Arnold Schwarzenegger was recently named in a poll of British adults as the most suitable public figure to lead humanity in the event of an alien invasion. “I am ready to serve,” tweeted the 73-year-old action star and former California governor. (The Week, April 2, 2021)
My moment: Phew!……What a relief. Now we’ll be o.k.
Southern Sweden may be home to big cities like Stockholm and Gothenburg, but the North is fast emerging as our nation’s industrial powerhouse. The lithium-ion battery cell factory in Skellefrea keeps taking new orders, the State-owned metals company LKAB has made giant investments in its Northern iron mines, and a zero-emissions steelworks has opened in Liguria.
The boom is able to go on even as Sweden is furiously de-carbonizing our economy, because the vast Northlands are dotted with out-of-the-way wind power farms. But factories there are gobbling up an ever-increasing share of that clean electricity, and the South could soon experience shortages, leaving Stockholmers wondering how they will power their dishwashers or charge their Tesla’s. Some Swedish politicians say nuclear reactors could meet that demand. But even if we risk accidents or toxic waste that persists for ten thousand years, building and running those power plants will triple electricity prices for years to come, squelching growth across the country.
No, the only way forward is to allow more wind turbines to go up in the South. Yes, even if they interfere with someone’s view of the sea. And we will also have to make it easier to lay ugly, high voltage lines. If we are truly going to be green, Swedes have to stop being NIMBY’S. (Ingvar Persson,
Aftonbadet).
My comment: Nice to hear of some economic success.
– Nuclear weapons
– Corporations as persons. (ridiculous)
– Online financial transactions in general. Unsafe?
– Plastic bags and bottles
– Cellphones (anti-social time gobblers)
– The technology that allows social media, e.g Facebook and most other “social media” offerings, to flourish.
– Availability of mind altering drugs and the violence that accompanies them.
– The constant pestering of (US) voters for money by aspiring politicians.
– Artificial intelligence and people tracking in aid of undemocratic control. (Hoo Flung Dung made disparaging comment about Chairman Xi. 6 years re- education)
Discuss and draw a map.
People who wonder whether the glass is half empty or half full
are missing the point. The glass is refillable.
England’s young lions won praise across Europe after making it to the final of a major international tournament for the first time in 55 years. What didn’t go down so well was the behaviour of some of their fans – or of the British government.
The drunken louts, the booing of opponents’ anthems, the racist abuse of the three players who missed penalties, prompted plenty of continental reflection on a perennial English problem – and on and whether politicians were making it worse.
“Brexit has opened the floodgates, reinforced the feeling – overlaid by a rhetoric of English superiority – that it’s OK to be racist,” wrote Libération. “Of course, if England had won, Boris Johnson would surely have found a way to associate it with victory.”
La Repubblica described Sunday night as “the darkest in English football”. Blick said England “waved goodbye to a lot of respect from the rest of Europe”. For Germany’s Die Zeit, England’s chauvinism was “more visible than its progressive side”.
El País said Sunday’s events and the political posturing that preceded it revealed deeper truths about England, as both a team and a country. “What happens with England when it comes to football happens with other things, too,” it said.
“England is a powerful, advanced and often generous nation, a pioneer in disciplines from science to art and thought. But it is also a petulant country, incapable of accepting its own limitations.”
Is English petulance, meanwhile, to blame for the fact that while many EU countries are already recognising UK vaccination certificates for quarantine-free travel, Britain is still only accepting vaccines administered in the UK, by the NHS?
Whatever, a summer holiday in Britain looks unlikely for EU residents – including British citizens, many of whom have not seen their families for more than a year.
The EU27’s vaccine certificate is now up and running for travel inside the bloc, albeit with a few hiccups. Britain’s government, once more, seems determined to mark its post-Brexit difference. (Jon Henley, Europe correspondent, The Guardian 15 July 2021)
My comment: I couldn’t believe the boo-ing of the Italian national anthem
and the repeated booing of the young black players. But it was always thus – bad upbringing and education from generation to generation. If my sons had been party to this behaviour I would have disciplined them. That’s what father are partly for. But then the fathers probably behaved similarly. Plus ca change…..
