans. We were now pushing the Ocean Treaty campaign, which was a fairly easy ask in the circumstances. The food, music and general ambiance were again excellent, and for a day we all felt like we really could change the world.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>June</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NP15o4Sebqw/XhEmREsPTtI/AAAAAAAAN1I/oVTUH6DPUNEEh5_vzPu3TpLXfprdTpG-gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Download%2B2019%2B%252817%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="903" data-original-width="1204" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NP15o4Sebqw/XhEmREsPTtI/AAAAAAAAN1I/oVTUH6DPUNEEh5_vzPu3TpLXfprdTpG-gCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Download%2B2019%2B%252817%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
In June it was Download Festival. Greenpeave was once again running the eco-field, and I was on the team again. Whereas last year had been fun in the sun, 2019 was a bit more of a challenge. On day two my new tent had sprung a leak and my bed was afloat. That evening Jeff and I were at the bar, standing with the mud up to the top of our wellies, looking at the empty field and wondering when it would start to be fun.<br />
<br />
Well, it did become fun. The sun came out, the mud turned to a sort of sticky glue, and Def Leppard were on stage on the Friday evening. They were the top British band of the late eighties, and whilst the others of that era: Thunder, Almighty, Little Angels, all played Leicester University whilst I was there, Def Leppard were too famous so I didn't see them live. Anthrax, Smashing Pumpkins, Slipknot and Slayer, playing their last ever UK gig, were all great, but stars of the show for me were prog metal act Tool. Listening to their song individually just does not prepare you for a Tool set. Being part of the Greenpeace crew was also fun and, come Monday morning, the eco-field was once again the cleanest part of the site.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In June I also got to visit the Houses of Parliament. The occasion was a Greenpeace lobbying day on the issue of microplastics in rivers, but my local MP, Ruth George, invited me down to make a day of it. I took Number One Son, as a reward for surviving his GCSEs, and he enjoyed being whisked past security and allowed to watch Prime Ministers Questions from in front of the security screen. There is a ban on clothing with political messages in the Palace of Westminster, but I got round it by wearing a t-shirt with a message in Russian as I watched the Teresa and Jeremy show.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>July</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
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For July it was back to the Oceans Campaign. We needed a picture of ourselves painted blue at a suitable Manchester location. The Manchester weather made this difficult, but we ended up in the Science and Industry Museum in front of Stevenson's Rocket, which had just arrived.<br />
<br />
July was also the month of the New Mills One World Festival, which I hadn't been to for a few years. Greenpeace had a stall and I was a speaker. The weather was excellent and I popped off to camp in the woods afterwards.<br />
<br />
<b>August</b><br />
<br />
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The Climate Emergency came a little closer to home in August. I was on holiday in Wiltshire, enjoying the sunshine, when I was phoned by the Derbyshire Emergency Planning Team to say I was needed. Rain of Biblical proportions had fallen back home in High Peak and the 188 Toddbrook Dam, above the little town of Whaley Bridge, was about to collapse.<br />
<br />
In the end it held, thanks to hundreds of volunteers and council staff and an RAF helicopter, but it was a close run thing. Although the locals were a little put out by being given fifteen minutes to leave their homes, nobody died.<br />
<br />
<b>September</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
September was<b> </b>Wigan Diggers festival. Last year we nearly drowned, but this year the weather was very reasonable. It was a gathering of lefties, so an easy audience, but most of the other stalls appeared to be Lexit people, which was not a good sign. When the far left is campaigning for the main policy of the far right things are not looking good.<br />
<br />
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In September there was another Global Youth Strike for Climate. <a href="https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/thousands-turn-out-for-earth-strike" target="_blank">I predicted in the Morning Star </a>that it would be a big one, and fortunately I was right.<br />
<br />
Sami the polar bear had a fun day photo bombing. He ended up everywhere from The Sun <a href="https://www.rte.ie/news/galleries/2019/0920/1077138-climate-strike/" target="_blank">to RTE in Ireland</a>. The stars of the show though were the young people, who once again swarmed by in their thousands. Andy Burnham, always game for these sort of gigs, allowed himself to be grilled on stage by twelve year old Lalia, who gave him a bit of a hard time.<br />
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The next day a few of these youngsters joined us for our World Cleanup Day litter pick on the canal.<br />
This ended up being Manchester Greenpeace's best attended event of the year with about eighty people collecting on land, and a couple of canoes in the water. We bagged and tagged the rubbish, and chief culprit turned out to be McDonalds. Surprise, surprise.<br />
<br />
You don't change the world by picking up multinational company's crap for them, but litter picks, or community cleans as Greenpeace calls them, are a great way into real activism. Also, unlike a lot of campaigning, there is some tangible evidence you have made a difference afterwards.<br />
<br />
<b>October</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
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In October Manchester hosted the Greenpeace Local Groups Northwest Area conference. We were in Bridge 5 Mill in Ancoats, so the delegates were able to see an authentic bit of Industrial Manchester. As we walked to the venue we passed injecting drug users by the canal, so they saw some authentic post-Industrial Manchester too.<br />
<br />
We were briefed on what was coming next, shared a few skills, and hopefully inspired the volunteers to get more involved. We also did a quick Burger King protest afterwards, and then drank until some of us were ill.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2E2az3qiiKc/XhHpD0GFKjI/AAAAAAAAN2Y/OF9KiCq5RXsqj5wwsC5ImfZGPl6mXFDzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20191019_134657701_BURST000_COVER_TOP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="903" data-original-width="677" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2E2az3qiiKc/XhHpD0GFKjI/AAAAAAAAN2Y/OF9KiCq5RXsqj5wwsC5ImfZGPl6mXFDzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/IMG_20191019_134657701_BURST000_COVER_TOP.jpg" width="148" /></a>I had recovered enough by the following Saturday to get up very early in the morning to go on a coach to London with the Manchester People's Vote people. It's one of the biggest rallies in UK history. As a result I don't bother going on the march and just hang around in Parliament Square with Tony from XR. Talking of which I bump into the living legend that is Broccoli Man. There is a vote in parliament on Johnson's deal so we watch Parliament TV on the big screens. I've never done live politics before. The People's Vote people are very nic, but mostly they seem to be LibDem voters who hate Corbyn more than Johnson, and just wish everything was like it was before the Brexit Vote, if not the Credit Crunch. I can't see any of their arguments going down at all well north of Watford.<br />
<br />
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Monday though as I was back in Lancashire for a visit to Cuadrilla Resource's Preston New Road fracking site. I was the 101st, and hopefully last, Green Monday speaker. Sami came along for moral support. In the past speakers have included Kate Raworth and George Monbiot, but fracking in Lancashire was now in such dire straights that noone famous can even be bothered to go up there to oppose it, so they had to have me. <a href="http://thesnufkin.blogspot.com/2019/10/speech-to-101st-green-monday-at-preston.html" target="_blank">This is what I said</a>.<br />
<br />
With fracking once again suspended due to earth tremors, and no sign the government was willing to spend any more political capital on fracking, the fat lady was clearing her throat in Blackpool. It's been a long, hard struggle, and Manchester played its part with the Barton Moss campaign. These things rarely have neat resolutions, unfortunately, but things looked a lot better for us than for the frackers.<br />
<br />
Also in October came the welcome news that Sainsbury's had thrown in the towel on plastics, just like they always do when we campaign against them. As well as a fairly reasonable commitment to reduce single use plastic, they were also polite about Greenpeace in a documentary that was made about them.<br />
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<br /></div>
<b>November</b><br />
<br />
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Meanwhile the Amazon rainforest has been being burnt by Brazilian president Bolsonaro and his rancher chums. The world's voracious appetite for meat is to blame and so Greenpeace UK embarked on its first campaign to encourage people to eat less of the stuff.<br />
<br />
Burger King in are target in England. They're a pretty tough target, and our campaign gets off to a rather damp start in Manchester. Well done to the team for continuing through a torrential downpour, and to the people of Manchester for stopping to talk to some soggy activists on the streets.<br />
<br />
Just as we're getting going on the campaign though some idiot calls a general election election. Not great timing for a number of reasons, but I volunteer my services to local Labour Party anyway. Unfortunately, the High Peak Green Party don't take the hint and still stand a candidate.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>December</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
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General election campaigning continued. Basically this involved knocking on doors whilst old people said racist things to me.<br />
<br />
Ruth George put a good team together. The picture on the left, which was taken on election day, shows less than half the volunteers who were in Glossop alone that day.<br />
<br />
In the end though it was all for nothing. Real people and real issues didn't really count and Labour lost the country and the High Peak, the latter by half the Green vote.<br />
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As I prefer to get even rather than get mad, we plunge back into the Amazon campaign, and the Manchester 'secret squirrel' club pay Burger King an early morning visit.<br />
<br />
Burger King though were stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that they were even being campaigned again, let alone that they were benefiting from rainforest destruction. Meanwhile, the Amazon fires were forgotten as the Australian fires took hold.<br />
<br />
So that was 2019. Another win on plastics and commercial fracking was looking a very iffy prospect, but it would be very hard to argue the world ended the year, or the decade, in a better condition than it began either.<br />
<br />
We'll just have to do better in 2020 then.<br />
<br /></div>
Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-48869420945513677342019-10-23T12:21:00.005-07:002020-01-05T05:18:57.757-08:00Speech to 101st Green Monday at Preston New Road<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><i>I was priviledged to be invited to speak to the 101st, and possibly last, Green Monday at the Cuadrilla fracking site on Prestn New Road, just outside Blackpool, Lancashire, on 21st October 2019. I ad libbed a bit, but this is what I meant to say. </i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RahKX9UXRG8&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">Tina Louise filmed and you can watch her footage here.</a></i></b><br />
<br />
Hello
Blackpool. We bring you greetings from Manchester, and apologies for Morrissey.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">I’m Martin,
one of the coordinators of the Manchester Greenpeace Group. We have some other
Greenpeace local groups here, as well as Frack Free Greater Manchester. I used
to help them too, so I’m not sure exactly which hat I’m speaking through today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">Well, here
we are in Blackpool again, where it all began. There are two annual traditions
that bring us up here. One is the Illuminations, and the other is Cuadrilla
removing it’s equipment from Preston New Road. And, like the playing of
Christmas music in the shops, it gets earlier every year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">So we’re
here for a sort of ‘almost victory’ celebration. Fracking clearing isn’t going
anywhere, but it’s not gone yet. Instead we have a zombie industry that’s not
doing anything, just hanging around. As a result, this could be the last Green
Monday at Preston New Road. In the past you’ve had George Monbiot and Kate
Rowarth, and today you’ve got me, which I think just shows how fracking has
just fizzled out and died up here. Cuadrilla now can’t even get anyone famous to
oppose them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LS0rCV0I4cA/XbCm2BhpLuI/AAAAAAAANY8/DqSy6bNplm8wPAGR3z21YDEfMBQgcthugCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/DSCF7142.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LS0rCV0I4cA/XbCm2BhpLuI/AAAAAAAANY8/DqSy6bNplm8wPAGR3z21YDEfMBQgcthugCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/DSCF7142.JPG" width="400" /></a><span style="line-height: 107%;">It’s been
quite a story how we got to here, but you already know it so I’m not going to
tell it you again. Instead I’m going to tell you the story of what happened
when the frackers came to Manchester.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">Barton Moss
really is the edge of town. On one side is the great Manchester, Salford and
Stockport urban conglomeration. On the other it is countryside as far as
Warrington. Historically, Stephenson’s Rocket once ran along the nearby
railway. It has the first canal in Britain, the Bridgewater, and also the last,
the Manchester Ship Canal. In 2013 it became the site of test drilling by IGas.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">Earlier in
the year direct action against fracking had started at Balcombe in Sussex. The
media lapped it up. The weather was good and the journalists could be back in
London for gin and tonics by sundown. Barton Moss was different matter. The
weather was, well, Manchester, and as far as the press were concerned, we were
off the edge of the Known World. Even the Guardian, who were sympathetic,
didn’t cover us as their only journalist north of Watford Gap was covering the
Ken Loach trial. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QaQ7MF9Lno8/XbCnBQdODQI/AAAAAAAANZE/FB-_BkwYcPYskiVoVUIHzuH9S1Q9pg2sQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/DSCF7164.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QaQ7MF9Lno8/XbCnBQdODQI/AAAAAAAANZE/FB-_BkwYcPYskiVoVUIHzuH9S1Q9pg2sQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/DSCF7164.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="line-height: 107%;">There was a
camp, there were protectors, and every working day for five months they stood
in front of the daily convoy and walked them in and out of the site, with the
occasional lock-on. And, of course, there were arrests, about two hundred of
them in all. Usually five people were arrested every day. No more, no less,
