Who The Hell Are These People!

Another article begins with an apology . . . and I can’t even blame the drink! But the fact is that I have more information on Extinction Rebellion (XR), including its Welsh roots. Well, not really Welsh, just in Wales, like so many of these buggers.

I was also sent something by a regular reader who’s been invited to a conference in Cardiff next month so he can sit for six hours being told that deep down he’d really like to be in the Ku Klux Klan. (I suspect he will not be attending.)

At less than 2,200 words this is quite a bit shorter than recent offerings.

EXTINCTION REBELLION, AGAIN

In the previous episode I told you that ER was officially launched on October 31, 2018. But I didn’t tell you where, or by whom. The driving force behind the launch was Julian Roger Hallam, and at the time he was living on a smallholding in Carmarthenshire.

This WalesOnline report from September 2019 is headlined, “The Welsh farmer who became the mastermind of Extinction Rebellion“. Mmm. He may regard himself as a farmer, and he might live (part-time) in Wales, but if he’s a “Welsh farmer” then I’m a Chinese astronaut.

The second paragraph says, “His small 10-acre farm near Llandeilo sounded like something out of a John Steinbeck novel”. If the journalist is referring to The Grapes of Wrath then I must assume she hasn’t read the book.

But let’s not be too picky.

Hallam seems to have been elbowed out of XR when the others realised what an Olympic standard narcissist he is, who’ll say and do anything to draw attention to himself. And that includes trivialising the Holocaust.

Others have darker suspicions about Hallam, and XR. Touched on in ‘Roger Hallam – Extinction Deception‘, a long read but worth it for the insights it gives into the lunatic fringes of the environmental movement.

Here’s a taster.

From the piece linked to in the previous paragraph. Click to open enlarged in separate tab

Hallam is gone to Just Stop Oil or wherever, but Extinction Rebellion is still with us, hardly less extreme, and with its claws firmly into the so-called ‘Welsh Government’.

What follows either complements or supplements what I’ve already told you in Wales: Ruled By Pressure Groups and Wales, Idiots And Envirogrifters. So let’s try to pick up where we left off . . .

You’ll remember that Extinction Rebellion e-mailed Climate Minister Julie James July 13, 2022, and the message was headed: “URGENT REQUEST FOR A MEETING”. (Here’s a pdf version.)

There may have been no response because another e-mail was sent on August 1, and re-sent the following day. It’s worth picking out some points. (Here I may indulge in a little imaginative paraphrasing)

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First paragraph. “OK, so we know you’re on holiday, and you’re probably surfing down Rhossili, but we gotta meet”.

Second paragraph: “This glorious summer weather gives us the perfect opportunity to scare people shitless by exaggerating the temperatures and pretending people are keeling over in Llandudno from sunstroke. We were appalled to hear your boss Starmer talk about ‘Growth’! Bloody hell! that’s the last thing we want on our Long March to turnip-munching medievalism”.

Third paragraph: “So get your skates on or Wales will not achieve the nirvana we just tantalised you with. Because if we can achieve it, then important people will flock here in private jets to fly over and admire Welsh people singing in close harmony as they work the collective turnip patch”.

In case you find some of the images I’ve just conjured up a little unsettling we’ll quickly move on to this document. Which was almost certainly influenced by XR.

It’s important for a number of reasons, not least because, as it runs from 2022 to 2026, it’s happening now. Or rather, and despite having ‘Public Engagement’ in the title, it’s a period in which others are making decisions for us, and around us.

For as it says at the foot of page 13 (and top of 14), in the section headed ‘Audience’, what the ‘Welsh Government’ is seeking is a partnership with pressure groups to spread the gospel of Net Zero to tackle ‘climate change’.

Click to open enlarged in separate tab

Though I’m not sure who else is on “Team Wales“.

I was also struck by the term “trusted messengers“. Which cropped up again on page 24, and again, with “Team Wales partners“.

