If I included every topic that interested me, I'd need about five years to write it all down. If there is a particular topic that you think should be included, please let me know - email to stevewozniak42@hotmail.com

ABORTION - I take a logical conservationist viewpoint. If it were not for widespread abortion in many countries, the Earth would already be in a far worse state than it is now owing to depletion of resources and pressure on habitats. This is a strong factor supporting a woman's right to choose - in essence, supporting free abortion on demand.  return

AFRICA - If you want to see the result of decades of endemic political corruption, look at Africa. Once an immensely rich continent in terms of natural and wildlife resources it has been brought to a parlous state by a succession of black despotic dictators.

Western banks have for decades profited from allowing these thugs to stash away the money they have taken from their own people and from aid agencies. Currently about 30,000 children die in Africa every day (mainly through starvation) - a situation that is largely unchanged from decades ago. Yet the palaces are still built, the fleets of Mercedes and other luxury cars continue to be imported and the whole corrupt mess will continue until the West takes a moral position and refuses any longer to act as banker for rich black criminal thugs. And is there any chance of this happening whilst 'standard-issue' politicians are in charge? Absolutely not, too many of them have their snouts in too many troughs. How much of the aid given to Africa actually reaches the people? Who knows, maybe 5% maybe 20%.

BARACK OBAMA - a very admirable man, He has as worked his way up politics: an intellectual and a clever politician. He is an example to all the black youngsters in the UK who think they can achieve nothing because they are black and the system is against them - they should look more to their own laziness and inability.  return

CARBON CREDITS - In the short term maybe a good idea, in the longer term a means of letting rich countries ' off the hook' of addressing their wasteful habits - because they can continue to buy cheap credits from less wealthy countries. A worthwhile scheme if it helps get rid of the worst polluting industries and factories world-wide first, then deal with the rest in a logical order. But simply closing down 'unnecessary' industries like those making fizzy drinks and bottled water would be as great a priority.  return

CAP and CFP - these policies, both the result of 'big government' within the EU are proven economic disasters. The CFP is also the root cause of an ecological disaster. It was the Conservative Heath government that signed away the UK's fishing rights. Stocks have been depleted ever since. The CAP has a large amount of corruption - as with all 'big government' projects. Reform is long overdue, to include higher food prices in the West as a part of paying a fair price to less well off countries as a part of a genuine opening up of free trade in agriculture.  return

CLIMATE CHANGE -see my article, written well before the credit crunch. Whatever the disagreements about actual temperature rises, the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere is going to wreak terrible damage on ecosystems. The coral reefs may be the first to die - and it is now probably too late to save them. The carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere will gradually dissolve in oceans, raising acidity to levels that will kill off the reefs. So see them while you can - and you can add to the pollution from aircraft in so doing! There is now a market for 'see it while it is still here' tourism. It illustrates how little most people really care. More money is probably spent in allowing the rich to gawk at the last few wild tigers than is spent in conserving their habitats. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is now at levels last seen on the Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago - well before present-day tropical forests and coral reefs evolved. They may be unable to adapt to the consequences of a sudden change.   return

DESIGN OF CARS - this needs a complete rethink in the interests of conservation. New cars do not rust away like old ones used to do. But they embody built-in obsolescence to an alarming and deliberate extent . It is nowadays not possible to undertake DIY maintenance largely because electronic data is withheld by manufacturers and because far too many models are produced (which makes re-use of second-hand parts very difficult). Spare parts prices are deliberately inflated (to keep new car prices down) and as a result cars are scrapped at 7 or 8 years old when they could easily last 15 to 25 years. World-wide car production capacity is 40% or more in excess of demand - factories must close but no government wants to admit this. If cars were made easier to service and repair (which could be done via better design) they could last twice as long, allowing half of car plants to close. This would be hugely beneficial to the environment. You cannot 'recycle' old cars to make new ones, the recycled metal is too impure. You need pure 'virgin' iron ore - and the largest plant in the world is in the Carajas region of the Amazon. I know a lot about cars - I've maintained my own for over 35 years.  return

