Man, that title sounds wrong and it isn't entirely accurate. G' Brown hasn't left the house yet although as you will have surely read by now he plans to resign as PM. I hope it isn't the end of the political spectrum for him though, as he did get re-elected and has to face a lot of speck from the media over the last 3 years. To controversially quote, "You really have to ask yourself who controls the media" in these situations and though Mr. (or Dr.!) Brown doesn't possess the most photogenic of smiles and wasn't elected as PM by the people, he has been unlucky by what the world has thrown at him during his period in power. The recession was global, the expenses scandal was uncovered but had been going on for years and the public were getting bored of a labour government; of course he did make mistakes but he really picked a bad time to take up office in No.10. Today as he gave his resignation speech he looked tired, sad and weary. He knew his time was up. Least he'll be able to spend more time with his family now, whenever it is he finally goes and that could be days or months, depending on how likely a Lib-Lab government is.
Dave Cameron has just phoned Clegg with the final details of an offer for a coalition government. Let's see how it all pans out!
Monday, 10 May 2010
Thursday, 6 May 2010
May 6th
Day of Terror, Fear, Worry and Anxiety. If you're a politician that is. For the rest of us, it's a day we get to go into a ballot station and pick a box from many to lay our trust in. Some of us will be voting for the party leaders, whilst some will be voting for party policies, some will vote nationally, whilst others vote locally, some of us will be voting tactically to keep another party out, whilst others vote with their hearts, some have voted already, while there are still others will not vote at all. But it is a day of 'big decisions' and will culminate in the knowing of who will lead us through the next 4/5 years. If you haven't decided yet, you have until 10pm to make up your mind and if you have any inkling at all for or against any politician or any political party I urge you to get out there and use your vote!
Here are my results from monitering facebook political party groups, up till Tuesday done in 3 day windows. However since the end of my tallying, the conservatives have slightly regained their lead over the Lib Dems. Overall, the Lib Dems have had the most success on their online campaign - gaining almost twice as many members as the conservatives and even more than other parties. What about the other political parties? Why did I not tally them? Because they were too small to find when I began! Plaid Cymru and the SNP have less than 200 members between them, UKIP don't have a facebook greoup as far as I'm aware, but the Green's have grown to almost 10,000 members. All other parties I disregard as I cannot name any more!
But I relent, happy voting and I hope you're happy with who we put in charge of Parliament come tomorrow!
Here are my results from monitering facebook political party groups, up till Tuesday done in 3 day windows. However since the end of my tallying, the conservatives have slightly regained their lead over the Lib Dems. Overall, the Lib Dems have had the most success on their online campaign - gaining almost twice as many members as the conservatives and even more than other parties. What about the other political parties? Why did I not tally them? Because they were too small to find when I began! Plaid Cymru and the SNP have less than 200 members between them, UKIP don't have a facebook greoup as far as I'm aware, but the Green's have grown to almost 10,000 members. All other parties I disregard as I cannot name any more!
But I relent, happy voting and I hope you're happy with who we put in charge of Parliament come tomorrow!
Monday, 3 May 2010
At war with the daisies.
Call me a zombie, call me dieased, but the plants are getting to me!My throat is sore, my voice is raspy and my skin and eyes are extremely itchy and the antihistimines aren't greatly helping! The sun is out and shining, perfect for photosynthesis and for plants to release their pollen and other bioaerosols. "Bioaerosols?" I hear you cry, "What are they?". Well I guess I can turn my 'plant rant' into a quick geography (or biogeography if you will) lesson, as although I hate them for physically attacking my immune system and being the subject of an upcoming presentation and essay, they are rather useful in the climate.
Ok Bioaersols are aerosols that are biological in origin, here released by plants. Aerosol is the name given to any tiny particulate piece of matter that is floating around in the atmosphere. So what do they do? They can moderate the climate in at least two ways!
1) The Global Dimming effect - this is a theory which says that all the tiny aerosols in the atmosphere act effectively as mirrors for radiation to bounce off and hence reduce the amount of radiation that hits the Earth's surface, hence keeping surface temperatures lower than they would otherwise be.
2) These tiny aerosols can bind with other molecules and can help with cloud formation processes in the atmosphere, which also act as a radiation barrier and aid the hydrological cycle.
Plants of course can do many more amazing things, but these two effects are examples of something bigger- Gaia Theory. Developed by James Lovelock, who informed the world of the dangerous levels of CFC's (chlorofluorocarbon's) in the atmosphere, it proposes the idea that life on Earth acts in a way such that the climate is moderated by biological processes such that it can sustain biological life. Many worry that anthropogenic (human) pressures on the Earth's resources and our power to 'terraform' our planet is a risk to what natural processes have done for the last 4.2 or so billion years.
None of this helps my hayfever though...
Ok Bioaersols are aerosols that are biological in origin, here released by plants. Aerosol is the name given to any tiny particulate piece of matter that is floating around in the atmosphere. So what do they do? They can moderate the climate in at least two ways!
1) The Global Dimming effect - this is a theory which says that all the tiny aerosols in the atmosphere act effectively as mirrors for radiation to bounce off and hence reduce the amount of radiation that hits the Earth's surface, hence keeping surface temperatures lower than they would otherwise be.
2) These tiny aerosols can bind with other molecules and can help with cloud formation processes in the atmosphere, which also act as a radiation barrier and aid the hydrological cycle.
Plants of course can do many more amazing things, but these two effects are examples of something bigger- Gaia Theory. Developed by James Lovelock, who informed the world of the dangerous levels of CFC's (chlorofluorocarbon's) in the atmosphere, it proposes the idea that life on Earth acts in a way such that the climate is moderated by biological processes such that it can sustain biological life. Many worry that anthropogenic (human) pressures on the Earth's resources and our power to 'terraform' our planet is a risk to what natural processes have done for the last 4.2 or so billion years.
None of this helps my hayfever though...
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