We get a lot of surveys. And there is usually a disconnect between what folk say, what they really think, and actually do. So this is... interesting: Consumers reject "green" taxes
When it comes to social behaviour, we are a little less prone to the truth, if the discrepancy between those who say they recycle and those who actually do is to be reconciled.
But when it comes to cold, hard cash, well, the people have spoken.... at least to a guy flogging insurance policies.
I just wonder how many resent paying more tax (well, D'uh), but in terms of green don't see how paying it actually ends up helping the planet with the gold-plated shower we have in charge of things these days.
Meanwhile...
BBC - Teenagers support 'green' schools - as opposed to...?
Showing posts with label SOC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SOC. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Told you so. Sorry.
I take no pleasure from it, but...
Public ‘feel powerless’ over green issues
I find the explanation '..mixed messages about the environment are putting people off' a bit vague, and while accepting solutions are not easy would wish the media stopped just reporting the problems and leaving it at that.
Public ‘feel powerless’ over green issues
I find the explanation '..mixed messages about the environment are putting people off' a bit vague, and while accepting solutions are not easy would wish the media stopped just reporting the problems and leaving it at that.
Monday, February 12, 2007
What was one thinking?
Charles: let’s kill off the cul-de-sac
Open one's mouth (or have it opened for one).
Do not engage brain (well, that one's sorted then).
Issue Forth.
Stand back and get amazed at one's subjects' responses.
Does he really say these things? Or are they issued by his coterie of spinmeisters, all of whom seem to be a tad 'out of touch'.
We live on a main road. Our kids don't go out to play because it is too dangerous. Hence they play in the garden we are lucky enough to have, or get conveyed to their mates from school by car, repeat after me, because cycling at their age is...'.
I would live to live in a cul-de sac, as those that do seem to have thriving communities based on not being too worried about cars zooming past in the town areas as all the Gatsos are on a dual carriageway outside.
Open one's mouth (or have it opened for one).
Do not engage brain (well, that one's sorted then).
Issue Forth.
Stand back and get amazed at one's subjects' responses.
Does he really say these things? Or are they issued by his coterie of spinmeisters, all of whom seem to be a tad 'out of touch'.
We live on a main road. Our kids don't go out to play because it is too dangerous. Hence they play in the garden we are lucky enough to have, or get conveyed to their mates from school by car, repeat after me, because cycling at their age is...'.
I would live to live in a cul-de sac, as those that do seem to have thriving communities based on not being too worried about cars zooming past in the town areas as all the Gatsos are on a dual carriageway outside.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Priority Systems
Ok, you can ask why I was looking, and why I wrote, but this is depressing:
I Hate Macs
I made a point in there about priorities with the world going down the toilet (how many reply to an eco-post vs. this?), but no one could be bothered.
I Hate Macs
I made a point in there about priorities with the world going down the toilet (how many reply to an eco-post vs. this?), but no one could be bothered.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
You are what you spend
I was going to comment on the content of this: Last warning: 10 years to save world
But it's really the consequences that matter. Who, now, is listening, much less acting?
And something pretty obvious has (belatedly, I'm sure, compared to a lot) struck me, as I read a Sunday Times columnist having a go at Yummy Mummy CEOs having oodles of kids to validate their womanhood, and some Minister without Portfolio (or much grasp of real life) saying on Breakfast TV that childcare facilities and costs are so good now there's no excuse not to get every Mum back into the workforce, to produce more to improve their earnings potential.
So my epiphany has been... what's the point?
Indy - Parents spend third of wages on nursery, says study
I mean, there are all these folk earning all this dosh, and really all they can do then is spend it on stuff which is not going to help the old Carb-con, clunking footprint.
Most of my chums stayed in London forging successful careers. By which I mean I'm sure they love what they do 'n all, but seem to get up at 6am, wave the kids' nanny goodbye and drive with the power-spouse to the station to work waaaay beyond the Euro-maximum to spend a day in a box earning squillions before coming back in time to kiss the kids goodnight. The kids meanwhile all go to very good, very pricey schools to learn to do the exactly same thing... and how to want... to spend.
What else is there to do?
At work there is only so much you can blow the £esult of all this hard work on. Suit. Hairdo. Lunch. Lap-dancers. Prius. The company can add a few more to the tally: bonding course in Bali with Club to First upgrade, Blackberry, etc.
But in the little time you have at home, really the only thing to do with all this wonga is blow it. Quick trip to Whistler to catch what's left of the snow. A 500" LCD. Another Prius.
