2013-06-20T02:31:04-04:00 Aisha Gani http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=aisha-gani Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Aisha Gani Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1328072 2012-03-07T18:23:52-05:00 2012-05-07T05:12:02-04:00

Aisha Gani http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aisha-gani/ erupted on Tuesday evening, releasing a torrent of charged particles that could have many implications on our infrastructure.

According to NASA, the first of the Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) released from solar flares is travelling faster than 1300 miles per second.

What is interesting is that it was only last month when senior MPs released a report on how critical national technologies and infrastructure are vulnerable to the effects of nuclear weapons exploded at altitude, and even to severe space weather.

In the report entitled, Developing Threats: Electro-Magnetic Pulses (EMP) the Defence Select Committee said that, "there must be a clear line of responsibility within the MoD; an appearance is given that the MoD is unwilling to take these threats seriously."

Significantly, it is stated in the report that the likelihood of a severe space weather event is assessed to be moderate to high over the next five years, with the potential to cause damage to electrically conducting systems such as power grids, pipelines and signalling circuits. Little did they know that it would come so soon. Even if it is not an extreme event this time, it demonstrates our lack of preparedness.

Chair of the Committee James Arbuthnot MP said, "space weather is a global threat and may affect some regions and countries simultaneously." He said that the government appears complacent on the threat and added, "it is time that the government began to approach this matter with the seriousness it deserves."

The report recommends that the UK's electrical grid and infrastructure is made as resilient as possible, and is carried out in a matter of urgency as, "in the event of severe space weather, even hardened satellite technology might be at risk of degradation."

The potential for a space weather event has always been prevalent, but the damage and vulnerability to space weather is likely to be exacerbated due to technological advances: microchips have become smaller and more advanced, and this is a particular hazard for satellites and our GPS systems, which are exposed to the greatest effects of space weather.

But it's not just galactic storms that can cause damage on an astronomic level. Interestingly, with regards to a deliberate attack, the report singles out Iran as potentially posing 'a realistic threat in the future', explaining that a single High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) weapon detonated 25-500 miles above the Earth could create an EMP. Although such HEMP bursts would not be identical to those of severe space weather, it could be faster and more intense, potentially making it more destructive. The report also explains that it is possible to build non-nuclear devices which can disrupt electronic systems, though so far only over a limited area.

According to the US National Research Council, the wider societal and economic costs of severe a geomagnetic storm occurring today would be $1-2 tn.

The National Grid has admitted that in the event of an extremely severe storm, long-term blackouts could be a possibility. In the extreme event that all transformers at the node are damaged by geomagnetically induced currents (GICs), this could result in local areas being disconnected, with estimates that, "the probability there would be a disconnection event is 62% for England and Wales and 91% for GB as a whole."

The most powerful solar superstorm in recorded history was the 1859 Carrington event, observed by Richard Christopher Carrington, and he recorded how white-light solar flares - magnetic explosions on the sun - caused a coronal mass ejection (CME) to travel directly toward earth. According to NASA, skies all over the planet erupted in red, green and purple auroras and telegraph systems disconnected. Spark discharges shocked the telegraph operators and set the telegraph paper on fire.

In July 1962 the United States conducted an experiment, detonating a 1.4 megaton nuclear weapon (Starfish Prime) 250 miles above the Pacific Ocean, around 900 miles from Hawaii. As a result, the EMP caused damage to electrical equipment in Hawaii: knocking out streetlights and setting off fires.

No one has yet determined what the exact impact of such an event would be. But what is certainly clear is that there has not been much preparation or discussion about the threat of Electro Magnetic Pulses from solar superstorms, despite being warned by scientists about the imminent event. Instead, much more attention has been paid to the risk of a deliberate attack from 'Rogue States' - that don't even have nukes yet. ]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.1102393 2011-11-18T19:25:53-05:00 2012-01-18T05:12:01-05:00

Aisha Gani http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aisha-gani/
So, 21.9% of 16-24 year olds are jobless. This is an increase of 67,000 compared to the three months before June - a record rate since current methods of measuring began in 1992. Yes, this figure includes 286,000 people that are in full-time education looking for part-time work, but this does not detract from the fact that so many young people have been left in an incomprehensible situation.

In the third quarter of this year, the economy only grew 0.5%. And in the words of Chuka Umunna on Newsnight this week, 'over the last 12 months, only one economy has grown slower than this in the G7 - and that was Japan, which suffered an earthquake.' What's more, The Bank of England forecast of growth for 2012 is only 1%, a fraction of what was hoped for.

