Tag Archives: britain

Tate’s Christmas Tree Bares All

Photo: the artsdesk It’s been a tough year and many holiday celebrations this year are being kept simple. For example, the Tate Britain Art Gallery . It has a long tradition of commissioning famous artists to decorate the Christmas tree in its lobby. This year’s tree has: no decoration. No funny colours, no gimmicks, no avant garde baubles, just 30 ft. of natural beauty. … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Tate’s Christmas Tree Bares All

Pink Floyd’s son says "sorry" for swinging on Cenotaph flag

The son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour apologised

Are Zero Carbon Homes Coming to Britain or Are They Not?

Image credit: SandTDesigns , used under Creative Commons license. Since way back in 2006 there has been much hype about Britain’s commitment that all new homes would be zero carbon by 2016 . But there has been confusion too. Last week I posted on George Monbiot’s assertion that the Government had backtracked on its zero carbon pledge , and was somehow arguing t… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Are Zero Carbon Homes Coming to Britain or Are They Not?

Meet Another Almost Famous Music Critic in the Killing Bono Trailer

From Britain, here comes what looks like a feel-good underdog story about two rock bands in Dublin, based on a memoir by Telegraph critic Neil McCormick. Ben Barnes plays McCormick, the frontman for an up and coming rock n roll band who are competing for the spotlight with their friends’ band…U2. Whoa. Bummer.

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Meet Another Almost Famous Music Critic in the Killing Bono Trailer

‘Zero Carbon’ Homes Redefined – Government Reneges?

From the announcement that all new UK homes would be zero carbon by 2016 , through the big reveal of the first zero carbon home in the country , to the launch of a more commercially viable prototype for a zero carbon home , there has long been both buzz and confusion surrounding Britain’s future housing plans. Last year, Lloyd explained that the

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‘Zero Carbon’ Homes Redefined – Government Reneges?

