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Diversifying Public Ownership

Andrew Cumbers | April 18, 2017

This paper by Andrew Cumbers, published alongside three others, is one of many proposals for a systemic alternative we have published or will be publishing here at the Next System Project. You can read it below, or download the PDF. We have commissioned these papers in order to facilitate an informed and comprehensive discussion of “new systems,” and as part of this effort, we have also created a comparative framework which provides a basis for evaluating system proposals according to a common set of criteria.

Core Goals

This paper advocates a form of economic democracy based around diverse forms of public ownership. It does not prioritize one particular scale but recognizes the importance of decentralized forms of public ownership, to encourage greater public participation and engagement, mixed with higher level state ownership, for strategic sectors and planning for key public policy goals (e.g. tackling climate change). It takes a deliberately pluralistic definition of public ownership, recognizing both state ownership and the role that cooperatives and employee ownership could play in a more democratic economy. The main aim of the proposal outlined here is to enhance democratic participation and collective knowledge formation in relation to the economy. The paper outlined is premised on the principal that increased privatization of the economy is leading to growing inequalities, inappropriate policy formation, and decision-making in the interest of wealthy elites at the expense of a broader common good. In contrast, there is considerable evidence that greater collective ownership of the economy will lead to more progressive, egalitarian, and socially just outcomes that also offer more effective solutions to critical public policy problems, such as dealing with the effects of climate change.1

Major Changes

The modern contemporary economy is increasingly owned and controlled by a wealthy elite. Since the mid 1980s, a global privatization agenda has entrenched power by concentrating ownership even further. Although this is a global phenomenon, including in the US, the best exemplar of this trend is the UK, where the privatization programs pursued by Conservative governments diminished individual shareholding and increased corporate and foreign ownership of the economy (see Figure 1). Ironically, much of this is accounted for by foreign state owned, or partially stated-owned, corporations (e.g. French energy corporation EDF, or the German firm RWE) behaving much like private multinationals.

Different forms of public ownership are advocated for different parts of the economy, but with an emphasis upon the implementation of democratic and decentered institutional frameworks.

More recently, the growing influence of financial interests in economic ownership, notably hedge funds, private equity, and other investment vehicles, has further entrenched short-term rent seeking on behalf of vested interests over longer-term decision making on behalf of the common good. In opposition to these trends, the proposed model here involves developing alternative and more democratic models of economic organization and, in particular, constructing new and diverse forms of public ownership, defined in a broad sense (explained in more detail below). The model involves a mixed economy of varied forms of public ownership, in both planned and regulated market sectors, alongside small privately owned firms. Different forms of public ownership are advocated for different parts of the economy, but with an emphasis upon the implementation of democratic and decentered institutional frameworks. The idea of a “decentered” political economy here is critical and should not be confused with decentralization per se. Decentering can be defined as developing a political economy in which decision-making powers and knowledge formation are dispersed both functionally and geographically among different actors, rather than concentrated within particular groups. Both older forms of socialist central planning and the modern capitalist economy create agglomerations of power within elite groups, under both public and private ownership. An economy organized around public ownership should therefore be one that also disperses administrative units, knowledge production, and competence and has a plurality and diversity of organizations (e.g. mutual bodies, trade union research networks, small business associations, government, and autonomously funded think tanks) to offer alternative and competing interpretations of economic problems. Of course, there are no guarantees in any economic system that elite or special interests cannot capture policy agendas to the detriment of the common good, but dispersing functions, knowledge, and institutional capacity does at least provide important countervailing tendencies.

Principal Means

By public ownership here, I take a deliberately broad definition and prefer the term to that of commons or common ownership. The use of the term “public” is advocated in opposition to “private” in relation to economic ownership and the social relations that underpin the economy. The point here is that the pursuit of public ownership, in its strongest sense, implies an economy which is primarily owned collectively and, more importantly, subject to collective forms of decision making in opposition to corporate or financialized forms of ownership, which, under capitalism, involve the appropriation of both resources and labor for particular interests. Key to what follows here is that “public” includes both state forms of collective ownership but also non-state forms such as cooperatives and worker-owned enterprises. While small private firms are important in driving innovation and entrepreneurship, which helps to ensure dynamism (a key component in an evolving democratic economy), an agreed size threshold could be used to introduce forms of collective public ownership beyond a certain point. This could, in turn, help to prevent labor appropriation, or the emergence of a class of corporate vested interests.

Principles underpinning public ownership model

There are four underpinning principles that should provide the foundation for a publicly owned democratic economy.2  The first is that economic decision making should be dispersed and decentralized as democratically as possible across society, rather than concentrated and centralized in an elite group, whether that is a corporate and financial oligarchy or a board of directors running state enterprises at arm’s length from democratic control (i.e. what became known as the Morrisonian model of British nationalisation post 1945). Second, is a requirement for tolerance, respect, and engagement with different traditions of collective and public ownership. Third is the need for institutional economic forms that promote knowledge, innovation, and deliberation in economic practice. And finally, fourth is the integration of the second and third principles into a requirement for diversity and pluralism in organizational forms.

Delivering on these principles in the context of the current global economy, public ownership should have the following aspirations:

  • To promote greater participation by workers, consumers, and citizens in general economic decision making.
  • To regain the commanding heights of the economy (i.e. take into public ownership industries too strategically important to be left in private hands, such as banking, energy, and other utilities).
  • To facilitate greater local community control over resources, especially in the context of increasingly destructive forms of ownership, such as private equity firms and other asset-stripping forms of private ownership.
  • To redistribute income and wealth through cross-subsidization between sectors and social groups.
  • To secure key environmental and social goals such as combating climate change and addressing growing inequalities.

