socialism - a long time dying

First they tried to destroy eastern and central Europe. Then in their Thatcherite form they tried to destroy the UK. It all ended (or so we thought) as the 80s became the 90s - the fall of the Berlin Wall, of Thatcher, of the USSR. The end of socialism, for ever.

Now they are churning out their bile and exercising the chips on their shoulders.

IT'S NOT OUR FAULT THAT YOU'RE MIDDLE CLASS YOU TWATS.

Middle class and low IQ - the typical socialist.

Now they are targeting Global Warming and Peak Oil. Why? Because both threaten their vision for the world - endless suburbia, a detached home for all, a B&Q on every street corner, an end to voting, two cars for every family, a pointless government job for life and an endless succession of benefits, subsidies and grants.

Fuck 'em. Fuck Martin Durkin, ex-communist, extreme lefty and the creator of the Channel 4 joke documentary 'The Great Global Warming Swindle'. Yeah, well you'd fucking know all about that wouldn't you, you toffee-nosed, po-faced divvy?

Go and discuss Marx with Gordon Brown, Margaret Thatcher and the Chinese in one of your posh gardens. Just leave us alone to protect our own families as Global Warming and Peak Oil kick in big time.

spineless tossers

Oh dear, our 'prime minister' Gordon Brown has just quivered yet again and decided that the miserable 2p fuel surcharge will not now be imposed in the autumn. How many times has this Scottish tory tart done this now? Every time the hippy lorry drivers whinge he backs down. So where is the revenue going to come from??

As drivers we can choose to drive less and, in the longer term, change our lifestyles so we no longer depend on dinosaur cars. But now we'll all have to pay so the socialist toffs can continue to drive for a few more weeks. It's pathetic.

1848 all over again

Potato famine 2008 style. A timely reminder that the sooner we learn survival skills the better - in a few years time this would be a real disaster! A combination of wind, rain and ...


... slugs.


The crop from 2 containers. Next year we'll deal ruthlessly with the slugs. Nemetode worms and hedgehogs, and environmentally-friendly pellets.

don't miss

In between baiting socialists and hippies whilst spreading the Peak Oil message why not recharge your batteries by watching the BRILLIANT Summer Heights High. It's the best Australian comedy ever and is nudging the Boosh out of my favourite comedy show of all time!

why tories don't understand business

Arch-socialist scumbag Margaret Thatcher almost wiped out the middle class with her total misunderstanding of business. But then should we expect anything other from these socialist toffs?

And things don't seem to have changed.

From today's AOL a quote from George Osborne, socialist.

Fuel duty would be slashed to help hard-pressed families deal with soaring prices, under radical Tory plans.

Shadow chancellor George Osborne promised to link tax levels to oil prices, so the Government "shared the pain" of hikes.
If the measures had been implemented at the last Budget duty would currently be 5p lower - easing the impact on motorists at the pumps.

Speaking on BBC1's Andrew Marr programme, Mr Osborne described the system as a "fair fuel stabiliser".

"At the moment fuel duty goes up even when the price of oil goes up," he said. "So instead of Government helping you with the rising cost of living, they are actually adding to it. The Government revenue flows in because the price of oil goes up."

Oh dear! In reality the purchase of fuel has DECREASED by 20% over the last month or so, severely denting government revenues from fuel duty. So as the price of fuel goes up revenues DECREASE! This is just common sense, but toff Osborne doesn't seem to understand it. Don't give up the day job George - your understanding of economics seems to be as vague as that of your namesake George Monbiot!

chinese peak oil prep!

From Lewis Geary's Rich Life letter, some really interesting facts about Chinese attitudes to money!


*** Being frugal is a virtue. Frugality is an integral part of the Chinese culture... it's a concept that's been taught for thousands of years. The classic Chinese text "Dao De Jing" states that the three greatest treasures one can have are love, frugality, and generosity.

*** Save as much as you can - The personal savings rate in China is incredibly high compared to the UK. Chinese households save around 30% of their family income every year, while according to The Guardian, in 2007, we Brits saved just 2.1% of our income.*** If you haven't got the cash - don't buy it! Credit cards are still fairly rare in China and most people pay for everything in cash.
Recently, the Chinese government relaxed rules on home ownership, and many ordinary Chinese people were able to pay for their properties in CASH! Teachers and factory workers were able to call upon 10-20 times their annual salaries in actual, physical money! Imagine how that would go down at your local Halifax...

*** Be wary of debt. Most Chinese people HATE to be in debt - hence the relative scarcity of credit cards and the reluctance to take on mortgage debt. That's a good thing. The less debt you have, the more financial freedom you enjoy.

*** Always look for a bargain - In China, haggling is a way of life. I've been told that if you ever visit China, it's expected that you ask for at least 50 to 75% DISCOUNT in stores.

