nevstokes.com

Only in the UK could rioters in £100 trainers organising things on £300 smartphones claim to be in poverty…
- Wessel Sleeking

We are sold on the notion that wealth and fame are the be all and end all. A feeling of entitlement to certain things is widespread: a widescreen TV and the latest mobile phone. Consumerism instructs us — and I include myself in this — on the things that we absolutely need in our lives. A path to unearned fortune, like a Lottery win, is a dream we’re all guilty of hoping will happen upon us.

Today’s aspirational role models are by-and-large vapid celebrities and footballers. Reality television shows offer a route to temporary and fleeting fame for no discernable reason. Depressingly, becoming a footballer’s wife is the ambition of many a young woman.

There is the growing inequality between the family struggling to make ends meet and the unfathomably rich bankers. The rich keep getting richer while bonuses don’t exist for the common worker — who the bosses think should be thankful for having a job in the first place — and any proffered pay rise lag below inflation.

Yes, the youth feel disenfranchised but I have a sneaking suspicion that a large majority of those on the streets didn’t cast a vote at any of the last several elections and therefore, in some people’s eyes, have absolutely no right to complain. There is the understandable apathy towards politics with many of the view that only the interests of the super-rich and big industry will be looked after.

Several of the current crop of government know a thing or two about laying waste to small businesses and premises through their days of dining with the Bullingdon Club. The riots have spawned reactionary comments from people with no experience of rioting, policing methods or crowd control: “Bring in the army!”, “Shut down Twitter!” — exactly the same actions that people were demanding mustn’t happen during the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East.

Admittedly, these were valid protests against brutal regimes, a lack of democracy and human rights violations. What we’ve seen on the streets of London and elsewhere is basic criminality. I’m not for a second condoning the appalling scenes of the last few nights but peaceful protests in this country are heavily policed and soon forgotten — if they are even noticed at all.

People feeling marginalised by unemployment, labelling, low prospects and benefit caps that fundamentally equate to social cleansing has led to a tinder box mentality. Something that was waiting for a spark to unleash the pent-up aggression. The shooting of Mark Duggan provided the excuse but this was purely circumstantial and could have been anything.

People who say that nobody saw this coming are wrong. The signs and associated commentary were there over a year ago.

I’m only surprised that it happened so soon.

This is another post topic taken from The Daily Post: Describe your dream house (cost and location are no issue).

House prices (like most financial things) confuse me. I’m of the opinion that it boils down a huge Government-sanctioned Ponzi scheme. I now wish I’d been irresponsible a decade ago when banks and building societies were doing the same and were practically falling over themselves to give people 125% self-certified mortgages. A house should be a place for living and not seen as an investment.

Some people want to leave their mark on the world. I want to do the exact opposite: to leave none, to have a positive impact on the planet. My ideal home wouldn’t be carbon neutral — it’d be carbon negative. I like to think I’ve got decent tastes and I know that Juliet certainly does and she would be on hand to keep any of my more silly ideas in check. I intensely dislike the Manchester United player Gary Neville as a footballer but his environmental attitude and plans for his new home are admirable — if not a little funny looking!

My ideal house would be more conventional in design and be mainly self-sufficient. It would be situated near a stream so I could operate small-scale hydro. The addition of a helical wind turbine and solar PV on the south-facing roof surfaces would generate more than enough electricity for us which we could then sell back to the national grid on a feed-in tariff. There’d also be solar heating panels, ground and air source heat pumps for underfloor heating and a hopper-fed biomass pellet boiler as a backup to keep us warm.

Making the best and most efficient use of our generated power is also high on my list. As this is just fantasy and money is no object I’d insulate the building with Aerogel and have triple glazing with insulated frames. LED lighting would be installed throughout with A+++ rated appliances.

Water is another consideration. I’d set up rainwater harvesting, a grey water system and install aerated showers with heat exchangers. In order to keep food miles to a minimum there would be herb and vegetable gardens, a solar tunnel and hydroponicum, an orchard, apiary, and keep chickens and goats.

All this goes to show just how much technology has been developed to address our impact on the planet. We need to start using it.

I remember reading an interesting discussion topic a while ago which I’ve only recently rediscovered and given new though to as I continue to get used to the idea of being a parent. This AskReddit thread raises the point that our children’s views will likely be very different from ours. Racism and homophobia were commonplace in a grandparents and parents eras. Which of our widely-held opinions will our children find disagreeable?

Religion? Eating meat? Capitalism?