However, firing facts and figures doesn't solve anything. Quoting abstract numbers doesn't reveal the true impact of such high youth unemployment figures. The Government initiative to help 350,000 young people into work is just another example of this approach: sounds great on paper, but it doesn't mean much to the lost generation. It's just fighting numbers with more numbers. And as ever, such responses are further blighted by the politicking of ministers; Chris Grayling has pointed to the Eurozone debt crisis for this dismal situation we are in. That's just not good enough. We need to stop and just think about the impact on individuals and communities.

Sometimes it seems as though politicians just speak louder and louder, no one is listening to one another, and in the end everyone seems to be shouting into thin air: leaving everyone drowned out.

But who is this 'lost generation'? This generation 'X' or 'Y'? Surely terms like this are just cultivating a defeatist mentality. Has society as a whole just written off my generation?

Even with the London Olympics coming next summer, young people I speak to seem indifferent about this and the prospects, if any, it will bring them. It just so happens, this week also marked 100 days since the August Riots, that left so many of England's cities ransacked and burning. Speaking to young people in Hackney, I was told that come the Olympics everything that happened this summer and the underlying problems that have been bubbling away, will be brushed under the carpet. I was told that despite living only two minutes away from the stadium, they didn't know they could apply for Olympic jobs. An A-level student told me that they feared that by applying for an Olympic job in the summer, they would not be able to apply for 16-19 Bursary Fund, which has replaced the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). So once again, this is a demonstration of the lack of communication. We're hedging our bets on this one event but in reality it will only paper over the cracks- temporarily.

Anyone that has visited a Job Centre recently cannot help but notice the number of young people, even graduates with good degrees, waiting to sign on. And if you're lucky enough, you could get a job with a minimum wage of £6.08 - a wage that doesn't even cover the cost of a travelcard. This is enough to sap the motivation of anyone.
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Aisha Gani http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aisha-gani/
But it has been over 400 years since the failed Gunpowder plot of 1605, when Guy Fawkes was arrested for high treason; caught guarding the barrels of gunpowder that had been placed by his fellow plotters in a cellar beneath the House of Lords. Since then, we have continued to celebrate the fact that Parliament was not blown up sky high and that the Puritan King James I survived.

Tonight, we'll be gathered around bonfires - historically topped off with an effigy of the Pope or the Roman Catholic Guy Fawkes - and watch fireworks displays and be saying 'Oooh' and 'Ahhh' in unison, whilst munching on hotdogs and roasted nuts. So it is rather paradoxical then, that just last week the seriously outdated ban on the monarch being married to a Roman Catholic was lifted, relating to laws including the 1689 Bill of Rights and the 1701 Act of Settlement. It is hard to believe, but even I had more of a chance of marrying an heir to the throne than a Roman Catholic before these changes.

Historically, the festivities on the 5 November bound a nation with a very diverse Protestant tradition against 'the other', as the historian Linda Colley has explained in her book Britons. People dragged around the condemned straw effigies whilst shouting xenophobic chants of 'no-popery' in the streets of London. Thankfully, this isn't what we do now. This isn't why we take part. So what does Bonfire Night mean for us in 2011?

Most would say 'not much'. It's not a religious or political event. Now it's more of a communal event leaving us with a warm and fuzzy feeling, allowing us to just soak up the atmosphere whilst wrapped up in our scarves, hats and gloves. That's if your local council hasn't cut funding for this year's fireworks display on the local green.

However, what is striking is the way that Guy Fawkes as a symbol has been refashioned and repackaged recently. It has become a political symbol again. In an iconic moment in the film V for Vendetta, the image of marching Londoners wearing the ominous Guy Fawkes mask to Parliament sticks. The non-violent crowd wearing the sinister mask make the statement of collective anonymity and a revolutionary stand against the corruption of political institutions.

What's more, the symbolism of Guy Fawkes has been adopted by the global movement of anti-capitalism protesters. Whilst on the other hand it's a branding that the right-wing blogger Guido Fawkes has adopted, saying that Guy Fawkes has the reputation 'as the only man to enter parliament with honest intentions'. No matter how twisted, it goes to show how Guy Fawkes has been adopted as the symbol of the average man, or the 99% against the elite institutions. But it'll be a while before any passing bankers or politicians will ask for 'A penny for the Guy?' from us.

So commemorating 5 November leaves us with mixed feelings whilst we hold our sparklers. We are celebrating the survival of the Houses of Parliament, the symbol of our democracy, but have pangs of guilt, knowing that Fawkes was tortured and then hung, drawn and quartered.]]>