A tribute to Phil Hopwood

who died of cancer at the very beginning of this year.

He was a friend that I greatly valued.

People's personality lives after them when they die and I am very aware of his potential approval at something I've just done.

Phil greatly valued well designed equipment often made at the turn of the century. He regularly obtained and returned to their efficient working condition tools and simple machines that others were throwing out.

Poking around a skip the other day I spotted a simple tree pruner, eight foot long and enabling me to cut branches thirteen feet above ground with out a ladder.

It was totally rusted and seized up.





No longer; it's been back in action minutes after the recovery process was instigated - well sixty of them actually.

Phil would have approved . Tree pruning here I come!

I'm convinced that as the world's resources become used up and sophisticated mechanical equippment becomes unaffordable we'll be reverting to well design and made tools from the 18th century. Hang on to your treddle sowing machine that is moderately easy to repair and doesn't require electricity.

I'd love to promote employment for young people to renovate clapped out machines and furniture. It happens plenty in India and other countries. Let's look forward to it happening here in Ulverston soon!

We can start with bikes; perhaps not that old but fifty years old will be a start!

The Greens Last Night at the Kings Arms

Chris Loynes was most impressive to my way of thinking.

He is willing to grapple with issues that desperately need addressing by our society.

However, unsurprisingly, they were unacceptable to most of the few people at the meeting.

They concerned the need to carry major shifts in the values of our society and a move away from consumerism with its implications on future jobs and the values we support.

These are changes that do need to be addressed and the Greens are the people to raise awareness of these issues.

However I do not believe that running for election is the most pragmatic way of dealing with the issues.

Better to unite with the Liberals whose policies are the closest of the three main parties to the Greens and get them into power than to split the Environmentalist between Liberals and Greens.

Tactical voting is needed at this time.

While we scrap and squabble . . .

over MPs expenses.

We are being left behind in far more important projects.

I believe that it will be China that will try the hardest to save humanity.

They have the power to impose their will on a vast population.

They will want to be the survivors.

They will know that Global Warming is the greatest threat they face.

They are investing vast sums of money into renewable energy sciences.

"China is to throw its economic might behind a national solar power plan that could result in it becoming one of the world's biggest harvesters of the sun's energy."

It follows that we will be buying all this technology from them and becoming poorer and more powerless by the year.

If you want to buy a modern energy saving heat pump, you will buy it from China - not the UK; not Germany in Europe; but miles away where we are already buying a lot of our toys and gadgets.

If we want a free future, we need to be looking beyond our politicians little toes (that have gone to market) and look up at the horizon ahead of us.

First Cumbria was rendered powerless by political squabbles last October and now it is Parliament.

We need to wake up and get our priorities clear and stop allowing ourselves to be distracted by newspapers and the media that seeks to filch our money and futures as we slouch distracted on our sofas.

Cumbria needs to encourage renewable energy industries to develop here using our mechanical and electrical engineering skills to the full in this new field.

Let's get focussed on jobs for the British by being farsighted. We need every ounce of co-operation if we are going to pull ourselves out of the mess we are headed for.