Bad Dream Time

Global warming is bad for your health - particularly if you're an aboriginal Australian, a Pacific Islander or a polar bear

The British police drum up a bit more business for themselves

Excellent climate commons piece from Gavin Schmidt at Real Climate

Equality and Diversity

As indigenous peoples worldwide are variously disenfranchised, de-iced and supplanted by agrobusiness and rip-offsets, their representatives gather to ask for some justice.

Meanwhile, great rivers turn to wadis worldwide whilst others are dammed to a future of post-glacial dribbling.
Oh - and the land's turning to shit


Should anybody soaked in the western press coverage be interested in triangulating a more thoughtful response to Ahmadenejad's UN speech, the full text is here.

Deep Cover

As more video evidence of uncontrolled policing at the G20 protests comes to light, and undercover infiltration of campaigning groups is used to deny citizens the right to assembly, we are advised not to expect much at Copenhagen

It;s not just the infringement of campaigners rights - UK information gathering, from illegal internet intercepts to compulsive DNA collection, continue to arouse fears.

David Attenborough joins Optimum Population Trust

Still nothing to fear....

Another repost (plain lazy, me) to celebrate the Guardian's uncovering of what everybody already knew - that the police keep information about anybody and everybody who pops their head up to exercise their democratic rights. They maintain an extensive database of personal details. Its all terribly selective and contains only absolutely everything they can get on absolutely everybody. Far be it from me to suggest that they do this in an effort to intimidate the citizenry into accepting whatever comes their way.

We've - got - a - file - on - YOU!

Summer of Rage

Whilst the US goes to Washington to protest Dirty Coal, senior UK police officers set up a self fulfilling prophecy by predicting mass outbreaks of middle class wickedness in reaction to recession/depression etc.

Glaxo, baby

GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty seeks to rebrand the Pharma giant with a raft of humanising proposals

Throbgoblins International let out a round of applause, a gasp of disbelief and a burp of rather tart cynicism.

Compost Mentis

Obama puts a brake on Bush's last ditch planet mashers and The Democratic (?)Republic of Congo bravely attempts to put a break on deforestation (whilst scientists talk of bio-engineering solutions)

Meanwhile we run out of water, and water boarding

Democracy in Action (again)

As you know, we at Throbgoblins International are deeply immersed in the waters of irony, so, to celebrate the season of peace and goodwill, we bring you....


With elections coming up and Israeli politicians scrambling for their share of the power that super-favoured-nation-status brings, it's again time to roll out the tanks and the bombers and the half-arsed excuses. What, exactly, are ordinary Palestinians supposed to do?

Here in the UK we're running around like headless chickens in gibbering, elbow-wielding desperation, lest a bargain pass us by, and producing more waste than ever in the process. We're not going to let a little thing like economic collapse or environmental breakdown keep us from the sales. We're a bulldog breed - thick, but tenacious.

Here's an old one from last January - a repost and a repeat in the ongoing cycle of repost and repeat.

Human Wrongs

It has been noted that, for a humanitarian, Frank is something of a misanthrope. He would claim that he is merely a perfectionist. I'll leave that with you.
To Celebrate 60 glorious years of Universal Human Rights. Frank has opted for a deep green snobbery tinged with irony. Not everyone can pull this off. It helps if one is a fictional character - otherwise it might look a tad crass

The cost of too many folk consuming too much stuff is felt in more places more of the time, as Climate Change bangs on more people's doors and hunger follows it inside.

If you live in Manchester, I heartily recommend the Unicorn grocery in Chorlton for the beginnings of a solution to all this madness

Nothing to fear

The government sneaks through extra measures to allow random apparatchicks to rifle through your sock drawer and pass choice nuggets on at their own discretion. They also backed away from the promised reversal of the laughable ban on protest within earshot of parliament

There is a fair wind and some good shit.

Re-Education?

Teachers are being asked to look out for signs of extremism in the children in their care and report it to the authorities. Stuff like this satirises itself, so all I could do was commemorate the moment with a cheap spot-gag. Moulding young minds, eh?

On the upside - an update on the stranded penguins of Brasil in this video.

An inalienable right to exist?

A clause in the proposed Ecuadorian constitution - which goes to referendum on Sunday - gives Nature the inalienable right to exist within it's own cycles, and obliges Government to protect it. Nation states being what they are, this could never be as pure as it sounds, but it's a marvellous thing to commit to legislation. Let's hope the rest of it isn't Bollocks, and that Zorro's pessimism is misplaced..

A similar guarantee seems desperately needed in Europe, particularly if one is of the amphibean persuasion ( or a bird, or a fish, or a mammal, or a ...)

Meanwhile- whilst the government that brought you economic meltdown brings you that bit closer to climate chaos with a grand fudge over coal fired power - the more sensible among us re-use what we can, in the hope of having a little something left for the grandkids.

Congratulations to Marc and Sarah on their wedding today. You both deserve many blessings and some time off1