When did “No News is Good News” stop being a thing?
There simply has been no news worthy of the title “Good News” for some considerable time. And then comes fracking.
Is Rishi Sunak’s pledge to take fracking off the table a tiny light at the end of a crazily long, pitch black Tory tunnel, or is it just that familiar oncoming train?
Only time will tell whether this is a ‘let them eat cake’ moment or an actual piece of enlightened politics. Don’t hold your breath. Just in case.
Camden Council declares a Climate Emergency
Success-of-the-Month goes to Sian Berry and our climate, at April’s Camden Council meeting. Great turnout for the rally everyone! Nice posters! And hats off to Cllr Adam Harrison, cabinet member for improving Camden’s environment, for listening to Sian and heeding our concerns.
You Bet!
A group of the United Kingdom’s biggest bookmakers have voluntarily agreed to a “whistle-to-whistle” TV advertising ban during live broadcasts of sporting events.
The Remote Gambling Association – which includes Bet365, Ladbrokes and Paddy Power among its members – has struck a deal for the ban, the BBC reports, due to public concern over the number of betting adverts on television.
A study published in August 2017 by the Gambling Commission revealed that 430,000 people in Britain can be described as “problem gamblers” and there are also concerns that the TV adverts have helped to fuel under-age betting.
Plastic Cup Final
Ok, so I’m not a natural cheerleader for faux continental coffee shops offering dizzyingly priced cuppas with names like Toffee Nut Latte Cream Frappucino, but credit where credit’s due.
On our troubled and challenged planet, anyone who does anything to lessen the climate carnage deserves a mention for showing willing, at least.
So this week’s High-Five goes to Gail’s Bakery for switching their disposable cups to fully biodegradable ones.
Of course, the environmentally conscious among us should all be bringing our own reusable drinks container but, by the time we’ve crammed our ready supply of canvas bags, reusable nappies, the water bottle and the packed lunch into our ecological rucksack, our reusable-made-from-recycled-materials-coffee-cup doesn’t always make it.
Gail’s Bakery cunningly appreciated this, so to add to their paper straws and disposable cutlery made from potatoes, yes really, they can now offer us a take-away cup that is biodegradable and compostable at room temperature.
Does that mean that you have to drink your coffee pronto, before the cup disintegrates in your hand? They’ll have tested for that.
For the avoidance of doubt, I’ve only set foot in a Gail’s once, to take these pictures, and I am not likely to visit again anytime soon. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate any small step to turn this global temperature tanker around.
The naysayers will no doubt swing in behind with lots of complaints about the untold environmental damage caused by shipping coffee beans across oceans and zooming exotic cake-related ingredients through our skies.
I’m with them all the way, but that’s for another conversation. For now, let’s just be in our cups. Or maybe not.
Kirsten de Keyser 