@Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

Simon318ppm

@Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org

Dad, grandad, climate & ecology, green economy, social, racial & economic justice, systems thinking 🇵🇸🇪🇺

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TCatInReality, to random
@TCatInReality@mastodon.social avatar

After Truss and #RishiSunak , frankly I'm disappointed only one #Tory MP has left the party over what it's done to the #NHS and the country.
#ToriesUnfitToGovern #GeneralElectionNow

BBC News - Conservative MP and ex-minister Daniel Poulter defects to Labour
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68913287

Simon318ppm,
@Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@junesim63 @TCatInReality he’s standing down anyway

But reading his comments that everything was great under Cameron and Osborne, as the NHS and other public services were being decimated by cuts, he was clearly ideologically committed to NHS destruction when it was being done by nicer people

What’s truly awful is that he’s lined himself up a job with Labour as a health adviser

JugglingWithEggs, to random
@JugglingWithEggs@mstdn.social avatar

The Tories wants to criminalise carers who have the temerity of working in Tescos on the weekend and infringe their weekly earnings cliff edge by somewhere between 50p and £3.

These are people working very low paid jobs to keep the wolf from the door and have a chance to talk to other humans outside of their caring responsibilities.

Why is limit so low and always assumption of deceit?

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/12/how-one-woman-fell-victim-carers-allowance-trap-karina-moon

Simon318ppm,
@Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@JugglingWithEggs the performative cruelty is the point, as Ken Loach once pointed out

I’ve worked a lifetime in roles which have had regular interaction with the benefits system and the levels of Kafkaesque nastiness and deliberate incompetence are political choices

and have long spread the narrative that poverty is a personal failing. That ideology requires a level of punishment

Only the offer an evidence-based approach - universal basic income

ChrisMayLA6, to politics
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

Oh how soon we forget.... here's Rachel Cunliffe in the New Statesman getting all dewy eyed about the success of David Cameron as Foreign Secretary & his polished delivery of his policy messages....

Hang on a second; lets recall that before the Liz Truss debacle he was being seen as the worst PM for generation, precisely because his polish & over-confident posh boy rhetoric is what fed into the the loss of the Brexit referendum.

https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2024/04/david-camerons-west-wing-polish-is-putting-rishi-sunak-to-shame

Simon318ppm,
@Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 not to mention being exposed by the Greensill lobbying scandal as the most corrupt PM ever…

…until the last three

ChrisMayLA6, to random
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

Once again the DWP is proving that it lacks an ounce of humanity... prosecuting carers for (relative minor) infractions of the conditions for the recipe of carers' allowance.

Unpaid carers are doing amazing work for their families & loved ones but the DWP can't see the wood for the tress.

The vindictive & callous state is just getting this wrong - we have crisis in social care that is not getting worse only because of what unpaid carers are doing,

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/07/unpaid-carers-allowance-payment-prosecution-earnings-rules

Simon318ppm,
@Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 not an ounce of compassion, nor, indeed, competence.

The supermarket worker whose inheritance was seized DID inform the DWP of the increase in her wages but when you contact DWP you can only speak to a call handler who has zero authority to act, with work systemically separated into functional specialisms, meaning poor service, increased cost and vastly increased rates of error.

~12 years ago I was involved in some systems thinking work with a DWP service manager…1/2

Simon318ppm,
@Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 2/2 The aim was to undertake process analysis from a customer perspective and it was sanctioned by senior management in Whitehall

But as soon as the systemic incompetence began to be uncovered (how work is organised, not the capability of staff), regional managers called in the manager we were working with - someone with decades of exemplary service, - and warned them that if they didn’t collapse the whole exercise, they’d face disciplinary action for gross misconduct

FrankauLux, to uk
@FrankauLux@mastodon.social avatar

no comment.
The mind boggles...

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/grant-shapps-raf-russia-plane-defence-government-b2513515.html

Simon318ppm,
@Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@FrankauLux unless, in this case, it was deliberate 🤔🤣

ChrisMayLA6, to climate
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

Here is BBC Verify's scorecard for the UK's progress towards net zero.

Its a mixed picture, with some good progress, while (of course) continuing commitment to fossil fuels is a low point.

Much of this you likely know already but its good to have it all in one place.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/58160547

Simon318ppm,
@Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 the twin elephants in the room of course, both ignored in the article are a) that we waste vast amounts of energy, especially since the Tories effectively put a stop to home insulation. Without addressing this, people will continue to die of cold (and heat) and we will continue to decimate the natural world to generate power we shouldn’t need. And b) any reduction in 🇬🇧 industrial emissions is the product of sleight of hand, pretending that offshore emissions don’t count

Simon318ppm, to uk
@Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

https://zirk.us/@StingrayBadger/112071007368416546

How the party spent years building links in the , then leant on the organisation commissioning the research that exposed it, TellMAMA, to suppress its findings or lose government funding

The are a stain on democracy who should be totally destroyed in the forthcoming

ChrisMayLA6, to random
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

More evidence the plan to push people into the arms of private through an engineered :

FT reports that:
'The percentage of people in the UK aged 18 to 64 with personal [health] cover jumped from 17% in March 2022 to 26% in September last year, while those taking out cover through company schemes rose from 21% to 28% over the same period'!

