Hope Trumps Fear...

Colchester Green Electric Car Event

We had a great time at the Colchester and District Green Party's EV Workshop in and outside the impressive Firstsite Art Gallery. Check out the video above from one of our Q & A contributors James Cooke.

An unexpected delight was fellow EV car drivers turning up and aligning their cars alongside the display models, an embodiment of a like minded community!

Here are some further links to websites and commentators we mentioned during the presentations:

Darren Smith's featured car, Nissan LEAF: 
https://www.nissan.co.uk/vehicles/new-vehicles/leaf.html

James Cooke’s YouTube Channel: 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDKtaH6RMcn22L3_ArtDBgw

Tesla Motors UK: https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/

Robert Llewellyn’s TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l_cIAxRc9U

Fully Charged YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/fullychargedshow

Electric Highway: https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/for-the-road/our-electric-highway

UK Grid displays: http://www.mygridgb.co.uk/
(alternative http://gridwatch.co.uk/ for more detail but excludes Solar)

I've had a few requests for more information on my own LEAF purchase and am more than happy to share the figures if you get in touch.

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Colchester Green Party Electric Car Event...

Electric Car / Vehicle (EV) Workshop

public event – all welcome

Sunday 18th September 2016 at 3pm - finish 5pm

Firstsite : Lewis Gardens : High Street : CO1 1JH

Forum and Q & A on Air Quality, Myths and Visions

Darren Smith - EV Advocate Glyn Hopkin Nissan

Test drives (pre-book with greens@mband.co.uk)

twitter.com/ColcGreenParty
eastern.greenparty.org.uk/colchester-green-party

www.facebook.com/colchestergreenparty

This Colchester GP event could not take place without the generous support of Glyn Hopkin Nissan

Never mind the Batteries…

Myths and Mysteries - The Electric Car - Future or Fallacy?

So let me fess up straight away, my name is Peter Banks, I drive an electric car and, since my conversion, I want to share the good news about EVs (Electric Vehicles) with everyone! So am I biased? Of course! My carbon footprint is less, I am now practising what I preach and I’m saving money. Whilst the last point will be highly important to many, for me making a personal, yet token, action towards saving the planet is reason enough.

My second confession is I have been concerned about our environment for some time and nailed my colours to the mast by joining the Green Party in 2008. Sadly, in this country, addressing climate change is not given the urgent and critical priority it warrants.

So, how did I get here?

Until recently I drove a diesel car, rather than a petrol version, because I was led to believe that was the most environmental option. In September 2015 I was horrified to discover it could have far worse emissions than specified after the ‘Diesel Gate’ revelations. When I started the tricky task of researching my next car the massive amount of jargon and rhetoric was overwhelming to my non petrol head grey matter! Then came the epiphany...

From a Twitter post I followed a link to a talk by Robert Llewellyn, he of Red Dwarf and Scrapheap Challenge fame, and a clearer light started to dawn. Whilst he now has his own YouTube channel, Fully Charged, all about news relating to EVs, it was his TEDx talk, as above, that summarised his own journey. Whilst he claims not to be a scientist, and he is shockingly poor at mental arithmetic, his layman’s approach to explaining sometimes difficult concepts in straightforward, non jargonised language - with a generous helping of humour - is compelling.

Unfortunately there is much mis-information bandied about concerning Electric Cars, ostensibly referred to as research, which, on closer inspection, proves to be data provided by vested interests in the status quo, aka the fossil fuel industry. So let’s banish five myths to start with.

Myth One - EVs are slow

Essentially petrol and diesel engines utilise Victorian technology. They employ the same principle as a good old Steam Locomotive: pistons, cylinders, valves and connecting rods but obviously use a more efficient fuel. Now, despite fossil fuels being very energy dense, electric cars do not have to convert energy to such extremes: the battery powers a motor that drives the wheels which is highly efficient and makes them extremely nippy. In fact the prestige Tesla cars can achieve an impressive 0-60 mph performance of under 3 seconds!


Myth Two - EVs are expensive

Yes, the List prices of EVs are higher than an equivalent petrol or diesel car, however, there is currently a £4500 pound government sponsored discount, zero road tax, no congestion charges and, along with manufacturer's deals, this actually makes the cost competitive. On top of all that even if you have a relatively low mileage of say 20 miles a day (the average daily car commute is 26 miles) you will save £1600 per year!

Myth Three - EVs are heavier and cause more pollution

I could think of ruder words but let’s just go with ‘Tosh’! Come on, they are NOT heavier than trucks, buses or heavier than thou 4 x 4s for goodness sake?! EVs utilise something called Regenerative Braking which reverses the use of the motor to slow the car down whilst also recharging the battery. Similar to changing gears to slow down it means brake wear is much less and, taking Tesla, Nissan and BMW, for example, their manufacturing plants have each committed to providing renewable energy on site. Another challenge raised is that the electricity when charging is never ‘Green’. Well, even if all electricity used l was non-renewable, CO2 emissions are reduced by more than 50%, and we are producing more electricity from renewable energy all the time – although we could do more!