Forms of ownership

Table 1 provides details of seven broad types of public ownership that are already present in the contemporary economy: full (national) state ownership (FSO), partial state ownership (PSO), regional or subnational state ownership (RSO) (e.g. Scotland, Catalonia, California, Alberta), local or municipal ownership (LMO), employee-owned firms (EO), producer cooperatives (PO), and consumer cooperatives (CO). In practice, there is also a range of hybrids that can be adopted as well as more loosely networked forms of organization that link different localities and communities to provide broader support and resources. There are interesting examples from Latin America of partnership between trade unions, municipal governments, and consumer groups in some remunicipalized public utility sectors such as water (see below). The table also provides an assessment of the role of the different forms of public ownership in promoting democratic engagement and fulfilling key public policy goals.

The table above is based upon my own assessment of the different forms of public ownership from particular country case studies developed at greater length in my book. Historical experience tells us much about the effects of different forms of public ownership. Full public ownership of entire sectors at higher scales (at national or regional levels under FSO or RSO), as occurred in many capitalist and also communist countries between 1945 and 1979, can deliver effective public control to achieve long-term strategic investment and key policy outcomes as evidenced by a variety of countries, from France to South Korea.3 More decentralized forms of public ownership, such as LMOs and the different types of cooperative identified here, are evident in Germany and Denmark, in the successful shift towards renewable energy where local community action and public participation have been important factors in generating progressive change. An important point to make is that there is a wide range of different models of public ownership that can deliver important public policy objectives while still being democratically accountable. There is also a trade-off between delivering very democratic and participatory economic institutions at the local community level (e.g. LMOs, PCs, EOs) and having higher national or even international level institutions (FSO, PSOs) that can undertake strategic initiatives to deal with broader issues of tackling equality and injustice. Regional state ownership models (RSOs) at the sub-national regional level (e.g. Hydro-Quebec, Scottish Water) might combine the best of both worlds—with capacity for higher geographical strategic coordination and closer social proximity to citizens than national level organizations.

Overall, we should aspire towards democratically controlled public ownership that are necessary at higher levels, whilst relinquishing control of other activities, as much as possible, to the local level. However, whatever form of ownership is chosen—and it should be recognized that in practice there are many different combinations—the aspiration should be towards democratic decision making, in which employees, consumers, user groups, and local communities have a voice. Taking an industry into full state ownership (FSO) will, in theory, secure the objectives of influencing key sectors and undertaking longer term strategic planning to secure important goals, such as dealing with climate change, and building and maintaining modern electricity or transport systems. Partial state ownership (PSO) is perhaps the most common form of state ownership in the contemporary economy, largely resulting from partial privatization processes, and is a feature in many European countries. FSOs and PSOs are also less likely to secure greater participation on the part of the ordinary citizen and there is a danger that, over time, they would become captured by elite groups and be subject to the kinds of principal agent problems that have occurred with earlier nationalizations. In the UK, for example, the state-owned electricity generation sector in the 1950s embarked upon a hugely costly program of nuclear power station construction with minimal public engagement where energy generation was made subservient to military objectives.4 On the other hand, it has been argued that more managerial autonomy is important to increase the efficiency of state-owned entities. In practice, these kinds of issues can never be fully eradicated, but the problems can be minimized where management and the workforce are given operational freedom whilst still being more broadly democratically accountable to clearly specified public goals.

The aspiration should be towards democratic decision making, in which employees, consumers, user groups, and local communities have a voice.

The Norwegian state oil company Statoil was a good example in the 1970s of an FSO given day-to-day managerial autonomy but whose remit was framed within a broader context of pursuing progressive social and environmental policies. 5 While local municipal ownership models (LMOs) are spatially closer to local communities and citizens, they also run the risk of capture by elite groups, particularly at the level of city governance for the development of boosterish projects (e.g. gentrification, event-led regeneration, such as Olympic Games hosting) that may benefit particular groups over the more general interest. Cooperative and employee-owned firms (EO, PO, CO) clearly score highest in terms of democratic participation and involvement but arguably will do less well at securing broader policy objectives. While an economy completely composed of decentralized cooperative firms will more than likely shift the overall nature of economic values towards more socially progressive ends, without countervailing forms of ownership, it could also create new hierarchies if some groups (e.g. employees, producer interests) begin to monopolize decision making at the expense of others (e.g. pensioners, the unemployed).

Hybrid public ownership

Recent years have seen considerable experimentation with new forms of public ownership with a pronounced trend towards more hybrid forms of ownership that combine state and non-state forms of collective ownership. Examples of this abound in Latin America, where resistance to privatization, and remunicipalization following successful campaigns, has resulted in the establishment of new public organizations that seem to broaden participation and democracy. A good example was the setting up of a new public corporation, Aguas Argentinas SA in the Greater Buenos Aires region of Argentina. Aguas Argentinas was founded as a response to the failed privatization by a US-led consortium of multinational corporations. And, as such, was a specially created cooperative with shares held jointly by the local authority and the water and sanitation workers trade union. Another example, from the energy sector, is the Mittlegrunden wind farm, constructed off the coast of Copenhagen in 2001 and providing 3 percent of the Danish capital’s electricity needs. Ownership of the wind farm was originally divided fifty-fifty between the city’s own municipal energy company and a specially created cooperative, although recently DONG bought the city council’s stake. As a result, there are 8,700 residents with shares in the project, administered through the bespoke cooperative.

Geographic Scope

Globalization over the period since 1980 has in many ways undermined the sovereignty of national states to effectively manage the economy. The growth of multinational corporations, the increased complexity of commodity chains, and the deregulation (mostly by central state governments themselves) of financial markets have all made it more difficult to construct effective organizational models and systems oriented towards the national scale. However, as the recent financial crisis and subsequent wave of bank nationalizations demonstrated, national states remain the only political actors capable of using their legislative and regulatory powers to enact broader systemic change when economic crises occur. Only within the European Union, inside the Eurozone, have national governments effectively ceded power completely to higher-level supra-state disciplining mechanisms. Though even in these cases, it is dominant national states, notably Germany, that control macroeconomic decision making.

There is no one size fits all institutional design but instead a diverse set of spatial configurations that reflect both social needs and the technical requirements of the economy across different sectors.

