All posts by Peter Tyldesley
What To Do About Somerset Levels As The Floodwaters Rise In Somerset?
January 2014 was the wettest month in the UK since records began, according to figures from the Met Office. The persistent heavy rainfall has led to flooding across many parts of the UK, some of the worst being in Somerset where the communities of the Somerset Levels have been inundated since Christmas with so prospect […]
Continue readingThe Davos Summit since 2011, ThriveAbility and our uncertain future
Speaking at the Davos World Economic Forum in January 2011, Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon did not mince his words when he addressed the assembled world leaders, central bankers and CEOs on the challenges in front of them: “For most of the last century, economic growth was fuelled by what seemed to […]
Continue readingFracking Threatens To Fracture The Coalition
Following increasing public disquiet about fracking, including the recent protests and direct action around the Sussex village of Balcombe, which saw the arrest of Green Party MP and former leader Caroline Lucas, cracks have started to appear in the coalition Government over energy policy. Chancellor George Osborne has stated that he wants to “put Britain […]
Continue readingShale Gas Tax Breaks
Today Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has announced plans to give generous shale gas tax breaks to companies involved in exploiting the UK’s shale gas reserves. The proposals, which the Government are now consulting on until 13th September 2013 include a reduction in the tax paid on shale gas revenues from 62% to 30%. […]
Continue readingCO2 levels rising but no one takes any notice
To be fair to the Prime Minister, he did have a lot on his mind on 10th May 2013. The Conservative party was embarking on one of its periodic spasms of self-destruction, this time following the strong showing by UKIP at the Tories’ expense in the local elections the previous week. With a Euro-Sceptic backbench […]
Continue readingMargaret Thatcher – the unsung environmentalist?
Since the announcement of the death on Monday 8th April of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (latterly Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven), the British media has been awash with tributes to, and retrospective critiques of, her record as the longest serving United Kingdom Prime Minister of the 20th Century Whilst most of the coverage has focussed […]
Continue readingWeird Weather Or Changing Climate?
There have been a number of sets of weather and climate-related data published in the last couple of weeks that illustrate just how extreme the weather was in the UK in 2012 and how this fits into a picture of a global climate that appears to be warming at a faster rate than was previously […]
Continue readingThe Horsemeat Scandal – What’s In Your Food?
The headlines this week have been all about the furore surrounding the disclosure that certain processed meat products on sale in supermarkets have been found to contain, not just beef as claimed on the packets, but also horsemeat The unfolding saga of how some processed “beef” ready-meals have been found to contain up to 100% […]
Continue readingThe Arguments For And Against UK Wind Farms Off-Shored To Ireland
When is an Offshore Wind farm really an Onshore Wind farm? When it’s on somebody else’s shore! Last week saw the signing of an historic Memorandum of Understanding between the governments of the UK and Republic of Ireland that would potentially see windfarms constructed in Ireland but supplying electricity to British consumers. According to the […]
Continue readingClimate Change Reality Or Myth?
It’s a tough call. On the one hand, there was an editorial in the Observer last Sunday that proclaimed “Now No One Can Deny that the World is Getting Warmer” On the other hand, the Mail on Sunday, admittedly not a publication that has ever been accused of harbouring tree hugging tendencies in its newsroom, […]
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