Myth Four - If everyone drove EVs the Grid couldn’t cope

The founder of Ecotricity has carried out detailed research and the numbers are such that if every car in the UK was an EV an increase of 12% of grid capacity would be required. However most charging is carried out at home overnight when the demand on the grid is at its lowest which actually helps reduce the overall costs of shutting down power stations and turbines to reduce output. On top of this the massive amount of electricity used to refine crude oil to diesel or petrol would be recovered.

Myth Five -The batteries might explode

I’ll make this one short! Batteries can overheat but there is sophisticated technology to cool and control that. So how long have you driven a car around with a far more explosive medium just behind you? Petrol / diesel cars are all potential bombs…

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There’s so much more I could share - suffice to say I am entering an exciting new world which fulfils my environmentalist standpoint and is proving to be a very pleasant pilgrimage!

You can share the start of this journey at 3pm Sunday, September 18th in FirstSite, Colchester. CO1 1JH. The Colchester Green Party are holding an Electric Vehicle Workshop with a Guest Speaker Darren Smith from Glyn Hopkin Nissan, daily video blogger James Cooke and yours truly in the Chair. Electric Vehicles will be on display and you can even sign up for a test drive.


First published in the Regional Life magazines - used with permission and with minor edits!
Ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l_cIAxRc9U Robert Llewellyn on TEDx

This is Holy Land...

Having returned from the trip to Bethlehem Monday 23rd I am still trying to formulate responses to all I saw, heard, tasted and experienced. However, as an introduction this video from the Holy Land Trust presented by the wonderful Greenbelt Festival speaker Sami Awad beautifully and creatively captures one of the thoughts that grew within as each day passed...

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Billy, Billy, can you hear what I say?!

Whilst the proverb 'confession is good for the soul' rolls off the tongue readily best selling author and Greenbelt Festival speaker Frank Schaeffer has made it into an art form in his latest novel 'And God Said "Billy!"'. Having already given us the fictional 'Portofino' and autobiographical 'Crazy for God' confessions he now offers readers an even more compelling work, a gritty and challenging literary journey beautifully written with lashings of humour encased in layers of grace.

The characters are so authentically vivid that they spring to life within Schaeffer's colourful narrative to such an extent that I felt I, too, became part of the story, surely indicative of a great piece of writing?

Schaeffer is known for his antagonism of right wing fundamental evangelicals and they do not come off lightly in this book. Yet they are not just a soft target by any account, there is far more to this with layered themes that cover many challenges including homophobia, racism, pornography, corruption, spiritual abuse and hypocrisy. I doubt many 'evangelicals' will ever read this and if they did their prejudices about Schaeffer would be re-inforced rather than challenged, he tells it how it is in a righteous and ruthless fashion with f-bombs in the dialogue rather than tame cliché.

The irony is that the Bible is quoted frequently throughout and whilst initially the book's hapless hero justifies everything he does, including criminal acts, utilising a blatantly literal interpretation of biblical texts, as the book progresses that approach morphs into a genuine quest for the deeper meaning contained therein.

In summary it's a romp into the dark from the different darkness of assumed light and a subsequent rescue in the most unlikely of places. It's a tale of losing 'redemption' to be truly and profoundly redeemed via a heady mix of thriller, some Russian Orthodox church history and a gut wrenchingly moving ending that took me completely by surprise. I simply couldn't put it down!

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THAT Secret Chord!

h/t Shelley Fritz

Of course I have to mention that there's a cute wee book, The Secret Chord, available at a bookstore near you ;-)

Location, location, location...

...plus context, environment and many other factors. Thoughts and prayers for Commander Chris Hadfield and Soyuz crew's safe return to earth today...

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Turning audiences into congregations...

This video of Coldplay performing their hymn-like anthem 'Fix You' is discussed on the excellent Rock and Theology blog, curated by Dr. Tom Beaudoin. Am honoured to have been invited to write a guest post for them which includes references to that post. Additionally this gave me an opportunity to respond to both Jen Logan's post 'Music and People' on the Greenbelt Festival blog and my chum Tim Nevell's personal views on her thoughts.

Of course, I felt compelled to draw out some of the themes that Jonathan Evens and I develop in our book The Secret Chord ;-)

Read the full post here: A Matter of Time and Space

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Music holds, heals and invigorates, gives Dignity

A cracking little project for the metropolis of Leeds recorded and produced in Hope & Social's studio The Crypt... Checkout the full song from the gifted Jasmine Kennedy, available for just one of your British pounds (or more!), a sensitive cover of Deacon Blue's 'Dignity' here:

• More about the Love Music Leeds project
• Blog post entitled: Tales from the Crypt
• My earlier post about H&S: Rolling Sideways with Hope and Social

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The Boss and the miracle of music...

A film put together as part of the MusiCares 2013 Person of the Year award made to Bruce Springsteen. To check out the whole of The Boss' acceptance speech is a splendid idea!

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Is Somebody Singing...?

A fascinating collaboration between the International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield, the band Barenaked Ladies and the Canadian junior choir the Wexford Gleeks. Band lead singer Ed Robertson is a self confessed space geek, a common theme amongst many musicians ;-)

I watched the video a couple of days ago, thanks to my blogosphere chum Mike Todd (checkout his original post here) and found I kept returning to watch again. I find there is something deeply moving despite the simplicity of the piece. To me it exhibits the characteristics of a Secret Chord moment, where many elements combine to make it thus...