giving a new meaning to getting your ‘Five a Day’. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">At first
these were for Obstruction of the Public Highway, until a judge ruled that
Barton Moss Road was a private road, and not a public highway. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">After that
people were usually arrested for Aggravated Trespass. It’s a pretty catch-all
offense, but it does require people to be actually trespassing, and we were all
fairly sure that Barton Moss Road was a Public Footpath. There was a little bit
of doubt though, as about half way through the campaign someone nicked the
Public Footpath sign from the top of the road. We did get a look at the
suspects through. They were wearing dark blue trousers, high-viz jackets and
they loaded the sign into a white van with blue lights on the roof. If you see
anyone matching this description, please let me know. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BIK9W1LLZ6I/XbCnJ2tUIBI/AAAAAAAANZM/9fLCDefTM68Ljy1SRLk3NWPsAnRIhz_BgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/DSCF7159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BIK9W1LLZ6I/XbCnJ2tUIBI/AAAAAAAANZM/9fLCDefTM68Ljy1SRLk3NWPsAnRIhz_BgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/DSCF7159.JPG" width="400" /></a><span style="line-height: 107%;">But we were
not completely forgotten. The anti-fracking campaigners of Lancashire came to
support us. I think I met most of you down there before I met you up here. Thanks
to your support we organised what where the biggest environmental protests
Manchester had ever seen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">My role was
media coordinator. IGas were claiming the Protectors were disrupting local
people whilst the media was clearly showing local people disrupting Igas. After
a few weeks IGas pretty much gave up on that front and Greater Manchester
Police took over the PR campaign. By Christmas we were starting to get noticed
in the press, mainly thanks to Reclaim the Power, who had Father Christmas drop
a wind turbine blade at the gates. Greater Manchester Police then gave us
another huge publicity boost with Flaregate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;">The flare
allegedly fired at a police helicopter. It missed the helicopter, it was also
missed by everyone in the camp, everyone at the airport, the cameras on the
M62, the cameras on the secure unit and the entire population of Irlam and
Cadishead. However, it wasn’t missed by the press, and after that a lot more of
my press releases got published. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;">I don’t know
what effect this had on the campaign here in Lancashire. You were all busy
lobbying your local counsellors to oppose this development here, but as you
were doing that inglorious work the politicians were see us on TV, listening to
us on the radio and reading about us in their papers. I don’t know what effect
it had on them, but it changed public opinion in Manchester from 43% of
Mancunians supported fracking, to 73% now opposing the process four months
later. When we voted for our first Greater Manchester Mayor in 2017 all four of
the main candidates: Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green and Conservative, opposed
fracking. <span style="background: #7FDD66;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;">Well, the
Barton Moss campaign ended, we had a party, cleaned up the site and left. The
focus of opposition to fracking moved north. A year after IGAs left Manchester,
Lancashire became the first county council to reject a fracking application. It
wasn’t the end, unfortunately, but it was significant. It meant that Cuadrilla,
when they arrived, did not have a social license for what they were doing, and
they still don’t.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;">Opposition
to fracking always existed on two levels, the local and the global. It causes
localised pollution and globalise warming. Stopping fracking is about both local
democracy and global responsibility. Here in Lancashire it must seem that every
day is the same, but in the wider word things have changed. Since we drove IGas
out of Barton Moss, Greenpeace have driven Shell out of the Arctic. We’ve had
the Paris Conference and Extinction Rebellion, Greta Thunberg and the School
Strike for Climate. Fracking was always a toxic industry, but fossil fuels in
general are now a toxic brand. No New Oil has been a campaign slogan for a
while, but maybe, after the abject failure of fracking in Lancashire, there
really will be no new oil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;">Fracking was
always the last gasp of the fossil fuel dinosaurs. Now extinction is a very
real possibility, and they know it. Few people in this country had heard of
fracking before the earthquakes in Lancashire in 2011, and after this year I
imagine very few people will hear about it again. Cuadrilla will be forgotten,
as they should be. But you people, the campaigners from Manchester, and
Lancashire, as well as those in Yorkshire, and Sussex and everywhere else, will
not be forgotten. Barton Moss was the ‘rise of the resistance’. Here was where
is reached its peak. Here is where you won. Here is where we said the final
‘frack off’. Well done. <span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-81302653584878556802019-07-19T14:26:00.002-07:002019-07-20T09:05:08.763-07:00Top Five Songs inspired by the Space RaceIt's fifty years since the Space Race ended. America had won, and that was all that counted. Nobody was interested in what happened next. As if to prove the point, the original series of Star Trek was canned a full month before Apollo 11 touched down.<br />
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The Space Race was only ever really a proxy for the Cold War. Rockets that could carry people into space could also, obviously, carry atomic bombs back down to earth. The main reason the Russians held their early lead in the race was because their nuclear warheads were bigger and heavier and so their rockets needed to be more powerful.<br />
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However, whilst the technical legacy of space race is mixed - and before anyone says it Teflon was patented in 1945 and was not developed by NASA - it's musical legacy is much richer. Picking just five songs to represent it was difficult, but here I go.<br />
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Click on the heading to listen to the song.<br />
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<b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn6TNWVjZP0" target="_blank">5. <i>Telestar</i> by The Tornados</a> </b><br />
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Dylan aside, not many songs from the early sixties, the era of the Clean Cut Crooner, have stood the test of time, and it's arguable really if this one has. However, people remember it fondly and it turns up on various compilation albums.<br />
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The song is now more famous than the satellite, which is a bit of a pity as the original Telstar 1, launched in July 1962, was the world's first communication satellite. It wasn't in geostationary orbit, so it didn't exactly fulfil the roll that Arthur C Clarke had predicted back in 1945, but it was able to provide the first live trans-Atlantic link.<br />
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Communication satellites have changed the world far more than walking on the moon ever did, so it's only fair to remember the original.<br />
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<b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WufKsOhkTL8" target="_blank">4.<i> Thus Spoke Zarathustra</i> by Richard Strauss</a></b><br />
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This piece of music was not written for the space race.It was in fact written in 1896 by Strauss, a composer with unfortunate Nazi connections, inspired by a book by Friedrich Nietzsche, a philosopher with unfortunate Nazi connections. However, the only part of the hour long piece that most people know is the opening section called Sunrise, and that's because of it's use in the 1968 film <i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i>.<br />
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Until pictures of the real thing came back a year later, this film was what people thought exploring the moon looked like. In fact, there's a strong argument for saying that Kubrick's film is better than the real thing; it's both more poetic, but also a lot more troubling. Utterly incomprehensible to most people who first see it, a re-watching shows 2001 to be a fascinating and complex critique of the culture that put man-on-the-moon. From the scene above which links the ape creatures to the near future (as 2001 was in 1968), when the leader's bone weapon thrown in the air turns into an orbiting nuclear missile, to the complete lack of emotion in the space station scenes, to the murderous-but-honest computer HAL, to the acid-trip ending; Stanley Kubrick took Arthur C Clarke's hard sci-fi tale of First Contact and subtlety turned it on its head.<br />
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Real astronauts watched the film too, and the crew of Apollo 13, who named their command module <i>Odyssey</i>, were listening to this piece of music just before the explosion that suddenly made the space race interesting again.<br />
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<b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goh2x_G0ct4" target="_blank">3. <i>Whitey On The Moon</i> by Gil Scott-Heron</a></b><br />
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Armstrong and Aldrin's successful trip to the moon and back inspired a number of pop songs, most fairly trivial offerings. Scott-Heron's spoken word piece though is not. A jazz poet from Chicago, he was very much aware that billions of dollars had been spent on putting two white guys on the moon, whilst millions of his fellow people of colour still lived in poverty.<br />
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One particular beef of his, as you can tell from the lyrics, was the lack of affordable healthcare. Still a live issue today, but in 1969, when most working class men would be in the type of job that still came with health insurance, one that was even more racially divisive than today.<br />
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Other songs on a similar vein were to be made in the years to come, with H<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGyeULvpQdY" target="_blank">awkwind's Uncle Sam's On Mars</a>, which compares the destruction of the environment here on earth with the delusions of space exploration, being one of my favourites. This song was the original though, and Hawkwind's knowing riff on the same theme. For it's power and relevance Scott-Heron is the perfect response to Apollo 11.<br />
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<b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHIo6qwJarI" target="_blank">2. <i>Go!</i> by Public Service Broadcasting</a></b><br />
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The Apollo moon landings, of course, came with their own soundtrack, and musicians have been sampling the recordings of the astronauts speaking to mission control ever since they were made, but nobody has made such good use of them as Public Sector Broadcasting.<br />
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Part of their album The Race For Space, which is made up entirely of sample audio set to music, Go! tells the story of Apollo 11 from the point of view of the folks at Mission Control. As the tension builds we are intruded to the people who will ultimately decide is the eagle lands or not, the Mission Controllers. Under the super-cool direction of Flight Director Gene Kranz, we are introduced to the laconic FIDO (which stands for Flight Dynamics Officer), the excitable Guidance and the rest of the chorus.<br />
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The original recordings are out there to be listened to if you want to, although it's not terribly exciting. "The eagle has landed", for example, was said for the press and the actual moment of reaching the moon was marked by Aldrin simply saying "Contact light". Even the very real drama of that did occur during the landing is underplayed.<br />
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In the song you can Armstrong call "1202 alarm" as the Eagle descends. This indicated that the spaceships navigation computer, which probably had less processing power than your washing machine, was overloaded with data and was rebooting itself. Kranz turned to 25 year old NASA engineer Jack Garman to make the decision. Abort the mission and America may not achieve Kennedy's dream of landing on the moon before the decade was out. Fail to abort and Armstrong and Aldrin's trip could be one way. In the end Garman called "Go", trusting his programming to keep the computer prioritising the landing. It was the right call.<br />
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The young people at Mission Control may not have taken the same risks as the astronauts, but it was their cool that got the fly-boys to the moon.<br />
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<b><a href="https://preview.msn.com/es-es/entretenimiento/story/david-bowie-space-oddity/vi-AAEaK1j" target="_blank">1. <i>Space Oddity</i> by David Bowie</a></b><br />
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Well, obviously Bowie was going to be Number One.<br />
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Coming out nine days before that 'giant leap for mankind', Bowie has been the soundtrack for the moon landings for almost fifty years. I say 'almost' because the track only reached number 5 in the UK charts in 1969, and most people didn't hear of Bowie again until he reappeared as Ziggy Stardust three years later. Space Oddity was re-released in 1975 and finally became the number one it should have been in '69.<br />
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There's nothing I can say about this song that's not already been said. What's interesting to me though, firstly, is how the lyrics owe more to Dan Dare than Neil Armstrong. We have 'countdown' rather than 'launch sequence', 'ground control' rather than 'mission control', 'capsule' rather than 'command module' and so on.<br />
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It's also a very maudlin song, a eulogy to the Space Race. The space fantasies of the comic book of the fifties had finally come to pass, and they were frankly a bit disappointing. All this comes across in the character of Major Tom. A remarkably English type of astronaut, he seems to take a jaundiced view of the fame that comes with space travel. And this, don't forget, was a song that came out a week before Apollo 11 took off. Genius.<br />
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<br />Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-54042894254507711332019-06-09T06:37:00.000-07:002019-06-09T06:37:07.527-07:00BRIXMIS: The best untold story of the Cold War?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sometimes, I think I’m the only one who’s ever heard of BRIXMIS. Often I talk to people who think they know a lot about covert operations and secret missions of the Cold War, but find they’ve never heard of it. It’s nice to know there is someone else, at least, out there who knows about it.</div>
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I suppose at this point I should explain, for the benefit of readers other than the one who posted the question, what BRIXMIS was and why it is one of the best stories of the Cold War that (almost) nobody knows.</div>
