JavaScriptDonkey wrote:
WRT to ash trees we know in advance that we are unlikely to be able to stop this fungus. The sheer weigh of spores wafting over from Europe make it a losing battle before we begin.
As with many aspects of the environmental threats we face, it may well be too late and we may all be doomed, along with the ash trees. However, 40 years ago, when I started campaigning on environmental issues, we had a choice. We could have spent a significantly greater proportion of our GDP on science research and we could have adopted similar biosecurity measures to those in place in Australasia and the South Pacific.
We are now at the stage where we must mitigate the environmental damages. To that end, I would cancel Trident today instead of announcing it's continued funding, and divert the money spent to university biology departments. This is a policy that could be enacted by coffee time this morning. By tea time we could arrange for the rest of defence spending to be similarly diverted and by Tuesday we could have a 90% tax on all wages over the 'living wage' of £7.20 per hour. I hear this morning that Barclays are considering reducing the wages of their employees who earn between £500000 and £3000000 so we're going in the right direction.
I have to hope that you are yours never get any real power. Dragging us all down to the level of income achieved by a GCSE drop out stacking shelves in Tescos is hardly going to help develop the next generation of engineers and scientists.
I completely agree about Trident.
Just as an acid test though do you voluntarily tax your yourself at that level and donate it all to the Research Council or did you buy property and generate a pension for your old age?
biffvernon wrote:Odd? Comes from having a parliament with only two MPs who have had a career as professional scientists and a government that pays little heed to science on many issues.
Yep. I notice that most of the Chinese leadership seem to be engineers, Britain's tend to be:
(1) Professional politicians with little or no work experience.
(2) Lawyers.
(3) Bankers.
I need some rest. I read that as liars and bonkers.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
biffvernon wrote:
We are now at the stage where we must mitigate the environmental damages. To that end, I would cancel Trident today instead of announcing it's continued funding, and divert the money spent to university biology departments. This is a policy that could be enacted by coffee time this morning. By tea time we could arrange for the rest of defence spending to be similarly diverted and by Tuesday we could have a 90% tax on all wages over the 'living wage' of £7.20 per hour. I hear this morning that Barclays are considering reducing the wages of their employees who earn between £500000 and £3000000 so we're going in the right direction.
I agree about cancelling Trident.
I disagree with the 90% tax and cancelling defense spending. I really can't believe you are serious about this Biff? Thank goodness you were not in a position of power and influence in the 1930s..... Auf Wiedersehen
It is all well and good having these grand views in theory, but surely you have to have some reality in your thinking.
snow hope wrote:I disagree with the 90% tax and cancelling defense spending. I really can't believe you are serious about this Biff? Thank goodness you were not in a position of power and influence in the 1930s..... Auf Wiedersehen
You have to take into account what Biff leaves unsaid.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
In the pub last night, a local said, "Anything that's not native, they shouldn't import!" I said nothing.
AFAIK, the Irish government is banning the import of ash treelings (?) at long last.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
We're into the 'manging declining expectations' phase already....
Expect a lot more cock ups to come ash trees don't vote, the big question is do TPTB consider you in the inner circle, a hanger on or a resource to be exploited?
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Defence spending is one thing but most of ours is aggression spending.