Energy policy destroying our rural heritage

Energy policy destroying our rural heritage

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First published Thursday 14 August 2014 

 

OUR wonderful national parks are a vital part of our rural heritage that need to be cherished.
I was, therefore, horrified to read that the Government had considered granting licences to drill for shale gas in our national parks.
Has this country gone barking mad?
One only has to look at the American drilling sites to see what an infernal mess is being inflicted on the landscape. America is also a giant continent in comparison to our tiny country. I very much doubt that America would allow drilling in its fine national parks.
We have leapt out of the frying pan and into the fire. Now that Didcot Power Station and others are gone, there is a predicted energy shortfall.
Hence, the rash dash for gas at all costs.
We need to take time out before making rash decisions.
Drilling for shale has the potential to destroy our beautiful countryside and pollute some aquifers.
At the moment we import very cheap American coal for much of our energy. However, this is soon to change as the coal power stations are closed or blown up.
Soon, our energy bills will shoot up to pay for new nuclear power stations. Frankly, our energy policy is a shambles.
Susan Thomas, Magdalen Road, Oxford

Department must take another look at centre

An artist’s impression of the Westgate development

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First published Wednesday 23 July 2014 in Letters

FIRSTLY I must say how pleased I am with Oxford City Council Planning Department for listening to my objections regarding neighbouring developments. Thanks to their efficiency one proposal was amended.
The other proposal to build onto an historic Coach House in Magdalen Road, has been thrown out altogether.
I therefore hope that this efficient planning department will take another look at the Westgate proposal. The drawings look absolutely hideous and are too square, modern and boxy-looking. It is hardly an improvement on the attractive gabled facade we have at the moment. Gabled roofs are found in most beautiful historic towns of medieval origin. Therefore the current gabled facade is more appropriate for historic medieval Oxford.
I did suggest to the architect that the ugly square lines could be broken up with a crenellated battlement design that would be in keeping with the nearby castle.
The square box design urgently needs to be improved as Oxford is a very special city.
SUSAN THOMAS, Magdalen Road, Oxford

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First published Monday 25 August 2014 in Letters

A FEW years ago I wrote a paper on the nascent threat of Islamic radicalisation for my masters degree.
It seems that the Government has been caught napping and it must now wake up to this serious threat to our status quo. To date our foreign policy has been an absolute disaster in this matter. Indeed it is hardly surprising that William Hague decided to offer his resignation. The Foreign Secretary had not realised the threat of radical Islamic groups and twice had inadvertently supported Al Qaeda groups.
He thought it would be a vote winner to depose Muammar Gaddafi, who was a Westernised leader. Gaddafi was murdered by radicalised Al Qaeda groups with our military backing, thus leaving a dangerous vacuum.
The Foreign Office nearly offered military support to radicalised rebels in Syria but fortunately the Government listened to our concerns this time.
Meanwhile, a lot of money donated to rebuild Iraq by us has gone missing and I wonder how much of it has ended up in the coffers of Al Qaeda or Islamic State groups.
The stated aims of the radicalists is to completely impose a stricter Islamic state or Caliphate on the entire globe and to eliminate Christianity.
This aim is known as jihad or a holy war. The legal system they wish to prevail is called sharia law.
This Government needs to wake up and at least start to address the spread of sharia law which discriminates against women’s equal rights and contravenes equality legislation. Oxford imams such as Dr Taj Hargey have denounced this radical agenda. It is sad that the peaceful religion of Islam is being tarred by the expansionist aims of radicalised Jihadist warriors.
Susan Thomas
Magdalen Road
Oxford

