Thursday 31 March 2011

Walking to Humford

I think this is probably the first evening of the year where I've had my wits about me sufficiently to remember to take some photos whilst en-route. It's also bleeding marvellous to be able to go to the prettier places, instead of pounding the streets for an hour in the cold and dark. It's fair to say that this is a massive improvement on walking passed an industrial estate in the looming dusk and rather more sheltered as it's been blowing a hooligan all day.

And to prove the point about not being a complete misery guts.....

Amanda Palmer – Leeds United

Spotify BTW - Sorry if you ain't got Spotify - get it, it's cool x

Finally a lie too big

From being an terrified tween in the early 80's to now, I have always been convinced that nuclear power is "A BAD IDEA" and the recent events in Japan have done nothing to convince me that there is a compelling reason to feel differently. There is now too much evidence to uphold the erroneous notion that nuclear power is a clean, safe fuel. It is safe in the context of a plant that is well managed, but clearly isn't when a major natural disaster occurs, and operating with that mind set is currently helping no-one.

Like many people my age, I had the dreams about local military installations disappearing into vast mushroom clouds and stayed haunted. I think the reason many of us still feel like this is because we realise that the risks and consequences are far bigger than we, as kind and sentient people, can stomach. Places that aren't habitable for a thousand years because of the failings of a technology that has only been developed since the 1950's suggests that frankly, we need to recognise that building nuclear reactors in the most geological unstable areas of the world is the triumph of hope over experience, which essentially means that we all have the potential to be doomed for someone elses folly. It's in everyones interests to ensure that the carrot that you're eating won't make you grow something you shouldn't. It's also reasonable to expect that the worst case scenario is planned for, and it clearly wasn't.

Finally the rhetoric has been proven to be the biggest lie of all.

(EDIT: there is a fantastic article by John Vidal in the Guardian about the after effects of Chernobyl and questioning the validity of continuing to support Nuclear power as the clean and green option Read it here)