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[Max White]

It is very true and very feasible.

Well that is pretty awesome.
Down here in Australia we have areas of unpopulated land larger than Scotland that receive strong, direct sunlight 99% of the time, fields that receive regular winds pretty much always both onshore and off, and the sixth largest coastline in the world, all of it exposed to strong tidal pulls... We have a 5% 2020 reductions goal, and no contingency plan if our current plan fails, and it will.

God bless you Scotland.

[Sheb]

Owlbread, I think you're vastly overestimating tidal and wave power. Sure, you got more than almost anyone else, but still not that much. Especially since some of the best tide plants spots in Britain are actually in England and Wales (stuff like the Severn Estuary).

I really recommand you read Sustainable Energy — without the hot air (The book is offered free as a PDF). It's basically a back-of-the-envellope calculation of the various forms of energy consumptions and potential productions in the UK (But you'll find it easy enough to adapt the numbers to Scotland if you want to).

[Owlbread]

I'm going to read that on my phone over the next while or so. Thank you.

Of course though, when I say it will be a cold day in hell that we must rely on imported electricity I am referring to everything in combination; including the oil and coal supplies. Even if our renewables fell through we're still a very resource rich country.

Well that is pretty awesome.
Down here in Australia we have areas of unpopulated land larger than Scotland that receive strong, direct sunlight 99% of the time, fields that receive regular winds pretty much always both onshore and off, and the sixth largest coastline in the world, all of it exposed to strong tidal pulls... We have a 5% 2020 reductions goal, and no contingency plan if our current plan fails, and it will.

God bless you Scotland.

Australia is in the wonderful position of being almost an entire resource-rich continent, with only a relatively small population (compared to, say, the UK) so the possibilities for change are quite remarkable. There's really no excuse for the target being so low. You're also pioneering research in how to obtain enough useable water in an arid climate, something that so much of the world needs right now. You could be so, so green, yet you're held back. It's a terrible shame.

[Max White]

Australia is in the wonderful position of being almost an entire resource-rich continent, with only a relatively small population (compared to, say, the UK) so the possibilities for change are quite remarkable. There's really no excuse for the target being so low. You're also pioneering research in how to obtain enough useable water in an arid climate, something that so much of the world needs right now. You could be so, so green, yet you're held back. It's a terrible shame.

It is worse than you think. That 5% reduction goal? That isn't even for current levels, it is for 2020 projected levels. Even if we reach our 5% target, and we won't, it will still be a net increase in emissions.
And that isn't even the worst of it, most of out emissions are hidden as exports that we don't take responsibility for. We are about to open up a mine in the Galilee basin that will produce enough coal that, when burnt, will produce more CO2 than all of Germany, and none of that is considered because it is burnt overseas.

The climate would be a lot better off if Australia had never been discovered, with only a marginal increase in the British prison population. 

[Loud Whispers]

No, it'd be even worse. It'd also be French.
And all these attempts to be environmentally friendly are largely moot so long as China and Murrica lead the world in glorious exploitation of the environment.

[ChairmanPoo]

Werewolves can be facists too, you know. Stop pigeonholing them.

Actually..

[Max White]

No, it'd be even worse. It'd also be French.

On that note, I hear France is going for a 75% rich bastards tax... Dirty commies! 

[10ebbor10]

No, it'd be even worse. It'd also be French.

On that note, I hear France is going for a 75% rich bastards tax... Dirty commies! 

66%. 75% is apparently unconstitutional.

[Max White]

Really? 2/3 is totally ok but 3/4 goes against their national foundations?
I wonder how their chefs manage...

[10ebbor10]

By European standards, 2/3 really isn't that much.

[Max White]

Highest tax bracket we have is 45% for people earning $180,000 AUS and over, plus an additional 2.5% medicare levi that can be reduced to 1.5% by having private health care... As you can imagine, the rich complain they pay too much tax and if we raise it any more they will all more away to Europe.

[10ebbor10]

Well, IIRC, the average taxation over here is 45%.

[Sheb]

Bit more I think. Or maybe you don't include payroll tax on this? Plus that part of the payroll tax that is paid by your employer...

As far as France goes, I think the Constitutional Court decide it was punitivie to levy such an high tax on people, so now they want to tax it through employers, but it is rapidly becoming a joke, with exemption for pretty much everyone (football players for example).

[Guardian G.I.]

Meanwhile, Russia is hit by a string of terrorist attacks: yesterday, a suicide bombing hit Volgograd's main railroad terminal, killing 17, this morning, a suicide bomber blew up a trolleybus full of people during rush hour in Volgograd, killing 14.

It is a popular opinion among many non-liberal Russians dating back to the 1990s (which haven't been acknowledged by the Russian government in any way) that the radical Wahhabi Islamists from the government of Saudi Arabia are organizing and sponsoring attacks committed by Chechen terrorists. There's a lot of comments on various Russian news sites calling for the Russian leadership to "wipe those Saudi bastards off the face of the Earth with nuclear weapons"*. However, as the Russian saying goes, God didn't give horns to a mad cow: the Russian government isn't particularly keen on starting World War III, no matter what trigger-happy Russian patriots think.

*when Britain starts acting against Russia, the same people call for nuclear attack on Britain, when the USA starts doing the same... you get the idea.

[10ebbor10]

Bit more I think. Or maybe you don't include payroll tax on this? Plus that part of the payroll tax that is paid by your employer...

As far as France goes, I think the Constitutional Court decide it was punitivie to levy such an high tax on people, so now they want to tax it through employers, but it is rapidly becoming a joke, with exemption for pretty much everyone (football players for example).

Average European taxation grade, that is.  France and many other countries in Europe go significantly higher.