Already being done in New Zealand, but worth a look:-

Algae biofuels

...and this is worth a look too:-

GM bacteria that excretes crude oil

Dear fellow voters,

I'm sure you enjoyed (as I did) watching the worms at Whitehall squirm as they got their arses roundly kicked in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election yesterday, as they also did in the recent local elections.

I'm certainly no fan of either the government or the Labour party in general, but before we start down the road of handing the next election to the Tories, let's take a quick stroll down amnesia lane...to the last Tory-held government of 1990 to 1997...

(insert squiggly line scene fade and surreal music here)

Let's not bother to look at the appalling mess Thatcher created with the Poll tax and her subsequent ousting from No. 10 by Tarzan and co...which eventually backfired and dumped the Prince of Greyness, John Major on an unsuspecting electorate. Let's forget that Major simply changed the Poll tax to be property-based (so it could be enforced) and rebranded it as "Council tax" before selling it back to the ever-gullible British public.

In the 7 years that Major and his cronies ruled the country:-

• The country was plunged into the worst recession for years following the events of Black Wednesday, thanks mostly to Major's chancellor of the Exchequer who wasted billions of pounds in a futile attempt to prop up the currency's value.
• A record number of Major's cabinet colleagues and senior Tory figures including Jeffery Archer, Neil Hamilton and Jonathan Aitken were convicted of a range of dishonesty charges including fraud and perjury
• Less important but notable series of sex scandals involving David Mellor, the Earl of Caithness, David Ashby, Alan Amos, Tim Yeo and Michael Brown. Hardly a week wenk by without some article or another about weird ugly Tory Mp's and their kinky fetishes.
• Sleeze reached a climax with the introduction of an almost never-ending series of quangos, loaded with Tory yes-men busy feathering their nests at the public's expense.

And what policy initiative is Major best remembered for by Joe Public?

A traffic cones "Hotline"

...return to the present

...and let's think TWICE before voting for EITHER tory or labour in the next election...

Lib Dem, Green, UKIP, independent - whatever is available in your electorate, let's make sure that we all do our best to knobble this crazy, corrupt and hypocritical party bolitics!

Nice to see bonnie Prince Charlie talking about protecting the rainforest from ever-increasing deforestation.

Most importantly, Charles is talking about the introduction of a rainforest tax, paid by wealthy countries to countries such as Brazil, in exchange for not continuing with the unrestricted chop-slash-and-burn approach.

Just over a year ago, we suggested the same thing

Looks like we are still ahead of our time

What a noticeable difference between the responses of the Burmese military junta to the recent devastating cyclone that ravaged large parts of the Irrawaddy Delta and the Chinese government response to the 7.8 earthquake that hit Sichuan province earlier this week.

Both countries have been run by totalitarian regimes masquerading as one-party "democracies". Both governments have a long history of human rights violations and both have not hesitated in the recent past to use lethal force against their own people while the rest of the world mutters "shame" and continues to do not very much at all.

Yet the response by the Chinese authorities to the earthquake at least gives the appearance of being proactive. They responded fairly quickly by airdropping rescue workers, supplies and followed this up with a coordinated mobilization of troops, medical staff, equipment, food and medicine within 36 hours.

And unusually for the Chinese government, realistic facts and figures seemed to have been released to the world's media and foreign journalists have been permitted to enter China and record the disaster first hand, reporting from very close to the epicenter itself.

In contrast, the Burmese Junta seemed much more interested in pushing ahead with their "Constitutional" referendum. Of course "Constitutional" in Burma, means consolidating the government's nefarious hold on power and outlawing organised opposition (in this case formally excluding the main opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from office).

Meanwhile although supplies are being taken from the international community, no foreign aid workers are being permitted to enter the country. The foreign media has largely been excluded as well and the casualty figures released by the Burmese government are laughable.

So why has the Chinese government's approach to a national disaster been so radically different from previous events and the Burmese approach?

Could it be that they are scheduled to host the Olympic games in August?

When this thought first popped into my head I laughably started to dismiss it and then paused to reconsider...

First and foremost is the prestige factor, which is of particular relevance here. Anyone who knows the Chinese people knows how much value they place on "face" and after the controversial Olympic torch protests last month, China is keen to present itself as a progressive nation, moving towards compromise and dialogue.

This at least partially explains their approach to the earthquake. Knowing that the eyes of the world will once again be focusing on China and how it reacts to a humanitarian crisis, the authorities know they have to be seen to be organised and proactive. And so far they are doing just that.

Secondly (and far more important than the Prestige, even to the last offical bastion of communism) is of course the MONEY. China believes that the Olympics will be an economic bonanza of foreign income, which will also seal China's place as a legitimate tourist destination and launch their fledgling tourism/leisure industry.

As readers of earlier entries in this blog may know, I'm not a big fan of the Olympics. I generally see them as an opportunity for building contractors and souvenir manufacturers to make a fortune (paid by our tax) for a short-term PR exercise that takes 20 years to repay.

But in this case it looks like the Olympics has had some positive impact on a national disaster (albeit unintended).

Perhaps we should give the Olympics to more countries run by dictatorships...and with the money we save we can maybe splurge on a few luxuries (like roads, schools, hospitals, the environment and suchlike).

