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Take me down to Waterfront City

Thursday March 13th 2008

This proposal for the design of Waterfront City to be built between Dubai and Abu Dhabi is just awesome looking. I find that seeing structures like that becoming a reality, breaking from the realms of sci-fi movie CGI, is quite exciting.

Having watched documentaries on the construction of the Palm Islands off Dubai, I think it’s breathtaking what feats of engineering can be achieved when money is no object.

Dubai isn’t the kind of place I could see myself living, but my uncle Rick lives out there and he’s an excellent photographer, so I must try to get in touch with him to see if he has a gallery online somewhere. It almost seems like no matter which direction you pointed your camera in, you’d take a picture of the most sensational skyline.

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Better off, but at a cost

Wednesday March 12th 2008

According to the BBC’s budget calculator we’re going to be about £350 better off next year, assuming things stay the same. They wont, of course, and I don’t exactly put much faith in these off the cuff budget-o-matic things.

Skimming through what the 2008 budget has to offer and it’s clear, too, that Labour have only paid lip service to the environment. It’s been well documented that the aviation industry gets massive tax breaks on fuel, while the railway industry takes a hit, and I had hoped that something might be done to level the playing field. Not so.

The car tax changes are a cop-out, too. Why not hammer the gas guzzlers with road tax hikes?, rather than the poxy £950 “showroom tax” that’ll most likely be absorbed by dealer discounts or cash back incentives.

Environmentally, it looks like they bottled it – either that or they’re saving their big (false) green promises for election year. Change, as ever, happens at glacial pace.

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