You'll find plenty of shops and market sellers willing to negotiate with you, because bargaining is ingrained in the Chinese culture. Can you imagine how much more money you'd have if you only ever paid half-price for everything? Try it on your next shopping trip up the high street. Remember: don't ask - don't get!

*** Don't make your salary a secret - If you ask a Chinese person how much he or she earns, the chances are they'll tell you. It's not seen as bragging or a way to score points. It's actually seen as a way of getting to know another person.

It's not thought of as rude or bad form in Chinese culture to talk about money, and I believe that's a very good thing. We're way too guarded in this country about our finances and that can lead to jealousy, bitterness, envy and a reluctance to face up to financial problems.

*** Give the gift of cash! Every New Year and every birthday, Chinese children usually get cash from relatives in a red envelope. The tradition is that they save this money until they reach adulthood.

That might sound pretty unimaginative to you and I, but in China it's considered extremely thoughtful. It's not a bad idea when you think about how much useless (and expensive) rubbish we accumulate as kids that we discard after a few weeks.

the great unwinding ....

An interesting comment from an RAC spokesman at the end of this short AOL piece!

Temperatures rose to 27.8C (82F) today - the hottest day of the year so far, Met Office weather forecasters said.

London and other parts of south east England, Cambridgeshire, East Anglia and the Midlands have seen the highest temperatures, while Northern Ireland and western parts of Scotland have missed out on the sunshine.

A Met Office spokesman said: "I think it's squeaked it as the hottest day of the year, although we can't validate it yet.

"It may even have risen a couple of points higher than the 27.8C recorded at the London Weather Centre."

But the heat does not appear to have sent Britons flocking to the coast, according to motoring organisation the RAC.

"The roads have been comparatively quiet," said an RAC spokesman. "People are really thinking about whether their journeys are necessary and trying to economise on fuel while prices are so high." source

watershed, bad weather, weddings, cash

A few more shots of progress on the garden railway! Next job is to build the garden wall.

Oh, I'm getting married on Saturday!

We bought a nice little escape chalet today, hidden in the woods near Clevedon, a little wedding present to ourselves. The aim is to make it just about self sufficient in water, power and food.

We had October style gales last night that played havoc with my potato plants. A little warning that no matter how carefully we plan for Peak Oil Climate Change can still kick us in the teeth!

My strategy of renting, investing in gold and silver and not having any debt seems to be paying off now that the long-expected credit crunch is hitting home.

I'll be back in a couple of weeks ....

taking it easy

So our marvellous tanker drivers are on strike? Oh dear - back to the seventies.

And what do the general public think of their (in)action?

Results of an AOL poll today -

Do you support the strikers?

Results: .......Votes ...Per cent

Yes.................793.........44%
No...................944........52%
Don't know...... 68..........4%

Mmm. Well you can discount most of the 'yes' votes as they're probably from tanker drivers taking it easy at home, and from a few rogue cyclists and Peak Oil types.

So it's an overwhelming no then.

GET BACK TO WORK YOU LAZY FUCKERS WHILST YOU'VE STILL GOT JOBS! £42,000 FOR DRIVING A TRUCK IS OBSCENE.

garden progress

The railway after pegging out but before ballasting.




3 shots with the first panel ballasted and the second panel levelled off. The railway's the first element of the garden to go in as the rest of the garden will take its shape from it. It'll probably be next year before the vegetables go in now!

Second job will be the brick wall to go in just behind the tipper truck.

wanker drivers strike

So the latest blow to motorists' sanity is a tanker drivers strike.

I won't go into all the usual stuff about lorry drivers being an endangered species etc, but what struck me was this -

The pay row has erupted because members of Unite claim they are paid the same now as they were in 1992, just under £32,000 a year, despite their working week being 11 hours longer. Source.

Hmmmm. Really? If true one has to ask -

a) What on earth justified these people getting £32,000 in 1992 for a part time job?

b) What sort of union allows its members to lose pay on such a huge % over 16 years?

or

c) Does the union employ a five year old chimp to do its maths and PR?

norway and forest fires

Norway has a generally wet climate, far wetter than the UK on the western side, but just look at this weather warning map from Meteoalarm Europe. Red is, of course, the highest warning level. The whole of southern Norway is under threat of forest fires. This was a prediction for climate change but again it's surprising to see it happen so fast. Finland was on forest fire alert throughout much of April.

the new reality

Britain's new reality is starting to take shape. Falling house prices, 38% of adults frightened they can't repay their debts, petrol and diesel starting to become expensive, the spectres of unemployment and inflation on the horizon.

The lucky ones are those who rent and have no debt, who have recession-proof businesses and have stored at least part of their wealth in physical gold and silver. And the clever ones are already positioning themselves for life in post-oil Britain. A life of tools, networks, gold, silver, trees, skills and books. The crunch is now only a few years away now, you can see the signs of decay everywhere.

