I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense . . ." - Thomas Paine
Just been listening to the first part of "A life of Thomas Paine", dramatised for BBC Radio 4 by by Trevor Griffiths. It is a fantastic production, and is part of my scheme to educate myself better in American history. After all, it is not as if there is a huge amount of it compared to British History!
I am also reading my way through Walter Lord's "The Good Years", about the period 1901-1914, which saw some extraordinary events, including the great earthquake that struck San Francisco in 1906, the panic on the banks (nothing new there!), and the Wright brothers first powered flight.
I also saw the film "The Good Shepherd", about the birth of the CIA, although it is a fictional account in many respects. The central character, Edward Wilson, played by Matt Damon is absolutely and ruthlessly committed to his countries cause, and it is to see in this both the roots of the McCarthy witch-hunt, and the almost messianic belief of George Bush in the rightness of America's cause, whenever it intervenes. It was also unclear whether Damon's cold and expressionless manner was deliberate, or just the way he acts.
But back to Tom Paine, who had a number of fallings out with the American founding fathers, not least because he was against slavery even back then. Here are some very good quotes from his book "Common Sense":
"Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher. Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil."
That is of course not just Paine's opinion. C.S. Lewis was also of the opinion that democracy was the best form of government because all governments tend to go rotten at their heart:
A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that everyone deserves a share in the government. The danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they're not true. And whenever their weakness is exposed, the people who prefer tyranny make capital out of the exposure. The real reason for democracy is just the reverse. Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows.
Another quote of Thomas Paine's rings true so many times....
"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom."
BBC Drama Cast list:
Tom Paine ...... Jonathan Pryce
Benjamin Franklin ...... Alan Howard
Thomas Jefferson ...... Ken Cranham
Governor Morris ...... Robert Glenister
Marthe Daley ...... Kelly Hunter
George Washington ...... Philip Jackson
Rittenhouse ...... Jack Shepherd
Sam Adams ...... Paul Jesson
Joseph ...... Nick Rowe
Lafayette ...... John McAndrew
Mrs Downey ...... Marcella Riordan
House Speaker ...... Hugh Ross
Will ...... Kwayedza Kureya
Lotte ...... Julia Reinstein
Music by John Tams.
Directed by Clive Brill.
Café
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Drop-in Jèrriais chat today 1-1.50pm at Santander Work Café (upstairs in *LISBON
*room)
4 days ago
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1 comment:
The problem with the incinerator is (was) in three parts.
Firstly, the "bunker" area where all the rubbish is tipped into and the operators are supposed to use the cranegrab to mix the rubbish so it has an even calorific value (hmmm...). The girders from which the cranegrab hung were getting loose in their concrete sockets. This has been fixed but was a problem that demanded the closure of the whole site because no further rubbish could be put into the bunker while repairs were done.
Secondly, the fact that the incinerator was never fitted with acid gas cleaning equipment means that when the flue gases hit the outside air they react with moisture to form sulphuric and nitric acid, which drops back into the chimney. I climbed up inside the chimney in the mid/late 90's nad was amzed that th rockwool type insulation that surrounds the three brick flues was saturated with an almost viscous orange liquid, which was highly acidic and was clearly eating away the concrete and ironwork inside the chimney. The recent "emergency" work that is being currently done to the top of the chimney has in fact been on the cards for at least 10 years. My own house was repainted (free) by Public Services because it was very badly stained with this rusty acid orange fluid.
Thirdly, the two older streams are genuinely past it but the newer third stream is not.
Now the bunker is fixed and the top of the chimney is being rejigged, only the two older streams are likely to break down catastrophically so, with the third stream still pukkah (twice as large as the two original ones), it is unlikely that we will face such a problem before any new waste treatment plant is built.
Ironically, TTS made great play about the way that "delays" to a new incinerator had pushed up the cost and made a catastrophic breakdown more likely before any new plant was commissioned. The truth is that it is only incinerators that have had their cost escalating significantly. Choose other technology and the costs would not have risen. Even more ironically, the modular types of technology could be commissioned far earlier than a giant incinerator by virtue of being easier and quicker to procure and install. If TTS were truly worried about breakdowns before a replacement was ready, they would choose technology such as pyrolysis or plasma gasification which could be in place far earlier, would be much smaller, much more flexible, more future proof, half the cost and far better for any sustainable waste/resources strategy
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