Comment
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Spectators and ESD
I've got out of the habit of writing about attempts to impose curriculum change on university teachers through the 'introduction' of ESD. When I did, [*] I used to try to argue that reform ought to begin by looking at...
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A cunning plan by the government
I see that the government is proposing that, by 2024, 22% of new car sales in the UK must be zero emission vehicles (ZEVs). Given that it does not make or sell cars, this is a bold move. Bolder...
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Copper Bottom Lined
The world worries about the supply of lithium, or rather, the lack of it, as the metal is so vital to technological innovation. Not to mention all those Rare Earths with funny names: dysprosium, promethium, gadolinium, ytterbium, etc. But what...
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Our debt to Haddow
The older I get, the more bizarre my dreams seem to be. The other night I dreamt that I had a tube of bread mix which, when squeezed out and put into a hot oven, turned after baking into a...
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Eco-Anxiety anyone?
Matthew Adams, a psychologist from the University of Brighton writes in The Conversation with tips for coping with eco-anxiety. I don't actually know anyone who has it to the extent that it debilities them although I think I've come across such people on...
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Nature and Nitrogen Policy
It's endlessly interesting how different countries name their great offices of state. Indeed, the USA has a Secretary of State (as we did in Elizabethan days) who heads up the State Department whereas in the UK we make do with...
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A WEEC is a long time in Abu Dhabi
I see that WEEC is following in FIFA's footsteps by holding its next global extravaganza in the Gulf. WEEC 2024 – the 12th congress – will be in Abu Dhabi over 5 days next January / February. The organisers say...
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Careful Crime, Heat Pumps, Net Zero and German Cars
Back in 2018, a survey of 2,143 people by YouGov revealed that 27% of them admit to “careful littering” such as leaving drinks cans or coffee cups on window ledges rather than on the ground as usual. A campaign was duly launched...
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Everything is more costly when rushed
Rory Sutherland's 'must read' Spectator column this week quoted some "excellent thinking" from the Italian complexity theorist Luca Dellanna: Two days ago, the EU parliament approved a ban on new fossil fuel cars starting in 2035. While I like the...
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The big fib at the heart of Ofsted
I've been following the awful story of the primary school headteacher who killed herself after an inexplicable top to bottom down-grading from Ofsted. I say inexplicable because how can the leadership of a school be inadequate when every other grade is...