The real clue is costs. Watch everything get dearer in step with the rising costs of energy. We're seeing socialism re-emerge as people start to doubt their own ability to get through it. The lorry drivers are the arch communist scum at the moment, begging their government to subsidise their idiotic and anachronistic lifestyle.

There's no point in turning to 'government'. It will collapse everywhere as the costs continue to rise and as chaos enters the system. We all need to harden ourselves for the tasks to come and build our communities - no government is going to help us, they'll hardly be able to help themselves. We need to build our localised, solar-powered economies and if necessary create local defence forces to stop the hippies, socialists, peak-oil deniers and middle-class losers from trying to butt in.

who would have thought it?

"The cause of rising prices is clear - growing demand and too little supply to meet it both now and, perhaps of even greater significance, in the future.

"Our goal that Britain becomes a low-carbon economy is now an economic priority as well as an environmental imperative." Source.
Who said this? A clued-in economist, a Peak Oil advocate, Transition?

No, none other than our 'Prime Minister', Gordon Brown. And - this is the hilarious part - he said it in response to the barely believable lazy, sorry - lorry, drivers' 'protests' of yesterday.

So arch enemies of the environment and economic sense have managed to make possibly the worst Prime Minister since Thatcher publicly admit to Peak Oil!!

This is a wonderful world!

(Cynics (deniers) may claim through the comments page that Brown is merely making this all up to avoid losing extra tax revenue (for fitted kitchens no doubt)). (Conspiracy theorists (Daily Mail readers etc) may claim that Brown and his chums in the 'illuminati' and New World Order (big lizards department) are manipulating the price). Post drivel if you dare!

the return of chaos

Oh dear. A few lorry drivers trundle their dinosaurs into our uncool capital, whining about the price of diesel, that they seem to think is expensive when in reality it's dirt cheap and will never be as cheap again. They are bleating for the return of socialism - but is anyone listening? I doubt it.

One of their 'leaders' (I thought socialists thought we were all equal, or is that identical?) was asked on the BBC News where the money would come from to subsidise their dying industry. Should it be schools, hospitals, old people - his barely believable answer was 'from fitted kitchens'. If any of you thought these losers had a case I imagine that was the moment you realised that these people aren't serious about anything, especially their own industry.

Another whine we hear from 'em is that they have to pay VAT on diesel. Yes, but surely they claim it back as an input when they put in their quarterly returns? Or is that too difficult to explain to them?

The fact is they haven't got a clue. They tell us they're poor then waste 'expensive' fuel and lose a day's work driving into London of all places. And every step of the way they were alienating car drivers who were held up by their useless driving. They're now talking about picketting refineries again. So bloody 1970s! More time wasted, more work lost, more decadence. More chaos.

Because chaos is what this is really all about. Your average lorry driver lives a totally uncultured, unadventurous life. They park their mounds of blubber behind a big steering wheel and drive from factory to factory spreading prejudice and delivering the odd bit of cement, wood or extractor fan. They crave excitement - and every now and then they try to stir up trouble and get their latest tattoo on telly.

We don't need chaos. We need people working together to get us through the end of the Oil Age. Climate Change will bring enough excitement for us all. The real challenge is to convert our society WITHOUT chaos - and that message obviously hasn't got through to this unholy alliance of lorry drivers and politicians who love looking backwards rather than forwards.

fresh angle

Oh, the big bad truckers are scaring me by coming to this site and leaving comments! As always they totally miss the point and don't get sledgehammer subtlety and irony, but at least they are fun.

In checking how they found me I discovered this site, which has an interesting approach to Peak Oil - the psychological perspective. Perhaps some of my trucker chums should visit this site after flaming me and they may get clues as to why they are acting so irrationally to the end of cheap oil!

bloody idiots ...

Lorry drivers are to pour into London for what organisers hope will be the largest-ever fuel duty protest in the capital.

Hauliers are angry at soaring fuel prices which have resulted in the average cost of diesel passing far beyond the 120p-a-litre mark.

Led by lorry drivers from Kent, the protest is expected to attract hundreds of hauliers from all around the UK.

The convoy will make its way to central London, parking close to Marble Arch.

Transport for London said the A40 will be closed between White City and Edgware Road, west London, from 10am until 3pm so that demonstrators can park their lorries.

The westbound carriageway of the A40, going out of London, will remain open.

A delegation from the demonstrators will hand a letter to 10 Downing Street demanding the immediate introduction of an essential user rebate which would allow HGV operators to claim some of the fuel duty back.

Mike Presneill, a leading member of Transaction 2007, who is helping to organise the protest, said: "Fuel is rocketing. The Government has the power to act but appears not to be listening. Hundreds of UK transport firms are being driven to the wall. Thousands of UK jobs are being lost.