As they say follow the money; and the money is flowing into health insurance.

@TCatInReality post your meme!

Simon318ppm,
@Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@jackLondon @ChrisMayLA6 @TCatInReality

It surely involves incompetence and carelessness but no, it’s a plot.

Indeed, it’s the very plot Oliver Letwin unveiled in the 80s, writing that the 🇬🇧 obsession with the NHS meant it would be impossible to privatise in the short term so the strategy needed to be a long term one of resource starvation & degradation to the point we fell out of love with the NHS and took the only option, private health insurance

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

What is the most ridiculous question or complaint that you've had from a Customer/Client?

Simon318ppm,
@Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@RickiTarr my partner & I are retired artisan chocolatiers. At an event I was once asked if we did any salmon-flavoured chocolate and was met with an utterly incredulous face when I suggested I’d never heard of such a thing 🤣

pvonhellermannn, to random
@pvonhellermannn@mastodon.green avatar

Very interesting to read a National Trust report into the kinds of changes in plant behaviour due to climate change we have been observing and documenting here on . and have been such strong and interesting themes here in 2023 - let’s keep it up in 2024!

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/27/weather-changes-causing-chaos-for-uk-flora-and-fauna-says-national-trust-audit?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Simon318ppm,
@Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@albertcardona @pvonhellermannn

Yup - I’m in Staffordshire. This week, I’ve counted over a dozen flowering dandelions, seen alders covered in catkins and an elder coming into leaf

The knock-on effects for wildlife as these unseasonal changes scale wider & wider will be absolutely catastrophic

DrALJONES, (edited ) to Israel
@DrALJONES@mastodon.social avatar

deleted_by_author

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    Simon318ppm,
    @Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

    @violetmadder @DrALJONES @equalitysiren

    Don’t disagree but the great betrayal narrative, played out here in the UK following the rout of Jeremy Corbyn by the establishment, is that putting our faith in so-called political leaders, however seemingly benign & charismatic, is thoroughly misguided

    Our only hope is community-building and doing it for our collective selves

    alx, (edited ) to Banking
    @alx@mastodon.design avatar

    I need to open a new current account in the UK. Before going with the classics, does anyone here has some suggestion of ethical banks?


    Simon318ppm,
    @Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

    @alx Triodos is the gold standard but it includes a small (and entirely fair when you read the rationale) monthly fee

    Otherwise, Nationwide Building Society remains a mutual and your money will do no harm, though wouldn’t be supporting the positive investments you get at Triodos

    raymondpert, to BBC
    @raymondpert@mstdn.social avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    Simon318ppm,
    @Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

    @raymondpert I take it the Board of Deputies also “advised” the BBC DG that news bulletins should henceforth refer to Israel as, “The Apartheid state of Israel”, in the interests of balance?

    No? 🤔

    petergleick, to random
    @petergleick@fediscience.org avatar

    It's not just that Musk spent $44 billion on Twitter and turned it into $8 billion. It's that he has so fucking much money that he doesn't care.
    Tax billionaires till it hurts.

    Simon318ppm,
    @Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

    @petergleick

    I disagree. Tax billionaires out of existence because our one home simply cannot afford their obscene levels of consumption

    ChrisMayLA6, to Teachers
    @ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

    as @RichardJMurphy points out this morning, the wrecking campaign against the public sector, by making working conditions so unwelcoming & badly paid is having a continuing effect, with shortage of , and other key public .

    The game plan is clear:
    attack the public services via defunding & stressing the workforce;

    use to claim money is tight, to reduce real wages;

    claim: 'we'd like to run better public services, but we just can't get the staff'!

    Simon318ppm,
    @Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

    @ChrisMayLA6 @RichardJMurphy with the longterm aim, of course, as articulated by Oliver Letwin back in the 1980s, of wholesale privatisation as public provision loses credibility and public confidence

    That the media has entirely failed to expose this, even in the face of hard evidence, New Labour governments further enabled it, and Starmer’s Labour vows to continue the trend is beyond shameful

    SocraticEthics, to Ukraine
    @SocraticEthics@mastodon.online avatar

    🇬🇧🇺🇦In Lviv, Boris Johnson honors memory of fallen soldiers, Heavenly Hundred heroes (more) https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-society/3759196-in-lviv-boris-johnson-honors-memory-of-fallen-soldiers-heavenly-hundred-heroes.html

    Simon318ppm,
    @Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

    @SocraticEthics sadly, you’re confusing Boris Johnson with someone who actually gives a damn

    Narcissist sociopath Johnson only ever does anything for a single purpose - to promote the brand, reputation and earnings potential of Boris Johnson

    Every person who ever put their faith in this charlatan has been used until they outlived their usefulness. Then they are chewed up, spat out and discarded as they no longer have any value

    Free_Press, to news
    @Free_Press@mstdn.social avatar

    UK BEST IN THE WORLD?

    While the US continues to climb in ranking since Trump left office, it's still at #3.

