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My Fracking Round Up Update

Monday 11th November, just past the eleventh hour of the eleventh day. It's a rainy, windy, rather chilly morning, and time for a review of the fracking situation. I wish I had better news, but I don't.

The Lords' committee questioning the extreme energy bosses were so tender with the pirates, it almost brought tears to my eyes. If you have the patience, meet Mr Andrew Austin CEO of IgAs, favourite movie, Local Hero, when gently teased over this preference by Lord McGregor, turns out Andrew only liked the soundtrack (he didn't inhale). Hear him explaining that some of these communities, some of these planning authorities, haven't got the message, my Lords. . . What do we need? What we need from you is a Big Stick. (cf Mr Eagan, hurt and distressed we're not fracking. Really we're not). Our interest is in exploratory drilling, see. We're promising you riches, but that's later, we'll be gone, you'll have to deal with the mess.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24899647


Climate change didn't get much of a look-in, except as one of those pesky minor issues that has to be dismissed with a serious expression. Meanwhile, the Mirror has an article of Typhoon Haiyan, that joins up the dots we're not supposed to join up. And in Fernhurst, Surrey, the prospective drilling site in the South Downs National Park, the "willing landowners" in the case are feeling some ire from their neighbours, while the National Park authority (SDNP) has no objection to the prospective Celtique drilling, but has objected to a solar farm on the grounds of visual impact.

http://www.frackfreefernhurst.com/news/

And here's a mystery. I know there's strong opposition to fracking in the UK, and not only from culture of protest types. From the Low Weald to the Forest of Bowland, and not even counting those who just disinterestedly feel that climate change is a clear and present danger, I bet there's more than several 100,000 of you out there. It's not so crazy. We can say no. Other countries have said no. What happened to clictivism?

Take your pick, try signing one or two of these. I'm not saying which, just see what happens.

Avaaz is doing terrible.

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Stop_Fracking_in_the_UK/?tknnDab


https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Stop_fracking_in_the_UK_1/?tknnDab


The Green Party was doing slightly better than the rest:


http://my.greenparty.org.uk/civicrm/petition/sign?sid=3


but it seems to have given up and gone home.

You could try the specialists, if the expression climate change chaos is okay with you:

http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/campaigns/fracking


And then there's the peleton (this is just a sample)

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/292/878/452/no-fracking-in-the-uk-take-action/

http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/no-fracking-in-england

http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/press_for_change/fracking_petition_41121.html?utm_source=thank_you_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cameron_fracking_pfc

Sad, isn't it.

Ann Leckie, Ancillary Justice

I'm out of the loop, and happy to be out here, but therefore I have to be more cautious about attributing sf political engagement. When I read Ancillary Justice it seemed to me that Ann Leckie's default pronoun could purely be plausible extrapolation. The future will be ambiguous, there's signs things are going that way, and why not? Why use "she"? Well, just ask yourself, how's "he" going to sound. . . I went looking, and found this splendid rant. Wonderful, couldn't have put it better myself. So then I knew.

If you're a BSFA member you should be getting this review, in a slightly different edition, in your next mailing. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gwynethann/AncillaryJustice.htm

Music

In Brighton this Friday? Gabriel Jones and Marianne Wright are in concert at the Unitarian Church, New Road. lunchtime, see link for details, singing mainly Debussy and Poulenc. Also at the Chapel Royal 1pm 1Oth December.

The keynote picture is the remains of our impromptu, minimalist garden firework display on Tuesday night. Reviving an old tradition, except we used to tramp up to the top of Racehill (cf Kairos) and except that the skies are a lot quieter on this night than they used to be.









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