Tuesday, 1 April 2025

MORE THAN HOT AIR - Are surface temperatures being overlooked in the battle to tackle global warming?

 

MORE THAN HOT AIR

Are surface temperatures being overlooked in the battle to tackle global warming?

Charlie Clutterbuck thinks so.

 Coal, oil and gas, the exploitation of which took mankind out of the Dark Ages, took millions of years to mature. But unless we create some way of swiftly controlling their poisonous side effect’s they might just finish us off instantaneously. Which is why Unite is contributing towards the campaign for Net Zero emissions by backing plans to increase carbon, capture and storage (CCS) , in which Britain led the world until Thatcher took her axe to tests at Grimethorpe Colliery just prior to the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike.

But might the rural sector be able to help out in tackling global warming? Unite’s own soil scientist Charlie Clutterbuck, who as Landworker readers will know constantly explores possible solutions to what are regarded as intractable problems, believes so.

“The most reliable global warming data since 1880 comes from NASA. In the next 100 years this reveals there were as many cold years as warm. Global temperature rose 0.3C,” explains Charlie.

“Yet from 1980 - 2020 it warmed 1.6C. That is the equivalent of 13x faster than the previous century. Every decade since the 1980s has been warmer than the previous one.

“The Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI) compares the warming effect of the main human-produced greenhouse gases to conditions in 1990. In 2022, the AGGI was 1.49, a 49% increase in 32 years when over the same period temperatures rose extra-ordinarily.”

Seeking explanations, Charlie is convinced of the need “to examine surface heat exchange where the sun’s rays hit the earth.” This complex equation (based on 2 aspects - albedo capacity and conductivity) happens before any GHG involvement.

Statistics reveal that solar radiation received from the sun totals 342 watts per cubic metre with 339 watts going back out.  The remaining 3 watts - 1% of the total - is energy. Its absorption by the earth warms it up. Altering that could be key.

Albedo is a key parameter widely used in land surface energy balance studies, mid-to-long-term weather prediction, and global climate change investigation. 

“Open ocean water has a moderate albedo of around 0.06, so absorbing a lot of sunlight, thus contributing to ocean warming, The sea though has high capacity to absorb heat without temperature increasing, and then conductivity to move it around. Again, we see it heating lots faster since 1980. Much more than GHGs alone could cause,” states Charlie who first appeared in Landworker magazine over 50 years ago and who played a key role in the setting up of the Hazards Campaign and Magazine that has saved the lives of many thousands.

On land the albedo is much more variable depending on the surface. Snow has high albedo (reflectivity) but when it melts the brown earth has low albedo, thus absorbing more heat. Forest and grassland are cooler than ploughed soil because of a mixture of albedo and capacity. It means that on hot days it’s pleasurable to lie on the grass but not on the soil,

Currently, ‘global’ temperatures measure just air temperatures and although water transfers 90% of our heat we do not even measure its effects. Land too is not measured and so there exists few worldwide comparisons of variation of warmth over different land practices.

“If we could alter that it could make a massive analytical difference,” states Charlie. “Because I feel it can help establish that soil surface temperature rises have played a major role in the rapid global heat increase.”

At Davos in 2023, delegates at the World Economic Forum were saying ‘soil is the solution’ because of its carbon content.

“But this shows how ‘reductionist’ carbon counting is. The soil is a living entity not lumps of carbon. Soil holds moisture that keeps the planet cool, thus pasture is better than arable land,” argues Charlie who is convinced that the soil in our cities that is now concreted and tarmacked over had previously have held temperatures down by holding on to water.  “Increasing numbers and the size of cities must have had an impact on global warming.”

Meanwhile, the ‘green revolution’ expanded dramatically in Asia & Africa after 1980 to produce grain and vegetables in monocultures. “That warms up land considerably more than grazed grassland. Previous civilisations – for example, Greek, Roman & Mayan -  have been eroded due to similar agricultural practices.”

