US election

I don't know whether to be pleased that the Democrats are coming out on top, or depressed that the environment didn't even appear to be an issue in the election.

Countries like China and India will use the US as a benchmark when it comes to pollution control. If the US doesn't clean up, how can we expect them to keep emissions down as their economies expand?

Money saving climate poll

Some things in this world are reassuring. My favourite money-saving website - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ - recently ran a poll on taxation and the environment. Over 3000 people replied (polls of this nature are not going to be reliable, but at least everyone who replied is presumed to be someone with an interest in saving their own hard-earned cash)

This was the result:

What would you pay to turn the world green? It seems most of you are willing to pay up to save the planet, with 38% voting for an extra 4p on every pound of income tax to fight global warming.

Maybe there is hope for us all yet.

Tarot

Almost finished packing for Novacon. Will add toothbrush and inhalers tomorrow morning. I'm going via my nephews' carrying a large bag of Brio wooden railway (early Xmas present that would cost a small fortune to mail). I look forward to going down the park with them, pushing swings and playing games in general.

(Note to new readers, because they seem to be a lot of you recently - my nephews are the sons of my late sister Rosalie. She died of cancer a couple of years ago, leaving two pre-school children. Their father, David, has proved to be a fantastic single parent and puts ordinary mortals to shame by never forgetting a birthday on Rosalie's side of the family and making us all feel wonderfully welcome whenever we drop by. The boys are a credit to him and to their mother. Happy, well-adjusted, sociable and generally delightful.)

I've also packed several Tarot decks. Sitting on a con table at Novacon can often by a slow job, so reading Tarot for people helps to pass the time. I recently finished 'Last Call' by Tim Powers which has a plot based around Tarot. He'd done reasonable research, especially on some of the historical Italian decks and the major arcana, but he shot himself in the foot as far as I was concerned when he had the five of diamonds used as a card to predict future wealth. 5 diamonds (or coins/discs) is *always*, in every deck I have ever owned and plenty that I have not, used to represent financial disaster and poverty.

I get annoyed by flawed research, whatever the topic of a book. Bad science can do it. Bad historical research can do it. And, I've now discovered that bad Tarot can do it. (whether you as a writer believe in it or not is irrelevant, the details should still be correct)