Click to enlarged in separate tab

But what really intrigued me about this section was the admission, at the end, that there is little public support for Net Zero. And that the ‘Welsh Government’ believes it must rely on it “partners“, like Extinction Rebellion, to push the message.

In fact, Julie James makes a very similar admission in her introduction, on page 7. (My emphasis.)

Delivering technology and infrastructure solutions to some of the key barriers to public action on climate change is also urgent. We know that households across Wales need affordable tools and solutions to make the change, and we know that many of these are out of budget-reach for many households.

XR doesn’t just have access to politicians, it also pokes its collective finger in the chests of civil servants. From reading XR”s own output I get the impression that these extremists can access all areas of Corruption Bay.

But the fundamental problem for politicians, civil servants and envirogrifters remains – saving the planet don’t come cheap. And when ignorance, apathy or half-hearted acceptance are replaced by outright hostility, when Dai Public realises how much it’s gonna cost him, then the whole scam is in serious trouble.

We are witnessing the first real signs of that with the growing resistance to the 20mph speed limit – even before it’s introduced. There will almost certainly have to be a big and face-losing climb-down.

I have more information on XR but much of it is in the form of screenshots which are out of context and undated. If I can put them into some kind of order I’ll return to the subject.

Though one thing that shines through clearly from the exchanges between the ‘Welsh Government’, Extinction Rebellion and others is that they’re desperate to give the impression of having consulted the public, and enjoy public support for their lunacies . . . without ever consulting the real Welsh public.

As I’ve suggested, it’s done by ‘consulting’ colleagues and sympathisers, assorted pressure groups and carefully selected ‘panels’, in order to give the required outcome.

It’s called ‘consultative democracy’. The term is misleading, and the process is undemocratic.

SENEDD INSIGHT / THE KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE

I was surprised to receive a rather curious document that had been sent to a regular reader, inviting the recipient to attend a conference in Cardiff. (Here it is in pdf format.) You’ll see that it originates with summat called Senedd Insight.

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Senedd Insight has a website. A Twitter / X account. And a Linkedin page.

Given the name, I naturally assumed that this outfit is in some way connected with our wonderful, talent-packed Senedd. But no.

Further perusal of the available information revealed that “Senedd Insight is a division of The Knowledge Exchange Group Ltd“.

Hold on for the ride!

The Knowledge Exchange Group has a website, and the company of that name is registered with Companies House. The address given, 1 Northumberland Avenue, off Trafalgar Square, sounds impressive. But we’re in the realm of “flexible office space“.

The latest accounts reveal a deficit of £96,089 and a debt with HSBC.

Until 2018 The Knowledge Exchange Group was known as Knowdata Ltd, and used an address at 18 The Ropewalk, in Nottingham. Which has a number of brass plaques, including one for an accountant.

So who’s behind Senedd Insight? Well, I can tell you it’s a one-man band, and that one man is named Neil Kamal Kharbanda.

Kharbanda had another company called Government Knowledge Ltd, formerly Government Knowledge Training Ltd. Which could have been the precursor to The Knowledge Exchange Group.

After it too relocated to Northumberland Avenue Government Knowledge went down the Swannee owing a lot of money. Over a hundred grand to HMRC. Disregard the “Intercompany Loans“, these are often imaginative attempts to salvage something from the debris. The ‘loans’ themselves may be entirely fictitious.

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Neil Kharbanda had yet a third company, this was The Public Service Directory Ltd. It departed this Vale of Tears in May 2017, some £76,000 in the red.

At the risk of sounding unkind, that is not a business record to inspire confidence. But let’s give him a chance, what else can we learn?

Turning back to the invitation sent out, I have to say it looks quite impressive . . . if you don’t think about it too much. There’s certainly a lot of speakers, the usual mix of academics, third sector / pressure group chisellers and others reliant on the public purse.

There are one or two who don’t fit that description, such as, “Amari Smith-Samuel,  Diversity and Inclusion Lead, Network Rail Wales & Western“.

But still, most of those attending will have their fees paid from the public purse. I mention this again because attending this festival of chip-on-shoulder ranting don’t come cheap. Here are the rates.