My family lives modestly... now. Mainly because we're broke. I'm sure hoping by our efforts that we soon won't be, and a comfy retirement beckons. But if and when it all floods in, what would... could I do with it all? House is sorted. Car looks good until the alternative arrives, or I'm taxed into getting a new one.
I don't think I am one of those green-advocates who feels like telling folk what they should be doing, but reserve the right to hunt around for things they could do, and in as informed a way as possible come to their own conclusions as to the best options.
And in this regard I really think we are being bombarded with some very mixed messages from those who claim to be on top of what's going on, will happen and how to sort it, namely the Government (work harder to make more, and..?) and Media (Fancy a spa break for two in Bali this weekend, simply enter our..).
Tricky.
But it's really the consequences that matter. Who, now, is listening, much less acting?
And something pretty obvious has (belatedly, I'm sure, compared to a lot) struck me, as I read a Sunday Times columnist having a go at Yummy Mummy CEOs having oodles of kids to validate their womanhood, and some Minister without Portfolio (or much grasp of real life) saying on Breakfast TV that childcare facilities and costs are so good now there's no excuse not to get every Mum back into the workforce, to produce more to improve their earnings potential.
So my epiphany has been... what's the point?
Indy - Parents spend third of wages on nursery, says study
I mean, there are all these folk earning all this dosh, and really all they can do then is spend it on stuff which is not going to help the old Carb-con, clunking footprint.
Most of my chums stayed in London forging successful careers. By which I mean I'm sure they love what they do 'n all, but seem to get up at 6am, wave the kids' nanny goodbye and drive with the power-spouse to the station to work waaaay beyond the Euro-maximum to spend a day in a box earning squillions before coming back in time to kiss the kids goodnight. The kids meanwhile all go to very good, very pricey schools to learn to do the exactly same thing... and how to want... to spend.
What else is there to do?
At work there is only so much you can blow the £esult of all this hard work on. Suit. Hairdo. Lunch. Lap-dancers. Prius. The company can add a few more to the tally: bonding course in Bali with Club to First upgrade, Blackberry, etc.
But in the little time you have at home, really the only thing to do with all this wonga is blow it. Quick trip to Whistler to catch what's left of the snow. A 500" LCD. Another Prius.
My family lives modestly... now. Mainly because we're broke. I'm sure hoping by our efforts that we soon won't be, and a comfy retirement beckons. But if and when it all floods in, what would... could I do with it all? House is sorted. Car looks good until the alternative arrives, or I'm taxed into getting a new one.
I don't think I am one of those green-advocates who feels like telling folk what they should be doing, but reserve the right to hunt around for things they could do, and in as informed a way as possible come to their own conclusions as to the best options.
And in this regard I really think we are being bombarded with some very mixed messages from those who claim to be on top of what's going on, will happen and how to sort it, namely the Government (work harder to make more, and..?) and Media (Fancy a spa break for two in Bali this weekend, simply enter our..).
Tricky.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Steal £200. Get out of Jail free.
Remember Monopoly money? It had less value(s) than the real thing. I think we have arrived at Monopoly society, presided over by Monopoly Government and reported on by Monopoly Media.
So now the solution to full jails (one may ask how the trend has not been noticed over the last 10 years, or the causes of it - both in terms of creating customers and failing to prepare to accommodate them) is to a) not put any more in or b) let some out. I must find a Gatso right away and speed past it, and then fail to pay the fine. I bet they'll have a mugger out before you can say 'the law is the law'.
Meanwhile, Ms. Jade Gobby is rewarded for her performance and contribution to race relations with an all expenses (if not salaried, and PR/TV crew in tow)-paid trip to the country she didn't seem to rate.
Well, let me state here and now that some Singaporeans don't take their turn at the washing up, and I wish she would. Also, do they eat with their hands (Ans: some do, (even Chinese ones, like my Missus) sometimes, as do a few Ang Mohs, if they are at a Banana Leaf restaurant)?
There. I hope you are all suitably offended. Now, me and the family would like to visit the rellys this summer, if you would like to put us up in Raffles and fly (sadly our 2 week holiday allowance precludes the QE2 or getting an oil company to sponsor us to drive there - but rest assured we will write a blog for the book tour and whack a palm in our back garden in time for it to croak come winter (or maybe not, way things are going)) us SQ.
I had to do that last bit to make it re:levant. But really it all is. If the guys at the helm can't set an example, is it any wonder we follow our leaders to the easy options?