EUROPE - support free trade and getting rid of many 'jobs for the boys' but the EU as it is presently run is an appalling example of corrupt 'big government'. The Brussels gravy train makes the UK Parliamentary expenses scandal look like a vicarage tea party. Reform is needed. UKIP have long repeated a figure of £45 million per DAY as being the cost to the UK of EU membership. This is an exaggeration (because half of these costs are owing to regulation of H&S matters (etc) and many would be necessary even if we left the EU). But certainly we should be allowed to have an open UK debate on the real costs of EU membership - and a discussion of the benefits (of which there are a few!).  return

FLYING - this accounts for less than 15% of carbon emissions at present. However much flying is for pure indulgence - and should be curtailed via a world-wide tax on aviation fuel. Building more airports whilst pretending to be concerned about climate change is a typical stance of the professional liars who inhabit Westminster. Few politicians are honest enough to tell people that they can't have their cake and eat it. Care for the world will have to include making flying more expensive. There should be no more airports and certainly no expansion of Heathrow.  return

INTERNET - I use the internet extensively. It is a mixture of an amazing resource and a severe risk to future generations. Children spend too long playing computer games when they should either be sleeping or out in the fresh air living a 'normal' human existence. Spending BILLIONS of pounds on upgrading networks so that people can watch yet more trivial and cheap and nasty videos is not a good use of resources - and nor will it do society much good. The same amount of money devoted to conservation could make a difference to whether the world survives or not - but most people don't see it that way.   return

PEAT BOGS and TUNDRA - prime examples of habitats that should be preserved at all costs because of the damage that could result if they are disrupted. But who cares? Certainly not Britain in Bloom and all the owners of garden centres who still cheerfully sell peat-based composts. Rows of ecologically useless flowers are (of course) far more important than preserving world habitats - just ask Sidmouth Town Council.  return

PLASTIC WASTE - the unseen problem that is choking the oceans. All governments need to take a lead in severely cutting back on plastics production and waste and the amount that gets washed into the oceans. In Sidmouth the beaches are littered with plastics waste. It washes away into the sea so people 'couldn't care less'. Many plastics bottles can be reused - we need to move towards refilling them in supermarkets rather than just buying a new one every time we want some washing up liquid (for example). Punishments for dropping plastics litter should be far more severe than for dropping an apple core (which will do no environmental harm). Some local council officials don't see it that way - they are stupid enough to fine mothers £75 just because a small item of food falls out of a pram!  return

PORNOGRAPHY - personally I'd like to get rid of the whole lot - from the internet, from shops, and from magazines. But there is a market for it and it's highly profitable. So (because money talks) it's here to stay. But I'd still like to get rid of it.  return

REFUGEES - the environmental problem that could bring home to rich nations the consequences of climate change. But then it would be too late. Send them home, I hear you say! But where to, if their land is underwater or no longer capable of supporting farming? You can't (realistically) shoot all the diseased hoards who might land on our beaches. Better then to work towards making their own countries more stable places in which to live - or else (like it or not) they could be swarming over to the UK within 50 years. For all the rich people who think they can buy their way out of any consequences of climate change - try having  few diseased African refugees billeted in your home on the orders of the Local Council. It might not be a fanciful notion within your lifetime.  return

RELIGION - the cause of so much brutality and suffering I do wonder why humans had to invent it.  return

SCRAPPAGE - environmentally quite an appalling scheme whether for cars or for many perfectly good boilers. Designed solely to keep factories in production during the 'recession' and to keep people in work. Highly wasteful of raw materials (and of energy if you bothered to do the calculations properly).  return

SEA LEVEL RISE - Experts seem to disagree. It is a complicated issue, the land masses rising (and some falling). The whole Earth and including its land masses are forever in movement. But the Earth has seen huge rises in sea level before - if the Greenland ice sheet melts then it will mean a rise of 8 metres. And there are some alarming predictions on how fast this could happen. In the meantime, keep on flying and having weekends in Prague or Barcelona. It's good for business and it keeps the economy moving!  return

SHIPS AT SEA - responsible for a huge amount of pollution, both of CO2 and waste products that are dumped over board. Parts of the seafloor of the Mediterranean are several feet deep in discarded plastics waste - so all life has been extinguished. The oceans as much as the land are essential for Life to survive. Yet we have comprehensively trashed them. Politicians need to take far more interest in these 'unseen' problems.  return

