Emissions Trading System shrinks economy but not Britain's carbon footprint

The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is siphoning billions from industry and consumers to plump up finance and energy fat cats, according a new Civitas report. The report reveals that, via the EU ETS, each EU citizen is effectively subsidising the power industry by £30 a year. [p. 13] In addition, the Government is adding more costs to UK families and businesses via the carbon price floor which sets a minimum price for carbon credits. This carbon price floor is expected to push another 110,000 British households into fuel poverty by 2016. [p. 61]....................

• Energy companies are charging higher prices because of the EU ETS without actually cutting emissions.By the end of 2012, European energy companies will have generated between €16-€50 billion in windfall profits from their access to free EU ETS credits while simultaneously passing the non-existent cost on to consumers. [p. 15]


• Harvesting carbon credits by deliberately generating additional emissions. The Clean Development Mechanism allows HFC-23 gas (normally a by-product of creating other gases for refrigeration) to be created purely for the purpose of destroying it in an environmentally friendly way. HFC-23 is 11,700 times more damaging than CO2. €2.8 billion worth of industrial gas credits have entered the EU ETS market, as entire businesses have sprung up, especially in China, dedicated to producing this gas. After intense pressure from industrial lobbyists, the scrapping of these credits was delayed from January to May 2013, so more credits can now flood the system. [pp. 17-27]


• Exploiting the badly policed international market to engage in fraud. This includes 'phishing' for passwords that allow credits to be transferred to criminals, as well as selling fake and already spent credits. 90 per cent of all market volume was estimated to be fraudulent in 2009. €5 billion have been lost in 'carousel' VAT fraud since the EU ETS's creation. [p.33-35]

In addition, major banks are profiteering from the EU ETS. Originally supposed to act as intermediaries for covered installations, they run auctions to manipulate and dominate the carbon credit market.

CO2.1, by David Merlin-Jones, is a comprehensive examination of how the EU ETS fails at its own goal of reducing carbon emissions. It details how carbon traders, banks, energy companies and the government are extracting billions from productive businesses and consumers via the EU ETS, while undermining the vulnerable UK economic recovery.

Ultimately, Merlin-Jones shows that the EU ETS is ineffective at reducing emissions. The strategy will do little for the environment until 2016 at the earliest, over ten years after its introduction. [p. 56] The result is more pain for the economy but without real relief for the environment:

CO2.1: Beyond the EU's Emissions Trading System is available from the Civitas shop (RRP: £12.50) and by calling 020 7799 6677.

Reading, writing, arithmetic ... and character?

Key to school improvement: Reading, writing, arithmetic ... and character? 
A study of 20 elementary schools in Hawaii has found that a focused program to build social, emotional and character skills resulted in significantly improved overall quality of education, as evaluated by teachers, parents and students.

Innapropriate use of Facebook & Twitter

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/30/police-sacked-facebook-posts

Roger Baker, who led a review into police corruption for Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, said: "Social networking is seen as a risk by all forces and authorities, but there are limited or inconsistent policies around what is acceptable, what you should do, what you shouldn't do.

"We found a significant blurring between people's professional lives on social networking sites and their private lives which may be in the public domain and private lives which probably should remain extremely private."

, Without Fear Or Favour: A Review Of Police Relationships (pdf)

Brain damage and crime

Having epilepsy is not linked to committing violent crime 
Despite current public and expert opinion to the contrary, having the neurological condition epilepsy is not directly associated with an increased risk of committing violent crime. However, there is an increased risk of individuals who have experienced previous traumatic brain injury going on to commit violent crime according to a large Swedish study led by Seena Fazel from the University of Oxford, UK, and colleagues at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and Swedish Prison and Probation Service, and published in this week's PLoS Medicine.

Miscarriage of justice points to fingerprint flaws

New Scientist

• 28 December 2011 by Linda Geddes
• Magazine issue 2844

• FINGERPRINTS were once the cornerstone of forensic identification. Now a report into a miscarriage of justice has renewed pressure on print examiners to improve their methods, while two new studies reveal the extent of their fallibility. The results could change the fingerprint profession worldwide.

The Fingerprint Inquiry was launched by the Scottish government after detective Shirley McKie was acquitted of perjury. Flawed fingerprint analysiswas the only evidence against her. The report, published on 14 December, concludes that human error was to blame and voices serious concerns about how fingerprint analysts report matches. It recommends that they no longer report conclusions with 100 per cent certainty, and develop a process for analysing complex, partial or smudged prints involving at least three independent examiners who fully document their findings..............

New forms of torture leave 'invisible scars', say researchers
Use of torture around the world has not diminished but the techniques used have grown more complex and sophisticated, according to new research from Queen Mary, University of London.

