These Are The Group Photos From The New Year’s Day Swim At RWSABC In Greenock.  24 Of Use Went Into

Dome City Blog 5 - Churches, mosques, synagogues & temples

We are coming to the end of the Easter Weekend as I write this.  Therefore, it seems appropriate for me to comment on churches, mosques, synagogues and temples within the Dome City. 

I believe that on balance religion is a power for good.  As a practicing Christian I see the merit in having a set of beliefs and guides for living that encourage me to love my neighbour, to be honest and to be trustworthy.  

If a Dome City is going to be a success it will need to be the sort of place people want to live.  Having good neighbours is one of the factors that I would list as important to making a place somewhere that I want to live.  Religion can play a role in this is 2 ways.  The first is as a guide for peaceful living and the second is the way that religion brings people together for religious observations, celebrations and works.  

Therefore, I would suggest that space be set aside for churches in the Dome City.  In my mind, the obvious place for a Dome City in the UK would be near London.  In Britian as a whole according to the Office of National Statistics, based on the 2011 census data, 59.3% stated that they are Christian, 25.1% of the population state that they have no religion, 7.2% did not respond to the question, 4.8% stated they are Muslim, 1.5% stated they were Hindu, 0.8% were Sikh, 0.5% were Jewish, 0.4% were Buddhist and 0.4% were other religions. If this were an accurate reflection of the people who chose to live in the Dome City it is clear to me that around 75% of the population would have a religious affiliation.  Of course not all of them would be regular participants in their religious community but a reasonable number would be.

The data for the above paragraph was taken from http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_290510.pdf 

In the spirit of interfaith pluralism I would suggest that the churches, mosques, synagogues and temples be placed close to each other, probably on the same level of the Dome City.  

In Triumph of the City by Edward Glaeser it talks about a suburb of Houston called Woodlands.  One of the things that intrigued me about this suburb is how the developer, George Phydias Mitchell,  recognised the importance of religion for promoting social capital.  The paragraph that captures this best for me has been extracted and is shown below:

One of the most interesting, and almost urban, aspects of The Woodlands’ management is its focus on social capital. The Woodlands works precisely because it is not a collection of isolated individuals; its social infrastructure has been designed to foster interpersonal connections. In 1975, Mitchell hired a Wharton-trained Lutheran minister to run The Woodlands Religious Community Incorporated, now called Interfaith, which was meant to “plan the religious community and all the human services in this new town.” The minister bought a motor scooter and followed moving vans , meeting new residents as they arrived. Interfaith made sure that The Woodlands provided appropriate space for social, particularly religious, activities. Because nothing sours an area like religiously motivated hatred, Interfaith makes sure that religious messages are kept positive. In the aftermath of the 9/ 11 attacks, Interfaith managed to get rabbis to pray for Palestinians and Islamic leaders to pray for Jews.

Glaeser, Edward (2011-03-18). Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier and Happier (pp. 181-182). Macmillan Publishers UK. Kindle Edition. 

Aside - Those interested in energy matters like I am will recognise the name "George Phydias Mitchell", this is the man credited with developing the techniques to extract natural gas from tight shales using hydraulic fracturing (fracking). - end aside

I would hope that a UK Dome City would encourage the same sort of thing taking into account the differences between American and British religious views and practices.

Joe Heffernan 6-April-2015

Today I had the privilege of organising the RWSABC Clyde Swim 2018. 31 swimmers who are pictured here completed the 3km swim from Kilcreggan to RWSABC. Thank you to the participants, the safety boat crews, the kayakers, those who did the barbeque and served hot drinks and scones and the committee of RWSABC. #rwsabc #inverclyde #openwaterswimming #kilcreggan #greenock #theclyde (at Royal West Of Scotland Amateur Boat Club)

Open Water Swimming Sunrise - Emma and I were down for a swim today (5 Jan 17). The sun was just coming up. We were in for about 13 minutes, we swam around 400m. Water temperature 8 degC. The water was really clear, the settled weather the last few days must be responsible. (at Royal West Amateur Boat Club, Greenock)

We walked the Greenock Cut today. The weather was beautiful.

My thoughts on the summer budget

I read the full Budget speech that George Osborne gave today.

I think that from a public relations point of view it has been a good budget for the Chancellor.  I found myself thinking, "I agree with that" when watching the news and hearing the headlines.

Now that I have read the budget I am less pleased.

I am disappointed in his Infrastructure plans to increase productivity.  