And, remember, it only runs from 9:30 to 3:30, with perhaps an hour for lunch.

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Let’s average it out at £350 a head and say 200 attend, that’s £70,000. Even taking out fees for the speakers that’s not bad for a day’s work.

Of course the venue will need to be paid for, which raises another interesting point, because in the invitation received by my source the venue hasn’t yet been booked. It just says: “The full-day conference will take place in a centrally located conference venue in Cardiff. The venue will be confirmed shortly.”

That brings back memories, for I used to go to meetings like that back in the ’60s, often after a summons like this:

“We are meeting in Carmarthen on Saturday. Be in Nott Square at 11:07, with a folded copy of the ‘Ferret Fanciers Monthly’ in your left hand. There you will be approached by an Oriental female who will whisper the location of the venue into your right ear. Pay close attention because her English is poor and she has a lisp.”

Ah! but happy days!

Returning to the Knowledge Exchange Group . . . the latest accounts report a deficit of £70,000, yet it claims 17 employees at the “flexible office space” off Trafalgar Square. Can that be right?

Maybe they aren’t in London, for I think Neil Kamal Kharbanda of Northumberland Avenue is also Neil Kamal Kharbanda of GroData Solutions LLP in Delhi, India.

I believe they are the same man because Knowledge Exchange Group shows on the very basic GroData Linkedin page.

Click to open enlarged in separate tab

But there remains so much we don’t know, which is why I have a list of questions addressed to no one in particular. And in no particular order.

  • Given the name, most people would assume a connection between Senedd Insight and Senedd Cymru. Is there a link?
  • If so, what is that link?
  • If there’s no link, how does the Senedd feel about its name being used in this way, for after all it is the only ‘Senedd’ in the world?
  • How does the ‘Welsh Government’ feel about paying so much in fees, either directly or indirectly, to a man with a worrying business record?
  • If asked, would the Senedd provide facilities for a Senedd Insight conference?
  • Are all those speakers really signed up?
  • Will the money made from this conference in September be used by Mr Kharbanda to pay off his debt to HMRC?
  • How many conferences are there every year at which we, the Welsh people, will be excoriated by those whose salaries we pay? 

If I had the time I’d contact the organisations for which the speakers work and ask why they’re supporting an event promoting ethnic differences and racial antipathies.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I hate to be bringing more bad news, but come on, this is Wales. Where’s the good news?

Wales, where those who claim to run the country are clowns, and those who really run the show are fanatics like Extinction Rebellion. And then, feeding off this shit-show we have people like Neil Kamal Kharbanda.

Who, as we know, is not alone. Wales has more parasites than the mangiest, most flea-bitten creature on Earth. If Wales was a dog it would be put down.

There’s so much material here for Franz Kafka or Dario Fo if they were still alive. But they’re gone and so there’s no one to tell the world this tragi-comedy of leftist fuckwits given money every year and making a country worse than it was the year before . . . or the year before that . . . or the year . . . .

Think about that – more money yet they make things worse! There’s a special talent in play here. It should be studied by anyone wanting to run a country into the ground.

Because, unfortunately, that’s what’s happening to Wales.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2023

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Dafis

Noticed your tweet about that bitch lying in a ditch to give voice to some twisted notion buzzing around in her deluded head. Perhaps one of the local people should pop up with a shovel and close the ditch with her in it. One down how many more to go ?

Red Flag

How faulty wind turbines threaten to bring down a German industrial powerhouse

Siemens’ struggles with inflation and manufacturing flaws reflect an industry in turmoil
When Siemens announced a deal to merge its wind power business with rival Gamesa in 2017, executives saw only upside.

Then Siemens chief executive Joe Kaeser said there was “a clear and compelling industrial logic” that would make “renewable energy more cost-effective”.

Yet the turbine industry has proved as fickle as the wind.

Siemens warned on Monday that it was facing a €4.5bn (£3.9bn) loss this year as a result of issues within its wind turbine division.