“Battling the Internet Water Army: Detection of Hidden Paid Posters,” can be read at: http://arxiv.org/abs/1111.4297
China’s “Internet water army,” so-called because these paid posters are hired to “flood” websites with comments and threads concerning products and services.

Sleep disorders common among police officers 
A survey of police officers indicated that about 40 percent have a sleep disorder, which was associated with an increased risk of adverse health, safety and performance outcomes, according to a study in the December 21 issue of JAMA.

Out of the shadows Councils are detecting much more fraud but there's still plenty of places to hide, warns Michael O'Higgins. Criminals are finding new ways of plundering public money...

Contract review bodies ‘could improve procurement’

Creating government procurement review bodies could help bring ‘lean thinking’ into public sector contract awards, according to a competition lawyer...

Police watchdog calls for riot response rules

Police need clear, publicly agreed rules for dealing with disorder in the wake of this summer’s riots, the Inspectorate of Constabulary said today...

Myths about psychopaths busted 
(Medical Xpress) -- New research challenges the belief that psychopaths are born not made, and suggests psychopaths may even be able to change their spots.

Romania, FBI agents to crack down on cybercriminals 
On computer screens and on the ground, Romanian and American FBI agents stalk cybercriminals, trying to beat them at their own game as fraud originating in Romania has risen dramatically.

The role of social media in protests

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-role-social-media-protests.html
(PhysOrg.com) -- A study has explored the dynamics behind social network sites in recruiting and spreading calls for action that contribute to riots, revolutions and protests.

National pride brings happiness -- but what you're proud of matters

National pride brings happiness -- but what you're proud of matters
(Medical Xpress) -- Research shows that feeling good about your country also makes you feel good about your own life and many people take that as good news. But Matthew Wright, a political scientist at American University, and Tim Reeskens, a sociologist from Catholic University in Belgium, suspected that the positive findings about nationalism weren't telling the whole story. "It's fine to say pride in your country makes you happy," says Wright. "But what kind of pride are we talking about? That turns out to make a lot of difference. The intriguing and politically suggestive differences they found appear in a commentary in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science.

Binge drinking by freshman women tied to sexual assault risk

Binge drinking by freshman women tied to sexual assault risk, according to new research
Many young women who steer clear of alcohol while they're in high school may change their ways once they go off to college. And those who take up binge drinking may be at relatively high risk of sexual assault, according to a University at Buffalo-led study in the January issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Adolescent drinking may be as important a risk factor for criminal activity as illicit drug use

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-adolescent-important-factor-criminal-illicit.html
Alcohol use has often been linked to criminal activity on the part of both perpetrators as well as victims. While this relationship has been well documented among adults, fewer studies have explored this relationship among adolescents. A new study has found a strong relationship between drinking during adolescence and the commission of crimes, and criminal victimization, for both genders.

What makes solo terrorists tick?

What makes solo terrorists tick?
The double terrorist attack in Norway last July, which claimed 77 lives, has moved violent acts committed by single individuals up the political, media and now research agendas. Known as "lone wolf terrorism," these acts are carried out independently of established terrorist organizations. In his new report 'Understanding Lone Wolf Terrorism,' Dr. Ramón Spaaij, from La Trobe University in Australia and the University of Amsterdam, examines this so-far largely unexplored phenomenon.

Crunching Data to Stop Baddies Before They Strike By Vince Beiser

Law enforcement agencies throughout the country are adopting a statistical approach to policing that can help predict when and where crimes are likely to occur. Pulling together burgeoning public data sets on everything from school schedules to home foreclosures and correlating them with crime stats, analysts can spot surprising patterns that help departments anticipate problems and identify emerging hot spots. Here’s how four cities are using predictive policing to get a jump on the bad guys.
http://tinyurl.com/7dwwl7x

26 versus 1 — really?

Mats Persson
http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/7483143/26-versus-1-really.thtml
Judging from much of the coverage in UK media, you would be forgiven for thinking that Britain is on the fast track to becoming the North Korea of Europe — eccentric and completely isolated from the rest of the world. Indeed, the media narrative over the past couple of days has largely treated the agreement reached at the summit as concrete, supported in full by everyone apart from Britain. Or ‘27-minus’, as Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso put it.

The reality, of course, is quite different. Leaving aside whether Cameron could have played his cards better (he could have), as Gideon Rachman pointed out in yesterday’s FT, ‘the picture of an isolated Britain’ will become blurred as the rest of Europe grapples with the Merkozy deal.

So let’s have a look at the level of support in cabinets and parliaments around Europe, for the deal’s main points: fiscal integration, stricter EU budget rules and sanctions, new rules for the euro’s permanent bailout fund (the ESM) and fresh cash contributions to the IMF.