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Can Alex Salmond Win Independence For Scotland? - Newsweek:

An independent Scotland looks like more than just the fantasy of Braveheart-fed romantics. For the first time since Scotland’s Parliament was reestablished in 1999, a single party holds a majority, allowing [Scottish National Party leader Alex] Salmond to promise a vote on ending the country’s 304-year union with England. In Salmond’s words, Scotland’s years of “self-doubt and negativity” are over. “A change is coming and the people are ready.”

A referendum won’t be staged for at least two years.

Photo04_5A by caioelis on Flickr.

Hook Lighthouse, Ireland 

Photo04_5A by caioelis on Flickr.

Caisteal Abhail (847m) by golden road on Flickr.

(by pruginko)

Caisteal Abhail (847m) by golden road on Flickr.

The heart-stopping thrill of chess: 24 June 2011 (by...

the big lamp 

London, circa 1900.

Glenfinnan 1986 (by Stuart McKenna)

Piccadilly Line

The heart-stopping thrill of chess: 24 June 2011 (by ChrisCopeful)

I had a tiring day at work and start early...

First in a series of little rants. Enjoy.

David Cameron’s “Big Society” is a society where the people help run their local governments and can therefore tailor their needs. It means that people will vote for the actual party they want to vote for, rather than being torn between self-interest in their local government and their higher political ideals. Now, as political philosophy goes, great idea I guess, improving the voting system, making everything more democratic. But, as Mr Newton my old history teacher always reminded our set (particularly Jack Cohen, the Bertrand Russell of the modern age), politics has to be practically sound as well. That’s why democracy completely falls flat on its arse, but that’s a rant for another time. Anyway, let’s look at this from a more realistic perspective. What Cameron is doing is, for all intents and purposes, removing any party policy from mattering in local politics, as well as making the local politician a puppet to the outspoken in the community who decide to harass him into voicing their opinions. Which I guess is what English democracy needs. But then the local politician becomes redundant. So why pay him so much? Or at all? And surely the whole idea behind the big society, put into layman’s terms is just a typical childish tantrum, saying “Well if you’re going to make fun of me while I’m doing it, I’m not playing any more! You do it!”

The whole point of a local politician is to run things while OTHER PEOPLE DO THEIR JOBS. I mean getting everyone to pitch in and help is a lovely idea and all, but so is giving everyone a jet-pack so we can all fly around everywhere, but we all know that’s stupid. So what we’re doing is letting the guy who’s supposed to be running our borough relax while everyone else does the work. Which is basically like splitting the country up into tiny, really shit autocratic states, whose rulers are basically puppets who get paid to do nothing. So just scaled down version of England as it is now.

The professional politician, the expert, is being told to stand down so that the people he’s meant to be helping can basically do whatever they want. Now, does nobody see how imbecilic that is? How about we introduce this to all aspects of life? Instead of having doctors who actually know what they’re doing and are part of the NHS, we should just get everyone who wants to pitch in come round the hospitals and give the diagnoses on patients and tell the professional doctors what to prescribe them and which operations to perform on them! That’s a great idea!

Don’t think so? No shit.

(Also love how Big Society can be abbreviated to BS)

I had a tiring day at work and start early tomorrow…

…but…

…cute headphones.  Click the link for zombie headphones, too.

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Tools: Canon Rebel XTi; edited in Adobe Photoshop CS4

Location: London, England, United Kingdom

For original without watermarks, please leave a request in my ask box.

How you can tell I’m Welsh.

Westminster Bridge - Toko

River

Roman Baths more info

Here’s the first batch of shots from my Bristol- Bath - London trip this June. 

The Harbor area is my fave from what I saw in Bristol, it gives the city its character - especially early in the morning and Friday evening.

To be continued…

Why is Pippa Middleton all of a sudden more famous than her sister the Duchess of Cambridge? On every celeb website I go on, they are always posting reports about her. I wanna hear more about Kate Middleton. She’s more interesting because she is going to be the future queen on the UK and she’s like f-ing married to the hottest monarch ever!