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As everybody does know, Germany was carved up between the Britain, France , the USA and the Soviet Union after the Second World. Whilst relationships between the western allies and the Soviet block were still relatively friendly, an agreement was reached whereby each party would be allowed a small military mission in the others territory. These missions would have quasi-diplomatic status, meaning they could move around unhindered by the military or civilian police.</div>
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The British mission, BRIXMIS, was set up first and was the largest. The other three were considerably smaller. The Soviet Union used their mission, SOXMIS, to run secret agents. The western allies also used their to spy, but did so very differently.</div>
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Being bigger, BRIXMIS ran three-man teams. The French and Americans used two man teams, which were less effective. They wore military uniforms and drove western cars, but were able to move freely around East Germany. There were, officially, some restrictions on where they could go, but they were usually ignored.</div>
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As a result BRIXMIS teams were able to see first hand the Warsaw Pact in action. When Soviet armoured divisions mobilised in radio silence and deployed on the West German border, BRIXMIS watched. When four Russian divisions were mobilised in four days to surround West Berlin, BRIXMIS was there.</div>
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They also did a lot more than just observe. By the 1980s a stand MO had been worked out for BRIXMIS. An Intelligence Corps Officer was in command, a Royal Corps of Transport driver was at the wheel, and the third person on the team was usually seconded from the SAS. Tours would last several days, with the teams sleeping in the woods, often in the middle of huge formations of Soviet troops.</div>
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(You see why this is such a great story? Everyone remembers the SAS in Malaya and Borneo and Oman and the Falklands, but who lists East Germany as one of their Cold War deployments?)</div>
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At the start of the eighties the teams drove Range Rovers or special four wheel drive Opel Senators, but by the end they were given Mercedes G Wagons. This was important because, as each BRIXMIS team deployed, it would be given a Stasi escort. However, the poor old secret police in their Trabants or Wartburgs had no chance against a RCT driver at the wheel of a high powered 4x4. Once free of their chaperone, the BRIXMIS teams could start their work. Usually this would mean getting out of the vehicle and having a scout around on foot to see what could be found.</div>
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The intelligence coups of BRXMIS were quite significant. Rooting around in a dustbin after a Warsaw Pact exercise one team uncovered a guide to all the Soviet weapon systems, with special mention of all their defects. On another occasion a key to the top hatch of a T-64 tank was fashioned from a photograph, and so when one of these brand new tanks was found parked up and unguarded the team were able to unlock it, pop inside and take some photos of a vehicle many Soviet officers didn’t even know existed.</div>
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Sometimes the team would take some trophies home with them. These included empty shell casing from the new AK-74 assault rifle, a sample of reactive armour, and even the radar and engines from a crashed Yak-28.</div>
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The BRIXMIS teams also got to observe the Soviet military in operation at close hand. If the Cold War turned hot the SAS would operate as stay-behind parties, sabotaging the Soviet logistics. The SAS who deployed with BRIXMIS were therefore interested to find that very few Warsaw Pact officers were ever given maps, and that the movement of Russian units depended on teams going out to put up road signs beforehand. The SAS were therefore briefed that these people would be a priority target in wartime.</div>
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Save to say the Soviet and East German authorities didn’t take too kindly to this sort of snooping. They couldn’t actually stop BRIXMIS without also losing SOXMIS, and that was too valuable for them to do this. Instead, they could make life as hard as possible, whilst arranging the occasional little ‘accident’.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gWRsFOE_VGo/XP0KjFWY2qI/AAAAAAAAMOg/Zxf3ANeG-3sgMYhJBfhm6PZnVS9s5dymgCLcBGAs/s1600/main-qimg-c6c907854231e91b1b7b68018bcf10fa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="888" height="257" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gWRsFOE_VGo/XP0KjFWY2qI/AAAAAAAAMOg/Zxf3ANeG-3sgMYhJBfhm6PZnVS9s5dymgCLcBGAs/s400/main-qimg-c6c907854231e91b1b7b68018bcf10fa.jpg" width="400" /></a>Teams found where they shouldn’t be could be detained for a few hours. Anyone who went<i> </i>too far, like the American team which refused to stop at a checkpoint and ran over a Soviet guard, could be declared <i>persona non grata</i> and sent home.</div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: q_serif, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", "Hiragino Kaku Gothic Pro", Meiryo, serif; font-size: 16px;">The ‘accidents’ though, were another matter. These usually involved lorries which swerved across the road to take out a BRIXMIS vehicle. The photo on the right shows what happened to a French team. One photo taken by BRIXMIS shows a heavy Soviet tractor unit, hastily detached from the pontoon it had been towing, charging like a raging bull towards them across a dusty plain, still training wires and other bits of bridge. Several missions vehicles were lost in this way, and others in more ordinary accidents.</span><br />
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Other ways of dealing with the missions were even more direct. BRIXMIS teams were sometimes shot at, but never hit. However, on 24 March 1985 Major Arthur ‘Nick’ Nicholson of American USMLM was shot by a guard at a Russian tank storage facility. Major Nicholson died several hours later after being refused medical attention. The resulting diplomatic freeze saw the US boycott a planned joint celebration of the 40th anniversary of the ending of the Second World War.</div>
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But back to the original question, why doesn’t BRIXMIS get the recognition it deserves? I really have no idea. There is a good book on them, and it’s by Tony Geraghty whose <i>Who Dares Wins</i> was required reading for teenage boys when I was growing up. I’m surprised more people haven’t read his <i>BRIXMIS</i>.</div>
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I’m also surprised it doesn’t appear in more books about the SAS. I first learnt about BRIXMIS in Ken Connor’s book about the Regiment. However, Connor’s book is a factual account of the history of the SAS, whereas most books on the subject are mostly fiction. You can add imaginary firefights in Iraq quite easily, but I guess you couldn’t really get away with making up shootouts in Cold War East Germany.</div>
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This is all a pity because it’s a great story. This is Major General P G Williams CMG OBE, a BRIXMIS tour commander in the 1980s:</div>
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<i>“It is already impossible to recreate a true impression of the fantastic atmosphere of professionalism, enthusiasm and camaraderie that characterised life in BRIXMIS. The job itself was exhilarating, not infrequently dangerous and undoubtedly addictive; it really was the ‘Great Game’ of the Cold War, played out in the forests and farmland of regions with evocative names like Mecklenburg, Brandenburg and Saxony.”</i></div>
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I suspect BRIXMIS will remain a secret until such a time as someone makes a film or a TV series about it. The story is there to be told, we just need someone to tell it.</div>
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Sources:</div>
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Tony Geraghty (1996). <i>Brixmis: The Untold Exploits of Britain's Most Daring Cold War Spy Mission</i></div>
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Major General P G Williams<i> BRIXMIS in the 1980s: The Cold War's Great Game</i></div>
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Museums:</div>
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There is a BRIXMIS Opel Senator in the Cold War Museum at RAF Cosford.</div>
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Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-42384779397384533852019-06-02T04:39:00.000-07:002019-06-02T06:24:23.788-07:00The San Juan Pig War: the silliest war in history?<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5vFAc47fwaU/XPO09o36l0I/AAAAAAAAMLE/gTWxIcjqyyMasJk4BRIzVsMgskKZASG4gCLcBGAs/s1600/main-qimg-072e58ca328454c920a7c239c7ca0d08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="500" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5vFAc47fwaU/XPO09o36l0I/AAAAAAAAMLE/gTWxIcjqyyMasJk4BRIzVsMgskKZASG4gCLcBGAs/s400/main-qimg-072e58ca328454c920a7c239c7ca0d08.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "q_serif" , "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , "hiragino kaku gothic pro" , "meiryo" , serif; font-size: 15px;">The San Juan Pig War of 1859 was pretty ridiculous. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "q_serif" , "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , "hiragino kaku gothic pro" , "meiryo" , serif; font-size: 15px;">The only casualty was the pig, which I </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "q_serif" , "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , "hiragino kaku gothic pro" , "meiryo" , serif; font-size: 15px;">suppose in some ways makes it less silly than the numerous wars where people got killed, but the fact that the late porker almost caused the USA to go to war with the British Empire is very, very silly.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f9E2MpB4aLw/XPO1IWlFbCI/AAAAAAAAMLI/jRD-rM6JqbcPmzHCiIZqr0114l_pqvh2QCLcBGAs/s1600/main-qimg-368e1b1a632aae9a68d11bf6eda2b4e0.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="242" data-original-width="300" height="258" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f9E2MpB4aLw/XPO1IWlFbCI/AAAAAAAAMLI/jRD-rM6JqbcPmzHCiIZqr0114l_pqvh2QCLcBGAs/s320/main-qimg-368e1b1a632aae9a68d11bf6eda2b4e0.png" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "q_serif" , "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , "hiragino kaku gothic pro" , "meiryo" , serif; font-size: 15px;">The issue was the island of San Juan, which lies between Vancouver Island and the mainland. Nobody was sure if it was in the USA or Canada. In 1859 it was home to nineteen Americans and sixteen Brits. Sovereignty was an academic issue until 15 June that year when American farmer Lyman Cutlar shot a pig belonging to an Irishman who worked for the Hudson Bay Company. The British authorities tried to arrest Cutlar, who demanded protection from the US government. America sent in the army and Britain sent in the marines. By the middle of August 450 US troops with 14 cannon faced 5 British warships with 70 cannon and over 2000 crew.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "q_serif" , "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , "hiragino kaku gothic pro" , "meiryo" , serif; font-size: 15px;">The Americans were under the command of one General William S Harvey, a famous Indian </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "q_serif" , "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , "hiragino kaku gothic pro" , "meiryo" , serif; font-size: 15px;">fighter with a notoriously short fuse. This man had previously been court marshalled for invading Mexico without orders. Some said he had political ambitions, others that he was insane. Either way he was hardly the ideal commander for such a sensitive mission.</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YMC3sZ3nXzc/XPO1QP_AyiI/AAAAAAAAMLQ/gEi0linPTbQ8FDjmwkBxzfVZndr5p34ygCLcBGAs/s1600/main-qimg-f8272fc82b331f72b272015671fe3277.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="602" height="292" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YMC3sZ3nXzc/XPO1QP_AyiI/AAAAAAAAMLQ/gEi0linPTbQ8FDjmwkBxzfVZndr5p34ygCLcBGAs/s400/main-qimg-f8272fc82b331f72b272015671fe3277.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "q_serif" , "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , "hiragino kaku gothic pro" , "meiryo" , serif; font-size: 15px;">Sabres were rattled, threats were made, but fortunately no more than insults were exchanged. The situation eventually settled down to a cold war that lasted for thirteen years. The Civil War came and went, Canada gained it’s independence, but the standoff continued. The Americans built themselves a nice stockade, whilst the British constructed something a little more Imperial, with tennis courts and, for the commanding officer, a grand house with a ballroom and a billiard room.</span><br />
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During this time the two sides got quite friendly. There were race meetings and picnics for the officers. In the end the King of Germany was asked to arbitrate, and he decided the island was American. The Royal Navy hauled down the flag and sailed away. The Americans chopped up the flagpole and used it for firewood.</div>
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Historically the war is significant only in that the British Empire backed down without a fight and voluntarily gave up territory. That didn’t happen again until the flag was lowered in India in 1947.</div>
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Source: Heaven’s Command by Jan Morris</div>
Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-65729818168165171892019-06-01T07:44:00.000-07:002020-01-04T01:01:53.350-08:00Iran versus the USA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dYiu0PpoSbQ/XPKKZhPnNHI/AAAAAAAAMJ8/kbixLgTNC6Ej2oCVMsK91QCxOfNAdEdVQCLcBGAs/s1600/24-april-1980_operation-eagle-claw_14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="700" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dYiu0PpoSbQ/XPKKZhPnNHI/AAAAAAAAMJ8/kbixLgTNC6Ej2oCVMsK91QCxOfNAdEdVQCLcBGAs/s400/24-april-1980_operation-eagle-claw_14.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sabres are being rattled in the Persian Gulf again, and serious people are wondering whether US National Security Adviser John Bolton is trying to provoke a war between the USA and Iran. These showdowns have been happening on a regular basis over the last thirty years and they don't generally end very well - for the USA.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Thank God for the sandstorm"</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2ONkeD_-Plw/XPKKrmFzinI/AAAAAAAAMKA/NgT2USNpGj8MWY3VvnA9SnvlVZnjPcyWgCLcBGAs/s1600/iran_revolution_1979.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="480" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2ONkeD_-Plw/XPKKrmFzinI/AAAAAAAAMKA/NgT2USNpGj8MWY3VvnA9SnvlVZnjPcyWgCLcBGAs/s400/iran_revolution_1979.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Iranian revolution which swept away the massively unpopular Shah or Iran in 1979 was no surprise to anyone, except US intelligence. The American spooks had used the country to keep an eye on the strategically important Persian Gulf, but had neglected to keep an eye on the country itself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Overnight the US lost it's key regional alley. It also lost its embassy, which was seized by young Islamists. Rather ironically, Iran was to have its own embassy in London taken over by terrorists a year later. In the UK the SAS soon cleared them out in one of its most famous operations. However, in Tehran the mullah's had no such intention. If the hostages were to be rescued, the US special forces would need to do the job themselves.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">America had, by this time, it's own elite team based on the British SAS; Delta Force. However, whilst the SAS drove to Prince's Gate in their Range Rovers, Delta Force would need to take a more complicated route to the US embassy in Tehran. The plan they came up with was one of the most ambitious in history. Or, if you prefer, one of the most insane. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">The operation was to begin with a night rendezvous between eight helicopters and six transport planes at a secret location in Iran called Desert One. The choppers would then </span><span style="color: #333333;">fly the assault force another 200 miles to Desert Two, which was about fifty miles from Tehran. T</span><span style="color: #333333;">he CIA would then help the assault drive into town, where they would rescue the hostages, bus them across the city to a sports stadium, where they would be picked up by the choppers again, flown another 400 miles to an Iranian air base, which had hopefully been captured by paratroopers,and then finally fly home.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Iranians were, presumably, just going to stand by and watch. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">In the end it all went wrong very quickly, which was probably fortunate. Desert One wasn't quite the remote spot it was supposed to be and the first thing the US special forces had to do was detain a bus load of Iranians who'd been driving past. </span><span style="color: #333333;">The bus was followed by another lorry which refused to stop. The Americans decided to stop it anyway by firing an anti-tank rocket at it. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a petrol tanker and the resulting explosion lit up the desert from horizon to horizon. The driver, a smuggler probably, miraculously survived and legged it into the desert.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Undaunted the team planned to carry on, but they were already two helicopters down due to mechanical failure and the pilots, having flown through a sand storm at ultra low level, were bushed. They all agreed to call it a day, but as one of the choppers took off it stuck a tanker plane resulting in another huge explosion and the death of eight men. The surviving Americans quickly skedaddled in the surviving aircraft leaving debris scattered across the desert, and a party of extremely confused bus passengers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Had it not all gone horribly wrong so early, the assault on the airbase would probably have gone all right, although the Rangers were to struggle to carry out a similar operation in the rather more benign military environment of Grenada three years later. The rest of the mission though was just suicide. Assuming the Iranian police weren’t suspicious of several truck loads of white guys cruising round downtown Tehran, the assault on the Embassy might well have worked, although it probably wouldn’t have been either swift or surgical.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The plan of trucks in and helicopters out though was seriously flawed. It was in fact very similar to that attempted in Mogadishu in the ’Black Hawk Down’ incident. That was a smaller operation, in a similar urban environment, but was carried out much closer to the US base, used choppers much more suited to the task, and was supported by light attack helicopters and, in the end, mechanised infantry forces. It was also against an irregular opponent, not the military forces of a medium sized state.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iLZSz1sK6W4/XPKLWJLw2xI/AAAAAAAAMKU/jBdIFwWlBFQ-hDX1KFysvAdxWBvEhDYdQCLcBGAs/s1600/http___www.thefocuspull.com_wp-content_uploads_2014_12_black-hawk-down.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="693" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iLZSz1sK6W4/XPKLWJLw2xI/AAAAAAAAMKU/jBdIFwWlBFQ-hDX1KFysvAdxWBvEhDYdQCLcBGAs/s400/http___www.thefocuspull.com_wp-content_uploads_2014_12_black-hawk-down.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The most likely outcome of the mission would be the complete loss of the Delta Force team and all the helicopters, significant casualties amongst the Rangers, very significant civilian casualties and huge propaganda boost for the Iranian Revolution.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That’s my opinion, but that of those of those who would have been rescued was not favourable either. One hostage, when told of the plan after his eventual release, remarked "Thank God for the sandstorm."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b style="color: #333333;">"I will never </b><span style="color: #333333;"><b>apologise</b></span><b style="color: #333333;"> for the United States"</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hoping the country was too distracted by its revolution to put up much resistance, Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in September 1980. Like pretty much everything else Saddam did, he messed it up, and rather than a quick victory, the war turned into a prolonged bloodbath. Rather remarkably, given what was to happen in the future, the USA backed Iraq. US military aid couldn't give Saddam victory, but it did stop him losing. </span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x6u3eP30xOA/XPKLvJ0a7yI/AAAAAAAAMKk/hW-3w7gCL6gA5kNIFj-ceIWydEMMxpEqwCLcBGAs/s1600/uss_vincennes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="660" height="181" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x6u3eP30xOA/XPKLvJ0a7yI/AAAAAAAAMKk/hW-3w7gCL6gA5kNIFj-ceIWydEMMxpEqwCLcBGAs/s400/uss_vincennes.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Unable to win the ground war, Iran decided to play its trump card, by launching attacks on shipping passing through the Straits of Hormuz. Faced with the prospect of having the world's oil supply choked off the US Navy went into action and in a series of operation they sank pretty much anything the Iranians put to see larger than a rowing boat. Iraq's contribution to this was to hit the US frigate Stark with an Exocet missile, but they were allowed to get away with that as they were the 'good guys'. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Unfortunately, being the USA, they didn't stop there. in April 1988 the cruiser USS Vincennes was deployed to the Persian Gulf. In a few months of operations it gained the nickname 'Robocruiser' for its willingness to engage the Iranian Navy. Unfortunately, it's aggression was not matched by its competence. On 3 July 1988 it was pursuing Iranian gunboats into Iranian waters when its radar operators completely lost track of the air picture. Mistaking a scheduled Iran Air Airbus for an attacking F14 fighter plane the Vincennes shot down the civilian airliner and killed 290 people. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Despite gung-ho coverage of the tragedy in the US media, the rest of the world was quite clear who was responsible, and the USA ended up paying $132 million in compensation, although significantly there was no apology. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Terrible, uncertain, chaotic, bloody business"</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 2002 the War on Terror had only got as far as Afghanistan, but the USA was already casting around for other enemies. With this background the US military decide to carry out a wargame called Millennium Challenge 2002, in which an American, 'Blue', force attacked that of an unknown Middle Eastern enemy. Called 'Blue' force, they were without doubt meant to be Iran. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To command the 'Red' force they dragged out of retirement Marine General Paul K Van Ripper. General Ripper sounds like a joke name, and to be honest he sounds like a joke general. Wounded in Vietnam whilst attacking an enemy machine gun, he eventually ended up an honorary member of the Provost Marshal's office, during which time he'd spend his lunch breaks giving out speeding tickets. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Millennium Challenge was to show that Ripper was either a military genius, or a neo-Luddite who hated technology, or possibly both. He certainly had a pragmatic attitude to war, which he described as a "terrible, uncertain, chaotic, bloody business." It certainly was to turn out to be that for 'Blue'. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Facing an opponent with a much greater ability to wage electronic warfare, Ripper used motorcycle couriers to pass orders, and signal lamps to launch aircraft. When Blue issued its ultimatum to Red, Ripper used this to guess where the Blue fleet was and sent out small boats to find them. Preempting Blue's preemptive strike, he overwhelmed their fleet with a barrage of missiles launched from land, commercial ship and aircraft flying in radio silence. He followed this up with waves of kamikaze boats filled with explosives. "The whole thing was over in five, maybe ten minutes," said Van Ripper. Blue lost nineteen ships including an aircraft carrier, several cruisers and five amphibious ships. 20,000 - fortunately imaginary - sailors died. The aftermath, Van Ripper said, was "an eerie silence. Like people really didn't know what to do next."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Faced with a $250 million exercise scheduled to last two weeks being over in less than a quarter of an hour, the make believe ships were re-floated and the exercise continued, although Van Ripper was now told to stick to the script. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's difficult to know what lessons the US military learnt from MC '02, as the next year they launched a very different sort of attack on, not Iran, but Iraq, which turned out to be a very different sort of disaster. </span></div>
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<br />Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-47709212426023335822019-05-05T10:26:00.001-07:002019-05-05T11:30:37.754-07:00Electric Rallycross<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Is one of the world’s top motorsport series about to go electric? Quite possibly, and we’re not talking Scalextric here, but real motorsport. This is going to be big news, or at least it will be if it happens. This is the story.<br />
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The FIA, which stands for International Automobile Federation, only in French, currently licenses four motorsport world championships. These are Formula One, Rallying, Endurance Cars and the World Rallycross Championship. The Americans may dispute this, but these four series are the pinnacle of motorsport. And guess what? One of them, Rallycross, has announced it’s to go electric. All electric. They’re not just going to allow electric cars, like several other series are doing so, nor are they going to run a parallel series, like Formula E, but the whole series is to go electric. If all goes to plan, when the cars line up for the start of the first race of the 2021 World RX Championship, every single one will be an EV.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So how did we get here? Well, rallycross was a British invention, making it one of the few branches of motorsport that was not initially in French. It is a cross between rallying and circuit racing. Cars would race together round a short circuit that was half tarmac and half gravel. The inaugural event was at Lydden Hill in Kent in 1967 and was shown on World of Sport.<o:p></o:p></div>
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it watchable. Formula One costs a fortune and nobody overtakes, rallying takes place in the middle of nowhere and endurance racing goes on forever. With rallycross though you can sit yourself down in the grandstand and watch every moment of a day of close racing. As in rallying, the cars look like ordinary cars, but they are four-wheel drive, turbocharged and very, very fast. An event consists of a number of races. Each race lasts no more than five minutes so they’re short enough to be shared in an email. To spice things up a bit more a recent innovation is the Joker Lap, which adds a bit of tactics to the mix.<br />
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Rallycross was a staple of Saturday TV when I was growing up in the seventies and my first Scalextric Set that I would was called the Mini Rallycross. However, outside of my bedroom, rallycross in the UK never quite made it to the first tier of motorsport. There was a European Championship, but the only people who took it seriously were the Scandinavians. However, all that changed in 2014, when the FIA made rallycross the fourth of its world series. Big names from the world of rallying and racing signed up and the car manufacturers chipped in money and expertise. World RX was off the starting line and quickly became the most exciting motorsport on the planet.<o:p></o:p></div>
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None of that is likely to get the average Greenpeacer too excited though. However, the news that came out at the start of last year might: rallycross would go all electric in 2020. This was a major announcement. It meant that every single rallycross car currently being used would be obsolete. Everyone would need new vehicles. Although it’s the teams with manufacturer backing that usually win the races, most of the field in rallycross is smaller, private teams. They would be allowed to make their own electric cars, but realistically they’d be looking to buy them. The FIA therefore needed to know that there were enough manufacturers interested both to make sure the season had enough works and private teams to make it interesting. The date of the changeover was initially 2020, then 2021, but the FIA said it had four companies interested and that it would definitely be happening. Prototypes of the cars have been built and they are at least as powerful as the current supercars, which means 500bhp plus and 0-100kmh in two seconds.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Then, in summer 2018, the wheels started to come off the wagon. Why this happened is still being debated, but over the course of the second half of the year the big manufacturers dropped out of the sport one by one. In their wake several of the big-name drivers moved on. Increasing costs, the general direness of the world economy and the domination of the championship by one team (VW) have all been cited as reasons, plus the fact the rallycross, as the new kid on the block, doesn’t have the resilience of other series to survive these sorts of setbacks. As things stand, we know the 2019 series will be going ahead in April, but we don’t know who’ll be in it. Many of the regular drivers are still trying to find cars, or money, or both.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So where does this lead the FIAs electric dreams? Officially the plans are still going ahead. Unofficially the fear is that with a diminished series, audiences and sponsors will depart, and that the manufacturers will reconsider splashing out big money on electric supercars. More optimistic voices think this could be a blessing in disguise, that rallycross will become more interesting now more teams will have a chance of winning.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So as things stand the 2012 World Rallycross Championship will certainly sound very different, although what it will look is still uncertain. Making the car on the track electric in itself won’t reduce the carbon footprint of the sport much, as most of the emissions for an event are from the spectators. However, as anyone who’s been to watch motorsport knows, road going versions of the cars on the track very quickly become the desirable cars in the car park. So, if it happens, rallycross going electric should be great news for both eco-warriors and petrolheads, if you’ll be able to still call them that.<o:p></o:p></div>
