If you are really desperate, you can find the first of these undiscussed secrets here:    A Dirty Little Secret? (oldandireland.blogspot.com) .  There must be hundreds such undiscussed details that could effect our society. ____________________ OK, it's summer here in the northern hemisphere and it's hot out there.  So hot that wild fires have been breaking out all over the place.  A carelessly discarded ciggy butt caused a fire yesterday that burned down 10 houses!  Temperature records are being broken yet again, and the TV news channels would have you believe that venturing outside for more than a nanosecond at mid day will instantly vaporise you.  As someone who once (many years ago), worked in a desert where temperatures in the mid 40's centigrade were normal, and where you were expected to work in those temperatures, I find this hard to believe.  Granted it took a week or two to acclimatise to the desert, and unlike the humid conditions here ...

 For some time now I have been having real doubts about my own behaviour over the years.  I've been a petrol head for most of my life, and so involved with motorcycles for both transport and leisure that they are ingrained in my character. Yet as I watch the news of environmental disasters unfold on the telly virtually every evening, I have to wonder how much my own behaviour has contributed to this mess, and what I can do to help our planet. While it is obvious that my own individual environmental sins are an infinitesimally small part of the problem, that is no excuse for claiming that the problem is not mine.  According to the ONS (Office for National Statistics), there are almost 67 million people here in the UK.  As well as heating our homes, which is a major source of our pollution, a huge number of us have vehicles.  According to the RAC (www.racfoundation.org),  " In Great Britain, there were  31.7 million cars  (82.1 per cent), 4.26 milli...

First a disclaimer (or three):     As I said in my profile, I never promised that readers were going to like or agree with everything that I write.   If you don’t, feel free to post a comment to point out the error of my ways.   The economic theories described below are gross simplifications. This is a worst case scenario, but unfortunately, I don’t think it is impossible. _____ The picture is of Kearney, in Co. Down (You might as well have something picturesque to look at) How many Politicians can you think of that you actually believe are honest, hardworking and intelligent enough to be let out on their own?   We seem to have particular issues with this here in the North, yet we keep re-electing these sectarian plonkers.    Look at the state of this province.   The RHI enquiry continues showing up cronyism, incompetence and downright greed, Stormont still does not exist despite a backlog of huge and urgent issues tha...