Wrinkles in rotor blades and faulty gears are among the problems uncovered, which have led to operating issues and warranty claims from buyers. Inflation has only added to headaches.

The admissions of failures wiped as much as €6bn off the value of Siemens on Monday.

The German industrial powerhouse has been in the wind power market for almost two decades and Gamesa, which was until last year a joint venture, traces its roots in the industry back to the 1970s.

Yet a rapid expansion of its manufacturing in recent years has left the combined business over-extended.

Jochen Eickholt, chief executive of Siemens Gamesa, admitted: “We sold turbines too quickly,” describing the company as a “victim of our own ambitions”.

Siemens Gamesa manufactures blades for wind turbines, which can measure over 100m in length and are made up of many layers of material.

The technology must be highly precise and testing uncovered flaws causing “abnormal vibrations”, which could lead to damages and other issues.

Jochen Eickholt, chief executive of Siemens Gamesa, has put the issues down to “wrinkles” within layers of the blades and has blamed suppliers. Some have been cut off in response.

Hiccups weren’t picked up earlier because the company was focused on the rapid introduction of new turbines and the ramping up of capacity, Siemens Energy chief executive Christian Bruch said.

Kathryn Porter, an independent analyst at energy consultancy Watt Logic, said: “There’s been pressure from the developers to have bigger turbines, because then obviously it’s easier to build, but there have been a lot of warranty problems.

“Now you’re getting people saying behind the scenes, maybe we need to have a pause on this bigger and bigger turbine thing because they just keep breaking.”

Profitability has been weak in the industry for a long time, she said.

Problems at Siemens’ turbine business are not new. The company said in June that the issues would cost €1bn to fix and Bruch described the problems as “more severe than I thought possible”.

Issues have been focused within its onshore wind turbine business, which is a tougher market than offshore.

However, worryingly, new issues are still being uncovered.

Deutsche Bank analyst Gael de-Bray said in a note: “As we feared, in addition to the onshore quality issues, [Siemens Energy] expects higher product costs and further challenges in the ramp up process in offshore, which led to additional charges of €600m.”

The German company is not alone in struggling: its competitors and its customers are also battling a more expensive landscape for the green energy industry.

Vestas, the world’s biggest wind turbine maker, lost €1.5bn last year after a surge in costs, particularly metal prices.

Chief executive Henrik Andersen said in May: “The wind industry remains challenged by political uncertainty, slow permitting processes and high inflation, which we expect to continue throughout 2023.”

Operators face significant challenges too. Energy giant Vattenfall last month shelved plans for a major wind farm off the coast of Norfolk after soaring inflation made the project unviable.

Wind farms in the UK are largely governed by contracts for difference (CfDs), which are government deals guaranteeing operators a stable price for their power for 15 years. This price stability helps developers to borrow the money required to build them.

However, the combination of surging costs and fixed earnings long into the future means budgets can easily be blown.

Sweden’s Vattenfall said its costs had surged 40pc since agreeing a deal with Whitehall last year. The surge rendered the project, which had the capacity to power 1.5 million homes, unviable.

Ana Musat, executive director for policy at industry group RenewableUK, said: “The economic circumstances are quite difficult across the board, we’ve seen really high inflation, we’ve seen interest rates going up. And if you’re in a capital intensive industry, like this one, those will impact you immediately.”

In CfD auctions, companies put forward a “strike price” they will sell their electricity for and the most competitive offers result in subsidy deals with the Government. When market power prices go below this strike price, the company’s revenues are topped up – and when it rises above, they make payments to the Government. CfDs are funded through levies on consumer bills.

The UK is currently in the middle of another round of bidding for the contracts. In this current allocation round, which finishes next month, offshore wind is competing with solar and onshore wind, which are both cheaper to build.

The maximum strike price for offshore wind has been set at £44 per megawatt hour for this round, called AR5, a very similar price to the last round which concluded last summer, dubbed AR4.

