Blair urges civil service reform

"He said a civil service which could "adapt, deliver and innovate is a hugely valuable asset". It "needs to encourage and reward lateral thinking" he added.

"It needs to reward civil servants who look outwards for learning rather than up the hierarchy for approval," the prime minister said."

From what I've seen in the civil service, he's very, very, very right.. I heard the BBC 24 hour news say the word, "entrepreneurial." If only! Nothing I've seen in the civil service is entrepreneurial. When I heard that, I thought of universities, some of which have departments that look into making money out of some of their research. If the UK civil service could start thinking in that way too, they and we'd (us subjects — we're not citizens here in the UK) be so much better off.

Doom, gloom and global warming

"This is so far out it is laughable..."

This Salon blogger thinks that Sunday's Observer article was rubbish. I hope so. Germany obtaining nuclear weapons? Sure that sounds unbelievable.

Still, I do watch a lot of global warming stuff on the Discovery Channel and elsewhere, mainly about the mechanics of global warming (nothing about the social or geo-political implications) and I do think the article has quite a bit of truth, all be it a lot sooner than I thought (18 years).

I wonder if those skeptical of global warming watch such programmes or know much about the earth's history of abrupt climate change.

I've downloaded the actual article and will read through it tonight. Will I feel more secure? I doubt it. Global warming is real, is happening, but what I hadn't considered, and what has shaken me is the thought of climate wars.

I asked yesterday where was safe, considering the UK will be Siberian when the Gulf Stream breaks. According to this doc, "The United States and Australia are likely to build defensive fortresses around their countries because they have the resources and reserves to achieve self-sufficiency."

[Update:] Looks like this article wasn't leaked nor suppressed. Just one of those wilder contingency plans the Pentagon has thousands of. From the downloaded doc, "our intent is to dramatize the impact climate change could have on society." The Observer has over dramatised to sell papers.