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To get a flavour of what World RX is like click here:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here is a test of an electric rallycross car here:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-50762287568502004492019-01-29T07:48:00.002-08:002019-02-09T16:16:37.820-08:00Harry Lies: Propaganda in Shakespeare's Henry V<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!"</i></span></b><br />
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We live in a post-truth age. Conflicts rage around the world, but nobody can agree on who started them, who's going to end them or even who's actually been killed in them. If only we lived in a simpler age, one in which the who, the why and the how of warfare was much clearer. Shakespeare's age, for example.<br />
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Well, maybe not. Shakespeare wrote a lot of Histories, but there wasn't much history in them. Most of them were about Henries: three Henry VIs, two Henry IVs and a Henry V. It was, as Ben Elton put it, a veritable Henry Theatrical Universe. But it was also a fictional, theatrical universe.<br />
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In that universe it it Henry V that remains the most well known and well quoted. Like all Shakespeare it's hotly debated what it is all about. Even the question of whether it is pro or anti war is still up for debate. In no small part this is because Shakespeare never wrote with simple themes. The play is both pro <i>and</i> anti war, because that's the way Shakespeare seemed to want it.<br />
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However, there does seem to me one theme in Henry V that is quite clear, and I'm surprised how little it is discussed given its relevance to today. It seems to me that whilst it may sit on the fence on the morality of conflict, it is very much a master class on one particular aspect of war: propaganda. Throughout the play the words and actions of the principle characters are often jarringly at odds. What is being said and what is being done are often at ninety degrees to each other. Shakespeare may never have seen a real war, but he clearly knew what the first casualty was.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Now all the youth of England are on fire"</i></span></b><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9ck6L7wwfDc/XE4xe5G90eI/AAAAAAAAKTg/jQOXwLt2sU8vgD5AXQ07WSbJZg0ptHUEgCLcBGAs/s1600/FirstFolioPg68-69.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1140" data-original-width="1600" height="285" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9ck6L7wwfDc/XE4xe5G90eI/AAAAAAAAKTg/jQOXwLt2sU8vgD5AXQ07WSbJZg0ptHUEgCLcBGAs/s400/FirstFolioPg68-69.jpg" width="400" /></a>In case there is any doubt that this is a theme of the play Shakespeare, through the mouth of Chorus, pretty much tells us this right at the start. Apologising for the limitations of the theatre, Chorus says we will only be dealing with "<i>imaginary forces</i>". There will be no actual battles, only words. This point loses it a bit today as most people - including me - have only seen Henry V on screen, where we do actually get very realistic fight.<br />
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The disinformation though starts well before the fighting. The play begins with Chorus asking us to imagine in the theatre:<br />
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<i>Are we now confined two mighty monarchs</i><br />
<i>Whose high upreared and abutting fronts </i><br />
<i>The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder</i><br />
<br />
However this is immediately followed by the appearance of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Ely, who are discussing Henry's plans to tax the church. In response they plan to distract Henry by having him claim his right to a chunk of France, knowing this will lead to war. The cause of the war is never mentioned again by any of the characters, and is usually forgotten by the audience as well, which I suspect is Shakespeare's point.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more"</i></span></b><br />
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And so we fast forward to the action: the siege of Harfleur.<br />
<br />
Except that we don't. As Act III begins, with Harry's speech urging his men to death or glory, the attack has already failed. The speech is immediately followed by a cut to the ordinary soldiers Nym, Bandolph and Pistol, who have decided that enough is enough. But this is just the Bard warming up. The real hit comes next. Henry stands before the city gates and gives the following blood-curdling speech.<br />
<br />
<i>If I begin the battery once again,<br style="background-color: white;" />I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur<br style="background-color: white;" />Till in her ashes she lie buried.<br style="background-color: white;" />The gates of mercy shall be all shut up,<br style="background-color: white;" />And the flesh'd soldier, rough and hard of heart,<br style="background-color: white;" />In liberty of bloody hand shall range<br style="background-color: white;" />With conscience wide as hell, mowing like grass<br style="background-color: white;" />Your fresh-fair virgins and your flowering infants.</i><br />
<i>What is't to me, when you yourselves are cause,<br style="background-color: white;" />If your pure maidens fall into the hand<br style="background-color: white;" />Of hot and forcing violation?</i><br />
<br />
The point here is not just that our brave hero is threatening the murder or rape of the civilians of the town, which is in itself a pretty eye-opening thing for a noble hero to be doing. Nor is it that he's blaming the French for it, which is one of the oldest propaganda tricks in the book. The real point is that he is threatening something he can't possibly do. The attack has failed, all he has left is bluff.<br />
<br />
But it works. The French are in an equally parlous state, and throw in the towel.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers"</span></i></b><br />
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But what really shows that Harry has the gift of the gab though is his speech on the battlefield of Agincourt.<br />
<br />
It is, of course, quite magnificent, enough to make even the most cowardly pacifist take up a longbow and pot a Frenchie or two. However amongst the flowery rhetoric are some pretty bonkers suggestions. Such as:<br />
<br />
<i>The fewer men, the greater share of honour.</i><br />
<i>God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
This is clearly nuts. Following this logic Harry should send the army home and fight the French alone. What's more, even Henry clearly doesn't mean it. He has put every man he has into the battle line, leaving his baggage train guarded by only young boys, and if he had more men he'd have no doubt put them into the field too. His words do not match his actions.<br />
<br />
But, once again, it works. His men fight better than the enemy and win the battle.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">"Then every soldier kill his prisoners"</span></i></b><br />
<br />
And so we come to the most controversial part of the play, so controversial it's usually missed out.<br />
<br />
It's Act IV, Scene VI. The battle has been going on for three scenes now and the French army has broken. Hal does not know this yet though, and at the end of the scene the French appear to be attacking again.<br />
<i><br /></i><i>But, hark! what new alarum is this same?</i><br />
<i>The French have reinforced their scatter'd men</i><br />
<i>Then every soldier kill his prisoners</i><br />
<i>Give the word through</i><br />
<br />
Yes, brave Harry has just ordered his men to kill unarmed prisoners of war.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="4.6.39" style="background-color: white;"><br /></a>
However, it is a false alarm, the battle is in fact won. However at the start of Scene VII he comes across the consequences of putting every man into the battle line. The French have sneaked round the back killed the boys who he had left defending the baggage. Surveying their bodies Shakespeare has Henry say<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I was not angry since I came to France</i><br />
<i>Until this instant.</i><br />
<i>Besides, we'll cut the throats of those we have</i><br />
<i>And not a man of them that we shall take</i><br />
<i>Shall taste our mercy.</i><br />
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So Henry has just told his men to massacre the French prisoners <i>again</i>. Why is Hal telling his men to kill people who are already dead?<br />
<br />
Here we have Shakespeare using propaganda in a way that echoes all too readily in modern ears. The two armies have each committed what we would today call war crimes, and although they didn't have that term then, in an Age of Chivalry killing prisoners of war and boys was still not considered a terribly good thing. However, Henry now intends to justify his atrocities by pretending the French started it. His order to kill the prisoners, issued rashly out of perceived military necessity, has just been spun to be an understandable response to Gallic frightfulness. <br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">"T</span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">hey lost France and made his England bleed</span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">"</span></i></b><br />
<br />
So Hal wins his battle, and then the hand of the fair Kate, daughter of the King of France. But how does Shakespeare's most jingoistic play actually end? With Chorus summing it all up.<br />
<br />
He again apologises for the limitations of the theatre, calls England "<i>the world's best garden</i>", then ends with a zinger: "<i>... left his son imperial lord. Henry the Sixth, in infant bands crown'd King Of France and England</i>." Henry VI, the subject of Shakespeare's first three histories, was the king whose failures lost France and led to the Wars of the Roses. The entire story of Henry V then meant nothing. It was all just propaganda.<br />
<br />
The huge irony about Henry V being a play <i>about</i> propaganda though is that it ended up being used <i>as</i> propaganda. All his Histories were puff-pieces for the Tudors really, but in the years since then it was generally Henry V that was rolled out when a bit of fiery rhetoric was needed. Lawrence Olivier's magnificent 1944 film version was just that, with the French standing in for the Nazis, which was a bit mean as they were on our side in that war.<br />
<br />
Actually though this is a bit more than irony. Writing a play about the lies and deceptions that send young men to their deaths in pointless conflicts, that ends up getting used to send young men to their deaths in pointless conflicts is slightly more than just ironic. It's actually an epic fail.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-47744308475622126812019-01-27T07:37:00.002-08:002020-06-07T10:36:07.706-07:00Fatherland UK<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If the Nazis won the war it seems to be assumed that the Holocaust would be covered up, a guilty secret that must be kept. <i>Fatherland</i> by Robert Harris is the best known example of this trope.<br />
<br />
The reality though would probably be different. Two hundred years later, with democracy restored, the Holocaust would in fact be a subject of study at school. There would be be academic books and TV programs on the subject, and a Holocaust museum which bored school children would be taken to visit.<br />
<br />
Some people would no doubt be pointing out that antisemitism was still rife in society, that Jewish people were still subject to racist abuse from more ignorant members of the public, were more likelly to be stopped by the police or sent to prison, and that the government was still 'accidentally' deporting British Jews back to Palestine. However these few lone voices would usually be shouted down as 'unpatriotic snowflakes' or 'social justice warriors' who 'hate Britain'.<br />
<br />
More enlightened commentators would give a 'more balanced' view of the Third Reich. They would point to the suppression of communism, the national parks, the motorways and the campaign against smoking. They would acknowledge that the Holocaust happened, of course, but point out the ruinous folly of embarking on another world war to stop it. Meanwhile, the number of prominent Jews in society would be evidence of how much progress had been made. Why, even in New Berlin these days these you can buy menorahs in the gift shops.<br />
<br />
However some problems would continue. One thorny issue might be the statue of John Amery, the leader of the British Free Corps, standing proudly near his home in Chelsea. It wouldn't just be his statue either. There would be the issue of Amery College, Oxford, the Amery Hospital and the other benevolent institutions he founded. The 'social justice warriors' would be campaigning to get rid of the lot.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Statue of Edward Colston in Bristol</td></tr>
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But if Amery's statue was to go, others would argue, what about the one of Churchill in Parliament Square? Was he not also a right wing conservative, a big fan of the British Empire, and at least partly responsible for a million deaths in the Bengal Famine? True, if Churchill had had his way he would have had Amery shot for treason, but why should such intolerance be respected?<br />
<br />
The British Free Corps is part of our history, most people would say, we should be proud of it and the part it played in making Britain great again. We should be free to fly the swastika with pride and celebrate 'our boys' who died bravely fighting in Russia.<br />
<br />
Most people though would be just fed up of the whole business.<br />
<br />
(This blog is influenced by - meaning blatantly plagiarised from - <i>Fatherlands</i> by Jack Graham, <a href="http://www.eruditorumpress.com/blog/fatherlands/" target="_blank">which can be found here)</a><br />
