News and Updates

  • UNECE spurs economic growth across the continent

    I'm pleased to report that those selfless UNECE folk have been travelling round Europe again, staying in nice hotels, in order to instruct the rest of us in how to live sustainably. But we should not carp!  Indeed, our collective...

  • A very short introduction to ... education

    A spokesperson for the Department of Education, Dr Ratko O'Malley, confirmed today that the DfE is to buy 800,000 copies of Gary Thomas's new OUP publication, Education: A Very Short Introduction, which was published last week.  These will be distributed...

  • A Right Royal Charter

    I don't know!  You leave the country for a few days to bask in UNESCO's world heritage beneficence, and when you return you find Parliament proposing to overthrow hundreds of years of hard-won press freedoms.  Not only that, but blogs...

  • "They do it differently, they do it better, and ...

    ... they did it yesterday" is an observation that is sometimes remarked of the Scots – quite often, it has to be said, by the Scots.  However, when it comes to ESD – or Learning for Sustainability – as they...

  • Letter to Sir Alan Langlands

    Sir Allen Langlands is the Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England.  This is the text of a recent letter about HE, learning, and sustainability.  It speaks for itself, as does the list of those signing. Dear...

  • Think Tanks for ESD

    Rolf Jucker, of Switzerland's new éducation21, posted this on SHED SHARE a few days ago: Since January 2013 I work in a new foundation here in Switzerland which is called éducation21 and is conceived as a one-stop-shop for ESD in Switzerland...

  • Mark Avery's narrow view

    I've been nudged towards Mark Avery's blog which I didn't know about, but, then, I suppose he knows even less about me.  Avery is an Ex-RSBP Director of Conservation, and much more. I was struck by the following passage, which...

  • Update on Semington A, B, C, D, ...

    I've blogged before on our modest contribution to the UK's energy demands through the solar PV array that is Semington A. January saw us pass 7MWHr of production and we have been joined by Semingtons B to L as there...

  • Spinons, orbitons, holons, and Brian Cox

    I watched the latest Horizon last week (BBC 4; Thursday) which featured, Andy Parker, a bloke at CERN who's looking inside quarks – or hoping to.  Andy was also trying to create micro (and mercifully very temporary) black holes inside...

  • Re-visiting the Neo-Late-Neolithic at Stonehenge

    English Heritage is currently building a new visitor centre at Stonehenge (with civilised toilets; thanks be to the druids).  It is due to open later this year.  Outside the main exhibition centre there will be an external gallery featuring some...