Muslim blogs
John Legend Supports the “Ground Zero Mosque”
Worship Has Been Divided Between Allah’s Servants
Cell Phones vs. Qur’an
Quran vs. Cell Phone
Avoiding Failure: the Worst of Ends
Good Character Series, Part 3: Class with Imam Suhaib
The Stab
McDonald's reply on recycling
McDonald's have replied to my recent query regarding why they don't recycle customer waste, especially when their counterparts in other countries do. Here's the relevent bit:
"There are many challenges with this, most notably that many UK recycling facilities are contracted for household waste only and not for commercial use. In addition, few facilities will accept 'dirty' paper or plastics, deeming that waste that is contaminated with food or drink residues is unsuitable. That said we are committed to finding ways to reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill and will continue to explore this area."
I've replied asking what steps they've taken to lobby the powers that be to ensure sufficient recycling facilities are set up. As I pointed out in my last blog post on this, other chains are recycling with food. Also see the interesting comment by Michael King underneath this article.
For the sake of balance, a similar epistle has now also been sent to Burger King.
EDL Abdul video
Muslim singing anti-Catholic songs, treating all Catholics as terrorists.Words fail me.
One of the features of the current Islamophobia is that it is just the latest manifestation of hatred that has spewed against Catholics, Jews and blacks in the past. To see a Muslim carrying on in such a fashion has left me dumbfounded.
Abdul Salaam or Abdul Hussain as I've seen him referred in different quarters was at the English Defence League protest in Bradford at the weekend.
UPDATE: From Azhar on Facebook: "The best video of him is this one where he desperately tries to
persuade us that the head of the edl welsh division is not racist. This
goes on after the chap says he has sieg heiled,
that he is racist, and that he has swastikas tattooed on his body"
50,000 green jobs sitting on the wall
If we do the things that we should, that number will be in the region of 48,000. On the other hand, if we get this wrong, it could only be just 900 jobs that are created.
It's all well and good and should further whet our appetite to unleash Scotland's potential in this field, with famously, one-quarter of Europe's wind offshore. That does mean three-quarters is elsewhere and the report warns that if we don't get it right, other countries will become the leaders in this field instead.
What the report doesn't stress is exactly how much investment is needed, what that should go into, and who should be pumping it in. The report seems to fall into the common trait of the renewables industry in Scotland in dwelling on how much potential there is instead of emphasising how we access it. By way of example, the Conservative government's recent Green Investment Bank Commission recently concluded that UK-wide there would have to be £550bn worth of investment over the next decade to achieve carbon reduction targets, albeit this isn't just for wind energy but also includes upgrading buildings and helping industry. There aren't any such figures readily promoted in Scotland.
Locked away in Annexe E of the Scottish Renewables report are some actions such as finding investment through the UK government releasing the Fossil Fuel Levy money, and making use of the upcoming Green Investment Bank. On the latter, Rob Gibson MSP recently suggested that the GIB should be located in Scotland, a call backed by a leading lawyer (although the Tories seem to be wading backwards on how it will be funded).
The report also states other practical measures: shortening of consent periods; the upgrading of and access to the national grid; and widening mid-career training as well as gearing universities to produce qualified people for the industry.
All of this requires money, money that does not seem forthcoming from the UK government and which the Scottish Government are powerless to raise. The Tories are crazily cutting spending at the time when we need to be investing in new industries, creating jobs and getting into a situation where we are producing things other countries want to buy. This report therefore underscores the need for the Scottish Government to have entirely normal economic powers to raise money to spend in this area. We also should be able to reap the benefits of it, meaning the proceeds shouldn't just be funnelled through to London as it has been with the oil. We should be greener and wealthier from this.
As with so much in Scottish politics, it returns to the constitutional question. It's all very well having values and principles, but if you don't have the power to implement them, they are pretty pointless.
Tony Blair should pay for his own security
Electoral Commission returns have shown that former PM Tony Blair donated £75,000 to Labour Party coffers for this year's general election drive.
This of course dwarfs the generosity shown to the British Legion with profits of around £5m from his memoirs going towards a gym for injured soldiers.
At the same time, it costs us £6m a year to provide protection to the man who took us to war in Iraq. One book signing next month alone is expected to come in at a quarter of a million pounds. The expenses of bodyguards when abroad fetches £250,000. It is right that former PMs should receive security. Prime ministers before Blair did not engage in so much foreign travel though.
Whenever he jets off around the world, which is understood to be the majority of the time, whether he is doing business for international high finance, or entering war zones as peace envoy, we should not be expected to pay for it. If a bank wants him, they should pay his bills. If the Quartet want him - the man who was pushed out of office because he couldn't say Israel should ceasefire in Lebanon - to try and broker peace in the Middle East, let it be on their own dime. If not, it's not unreasonable for Blair to foot the bill himself from his considerable earnings.
So let him cover the cost of that, and let the government get on with the job of helping injured troops.
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