With these kinds of caveats in mind, the model proposed here takes the national state economic space as the critical container for alternative forms of public ownership, but is alert to the multi-scalar realities of the contemporary economy. Thus, there is no one size fits all institutional design but instead a diverse set of spatial configurations that reflect both social needs and the technical requirements of the economy across different sectors. Strategies for democratic public ownership will also need to be sensitive to geographical and historical contingency and work with the grain of existing public ownership practice. More decentralized forms of public ownership, organized around cooperatives and local state ownership might work better in federal systems with strong traditions of local mutualism, in countries such as Germany and the United States, than in more centralized economic systems such as the UK, where older forms of public ownership have been highly centralized. But again, this will vary by sector. While democracy is best served by attempting to disperse rather than centralize economic decision-making power, and in many cases through spatial decentralization, the realities of globalization and the complexities of advanced economies mean that there is often, in practice, a trade off between higher-level coordination and local autonomy and participation. This can, of course, be overcome through confederal structures; for example, national publicly owned rail networks might have democratic boards composed of locally and regionally elected consumer representatives.

There is also the thorny issue of the balance between encouraging local autonomy in terms of ownership versus making a commitment to equity and distributional justice. Where it is economically efficient to organize decision making on more localized lines, it would still be necessary to require some forms of centralized coordination and regulation to safeguard the basic economic, social, and cultural rights of each citizen. The US history of racial segregation and discrimination at the local and state level reminds us of the need for clearly defined national (and even international) basic economic and social rights. The latter would infer higher-level state regulation, particularly in sectors that have a direct bearing on human well-being and flourishing, such as health, housing, and energy. Where local public ownership is adopted this would need to be set within frameworks of universal constitutional rights to basic provision at affordable cost across national state jurisdictions. Moreover, even if we accept the basic principles of decentered decision making, there will still need to be some democratically elected way of dealing with the broader macroeconomic decisions at higher scales—at the national, supranational (e.g. EU), and even global level; for example, in the case of a tax on financial speculation.

Table 2 provides an illustrative sketch of how these different forms of public ownership might be applied in practice across the range of economic sectors. The list is far from exhaustive, but shows how a very different kind of economy might be built around collective forms of ownership and institutions intended to benefit the community or “general interest,” rather than being dominated by and exploited on behalf of elite groups. Profiteering and speculation in the financial sector have created massive inequities between different social groups over the past three decades without adding to the general common wealth. As is now well recognized, the private and deregulated model precipitated the financial crisis and subsequent recession in the years after 2008. In its place we could develop a very different publicly owned sector.

A mix of ownership forms would be consonant with the different needs and uses of money and credit. State ownership, at a range of scales, could be used to secure broader macroeconomic objectives, relating to stabilizing the economy. This could be done in the manner currently undertaken by central banks, but requiring the re-democratization of these institutions away from the “independent” control of financial and economic elites. Thus putting social goals (job creation and reducing unemployment) ahead of austerity and monetary policy driven by inflation. Below the national or federal level, regional state reserve banks (the model of Germany’s Landesbanken is relevant here) could be tasked with securing sustainable and balanced local and regional economic development. In the US context, this might mean more autonomy for existing regional Federal Reserve banks. We should push for much greater political interference in central bank decision making, but this should be of the deliberative kind that involves institutions and opens them up to broader scrutiny. Technical committees and managerial appointees could still be drawn from the economics profession (broadly conceived, rather than reduced to the paradigm of mainstream neoclassical economics), but legislators should set strategic priorities. National and regional development banks, also under state ownership, could be tasked with investing in key sectors and initiatives, and promoting training, research and development, for example, in renewable energy or medical research.

We should push for much greater political interference in central bank decision making, but this should be of the deliberative kind that involves institutions and opens them up to broader scrutiny.

Such banks should not be beholden to, or seen as compatible with, private, commercially driven banks, as seems to be the case with many existing state banks across the globe. Instead, they should be driven by a broader public interest requirement, and tasked to meet particular social and environmental goals, rather than operating on narrow (short term), profit-making criteria. This could include supporting local community development banks and credit unions, or democratized banks. The utilities are another example of a set of strategic activities that require management by and for the community as a whole. Many are, of course, natural monopolies—such as public transport, electricity, and water supplies—and also require higher levels of coordination to deliver economies of scale. But these can, in some instances, be combined with more local and decentralized forms. Water supplies, for example, can be organized effectively at the municipal or regional scales, as is the case in many European countries. Power generation needs national and even supranational coordination of grid networks to deliver key public policy goals such as tackling climate change and eradicating fuel poverty. Once again, this could be achieved through confederal structures, with national entities constituted by democratically elected representatives of local and regional public companies (see the Danish case below). However, more localized forms of ownership could be developed for particular aspects of the sector, notably community ownership of renewables schemes.

Public transportation and public services such as health and education should be broadly organized in the public sector, but these could take a range of different forms, from local community cooperatives to more national forms (such as educational authorities and basic healthcare) where the demands of distributive justice, efficiency, and cross-subsidization of poorer groups warrant higher scales of organization. These are sectors where private ownership and market-based forms of delivery should be kept to a minimum, or even outlawed because of the importance of care and nurturing in sectors where social rights should take precedence over monetary valuation and commodification. The US health care system provides the test case example of how not to do things in this respect. Not only do its market-based values infringe on human dignity and the right to decent care, but it is also very inefficient, with price fixing and significant public investment serving to hide market failure, ultimately leading to poor outcomes.

Housing is a sector where a more diverse mix of ownership forms would be preferable. Private housing should be allowed but legislation and regulation (e.g. community land trusts, land value taxes) could be used to challenge its hegemonic and privileged status and free the sector from speculative and financialized interests. A more regulated system, allowing private ownership but reducing speculation, would keep assets at affordable levels for communities and actually promote the rights of all individuals and families to decent housing, whether in the public or private system. This would provide real consumer choice, rather than the faux choice of speculator driven subprime markets.