Cheap energy is the key to our posterity

Published in the Daily Mail Letters, Friday 5th October

NEXT year Didcot Power Station will close to comply with the European Large Combustion Plant Directive. This is a strategic error that will cause economic and energy insecurity. Next year Oxfordshire will lose half of its power supply. This looming energy gap, due to decentralisation of energy production, could cripple industry in a disturbing echo of the 1979 ‘winter of discontent’. Look around your home or business and estimate how many electrical appliances you will need to throw away in order to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in energy use. No more electric guitars, computer games, kitchen gadgets, electric blankets or fast internet; the list is simply endless. There is a predicted energy deficit of around 10-16 GW by 2015 due to power station closures, which may lead to power cuts if 50 per cent household energy savings are not made. We are gaily walking headlong into disaster. Investment in wind technology alone will cost the taxpayer £200bn in the near future. OFGEM also estimates that £200bn of investment is needed for new infrastructure in the National Grid to prevent power cuts in the UK. In total at least £400-500bn more investment is needed to keep the lights on! Not including new nuclear power. This is a lot of money in times of austerity. The UK Is investing the gargantuan sum of money in order to prevent a hypothesised rise in temperatures. We are committing ourselves to the most stringent of carbon emissions in the entire world due to our unique 2008 Climate Change Act which was enacted by Ed Miliband when he was Climate Secretary. This money will also have to come from hard-working taxpayers. Consumers will be paying more for their green electricity tariffs yet receiving less energy for their money. Countries that do not need to comply with this European directive, such as China, are becoming increasingly prosperous while Europe is becoming bankrupt.

This article was plagiarised by journalist David Rose, who  also lives in East Oxford, who turned to use all the key concepts to write a full length feature for the Mail on Sunday. I also submitted a full length feature to the Daily Mail on this subject and they cut it very short. 

Green movement is bankrupting Europe

Published Oxford Mail, Wednesday 3rd October 2012 

NEXT year Didcot Power Station will close to comply with the European Large Combustion Plant Directive. This is a strategic error that will cause economic and energy insecurity. Next year Oxfordshire will lose half of its power supply. This looming energy gap, due to decentralisation of energy production, could cripple industry in a disturbing echo of the 1979 ‘winter of discontent’. Look around your home or business and estimate how many electrical appliances you will need to throw away in order to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in energy use. No more electric guitars, computer games, kitchen gadgets, electric blankets or fast internet; the list is simply endless. There is a predicted energy deficit of around 10-16 GW by 2015 due to power station closures, which may lead to power cuts if 50 per cent household energy savings are not made. We are gaily walking headlong into disaster. Investment in wind technology alone will cost the taxpayer £200bn in the near future. OFGEM also estimates that £200bn of investment is needed for new infrastructure in the National Grid to prevent power cuts in the UK. In total at least £400-500bn more investment is needed to keep the lights on! Not including new nuclear power. This is a lot of money in times of austerity. The UK Is investing the gargantuan sum of money in order to prevent a hypothesised rise in temperatures. We are committing ourselves to the most stringent of carbon emissions in the entire world due to our unique 2008 Climate Change Act which was enacted by Ed Miliband when he was Climate Secretary. This money will also have to come from hard-working taxpayers. Consumers will be paying more for their green electricity tariffs yet receiving less energy for their money. Countries that do not need to comply with this European directive, such as China, are becoming increasingly prosperous while Europe is becoming bankrupt.

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Cheated out of the grade she deserved

10:00am Wednesday 5th September 2012 in Letters

THERE has been widespread controversy regarding the English GCSE results and some headteachers are quite incensed about the alleged manipulated marking.
My daughter has received her English results and was pleased to get an A grade. This excellent result was mainly due to an inspiring English teacher at Cheney School, a Ms Corinna Swift.
However, there is a caveat to this happy tale. My daughter’s coursework was all graded at A* level and the only reason her final result was an A rather than an A* was that, inexplicably, her poetry exam was graded as a paltry C.
Even before the furore erupted, my daughter was muttering that “something fishy is going on here.” She felt certain that her poetry would be the best result as she had annotated every single poem and was very confident that she had achieved at least an A in this paper. She also writes excellent poems.
I believe that examiners have deliberately marked down the poetry paper in order to deprive my daughter of her much coveted A* grade. This was cynically done to fulfil a government directive that fewer A* grades be awarded this summer to curb grade inflation.
So my daughter has fallen victim to a political experiment because of Michael Gove’s pompous assertions that GCSEs are too easy and need to be marked more stiffly. He is vainly deluding himself that O levels were harder than GCSEs in order to massage his inflated ego.

