Kirksanton Nuclear Power Station

This area of the Lake District National Park, a site of Special Area for Conservation, an Area of Special Protection, protected under European laws on nature and habitat (RAMSAR wetland site of importance), the home of the most beautiful view in all England (as voted by the country) is currently being proposed as the site for a nuclear power station. It would be built in the space bewteen the fell and the foreground in this picture.

At the initial consultation about the Kirksanton site in Cumbria a local resident made this heartfelt statement.


Chris Reed
I live in Haverigg. I have been lucky enough to live in this area all my life. When I was growing
up, I was worried about jobs, because I did not want to leave the area. I now have two girls, 16 and
14, and I would dearly love for them to stay around here as well. Someone once said, 'When they
have you by the balls, hearts and minds will follow.' Our MP is telling us that there is no Plan B to
nuclear in this area. This seems to be an approach being taken by the Government, and the
consultation seems more of a threat than a consultation at times. The area around Kirksanton is
incredibly beautiful and a very special area, and I just find it hard to believe that we are actually
standing here discussing the possibility of destroying it. When you read the Government's
consultation document, it just reads like a company balance sheet. It just concerns me that guys
like you, with your creative accounting and slick arguments, are just piece-by-piece sucking the
lifeblood out of the planet. We have laws to protect these spots, and you just seem to trample all
over them. I just feel that you people, you are to the joy of life what the thought of Anne Robinson
is to an erection!
To me, this is a very precious area, and it just would be a huge loss if it was destroyed by a nuclear
power station. I just do not feel that people like me have been represented in this consultation, so
my question is: can you explain why you have not assessed the extent and the effect of this feeling
of loss in people, like me, in order to decide whether building a nuclear power station at Kirksanton
is worth the pain and that sense of loss? Is it your aim just to gradually lobotomise humanity, over
time, and just to remove all of our feeling for life? Thank you.


How can the committee consent to building such a facility in such an area of natural beauty?

It Beggars Belief!!!!!!!

Little Fink has started another club, Lacrosse. You know, where the children charge around a cold, muddy field at a hundred miles an hour waving big wooden sticks at a medium sized (very frightened) plastic ball.

She has also been playing 'tag rugby' in PE. Again, children charging around a cold, muddy field at a hundred miles an hour, trying to rip a tag off any child that gets in range.

The first week the children's trainers were so muddy, the teacher refused to allow the trainers into the classroom (they had just had new carpet fitted in class) so the children were asked to leave them outside. It rained. So we had wet muddy trainers - two days on the trot - Lacrosse on Monday and Rugger on Tuesday. So I decided, footy boots would be the answer, made for the job, help grip the field and easy to clean. So I bought a pair.

Monday at Lacrosse club she wore them for the first time and raved about how grippy they were. I raved because they were easy to clean.

Today for rugby, she was told by the teacher that she is not allowed to wear the boots for school lacrosse lessons or school rugby lessons but she is allowed to wear them for lacrosse club after school. No reason was given.

I'm furious. Watch this space.

Coincidence or too much TV?

Did you watch Torchwood, Children of Earth? The basic story is...some aliens come down to earth and threaten to kill everyone on the planet unless they are given 10% of all the children on earth. The 'powers that be' decide that this is OK and start to decide which children should be rounded up and transported for the aliens to whisk away. They choose children from council estates, ones that don't appear to have a future. The health and government agencies tell the parents the children will be eligible for a free inoculation to protect them from the aliens and all they have to do is let the children go and have the injection and everything will be fine.

Now, I've been watching the news and something called Swine Flu has been making the headlines. The government and health agencies are preparing us for mass inoculations using the vaccine created for the avian flu epidemic.

Sound familiar? Or just my paranoia?

Whatever next

I moan about the children in my local area being 'a bit rough and ready'. Some of them have an uphill struggle ahead to make a good life for themselves due to the people that are bringing them up and the way they are spoken to by their parents. I know most of the 'usual suspects' by name and actually like most of them and hope they make something of themselves rather than follow the path of least resistance like a lot of the people they look up to.

You may think I'm a snob, you may think I am stuck up. I like to think I am on the side of the children. Example - tonight after we had dropped Little Fink's kit off at the Scout Hut ready for Cub Camp tomorrow, we went to put the car in the garage and I noticed a boy on the roof. I had a word with him about how dangerous it was and how he could fall through. He took my advice with good grace and looked a little sheepish. Little Fink went out to play with him and one of her girl friends.

I happened to look out of the window at them playing ans saw he was swinging a long stick around, it was 8.30pm and I thought Little Fink should be coming in anyway so I called her in.

I saw that the 9 year old boy didn't have a long stick, he had something else. Can you guess what it was? Bet you can't...

Yes, it's an epee, a fencing sword, a real one. 

He 'found' it, along with another one, apparently the other one was gone when he went back for it. He, Little Fink, her friend and I had a little chat and we all decided it would be best if he handed the sword over to me to be disposed of, rather than him getting arrested for having an offensive weapon!!! HE IS 9 years old!

You couldn't make it up.

 

All Things in Moderation

I've been listening to a couple of Little Fink's pals and become aware of just how much notice they take of the world around them. they are both worried about Swine Flu.

I wanted to show them the perspective of what the media was making such a fuss about.

I asked Mr Fink how many people live in the UK? He said £60 million give or take. The children and I then visited the Google Maps site that is mapping the outbreak and saw the single figures of infections in the UK. I THINK the children understood what I was trying to show them?

I came across another source of info which brought it home to me. The media are hysterical about Swine flu, Bird Flu, SARS when the real wicked things to worry about claim many more lives than all these put together. The article that turned my head was http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2009/04/27/swine-flu-should-be-the-least-of-our-concerns/

I wonder what will be next? My bet - Dragon flu or the old Goons standby - Lurgy. (Or Shouty Grandad's Iggy Biggys) ick