    These Are the 2023 Top 10 Best Countries in the World, According to Americans:

    United Kingdom (+8)

    New Zealand (+6)

    United States (+2)

    Australia (0)

    Sweden (-2)

    Canada (-4)

    Japan (-1)

    France (+4)

    Switzerland (-8)

    Germany (-3)

    (parentheses is ranking increase/decrease from last year)

    https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2023-09-07/the-best-countries-in-the-world-according-to-americans

    Simon318ppm,
    @Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

    @Free_Press

    Wow! They clearly haven’t been to the UK in a few years 😮

    After 40+ years of neoliberal theft and 13 years of Tory government, nothing works, the rivers are dead and full of shit, as are the beaches and seas, we are the corruption capital of the world and in the grip of the same forces that trashed everything decent in the US

    breadandcircuses, (edited ) to environment

    Electric cars are better, on balance, than ICE cars. But...

    Well, take a look at this first. Then we can talk more about my But down below.

    The urgency of climate change requires electrifying the 278 million personal vehicles plying American roadways as quickly as we can. After all, EVs are far more climate-friendly than equivalent gas-powered models because they eliminate the tailpipe emissions that warm the planet and pollute the air. Better yet, EVs are simply fun to drive: Most models are quicker and quieter than your average gas car.

    However, that is not the full story.

    EVs also produce emissions beyond what spews from their tailpipe. Like all cars, their tires are constantly rubbing against pavement, releasing particulates that float through the air and leach into waterways, damaging human health and wildlife. New EV models tend to be heavier and quicker — generating more particulates and deepening the danger.

    In other words, EVs have a tire-pollution problem, and one that is poised to get worse as America begins to adopt electric cars en masse. None of this is inevitable. EVs don’t need to be so massive and lightning-fast — these are choices that the auto industry has made. All of us will pay the price.

    As a form of microplastics, tire pollution hits wildlife hard: Compounds that settle on the ground gradually leach toxic chemicals into the soil and water. One study concluded that tires could be responsible for as much as 28% of the microplastics in global oceans.

    The smallest tire particles, measured in mere nanometers, can enter our lungs and spread to our organs. Various tire components have been linked to chronic conditions including respiratory problems, kidney damage, neurological damage, and birth defects — a particular concern in neighborhoods adjacent to highways, whose residents skew low-income and minority.

    FULL ARTICLE -- https://archive.li/jrMWK

    Anyway, so we agree, EVs basically are better than ICE cars.

    BUT — as you've seen, they have their own problems. And do we really need to still have 300+ million cars clogging our roads, posing a threat to cyclists and pedestrians and basic sanity?

    For me, the answer is No.

    I say public transit is better. Bicycles are better. Walking is better.

    Because the very BEST car is no car at all!

    Simon318ppm,
    @Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

    @breadandcircuses yup - quite agree

    I heard a materials on the radio last week talking about this. Apparently, better compounds that shed less on contact with the road surface are available but tyre manufacturers won’t use them as they last much longer

    Somehow, it always seems to come back to extractive capitalism 🤔

    dmoser, to random
    @dmoser@mastodon.social avatar

    Paris 🇫🇷 increased the number of its 🏫school streets to 180 ‼️ since 2020.

    ➡ The key objectives: Create a safe way to & from school, as well as reducing air pollution. Side effect: Quality of Life 🌳

    This is the future 👇👇

    image/jpeg
    image/jpeg

    Simon318ppm,
    @Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

    @dmoser meanwhile, the UK Transport Secretary yesterday announced through their compliant media that the government will now block Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, in the interests of “individual choice”. Apparently, choice only applies to car drivers

    Anything that makes life better, safer or healthier for people, they whip up the culture war frenzy, then ban

    breadandcircuses, (edited ) to environment

    EVs are so heavy they cause far more road damage than do old-style ICE cars.

    "EVs cause twice the road damage of petrol vehicles, study reveals"
    https://www.energylivenews.com/2023/06/27/evs-cause-twice-the-road-damage-of-petrol-vehicles-study-reveals/

    Even just carrying EVs on trucks to the showroom is becoming a big problem, because they’re so freaking heavy.

    "There’s a problem with transporting new vehicles across the country: They’re too heavy."
    https://slate.com/business/2023/06/electric-vehicles-auto-haulers-weight-capacity-roads.html

    And once you buy that new electric SUV and then drive it to work and leave it in a parking garage… uh-oh!

    "Electric cars too heavy for old multi-storey car parks, engineers warn"
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/05/electric-cars-too-heavy-old-multi-storey-car-parks/

    My point here is not that EVs are worse than ICE cars, because they’re not. But they’re not much better either.

    Replacing a billion old-style cars with a billion EVs won’t solve anything. The very best car is no car at all.

    #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Degrowth #WarOnCars #BanCars

    Simon318ppm,
    @Simon318ppm@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

    @breadandcircuses please don’t the Daily Telegraph - its editor is an infamous climate change denialist and they regularly publish totally dishonest crap trying to discredit any climate action

    Rule of thumb? If it’s in the Telegraph, it’s untrue

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