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Remembering Joe Strummer through Marley...

Bob Marley's Redemption Song sung by Joe Strummer in one of his collaborations after the heady days of The Clash. H/T to Billy Bragg for reminding us of Joe's untimely passing 10 years ago. In The Progressive Patriot Billy explains how The Clash changed his life at the 1978 Rock Against Racism (RAR) concert in Hackney:

The Clash taught me a valuable lesson that day, which I have in the back of my mind every time I write a song or step out on to a stage: although you can’t change the world by singing songs and doing gigs, the things you say and the actions you take can change the perceptions of members of the audience...

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Sensing the Divine in engineering...

Have been a fascinated viewer of the Extreme Railways series on Channel 5 presented by Chris Tarrant. This week's edition featured the Konkan Railway which runs down the West coast, covering mountainous and marshy terrain thought by the British to be totally unsuitable for a permanent way. Built over 8 years between 1990 and 1997 by a wonderfully enthusiastic team who overcame some incredible obstacles despite a heavy price paid in life and limb. The highlight for me was hearing the Chief Engineer Rajaram Bojji proudly escorting Mr T to a vantage point to witness the incredible Panval Viaduct, at 210 feet the third highest bridge in the whole of Asia:

It never stops amazing me, it fills my heart with such a happiness I'm telling you. There must me some kind of ultimately divine spirit which makes humans to think and do things which look apparently impossible.

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Catching lightning in a bottle... Jools Holland

Last night's fascinating and insightful programme looking into Jools Holland's career in music and as a TV presenter. As well as an unbelievable player along with his encyclopaedic knowledge of recording artistes and industry history, he also commands great respect from many musical legends because of his talent. As a personal benchmark I often gauge an artist, band or solo, by whether they would be good (or quirky!) enough to appear on Later with Jools.

Throughout the programme there were many gems about music, notably in his demonstration about the difference between learning by ear and a typical piano lesson and then when he enthused about his band, "the perfect band". Describing soul singer Ruby Turner, an integral part of his big band line-up:

"she is us... it's not about the sound, it's about the feeling, and then you hear this sound and this is, like, coming from a completely different place to the modern world but touching a thing that's alive and vital now, and it's all those things of the church, of the blues, of everything all mashed up into this thing that hits you like a nuclear reactor."

Another succinct explanation of the core theme of our book "The Secret Chord"...

The full programme available for next 6 days.

Former CBS record label mates convention....

Had an unexpected reunion with former CBS records labelmate John Cooper Clarke, still strutting his stuff as the definitive punk poet... On the right (my left in the photo) is one of my son's craft stalls (Sam's Wood) with his wooden creations displayed in the Essex town of Wivenhoe, where JCC now resides.

We reminisced about the various shared acquaintances and personalities from those days, compared notes on our life stories since being 'signed' and generally put the world to rights. Have to say his detailed memory from those heady days is impressive, he hasn't aged a bit ;-)

Here is one of my favourite examples of his work:

I wrote the songs that nearly made
The bottom line of the hit parade
Almost anthems, shoulda been hits
Songs like... Puttin' on the Ritz
Some enchanted afternoon
Twenty-four hours to Levenshulme
Dancin' in the daylight, singin' in the smog
You ain't nothin' but a hedgehog
So close and yet so far
Do you remember they way we are
I'd like to get you on a speedboat to china
From an idea by George Steiner
Ain't no blag - uncle's got a brand new jag
Ain't no slouch - mama's got a brand new couch
She ain't heavy, she's my sister
Not to leave out twist and whisper
Brand new leapordskin pillbox glove
Baby you and me we got a greasy kind of love

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Rational certainty versus Blessed assurance...

The enigmatic Dr Cornel West discussing writing his memoir with Craig Ferguson on the Late Late Show... and quoting the words of one of my favourite old hymns!

P h/t @iancron

Whoever has an ear to hear...

For those with family members, friends and senses that understand, an excellent mini TED talk...

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Greenbelt wisdom in the mud...

Ben Griffin and Ciaron O'Reilly preaching faith, justice and peace across the Sea of Galilee...

Prompted by one of those amazing moments when a chance encounter (with a GB angel!) at this year's Greenbelt Festival meant I landed up listening to Ben's incredible story yesterday morn. With only a handful of intrepid souls making it up across the marsh and slurry there are at least another 22,000 who should listen to this one talk above all others IMNSHO...

The Greenbelt programme blurb reads as follows:

Ben Griffin (Veterans For Peace UK) served with the SAS in Baghdad, handing Iraqi civilians to the US for advanced interrogation. Ciaron O'Reilly with the Pitstop Ploughshares community broke into a hangar at Shannon Airport and disabled a US warplane en route to Iraq. They share their experiences and reflect on war, faith and non-violent resistance.

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Church and Drugs and Rock and Rollins...

Regular Greenbelt Festival contributor Peter Rollins at his provocative best.... Let us discuss?

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