Social housing needs to be a lifestyle choice possibility rather than the stigma of a residualized underclass.

An important element of this would be to channel more finance and investment towards a variety of forms of collective ownership. While cooperative forms could be encouraged, more democratic forms of state ownership as an alternative to mortgage thralldom should be an aspiration of progressive housing governance. Social housing needs to be a lifestyle choice possibility rather than the stigma of a residualized underclass. This is also a sector where hybrid forms of public ownership, part local state and part cooperative ownership, could play an important part. Similar arguments can be made about the need for more public regulation and control of land, although there is not the space here to do justice to what is a massive area of controversy and public concern.

More diverse forms of collective ownership could also be given greater encouragement in consumer goods sectors, where competitive markets perform the most important function in providing market signals and stimulating innovation. There are plenty of examples of retail chains in Western Europe and Scandinavia that are already cooperatively or employee owned and which provide a high level of service and quality of product (the John Lewis chain in the UK being a prominent example). These could, however, be subject to a stricter set of ethical rules around employment conditions, fair trade, and environmental best practice.

Temporal Scope

Two real world examples typify the spirit of the approach suggested here: Norway’s model of oil development and the Danish experiences of renewable energy.6 Both are good examples of public ownership regimes, which, in different contexts and taking different forms, have strong elements of economic democracy and public participation built into them. They highlight in particular the extent to which very different geographical and institutional configurations can provide more participatory forms of economic governance that challenge elite capture. While they both emanate from the energy sector, the key themes underpinning them, regarding the mix between state regulation and legislation to foster both democratic public ownership but also public participation and collective learning processes, are replicable. Hence, encasing public ownership within an active civil society is replicable elsewhere.

Norway’s oil experience: state ownership, active civil society, and deliberative democracy

The “Norwegian model” is rightly acclaimed around the world for its approach to North Sea oil and gas development, particularly for dispersing the beneﬁts throughout the country’s economy and society, rather than allowing resources to be captured for vested interests. After almost forty years of oil development, Norway remains one of the most egalitarian societies on the planet, and compares particularly favorably with the UK. It consistently ranks at the top of the United Nations Human Development Index (number one for the most recent rankings in 2014).7 Norway’s careful husbandry of its oil interests has been a critical part of this story. Its experience is particularly interesting for us here because of the nature of state intervention and public ownership in the development of its oil and gas resources.

When the ﬁrst discoveries were made in the 1960s, the approach adopted had much in common with Third World countries in dealing with the power of the international oil cartel: a nationalized entity was set up using a “top-down” model of state ownership, which was led initially by elite groups within the central state apparatus.

The transition to a democratic, publicly owned economy envisaged here would take considerable political mobilization.

However, over time, as the magnitude of oil resources became apparent, a much more wide-ranging debate over the impact of oil on Norwegian society and culture developed that went beyond narrow economic considerations. In the process, some critical institutions and mechanisms emerged that have embedded oil development within a more deliberative and democratic framework, where more progressive agendas have developed with regard to the environment, social development, and workplace health and safety (see below). Critical to the creation of this approach was an active civil society and a long tradition of viewing natural resource extraction in terms of broader community and social benefits. This political and cultural context has inscribed an important set of ethical and institutional norms regarding the relationship between natural resources and economic interests.

Influenced by the American progressive journalist Henry George, the Norwegian justice minister, Johan Carlsberg, believed firmly that the economic rent emanating from natural resources should not be captured by any private individual or group of private interests but should be the “common property of the people.” 8 Norwegian oil policy also subsequently created a number of other important mechanisms and institutions to secure the national collective interest and ensure that society as a whole both benefited from oil and gas but also shared in the public debate during the 1970s about the future direction of the nation’s resources.

These included the creation of the state’s direct ﬁnancial interest (SDFI) in oil development in 1985. The latter was established because of fears that Statoil was becoming too powerful and is now managed by a state-owned company, These included the creation of the state’s direct ﬁnancial interest (SDFI) in oil development in 1985. The latter was established because of fears that Statoil was becoming too powerful and is now managed by a state-owned company, Petero. A separate state oil fund—known as the “Government Pension Fund Global”— was established in 1990, which is currently worth around £600 billion.9 The fund has recently been subject to much tougher ethical investment rules including divestment from coal-fired energy, allowing it to play a progressive outward facing role as one of the largest global investment funds. Two other important institutions were critical in the creation of a more progressive and democratic Norwegian approach to managing oil resources. The first was the creation of a Petroleum Directorate as a separate organizational actor from Statoil. Petroleum Directorate was charged with administering, regulating, and controlling oil and gas resources independent of the oil companies.

While Statoil was always meant to be a commercial operation at arm’s length from government, the company had to present an annual report to parliament on “significant issues relating to principles and policy.”

One of the consequences of this was the development of the safest offshore oil and gas regime in the world from the early 1980s onwards. But the Directorate also developed its own professional and technical expertise in all matters to do with oil. The second feature was the establishment of what became known as the Paragraph 10 clause in the legislation that created Statoil. While Statoil was always meant to be a commercial operation at arm’s length from government, the clause outlined that the company had to present an annual report to parliament on “signiﬁcant issues relating to principles and policy.”10 The effect was that the company, and more broadly, the impact of oil on Norway, was the subject of continuing scrutiny and debate into the 1990s.

A whole series of committees in the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) set up their own consultation exercises, including Social Affairs, Foreign Affairs, and Local Government, to consider all aspects of oil development, in the process drawing upon a diverse range of knowledge and expertise from all sectors of civil society, including professional associations, trade unions, fishing and farming interests, church groups, and trade unions. Overall, there was an impressive process of wide-ranging deliberation on questions of oil policy, as well as collective learning, so that many parliamentarians also developed extensive knowledge of oil affairs. The outcome was probably the most progressive approach to energy development ever seen, which involved the following radical proposals: Norway committed itself to a “socialised” model of oil, key elements of which were the priority that oil should create a “qualitatively better society” and, crucially, a “moderate rate of oil extraction,” with a 90 million tonne ceiling that was not breached until the early 1990s.11 Additionally, emphasis was put on developing the resource in the most environmentally friendly manner, as well as using revenues from oil extraction to boost the country’s spending on international development.