Trees are even cooler than grazed grassland and so “the continuing chopping down of many forests increases surface temperatures by releasing moisture.”

Baking hot

Furthermore, an area half the size of Europe is degraded annually from ‘dryland ‘to desert.

“The impact of desertification on global warming must be enormous, with no trees, grass, clouds, water holding, life support and surface temperatures bouncing around. Re-growing the trees, grass and improved soil would help cool the planet and improve rural economies.”

In turn this should reduce emigration by millions of desperate people seeking to survive an ever-heating world.

Soilution?

“Some of the £1.5 trillion being earmarked towards ‘net zero’, where GHG emissions are, at around £40 a ton of carbon, balanced by increasing carbon absorption somewhere else, should be invested in paying attention to the earths’ surface temperatures.”

Rural road to ruin

Nationally, Charlie also fears that net zero plans encourage less food production and damages rural employment opportunities.

“Like other organisations, The National Trust have pledged to become net zero by 2030. In addition to increasing tree planting and restoring peat bogs they are now getting rid of sheep from their farms around Malham Tarn so they can ‘rewild’  the land.  Such policies will increase food imports, using other peoples' land, water and labour and increasing their soil temperatures. These new measures also take time and mean fewer jobs. Land for food production should be prioritised.” 

Monday, 31 March 2025

The Times online article on John Goodall publicises my biography on him due out in March 2026

 

 Meet Football League’s first genius: Preston striker who kept pet foxes

Taken from ‘The Times’ online on 28 March 2025

He captained England, penned a football manual and found time to tame wild animals. Discover the untold story of John Goodall, a true pioneer of the game

It took three off-duty Royal Hussars on commandeered cab horses to control the crowd when Aston Villa and Preston North End first locked horns in the FA Cup in 1888.

The attendance had swelled to 25,000 at Villa’s Perry Barr ground and the chaos disrupted play three times as fans spilt on to the pitch.

With Villa a goal to the good, the Preston captain, Nick Ross, requested that the game be made a friendly owing to the circumstances. Of course, this was not agreed to by the home side and so the tie continued.

Preston went on to win that match 3-1, but could proceed to the next round only when the referee had insisted the match remained competitive, despite contrasting recollections by two umpires and the Villa captain.

Villa sources may dispute this Prestonian account but the tie is so infamous that the story is still told 137 years later, with the local author Michael Barrett dedicating five pages to it in his comic book The Rise of the Invincibles.

That story is the perfect reminder of how Sunday’s FA Cup tie at Deepdale — the oldest Football League founder stadium still in use — is one of the most historic competitive fixtures in the English game.

Villa descended on Deepdale to visit Preston for the first time in the league later that year. A tightly contested 1-1 draw was described by The Sunday Times as a “struggle” that “proved in every way worthy of the high reputation enjoyed by the two clubs”, at a time when the football column was split into “rugby” and “association”.

John Goodall — a player lauded as one of the first true geniuses of English football — scored for Preston in both fixtures.

“Goodall was perhaps the final part of the jigsaw,” Barrett says. “He knitted that forward line together and he fitted into the scientific approach that North End had.”

Preston’s “Invincibles” team of 1888-89 strolled to the first Football League title without losing a game, lifting the FA Cup in the process by not conceding a goal. Their intricate, calculated style of football, using short passes, was rarely seen in England at the time.

As the first Golden Boot winner in England, Goodall was famed for not only his goalscoring prowess but also his footballing intelligence, and the illustrious career he forged from it became synonymous with the embryonic stages of the Football League.

On the opposing side in their league fixture was his brother Archie, who had moved to Villa from Preston a few months earlier in the first transfer to be approved by the Football League. It is believed to have cost £100.

the pair were both stalwarts of separate national sides. With John born in London and Archie in Belfast because of their father’s job in the military, they represented England and Ireland respectively, with John captaining his country on two occasions. But having been raised in Kilmarnock — where he began his career — John spoke with a Scottish accent, prompting the historian Mark Metcalf to title his forthcoming book England’s Scotch Professor.

