Monthly Archives: March 2012

New towns need a bigger dream than ‘green’

Posted on March 27, 2012 by

If desperately-needed new towns are to take root, and win popular support, planners need to come up with something more inspiring than carbon-neutral houses.  Derwenthorpe, near York, is a case in point. Launched by the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust in … Continue reading →

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Midlands mega-city proposed to ‘obliterate’ countryside

Posted on March 26, 2012 by

Yesterday The Sunday Telegraph revealed a plan to “exploit the new and highly controversial” National Planning Policy Framework” to build up to 100,000 homes on green belt land in the Midlands. This development would “obliterate the open countryside … to … Continue reading →

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Garden cities to stage leafy comeback?

Posted on March 20, 2012 by

A battle has broken out between town and country over the future of planning.  The government is trying to defuse the row by bringing back garden cities: planned communities designed to create a ‘joyous union’ between town and country. Yesterday … Continue reading →

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Economy can’t fly without airports

Posted on March 19, 2012 by

It is sixty-six years since a full-length runway was built in the South East of England. While Amsterdam-Schipol, Frankfurt and Paris have been adding miles more runway, Britain has held ten aviation inquiries since 1946 and gotten nowhere.  The coalition … Continue reading →

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Air France shows the way

Posted on March 15, 2012 by

While no UK-based airline is prepared – so far – to stand up to the anti-research activists, Air France has said it will continue to resist the blockade. The airline told The Times today that it “had no intention of … Continue reading →

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Don’t let the bullies win

Posted on March 14, 2012 by

The anti-vivisection bullies are on the march again, with a cleverly orchestrated campaign to wipe out medical research using animals in the UK. The last major push by animal ‘rights’ activists in the mid-2000s relied on terror and blackmail, targeted at … Continue reading →

Posted in business leaders, PR tactics | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Back to the future

Posted on March 13, 2012 by

Science, your job is making tomorrow happen – and making it look and feel futuristic. But, increasingly, you seem to think your job is doom-mongering.  This morning I woke to learn – courtesy of some Science people at Harvard – … Continue reading →

Posted in all kinds of everything | Tagged , | 4 Comments