Ultra Elitist Environmental Group: Halt Economic Growth, Institute Rationing

Ultra elitist environmental group The Royal Society has published a series of papers to coincide with the latest round of UN climate talks, in which influential scientists suggest that politicians should force the population of the developed world to adhere to a system of rationing in order to stave off rising global temperatures. The papers suggest that 1930s and 40s style crisis rationing should be implemented by Western governments in order to reduce carbon emissions. Such a move would see “limits on electricity so people are forced to turn the heating down, turn off the lights and replace old electrical goods like huge fridges with more efficient models. Food that has travelled from abroad may be limited and goods that require a lot of energy to manufacture.” the London Telegraph Reports. “The Second World War and the concept of rationing is something we need to seriously consider if we are to address the scale of the problem we face,” one Royal Society affiliated professor states. Professor Kevin Anderson, Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, added that in his view, economic growth in the developed world should be completely halted within the next two decades if the planet is to avoid mass upheaval in the form of rising sea levels, floods, droughts and mass migration. “I am not saying we have to go back to living in caves,” he said. “Our emissions were a lot less ten years ago and we got by ok then.” Ironically, Anderson’s point here reveals a fundamental flaw in the theory of anthropogenic warming, namely that CO2 emissions have increased, yet temperature rise is slowing. By all accounts, the warming trend observed predominantly throughout the 1980s and 90s stopped just over a decade ago. Even the Royal Society itself was forced to admit this fact in a recently published guide, titled ‘Climate change: a summary of the science’ which was altered following multiple complaints from 43 of the Royal Society’s own members that “knowledgeable people” were seeing through brazenly alarmist climate change rhetoric. The Met office concurs that global warming has been slowing for some time, and the admission was also recently noted by Professor Phil Jones, the figure at the head of the Climategate scandal. It is hardly surprising to see the Royal Society still pushing a de-industrialization agenda, however, given it’s history and cadre of members and patrons. The Royal Society, a 350 year old establishment outfit, has traditionally been the most vocal proponent for the hypothesis of AGW. It was the former president of The Royal Society, Lord May, who made the infamous statement “The debate on climate change is over.” When he was head of the Society, May told government advisors: “On one hand, you have the entire scientific community and on the other you have a handful of people, half of them crackpots.” The Royal Society has thrown its full weight behind the global warming movement, lending its absolute support for legislation aimed at reducing carbon emissions by 80%, a process that will devastate the global economy and drastically reduce living standards everywhere. It has been even more vehement than national governments in its advocacy of the man-made cause of global warming, calling for such drastic CO2 cuts to be made in the short term, not even by the usual target date of 2050. Not surprising then that The Royal Society was also intimately tied to efforts to Whitewash the Climategate emails scandal. The society has also conducted extensive research into geoengineering the planet, and continually lobbies the government to divert funding into it. A recently published lengthy UK Government report drew heavily upon the Society’s research and concluded that a global body such as the UN should be appointed to exclusively regulate world wide geoengineering of the planet in order to stave off man made global warming. This information becomes even more disturbing when you consider the mindset of those who make up the membership of the Society. It is riddled with renowned eco-fascists, open eugenicists and depopulation fanatics. One notable member is James Lovelock, an eco-fascist who advocates ending democracy and instituting an authoritative elite to oversee global climate management and a radical stemming of the human population in order to combat climate change. He is also a patron of the Optimum Population Trust, a notorious UK-based public policy group that campaigns for a gradual decline in the global human population, which it refers to as “primates” or “animals”, to what it sees as a “sustainable” level. Lovelock is also an ardent advocate of geoengineering. In 2007 Lovelock proposed laying vast swathes of pipes under the world’s oceans in order to pump water from the bottom of the seas – rich in nutrients, but mostly dead – to the top. The idea being that the action would encourage algae to breed, absorb more carbon and release more dimethyl sulphide into the atmosphere, a chemical known to seed sunlight reflecting clouds. Such methods are also covered in the Commons report. Another member is Jonathon Porritt, former chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, one of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s leading green advisers, who has stated that Britain’s population must be cut in half from around 60 million to 30 million if it is to build a sustainable society. Porritt, also a member of the Optimum Population Trust, a connection that caused raised eyebrows when it was announced that Porritt was to be a part of a forthcoming Royal Society“Objective” Global Population Study. Also on the Royal Society’s working group for their global population study is another of their patrons, and another OPT member, BBC darling wildlife broadcaster and film-maker Sir David Attenborough. Attenborough has called for a one child policy like that of Communist China to be implemented in Britain. The proposal is one of the OPT’s main initiatives. Again, how is this man’s influence going to result in an “objective” study on population? Another member of that working group is Cambridge economist Sir Partha Dasgupta, also a fellow of the OPT. Professor Malcolm Potts, another member of the working group was the first male doctor at the Marie Stopes Abortion Clinic in London, he also advised on the UK’s 1967 Abortion Act. Marie Stopes was a prominent campaigner for the implementation of eugenicspolicies. In Radiant Motherhood (1920) she called for the “sterilisation of those totally unfit for parenthood [to] be made an immediate possibility, indeed made compulsory.” That group, according to her, included non-whites and the poor. Stopes, an anti-Semite Nazi sympathizer, campaigned for selective breeding to achieve racial purity, a passion she shared with Adolf Hitler in adoring letters and poems that she sent the leader of the Third Reich. Stopes also attended the Nazi congress on population science in Berlin in 1935, while calling for the “compulsory sterilization of the diseased, drunkards, or simply those of bad character.” Stopes acted on her appalling theories by concentrating her abortion clinics in poor areas so as to reduce the birth rate of the lower classes. Stopes left most of her estate to the Eugenics Society, an organization that shared her passion for racial purity and still exists today under the new name The Galton Institute. The society has included members such as Charles Galton Darwin (grandson of the evolutionist), Julian Huxley and Margaret Sanger. Read More: http://globalpoliticalawakening.blogspot.com/2010/11/ultra-elitist-environmental… added by: GLOBALPOLITICAL