114206357MW019_ADIDAS_PREDA by prismatico on Flickr.

lol Kaka observing adorably

ScottishPower, a subsidiary of the Spanish utility company Iberdrola since 2006, recently announced sharp price increases. From August, ScottishPower’s customers will pay 19 percent more for gas and 10 percent more for electricity. The other five integrated energy suppliers that operate in the United Kingdom—-ֹlectricitי de France, E.ON, RWE, Scottish and Southern Energy and Centrica—-are expected to announce similar price rises.

While the hike in gas prices has generated anger in the British news media, according to Nigel Hawkins of the libertarian Adam Smith Institute, they are hardly unexpected. Wholesale gas prices has been rising for months. “This trend heavily impacts electricity generation costs,” he writes: “gas fired plant is now increasingly dominant.”

Looking forward, it is difficult to see much relief. With new nuclear build a decade away at best—-the Fukushima accident makes this even less likely—-the UK is becoming ever more dependent on gas generation. Any new coal fired plant is seriously compromised by environmental issues and the considerable expense of addressing them. And renewable generation is hardly cheap, especially if the cost of backup plant is included.

Germany’s utterly irrational decision to abandon nuclear energy by 2022 only pushes up the price of gas further. Europe’s largest economy will become more dependent on imported coal from Poland and gas from Russia. Meanwhile, environmental policy will prevent Europe’s largest energy suppliers from diversifying as coal and nuclear are anathema to many lawmakers. ֹlectricitי de France will dominate the nuclear energy market while the remaining companies grow fixated on natural gas.

“Driven also by rising food input prices,” writes Hawkins, “inflation remains well above target. Serious energy uncertainties and rising inflation are a potent combination for any government,” he points out. “Anybody remember the 1970s?”

Original Article

Bus stop at Bullring

Aviemore, Scotland

Why the UK should be worried about Global Warming

Roman Baths more info

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England ;)

For hundreds of years the Household Division has been the most public and instantly recognisable section of the British Army.Since their inception all Regiments of the Army have held parades trooping their colours – or flags – for the entire world to see, but it is the seven Regiments of the Household Division whose trooping remains the most famous, and who parade every year to honour the Monarch’s birthday.

The Household Division are the monarch’s personal guard, and have been for almost half a millennium.They can be seen in and around Buckingham Palace and the London surrounds every single day.Though wearing the ceremonial red uniforms of the British Army of bygone days, every member of the Division is also a fighting soldier who spends half his time on parade and the other in combat in deadly zones such as Afghanistan, fighting often at the forefront of the whole Army.

The Division is split into two Brigades, the Foot Guards and the Household Cavalry.The Foot Guards consist of five Regiments, the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards (of which my father was a proud member for many years) Irish Guards and Welsh Guards.The Household Cavalry consists of two Regiments, the Lifeguards and the Blues and Royals.Both these Regiments ride horses on parade and tanks into battle, unlike the Foot Guards who are infantrymen.

To list the histories of each of the seven Regiments in the Division would literally take a volume of books, for to do so would be to detail the history of the British Army itself.For as long as there has been an army the Guards have been at the forefront of the fighting.The oldest of the Regiments, the Lifeguards, was founded in 1658.Between them the seven have as many battle honours as the sum total of some other nation’s entire armies.

The wait. by BeboFlickr on Flickr.

“Let’s adore and endure each other” on Flickr.

Fuji chrome provia 400f is my new favourite photography filter

I love its grain, its texture, its kick to the reds&greens and its contrast - especially for night photography

A tribute to it

Scotland - 1993 by Chris&Steve on Flickr.

Sunset on the sea by little_frank on Flickr.

Malarky & Billy — Summer Breeze by Hookedblog on Flickr.

Malarky

http://www.hookedblog.co.uk/2011/06/malarky-billy-summer-breeze-exhibition.html

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I think I’m done with England for now…