BBC - Limit Jail Sentences
So now the solution to full jails (one may ask how the trend has not been noticed over the last 10 years, or the causes of it - both in terms of creating customers and failing to prepare to accommodate them) is to a) not put any more in or b) let some out. I must find a Gatso right away and speed past it, and then fail to pay the fine. I bet they'll have a mugger out before you can say 'the law is the law'.
Meanwhile, Ms. Jade Gobby is rewarded for her performance and contribution to race relations with an all expenses (if not salaried, and PR/TV crew in tow)-paid trip to the country she didn't seem to rate.
Well, let me state here and now that some Singaporeans don't take their turn at the washing up, and I wish she would. Also, do they eat with their hands (Ans: some do, (even Chinese ones, like my Missus) sometimes, as do a few Ang Mohs, if they are at a Banana Leaf restaurant)?
There. I hope you are all suitably offended. Now, me and the family would like to visit the rellys this summer, if you would like to put us up in Raffles and fly (sadly our 2 week holiday allowance precludes the QE2 or getting an oil company to sponsor us to drive there - but rest assured we will write a blog for the book tour and whack a palm in our back garden in time for it to croak come winter (or maybe not, way things are going)) us SQ.
I had to do that last bit to make it re:levant. But really it all is. If the guys at the helm can't set an example, is it any wonder we follow our leaders to the easy options?
BBC - Limit Jail Sentences
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Hell in a handbasket
The other day a reader asked me to mention the perverse travesty of the situation in Burma being ignored whilst so much of less import gets coverage and debate and public outrage in support. I replied that I would love to (and now have - it is an issue I have felt strongly about since I lived in Asia. Indeed one of the songs I wrote with my wife for her highly-acclaimed debut album was called 'Shadow of a Hero', about Aung Sung Ki ('scuse spelling)), but really I didn't feel it possible or right for the Junkk 'brand' to err too far, too often from our core area of interest.
Well, sod that.
I have just woken up to the farce that is Big Brother, our political establishment, and the sorry state of this country's chattering classes, the media they serve and read and, sorry to say, a large chunk of my fellow (wo)man.
As I watch the River Wye come up the highstreet, my dustbin head to Aberdeen, my breakfast juice (please let it be squeezed in situ and shipped over) freeze-dried in Orange County, I'd say there were a few other things a tad more important.
Animal Farm
"I normally wouldn't give this a microsecond's thought, let alone commit to keyboard, but as our nation's finest pols, NGOs and media have decided it is more important than anything else (unless a tornado whisks the BB house to Oz), why not me as well?
I have two words to offer: AGENDA and EDIT.
From the media company that sets this up, to the media that feed on the controversy so set up (as if they didn't know), how anyone with a brain can assign any significance to the words and actions of a vetted and selected and manipulated group of human extremes is beyond me. It's like watching a show called BIG BOMBER and getting in a lather because all the guys with (I'll avoid any potentially un-PC or pejorative descriptions here) huddle around in one corner discussing hair bleach and exotic dinner ingredients whilst looking ominously across the room at the lone US Marine popped in to see what happens.
And should things not quite work to the full requirements of the AGENDA, there is always the EDIT. You can leave in, or out, what serves your needs best. Leave to simmer, and serve.
Pathetic. The whole sorry lot of you."
Telegraph
Indy
Indy - a good analysis of several issues
Mad - good to kick a ball rolling!
Guardian, subsequently. I was going to add... 'Especially those making hay out of being 'offended'. Reminds me of when I was in Hong Kong, and all white non-Chinese were dubbed 'Queilos', which wasn't meant as a compliment. Or response? Well, we didn't run around wailing and trying to get a slot on tlak shows. We just figured, 'Hey, why not?', and started calling ourselves that. Kinda took the sting out of it. A lot of maturity is missing here. And commom sense. The day differences between people are not noticed, and commented upon, is when we are all the same clone. And then I'm sure ways will be found to set us apart even then. Learn to swim before you try and tell the tide to stop.
Telegraph, subsequently, for crying out loud. More than you ever will want, or need to know.
Telegraph, ditto
BBC - Jade to donate her TV fee to charity - The classic 'get out of jail free' response to such things if you get caught these days. I wonder what her fee to the News of the World was, and where it went?
GuardianCiF - A very good comment by a guy called Waltz
Indy - India grits its teeth as Jade prepares to jet in - As ye sow, so shall ye reap.
Well, sod that.
I have just woken up to the farce that is Big Brother, our political establishment, and the sorry state of this country's chattering classes, the media they serve and read and, sorry to say, a large chunk of my fellow (wo)man.
As I watch the River Wye come up the highstreet, my dustbin head to Aberdeen, my breakfast juice (please let it be squeezed in situ and shipped over) freeze-dried in Orange County, I'd say there were a few other things a tad more important.
