Steering Group farce somehow becomes more farcical #Manchester #climate #acretinfuture

Posted on June 7, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Just when you think the Steering Group can’t become any more farcical, comes this; The application process for a new chair had to be extended because NO-ONE besides MCFly applied. And the panel that selected the new chair, of a group that is supposed to be completely independent of the Council consisted of three people – one of whom is… the City Council’s Executive Member for the Environment.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request (1) (following three unanswered emails), the city council this morning revealed the startling truth.  Having run run the applications process for the Steering Group chair (the emails to which applicants sent in was @manchester.gov.uk, and the person responding a council bureaucrat) they finally revealed many applications they’d received (besides the slightly tongue-in-cheek one from MCFly) before the original deadline.
None.

How many actual applications were received by the extended deadline (besides the aforementioned application from MCFly).
Er, two. (And this for a job which, after four years, should be incredibly high profile and prestigious. No-one wants it. What does that tell you about how things have gone?)

What likelihood is there that either the Council, or the new chair will respond to two simple questions –

  • if the new chair was so keen on the having the job, how come he (or, just possibly, “she”), didn’t apply for it before the original deadline?
  • what arm-twisting happened to get someone, anyone, to agree to take on the poison chalice?

None

How many blog posts – besides a vastly inaccurate one denying that elections to the Steering Group had been promised, when they absolutely had – have gone up on the official manchesterclimate.con website in the last six months?
None.

How many meetings(2) that are open to the public has the Steering Group held in the four years of its existence?
None

How many people with two brain cells to rub together think that the chair of a group that has – in part – a “watchdog” function over climate action in this city should be selected by at three person panel that includes the City Council’s the Executive Member for the Environment?

That last question is rhetorical.  Rather like the Steering Group itself.

Marc Hudson
mcmonthly@gmail.com

Footnotes
(1) The announcement from Manchester City Council that they would supply answers despite not conceding the relevance of the Freedom of Information Act is a strong contender for 2013’s “most feeble attempt to claim the high moral ground” award.
If the council were so keen to be transparent, why didn’t it reply to the first three emails we sent? Interesting that it only sat up and took notice when we used the FOIA.
Also, if the Council were so keen on transparency, how come other questions sent by email only get answers when followed up with phone calls?
And other questions STILL haven’t been answered because we haven’t (yet) used the FOIA?

(2) Not counting the “lets-play-with-plasticine” efforts cobbled together at the last minute and attended by many many people in suits and not so many non-business types at all.

Posted in Democratic deficit, Manchester City Council | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

National level: Which GM MPs voted how on Clean Energy? #CleanBritishEnergy

Posted on June 7, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Disclaimer: This is about the important farce that is national level politics. If you can’t be bothered beyond the M60, disregard…

polarbeardecarbonisationdefeatedOn Tuesday there was a vote in the mother****er of all Parliaments, the House of Commons. It was on whether there should be a “decarbonisation” target in the next Energy Act.  As the man sings, “everybody knows the good guys lost.”

Which way did YOUR MP vote?  Well, Friends of the Earth have a rather nifty map. We took a screengrab.  foewebsitecleanbritishenergyGreen means they voted with. That’s most of the Greater Manchester ones (Labour and Lib Dem).  There’s a couple of yellows – that’s folks who didn’t vote.  Of the GM lot –

  • Graham Stringer, Blackley & Broughton  (Labour) is a noted climate “skeptic”.
  • Lucy Powell, Manchester Central (Labour) can conceivably (har har) be forgiven since she has just given birth and probably had other things on her mind than schlepping down to London.
  • David Heyes, Ashton under Lyne (Labour) – I don’t know. You can phone him on 020 7219 3000
  • Andrew Stunnell, Hazel Grove (Lib Dem) – I don’t know. You can phone him on 0161 406 7070

And then there are the greys – they voted for the insanity that is “Business as Usual.”

  • Graham Brady, Altrincham & Sale West (Conservative) – 0161 904 8828
  • Mark Hunter, Cheadle, (Lib Dem) – 0161 486 1359
  • David Nuttall, Bury North (Conservative) – 020 7219 3000

Marc Hudson
mcmonthly@gmail.com

Disclaimers
I was, but am no longer, a card-carrying member of Friends of the Earth.
I am not a member of any political party.
This information is presented in good faith – I haven’t double-checked with the MPs on how they voted.

Posted in Campaign Update, Energy | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Very cross post: Of Mervyn King, the Co-op and the City Council’s Airport follies

Posted on June 6, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

From Patrick Sudlow’s website

My thoughts on the MENs’ Business Week 23rd May

In the Manchester Evening News‘ Greater Manchester Business Week 23rd., May, I thought the layout of page 5, ironic.  In the centre of the page, there is an article about the outgoing governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King.  Stating that after a tour of Salford Media City campus, he was quoted as saying that “Greater Manchester’s universities, meant the city region was in a good position to deliver a bright economic future”.  Remember, he was one of the financial experts that did not foresee the collapse of major banks and the melt-down of the Global Norths financial sector, resulting in the on-going recession.  So, does his word portent more gloom for our City region?

The reality of further gloom for our City region is reflected in other articles on page 5.  With job losses due to Antler moving its HQ to London.  Also RBS announcing more job losses (this is one of the banks Mervyn King failed to see as a failing bank), after the many it has already made.  Then there is a small article on the Co-op, selling it’s car-dealership.  But no mention of the Co-op Group being in trouble and having been downgraded to ‘junk’ status.  Will we find this ‘ethical’ bank is also, in reality another failed bank?