Denmark’s wind power revolution: a lesson in diversified and decentered public ownership

Where Norway’s example shows how an older form of top-down public ownership—a state enterprise—can be embedded in democratic and participatory frameworks of governance, the Danish experience with renewable energy points us in the direction of a diversified and innovative mix of forms of public or common ownership that might enrich democratic processes in the economy. In the field of energy policy, Denmark has been held up as a model by the International Energy Agency for its far-sighted approach to tackling climate change.

The country went from being completely dependent on foreign oil and gas for its energy needs in the 1970s, to a situation where renewable energy now accounts for over 20 percent of primary energy production.12  The cornerstone of this success was the emergence of a wind power industry, which has not only been at the forefront of Denmark’s strategy to increase self-reliance and reduce CO2 emissions but has also created 20,000 jobs and has given the country’s firms 50 percent of the world market for wind turbine manufacturing.13

The Danish experience with renewable energy points us in the direction of a diversified and innovative mix of forms of public or common ownership.

This success has been based upon public ownership and planned interventions, but is neither a top-down, state-driven process, nor a grassroots achievement. Instead, it reflects the combination of state action, grassroots social mobilization, and a diversified set of public ownership arrangements operating at different geographical scales. While it reflects some important historical and geographically specific factors, it also offers some important insights for developing more sustainable and democratically based forms of economy.

The oil crises of the 1970s exposed Denmark’s vulnerability to imported oil, accounting for around 90 percent of the country’s energy demand by 1973.14 Rising oil prices over the course of the decade prompted a rethink of Danish energy policy. While the country lacked the vast oil and gas resources of the UK and Norway, there were still important discoveries in the Danish North Sea that enabled the country to reduce its dependence on imports during the 1980s. However, Denmark still faced significant problems and some hard choices in
achieving long-term security of energy supply.

In this context, there was an intense political struggle over the direction of energy policy. Much of the country’s political and business establishment favored nuclear power as an alternative to oil, but was opposed by a coalition of green, left, and rural communities around an alternative vision of a more localized, decentered model based on renewable energy. An important factor that probably helped to tip the balance away from nuclear was the continuing tradition of interest in wind power as an alternative. Moreover, the existence of engineering and scientific communities that were able to showcase the viability of non-nuclear technologies in a populist way helped to foster an alternative discourse around “clean” and “pure” energy. By 1980, the Danish government had embarked upon a decisive strategy in support of renewables with a model of decentered and localized forms of collective ownership to the fore. There were three critical pillars of government policy:

  • First, government funding for 30 percent of all investment in new wind turbines over the period from 1980 to 1990 gave an important boost to Danish wind power producers.
  • Second, the “Energipakken,” was introduced which compelled electricity distribution companies to purchase a certain quota of energy supply every year from renewable producers as part of nationally set targets.
  • Third, and most pertinent to our interests here, the encouragement of local and collective ownership of turbines occurred largely through a series of laws that limit ownership of wind turbines to those residing in the municipality where the turbine is built, known as “residency criteria,” or distance regulation laws.

Together, these policies gave a massive boost to the wind power industry with a particularly pronounced period of growth in the second half of the 1990s (see Figure 2) following the establishment of the feed-in-tariff, a policy that has subsequently been applied in other EU countries.

Although its local ownership laws have been relaxed more recently with the election of more center right governments, they gave critical political momentum to localized and collective forms of ownership, which have had long-lasting effects. They have meant that wind turbine ownership remains dominated by either small-scale forms of private ownership (typically partnerships between local neighbours) or cooperative forms. The first Danish onshore “wind farms,” which covered extensive areas and supplied energy to more than a local neighbourhood, were all cooperatively owned. At the height of local ownership of turbines in the late 1990s, it was estimated that 150,000 families or around 10 percent of the population were involved.15 The participation of communities in the ownership and development of the technology has been a critical factor in the successful growth of renewable energy capacity. Surveys suggest around 70 percent of the population are in favor of wind farms, with only around 5 percent against them; these figures are far higher than found elsewhere.16

The participation of communities in the ownership and development of the technology has been a critical factor in the successful growth of renewable energy capacity.

Together, the “distance regulation” laws, state support for renewables, and the localist and collectivist traditions of Danish society have been important in both dispersing economic power and creating the conditions for greater public participation, deliberation, and economic democracy in the energy sector. At this point, it is also worth emphasising the decentralized and cooperative nature of the electricity distribution system, in contrast with the more centralized systems put in place through nationalization in France and the UK after 1945. Therefore, the model here may not be easily transplantable to more centralized energy systems where national grids rely on older generations of coal, gas, and nuclear power stations. However, the dispersed nature of low carbon energy technologies may provide momentum for more localized forms of organization and ownership to develop in any case.

Today, Denmark’s broader electricity system remains heavily decentralized with around one hundred local distribution companies (primarily cooperatively and municipally owned) and ten regional transmission networks (which are amalgamations of the one hundred local cooperatives).17 This means that local cooperative and mutual forms of ownership dominate the electricity distribution system (see Table 3). While there is still a more traditional oil and coal-fired centralized power generation system around the state-owned energy company, DONG (Dansk Olie og Naturgas A/S), and Vattenfall, a subsidiary of the Swedish state-owned corporation, turbine growth has helped to provide a strong element of localization in power generation.

Boards of municipal companies (which tend to be in the main urban centers) are appointed by the local government, whereas the cooperatives (which tend to be rural) are democratically elected at meetings of consumers. Representatives from the local boards, in turn, elect the regional companies. Overall, the Danish energy network is remarkable for its level of public participation and democratic decision making, and for the manner in which these powers are “decentered” and not bound up in one organization or set of elite institutions. The network has also created an active and knowledgeable civil society around renewable energy and climate change politics, which represents a progressive force for broader processes of social and environmental change.

