Tuesday, April 23, 2013

British Gas and London Energy Auction with idea #104 Violence (is it ever the answer?)

British Gas Services?
Last week major catastrophe as our boiler went on an early spring holiday, now I don't know if you've been hearing the British Gss service advert  (see BBC on the service)on the radio implying that there's very little more important than their commitment to keep your system in tip-top condition?
If you have my advice sprinkle a load of salt on that impression and then top it up with an ever larger sprinkle.
When I called them they seemed to think that that I was being unreasonable expecting some one to come round and fix it despite them taking a monthly sum for just such an eventuality we finally agreed on a time the next afternoon (the man on the call irritatingly kept saying 'happy days') the good news was that someone did come at the appointed hour and fixed it - so the service was okay- ish.

Big London Energy Switch
Now alongside the cost of keeping the heating and hot water going is the cost of the energy we're currently signed up for 'dual fuel' but London councils have an energy initiative called Big London Switch it's meant to  get customers a better deal - the deal we're offered is from Sainsbury's and although the headline figure is higher than our existing provider (British Gas) there's meant to be a £210 refund after a year - so having to consider this and seeing if it impacts service agreements.

Insulating Ealing
And number 3 on the energy list is another initiative this one  Called Insulating Ealing, this comprises of a Green Deal Survey and demo of the install - will see what it amounts to and report back.

As a bit of a change the Big Idea is Violence

Abortion and Euthanasia excepted most societies are pretty much against murder -Thomas Hobbes was of the view that one of the State's main responsibilities. Without the state Hobbes reckoned  that life would be
 a “state of nature” that closely resembles civil war – a situation of universal insecurity, where all have reason to fear violent death and where rewarding human cooperation is all but impossible so he said the state's job was to uphold 'thou shalt not kill'
(although the state might do this in some cases).

Having said that there have been politicians and philosophers who have held that violence can sometimes be justified ( Karl Marx wanting to overthrow capitalism is a prime example)