It is a nickname that captures the intelligence and leadership on the field that made him such a versatile player, with Metcalf saying “he played in every position including in goal”.

When Preston defeated Hyde 26-0 in 1887, in what remains the biggest FA Cup victory, Goodall netted only once because his capabilities were trusted at centre half that day.

“He was an all-round sportsman. A good cricketer, a really good curler, a good shooter and a very good bowls player,” Metcalf says. “He had a natural understanding of the shapes and formations of the games he played in.”

Goodall’s 20 goals in the famed 1888-89 season “came in every shape and form — including slamming the goalkeeper over the line away to Notts County”.

His footballing IQ was exhibited when he penned his 1898 book, Association Football — a quasi-instruction manual on how to play the game, told by a man who seemed to understand the sport better than his colleagues.

Despite his legacy as an Invincible, it was Derby County, and later Watford, that Goodall would call home. He became the latter’s first manager while still playing and guided them to promotion to the top division of the Southern League in his first season in 1904, scoring 20 goals in the process.

His reputation as a gentleman footballer — nicknamed “Honest John” or “Johnny All Good” — suggested he was destined to have success in management, inspiring and mentoring the next crop of greats even while he was still playing. The Derby legend Steve Bloomer, whose total of 314 top-flight goals, scored between 1892 and 1914, is second only to Jimmy Greaves’s 357, credited his success to Goodall’s guidance on several occasions.

“Bloomer was taken under Goodall’s wing and the relationship just blossomed. Bloomer could see in Goodall a pioneer of the game at the time,” says Kalwinder Singh Dhindsa, a Derby fan who has dedicated so much time to preserving the history of the club that he is regarded by John and Archie’s descendants as an “honorary Goodall”.

“Even when Brian Clough came in [as manager] in 1967, there were various photos from the old days of Goodall and others. And he kind of binned all the photos, I think, because he wanted a new generation of players, which did come.

“But it’s off the back of these legends that our football club was formed. Had the Goodalls not come to Derby County Football Club, our club may well have gone out of existence.”

Bloomer — known as the “Destroying Angel” — became Derby’s most prolific player with his 332 goals for the club, likely never to be beaten. In his first spell there he shared a field with John in not only football, but baseball as well.

John Goodall lived out his life in Hertfordshire after a short spell managing RC Roubaix in France. He had been married to Sarah Rawcliffe since his time at Preston and they had eight children.

His retirement years — which began at the age of 45 — were reserved for his love of wildlife and filling his time with some unlikely jobs.

“There may have been a couple of foxes over the time that he tamed and he would literally walk them around the town in Watford on a leash,” says Brian Goodall, John’s great-great-grandson, who grew up hearing stories of his ancestor’s eccentricity as well as his sporting successes.

“It just lets you know that there was more to this guy than football. Clearly he was a right character,” he adds.

As the owner of a bird shop in Hertfordshire, John was pictured in the local paper as the show manager for the Watford and District Cage Bird Society’s annual show. He also spent time as a cricket groundsman for West Herts Sports Club.

John died aged 76 and was buried at Vicarage Road cemetery in 1942, with Watford paying to mark his grave with an extravagant headstone featuring the club’s badge in 2018. His legacy spans the UK, with John regarded as a footballing god at the teams where he spent time. However, many are still unaware of how much English football owes to the Football League’s first genius.

'A Perfect Day' as plaque to first black international footballer is unveiled in Halifax by Viv Anderson

 'A Perfect Day' 


 With thanks to John Harvey for this photograph of Viv Anderson unveiling a plaque to Andrew Watson 


The unveiling of a blue plaque to one its former pupils, Andrew Watson, the first black international footballer, by Viv Anderson, MBE, England’s first such player, proved a historic occasion for Crossley Heath School on Wednesday 19 March. On a beautiful sunny day, the drawing back of the plaque’s curtain, which brought to an end two days of events, was cheered by a large crowd that included another former pupil and, although a different ball shape, sports star in Brian Moore.