Interestingly, there have been some innovative hybrid forms of local public ownership since 2000, notably the development of partnerships between municipal and publicly owned utility companies or by partnerships between the municipal governments and residents’ cooperatives. Perhaps the best example is the Mittlegrunden wind farm, referred to earlier. But hybrid models are also being encouraged in offshore wind projects where new ventures must offer a 20 percent stake to bespoke local residents’ cooperatives.18

The model of economic democracy here envisages a mixed economy populated by a diversity of forms of public ownership. The model is in opposition to the increasingly corporatized and financialized system that currently exists. A key principle articulated here is that of “decentering” the economy by encouraging a diffusion of economic decision making across the economy and a variety of different democratic forms of ownership, ranging from national state to local cooperatives and employee-owned firms. Seven possible forms of public ownership are identified, although these are not exclusive and could be combined in forms of hybrid public ownership in order to further widen democracy through structures that encourage multiple stakeholders and interest groups to be involved in economic decision making. There is no one model of public ownership applicable in all contexts, but distinctive forms will be appropriate in different economic sectors. The paper provides a schematic overview of how this could look in practice across the main sectors of an economy.

Endnotes   [ + ]

1. For greater elaboration of these issues, see Andrew Cumbers, Reclaiming Public Ownership (London: Zed Books, 2012).
2. Cumbers, Reclaiming Public Ownership, 145 – 146.
3. Cumbers, Reclaiming Public Ownership.
4. Cumbers, Reclaiming Public Ownership, 21.
5. Cumbers, Reclaiming Public Ownership, Chapter 8.
6. Descriptions of the models outlined here can be found in greater depth in Cumbers, Reclaiming Public Ownership.
7. United Nations Development Programme, “Human Development Reports,” United Nations, 2014, http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/HDI.
8. Helge Ryggvik, The Norwegian Oil Experience: a Toolbox for Managing Resources (Oslo, Norway: University of Oslo, Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, 2010), http://www.sv.uio.no/tik/forskning/publikasjoner/tik-rapportserie/Ryggvik.pdf
9. “IQ 2016 Quarterly Report,” Norges Bank, https://www.nbim.no/en/transparency/reports/2016/1q-2016-quarterly-report/.
10. Ryggvik, The Norwegian Oil Experience, 100.
11. Ryggvik, The Norwegian Oil Experience, 34-35.
12. Danish Energy Agency (DEA), “2015 Key Figures from DEA’s Preliminary Energy Statistics Danish Energy Agency,” accessed August 2016, http://www.ens.dk/en/info/news-danish-energy-agency/2015-denmark-hits-lowest-energy-consumption-more-40-years.
13. Danish Energy Agency (DEA), Danish Energy Policy 1970-2010 (DEA: Copenhagen, Denmark, 2010).
14. Cumbers, Reclaiming Public Ownership, 193.
15. Cumbers, Reclaiming Public Ownership, 197
16. Hans Christian Soerensen, Lars Kjeld Hansen, Karin Hammarlund, and Jens Larsen, Experience with and Strategies for Public Involvement in Offshore Wind Projects (Brussels: Institute for Infrastructure, Environment and Innovation, 2003).
17. Cumbers, Reclaiming Public Ownership, 198.
18. Danish Government, Promotion of Renewable Energy Act 2008, Section 13 (1), p. 5, accessed August 2016, http://www.ens.dk/sites/ens.dk/files/undergrund-forsyning/vedvarende-energi/vindkraft-vindmoeller/havvindmoeller/kystnaere/promotion_of_renewable_energy_act.1392.2008.pdf.

Next story:

New Systems Series: Volume Six

April 18, 2017


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Thursday, December 13, 2007

Anterior Placentas are bad for you

At least I think so. I haven't had one before but so far I hate it. I can't feel a thing! Here's the story:

This morning I went into the doctor's office as soon as I dropped Ashlyn off at school. I hadn't felt the baby since yesterday and the little handout "Kick Count" card they gave me said that I should be feeling at least 10 kicks in 2 hours and if it took longer than that then I should give them a call.

This hasn't been an active baby by any stretch but I can usually count on a few good minutes of kicking in the morning if I lay on my back as I'm waking up. Last night - nothing, this morning - nothing. I was incredibly worried! An acquaintance of mine (due 2 weeks before me) had to be induced a few weeks ago to give birth to her baby after the cord strangled him. Had I never heard of this I might have been fine to wait a few more hours but I was so paranoid and emotional I needed to know right away if everthing was ok.

I did all that I could this morning according the KC card: emptied my bladder, drank water, stretched. Ahhh! I cried on the way to school and said a bunch of prayers. I made it to the waiting room and spoke to the receptionist calmly but when the nurse came out I said what I needed to and then there was no more. I just cried while they took me back to the room and brought out the ultrasound.

The nurse was so perfect! She knew I wasn't in a talking mood so she chatted with Nathan and just gave me instructions. First thing I saw was a little heart beating! Then I got to let out a nice big sob. She spent quite a few minutes with me and at the end presented me with some printed pictures to take home. I love her! I'll post them and try to explain so you can see too!
Above we have a front view. Tilt your head to the right. On the right is the cutest face you've ever seen! You can see dark spots for the eyes and you can even see a nose and lips! Chest is in the middle. My placenta (the yucky anterior one) is the light curve along the top.

This one is a great shot of my problem. You can clearly see the foot and leg on the left. I am getting kicked. I feel nothing. I love ultrasounds. See? GE really does bring good things to life! The white blobs on the far right (they kind of look like they are forming the head of an arrow) are the fingertips - this little one was waving up a storm at Nathan, who was just eating it up (and waving right back!). That cocktail weiner looking thing next to the foot is the umbilical cord.
Ok, here is another "waving at Nathan" picture. You can see the leg and foot (again pushing on a nice squishy placenta) and I feel nothing! On the right you can see two arms in the process of waving. You can see the fingers. Below you see some vague vertical white ribs and the bright white body. You also get a nice cross-section of the umbilical cord. You can see the three circle areas outlined in white? That's the 2 veins and the artery, or the 2 arteries and the vein - I can't remember.
And last but not least, another cute face! (On the far right - looking right at you!) It's been sliced diagonally, but you can see the baby's right eye, nose, mouth and chin. SOOOoooooo cute! I love the face pictures the best. The white blob is probably an arm and the other things are appendages too.