TROPICAL FORESTS - everything that needs to be said has been said by Prince Charles and his rainforest campaign. Stopping deforestation is the most effective way of curbing world-wide CO2 emissions - yet doing so would offend the rich and corrupt leaders and landowners of these countries (and the companies and banks in the West who profit from the timber) and so the destruction goes on. It is largely irreversible and because the forests are apparently very sensitive to overall temperatures and rainfall patterns, destroying (say) half of them could condemn the remaining half to extinction - even if we didn't cut it down. We may already have passed the point of no return because of positive feedback effects - as with coral reefs where the science seems more certain. All tropical forests may be gone within 50 years.

A particular concern is the emphasis given by the EU to palm oil plantations. Lying politicians and bureaucrats are using palm oil (biofuel) as a means of delaying widespread recognition of the need to cut back on car use.    return

WHALES and OCEANS - again quite appalling when you look at the fraction of life in the oceans that has already been lost. Many species down by well over 60% and many teetering on the brink of extinction. But standard-issue politicians don't care - so long as they get re-elected and have another 5 years of fat salaries, expenses and pensions for themselves and/or wives and mistresses, that is all that matters.  return

National Topics

BOTTLED WATER - a waste of resources and a fad. Sidmouth Town Council has got in on the act - not as an environmentally responsible authority but by specifying a chilled water plant in the foyer of the £250,000 extension to their executive suite.   return

BUS DEREGULATION

CELEBRITY CULTURE - quite disgusting! I wish it had never been invented. And I wish so many people had better things to do than read all the associated 'dross' magazines. The sums of money involved are staggering - far more than is given to ALL charities in the UK every year. It's all an appalling example to younger people. return

DOGS and CATS

DRUGS POLICY - there are two choices. Either give up completely, make most drugs legal and accept that half the population will be 'stoned out of their minds' half the time (and driving cars around) OR have a properly enforced regime of punishments that fit the crime. I would favour the latter. Countries such as Columbia and Afghanistan are destabilised because of the demand for drugs in the affluent West. Locking up drugs offenders is expensive - dealers need to be stripped of all their assets and low level users need rehabilitation - preferably not in jail. The whole drugs culture is driven by easy money. This needs to be removed as an incentive - so why isn't it being done? Conspiracy theorists like to say that governments allow widespread drugs misuse in order to keep the lower orders of society in a placid and intellectually disadvantaged state. It's probably true for alcohol abuse in Russia!

ENERGY SUPPLY - I could write a book about this, but not just now. A country needs three things. Assured energy supplies, assured food supplies and adequate defence forces. Everything else is optional.  return

ENERGY ECONOMICS - see above. Most people who promote 'renewable energy' including many well-meaning people in Green Parties seem never to have heard of marginal cost benefit analysis. It's pretty simple and if properly applied we could see less money spent on gimmicks like solar panels supplying electricity to the grid and more invested in boring but effective insulation projects.  return

FERAL CHILDREN - the parents should have been sterilised a long time ago. Perhaps more realistically, - and very cost effective - they should have been paid handsomely not to breed.  return

FOLK DANCE - to be recommended to everyone.  return

FOOD SUPPLY - as a simple matter of securing food supplies in an increasingly fractious world, the UK needs to become more self-sufficient. Part of this should be more 'grow your own'. There is too much waste - people throw away 30 to 40% of what they buy and then complain the cost of living is too high. Supermarkets should (in my view) have to publish details of all the food they throw away just because it has reached a 'sell by' date. Instead of throwing it away they should either sell it at reduced cost to customers (as some supermarkets do now) or give it away to local old people. It annoys me to see so much consigned to landfill when it could be used to help vulnerable people - but it is a tiny fraction of what people throw away in their own homes. So the issue needs to be kept in perspective.  return

FOXHUNTING - never has so much passion been generated by an issue that is so relatively unimportant. Far more foxes are killed on the roads than by hunts. But most hunting people do it for the fun (thrill of the chase) which says a lot about them and less about the foxes or the alleged need to control them. I read an article a few years ago (and I've lost it) in which a psychologist was comparing hunting people to paedophiles. There is a lot of common ground - absolute power over another living creature, the power to inflict pain at will and to gloat over the resultant pleasure with those of like mind. Very interesting.  return

GARAGES

GARDEN CENTRES - monuments to the consumer society where all manner of useless and expensive rubbish is sold to the gullible. I'll add some photos later. These places sell more environmentally damaging products than probably any other retail outlet.  return

GARDENING - it's all been said before!