                                                            Brian Moore 


The plaque can be viewed by visitors to Skircoat Moor, the heart of Halifax for centuries on which Watson would have had opportunities to engage in games and make friends. Born in Guiana in 1856, his arrival in West Yorkshire and subsequent appearances for Scotland in the 1880s is one of football’s most unique tales as his mother, Anna Rose, was a black woman born into slavery who was freed, along with her mother Minkle, as a young girl.

Watson’s father, Peter Miller Watson, a wealthy white Scottish solicitor was highly influential in Demerara where the economy was based on sugar grown on cane plantations worked by enslaved labour.

Watson, a cousin to Prime Minister William Gladstone, was extremely fortunate in that, thanks to his father, he was one of the very few illegitimate, mixed-race children to enjoy an excellent education that saw him become a Queen Elizabeth Free Grammar School pupil in Heath, Halifax in 1866. A time when football was emerging to challenge the dominance of rugby.

He became a King’s College pupil in London in 1871 and enrolled four years later at the University of Glasgow, home to Queen’s Park, the first side to prioritise the passing game and the best in the world. Meanwhile, English football with its more individual approach was still struggling to catch up On his debut in 1881 Watson captained Scotland as they thrashed England 6-1. Watson followed this up with two more victories against England. At club level he won the Scottish FA Cup on three occasions.

He later moved south, playing for the famous amateur side Corinthians where he encouraged players to combine together. He then represented Bootle, then Merseyside’s number 1, where he became the first black man to become a football administrator, investor and match official.

Little wonder that alongside Pele he is rightly regarded as the most influential black footballer of all time.

All these exploits and the background to them were outlined to a range of pupils within the school on the 18th and 19th March by football historians Llew Walker, author of A Straggling Life – Andrew Watson, Bill Hern, author of Football’s Black Pioneers, Richard McBrearty, curator of the Scottish Football Museum and whose work has probably done more than anyone to bring Watson ‘back to life.’ Last, but not least, Mark Metcalf, who lives less than a mile from the school and came up with the idea of a plaque and who with the backing of headteacher Dean Jones and the school as whole put it into practice. All four also spoke at a well-attended pie and pie fund raising supper on the Tuesday night in the school main hall.

On the Wednesday lunch time, Viv Anderson, twice a European Cup winner with Nottingham Forest who became England’s first black player when he represented England against Czechoslovakia in 1978 and went on to play 29 times more, was warmly received when he spoke to 500+ pupils within the sports hall. Since when a further 116 black and ethnic minority players have followed him including just last week Myles Lewis-Skelly, a full back like Anderson.




Then after signing autographs, he was joined outside at the pupils’ entrance gate on Skircoat Moor by Mr. Jones, Brian Moore and the four historians along with the following additional speakers: - Halifax Town manager Sam Millington, local councillor Colin Hutchinson and Virginia Lloyd, Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire

After revealing the plaque to the world Anderson, who admitted he had never heard of Watson until six months earlier, commented that “Watson must have been very strong willed as back in the 1800s then it must have been difficult for him but he got through it and I am full of admiration for him.” Anderson also praised his international colleagues Cyril Regis and Lawrie Cunningham who he just beat to become England’s first black player.


                                      Viv Anderson, Dean Jones and Mark Metcalf 

Dean Jones commented that: “pupils have been able to connect with him as we are a really diverse school, so to be able to champion your own heritage then we can relate to that. Pupils also love sport and to have a sporting icon associated with their school also makes us all really proud. “

A theme that was continued by a school student Ibrahim “we learnt today about Andrew Watson and Viv Anderson and it is a big inspiration about how they dealt with racism during their matches.”

