A bit of this and that...

The Man and I  spotted a baby grebe and its mum, or was it its dad paddling around Canary Wharf when we were on way to the station after work this evening. Whichever parent it was they were doing a great job of feeding the chick. As we watched it dived and returned with a silvery fish five times.

While I don’t condone tax avoidance, if a company reduces its tax bill by legally using the tax rules created by the self-same country then that country shouldn’t grumble. They should work to closing the loophole in the law. You might well ask why I make the comment. It’s because in this evenings paper is a little article deriding Starbucks for voluntarily offering to pay £20 million tot the tax man.

Another article in the paper is about primary schools not having enough classrooms or teachers for the expected influx of new entrant after the long summer holidays. So has London had a sudden population boom? I doubt it. I think it is the same head in the sand thinking that is struggling with the aging population.  Don’t the statistics gathered from censuses tell the powers that be something about population trends? And not just here in the UK, it is the same back in New Zealand

Now if you are thinking of coming shopping in London’s fashionable Oxford Street you had better bring your gas masks. Apparently this street has some of the highest levels of dangerous diesel fumes in London. Oxford Street was the 8^th worst for, 12^th worst for nitrogen dioxide, more than twice the legal limit. Other ‘black spots’ in London include Piccadilly, Strand and Victoria Streets.

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is one of a group of gases called nitrogen oxides. Road transport is estimated to be responsible for about 50% of total emissions of nitrogen oxides, which means that nitrogen dioxide levels are highest close to busy roads and in large urban areas. Gas boilers in buildings are also a source of nitrogen oxides.

There is good evidence that nitrogen is harmful to health. The most common outcomes are respiratory symptoms such as shortness of breath and cough. Nitrogen dioxide inflames the lining of the lung and reduces immunity to lung infections such as bronchitis. Studies also suggest that the health effects are more pronounced in people with asthma compared to healthly individuals.

In recent years the average level of nitrogen dioxide within London has not fallen as quickly as predicted. This largely appears to be the result of diesel cars creating more nitrogen dioxide than was anticipated.

Nitrogen dioxide also reacts with hydrocarbons in the presence of sunlight to create ozone, and contributes to the formation of particles..