for some reason i was wondering what rik mayall was up to these days… wikipedia says:
“Mayall currently performs the voice of the Andrex puppy in the UK TV commercials for Andrex toilet paper, and also has a voice part in the UK Demestos cleaning product adverts.”
the entertainment industry sure is cruel….
while governments are busy clamping down on benefit fraud…
…these guys steal money from the poor (and your pension, if you were unlucky enough to start one in the 90’s when it still seemed like they might have been a good idea… much better to plant some trees these days).
each year the EU spends â¬31bn on the common agricultural policy. it is the largest single area of EU spending and is ripe for reform. but this seemingly huge amount of money is but a drop in the ocean compared to what rich people in the uk avoid paying in tax…
the UK government estimates that the very rich in the UK avoid paying â¬51.5bn (£41bn) in tax each year. (via monbiot.com)
i find this absolutely sickening. there is so much we need do to alleviate poverty and suffering in the world and start to build resilient post oil societies but typically the people doing such work are using minuscule budgets compared to these vast sums. the rich have become so powerful and so good at protecting their wealth that i’ve given up hoping that it might ever be redistributed more equitably.
and don’t get me started on military spending… (for context with the above figures, european countries spends â¬289bn per year on the military.)
fantastic weather here and incredibly lush and green everywhere… the house is starting to look like part of the landscape…
we’ve been busy installing insulation - some new photos on picasa.
according to a study by the wwf between 25% and a third of of all wildlife on the planet has been lost since 1970. at this rate there won’t be much left if I make it to 80 years old! naturally the bbc article linked above makes no mention of the main cause of this - human over-population.
on sunday we’re going to biodiversity day at manch here in west cork - sounds like a great day, but i feel that celebrating biodiversity is becoming a bit like going to a zoo or museum…