Ke$ha Says It’s ‘Cool’ Being Compared To Rihanna, Katy Perry

‘Out of that group of chicks, I’m the new bitch on the block,’ singer tells Complex magazine. By James Dinh Ke$ha on the December 2010 issue of Complex Photo: Complex Pop-star rivalry has been around for years. Whether it was Britney vs. Christina or Mariah vs. Whitney, there’s always been an underlying competition between your favorite female pop singers. But don’t expect any animosity between today’s stars, at least not from Ke$ha . The wilding-out singer, who’s the latest Complex cover girl, spoke with the magazine about her pop-star peers, including Rihanna, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. “I actually think that’s cool,” the singer said of the female stars she’s being compared to. “Out of that group of chicks, I’m the new bitch on the block, so I’m still getting used to being compared to some of the biggest pop stars in the world, but I don’t take any offense to it. That just means people know my records.” Earlier this year, Ke$ha teamed up with Rihanna for the Barbadian bombshell’s girl-power trek, the Last Girl on Earth Tour. Despite the duo’s pairing, the blogosphere went into a fury when Rihanna recently revealed that she “didn’t want the generic pop record that Ke$ha or Lady Gaga or Katy Perry could do.” The party-loving pop star admitted that she hadn’t even read the quote, suggesting that the media may have taken Rih’s comments out of context. “I’m so used to the media flipping my words around that I’m sure she meant absolutely no offense to me or Katy or Gaga,” said the singer. “Rihanna and me are totally cool, we were just on tour together, and I know that she and Katy are good friends. I don’t take any offense because I’m sure it’s bullsh– anyway.” Based on the garbage-bag ensemble she work to this year’s MTV Video Music Awards , it seems that Ke$ha could care less about other people’s opinions. “I was trying to look super-hot,” she said. “I like to poke fun at when people make fun of me, because I don’t take myself that seriously. People say I’m ‘garbage chic,’ so I thought I’d take it to the next level and make a garbage bag super f—ing chic — and I succeeded!” As for now, the singer is focusing on her recently released Cannibal, a companion album to her debut, Animal. Do you think there’s competition between any of today’s pop stars? Share your thoughts below! Open the floodgates! It’s Mega-Release Week, with Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, Ne-Yo, Ke$ha, My Chemical Romance and Lloyd Banks all dropping new albums. Stick with MTV News for everything you need to know about the brand-new music. Related Photos Ke$ha Exclusive Photos | MTV Style Rihanna and Ke$ha Perform At Madison Square Garden Related Artists Ke$ha

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‘King’s Speech’ Star Colin Firth Talks Awards-Season Love And ‘Dumb Luck’

2010 best actor nominee looks poised for another Oscar nod. By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech” Photo: The Weinstein Company For the second year in a row, Colin Firth finds himself at the center of awards-season chatter. And after losing out on a best actor Oscar for “A Single Man,” the 50-year-old actor has again established himself as one of the frontrunners in that category, thanks to his turn as the stammer-afflicted King George VI on the verge of Britain’s entry into World War II in “The King’s Speech.” It seems Firth is an actor at the top of his game, but to hear him tell it, it’s as much a matter of good fortune as it is great talent. “It’s just dumb luck,” he told MTV News at the Toronto film festival in September. “That’s all: Just getting a crack at it. Sometimes you just take roles to stay in the game or pay bills and hope the good ones are going to come along. “I was never in a world of perfect choice, and now I feel like I’ve had a couple of real plums landing in my hand,” he added. It was at fall film festivals in Toronto and Telluride, Colorado, as critics first began to catch screenings of “King’s Speech,” that it became clear we’d still be talking about Firth’s performance come awards season. He’s been faithfully making the publicity rounds ever since, and as he told us when we chatted earlier this month in New York, he’s not bored with the experience. “Funnily enough, I find it easier than many things,” he said. “There are so many angles you can approach it from, to do with the way people are reacting to it to the surprises we’ve had along the way to nuances about the actual history itself. I think this has a lot of mileage in it. “It’s been very gratifying for audiences to have howls of laughter and be open to crying,” he continued. “To see that happening in the same film is a triumphant feeling. When you’re in Telluride, you can put it down to altitude — one glass of wine amounts to 10. So we had to test it at sea level as well to see if people enjoyed it, and they did.” Did you see Firth’s performance as King George VI? Give us your review in the comments below.