Animal Farm
"I normally wouldn't give this a microsecond's thought, let alone commit to keyboard, but as our nation's finest pols, NGOs and media have decided it is more important than anything else (unless a tornado whisks the BB house to Oz), why not me as well?
I have two words to offer: AGENDA and EDIT.
From the media company that sets this up, to the media that feed on the controversy so set up (as if they didn't know), how anyone with a brain can assign any significance to the words and actions of a vetted and selected and manipulated group of human extremes is beyond me. It's like watching a show called BIG BOMBER and getting in a lather because all the guys with (I'll avoid any potentially un-PC or pejorative descriptions here) huddle around in one corner discussing hair bleach and exotic dinner ingredients whilst looking ominously across the room at the lone US Marine popped in to see what happens.
And should things not quite work to the full requirements of the AGENDA, there is always the EDIT. You can leave in, or out, what serves your needs best. Leave to simmer, and serve.
Pathetic. The whole sorry lot of you."
Telegraph
Indy
Indy - a good analysis of several issues
Mad - good to kick a ball rolling!
Guardian, subsequently. I was going to add... 'Especially those making hay out of being 'offended'. Reminds me of when I was in Hong Kong, and all white non-Chinese were dubbed 'Queilos', which wasn't meant as a compliment. Or response? Well, we didn't run around wailing and trying to get a slot on tlak shows. We just figured, 'Hey, why not?', and started calling ourselves that. Kinda took the sting out of it. A lot of maturity is missing here. And commom sense. The day differences between people are not noticed, and commented upon, is when we are all the same clone. And then I'm sure ways will be found to set us apart even then. Learn to swim before you try and tell the tide to stop.
Telegraph, subsequently, for crying out loud. More than you ever will want, or need to know.
Telegraph, ditto
BBC - Jade to donate her TV fee to charity - The classic 'get out of jail free' response to such things if you get caught these days. I wonder what her fee to the News of the World was, and where it went?
GuardianCiF - A very good comment by a guy called Waltz
Indy - India grits its teeth as Jade prepares to jet in - As ye sow, so shall ye reap.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
A silly question deserves a SUPERB answer!
'If you spend more than four hours a day travelling to work, have you got a life?'
"Well, yes. Whether it is the life you want, is another matter.
Some... most of us to not have a choice in the matter.
I write this lucky enough, for now, to work from home. I dread the occasions when I have to travel, no matter the slight benefits of having a few hours to read guilt-free if I'm on the train, or listening to the radio en route, more guiltily, if I am car-borne trading."
I of course refer to that last play on words: car-borne trading. Genius (immodestly). You heard it here first.
"Well, yes. Whether it is the life you want, is another matter.
Some... most of us to not have a choice in the matter.
I write this lucky enough, for now, to work from home. I dread the occasions when I have to travel, no matter the slight benefits of having a few hours to read guilt-free if I'm on the train, or listening to the radio en route, more guiltily, if I am car-borne trading."
I of course refer to that last play on words: car-borne trading. Genius (immodestly). You heard it here first.
Monday, January 08, 2007
On your Marx, get set... stop.
I don't think I am a communist. I rather like the idea of being comfortably off (though am having a bit of an epiphany as to how much one really needs if we are to survive as a species - loads of dosh really means loads of desire to blow it on stuff, travel, etc, otherwise one's mattress really is going to bulk up) and get a cold shudder when I see anything with 'not for profit' on it.
However, two pieces in one of my Sunday's had me looking up 'first against the wall when the revolution comes' in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
Blowing the bonus
Buddy, can you spare a billion?
I don't have a problem with wealth as such, so long as it is honestly, morally and ethically earned/gained (which rather removes most inherited varieties, at the top end at least, anyway), but I certainly do with any wasteful, obscene misuse of it.
And I really do not like it being pandered to by those who seek to bask in a few moments of being close to it by offering exposure to those with such shallow lives they can't think of anything better to do with their financial good fortune.
However, two pieces in one of my Sunday's had me looking up 'first against the wall when the revolution comes' in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
Blowing the bonus
Buddy, can you spare a billion?
I don't have a problem with wealth as such, so long as it is honestly, morally and ethically earned/gained (which rather removes most inherited varieties, at the top end at least, anyway), but I certainly do with any wasteful, obscene misuse of it.
And I really do not like it being pandered to by those who seek to bask in a few moments of being close to it by offering exposure to those with such shallow lives they can't think of anything better to do with their financial good fortune.
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