"Foreign hauliers are entering the UK with cheaper fuel purchased abroad. They contribute nothing to our economy."

Kent-based haulier Peter Knight said: "This is the economics of the mad house. If we are wiped out, the work will be done by foreign hauliers who pay nothing to the UK in tax."

A smaller fuel protest convoy hit the streets of London earlier this year. Source

A few points from the sane side of the argument.

1) These fuckers can't be short of cash despite their bleating because they can afford to lose a day's work and waste thousands on diesel.

2) This fantasy about 'foreign' lorries coming over and stealing OUR work (and women no doubt) is ridiculous. What do they do, drive across the Channel? What about the hundreds/thousands it would cost 'em in ferry fees? And why don't these socialist scum - most of whom appear to be Kent based - go over to France and fill up and do the same thing?? Many UK hauliers have branches in Europe anyway. And, despite what these tattooed Humpty Dumptys claim, fuel in the EU is almost as expensive as it is here in any case.

3) Tax is high in the UK on fuel, but where do they think foreign countries get the tax from if it's not on fuel? Yes, on everything else. If fuel tax fell in the UK it would only be taken somewhere else - and possibly somewhere where we'd not have the choice to reduce consumption (and our own tax).

4) Even the most fanatical road supporter would concede that road haulage is a dying industry. As oil/petrol/diesel runs out ALL medium/long distance freight will have to switch to rail. This is rail's opportunity to grab this trade NOW, by offering good deals to companies needing their freight moved by modern transport. Far from going to foreign companies, freight will continue its switch to rail, though at an accelerated pace. The switch to rail will also be a huge opportunity to forward thinking haulage companies who could set up their own railfreight departments to use their existing contacts and networks to modernise their industry.

5) Poor Peter Knight may think that this is all 'the economics of the madhouse' but he seems keen to want to make it even more so!

6) Roads with fewer/no lorries will be a far pleasanter place for car drivers. Less lorries would equal less demand for diesel (trains use a quarter of the amount for the same weight carried) and the price would rise less than if much was being wasted on inefficient road freight.

7) No car driver should support this 'action'. It is not in our interest to do so.

8) The price of fuel will continue to rocket. Diesel will probably hit £2 a litre by the middle of 2009. Haulage companies need to make hay whilst the sun shines and start organising their companies' switch to rail now, not in 2 or 3 years time.

traitors

'Isn't she lovely ...'

The Scottish government, in a move than further puts England and Wales to shame, is to ban the public display of cigarettes in shops. This total no-brainer move is actually being opposed by - shopkeepers! This callous regard for people's lives, health and coolness is disgusting.

[T]he prospect of legislation to restrict the display of cigarettes met with a frosty reception from Andy Willox, of the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland.

He said: "Forcing thousands of small independent shops to redesign their premises does not seem like the actions of government committed to sustainable economic growth."

John Drummond, chief executive of the Scottish Grocers' Federation, said the display of tobacco products is "essential" to allow customers to make a choice based on availability, price and brand. Source.

Just fuck off and move to England if you don't like it you pair of hippy wankers.

it takes two to contango

The oil futures markets are in contango. Basically this means that the further into the future a futures contract is for the higher the price. This is the opposite to what normally happens.

No matter what the hippies and socialists say oil probably is now past the peak. World demand is currently 87 million barrels/day, supply is 85 million barrels/day. Nobody seems to be able to make up the difference. 2 million barrels a day is a huge shortfall and with China and India growing phenomenally it can only get worse. Don't believe the crap about recession dampening demand - it doesn't. Petrol seems to be 100% inelastic - just look at all the Facebook groups demanding the price falls (they seem to think the price is fixed by the UK government and some unholy alliance of oil companies) but they get really pissy if you suggest driving less!

Supply and demand are dancing a fascinating dance and nobody can possibly predict where they're heading for - but I suspect $200/barrel by early 2009 and unleaded at £2/litre at around the same time. Wonder what the Facebook hippies will make of that??

what got it all started

I surprise a lot of people. I don't come across as a typical Green - far from it. With my boy racer cars, successful business, right wing politics, regular holidays abroad and taste for the good life I probably appear more like your average hippy denier ...

So how did it all start? Simple. 16 October 1987. If you don't remember that date you weren't there. It was the night of the infamous 'hurricane'. It changed everything.

We were right in the front line, on the Sussex coast. Wind speeds reached 108 mph. There was a lot of damage!

Now I'm not suggesting for one minute that this was a direct result of climate change. But what it was was a wake up call. This was the sort of event we're all going to experience a lot more in the future. Coupled with the end of cheap oil it is a dangerously potent combination - or possibly an opportunity if we follow the Transition model.


Chilling scene on Littlehampton sea front - I loved those pines in the background.


Bad parking.


Howards Way took a direct hit. It was only yards from the sea.


Desirable seafront properties.