Monday, 23 January 2012
Another One Joins The Club
Yesterday the people of Croatia - to be more accurate 44% of eligible voters - voted to join the European Union next year. The Yes campaign managed 66% and the Prime Minister, Zoran Milanovic, called it 'a historic moment'.
The journalist who wrote this piece for Reuters says:
The slow pace of reform in the rest of the western Balkans, and waning enthusiasm within the EU for further enlargement, mean other countries in Croatia's neighbourhood - such as Serbia, Bosnia and Albania - will wait years before they too can join. Tiny Montenegro on the Adriatic coast is next in line.
I'm not at all sure he's correct or should I say he's expressing the government's view with regard to Serbia. Read Rodney Atkinson's eloquent article and decide for yourself.
Sunday, 22 January 2012
A Light-hearted Look At The Case For Scottish Independence
Thankfully Scots are quite good at laughing at themselves. Maybe it's our way of handling the inferior complex we have inherited from previous generations. Now the debate is underway it's good to have a little humour involved to lift the mood.
Precious Few Heroes explores many of the myths and misconceptions that surround the debate.
The film was written by Jack Foster and Alan Hunter, also examines the history of the movement, from the very foundations of the Union in 1707, to the North Sea oil discoveries of the 70s, to devolution, exports, inventions and economics.
But remember, this film is past history. We need to start planning our future history.
Keep positive!
Saturday, 21 January 2012
Germany's Energy Problems
We are not alone in our protest of green taxes on our energy bills - The Germans also have the problem.
Angela Merkel decided last year that nuclear would no longer be Germany's main supplier of power and renewables were the future. German has promoted solar power for many years. but now it's inefficiency has caught up with it. It seems 56% of all green energy subsidies go to their solar systems which produce only 21% of subsidized energy.
The relationship is just the reverse for their wind energy projects and they're not doing so well either. For the same cost, wind supplies at least five times as much electricity as solar and even biomass plants are three times more efficient.
For a while it seemed that at least the German solar industry was benefiting from the generous subsidy rates, but the green economic miracle has, in the case of the solar industry, turned out to be a subsidy bubble.
In a country with a similar climate to Scotland, in the north at least, solar was never going to stand alone and would always need propped up by government money. I'm sure the Scottish government is taking note of Germany's renewables problem and if not, why not?
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