Info, news & debate

People


Will we ever reach the point of 'peak car'?

Will we reach ‘peak car’, after which we can begin to reduce the number of cars on the roads?

| 3

As a baby-boomer I have lived through a 50 year period where life has become dominated by and dependent on the use of the private car. I wonder whether other people are sharing my expectation that there will be a very much shorter period, equivalent  to a revolution, where the car moves into the background?

Read more about Will we reach ‘peak car’, after which we can begin to reduce the number of cars on the roads?

'Feeding the beast': is democracy obsolete?

Is democracy obsolete, and can we ever achieve it as long as we have to keep feeding ‘the beast’?

| 3

In the West, there’s a word that usually accompanies ‘democracy’, and that word is ‘liberal’. Liberal democracies – that’s what we have in the West. That’s liberal, as in liberty / freedom; and that’s certainly what classical liberalism stood for in its infancy.

Read more about Is democracy obsolete, and can we ever achieve it as long as we have to keep feeding ‘the beast’?


How the corporate goldrush for incineration, gasification and pyrolysis of waste generates more consumption, more waste and more pollution

| 1

‘When waste to energy companies propose to build incineration/gasification plants they stipulate that contracts be in place which lock-in local authorities to providing them with a fixed tonnage of waste over the lifetime of the plant (often about 25 years).

Read more about How the corporate goldrush for incineration, gasification and pyrolysis of waste generates more consumption, more waste and more pollution




Want to join a new Midlands co-op with plans for self-build homes for its members?

| 0

A growing Northamptonshire based business is looking for individuals who wish to become part of an ethically based worker’s collective. The current business owners, Paul Battye and Melanie Cutler, are looking to turn their business into the new collective to share with like minded individuals

Read more about Want to join a new Midlands co-op with plans for self-build homes for its members?

On the Wealth of Nations by P.J. O'Rourke

How to misrepresent Adam Smith: review of P. J. O’Rourke’s ‘On the Wealth of Nations’

| 0

I don’t know if you’re familiar with P. J., but he’s an excellent writer, and he’s extremely, acerbically funny. With this book, as with his Give War a Chance, several times he made me spit my tea out and have to stop to wipe tea off the page.

Read more about How to misrepresent Adam Smith: review of P. J. O’Rourke’s ‘On the Wealth of Nations’







lammas-ecopod

Help our off-grid, timber, straw-bale and stone ‘eco-pod’ project happen, then come and stay in it!

| 0

Hi, my name is Cassie. My daughter is called Bea, she’s the bigger girls in the picture there. She absolutely loves horses! I also have a son called David, who is going to be an actor; my husband is called Nigel, and our eldest son is called Ted.

Read more about Help our off-grid, timber, straw-bale and stone ‘eco-pod’ project happen, then come and stay in it!


Is there common ground between right and left thinking?

What are the roots of right and left thinking, and can we unite left and right against corporate power?

| 12

Why do people who consider themselves ‘left-wing’ seem to embrace a raft of policies that appear unrelated? For example, if you’re of the left, and you believe in (say) progressive taxation, why should that also mean that you believe in gun control, or

Read more about What are the roots of right and left thinking, and can we unite left and right against corporate power?

Low-impact & the city 7: our experience of a local fishbox / community-supported fish scheme

| 1

You may remember that we blogged an interview last summer with Guy Dorrell, who set up a ‘fishbox’, or ‘community-supported fish’ project, called ‘Faircatch‘. After interviewing him, my partner and I signed up to his scheme to try it out. I’m now reporting on how the idea worked for us

Read more about Low-impact & the city 7: our experience of a local fishbox / community-supported fish scheme