Whilst Grace told the press that “I am a big advocate for women’s football and it has always been a dream to make a change in football and Viv and Andrew both did that and will inspire me each day to work on women’s football.”

The event drew considerable media coverage including a 3-minute evening feature on BBC Look North and articles in The Daily Mail and Sunday Mirror.

Mark Metcalf, who became a big admirer of Anderson when he witnessed him face down racists at the Newcastle v Forest game in 1977, said “it had been a perfect day.”



Monday, 24 March 2025

Ellen Strange: Final resting place of murdered woman honoured

 

Ellen Strange: Final resting place of murdered woman honoured

Bury Times

http://www.burytimes.co.uk/news/25026364.ellen-strange-final-resting-place-murdered-woman-honoured/




The resting place of a woman who was killed in Bury around 300 years ago has been found and honoured with a moving ceremony.

Ellen Strange is believed to have been murdered by her husband, John Broadley, in January 1761 on Holcombe Moor.

She has since become a symbol for victims of domestic abuse in the Bury area and beyond.

Each July, a group of people honour her and other victims with an annual memorial walk up Holcombe Hill where an ancient cairn stands for people to leave flowers and trinkets.

Her final resting place had remained a mystery until recently, when it was located in the graveyard of Emmanuel Church on Chapel Lane in Holcombe.

Around fifteen people gathered in the cemetery on Thursday, March 20 to mark the discovery. 




Members from Breightmet Butterflies, a women’s support group based in Bolton, planted a rosemary tree to signify love and remembrance.




Church reader Michael Burton led the outdoor ceremony and spoke candidly about people “never really knowing what happens behind closed doors” and how awareness of domestic abuse has changed over recent decades.

Francesca Platt, the co-founder of Breightmet Butterflies shared an emotive speech.

She said: “Each year we do the memorial walk and read out a list of domestic abuse victims. Each time, it seems to go on forever and never gets any shorter.”

Mr Michael Burton also read several prayers to honour all victims of domestic abuse and the importance of advocacy.



Flowers were laid on Ellen’s grave by Karen Hope from Bolton’s Endeavour Project which supports all victims of domestic abuse and their pets.

The small stone is only recognisable by the engraving ‘1024 A’.

Journalist Mark Metcalf was also at the event and has previously made a short film about Ellen's life and death.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPMaOEroepU&ntb=1&msockid=64c67bee08ba11f0878486890c8a7b6b

He said: “I grew up with domestic abuse in the home and when I worked as a factory shop steward [union representative], I saw the wider impact. Women would end up taking time off and losing their jobs due to abuse.

“It’s an issue of great importance and we must keep raising awareness.”

Coventry City 3 Sunderland 0

 Any flickering hopes of automatic promotion for Sunderland were blown away by a rampant Coventry City side whose late run looks like taking them into the play off spots where if the two sides do meet again then the Wearsiders will have to play considerably better if they hope to reverse this heavy defeat.

Having said that Coventry have lost on their last two trips to Wembley, whereas the Black Cats have won on their last two visits. 

Meanwhile, off the pitch the animosity between the supporters, which began when Jimmy Hill intervened to prevent a possible third goal from Bristol City at Highfield Road in 1977 that would have sent the Sky Blues, rather than Sunderland, down, continues to grow. Police intervention was needed afterwards to prevent fighting. 

All of which means that should Coventry face Sunderland at the Stadium of the Light then allowing Sky Blues fans to be seated above home fans in the North Stand will raise the possibility of missiles again being thrown down with possible serious injuries. 





