Well, the stock market is not looking too healthy at the moment, and I have to admit I’d a little smug (though not that smug) that I’d made some changes to Pension stuff before this really kicked off. Protected a bit, though not as much as I would like.
So, at the moment, with all this the price of oil seems to be coming down. As dicsussed a number of times by Colin Campbell in some of his presentations, we could enter a period of fluctuating (but high) oil costs as we see-saw back and forth between recession and some stability (though maybe never execessive growth).
Forgive ‘eco-Father’ for I have sinned. I went to watch a rock gig, which probably used FAR too much electricity with all those Amps and big speakers… it was naughty… but NICE!
Actually, it ****ing rocked!
Yesterday evening, me and two work mates went to see the Stone Gods. The Stone Gods are basically what was left of The Darkness, with a new singer.
A most enjoyable evening at The Fleece in Bristol, but my ears are somewhat tender after the bashing the warm-up act gave them. (The warm up wasn’t that good, and badly sound-mixed.) Ahh, well.
Japanese Language Tests for Long Term Residents. Also, reporting here.
Makes sense to me. If someone is wanting to settle down for the rest of their lives (or a very long time), they should be expected to know the local language. This is no different to the UK, and many other countries.
Below is some TV footage of Japanese Daytime TV reaction to the new MacBook Air.
The Nikkei index has dropped 11pc in barely two weeks, recording the worst start to the year since 1945.
Mr Fukuda said the government would “respond if necessary” to prevent a stock market rout. It is hard to see what the government can do. Massive deficits over the past 15 years have left the country with little margin for fiscal action.
Toshihiko Fukui, the Bank of Japan’s governor, said contagion from the US sub-prime crisis was “growing beyond our initial expectations”.
Channel 4 are currently running a series of food related programmes, which started this Monday. The Big Food Fight features programmes by Channel 4’s main chefs/foodies.
Generally speaking, Yuko and I are fans of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, over at River Cottage. Although, as far as I am aware, Hugh is no ‘Peak Oiler’, his views on farming and food are quite closely aligned with mine. Hugh’s main contribution to ‘Food Fight’ was three programmes regarding the atrocious conditions that ’standard’ chickens go through so that Tesco, Sainsbury etc can all have their cheap chickens. “Hugh’s Chicken Run” was a cracking bit of TV, and the campaign continues here, with the “Chicken Out!” campaign.
Reading around the net on various forums I frequent (ones not typically related to food and eco matters), it’s been quite an interesting and generally positive response. A fair few people have followed up with the typical ‘it’s too expensive’ response, without considering that they could either
eat less chicken
stop buying too many cigarettes, cheap holidays, alcohol etc etc, and use that money you save to eat something more ethical, and probably better for you (in my opinion)
actually make the chicken go further by using more of it, rather than throwing most of it away
Jamie Oliver also had a programme on last night, which focussed on both chickens bred for eating, and chickens bred for eggs.
His message was somewhat watered down, and I do sometimes wonder what he really thinks.
In a one-off documentary, Jamie’s Fowl Dinners, to be broadcast on Channel 4 tonight, he highlights the appalling conditions in which many chickens are kept. Officials from all the main supermarket chains were invited to take part in a filmed debate as a part of the documentary, but only Waitrose and the Co-op accepted.
Oliver told reporters earlier this week that he was astonished at Sainsbury’s failure to turn up. “I am really upset. The question is: why didn’t they come? What is there to hide? It is shocking that the people that I work for did not turn up on the day. I do not know why. The fact that your PR department has not even got the confidence to turn up and talk about what you do for the millions of people who come through your doors each week. How dare they not? I was really upset.”
The supermarket has now gone on the offensive. It took full-page advertisements in yesterday’s newspapers stressing the quality of its poultry, citing Oliver and the RSPCA, as well as writing to its 2 million loyalty card holders to reassure them of the quality of its chickens.
Jamie Oliver has apologised for attacking Sainsbury’s after the supermarket refused to take part in a studio debate on standards of care for battery chickens.
The celebrity chef, who is paid £1.2m a year to front Sainsbury’s advertising campaigns, has written an open letter which has been sent to Sainsbury’s 150,000 staff. The letter was sent after a tense telephone conversation between Sainsbury’s chief executive, Justin King, and the television chef on Monday.
In the letter, Oliver said his comments had been taken out of context and he felt “incredibly upset” by the publicity.
“I am happy to confirm what I have said on several occasions - that Sainsbury’s have the most to be proud of on this important animal welfare issue. I would not have continued working with Sainsbury’s for so many years if I did not believe you were showing real leadership.”
Once again, I carry on my like-dislike-like-dislike thing of Oliver.