IDENTITY CARDS - a waste of time and money and a prime example of how governments are seduced by computer companies. The UK government can't even run  its NI database properly (without hundreds of thousands of errors). Most UK government computer systems are a shambles - why should this one be any different? There are numerous good arguments against the idea.  return

IMMIGRATION - needs to be strictly controlled if only because our quality of life is already being ruined by overpopulation. I agree with the stance taken by the pressure group Migration Watch. I also support the full and open discussion of what it will mean for the UK if we continue to have so many immigrants entering the country (and often having large families when they get here). Similarly, we need to be allowed to have a proper and open discussion of the consequences of Lib Dem policy - which migrationwatch says would be a disaster for the UK: do you really want the UK swamped by all manner of diseased people clogging up the NHS and allowed to come here to settle just because of some perceived risk of persecution? We certainly benefit from having some immigration - the question is, how much?   return

JOBS

PLANNING

LITTER

MoTs FOR CARS - have become a way for garages to fleece motorists by undertaking a range of work that is either unimportant or absolutely unnecessary. Industry lobbyists have written the rules to ensure their supplier companies make large profits. Having owned and repaired older cars for decades I know a lot about the corrupt practices involved. Many a very good and sound car has been prematurely scrapped because of the severity of corrosion 'safety' checks, and this alone is environmentally unsound.    return

MPs EXPENSES

NEIGHBOURHOOD NOISE

NHS - IT SYSTEM

NUCLEAR POWER

NURSING CARE

OBESITY AND HEALTH - the laziness and couch potato mentality has become a national disgrace. We don't have a National Health Service we have a National Sickness Service - where half of the sickness is brought about by lazy lifestyles and people not getting enough exercise. All of this costs a lot of money - which as a Nation we can no longer afford.

People need to spend more on 'decent' food and take more exercise. The food lobby (corporations who make their money packaging junk foods) are very powerful. Few politicians would risk taking them on - or telling voters they should swap computer games and televisions for some proper exercise.

A recent NHS study showed that one in five hospital patients have diabetes, much of it brought on by an unhealthy lifestyle There is an increased risk of kidney and heart failure, blindness, nerve damage and amputations. This costs the NHS dearly - money that could and should be spent treating people who fall ill through no fault of their own. When did you last hear a standard issue politician lambasting his or her voters and calling them lazy and idle? So keep eating the chips and burgers - just as long as you can make it to the polling station!

PARENTING

PENSIONS

PFI PROJECTS -one of the most blatant confidence tricks ever played on the UK public - and by both Labour and previous Conservative administrations. Politicians lied when they claimed (in effect) you can have new hospitals and schools now without paying a very heavy price in future. These schemes will be a large drain on public finances for decades to come. It would have been cheaper to build these projects at public sector rates of finance but this was disallowed (by the EU?) because of existing high public expenditure. Paying for these projects in future decades will mean a lower overall investment in infrastructure than would have been possible. It was a form of mortgaging the future, something ministers often do because they know they will not be around to suffer the consequences. 'Creative accounting' (usually known as lying) keeps these projects off the nation's balance sheet  return

POLICING

PRISONS POLICY - this needs radical reform if only because it is now so expensive. Incarcerating dim-witted or inadequate people without rehabilitating them is both ineffective and expensive. Reform needs to be combined with restructuring of punishments so they fit the crime. Far more people who commit crime for financial gain should be stripped of all their assets. At the moment crime pays very well - you can gain tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds dishonestly and yet receive only a short custodial sentence. No wonder crime is so popular.   return