Anyway - I had to pay $20, but the peace of mind is so worth it!

Anonymous said...

Hi, glad that all is OK, love the pictures of my lastest grandchild :-) And the chitlins are quite creative. As for the tongue, well at least Nathan inheirited something great from me :-) love to all. Oma

Meredith said...

I'm sorry you had to go through that...I'm glad your sweet baby is okay. And by the way you looked very pretty at church today.
take care

hsjacobus said...

Wow, it was worth the peace of mind. How are you doing now? When are you due?

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Thursday, July 03, 2008

Totally my children!

We love Brie. Yup, as in the French cheese. Halleluia! They really are my kids!

1 comment:

hsjacobus said...

I sometimes think brie is a very nice kids cheese because it's so mild in flavor. It's always nice to have them like new things though and be willing to even try them:)

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Saturday, October 15, 2016

October Horror Movie Challenge: Victor Frankenstein (2015)

Every year it seems I get to watch a new Daniel Radcliffe horror movie.  This year it was Victor Frankenstein.  It's not a bad flick either.
It's a retelling of the Frankenstein story.  Well, not the book really, but the movies.

It has lots of call outs and Easter-eggs to other Frankenstein movies.
Daniel Radcliffe's makeup at the beginning of this reminded me a lot of the very first Frankenstein movie ever made.
"People will never remember the man, only the monster."
Loved the little Frankenstine-Frankenstein nod.
"It's alive?" "It's alive!"
Flat head. Bolts in the neck.
Victor shouting "You are not alive" instead of the expected "It's alive!" when the monster is walking.

Much better than I thought it would be.

2016 Movie tally
Watched: 16
New: 11

1 comment:

R.J. Thompson said...

Cool. I've been meaning to check this out. Glad to see that it isn't a waste of time.

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Friday, January 29, 2010

Puppets in Oz

While poking around on my computer the other night, I ran across a web page (here) with this photo of characters from a 1950's puppet adaptation of The Land Of Oz. These puppets were designed by Burr Tillstrom, the creator of Kukla, Fran and Ollie.

In March, 1950, Billboard magazine ran a small article stating that Tillstrom had started production on a new half-hour series called The Wonderful Land of Oz.

There's a mention of the project in April, and another in May stating that there was a successful audition of the series held at NBC in Chicago. No further mentions are made, as the project apparently went down the tubes. However, in 2000 the Library of Congress included a May, 1950 airing of Burr Tillstrom's The Wizard of Oz as part of their Oz film series, so that first episode must still exist. It's too bad that the series didn't continue - these puppets look like fun!

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Saturday, May 13, 2017

PP343 Challenge Winners

Hi everyone!  LeAnne here!  Thanks so much for playing with my Sweet Treat challenge! There were so many delicious entries this week, I wish I could choose each and every one! Before we get to my choice for Headliner, let's see what caught the eye of the Design Team.

And now for our Headliner...

Seabrook Designs

Laurel's tasty trio of treats made my mouth water!  Popsicles, ice cream cones and sprinkles in yummy sherbet colors, along with cute papers, diecuts and embellishments, made her three cards winners in my sweet treat shoppe!  Congrats, Laurel, for being my Headliner this week!

Thank you again to everyone for playing along with us!  Congratulations to all our winners, please pick up your badges here.  Please come back tomorrow for a happy Color Challenge from Claire!

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for choosing my card! It was a fun challenge :)

We love reading your comments! Thank you!


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November 07, 2011

Nail Love: Pink Half Moon

Under: Chanel 463 Rose Satin
Middle: OPI Chapel of Love
Over: Anna Sui 244

Half moon manicures are deliciously vintage, first appearing in the 1920s. It has already made a comeback in the 1940s so it's no surprise that it's making yet another comeback this year! And it's no surprise that the half moon manicure took off - beauty and make up has always revolved around the look of health and well-being. Traditional Chinese medicine has always taught that nails, and especially half moons on the nails, were a sign of good blood circulation and overall health.

I did this look using the new technique with reinforcements. It was easier than I expected and a lot of fun! Just stick the reinforcements on the area you want to keep clean, and paint the second colour over it. This look is best on longer, oval shaped nails, as the half moon will take away from the length of the nail. Next time I think I should use a base colour not so close to my skin tone... from far away I look like I have wierd short rainbow shaped nails.

I originally just wanted the OPI (hot pink) on top, but it was way too sheer so I had to put on a thin layer of the Anna Sui (dark pastel purple with pink and iridescent glitters) to create a bigger contrast.

It's such a girl thing to say "oh no I broke a nail :((((((((", isn't it?? But I find it really annoying when you spent time doing your nails and then ONE nail gets chipped or breaks and ruins the whole look. I have a bad habit of using my nails for things and at the end of every week my nails are a mess. Good thing there is a Sephora nearby where I can get my nail polish fix ♥

Love these looks! Of course, who can resist a little Chanel, even on their nails?

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Thanks for dropping by :) I'd love to hear what you think!

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Sunday, 17 June 2012

Where to start!

Wow! So I've not blogged in a little while but I'm going to put a stop to that right now! This last month or so has been super duper hectic! Finishing off my university working, then shooting off back to Hull with my housemate, then rushing off back to Peterborough to stay at hers, the rushing back to Preston in time to get my work into the external examiner, and thennnn I had my degree show opening night last friday, I've got to man the show tomorrow, then I'm dissapearing back off to Hull only to come back at the weekend and take the show down! Busy, busy, busy! There I was thinking I'd have nothing to do when my work was handed in... Oh how wrong I was!