Duncan Clark, head of Ørsted UK and Ireland, which is developing the Hornsea 3 windfarm off the Yorkshire coast, said current wind power deals were “excellent value” for taxpayers but warned the company had been hit by “an extraordinary combination” of higher costs since then.

Musat said: “We have had 11pc inflation, interest rates going up by 5pc. So I think just to expect projects to be able to deliver under those same cost profiles, is really not realistic. Something’s going to give.”

All of this means the wind power industry faces more, not fewer, stumbling blocks.

Siemens Energy has put its entire wind division, Siemens Gamesa, under review despite only recently taking full control.

The review will look at “all options”, Bruch said when asked whether parts could be sold. An update is expected in November.

Yet as problems mount, Bruch is still optimistic. “We believe more than ever in the potential of wind power,” he told reporters.

Investors hope that proves more than just hot air.

(Howard Mustoe, Telegraph, 08 Aug)

Dafis

Daft Telegraph article claims Drakeford’s crew are Anglophobic. Advised them that they are not, but far too fuckin’ pally with the weird Sais manipulators who arrive at Drakey’s doorstep and con the silly old git into doing all sorts of daft things. There again Telegraph has its own nasty supremacist take on our predicament. They just want the Welsh either annihilated or assimilated pronto so that our turf can be turned into a giant leisure reserve cum energy park to keep Sais homes in cheap fuels and provide cheap 2nd holidays and holiday homes.

Jonathan Edwards

Not that it matters, but the Steinbeck Novel reference is to ‘Of Mice and Men’ where the farmhands dream of a little farm with an alfalfa patch, to feed rabbits.

Dafis

There was a time when a lot of Okies had to buzz off, go anywhere because their own patch had become completely ruined. At least they had quirks of nature to blame whereas our farmland today is under threat from an even more hostile vector. Humans loaded up on warped ideologies are a threat to anything that stands in their way.

As for California Dreamin’ that was just a bunch of hippies looking for the road to riches. That Summer of Love ( maybe it lasted for 2-3 years) was the first example in my time of serious exploitation of young people. The marketing wonks got hold of it and turned everything into a way of making a fast buck. From there on it’s been downhill all the way.

Dyn Gwyrdd

Here is a speech aimed at the Wales Labour Government and its Plaid Cymru butties :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzoPZwa4dWo

Wynne

Excellent 3 minute presentation in video clip.

Wynne

For your info. the following FOI request was submitted to Welsh Government today. Awaiting reply.

Freedom of Information Officer
Information Rights Unit
Welsh Government
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ

My Ref:               NICJ 107
Your Ref:    
Date:                            06 August 2023

cc:    

Dear Freedom of Information Officer

Subject: Sex education to 4 to 8 year old children in Wales

I refer to the above subject and to a 3-minute video clip currently circulating on social media, available at hyperlink below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzoPZwa4dWo

Please note the content. I would be grateful if you could arrange to provide me with the following information pursuant to FOI Act 2000 / EIR 2004.

Please provide a copy of guidance provided by Welsh Government to Local Education Authorities in Wales specifically relating to sex education to 4 to 8 year old children in Wales.

I look forward to receiving the information at your earliest convenience. Thank you.

Yours sincerely

Dafis

That woman is far too straight talking. The mealy mouthed muppets who infest our politics could not cope with such a plain statement of facts so would choose to ignore it, preferring to continue preaching their message of confusion and destruction.

Red Flag
David Smith

I’d love to know if there are any empirical findings on whether these more overbearing methods of attempting to improve relations with minorities, such as Black Lives Matter protests, Gay Pride Parades, and government schemes like the Anti-Racist Action Plan, actually do so, as opposed to say, just leaving people to it and allowing folk to rub along together, letting common decency do its work.

"Focussed" Morriston

Off track to Dr John Ball :-
Please keep publicly bashing Swansea’s snide arrogant Mr Bean !
Back to Jac’s “XR” topic everyone else !

