alanjjohnstone
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One thing is certain, I don’t think David Cameron expected this situation to arise when he let the genie out of the bottle and for the sake of party unity under his leadership, chose to decide to let the “people” decide…the way he thought they would – but didn’t.
Strange how he stays silent
The Congress Party in India offer up their version
“…every family would be guaranteed an income of 12,000 rupees (£130) a month, paid into their bank accounts. The scheme would be known as Nyay, Hindi for justice…”
V-P Pence reminded his audience that Israel and the United States were not merely allies, but in fact, “mishpocha,” using the Yiddish word for “family.”
Around three-quarters of US coal production is now more expensive than solar and wind energy in providing electricity to American households, according to a new study. By 2025 the picture becomes even clearer, with nearly the entire US coal system out-competed on cost by wind and solar,
“Even without major policy shift we will continue to see coal retire pretty rapidly,” said Mike O’Boyle, the co-author of the report for Energy Innovation, a renewables analysis firm. “Our analysis shows that we can move a lot faster to replace coal with wind and solar. The fact that so much coal could be retired right now shows we are off the pace.”
Half of all US coalmines have shut down over the past decade.
“Coal is on its way out,” said Curtis Morgan, the chief executive of Vistra Energy, a major Texas-based coal plant owner. “More and more plants are being retired.”
Yet, projections are that US carbon dioxide emissions from energy will remain similar to current levels until 2050.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/25/coal-more-expensive-wind-solar-us-energy-study
I’ve shouted wolf so many times but is this the first signal of the downturn and one of those times I will be right?
The wolf will be at the door.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47689069
“…Asian stocks sank on Monday amid growing concerns of a slowdown in the global economy. Unusual moves in the US bond market have also raised concerns about a possible US recession…”
Worth a read in how the media continually defines the right-wing as centrist moderates.
“…terms like “moderate,” “centrist” or “democrat” are not used in media to refer to any particular political outlook, but rather are used as a framing mechanism to convey the media’s approval…In contrast, those media disapprove of will be denied such titles. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is dismissed as part of the “loony left” and Bernie Sanders is described as “far-left” … these sorts of politicians are never going to be granted the “moderate” seal of approval…”
Continuing the mis-defining of what socialism is
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/03/24/what-democatic-socialism-and-what-it-not
Meanwhile in Ireland
“There has been a removal of the border in people’s minds as well. People don’t think of that border any more…” said Bernard Boyle, a member of Border Communities Against Brexit, “…The local people will not accept a border infrastructure.”
Nearby at Ulster University’s Magee campus, Hollai Nic Conaill Oig wishes she could have had a say in the referendum, but was younger than 18 when it took place.
“There’s no place for a hard border, there’s no place for a border at all really,” said the Irish language student. “…To even think about getting your passport out to go shopping or to see your grandparents is ridiculous.”Not sure of domestic coverage in the UK since I have seen little reporting but does it take a foreign TV channel to report what the folk on the border think.
Business-as-usual
Can we take this report from Australia as indicative of what others are doing?
22 of Australia’s largest companies, worth a combined $121bn and representing 7% of the value of the Australian stock exchange, are actively working to undermine the Paris agreement targets, betting shareholders’ money on strategies that assume global climate change action fails. The Market Forces report singled out “coal cowboys” Whitehaven and New Hope, which it said had plans to establish new coalmines, or expand existing ones, based on forecasts that assume the failure of Paris. Oil and gas companies Woodside, Santos and Oil Search had each “faced increased investor engagement over climate change in recent years, but this has done nothing to dissuade their plans to increase fossil fuel production”, the report said.
“A handful of Australian companies are undermining efforts to limit global warming by pursuing new fossil fuel projects, or basing their business plans on energy projection scenarios that would doom the Paris agreement to failure,” the report says. “These companies have now been given more than three years to align their business with the Paris goals, but have dismissed the notion.”
The study also determined that 199 ASX300 companies, representing 64% of total market capitalisation, faced heightened transitional climate risk but had not yet demonstrated business strategies consistent with the Paris agreement.There were 143 companies with policies “not overtly inconsistent with Paris”, and just eight had aligned their strategy with the agreement.
The Democratic presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand used a speech in front of a Trump hotel in New York on Sunday to call the president a “coward” who is “tearing apart the moral fabric of our country” and who “demonizes the vulnerable”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/24/kirsten-gillibrand-speech-trump-coward
“For the Democrats, a woman or a person of colour will fill one of the top two spots. It’s not going to be two white guys. That’s not happening. That’s gone.”
Biden already well ahead in the polls to receive the Democrat nomination as presidential candidate even though he is still to declare, has the media already speculating about his Vice-president – the preference being for Stacey Abrams
A new Fox News poll suggests Sanders and Biden — who has not announced a run just yet — are the only two democrats right now who would beat the president in a hypothetical head-to-head match up if the election was held today.
Biden enjoys a bigger lead in the poll results, with a 7 point advantage over Trump
Sanders victory was closer. He received support from 44 per cent of those surveyed compared to Trump’s 41 per cent. As the poll has a margin of error of plus-or-minus three points Sanders and Trump would be another tight race, probably dependent on the Electoral College designating the winner again
Warren and Kamala Harris, trailed Trump slightly just 2 per cent short in their own head-to-head scenarios.
Oh, I should have mentioned that more than likely if there was a rise in socialist activity that resulted in socialist MPs, there would be a million or more marching about the climate change crisis rather than a constitutional change crisis.
If and when there are a group of socialists in Parliament the political scene would be dramatically different if socialists MPs were being elected.
IMHO, there would be have been an abstention in the votes but with each and every debate, Socialists MPs would be voicing anti-nationalist sentiments, both anti-Brexit and anti-Fortress EU. The pro-Europeans seem to forget that they are still for the exclusion of people. Socialists would be trying to focus the conversation on a much serious humanitarian crisis – the movement of migrants and the need for open borders rather than just the free movement of EU citizens. This debate would have pre-dated Brexit referendum, if the hypothetical Socialist Parliamentary group had existed and that whole exercise would have been very different.
And, of course, there would be a supplementary socialist presence (and probably a stronger one) in the European Parliament, influencing attitudes there.
The expressions of political positions would be radically different and the amendments from MPs imaginative and subversive. Politics in general would be growing more polarized…pro or anti capitalism, rather than pro or anti EU
Saturday’s demonstration would have had a significant and visible socialist participation – a very vocal Red Bloc – carrying banners and placards very similar to the one posted you posted on the other thread.