<br />Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-84715811311327647022019-01-01T15:45:00.000-08:002019-02-16T01:51:24.292-08:00Review of the Year 2018<span style="font-size: large;"><b>January</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Another year on planet Earth, and it really does appear that the lunatics are now running the asylum. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Greenpeace's big campaign this year was trying to create the world's largest ocean sanctuary in the Weddell Sea. The grand plan is for a third of the world's oceans to eventually be protected, starting in the Antarctic. This will help the fight against Climate Change, but equally importantly it may help species survive Climate Change. Given what's going on in the world that might be very necesary. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Greenpeace sent us some paper penguin masks, which Paul in Ashton assembled </span>for us. Their first action was a photo shoot. We decided to use Castlefields, and so we assemble in the Science Museum cafe. Steve did a fantastic job on the photography and Nuria lent some genuine modelling skills to proceedings.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">The combination of rain and industrial architecture gave the pictures an authentic 'Manchester' vibe. <a href="https://greenpeace.org.uk/2018-in-pictures/" target="_blank">The photo above ended up getting used a lot by Greenpeace in their own publicity,</a> which was great. Greenpeace certainly came up trumps on the design, but unfortunately they didn't make them waterproof. RIP four penguin masks. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Also in January the Manchester Metropolitan University Geography and Environment Society showed the Bruce Parry film Tawai. We took the penguins there too. For my money there was too much musing that 'we are all to blame' and not enough blaming of corporations for my money, but it was still a good film.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Finally we were out and about as once again London managed to breach it's air pollution limit for the year whilst it was still January. The metrics in Manchester are slightly different, but the problem is still the same, as are the main culprits: diesel cars and vans. Greenpeace Actions Team people had been around putting up coughing people on billboards during the week, but the torrential Manchester rain washed them all away. As a result it was up to Steve and I to go and put some back up again for the photos.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>February</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Being an old fashioned sort I count February as the start of spring, so every year the family goes to see the snowdrops at Hopton Hall, near Matlock. February, when the first flowers appear, was always the start of spring in pagan time, and why not?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">It was cold, but there was no snow yet. However somewhere where there was snow, and where it was even colder, was Antarctica, where the Arctic Sunrise was exploring the Weddell Sea. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2hhONNT3gU" target="_blank">Greenpeace sent Bond villain Javier Bardem down in a minisub to explore</a>, making him one of only a handful of people to see the unique underwater eco-system. I'm not jealous. Honest. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: small;">It's a long way from Manchester to the Antarctic, but it turns out there is a connection. I got in touch with Dr Max Jones of Manchester Univeristy and he told me about Manchester's role in the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. It was such a good story I decided to book him for a talk. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>March</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Our own snow arrived in March, and almost put paid to any serious organising for the month. However we did eventually manage a meeting, in our new venue of the Lass O'Gowrie pub on Charles Street. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">We were back to saving the Antarctic again, and this time the target was Antarctic krill, which is increasingly appearing on the shelves of our health food shops as Omega III supplements. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Greenpeace's first target was Holland and Barrett, but they threw in the towel after only four days. By the time Manchester got involved we were onto target number two: Boots. A team of secret squirrels visited four branches of Boots in Manchester city centre, adding warning labels to the Antarctic krill on the shelves. All the local groups were doing this, be we were the first groups to get a reply from the company on their Twitter feed. Some poor PR person clearly had a difficult weekend thanks to us. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">March was also Andy Burnham's Green Summit. The Greater Manchester Mayor had promised this when he was elected last year. The event was at Manchester Central, and was very well organised and presented. Burnham's talent is bringing people together and this is what he did, with speakers such as</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"> Kevin Anderson from the Tyndall Centre and Steve Mogford of United Utilities more or less singing from the same hymn sheet. We also had ex-Manchester United player Gary Neville to add a bit of celebrity glamour to proceedings. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">There were some eye opening stalls around and about though. Manchester Airport were there, and claiming they were carbon neutral. Apparently they don't count the planes.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Burnham himself made time to meet us at lunchtime. Restating his opposition to fracking was a bit of easy publicity for him as he doesn't really have much actual power or budget.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In the evening Frack Free Greater Manchester organised a fracking fringe event, and we had Maureen Mills come down from Lancashire and Eddie Thornton come over from Yorkshire to speak, along with our own Helena Coates. The battle goes on in Lancashire, but Eddie was able to tell us how it was won in Ryedale. An extremely well organised campaign caused the government to pause, and then the perilous state of Third Energy's finances gave them the excuse to pull the plug without looking like they were doing a U-turn. Protests work, but you've always got to give the opposition a way out. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>April</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">April started with the opening of the inquiry into Lancashire County Council's decision to stop Cuadrilla Resources from fracking in the village of Roseacre. When the government overturned the Preston New Road decision, Roseacre was left on the shelf. We had a rally outside and I gave a little speech. We still don't know the outcome of this, but my thoughts are still that it will be the test of whether the government is prepared to spend any more political capital on fracking. Hopefully they aren't, but we'll see.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">We were back in the Antarctic again </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">in April. Dr Max Jones' talk took us back to the end of the heroic age of exploration. Manchester, it turned out, both welcomed polar explorer Fridjtof Nansen as a both a hero and a bit of all right ("all the women swooned, and so did some men" the papers reported) and helped fund Scott's ill fated mission. It was an interesting evening.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">As far as our own Antarctic campaigning went, we were once again targeting Boots, this time with our 'krill-o-meter'. Funnily enough nobody really thought it was a good idea wipe out whales and penguins for a few vitamins. Boots staff were pleasant enough, but their HQ was reportedly having kittens.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: small;">April also marked the start of campaigning on palm oil. This was to be our major local group campaign at the end of the year, but for the moment it was only taking place online. If deforestation was a country it would be the third largest contributor to climate change after the USA and China, and palm oil is one of the big four contributors, along with animal grazing, soya for animal feed and paper. </span><br />
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Greenpeace had run a petition asking PZ Cussons to stop using destructive palm oil, and as their HQ was near Manchester airport Canonbury Villas gave the task of handing it in to them to the local group.<br />
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It was nice to be trusted with this. The company wasn't expecting us, but on hearing that Greenpeace were in the foyer they immediately sent down their sustainability guy to speak to us. He seemed a reasonable sort of fellow, and suitably contrite about what they had been doing, so we agreed to pose for a 'smiley' photo with him. All good fun, but you have to be careful not to be drawn into the 'sustainable company' myth. At the end of the day they are wiping out orang-utans, displacing indigenous people and causing climate change just to make shampoo, and making decent amounts of money doing so, and that's not right<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>May</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In May we were visited by the anti-fracking Nanas from Lancashire. Aliki </span>at Thoughtworks, an ethical tech firm, puts on occasional films for us and we were showing of the new Undercurrents film Power Trip. <span style="font-family: inherit;">We'd invited one of the Nanas to speak, but an entire coach load actually turned up, plus </span>honorary<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Nana Anne Power from Chorlton. It was a good evening.</span><br />
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Also in town, but not as welcome, were the people who brought us the Deepwater Horizon disaster, oil company BP. Greenpeace were gearing up for a big action on Total's AGM, and all the serious shareholder activists were in Holland for Shell's AGM, which was being held the day after to stop people who don't fly doing both. As a result it was down to Manchester activists - very much the B Team - to hold the company to account.<br />
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I asked a question about the Amazon Reef. This deep water reef, located below where the Amazon<br />
River empties out in the Atlantic - which is exactly where you not expect to find one - was only announced to the world six years ago. A more recent scientific study, carried on the Greenpeace ship Esperanto, found the reef was much more extensive than first thought, and extended well into the area where BP planned to drill for oil. I had the scientific report in my bag, but despite this the BP board decided to lie to my face and claim that they were a long way from the reef, which they also said they'd known about for ages.<br />
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Speaking to the board afterwards they were clearly chuffed with themselves. They clearly weren't afraid of such well behaved protesters as us. However they did appear to be afraid of class action suits based around their climate change denial. It was frustrating, but a<a href="http://www.desmog.co.uk/2018/05/21/bp-accused-corporate-evasion-over-response-climate-change-questions-agm" target="_blank">t least I got to call them liars in the press release. </a><br />
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Also in May I took part in something a bit different organised by Mend Our Mountains, a <br />
conservation effort run by the British Mountaineering Federation that aims to, well, mend our mountains. The idea was to get 1000 people with head torches to stand on the Great Ridge, which runs from Mam Tor to Lose Hill, and lies just south of Kinder Scout. Mam clearly means mother, and Lose is almost certainly a local version of Lugh, a Celtic god of light, so the two hills are named after a goddess and a god. If the natural ridge running between them wasn't an ancient processional way, then I'm not a druid.<br />
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I'm not quite sure if they got a thousand, but there were certainly several hundred people up there. It got cold when the sun set, but the resulting pictures were amazing.<br />
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Out this month on the internet was a little video by WellRedFilms about the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass of 1932. Partly filmed during the Manchester Greenpeace Group's 85th anniversary walk last year, I got to say a few words too. We didn't manage a Kinder Scout walk this year,<a href="https://greenwire.greenpeace.org/uk/en-gb/events/kinder-scout-mass-trespass-87th-anniversary-walk" target="_blank"> but we will for 2019</a>.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">June</span></b><br />
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The festival season begins and still the sun shines.<br />
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Envirolution once again proved it was Manchester's best free day out. Matt's small people helped us out and we had such a good response to our stall we ran out of petitions for people to sign.<br />
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The festival is also a bit of an AGM of all the Green and social justice groups in Manchester, so it was a chance to meet some familiar people and try to get one over on Friends of the Earth.<br />
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Next it was a new venture for Greenpeace: running the an eco-camp field at Download, Heavy Metal's biggest party. The regular Greenpeace festival team are a little apprehensive, but Jeff and I are in our element.<br />
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Download is basically 70,000 people getting very, very drunk, with a bit of music on the side. Greenpeace were running a camp site on the edge of the main field. It was part of the Castle Donnington deer park and so can only be used if it was looked after. People who camped with us signed up to recycle and not litter, and they did. We also had a vegan cafe and a yurt for the obligatory yoga session. Doing yoga and then going to watch death metal is probably the equivalent of coming out of a sauna and jumping into a frozen lake, so I hope nobody was permanently injured by the experience.<br />
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Metal fans tend to be oddballs and loners, which is why Jeff and I fit into the scene, and the Greenpeace field attracted both types, some of which were at their first festival. Download is such a friendly place though they all fitted right in.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KgclnT-iPqs/XCtN4A0NUsI/AAAAAAAAKIM/KaJTcn9wXHIhrsihcvqNWVAshNRLS00eQCLcBGAs/s1600/35077302_10215342816739728_5084425440836190208_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KgclnT-iPqs/XCtN4A0NUsI/AAAAAAAAKIM/KaJTcn9wXHIhrsihcvqNWVAshNRLS00eQCLcBGAs/s400/35077302_10215342816739728_5084425440836190208_n.jpg" width="400" /></a>It wasn't all work though and I got to see some bands and do some serious drinking. The one and only Damh the Bard was there. Guns and Roses were the big name, a band I felt like I'd grown up with. Mara pointed out that Axel Rose now looks like Donald trump in a hat, and it seems he can sing other people's songs better than his own now. Slash though made it a really amazing show. Other highlights were Avenged Sevenfold who are now a true headline act, and Thunder, a band I saw at university but who've still got it. Highlight of the weekend though was watching 'Jesus' crowd-surfing to Cradle of Filth whilst an aeroplane flew over trailing a 'God Loves You' banner. Surreal.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fMYjeD3Q80I/XCt02GEEhMI/AAAAAAAAKJU/G_jwA8NeffA-Yu34vxLFOg_pIHy5Sh9XgCLcBGAs/s1600/img_7287.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fMYjeD3Q80I/XCt02GEEhMI/AAAAAAAAKJU/G_jwA8NeffA-Yu34vxLFOg_pIHy5Sh9XgCLcBGAs/s400/img_7287.jpg" width="400" /></a>Back home our campaigning consists of taking to task Barclays for their financing of a tar sands <br />
pipeline in Canada. This means getting the train into Manchester whilst carrying a large cardboard ATM machine, which was interesting.<br />
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Tar sands make fracking look clean and safe and although it's a pretty obscure campaign for Manchester, but people are supportive and sign messages of support. We also had a really angry branch manager when we handed our ATM into the bank, which was reassuring. It always makes me suspicious when they're nice.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>July</b></span><br />
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This month we received news that all our krill campaigning had paid off: a huge group of companies that control most of the krill fishing announce they were pulling out of the Antarctic and would not be opposing Greenpeace's plans for an ocean sanctuary. A big success for our campaign.<br />
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Climate Change also came a bit nearer to home, as Saddleworth Moor caught fire, with the flames visible from my bedroom window. Fortunately the wind was blowing away from Glossop, so it was Tameside Social Services rather than us that had to evacuate people. At night the peat continued to burn and the red glow could be seen after it was too dark to see the hills themselves. It was like looking out over Mordor. <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/martin-manchester-im-standing-barclays/" target="_blank">I decide to link this with our Barclays campaigning and write a blog for the Greenpeace UK website.</a><br />