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‘King’s Speech’ Star Colin Firth Talks Awards-Season Love And ‘Dumb Luck’

Woman Sentenced For Sexually Abusing 5-year-old Girl

Shawna Owens, 22-year-old woman from Bristo, Connecticut, , has been sentenced to a total of 84 months in prison for sexually abusing a 5-year-old girl. She also has to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life. Also a year ago, Owens was convicted in Superior Court in New Britain for abusing girls in Bristol was and sentenced to 54 months of prison and 15 years of probation. Her current sentence in Rockville will run consecutive to the New Britain sentence. added by: b2r

After ‘Deathly Hallows – Part 1,’ What’s Next For Emma Watson?

‘Harry Potter’ actress’ career is taking a backseat to her college education for now. By Eric Ditzian Emma Watson Photo: MTV News In the summer of 2009, Emma Watson confessed to MTV News that she wasn’t sure whether, after working on the “Harry Potter” franchise for a decade, she might take an extended holiday from Hollywood and concentrate on her studies. “I’m reading a lot of scripts and talking to casting agents and if something comes up in the right time then I [would consider it],” she said. “If it was something I really wanted to do, then I wouldn’t say no. But at the same time I’ve been working solidly since I was like ten … so I’m going to take a bit of break.” The 20-year-old actress has largely stuck to that take-a-step-back ethos. While she has a few film roles lined up, they carry a fraction of the profile that “Potter” does. Instead, she’s plowing forward at Brown University and expanding her fashion work. Here’s what we can expect next from Watson. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” “Deathly Hallows – Part 1” notched an impressive debut at the box office this weekend — $125 million, good for #6 on the all-time list of opening weekends. But “Part 2” will likely blow that total away. Why? Warner Bros. is still planning to convert the flick for a 3-D release. Those premium ticket prices should goose the opening ever higher. Which means that despite the low profile Watson will keep until then, come next summer she’ll once again be recognized as Hollywood royalty. “My Week With Marilyn” No, Watson is not set to play iconic blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe. That honor goes to Michelle Williams. Watson took on a small role as a wardrobe assistant named Lucy for this film, which follows the just-married Monroe on a romantic tour around Britain with her co-star, Eddie Redmayne. People Tree Earlier this year, Watson made her status as a fashion icon official when she collaborated with People Tree , a Fair Trade fashion label, for a line of eco-friendly duds. Now she’s got a second collection of pinafore dresses, cotton cardigans and striped tees. “I still find it hard to convey what Fair Trade means to those producing our fashion — it’s just so impressive to see how the women have used Fair Trade clothing to escape poverty and empower themselves and their children,” she says on the People Tree website. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” Watson’s next starring role could be in this adaptation of a 1999 novel about a lonely teenage boy named Charlie, who deals with issues of familial strife, drug use, sexuality and suicide. Logan Lerman (“Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief”) would play Charlie, opposite Watson as his love interest Sam. Brown University All of these projects, however, currently take a backseat to Watson’s Ivy League studies. As she told us recently, she almost quit the “Potter” franchise , lest she lose a chance to pursue her higher education. “I always try and make decisions in my life based on what’s right for me and I just try and be true to myself,” she said. “It was mainly to do with scheduling and I had a real fight on my hands to ensure that I was able to go to university and I was able to sit my A-levels, because the schedule they handed to me didn’t really allow for any of that and I just wasn’t prepared to let it go.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: Emma Watson ‘Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 1’ Clips Related Photos ‘Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows’ Premieres In NYC ‘Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 1’

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After ‘Deathly Hallows – Part 1,’ What’s Next For Emma Watson?