Meanwhile, if the despotic Burmese authorities are going to continue to sit on the parliamentary side of their arses while up to 2.5 million of their people perish, I think the UN should start deploying troops into Burma. If the government there won't help their own people then the rest of the world must step in - and if that means shooting a few Burmese generals then so be it!

What do you reckon?

Click to view Photos

Another grand day out, this time to Greywell in Hampshire which is just a short drive from Basingstoke.

For all those that believe Basingstoke is unattractive, well the surrounding countryside is spectacular. With trees dressed in their new spring green and cascading with blossom, the air was full of fluffy seeds that shimmered in the sunshine and dusted the water; giving a slightly mystical atmosphere to the afternoon.

Greywell is a charming picturesque village and even though it is the smallest parish in the district, it has many buildings of special interest and much of the locale has been designated as a conservation area.

There are two waterways adjacent to Greywell. The Whitewater river and the Basingstoke Canal. Both are quite beautiful and taking advantage of a sunny Sunday afternoon we stopped at the Fox and Goose public house at Greywell for a pint and a ploughmans, then headed off to find the canal.

We got somewhat lost and ended up at the Whitewater river instead; however this was quite fortunate because it was a very nice walk along the river.

Passing by the 12th Century church of St Mary's the Virgin and following the footpath sign from the road, we ambled along the riverside boardwalk. It is quite a marshy area and the footpath was a little muddy in places from the recent rain, so a sturdy pair of boots is a good idea. The footpath leads you past Greywell Mill, which is an attractive 18th Century brick built flour mill with it's wooden water wheel still in evidence (although it ceased working in the 1930's).

Once we realised that the Canal was nowhere in the vicinity, we backtracked to Greywell, then set off in the opposite direction from the pub where we found the foot bridge over the canal (Greywell tunnel) and then took a leisurely walk down the towpath.

The Greywell tunnel, built in 1792, had a somewhat chequered history and in 1932 a partial collapse shortened it's navigable length until in 1949 commercial traffic ceased. Now the tunnel is a haven for the largest population of bats in the British Isles. The canal itself was constructed around the same time in the late 18th Century and although it was supposed to connect London to Portsmouth, financial concerns meant it stopped short at Basingstoke.

The Pinkerton Narrow Boat was in evidence, picking up passengers for a canal trip and we stopped off at Odiham Castle (also known as King John's Castle). This is a 12th- Century ruin and the place that King John set off from on his way to sign the Magna Carta, in June 1215.

Originally built as a fortified hunting lodge in 1207 by King John, the castle was attacked 9 years later by Prince Louis of France. On its recapture a year later it was rebuilt with a unique octagonal tower (of which the ruins are in evidence today). The current site is owned and maintained by Hampshire County council.

Finally, our aching feet deciding the issue, we walked back to the Fox and Goose and had an excellent evening meal washed down with a large jug of Pimms (with the pre-requisite fruit salad garnishes). The staff were very friendly, the food was good and the weather was superb.

Perhaps not a terribly exciting way to spend a Sunday afternoon, but certainly a very pleasant one.

Spring has sprung in a spectacular fashion in Basingstoke and today we took a walk around The Vyne House in Sherborne St. John. See the Photos.

We've been promising ourselves a spring trip to the Vyne House and surrounding forest grounds for a number of years now to photograph the bluebells in their full glory...and this year we actually managed it.

Britain in spring is truly marvellous.

Result!

Despite the suggested small increase in voter turnout, today's local council elections got me to thinking about a different way of doing things...

Firstly - let's assume that Douglas Adams was right: the mere fact that someone wants to represent you in parliament should immediately exclude them from ever being allowed to do so.

But if no-one who wants to be an MP or councilor is allowed to be and assuming we agree that at least part of the job is necessary, how do we decide who does the job?

Perhaps we should follow Camelot's lead and create an election lottery.

How would it work? Every person of voting age who:-

• is physically able to perform the job and
• not in prison
• or in a mental institution or similar
• has a clean criminal record for at least 5 years

...gets automatically entered into the system and names are drawn at random. From that point onward, the process follows the "Jury duty" model; You can be excused on some grounds, such as personal hardship etc.

Once someone is selected, their salary for acting as an MP / Councilor for the next 4 years is based on an overall average of all the MPs / Councilors' salary at the time of the election. Some will be winners and others will be losers, but that's life.

Once someone has served their full 4-year term they should have the option to opt-out of the system for life. They've done their duty and we certainly don't want them getting keen on a second term (see Doug Adams' ref above).

Finally, each constituency should be able to define a list of objectives, based on poll results of the voters who live there. These can cover a range of the usual topics covering everything from repairing potholes to reducing unemployment within the constituency etc.

Each elected representative will be designated objectives which have to be completed by the time the next election rolls around. If they manage it then a healthy bonus is forthcoming. If not, they walk with only their salary.

During the time someone serves their term they may not:-

• Sit on the board of any company or commercial organization (although registered charities and other worthy causes would be permitted)
• hold more than a nominal number of shares in any company or commercial organization.
• employ close friends, family etc in any advisory capacity.

This system would have a number of advantages. Chief among them is the destruction of the party politics element of government. In the process, we could also go a long way towards eliminating special interests lobbying, QUANGO's and nepotism.

Each elected representative would therefore be free to vote on each issue, on the basis of what is best for those in their constituency.

In theory at least, the option that is best for the most constituencies is best for the country as a whole.

Now that's democracy!