PUBLIC LIBRARIES

QUANGOS

RECYCLING - an overrated part of environmentalism, recycling has few net benefits, except reducing land-fill waste which is the only reason it is enthusiastically promoted. Recycling is not only quite energy intensive it is expensive. In environmental terms it is far better to concentrate on reducing primary use of raw materials (by winding down the consumer society and simply not manufacturing products like fizzy drinks in cans and unnecessary packaging) and by reusing things. There needs to be far more emphasis on 'make do and mend'. None of this appeals to standard issue politicians - these people are all wedded to the illusionary benefits of perpetual conventional economic growth (in which more production is always better) and a never ending process of mortgaging the future. The longer it goes on, the worse will be the correction. An early page on SeeRed devoted to recycling is here.   return

ROAD HUMPS - a prime example of punishing everyone just because the police can't be bothered (or don't have the time) to deal properly with a small easily identified minority of irresponsible drivers. There is mounting evidence that tyre-wall damage is caused by repeatedly driving over speed cushions (even at low speeds). Many accidents have been attributed to these 'safety' measures. It would be entirely typical of local councils to forge ahead with measures known or suspected to have unwelcome side effects. The problem with speed cushions is that the side walls of tyres take a large imposed load and (even worse) the effective diameter of rotation varies along the width of the side wall (because speed cushions are tapered). This has the effect of stressing tyre side walls in a way that never happens during ordinary driving. Speed cushions allow for unimpeded road drainage - maybe one reason they are so popular with councils. Some examples of incompetent usage are here.   return

SCHOOL DISCIPLINE

RAPE LAWS - These have become a political football kicked around by people like Harriet Harman (Ms Harperson in Westminster circles). Granted that many women are failed by the current system but some men are failed too - both by being wrongly accused and with their lives and careers ruined (while the woman gets anonymity) or locked up for 10 years because of false allegations that are believed - and by people whose agenda is to increase the conviction rate irrespective of injustice. This is similar to the cases where children have been removed from their parents for no good reason by Local Council staff whose primary aim was to meet targets for the number of adoptions. Until very recently the absolute secrecy of the Family Courts aided this. Current processes remain unfair.  return

NADINE DORRIES MP - arguably one of the nastiest and most arrogant of the MPs involved in the expenses scandal. I'll reproduce an article here shortly. If people continue to vote for politicians of this calibre there really is no hope.    return

POSITIVE DISCRIMINATION

SOLAR HEATING (and renewable energy). I worked as a scientist in this area and wrote a book on it. Current government policy is window-dressing and almost devoid of proper analysis. If anyone believes that rooftop solar panels or windmills can do much to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels they are sadly deluded. This appears to include David Cameron who tried to get publicity for his little rooftop windmill - but being married to the mega-rich Samantha he can afford expensive toys. The rest of us would be better served by an honest discussion of energy options. See also Wind Power below   return

SPEED CAMERAS

TAX & SPEND POLICY  It is surely clear that current levels of spending on the 'Welfare State' simply cannot continue. We spend £2.2 BILLION  every week on welfare payments - about equal to the NHS and education combined. As with all complex money hand-out schemes, corruption and dishonesty are rife - and this helps deprive the most needy.

Simply never bothering to work has become a way of life for far too many 'low calibre' families - as has expecting State handouts when you are clearly in no need of them - people earning in excess of £40,000 pa expecting child benefits for example. The welfare system simply MUST be brought under control before it plunges the UK into a debt spiral and ruins our economy. The system is haemorrhaging money as fast as anyone pours it in - and Gordon Brown is the master of micro-management - a policy that (so it would appear) has as its final aim that everyone in the UK would be given handouts of various description and so would feel allegiance towards the benevolent and all powerful State.

It is money chasing its tail around in circles and with losses via fraud and administration at every turn. Only Frank Field MP seems brave enough to say aloud what must be said. Other politicians are too inadequate or simply scared of short term unpopularity if they tell voters to take some stiff medicine. The other side of the coin is that a determined effort needs to be made to get very rich people to pay their fair share of taxes for living in the UK. At present, they can exploit loopholes and pay very little. Again (and like celebrity culture), this sets a very bad example for younger people.  return

TELEVISION - I don't have a television. I stopped watching it at home about 15 years ago and I would cheerfully see much of it taken off the air - it is such rubbish. I'd like to see less TV available and of a higher quality. Even people who work in television admit it has a damaging effect on children!

