@ matthu, 4.00 pm.
Of course the positions of post boxes are a state secret - that's why they are painted a prominent scarlet colour. If everybody knew where they were, people would start posting things, giving postmen something to do and the Post Office something to deliver instead of ever-increasing amounts of junk mail for kerbside collection operatives to dispose of. ( Yet another example of Labour's make-work racketsat the taxpayers expense). Actually having to collect, sort and deliver letters would blow an almighty hole in the Core Strategy, which, as far as I can see, is to provide as little service to the general public as is possible whilst maintaining a facade for ever-more Government subsidy. The "Yes Minister" episode featuring a fully staffed hospital with no patients does in fact demonstrate the ultimate desire of every public funded body - to, "Be busily doing nothing, working the whole day through, Trying so hard to find things not to do." /rant off

I didn't know Acton had anything to do with the Royal mail ...?

A radio presenter who wrote to Royal Mail asking where his nearest post boxes were received an astonishing reply to say: 'Sorry, it's a secret'.

David Heathcote was fed-up scouring the streets looking for a place to send letters to his listeners - and thought that, as most post boxes are bright red, over four feet tall, and have been a familiar sight on Britain's streets for well over a century, it would be a simple request.

But the 61-year-old was told by a Royal Mail 'Freedom of Information Support Officer' that precise post box locations couldn't be 'released into the public domain' because doing so would 'undermine their commercial value'.

The extraordinary two-page reply went on to claim that, as Royal Mail is a publicly-owned company, there was a 'significant public interest' in keeping the information private.

The letter went on to say: 'Royal Mail has gathered the information requested using it's own business resource and there is continuous investment in updating and improving the accuracy of the information held.

'We believe this (releasing the locations) would clearly be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of Royal Mail; significantly reducing, if not completely removing Royal Mail's ability to exploit the information commercially.

Today's Scotsman has a couple of articles on how long it takes for CO2 to dissipate based on the recent article from Gabriel Bowen at Purdue University:

"It will take long time for the carbon dioxide to go away again. 50,000 years may be fast in geological time but it still slow by human standards." Professor Simon Tett, chair of earth system dynamics at Edinburgh University. Simon Tett is a Climategate correspondent.

The print edition is complete with 'A victim of global warming isolated on an iceberg . . .the perpetrator is man . . . " you know the picture of a polar bear atop a lonely iceflow!

Article: http://news.scotsman.com/environment/World-will-recover-from-warming.6758405.jp
Comment by Simon Tett: http://news.scotsman.com/environment/Analysis-Plain-truth-is-carbon.6758403.jp
WUWT report: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/04/22/new-study-earth-may-be-able-to-recover-from-rising-carbon-dioxide-emissions-faster-than-previously-thought/

More Grauniad hypocrisy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/apr/26/bp-oil-spill-oil

"The anniversary of the BP Deepwater oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has come and gone, but many questions remain unanswered, not least who was to blame for what? Now, thanks to Greenpeace, you can play a part in finding some answers.

Greenpeace have been using freedom of information laws to gather as many previously confidential documents as possible. They have now amassed 30,000 pages worth,"

FOI requests for climate data, bad. FOI requests against oil companies, good.

Further to Booker's recent pieces about the uselessness of wind farms and the likely early decommissioning of large power stations, I notice that Lidl currently has a 3kW generator on sale for under £200. If it's a reaction to the recent shenanigans back home in Germany, they're certainly quick off the mark!

More carbon shell games

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/25/carbon-cuts-developed-countries-cancelled

"Cuts in carbon emissions by developed countries since 1990 have been cancelled out many times over by increases in imported goods from developing countries such as China, according to the most comprehensive global figures ever compiled."

Well duh. Combination of high costs and high regulatory burden from environmental policies (amongst other things) and what did people expect? Why did our steel production offshore? Why did the owners get to keep their carbon credits?

"Environmental campaigners have long argued that global carbon accounting should be based on consumption rather than production of goods and services. One barrier to implementing such a system is the huge challenge of accurately monitoring the flow of emissions embodied in traded goods."

I'm sure someone will be along real soon now to suggest a new way to handle carbon accounting, for a small fee. Wonder if environmental campaigners will realise most of the carbon emissions occur during production and that's also where savings should occur. This seems a 'polluter offsets' rather than 'polluter pays' mechanism. Not sure China or India would like or dislike this idea, they may if it reduces their carbon liability, they may not if it harms their exports.

It seems Nature Magazine screwed up last year when it claimed that phytoplankton had seen a 50% decline (because of global warming):

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/04/25/the-ocean-wins-again/

A Google search on Nature Magazine phytoplankton still brings up all the old references - including one where this claim was reported by the BBC so it will be interesting to see how long it takes for the BBC to publicise the retraction.

Wikileaks accuses BBC of possible bias

A phone number of someone at the BBC was found in phone books and programmed into the mobile phones of a number of militants seized by the Americans.

The BBC number listed on the file is now dead, but the revelation could further dent the broadcaster’ reputation for impartiality. It has for years faced claims it is biased towards the left.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1380498/Wikileaks-accuses-BBC-possible-propaganda-media-network-Al-Qaeda.html

Uh Oh ...

They can't stop themselves - no comments either - wonder why.

Perhaps some good news linked to the AV referendum

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13181756

"Chris Huhne, who refused to rule out resigning as energy secretary over the tensions, said arguments between the Yes and No campaigns would make it a lot more difficult for the coalition to work together in the future."