“Preparing for An Apocalypse Now”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/uk/8508730.stm

Yesterday’s BBC Radio 4 Programme “The World Tonight” carried an interesting and perhaps timely report on “Survivalism” (please see above link) : a movement associated with earlier eras of insecurity as this image from the Wikipedia Commons shows.

The businessman Richard Branson has also predicted a “New Oil Crisis” within the next few years, which he suggests will have a greater impact on the world economy than current financial problems.

BE PREPARED ! would seem to be a sensible strategy for all.

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

Of all the books I read in 2009, “Sea of Poppies” by Amitav Ghosh was amongst the most uplifting, and I very much look forward to further installments of “The Ibis Trilogy”.

Not only is “Sea of Poppies” a gripping story, its is also a book full of historical and linguistic interest, set during the time of “The Opium Wars”. One of the heroines is also a keen botanist, and the rich “green heritage” of the Indian sub-continent  is an  important theme.

However, notwithstanding this exotic and distant setting, the character portraits have an immediacy which draws the reader into their collective fates, or karma.

Like “Journeys through the Black Atlantic”, the subject matter of “Sea of Poppies” reflects the shadow side of Britain’s maritime heritage, but difficult and often disturbing material is transmuted along the way through the genius of the writer.

“Journeys through the Black Atlantic”

An exhibition has recently opened at the Tate Liverpool art gallery entitled “Journeys through the Black Atlantic”.

This theme reflects the area of interest – ie the British Maritime Diaspora – explored in the Nautilus Project,  from challenging historical and contemporary perspectives. For more information please see :

www.tate.org.uk/liverpool

Birmingham Green New Deal

The following information is taken from www.regen.net :

Birmingham City Council has launched a scheme it hopes will create around 270 new jobs and apprenticeships and help the council meet its target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60 per cent by 2026.

The Green New Deal, which is being piloted in four districts of the city, aims to make homes and businesses more energy efficient by fitting solar panels, new boilers and insulation. Local strategic partnership Be Birmingham and the Government’s Working Neighbourhoods Fund are backing the scheme with £1.19 million in funding.

Up to 25,000 homeowners and 1,000 businesses in Aston, Lozells, Northfield and Newtown will be offered the retrofitting work. The council says the scheme will create an estimated 170 apprenticeships and a further 111 jobs if 5,000 homeowners sign up to it.

Eligible homeowners, such as those over sixty years old and those with young children, will be able to apply for grants and subsidies to carry out the work, while others will be able to take out loans repayable over an agreed number of years using savings made on energy bills or profit made from selling excess energy back to the national grid.

The council said it will consider expanding the scheme across the city if it is successful.