He said -

“Four fifths of all journeys in this country are by road, yet we rank behind Puerto Rico and Namibia in the quality of our network. In the last 25 years, France has built more than two and a half thousand miles of motorway – and we’ve built just 300. In the last Parliament I increased road spending, even in difficult times, and set out a plan for £15bn of new roads for the rest of this decade.”

I was disappointed in this because it makes no mention of public transport, it makes no mention of improving streets and paths to allow and encourage people to walk and cycle.  Roads and streets are important and are a good place for investment, but I am concerned that the Governments plans will see more roads built, which will then fill up with cars and lorries, leading to no net improvement in productivity or happieness.

At one point in his speech he said -

For Britain is home to 1% of the world’s population; generates 4% of the world’s income; and yet pays out 7% of the world’s welfare spending.  

What a meaningless statement!!! It may be factually correct but it is not illuminating.  We should really be proud that we spend 7% of the world's welfare spending because there are lots of places that spend zero.  

I was disappointed that the budget didn't set out any proposals to increase the affordability of housing or energy by increasing supply.  This is the other side of the tax cut coin, making peoples money go further.

A search through the budget statement shows that equality or inequality was only mentioned once.  He stated that - "In the last fortnight we’ve seen independent statistics showing that since 2010, child poverty is down and so is inequality."  I do not see this as a strong budget to reduce inequality.

I was pleased to see that non-dom status is to be phased out.

I see that corporation tax will be reduced to 18% by 2020.  I would have liked to see that a reduced tax rate associated with less unequal pay structure within corporations. Rather than just taxing high earners companies should pay more tax if they have highly unequal wage structures.  One way to assess wage structues within a company would be through the use of the Gini Coefficient.

I understand that there is going to be further tightening of the rules concerning taxation to close loopholes and I support this.

I find that the discussion of tax credit and minimum wage confusing.  I see that Ian Duncan Smith was cheering the increase in the minimum wage and I am prepared to trust his judgement.

In conclusion, I see this as a budget that was well crafted from the political point of view for middle England.  I think the Budget will not play so well in Scotland.  I am disappointed because I do not see this budget as making Britain a happier place to live.  The Chancellor and the Government don't seem to want to promote more equality, or if they do, they are limiting themselves to only a few tools.  The Budget will not improve affordability which is the other side of the tax coin when it comes to improving peoples lives.  

I hope you find these views interesting.

If you want to read the full budget statement for yourself the reference is:

Osborne, G. and HM Treasury, (2015). Chancellor George Osborne's Summer Budget 2015 speech - Speeches - GOV.UK. [online] Gov.uk. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chancellor-george-osbornes-summer-budget-2015-speech [Accessed 8 Jul. 2015].

Europe: Carnivore Paradise?

Bears, wolves, lynx and wolverines are flourishing in Europe, largely in humanized landscapes and not in parks. Can North America learn from the “coexistence model” that characterizes the continent’s approach to conserving big carnivores?

Stacey Hearl and I went down for an Open Water Swim 🏊 today. It was just after the turn of low tide. It was overcast and dead calm. My swim was 448m in 13:49. Water temperature 7 degC. #greenock #rwsabc #openwaterswimming #shoreline #beach (at The Royal West of Scotland Boat Club)

How do you get through all your emails? I don't

Tonight I am feeling a bit down. I was working on my emails at home when I remembered an important email from a student that needed a reply.  I first had to find the email which took a few minutes.  I then looked out some information.  I couldn't find the exact information I needed but I think I found enough to make a reasonable reply.

The student had written to me about resitting an exam in their home University.  This is a pretty big deal because of the cost involved in travelling from her home country back to Paisley to take a 2 hour exam.  There would probably be some accommodation and meals expenses also.  The email I was responding to had come in on the 9th of December and I was replying on the 17th.  Unfortunately, the 9th of December was beyond the cut off date for making an application to sit the exam outwith the University.  I told her this, gave her some other information and even provided an alternative that might be a better solution.  At that point I was thinking I have done as much as I can.  

I then went to file her email and guess what I found? I found another email from the same student dated 3 October.  I had never even opened this email.  It must have gotten buried before I saw it.  I am now feeling pretty down because had I picked up the first email the ideal solution could maybe have been implemented.

I do wish that this student had pestered me a bit more.  I don't hold it against someone to send a second email if the first hasn't had a response.  In addition, I have my phone and mobile numbers at the bottom of my emails.  Why don't people pick up the phone or text more?

There isn't much more to say. After I finish writing this I have to go an email the student and say I am sorry but I don't think my words are really enough.

A lovely night for open water swimming along The Esplanade in Greenock. 😊