Tough on clouds and the causes of clouds

Whilst we must do everything we can to actively encourage sunshine this summer, the struggle is not an easy or an equal one. Clouds so often have the upper hand, and worse - are actively encouraged in some quarters. We must discourage the kind of thinking that risks leading us into yet another solar downturn, and extra vigilant in the current climate to guard against sentiments that pose a threat to our solar liberty.

Although we disagree with the The Cloud Appreciation Society on fundamentals, we respect their right to exist and to pursue their own agenda. The official body no doubt has pure (albeit misguided) intentions. But any movement will have its extremists; and we must not provide a platform for radical nebulists who are doing their utmost to undermine the nation's natural antipathy to grey sky thinking, thus allowing outside aggressors (frontal depressions) to lay siege to our skies. It is surely no accident that the year after the Cloudspotters published their manifesto was one of the wettest, cloudiest summers on record.

But not Cloudspotters alone. Those who have gardens and think more of their lawns than the nation's solar liberties, or those who complain it’s too hot after three days of sun, or claim we ‘wouldn't appreciated it if it was like this all the time’, should be forced to keep their views to themselves, instead of encouraging the kind of weather that needs no encouragement in these isles. Remember - Careless talk costs summers.

To learn more about our views on Clouds consult our Frequently Asked Questions

http://www.lovesunshine.org/

Rage, rage against the dying of the light

The sunshine is a glorious birth;
But yet I know, where’er I go,
That there hath past away a glory from the earth.
Wordsworth (‘Immortality Ode’)

January 23rd has been calculated to be the most miserable day of the year. Christmas has gone, the credit card bills arrive just as the new year resolutions depart, the weather is bleak, the nights still long. It was the day I was born. In a suburb of Croydon. A suburb of a suburb. It pissed down with rain that night. It’s a trauma I’ve never quite got over. Rudely ejected into a cold, wet, dark world. I wanted to climb back into the warm, and have been yearning for the warmth ever since.

Last year I did the sensible thing on my birthday (the big 4-0), and flitted off to then sun. A week spent in sun-lounger stupour under the blue skies of Sharm el Sheikh was the perfect remedy for anniversary angst.

This year, I’m in London, having failed to secure a sunlit birthday bolthole. But also with important work to do. As chief architect of the sunlit utopia we must build, there is much to turn my hand to in these dim dark days. The solar struggle goes on…

Announcing the launch of Scorcher 2008

The UK summer of 2007 was unforgivable - the worst since records began. Those who weren't flooded out of their house and home, suffered the misery of perpetual grey skies, driving rain, and day-time television. Life was put on hold for a whole season. Instead of BBQs we had bed socks; instead of sandals we had souwesters; and we were forced to cower inside instead of seizing the day beneath the benign face of Heaven.

This simply cannot be allowed to happen again.

LoveSunshine believes sunshine in summer is a right, not a privilege, and that nothing should come between a Brit and his or her sunshine. We demand our sacred rights to go out in the midday sun, and broil ourselves as red as the Roast Beef of Old England. Our Scorcher 2008 Campaign is dedicated to defending these rights, and doing everything in our power to ensure our enjoyment of a just and equitable allocation of sunshine.

There is no room for complacency. Nothing can be left to chance within the current climate. Over the coming months we will be taking measures to promote our cause, lobby for our demands, and make this and every summer from now on a scorcher.

These are early days, and there is much to be done: but the first blow has been struck. Follow the campaign here, spread the word, and join the crusade for a scorcher.

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are reaching for that star...
http://www.lovesunshine.org/