CALDERDALE TRADES UNION COUNCIL PUBLIC EVENTS IN APRIL, MAY AND JUNE

 

CALDERDALE TRADES UNION COUNCIL PUBLIC EVENTS IN APRIL, MAY AND JUNE

MONDAY 28th APRIL

WORKERS’ MEMORIAL DAY

12.30pm at WMD plinth next to Halifax Central Library

Various speakers and wreath laying

See CTUC film on WMD – REMEMBER THE DEAD AND FIGHT FOR THE LIVING https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLyeMYnpVjo

SUNDAY 4TH MAY

May Day celebrations 2pm at Hebden Bridge Trades Club

WOMEN AND THE CAMPAIGN FOR DEMOCRACY  – Judy Cox, Jill Liddington, Jenny Shepherd and Christine of Forus Tree

Watch Judy Cox on women at the EP Thompson event in 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqrVpyWVzp8&t=34s

FRIDAY 30TH MAY

6.30pm start – JAW, JAW or WAR, WAR?

Professor Paul Rogers

Alex Gordon, RMT and Stop the War Coalition https://www.facebook.com/reel/603624528583689

At Calderdale Industrial Museum

Watch an earlier CTUC talk by Andrew Feinstein https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNpv82dKVqs&t=47s

THURSDAY 12th JUNE

INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOUR

4.30PM at Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapelyard

Heys Lane, HX2 7TR England

Wreath laying for 7 worked to death orphans buried in the cemetery

Speakers to include 17-year-old Charlie Metcalf, Dan Whittall (NEU) and, hopefully, UNICEF

Watch this CTUC video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdcrdIlxs60&t=95s

FRIDAY 20 JUNE

6.30pm start – 100th anniversary celebrations: Halifax and the successful strike in 1925 by textile workers in West Yorkshire  Read more at:- https://markwrite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/halifaxbooklet.pdf

Speakers – Keith Laybourn and Alan Fowler

At the CALDERDALE INDUSTRIAL MUSEUM

Contact CTUC on Nigel 07709 684473 or Mark on 07392 852561 info@calderdaletuc.org.uk

Friday, 21 March 2025

GREEN FOR GROW - £2,500 needed of £6,000 to make a unique farming film

 

£2,500 NEEDED TO MAKE A UNIQUE FILM ON FOOD & FARMING

TWO WALKS WITH SOIL SCIENTIST CHARLIE CLUTTERBUCK IN LANCASHIRE ON JUNE 7th & JULY 10th                                           

https://youtu.be/t3YgaP9Xev0

Just Grow to Eat 

Aims

We aim to produce a 30min film explaining what is going in Britain’s countryside today - ‘far from the madding crowd’.

There are major land issues that will determine where we get our food from in the future, and how and why we should produce more here.

To further that debate, this film could be used by communities or online, so that food & farming becomes part of our discourse about the future of the UK.

Plan

We need to raise £6000 to pay for production costs that include a director, presenter, voiceover and old footage. We have already received a donation of £3,500, leaving a total of £2,500 to be raised.

Join one of two walks

We are planning two tours in the Lancashire countryside on Saturday 7th June in Slaidburn and Thursday 10th July in Barley for filming more about what is going on. Anybody making a small contribution can join these tours. They will start at 11.00am and last till 3 pm. Moderate but hilly walking conditions. If you’d like to come along on the walks please make contact asap. Ltd places.

The full film will include questions suitable for debate and further links to follow up.

Watch a short promotional film at:- https://youtu.be/t3YgaP9Xev0

Any questions or for more details please contact Charlie on charlie@sutainablefood.com or Mark Metcalf metcalfmc@outlook.com 07392 852561

Funds can be donated at M C Metcalf sort code 60-09-27 Account number 77358244

The producers of the film are Mark Metcalf and Dave Hackney of The Digital Cortex https://www.thedigitalcortex.com who have worked on a number of short film projects including works on Workers’ Memorial Day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLyeMYnpVjo               

Child Labour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdcrdIlxs60

Junior Doctors Strike https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA23wwcQTjY

The pair are currently editing a film on Bradford’s Mohammad Taj, TUC President in 2013-14.

For many more works go to:- https://www.youtube.com/@markmetcalf07/videos