Paul Brannen

Pallets are a vital component of almost of every distribution system.
In the U.K. many of them are made of Sitka Spruce 🌲 - it’s light weight but strong enough, holds a nail and because it’s a pale colour it is easy to paint.

Four unidentified military-style drones breached no-fly zone to target Zelenskyy's arrival in Dublin Gardaí are investigating whether the drones took off from land in Dublin or from an undetected ship.

Quite breathtaking story - military grade drones at Dublin airport which flew on the path Zelensky's plane took. The drones reached the flight path of his plane exactly the time it should have been there, but just missed it because Zelensky arrived ahead of schedule:

Almost everything you’ve ever eaten or owned sat at one point in time on top of a wooden pallet. Pallets are essentially invisible, yet they're vital to transport logistics.
In the UK there are approximately 250m wooden pallets in circulation. For more see: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

I've signed. We need 100,000 signatures.
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...

Good. The UK has more deer than at any point since 1500. They have no predators. Huge damage caused to trees, especially newly planted ones, & to farm production. So either we bring back the wolf &/or the lynx or we need to cull many more of them = venison, a high quality meat. Lucky you.

There are inevitable consequences for people whose secret hobby is hat making.

The solution to Europe’s housing affordability crisis must include building decarbonisation The EU can help tackle Europe’s housing crisis by reducing energy costs, decarbonising buildings and adhering to climate goals

Good to see an academic paper linking tackling the housing crisis with tackling the climate crisis. Both the EU & UK currently addressing them as separate issues - in the main - at present. www.bruegel.org/analysis/sol...

The solution to Europe’s housing affordability crisis must include building decarbonisation The EU can help tackle Europe’s housing crisis by reducing energy costs, decarbonising buildings and adhering to climate goals

www.bruegel.org/analysis/sol...

George Orwell’s statue outside the BBC’s London HQ is accompanied by the quote “If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear”.
I hope the BBC goes on telling people, especially the rich & powerful, what they don’t want to hear.

They are going the extra kilometre with their street trees in Vienna. Extensive wild flower planting around the tree and a fence that clearly signals ‘This is not a toilet for dogs’.

Since folks are talking a lot about democratic socialism this week, just gonna re-up this thread on how MLK voiced religious support for democratic socialism — but most folks aren't aware of when he did so most explicitly.

That was in an obscure, little-known speech he gave in Frogmore, SC in 1966.

We suspected it, now we know it. Time to act.
Time to close down Musk.

X effect: How Elon Musk is boosting the British right Sky's Tom Cheshire explains how Elon Musk's X is boosting the British right.

X effect: How Elon Musk is boosting the British right

Remind me. Who’s that well known far right media mogul who owns the New York Post? If Mamdani is assessed to be a communist then de facto Murdoch is a fascist. You can’t have one defined as extreme if the other you decide isn’t.

I do hope BBC Radio 4 realise this means they will - for consistency of approach - now have to describe Starmer as "leftist" and Farage as "fascist" presumably on the basis that at least one person somewhere in the world has used these descriptions and hence it's ok for the BBC to use them.

Dear GBNEWS
"What's good for the goose is good for the gander" so looking forward to your future headlines that will read " 'Fascist' Nigel Farage " which can clearly be justified by using quote marks because that's what some people say about him.

Some situations and simply black & white.

Buildings as a global carbon sink - Nature Sustainability Increasing urbanization will lead to a significant expansion of buildings and related infrastructure, major sources of greenhouse gas emissions. This Perspective discusses the possibility of construct...

He clearly hasn’t read my book which was written with people like him in mind! He should talk to FoE’s head of policy Mike Childs, he gets it. Or read www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How To Save Our Forests and Rewild Our Planet YouTube video by WWF International

Disappointed to hear @craigbennett3.bsky.social scare mongering about the possibility of “intensive conifer plantations” on the Rothbury Estate in Northumberland on
the Today Programme. Maybe he should listen to Sir David Attenborough www.youtube.com/watch?app=de... especially at the 4 min mark.

Now this absolutely what we should be doing - renovating existing buildings with nature based materials. Demolishing the old should be consigned to the dustbin of construction history. Take note M&S who now have changed their minds and advocate for a Plan B. www.dezeen.com/2024/12/05/m...

Yet another Etonian educated politician. I think there is a strong case for declining to vote for anyone educated at Eton.
Although I’m aware both George Orwell & Rory Stewart attended Eton so there could be exceptions.

Indeed it’s a win-win strategy for the increasingly authoritarian Trump regime.

I’ve lost count of how many sawmills I’ve visited in the last 11 years but this is the first where a whole production line is to be found inside a new 100% timber building. Great use of Cross Laminated Timber by BERGENE HOLM AS in Norway. It smells great too!

It would be advisable for journalists to collect pictures and film footage of Orr with Farage so when Orr behaves inappropriately, says something outrageous, or acts illegally (they usually all do at some point) then Farage will have difficulty saying “I never met the guy”.

Riba Stirling Prize: London retirement home wins top architecture award London's John Morden Centre wins the Riba Stirling Prize for its approach to elderly living.

Wood a key ingredient in this year’s Stirling Prize win. “The building also used construction materials such as cross-laminated timber to reduce its carbon footprint”.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/enterta...

YouTube video by Paul Brannen Opposing Gatting's Rebel Cricket Tour of S.Africa 1990

Today, 35 years ago, we had to have a word with Mike Gatting.
@aamarchives.bsky.social

m.youtube.com/watch?v=LYsz...

An information board at Arklow station, south of Wicklow. Brilliant last line reads “After 20 years as a training college for forestry students, it was established as an open prison”.

Did you know that IKEA sources 84% of its wood from Europe with Poland being its biggest single country supplier? So while IKEA is as Swedish as ABBA your wooden bookshelf, wardrobe, bed etc is proportionately 29% Polish, 13% Lithuanian and only 10% Swedish.

In ten minutes time.

I'll be speaking on a webinar for Meshwork by Mesh Energy on Wed 8th Oct, 12 - 1 pm. Pros & cons of insulation from a climate perspective will be discussed. Please follow the link below if you'd like to join. Select meshwork.mesh-energy.com/events/timbe...