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This also made me doubly determined to do something when arch Climate Change denier Donald Trump was in London. I went down on the Manchester coach with Rachel and Hannah from work. It was one of those huge demonstrations where you don't move for two hours, but the atmosphere was great. The banners and costumes are amazing too, if not very polite.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9lBlp5uxhpk/XCt1WGDGSMI/AAAAAAAAKJc/rDbFWBqrAOMOQkkpHPG7K8ifhpjctEYegCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCF5441.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9lBlp5uxhpk/XCt1WGDGSMI/AAAAAAAAKJc/rDbFWBqrAOMOQkkpHPG7K8ifhpjctEYegCLcBGAs/s320/DSCF5441.JPG" width="240" /></a>Even though it was a Friday, there were more people in London campaigning against Trump than there had been in Washington celebrating his inauguration the previous year. There were a lot of people around I knew, as I'd expect, but the only one I met up with was Mara who, being American, had even more reason to be there than I had.<br />
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We also did some plastic campaigning, and decided to pay a visit to Sainsbury's flagship store at Cheadle Royal. We never know what we're going to get when we go here. Last time the only person who spoke to us was parking warden, who was pleased to meet people who didn't look down their noses at him.<br />
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Plastic seemed to be an issue that the SUV driving mums of Wilmslow wanted to engage with though, and many of them take our replacement paper bags to salve their consciences as they drive home.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">August</span></b><br />
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The start of August found me on holiday in the one part of the UK not suffering a drought. However the wildlife in Dumphries and Galloway didn't seem to mind, and a pair of friendly badgers visited our cottage ever evening.<br />
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Greenpeace renewed its campaign to ban diesel cars, and went after old enemy VW again. As a result the pixies were out in Manchester, Altrincham and Stockport decorating VW diesels in the night. As usual, Canonbury Villas don't tell us why we're doing this, but it turns out to be the prelude to a re-branding of the VW offices in Milton Keynes.<br />
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I managed a bit more plastic campaigning in August too, firstly in Manchester itself, and then at my second festival of the year. This was RiZe in Chelmsford, which is what has replaced V. We were running the deposit return scheme, where we give people 10p back on their plastic skiffs and bottles.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A-k173XOeSM/XCqkslxFm-I/AAAAAAAAKHc/ajuEWVEFuzsLjK2jHsXkmCdlX6KzCEVZgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20180817_113240.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="949" data-original-width="1265" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A-k173XOeSM/XCqkslxFm-I/AAAAAAAAKHc/ajuEWVEFuzsLjK2jHsXkmCdlX6KzCEVZgCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_20180817_113240.jpg" width="400" /></a>The Greenpeace team were a fun bunch, and mostly half my age. As we didn't have our own field we were in crew catering, which meant three course meals twice a day. I also found the back stage artists toilets - which actually flushed - and once I'm on friendly terms with the security man I also don't get searched as I came and went, meaning I could bring in my own beer. This was good as they only sold lager on site, this being Essex and all that. The main act was Liam Gallagher, who was excellent when doing Oasis numbers. I saw Oasis before they were famous at a free festival in Preston. This felt like seeing them after they're famous. However the find of the festival for me were Brighton indie outfit Black Honey.<br />
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At the end of the month though came the sad news that Lord Peter Melchett, former director of Greenpeace UK, and the only peer of the realm I've ever shared a police cell with, had died. I first met him on the 'Lyng job' of 1999. He had led a fascinating life that took him from his father's farm in Norfolk, through politics in Jim Callaghan's government, to activism with Greenpeace, the Soil Association and other organisations. He was arrested twice, but only ever in Norfolk. <a href="http://thesnufkin.blogspot.com/2018/09/memories-of-peter-melchett.html" target="_blank">My memories of him are here.</a><br />
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There was better news too, as we found out that our tar sands campaign had been successful. A Canadian court squashed the Trans Mountain Pipeline. Canada had planned three pipelines to get the tar sands oil for Alberta to the USA. They were all controversial, but this was the first one to be stopped. Two to go.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">September</span></b><br />
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After baking in the sunshine at Envirolution, we were looking forward to the Wigan Diggers Festival, and thought it would be a good idea to sell water bottles to raise money for Greenpeace. However come the day we all got a drenching. Fortunately we had our own gazebo, and even more fortunately the people next to us didn't turn up so we could use theirs as well. Preston Greenpeace joined us, but their face painting wasn't too popular due to the weather. Evey and Helen had made cakes and wraps though and these sold well, even though the water bottles didn't. Once we'd finished we got to enjoy the music. Merry Hell were great. Alice had driven there in her new car, and we made it safely there and back again, despite my navigating.<br />
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Fortunately it's a bit drier when we return to plastic campaigning. Greenpeace promised a shoppers <br />
revolt against pointless plastic and I was a bit cynical, thinking we'd be lucky to get one mildly dis-chuffed shopper. However they were right and I was wrong.<br />
<br />
We had more volunteers than we could actually use - I don't know how many but it was double figures - and a really great response from the public. Even the manager of Chorlton Morrison's seemed pleased to see us. Getting shoppers in Manchester to use less plastic bags is a very long way from cleaning up the world's oceans, but it's a start. Hopefully next year we'll be setting people some more challenging targets.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">October</span></b><br />
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We were back in the Antarctic in October, with one final push before the Antarctic Commission met in Hobart, Tasmania to decide if the Antarctic ocean sanctuary was going to happen. We showed some film of the Arctic Sunrise expedition and I talked about Greenpeace's 'Million Dollar Missions' in the 1980s. But best of all we had River talk about what it was like to actually be there. He'd served two tours with the British Antarctic Survey at a time when British Antarctica was all white and all male. Things have changed a bit since then thankfully.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y7mIbHFTJFY/XCvUAfvDhmI/AAAAAAAAKKU/zvM3FchyIAksLWtBgja3iPSophVxNjyDQCLcBGAs/s1600/9_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="884" data-original-width="1200" height="293" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y7mIbHFTJFY/XCvUAfvDhmI/AAAAAAAAKKU/zvM3FchyIAksLWtBgja3iPSophVxNjyDQCLcBGAs/s400/9_2.jpg" width="400" /></a>Whilst all of the above was going on, the campaign against fracking in Blackpool had been going on.<br />
<br />
Scores of people had been arrested for blockading the gates, locking-on and lorry surfing. Three people who'd done the latter last year had found out that Lancashire police had no way of getting them down, and so had ended up on the trucks for several days. The Crown Prosecution service hadn't liked that and so Simon, Richard and Rich had found themselves convicted of Public Nuisance and sent to prison. They weren't the first peaceful eco-warriors to end up behind bars, but they were probably the first since the Mass Trespass in 1932 to go straight to jail without first breaching bail or refusing to pay a fine.<br />
<br />
They were released on appeal, and by coincidence a big rally was planned at Preston New Road the week after. Attending meant missing the big anti-Brexit demo in London, but it was worth it. This was the largest gathering there'd been at PNR. Former LibDem leader Tim Farron was there, along with John Ashton, Tina Louise and others, but there was no doubt who the stars of the show were: Simon, Richard and Rich.<br />
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Also October I invited the one and only Anne Power to Glossop for another showing of the film Power Trip. The 2014 Observer Ethical Award winner was the film's cover girl, so we had to invite her along.<br />
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Glossop isn't an area licensed to frack, which is why Frack Free Glossop is just Rod and I, but it was good too see that even here there is strong opposition to shale gas.<br />
<br />
Anne told us about watching the Blitz on Liverpool in the Second World War, and the campaigns against fracking at Barton Moss and Lancashire. She is still going strong as a campaigner at 87, so she has a way of making us all feel inadequate.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">November</span></b><br />
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Barclays was visited again in November. The Trans Mountain Pipeline may be history, but they still had plenty of money invested in dirty fossil fuels, so using the contacts we'd made earlier in the year we encouraged people to get in touch with them and tell them to stop. Ben from Hebden Bridge was one who did.<br />
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November was also the month of Rang Tan. This short film, narrated by Emma Thompson, was originally produced by Greenpeace to use with schoolchildren. Iceland supermarket tried to use it as their Christmas TV advert, but fell foul of an obscure clause in the regulator's rules. However the result was an internet sensation that led to 60 million people watching the film, and a good number of Mumsnet shoppers ditching Waitrose for the frozen food retailer.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pM2yoemZeu0/XCtj0Aq2kzI/AAAAAAAAKJA/5v3E6AODkBwvYrvatBlpnczNjACM_aYNgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2995%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pM2yoemZeu0/XCtj0Aq2kzI/AAAAAAAAKJA/5v3E6AODkBwvYrvatBlpnczNjACM_aYNgCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_2995%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a>Our own contribution to the battle against destructive palm oil was to take to the streets of Manchester to get people to be photographed sending a message to Oreo. Once again we had a good turnout of volunteers, including new photographer Moe, and a lot of support from Manchester folk.<br />
<br />
At the end of the month Matt, Helen and I are down in Canonbury Villas for the annual Greenpeace Local Groups Conference. Our privatised railways did their bit to try to stop me, with both my trains out and back being very late. However when I got there it was great to meet old friends again. Greenpeace appeared to have learnt their lesson from last year and just ordered bottles of beer, rather than a whole barrel, and so I still felt vaguely human on Sunday morning. Before I went down though I'd quickly edited a first rush of a 'Best of 2018' video. I got it on Greenwire and it was noticed by the ED, which was a Brownie point for Manchester.<br />
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I had to sing for my supper though by giving a presentation on how we ran the Manchester Group, which caused a little bit of a problem as we weren't entirely sure ourselves how we did run it. At the start of the month we'd got the bad news that Russia, China and Norway had all vetoed the Antarctic sanctuary, but we got the hint that there would be some good news on our other campaigns soon.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">December</span></b><br />
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Greenpeace local group campaigning pretty much came to an end in December. However that didn't stop it being our most successful month of the year.<br />
<br />
Firstly, VW appeared to have shifted their position significantly. After refusing to meet Greenpeace all year they relented after the action in Milton Keynes. The main news their ED wanted to pass on to ours was that he was resigning! However shortly afterwards came a more important announcement: VW were ditching the internal combustion engine and going electric. Not quick enough for us, but still significant news.<br />
<br />
Then came the news that our Oreo campaigning had been effective. Mondelez International, the parent company that owns Oreo, as well as a load of familiar British brand names like Cadbury's, Terry's and Fry's, had got together with other palm oil users and put pressure on Wilmar International, their palm oil supplier in Indonesia. This pressure led to Wilmar announcing a raft of measures, including satellite surveillance of their suppliers, to try to stop deforestation. They will need to be kept an eye on to ensure they keep their promises, but it was a great victory.<br />
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The next bit of good news came from Brazil, where a court stopped Total's effort to drill off the Amazon Reef. This wasn't necessarily the end of BPs bid, but it made it extremely unlikely to succeed.<br />
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The final bit of good news had very little to do with either myself or Greenpeace, but was still very welcome. Fracking at Preston New Road had been repeatedly halted over the previous few weeks due to minor earthquakes. Cuadrilla had previously agreed a low threshold for stopping operations, but now they were asking the government to raise the limit. We don't know what the government's reply was, but just before Yule Cuadrilla took away all their compressors and started to dismantle the rig. We don't know if this really is it, but it was certainly not part of the plan.<br />
<br />
So that was 2018. We failed in the Antarctic and the tangerine fascist is still in the White House. However on VW, on palm oil, on the Amazon Reef and finally on fracking in the UK we were making progress. Minor victories, in the grand scheme of things, but it's minor victories that keep us going.<br />
<br />
And so it's on to 2019. This year we change the world, as I said last year.Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4453760383249134892.post-24863087275917225342018-12-16T05:28:00.000-08:002018-12-25T02:41:34.637-08:00The Toys I Never Owned<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: #93c47d;">It's nearly Christmas and it's time to start thinking about presents for the kids. These days it's all electronic, and some they don't even unwrap, they just download.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
How different it was when I was a lad in the seventies. This was the era when cheap plastic made toys and games affordable for the first time in quantities that could fill an average domestic house in just a few birthdays.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