Finally, to ensure Manchester retains its’ ‘Green’ credentials, there is an article on ‘fracking’.  Stating ‘fracking’ could create 74,000 jobs (how many times have we read, that this or that would create jobs?).  Along with a story about Manchester Airport Group proposing that the government give a “holiday” of the Air Passenger Duty.  What happened to reducing our carbon emissions in an attempt to prevent catastrophic climate change?  Despite our business and council leaders continual failures, they continue to pursue the same failed policies, increasingly accelerating into the proverbial brick wall.

Posted in Aviation, GM Climate Strategy, Manchester Airport, Manchester City Council | Tagged | 4 Comments

Upcoming Event: “Planning for Low Carbon Living” #free #climate Sat 6th July #Manchester

Posted on June 6, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Put on by the Centre for Sustainable Energy.

planlocalmanchester6july

 

Posted in Energy, Upcoming Events | Leave a comment

Polar Bear Facepalm: decarbonisation target nixxed. #energybill #epicfail

Posted on June 4, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

From here.

polarbeardecarbonisationdefeated

Posted in Energy, Polar Bear Facepalm | Leave a comment

#Manchester City Council faces closure threat in cuts crisis

Posted on June 4, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

The top political distraction in Manchester could be shut down in a new cuts crisis.
Manchester City Council may close under plans being considered by the National Coalition Government.
The Albert Square archive , known for the extreme age of many of its exhibits, was forced to go into partnership with Westminster Whitehall plc after the failure of municipal socialism in the mid 1980s.
But the National Coalition Government says it can’t be bothered with the thin veneer of local “democracy” anymore, since Manchester never elects the (far) right kind of MPs.
Town hall bosses have been involved in emergency talks, and the shock announcement has been greeted with outrage and blank indifference in equal measure.
Sir Richard Leese, the long-serving curator who has personally selected (and de-selected) many of the fossils that are displayed at monthly council meetings said he was “appalled.”
City Centre spokesman Pat Karney tweeted “wtf? Those ****s in ****ing London can **** my ****. #toryscum.” In a follow-up tweet he asked followers what odds were available from local bookmakers on the City Council securing a bridging lone from Peel, Bruntwood or possibly the Museum of Science and Industry.
Manchester residents took to the message boards to voice their shoulder-shrugging indolence. Chris Peters of Withington said “Well, since their consultations are rubber-stamp exercises in condescension and contempt, it’s not going to make much difference to me, is it?”
Aaron Singleton of Hulme, who is employed at the Institute of Studies said “What’s the City Council again?”

(With apologies to Yakub Qureshi of the Manchester Evening News)

Posted in humour, Manchester City Council | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Upcoming Event: Low-Carbon Energy Trajectories #manchester #climate Weds June 12 #Tyndall

Posted on June 4, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Wednesday 12th June 3.30pm

‘From Here to 2050: Low-Carbon Energy System Trajectories for the UK’ by Professor Paul Ekins, Director of the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources at University College London on (room C1, George Begg Building, Sackville Street).

ekinsscreenshot From Here to 2050: Low-Carbon Energy System Trajectories for the UK Professor Paul Ekins, Professor of Resources and Environmental Policy, Director of the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources at University College London (biography attached)
Over the last eight years the UK MARKAL energy system model has been used to deliver insights into how a low-carbon energy system for the UK might develop and how it might look in 2050. This seminar will give an overview of four scenario sets from the model that were used for this purpose, carried out by different modelling teams at different times with changes in assumptions. The results that emerge are fascinating in both their differences and their similarities, the former showing some of the key uncertainties in how the UK energy system might develop, and the latter giving more robust insights into some of the things that will need to happen if the UK’s carbon targets are to be met. The seminar will explore these necessary developments and speculate about the policies that might be needed to bring them about.

Posted in Energy, Upcoming Events | Tagged , | Leave a comment

#Manchester #Climate Monthly #18, June 2013 out now!

Posted on June 3, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Why is this new consultation about Oxford Road worth your time? What’s been going on locally, nationally and internationally? Is Barbara Kingsolver’s climate novel “Flight Behaviour worth your time? What special problems do groups trying to tackle climate change face?

All good questions, and you will find answers in the latest “Manchester Climate Monthly,” along with the usual “what you can do”, “Coal Face Interviews” and extensive calendar of green events on the back page. PLEASE retweet this/put it on facebook, tell your friends. And as ever, your comments and critiques and suggestions are v. welcome, to mcmonthly@gmail.com

PS Apologies for almost (but not quite) missing the “First Monday” rule.  Turn to page 6 and you’ll find out a part of the reason…

Posted in print editions | Leave a comment

Something for the Weekend 31 May 2013 #Manchester #Climate

Posted on May 31, 2013 by arwafreelance

Q: How soon does a Swede know he’s a Swede?

A: The day he is Bjorn!

And this weekend…

Friday 31st Critical Mass bike ride. Starts at Manchester Central Library, 6pm

And if you know any jokes of the high standard we’ve used so far, please submit ’em.

Posted in Something for the Weekend | Leave a comment

Discuss: What difficulties do groups tackling #climate change face? #Manchester #socialmovements

Posted on May 29, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

webMCFlyWe want to hear from you!  We want your answers to the following question –
What are the particular difficulties groups trying to tackle “climate change” face?

Is it the fact that climate change is perceived as a “distant” issue that will affect only polar bears and unborn generations?
Is it that it is too “science-y”?  The preserve of middle-class hippies with guilt complexes?  Too big?  Not “social justice-y” enough?

Let us know your thoughts and experiences. Answers will appear in the next Manchester Climate Monthly…

Posted in PMT | Tagged , | 1 Comment