He would like to consider himself to be so much brighter and more diligent than today’s studious generation. The GCSE exams are certainly not easier in any way from O levels.
I have looked at the papers and they are, if anything, harder than my O level exams. The marking yardstick was changed from the January exam date, whereby my daughter would have secured her A* grade. We have demanded a remark of the poetry paper by AQA because of the manipulated marking and I urge any other parents to do the same if they feel suspicious.
SUSAN THOMAS, Magdalen Road, Oxford

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12:30pm Wed 5 Sep 12

the wizard says...

Sorry to read your story and hear of your dismay, but be warned this is yet another dirty tricks by H M Gov to manipulate the public that they will have their way and "O" levels will return. That long, long, long belief by the likes of Double-Dip Dave and his cronies, and beware Grammar Schools will be making a come back as well, as those most vaulted of Tory institutions will re-appear at the profound cost of the working classes, promoting a bigger rift and divide in society. The next step will be graduation to Uni being made progressively harder, and then only from Grammar Schools, in their new form.
This is just the beginning, the thin end of a long wedge. Cam will only deny it but the signs of this are all there, and to deny it, is folly and short sighted. This lot are all for themselves, hence despite all the promises the Financial Institutions which placed us where we are have been allowed to continue almost unabated and the rich just continue to grow richer.

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Cheated out of the grade she deserved

10:00am Wednesday 5th September 2012 in Letters

THERE has been widespread controversy regarding the English GCSE results and some headteachers are quite incensed about the alleged manipulated marking.
My daughter has received her English results and was pleased to get an A grade. This excellent result was mainly due to an inspiring English teacher at Cheney School, a Ms Corinna Swift.
However, there is a caveat to this happy tale. My daughter’s coursework was all graded at A* level and the only reason her final result was an A rather than an A* was that, inexplicably, her poetry exam was graded as a paltry C.
Even before the furore erupted, my daughter was muttering that “something fishy is going on here.” She felt certain that her poetry would be the best result as she had annotated every single poem and was very confident that she had achieved at least an A in this paper. She also writes excellent poems.
I believe that examiners have deliberately marked down the poetry paper in order to deprive my daughter of her much coveted A* grade. This was cynically done to fulfil a government directive that fewer A* grades be awarded this summer to curb grade inflation.
So my daughter has fallen victim to a political experiment because of Michael Gove’s pompous assertions that GCSEs are too easy and need to be marked more stiffly. He is vainly deluding himself that O levels were harder than GCSEs in order to massage his inflated ego.

He would like to consider himself to be so much brighter and more diligent than today’s studious generation. The GCSE exams are certainly not easier in any way from O levels.
I have looked at the papers and they are, if anything, harder than my O level exams. The marking yardstick was changed from the January exam date, whereby my daughter would have secured her A* grade. We have demanded a remark of the poetry paper by AQA because of the manipulated marking and I urge any other parents to do the same if they feel suspicious.
SUSAN THOMAS, Magdalen Road, Oxford

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• Print this page
• Comment(1)

Comments (1)

Sort comments by

12:30pm Wed 5 Sep 12

the wizard says...

Sorry to read your story and hear of your dismay, but be warned this is yet another dirty tricks by H M Gov to manipulate the public that they will have their way and "O" levels will return. That long, long, long belief by the likes of Double-Dip Dave and his cronies, and beware Grammar Schools will be making a come back as well, as those most vaulted of Tory institutions will re-appear at the profound cost of the working classes, promoting a bigger rift and divide in society. The next step will be graduation to Uni being made progressively harder, and then only from Grammar Schools, in their new form.
This is just the beginning, the thin end of a long wedge. Cam will only deny it but the signs of this are all there, and to deny it, is folly and short sighted. This lot are all for themselves, hence despite all the promises the Financial Institutions which placed us where we are have been allowed to continue almost unabated and the rich just continue to grow richer.