Tuesday 29 March 2011

Fun Online Polls: Fukushima & The Census

On a high turnout, the results to last week's Fun Online Poll were as follows:

Has the Fukushima catastrophe changed your attitude towards nuclear power?

No. I'm still against nuclear power - 5%
Yes. I'm now more negative about nuclear power - 5%
Yes. I'm now more positive about nuclear power - 29%
No. I'm still in favour of nuclear power - 61%
Other, please specify - 0%


Given the right-wing nature of most of this 'blog's readership, I'm not surprised that a majority are in favour of nuclear power anyway, but I'm (pleasantly) surprised to see that so many, like me, are more positive (or less negative) than they were before. As it happens, there are six nuclear power stations in the earthquake/tsunami zone, so I find the fact that only one was badly affected rather reassuring.

As ever, thanks to everybody who took part.
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Health Minister Dick Puddlecote highlights another example of the ONS fighting back against the government - in the great tradition of bureaucratic warfare, they are continuing this war despite the change in government.

I actually trust the ONS. For sure, they'll bend with the political wind and publish statistics showing that alcohol-related deaths have trebled in a short space of time (or whatever) but they'll leave coded messages like "Due to a change in the way that the figures are compiled, later series are not directly comparable with earlier series" which is ONS-speak for "These figures are all complete bollocks."

All of which reminded me that I hadn't completed our Census form yet. Happily enough, you were supposed to complete it as at 27 March 2011 (yesterday) so I duly completed it this evening and answered every question with a straight bat. For the 'optional' religion question I entered 'smoker' as previously agreed (for the life of me, I can't remember which 'blogger first proposed this - I'll link if anybody tells me who it was. UPDATE: ViewFromTheSolent reminds me it was Leg-Iron). For 'nationality' I chose 'English' (not 'British') and for 'racial origin' I put 'Other - European' (being a mish-mash of anything between Northern Ireland and Poland).

So that's this week's Fun Online Poll - have you completed your Census form yet?

Vote here or use the widget in the sidebar.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why is being pro nuclear power rightwing?

View from the Solent said...

re:religion. I think it was LegIron

Mark Wadsworth said...

Anon, it's just a general observation.

VFTS, I think so too, but I searched his 'blog and couldn't track down the actual post/comments. Funny how "religion" is as anagram of "I, Legiron".

PT Barnum said...

Here's one non-right-wing, pro-nuclear power regular reader. I like to work things out for myself, and that includes reading stuff I don't always agree with. Would that more folk did likewise.

View from the Solent said...

He has a handy search bar which I hadn't noticed before
LI

Mark Wadsworth said...

PTB, what worries me is that the only place where nuclear seems to work really well is France, but they just love subsidising these grands projets, so I'm still not convinced it's good value, even though clearly it can be done safely if done properly.

VFTS, I though it was him, I tried the search widget but I couldn't track it down. Thanks for the extra effort.

PT Barnum said...

MW, I agree nuclear should be approached with the utmost care and caution, but until some other form of energy comes along (not windwills or solar panels on every surface) which can meet our energy needs when the fossil fuels become non-cost effective to extract, nuclear is the only viable way to go, even if it requires state subsidies. Anything else will leave us in the dark or even poorer than we are now.

Robin Smith said...

Dont forget that the nuclear power industry is diseased by monopoly power as much as climate change is by deniers and greenery is by supporters.

Until a free market is returned to it, we will never know if it can truly be effective as a labour saving device.

The Robin Smith Institute: Good radiation context over at Mark Lynas today

I "believe" it can be. And campaign as a member of Environmentalists for Nuclear Power (EFN)

Bayard said...

PTB, I'd agree that nuclear fission is the best we've got ATM, however I feel it should only be viewed as a stopgap until nuclear fusion comes on stream (and for making those all-important nuclear weapons). There is still the unsolved problem as to what to do with the radioactive waste, though.