Should Europe see a gas cartel as a threat to its supplies?

At a time when gas exporting countries are considering the formation of an OPEC type gas producer’s cartel. EU President Barrosso has argued the case for a united European energy strategy in order to improve and maintain a more favourable bargaining position. Energy experts argue that such a strategy is necessary, but, doubts, given the very differences that exist with gas production, distribution and marketing, that the formulation of an OPEC type organisation is viable. In any case, current Russian energy export policy is against surrendering any part of its existing power by involvement implicit in any OPEC type organisation. They conclude that Europe should formulate an energy strategy, but the most pressing question is, irrespective of the development of a gas exporter’s cartel, how Europe deals with its increasing dependency on gas imports from Russia and elsewhere.src="http://www.blogtopsites.com/tracker.php?do=in&id=18084"
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The question of Oxford becoming a unitary authority

The trouble is Oxford's case for becoming a unitary authority weakened because of the following factors.

The proposed area is too small - both in terms of tax base and population. A future Oxford unitary authority needs to include Botley, Abingdon, Wheatley, Kidlington, Garsington and Kennington within the proposed boundaries of a future unitary authority, if it is to be viable.

At the moment there is a much stronger case for Oxfordshire County Council being made into a unitary authority than Oxford with its present proposals.

Even if the county was made unitary, there are problems - the current county ward or division boundaries are drawn in such a way that it makes it significantly easier to be elected as a Tory councilor than from any other party.

The current situation means that there is a conservative majority in seats at county hall (43 seats with 34% of the vote) while all the other parties combined only won 31 seats with 66% of the vote.

So in terms of administrative efficiency then having a single unitary authority for whole county is the best bet.
But in terms of voter accountability, the best model is a unitary authority for Oxford that includes its immediate neighbours.

Otherwise the best solution is to reform the voting system used to elect our county councilors.src="http://www.blogtopsites.com/tracker.php?do=in&id=18084"
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Stephan Eklof’s ‘Pirates in Paradise’

Stephan Eklof’s ‘Pirates in Paradise’ is a description and analysis of modern piracy today in South East Asia. Eklof paints a picture of today’s maritime criminals quite unlike that portrayed by Johnny Depp in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ or the characters in J.M.Barrie’s Peter Pan and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. It is clear from Eklof’s book, that modern day pirates are much more ruthless, violent and murderous than those portrayed for our entertainment.

Eklof shows that piracy started to become a problem in the west in the 18th century. In fact it is a much older problem, and even the Romans had repeated problems with this form of maritime crime. In 75 BC Julius Caesar was kidnapped and held for ransom by pirates, and in 49 AD Pliny was sent by Emperor Claudius to investigate piracy in the bay of Naples.

So by the time of the ‘golden age of piracy’ these maritime gangsters were following a very ancient, if ignoble tradition for Eklof makes clear that most fiction writers and Hollywood films tended to glamorise this period between 1716 and 1726.It is estimated during this period some 218 vessels a year were attacked. Eklof notes that crews of target ships, once they had caught sight of the ‘Jolly Roger’ would rather surrender than die at the hands of the pirates.To read more about this book http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/Piratesinparadise.htm
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