Donkeyshott & Xuitlacoche

 109 million dollar investment in solar power near the King Abdullah City  for Atomic and Renewable Energy King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy The state is the only really effective power in the war against climate change and it needs to force businesses to come along with it Phil Hall February 1, 2008 8:00 AM It was Kurt Vonnegut, who admired the American volunteer firefighters very much, who said that the noblest war of all was the war against combustion. And don't his words ring true? Preventing global warming and reducing CO2 emissions is indeed the grandest and most noble war of the 21st century. But has society lost the habit of engaging in grand "good" wars ? Set aside, for the moment, the corporate driven wars like the recent Iraq oil war. In the 1930s and 40s, our governments organised the all-out fight against fascism and millions laid down their lives willingly to defeat the Nazis. The state is the only entity with the democrat...

Tony Hall 1936 – 2008 Tony Hall, beloved husband of Eve Hall, died peacefully at home on 30th January 2008 three months after his wife, Eve Hall. Loved and mourned by his sons Phil, Andy and Chris, his grandchildren Natalie, Lucy, John, Myles, Betty, Carmen, Jess, Alice, Eve and Bobby, and his daughters-in-law Tere, Kate and Anne. He will also be deeply missed by all his family and friends. This loss has devastated us all. But we are all determined to celebrate his wonderful life, just as we did our mother's. The funeral will be on 7th of February. Dad's ashes will be mixed with mom's

There has long been a strand of thought on the left that the worse the crisis (of capitalism) gets, the better for the revolutionary cause. This is the anti-reformist, romantic tradition of radical politics. Naomi Klein's views on disaster capitalism , which does indeed benefit from crisis, are illuminating - partly because her analysis turns that argument on its head and demonstrates how capitalism turns even spasm into a business opportunity. Certainly, US companies that deal in construction, security and oil are reaping their profits from upheaval in Iraq as hugely and surely as if they planned the invasion themselves.But Naomi Klein's recent article on Mexico disturbs me - certainly in the headline, which claims that "war is again on Mexico's horizon", but also in the observations within about rising tension in Chiapas and the fear of possible future atrocities committed by thuggish "paramilitaries". Klein also quotes the Zapatista leader, Subcomand...

Capitalism doesn't like disruptive technologies. Look at the foul combustion engine. We still use the combustion engine because it suits the profits of car manufacturers and oil producers. You can't conflate innovation with the development of new technologies, capitalism is no the source of innovation. It is not true that companies have come up with most of the major new technologies. Reach out to the innovation nearest to hand; the Internet - the World Wide Web and what you have is an "innovation" funded by DARPA, a branch of the US state. This innovation was developed by university campuses over the length and breadth of the United States, not by companies. And then, for the birth of the WWW you have a researcher funded by the European Union CERN facility. Tim Berners Lee. The Jet, the computer, radar, genetics, nuclear power, you name it. These are all the products of STATE FUNDING. They are not the "innovations" of capitalism. Counter examples? The cornf...

Totally occupied for weeks with final illness and farewells for my wife Eve, ever an ANC loyalist, I have completely missed the wide coverage of Mark Gevisser’s book on Thabo Mbeki. Just until I have completed and sent off this article, I will stay outside the buzz of interest which the book – by a fine writer, after years of research – is stirring, for its full and sensitive treatment of the subject: I know that to understand can be to forgive – but it should not be to excuse, to validate, and to allow the subject to carry on messing up our national politics. Of course Thabo Mbeki should not be standing for a third term as ANC President – it simply muddies the fountains of choice as to who will lead the country into the next crucial phase of transition. But sadly, it is only the latest and greatest act of irresponsibility and manipulation in a catalogue of choices which I believe have characterised and shaped the course of the presidency, and of national policy. Like most long-standin...

My mum was ill with cancer in South Africa and I posted a note on Cif in one of the discussion threads about her life and my father's. The next thing, Linda Grant - a regular Cif contributor - got in touch, inquiring about my mum and dad. I am not surprised that she knew them - their lives touched the lives of many. Mum was in the last stages of cancer. Linda's warmth surprised and pleased her. She even had the idea of writing her life story and Linda offered to help. This cheered her up immensely and she wrote a little beginning called La Petite Madeleine. But then we had to rush to my mother's side. Those last days as a carer were extremely hard for dad. We arrived at mum's bed less than an hour before she died. Hating her agony, I remember saying: "You can go now, mum." She died about a minute later. Then each of us acted in character. We all cried. Dad said how beautiful she was, Chris checked his watch in the middle of all his pain and said: "1.18...

I saw a copy of Che's African diaries about three years ago and was asked to translate them, but that offer soon faded away. At the time I said I would be honoured to translate the diaries. I am not so sure now. Che's language was dense and circular and confusing in its references, alluding to conversations and events that he didn't specify or detail. If Che was writing for posterity, there was absolutely no sign of it in the Spanish he used. Pure stodge. And he did go through a period of being quite obese. And then, a few days ago I was chatting to one of the former leaders of the African revolutionary and anti-colonial movements and he enlightened me somewhat. He said that he had respected Che's ideas to some extent, but didn't like Che as a person. According to him, Che had been a latecomer to the Cuban revolution, and without much of a background in Cuban politics. He just got onto the boat with Fidel in order to help swell the numbers. From then on Che was unde...