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  1. #11
    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Hi Jon

    Quote Originally Posted by Sunday Times 19 July View Post

    When wind power blows, jobs will fall
    Dominic Lawson

    You may recall the Beyond the Fringe sketch in which Squadron Leader Peter Cook tells Jonathan Miller, the doleful pilot, that he must set out on a doomed mission because “we need a futile gesture at this stage. It will raise the whole tone of the war”.

    I was irresistibly reminded of this by Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, in his launch of plans to cut carbon emissions by switching to “renewables” for more than 30% of our energy use. This, he claimed, would “rise to the moral challenge of climate change”.

    Miliband is of the generation of politicians struggling to find a great moral cause ......
    Perhaps the Mail would have been a better home for that Blog.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jon View Post

    I have gone from rabidly anti GM to extremely wary about GM in recent years.
    I don't entirely trust some of the companies in control of the technology and it has implications for agricultural practices such as sharecropping which are common in developing countries.
    Have to say that there isn't much to argue about there! I'm less wary of course.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jon View Post

    Sounds like you are angling for the full 30 minute argument Gav.
    There should be a handicap system implemented as you know more about the technology than the rest of us.
    What do you see as the biggest risks with GM?
    On the other hand I'll be outnumbered, so that balances out my advantage?

    Biggest risks?

    - unrealistic expectations for delivery, it will not cure world hunger and the coming perfect storm of climate change, pathogen shifts, overpopulation, environmental degradation (but it might help)

    - focusing of financial clout in the agricultural industry

    - had been a risk of over-enthusiastic scientists doing risky things, but not now given the intensity of regulation

    - change in allergenicity of a basic foodstuff (but see above, and this could happen from less regulated crop improvement methods anyway)

    G.

  2. #12
    Banned Stromnessbees's Avatar
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    Hi Jon

    I quite like the idea of a handicap for overeducated geneticists etc. But how do we do it?
    Maybe we should insist that they have a double whisky before they are allowed to write a post on a tricky topic, then they might let their guard down a bit...

    Doris

  3. #13
    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Would I be allowed two large glasses of red wine instead? I'm almost there tonight ....

  4. #14
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    I quite like the idea of a handicap for overeducated geneticists
    Two glasses of wine or even three is no handicap. It only gees you up.
    I would make him show the receipt for a case of Carlsberg Special Brew before he is allowed to post on GMO.

    It seems to have a special ranting additive, can't recall the E number offhand.

  5. #15
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    I think the easiest way to spark a massive argument on here is if we can persuade Jon to make a post about the amber nectar using the letter "e" in the name

    but I've been looking forward to a damn good beekeepers debate (with reasonable people, like Doris and the rest of you) on GM for years.
    While I fall into the camp that shuffles uncomfortably around the issue of GM I'm happy to admit that it comes mainly from an emotional rather than knowledgeable perspective so unusually for an internet forum I tend to slip quietly onto the sidelines and watch with interest when it appears people who might actually know what they're talking about step up.

    I know that lack of knowledge shouldn't interfere with the ability to strongly hold an opinion, especially when beekeeping is concerned but again, coming towards the end of the current season, I'm pretty clear that I'm not actually half the beekeeper I thought I was when it started.

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hoomin_erra View Post
    I doubt it.
    Oh yeah, I wasn't going to let that slide

  7. #17

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    Who me?

    No idea what you're talking about?

  8. #18
    Banned Stromnessbees's Avatar
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    I know that lack of knowledge shouldn't interfere with the ability to strongly hold an opinion, especially when beekeeping is concerned but again, coming towards the end of the current season, I'm pretty clear that I'm not actually half the beekeeper I thought I was when it started.
    Very well said, Nelly!

    Or you could put it like Chris Broad on another forum:

    My expertise is seasonal.
    All winter I'm an expert.
    During the summer I discover how much more there is to learn.



    Doris

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