The train derailment which happened this week in Cumbria is the kind of thing that might take place at any time that a DRS nukiller waste train passes by.
We have been very lucky so far that it has not occurred.
There might be a speed limit on the waste flask trains, but there is no such low speed limit on passenger trains passing by.
This is just one of the railway safety regulations which we need to focus upon.
Aspects Of The Current Housing Crisis.
There are a lot of major criticism about how air hotels are taking up flats which should be used as homes for people to live in.
Yet they produce several orders problems.
Those who own or use them do not contribute towards the cost of local council services, yet they still benefit from them.
That is a part of a much larger argument about just why the grossly inequitable council tax system should be scrapped.
While there’s still a shortage of decent affordable accomodation, and it is not uncommon to see people sleeping on the streets.
Yet there is something else which people forget, and especially those who talk about community or social action.
Communities destroyed
The large number of air B&Bs in city centres destroys communities, and makes it very difficult to become involved in local affairs.
This all needs to be stated time and time again, especially as many decision makers do not live in our city centres and are not effected by these issues.
Like many people I do not own and do not want a television.
So the news that older pensioners are to be exempt from paying for a television licence makes no difference to me.
In contrast I really think we need to campaign for all pensioners to have a free broadband connection.
With so much now been done online it would be a very efficient way to deal with everyday tasks, and overcome a lot of the isolation problems many elderly individuals have.
The fewer people working on an issue then the higher a campaigning issue it should become.
This is especially so with DRS and the Nukiller Waste Trains.
The greater need to do so is Illustrated by this news story.
The ONR are concerned about the operating practices of DRS and so should we all be.
https://www.railfreight.com/business/2025/07/16/drs-gets-nuclear-rocket-from-uk-regulator/
I
Every so often I look at the cost of living statistics,and wonder just how little they relate to just what really goes on in the real world.
First of all they do not equate with rental inflation, or that of public transport costs.
More importantly they only equate to a carnivorous diet, as opposed to a vegan one.
So perhaps both interest rates and the inflation figures should reflect all of these factors.
Having now completed my specific contribution to the spycops inquiry, and a few other smaller projects, it is now possible to get on with working out just what I am going to do next.
So my main question, or set of issues, comes down to housing andjust where I move on to next.
I am at an age when it is wise to consider just what kind of place or location it would be wise to live in.
Having good transport links is a must as it would be very easy to become socially isolated.
A lot of old friends of my generation are no more, or have various medical conditions to deal with.
Thus I know just what I might have to face over the next 20 years.
At present I am in the process of trying to find a flat to buy, but it is proving to be much more problematic than I thought it might be.
Once I have managed to find a place it will be a case of writing up some of the issues which come with this process.
Listening to the news about a farming deal between the governments of the USA and Brexitland it is very obvious that this ‘farming industry’ deal takes no account of sustainable agriculture.
If it did then it would solely be about how to create an ecologically sound vegan world.
It also displays just how removed both these governments are from dealing with what are our greatest problems.
Meanwhile every time we travel by train it is next to impossible to get any healthy vegan food in most stations.
There is definitely a need to establish a chain of vegan buffets throughout the railway network.
What I am really looking forward to is having the time to focus upon just one or two issues at a time, but things are not working out that way.
Here is a summary of just what I have been dealing with over the last few months.
I’ve now got a new landlord and so odd details about my current tenancy have changed, but that is not my greatest issue to deal with.
It is the kind of limited housing options one gets over 75. A good example being it is no longer possible to get a mortgage.
So I am having to work out what are now my various housing options.
Meanwhile it is very noticeable how few activists there are in the North West, or people willing to travel the distances needed to maintain ongoing campaigning.
While both Tesco & Holland and Barrett are no longer selling Vegan cheese. So I am wondering just what they are playing about with. There are still a lot of places outside of the main towns where vegan options are very limited. This is at a time when we need many more people to become vegan in order to counter global warming.
On the plus side my need to contribute a lot of my time to the spycops public inquiry has lessened.
The other thing which I have noticed over the last couple of years is just how many of my old friends and comrades have died, or now have health issues which makes it difficult to see them.
That is essentially problematic as many of them are scattered throughout the globe.
This is the aspect of getting older which a lot of people don’t think about.
All of the above issues I’ll come back to over the next few months.
I keep saying this, but wonder just how few people think the same.
The larger the number of people attending a protest event the less inclined I am to attend it, while if it is going to just attract a few people I’m much more likely to take part in it.
This comes from the experience of being on too many pickets of 2 to 5 people, and knowing just how much a couple more people attending will make.
At the same time I keep being told that protesters at the DRS depots, Springfields, Capenhust, or Whitehaven are just too far away to attend them.
Yet the very same people will urge me to attend national demonstrations which attraction vaste numbers, or that really are both difficult and expensive to attend.
That is why I will not be going to protest at Lakenheath, but will be going back to Whitehaven in June.
Highlights From ISC
As some of you will know I am involved Information for Social Change [ ISC ] which is ‘ An activist organisation that examines issues of censorship, freedom and ethics amongst library and information workers…’
Over the years I have writted a lot which has been published in ISC.
The following are pieces which I think are still very relevent to what is happening right now/
In ISC 15
After the Organisation: A guide for Activists &Information workers.
Introduction.There are many manuals that are aimed at political organisers, which cover how to successfully organisea campaign, yet none of these ever go into how one might efficiently close down a campaigning body.
In ISC 16.
Going Through the Raid.Why this article?
As I think many of you might already know , I have an interest in both the radical media and clandestine publishing. Librarians and radicals have an interest in alternative publishing and free speech. Yet there are very few radical Librarians that have had any direct experience of this kind of work. I think that I am also one of the few individuals within the radical Library world that has any direct experience of beingi nvolved with periodicals that have been raided.
https://dn790001.ca.archive.org/0/items/information_for_social_change/ISC%2016%20Whole%20Issue.pdf