How we looked at toys was also different. First we'd go to an actual toy shops, where we'd get some catalogues to take home. For a generation that's grown up with the internet it's hard to explain the mystical nature of the catalogue. Here were all the toys you'd dreamt of, usually displayed in wonderful dioramas, being played with by children who were deliriously happy because they were playing with best toy that had ever been made.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
I think I probably spent more time reading catalogues, either at home, in school, than I ever did playing with my own toys. Probably because of this when I think back to my wonderful, care-free, self-indulgent seventies childhood it's the toys I <i>didn't</i> own that I remember most. They were the toys that always did what they said on the tin, that never broke and never got boring.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
These offering from the gods will now only ever exist in my imagination. Sure, I could buy the lot on ebay. But I'm not eight any more, I just wouldn't enjoy them in the same way.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Hornby Operating Breakdown Crane</span></b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: #93c47d;">I must admit I never got train sets. My dad was a bit of a train buff, and he built me a model railway, but I wasn't really impressed. The train went one way, then it went the other, and that was that. There was no skill involved and you couldn't race them. Boring. Making the scenery was fun, but best of all once you'd finished you had a battlefield where my little toy soldiers could fight. But the trains didn't really impress me. They just didn't do anything.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
However that didn't stop me reading the catalogue and wanting one of these, the Hornby Operating Breakdown Train. The really neat thing about it is that it did actually do something. The crane went up and down. That was pretty neat in the seventies.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
Of course, the reality was somewhat different.This was, by modern standards, a pretty cheap piece of kit. The wheels were plastic, and so would barely go round, the crane's mechanism was plastic too, so operation was hardly smooth, and the whole thing was so light that if it did try to pick up an actual locomotive the whole thing would just fall over, even if you had managed to get the plastic legs in place, which was not guaranteed.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
If you were really, really clever you could fit little electric motors into the thing and actually make it work. Now that really would be cool. Anyone who doubts how cool should <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eChEd-6foec" target="_blank">look at this video of a couple of the things in action</a>. Is that not amazing?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
Well, in my head the one I never owned was just as amazing. And it will now stay that way forever.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Lego Space Galaxy Explorer</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #93c47d;">I grew up with Lego. I played with it at home, I played with it at school. I even took it with me when I went camping.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
However for anyone who is only familiar with all the fancy themed stuff that Lego produces today, it must be difficult to imagine that when I was little it pretty much was just little square bricks of different sizes. Even the Lego people didn't have real arms and legs when I was born.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
Then in 1978 came Lego Space.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
This was the year after Star Wars. Space was big, and now here was Lego ... in space. Suddenly we had yellow see-through bricks, rocket engines, space suits - without visors unfortunately - and massively over-sized radios. It was Lego, but not as we know it.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #93c47d;">I had a number of the smaller sets: a Space Scooter, a Mobile Rocket Launcher, a Mobile Control</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;">Centre - which was amazing because one of the bricks had a control panel on it - and a One-Man Space Ship. Like all my Lego kits I took them home, made them once following the instructions, then took them apart and mixed the bits in with everything else. That was how normal people played with Lego. For most of my collection the next time the pieces were all back together again was when I sold them in the eighties.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
However the real prize, that I never had, was the USS Enterprise of Lego kits - the Galaxy Explorer. This could clearly boldly go to galaxies far, far away. This model would never be dismantled, it's parts never cannibalised for anything else. But I never owned one, nor did any of my friends, not anyone else I knew.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
Nor have I ever seen one since. A Lego Space guy made a cameo in the Lego movie, but apart from that Lego Space has gone. The Danes have instead sold their soul to any franchise that will have them. Great adventures are had by small people playing with all of those things, I'm sure, but not as great as the ones I'd have had with my Lego Galaxy Explorer. If only.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Thomas Salter Adventure Kit</span></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DUyMbcc6hgE/XBV0D739eUI/AAAAAAAAKCw/uAsrBMABAbowOwksrVwUg0sGaSL5348eACLcBGAs/s1600/Adventure-Kit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><img border="0" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="366" height="323" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DUyMbcc6hgE/XBV0D739eUI/AAAAAAAAKCw/uAsrBMABAbowOwksrVwUg0sGaSL5348eACLcBGAs/s400/Adventure-Kit.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;">Please don't think that I spent my entire childhood indoors playing with my Lego. My parents were teachers, which mean they had long holidays, and were friends with a farmer who would let them park their caravan on his farm for free. So, for several weeks each year, I was free range on a 500 acre farm in north Norfolk. That meant adventures.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
For an adventure you don't really need anything except an imagination. However, capitalism being what it is, there were plenty of people willing to sell you stuff which they claimed would make your adventure so much better. The people I believed at the time were Thomas Salter.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
They made a number of different kits. The one most people wanted was the spy kit, as it had invisible ink. But I wanted the Adventure Kit. Binoculars, a camera, a water bottle, a compass, a whistle: well, yes, nothing too exciting there for sure. However, it had the name: Adventure Kit. A kit for making</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #93c47d;">adventures. Wow!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
Being an enterprising sort of lad, I made one myself. What's more, the one I made was probably better as the stuff in it actually worked and wasn't made of cheap plastic. But it wasn't the same.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
Thomas Salter went out of business years ago, but other companies of moved into the 'adventure kit' market. <a href="https://www.myadventurekit.co.uk/product/den-kit-kit-for-heros/" target="_blank">Look at this one for example</a>: camo cream, para cord, a tarp. I could have done with this during my road protesting days.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
However, this now and that was then. I still have adventures, really good ones, but not as good as the ones little me would have had in Norfolk, if only I'd had an Adventure Kit.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Airfix Fort Sahara</span></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LFPeq7O9M0k/XBVvN6LEljI/AAAAAAAAKCY/kRKTRweM1kUwRoCiNqzJgYZ4WKXWbam8QCLcBGAs/s1600/Monastary%2Bimage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="573" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LFPeq7O9M0k/XBVvN6LEljI/AAAAAAAAKCY/kRKTRweM1kUwRoCiNqzJgYZ4WKXWbam8QCLcBGAs/s400/Monastary%2Bimage.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;">When I was born the Second World War was still being fought. Nazi Germany may have surrendered a quarter of a century earlier, but all across the country little boys were still fighting using little Airfix soldiers. We all had hundreds of these things.</span><br />
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However constantly fighting the Germans, and occasionally the Japanese, was all very well, but World War Two just wasn't as exciting as the colonial conflicts of the century before. On TV I could watch <i>Zulu</i>, or <i>Khartoum</i>, or <i>Northwest Frontier</i> or <i>Carry On Up The Khyber</i> (possibly the most realistic of the four) and this is where my imagination went. Why would anyone want to be freezing to death on the Eastern Front, or slogging through the mud of France or Holland, when you could be on the veldt of South Africa or the sands of the Sudan or in the foothills of the Himalayas?</span><br />
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The problem was the figures. There weren't any. Like many Victorian schoolboys, HG Wells had</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;">played with 2 inch high Boer War figures when he was young. However by the seventies Britain was no longer so proud of her Imperial past. It wasn't until I was in Secondary School that an Italian company brought out some 1/72 scale plastic figures for the Zulu War and I could fight the battles I had been watching on TV since I was little.</span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VLTZT0QJCKY/XBVv1q4cPiI/AAAAAAAAKCk/hGIupqMSE6YaAAQDQQwHuxVkTeUYNvVdQCLcBGAs/s1600/413455605.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="534" height="298" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VLTZT0QJCKY/XBVv1q4cPiI/AAAAAAAAKCk/hGIupqMSE6YaAAQDQQwHuxVkTeUYNvVdQCLcBGAs/s400/413455605.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;">Airfix made Arabs and Foreign Legion - foreign wars being less controversial - but they were rubbish. Most of the Arabs wouldn't even stand up. What's more there were no decent films in colour about the Foreign Legion. <i>Beau Geste</i> and <i>Morocco</i> were black and white, and no kid wanted to watch a black and white film in the seventies.</span><br />
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However what they did have was a fort. The WWII people had some stuff you could buy as well: a derelict house that was a command post, a bailey bridge and some Atlantic Wall style fortification, but whilst they were practical they were hardly romantic. Fort Sahara though was something else, and with a bit of modelling skills you can make it into something fantastic.</span><br />
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Yes, fantastic is the word. You can get really good 1/72 Foreign Legion and Arab figures now by other companies too. So please Airfix, please re-issue this model. Please. Pretty please.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Action Man Secret Mission to Dragon Island</span></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-udpsmrwhBtU/XBV4q8Pd-7I/AAAAAAAAKDE/XT2FAPOrPOcM2ygAe46XAbuYwTqo9UTzQCLcBGAs/s1600/4438_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="800" height="290" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-udpsmrwhBtU/XBV4q8Pd-7I/AAAAAAAAKDE/XT2FAPOrPOcM2ygAe46XAbuYwTqo9UTzQCLcBGAs/s400/4438_l.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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Airfix were great, but of all the toys I has as a child the one I was closest too was my Action Man. Indeed, many people tell me that I seem to have got my dress sense from Action Man.</span><br />
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My Action Men were hardly badly equipped. They had guns, a small tank and more uniforms than they could wear, many knitted by my grandmother (I wasn't the only one in the family who'd get a Christmas jumper). However there was one set I never had, one that always intrigued me: The Secret Mission to Dragon Island.</span><br />
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The set itself was the usual Action Man mish-mash of historical items. There was a modern British sub machine gun, a World War Two American helmet and some dynamite apparently from the Wild West.</span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vqil4_ZC5-o/XBV5CVxlcVI/AAAAAAAAKDM/zMUmqNQAA247EJJ2dU8HChFGg1caNTWigCLcBGAs/s1600/action-man-dragon-island-map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><img border="0" data-original-height="553" data-original-width="760" height="290" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vqil4_ZC5-o/XBV5CVxlcVI/AAAAAAAAKDM/zMUmqNQAA247EJJ2dU8HChFGg1caNTWigCLcBGAs/s400/action-man-dragon-island-map.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="background-color: #93c47d;">The mission itself seems to be set in the contemporary Cold War, with Action Man signed up for <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"<i style="letter-spacing: 0.3px;">a highly dangerous mission. To find and destroy the hidden rocket site on enemy held Dragon Island. It is a solo mission. Action Man can expect no help.</i><span style="letter-spacing: 0.3px;">" The enemy were apparently Chinese, and I presume it was due to the cuts the characterised the seventies that the poor chap had to go on his own. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.3px;">I have, I must confess, always been so intrigued by this set I never had that I have sought one out to find out what it was actually all about. And you know what? It doesn't tell you! There's a map with some generic names ("Orient Sea", "Eagle Mountains", "Lion Forest", "Lava Bay") and some vague orders, but that's it. It turns out the great secret mission only ever existed in my head.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.3px;">Action Man is alas no more. Action Figures continue, and f</span><a href="http://www.dragon-models.com/d-m-item.asp?pid=DRF74001" style="letter-spacing: 0.3px;" target="_blank">or serious money you can buy seriously detailed historical figures from Dragon</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.3px;">, or </span><a href="http://hmarmedforces.com/navy.htm" style="letter-spacing: 0.3px;" target="_blank">for a slightly more reasonable cost there is the HM Forces range</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.3px;">. However these are not Action Men. These are serious soldiers, who probably always obey orders and turn out for parade on time. Boring toys for boring adventures. Action Man, by contrast, was clearly a bit of a rebel. He did his own thing. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.3px;">So what did he really get up to on Dragon Island? Well, the only way to find out would be to go back there. And, guess what, somebody has!</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EpQs5wSyLQI/XBV9DPqWamI/AAAAAAAAKDY/RaVPFqoBKeoTvHYJJ8V9aBFeYuddQkuvQCLcBGAs/s1600/Capture.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="1546" height="178" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EpQs5wSyLQI/XBV9DPqWamI/AAAAAAAAKDY/RaVPFqoBKeoTvHYJJ8V9aBFeYuddQkuvQCLcBGAs/s400/Capture.PNG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/toyville/albums/72157631584783825" style="background-color: white; font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: medium; letter-spacing: 0.3px;" target="_blank">To find out more, click here.</a></td></tr>
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Martin Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003428642599537927noreply@blogger.com0