Dr John Ball

The nonsense and colourful reporting continues…
I’ve just got around reading the current edition of The Economist.
The report about fires on Rhodes notes 30,000 had to be evacuated – last week it was 20,000 and even less earlier. Good drama! The article omitted to note that many flights and holiday makers continued both to arrive in Rhodes or simply continue their holidays.
It then goes on to note that record temperatures caused the fires, no mention of the actual clearly identified man made causes, just high temperatures….
The bit I really liked was a quote from a “natural disaster expert” who no doubt, being an “expert” has an interest in, and making a living, peddling doom and gloom.

Dafis

Massive wind farm? Surely with all that sunlight a huge array of solar panels would be a more fitting solution. Better suited to Rhodes than Vale of Glamorgan!

Red Flag

It is standard media crowd inflation. I took part in the big Stop The War march back in the day. What was ‘nearly a quarter of a million’ rapidly became ‘a quarter of a million’ then ‘approaching half a million’ to ‘half a million’ to ‘over half a million’ and slowly over the months become ‘over a million’.

Dr John Ball

Hi Jac
As ever, you are asking the questions the clowns in the bay are not, no doubt for fear of upsetting their “supporters” in woke land.
I’d like to add a comment on global warming, that important topic keeping us all awake at night……
It may be that the earth is indeed warming, what remains uncertain is whether this is a cyclical phenomena or not – in the seventies we were warned by scientists of a coming new ice age…
There is of course no joined up thinking (silly me, this lot?). No gas boilers in a few years, no petrol, all electric cars and we keep warm with heat pumps. Meanwhile, masses of CO2 is being pumped into the atmosphere in our well laid biggest car park, the M4; heat pumps remain an untried technology and in any event are not suitable for the terraced houses in the valleys and nobody’s quite explained how electric driven vehicles will move goods around.
Meanwhile, conference organisers will drive down the M4 to tell us how irresponsible we are..
A few facts conveniently overlooked by the hysterical media. The high temperatures reported are still lower than those recorded in 1911 and although measurement was not as sophisticated as today or indeed collected, during this time any amount of CO2 – and other gases – were being thrown up by the massive number of collieries, steel and iron works and other industries of the time.
Rhodes : sad of course, but it turns out that the fires were started by barbecues, cigarette ends and possibly simply vandalism and whilst the heat and winds didn’t help, the fires were not caused directly by factors associated with global warming. And incidentally, were confined to a relatively small part of the island.
The problem of course was media hysteria and “experts” rushing to forecast armageddon whilst conveniently overlooking the facts.

Wynne

I note reference – in Extinction Rebellion Cymru letter – to 40 degree temperature in England. Copy below of my recent letter to BBC. Currently awaiting reply.

Director General and Editor in Chief
BBC Broadcasting House
Portland Place
London
W1A 1AA

My Ref:               NICJ 106
Your Ref:    
Date:                           24 July 2023

cc:    

Dear Tim Davie

Subject: BBC Weather Forecast – Wednesday 19 July 2023 

I am pleased to note that “BBC Verify” has now been established under the terms of reference outlined in an article published 17 May 2023. A copy is attached hereto.

I now refer to the weather forecast presented by the BBC on Wednesday 19 July 2023. There are reports circulating in the media that misleading information may have been presented to the public, as explained further in the attached document.

To clarify the position, I would be grateful if “BBC Verify” could establish whether ground level temperature data was presented or standard temperature at 2 metres above ground level.

I look forward to receiving clarification from “BBC Verify” at their earliest convenience. Thank you. 

Yours sincerely

@__HXO

I believe the 40°C temperature they’re referring to –their missive is from 2022– was last years “record” from RAF Coningsby, the issue with that particular weather station is there are often several Tornado jets taxiing nearby, they submitted an FOI and pilot logs show that three Tornados had landed in quick succession around the time of the 40.3°C record.

The Daily Sceptic

David Smith

Jac, I’ve said as much before: big fan of your work but I’d much rather a Wales where there was no need for it to exist.

David Smith

To relieve you of the undoubted stress and despair of having to hold scumbags and colonists to account, so you can enjoy your golden years in a prosperous independent Wales? Yessir I would!