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Mobilising for the next 'good' fight

 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

Our beloved Dad, Tony

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

Disaster Leftism

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