Category Archives: Technology

Observations on technology.

The Government’s plan to “decarbonise the transport fleet”


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Following a Transport Committee oral evidence session on Low Carbon Vehicles, I have received a letter from the Minister, Norman Baker MP (no relation). It’s not necessary to reproduce the lot, but I do wonder if car enthusiasts, or indeed drivers generally, realise that: … the Carbon Plan 2011 showed that we need to virtually decarbonise the car fleet by 2050 and new cars by 2040 to meet our 2050 80% GHG reduction target. To have a reasonable chance of […]

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I didn’t seek election to roll forward Labour’s surveillance state


Via Government web surveillance: ‘Expensive, impractical, totalitarian’ – Telegraph: The Government’s plan to make Internet Service Providers capture personal communications data is nothing new. It was brought up under the last Labour government as the “Intercept Modernisation Programme” and received heavy criticism from the Tory party in opposition. The article concentrates on the practicalities of recording people’s internet activity. For a more philosophical point of view about why it shouldn’t be attempted, see Sam Bowman’s Our road to serfdom. Meanwhile, […]

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Give the Games industry a (tax) break


NB: this post is by Tim Hewish, my Parliamentary Assistant, and the views expressed are his own. Jim McGovern, Labour MP for Dundee, called a Westminster Hall debate to address the growing disparity between the UK and other nations on the latter’s favourable tax credits towards the video games industry. The UK has a long history of innovative creative industries; video games are one such platform: from Rareware and Eidos to Media Molecule and Rockstar Games. Currently, what we are […]

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New Report: Shale Gas Shock Challenges Climate and Energy Policies


Via the GWPF, a new report – Shale Gas Shock Challenges Climate and Energy Policies: London, 4 May – The Global Warming Policy Foundation today publishes a detailed report about the shale gas revolution and its likely implications for UK and international climate policy. The report The Shale Gas Shock, written by Matt Ridley and with a foreword by Professor Freeman Dyson, finds that shale gas: is not only abundant but relatively cheap and therefore promises to take market share from nuclear, coal and renewable […]

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Cella Energy – Our Technology


Here’s interesting. Cella Energy seem to be solving the problem of how to replace gasoline: Cella Energy have developed a method using a low-cost process called coaxial electrospinning or electrospraying that can trap a complex chemical hydride inside a nano-porous polymer that speeds up the kinetics of hydrogen desorption, reduces the temperature at which the desorption occurs and filters out many if not all of the damaging chemicals. It also protects the hydrides from oxygen and water, making it possible to […]

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The Apple App Store and other innovations


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Apple just added the App Store to OS X: Suddenly, it is as easy to find and install new applications on Apple computers as it has been on iPhone and iPad. No doubt this will catch on… And I just discovered how much progress Ubuntu Linux has made. It’s interesting that this Debian-derived distribution seems to have surpassed RedHat for popular use since that firm became more commercial, splitting out Red Hat Enterprise and Fedora. It’s great fun, freedom. See […]

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Why we need Big Brother Watch


Something posted by Big Brother Watch on DNA prompted me to glance back at Albert Speer’s Inside The Third Reich. In the conclusions to this book, the war criminal wrote, referring to his final remarks at Nuremburg: The criminal events of those years were not only an outgrowth of Hitler’s personality. The extent of the crimes was also due to the fact that Hitler was the first to be able to employ the implements of technology to multiply crime. I […]

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Steve Baker, MP: “The People are the World’s Influencers” | Global Thinkers


Via Global Thinkers, an interview on social networks: Q: Being connected: There is a surprising power in social networks. They seem to shape our lives one way or another. How do you view this trend? A: I’m deeply encouraged by people’s desire to associate with one another more broadly and more deeply. Society is the dynamic process of human cooperation and, today, this process is often catalysed by electronic networks which have no boundaries. In a sense, we have created positive […]

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Comments and contact – constituents first


An erstwhile and would be commenter complained that he could not comment. This was due to a configuration issue which I have now changed. Previously, commenters had to be registered and logged in to comment. I had so many spam registrations — getting on for a thousand — that I deleted all subscribers and prevented registration. Apologies to those whose old comments have disappeared: please blame the spammers. Given that people would like to comment, I have relaxed the requirement […]

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YouTube – Deregulated Roads: The Netherlands Experience


Via YouTube – Deregulated Roads: The Netherlands Experience, a fascinating video:

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