(add article below)  return

WIND POWER - the UK government has embarked on deluded and expensive schemes. They have been knee-jerk reactions to concerns over climate change. If you don't want to take my word for it, try this quotation from the Renewable Energy Foundation: "The Government's plans for wind energy are wildly unrealistic. Wind power is going to be very expensive, very difficult and ultimately very costly." There are also serious concerns over the number of birds killed by turbine blades. The UK government's narrow obsession with wind power can be seen as a part of a larger delusion - the idea that we can somehow simply replace fossil fuel by 'renewables' and continue 'business as usual' in the consumer society. Whilst it is possible to 'fuel the world' using renewables, the first step is a large reduction in energy demand. The next is realistic calculation of alternatives - one of the most interesting is solar electricity from desert regions transferred via a 'supergrid'. But this would need international agreements.

Local issues

SIDMOUTH CLIFFS - has been a contentious issue for a long time - I wrote a report on it recently. It was studiously ignored by the 'powers that be'. Local councillors are like that -most of them are quite dismal. But never mind. They are faithful to the party and that is all that matters.  return

FARMING

SIDMOUTH TOWN COUNCIL This used to perform a useful function in the days when it was the old Urban Council. Nowadays, with a reduced average quality of councillor, it has become bloated and extravagant both in terms of staffing levels and 'prestige' expenditure. Much of its role as a centre for promoting local tourism (something that has never much benefited most residents) has been rendered redundant by private sector involvement in internet publicity. All large and most small guesthouses now have their own websites and there are many organisations offering listings - just ask Google!

My own webpage has proved very popular but again is almost redundant. At least it doesn't cost local taxpayers anything! All of the 'make-work involved in producing 'visitsidmouth' and all other local websites is now redundant and these sites should be closed down - throughout the UK. In Sidmouth, 'jobs for the girls and boys' and including town clerk Trina Jarrett's own 'prestige' is likely to result in a continuation of its 'visitsidmouth' activities - and if you live in Sidmouth, you'll be paying for it. Why should taxpayers continue to pay local government staff costs to do jobs that are no longer necessary?  return

COUNCILLORS

EAST DEVON COUNCIL

FOOTPATH TO SIDBURY - a prime example of how a 'party' MP such as Hugo Swire will do as he is told - in this case by the local landowner who has rented him a nice place to live! The road between Sidford and Sidbury could much benefit from a footpath (maybe combined with a cycle path) to enable local people to walk or cycle the short distance between the villages. It was once suggested when Hugo Swire was a newly elected MP. He immediately jumped up and down and said that 'over my dead body' would a footpath be built - it would be urban sprawl!. It would be no such thing - (Sir) John Cave merely doesn't want to give up the necessary land, so I am reliably informed by people who know him! And what has (Sir) John ever done for a living or that has in any way really benefited local people? You might well ask.  return

HOUSE BUILDING

PLANNING

SIDMOUTH IN BLOOM - it's mostly been said already.  It is fine to spend some public money on making towns and cities look 'pretty' - but it is absurd to have councils competing with each other to see who can can spend the most money to impress the dotty 'Britain in Bloom' judges - and so win coveted prizes at award ceremonies that councillors so love attending. It is a ridiculous waste of public money.  return

SIDFORD'S 20 MPH ZONE - a prime example of why we need more intelligent councillors. Ever since its inception this scheme has been a joke - yet Devon County Council (run so it would appear by a collection of inveterate liars) have claimed that it is working very well. They must have measured average vehicle speeds during times when vehicles were slow moving owing to tailbacks - so obviously drivers were obeying the limit! Lunatic councillors such as the Tory Stuart 'Lunatic' Hughes, seized on this erroneous DCC analysis to praise the scheme. A pity he doesn't seem to have the ability to question what he is told. But that is what you get when you elect a party-sponsored lackey. And so it is with MPs - they do as they are told and keep building up their pension pots. When I have time I'm going to measure some average vehicle speeds along the A3052 and publish the analysis (and some of the videos!).  return

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