Environment The UK government is hazardously pressing forward with an elimination of the last shreds of democracy, in a backwards battle to force fracking onto unwilling communities. The Tories’ latest plans came in the form of a new and highly-flawed ministerial statement last week, with Greg...
Katharine Styles (55), aka Nana Cupcake, from Lytham Saint Annes I own and run a small sandwich shop latterly, but previously I was a teacher within the further education sector. I have been a school governor, a rainbow leader and I have also taught children’s cookery...
Join the Nanas on tour at the following events, and support communities fighting fracking. Tuesday 1 March 2016, 7pm Methodist Memorial Hall, Manchester Road, Haslingden BB4 5SL Public meeting with speakers from Frack Free Lancashire. [More info] Friday 4 March 2016, 7pm Stocks Inn, Station Road, Padgate, Warrington WA2 0QS An...
The Scottish Government’s green watchdog admits that it doesn’t know what level of protection its safety regulation can provide against the hazards of underground coal gasification (UCG). The risks were “sometimes unknowable”, it says in one report....
Talk Fracking asked the author of the ‘Frackademics’ report, Paul Mobbs, to respond to the critique of this report by Professor James Verdon at Bristol University. Here follows a quick rebuttal. It is not comprehensive and we do not intend to embark on a lengthy...
CONTENTS Introduction Case study 1: University funding and NERC's CDT for Oil and Gas Case study 2: Academic involvement in major shale gas studies Case study 3: The Mackay-Stone shale gas climate impacts study Case study 4: The Science Media Centre and the 'seeding' of articles Case study 5: Guardian 'open...
Case study 1: University funding and NERC's CDT for Oil and Gas Doctoral research is a gateway to holding senior positions in academia. Therefore the availability of funding to support doctoral research represents a way in which those providing funding can skew the academic agenda in...
Case study 2: Academic involvement in major shale gas studies Can the public have trust in the statements made by leading academics?; or do potential conflicts of interest warrant some element of suspicion, requiring that we test the validity of that information? What matters here is...
Case study 3: The Mackay-Stone shale gas climate impacts study When the Mackay-Stone report [30] was released by DECC in September 2013, it generated the kind of headlines which the Government were looking for in the wake of the Balcombe protests in Sussex. For example, from...
Case study 4: The Science Media Centre and the 'seeding' of articles Over the last few decades, particularly in relation to the struggle over issues such as tobacco or climate change, the abuse of science in the media has become an issue of academic study. As...