I don't even know where to start in filling you in on everything?! I don't think I got round to showing you all my work I'd done for the final project? It's been that long since I last blogged I really can't remember! Anyway, I'll finally show you the ceramics that took over my whole life for about 2 weeks. It seriously looked like the madhatter was having a full on banquet with about 100 people in my room. There was crockery everywhereee!
emma sunman crockery

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Sunday, December 1, 2013

The Many Faces of Jim & Ken

My sister and I have several nicknames for each other.  Jim and Ken (short for Jimmy and Kenny) are just two of them that we share with each other.  All of our nicknames have super awesome stories behind them too....well, we think they do.  It's fun having a sister that shares your sense of humor....ahhhh!

I present to you the many faces of Jim and Ken.  And yes, I know that we're a little crazy. :) Enjoy!

This is just how we roll and this is what happens when your dad just keeps clicking the button on your camera.  haha!

Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving!

Crazy Ken

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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

New Date For Forbidden Planet Launch Announced!

Thursday April 7th between 6pm and 7pm - that's for the exclusive FP hardback limited edition! Details here! See you there!

Ninjabread? Check

Dr Danhattan found this very amusing.

Thank you, Ninjabread.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Very sorry to report that we've been obliged to postpone tomorrow's Forbidden Signing event - see the link here if you need to. A REVISED DATE will be put up as soon as we've got it! This WILL happen - just not tomorrow!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Exclusive Embedded signing at Forbidden Planet

This Saturday, the 26th of March, I'll be at Forbidden Planet's London Megastore signing an exclusive Forbidden Planet Limited Edition of my new Angry Robot novel Embedded. Details here! This is in advance of general publication, so don't miss out! See you there, between 1 and 2 pm!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Advance warning! It's going to be compact, local and perfectly formed!

Monday, March 07, 2011

Embedded (a taster!)

I got the first printed copy of Embedded in my hands this weekend, and very gorgeous it is too. Now the lovely.... uh... robots at Angry Robot have posted up some sample chapters to really whet your appetite.

Make my robot angry!

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

The Arvus has landed

My new paperweight/desk reference. I needed one to look at "hands on" for Salvation's Reach. I don't want to give the plot away, but you need to imagine three of them, battered and stripped out for a disposable ram-raid, and painted up like the Minis in the Italian Job. Okay, not literally...

God, this book is so much fun.

Anyway, I wanted it spruced up with a paint job so it wasn't bare resin, so I turned to my friend and model-maker Richard Dugher (remember his Titan?). Just a basic assemble and paint job, I said. Of course, with Rich, even his basic makes most people cry. And yes, just for fun, there is a joke colour scheme reference in the pilot's kit. He appears to have switched off his targeting computer. If you're suitably impressed, check out Rich's link (Custom Fish) opposite and tell him I sent you.

Back to work. This book is putting several pieces of Forge World kit through the wringer. And several beloved characters. Don't hate me.

See you at Black Library Live! on Saturday or Waterstone's Nottingham on Thursday night.


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The Quarter Bin

Videos, Reviews, and Previews For Comic Fans

What to Watch for Wednesday

Posted by Luke Brown On February - 3 - 2009

For comics shipping 02.04.09 or The Week We Returned To New York Comic Con. Every week I’ll check Diamond’s shipping list to see what you absolutely, positively, no doubt about it need to spend all your hard earned cash on at the Local Comic Shop.

Click on any picture to view it in Expand-O-Scope, brought to you by

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #22

All of a sudden, vampires are the new “It” thing, and slayers are so not cool. But before too much is made of the events of MTV’s vampire reality show, we catch up to Satsu to see just how she’s handling herself as team leader in Japan. Series writer Steven DeKnight dusts off his Buffy typewriter for this $2.99 issue where we find out just a bit more about the villainous Twilight.

Secret Six #6

I don’t want to spoil anything, so all I’m going to say is those last few panels last issue certainly caught me by surprise. I’m liking where all of this is going, and honestly can’t wait for this conclusion to the opening arc. Gail Simone and Nicola Scott really deliver every month, and you’d be a fool to miss out on another $2.99 issue of this book.

Agents of Atlas #1

YES! Jimmy Woo and the gang are back, and you had better believe that you’re not missing out on this issue. If you didn’t take my advice on grabbing the trade collection of the original mini, don’t fret, because I’m sure this first issue will welcome all comers. Yes, it’s $3.99, but Carlo Pagulayan’s on art, and well… the Agents of Atlas are awesome. Seriously, don’t miss it.

Immortal Iron Fist #22

Duane takes Danny to the Eigth Capital City of Heaven. Yeah, it’s like that. $2.99.

Invincible Iron Man #10

Yikes, lookit that cover. Looks like some interesting times are headed Tony’s way. Or not. And is it wrong that I totally love Maria Hill now? Okay, just making sure. Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca totally derserve your $2.99.

That’s all for this week. If you’re going to New York Comic Con, hopefully we’ll see you there. You can catch me, Sarah, and our Gamervision cohort Coop, on the floor or at panels all weekend. If not, stay tuned for as much up to the minute coverage as we can bring you.

See you next time.

To find a comic shop near you: 1-888-COMICBOOK

1 Response so far
  1. Poe Said,

    Yo, it’s been… well a bit longer than a minute. Too long. I’m going to be at the NY Con on Friday, hopefully we’ll get a minute to the old college catchup thing, if you aren’t too busy with that work thing.

    Posted on February 4th, 2009 at 7:56 PM

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Spring, Winter or Sprinter?

On Thursday the 14th we got 4-6 inches of heavy wet snow.  By Friday afternoon most of it had melted.

Thursday April 14th.

Looking down the driveway on Friday afternoon.

Yearlings eating cake.

Gathering pairs on Sunday morning.

Roxie patiently waiting and ready to work.

What in the world! ... Who is that?

This morning would make a beautiful December day as it is 32 and snowing.  Another winter storm is coming our way in the next few days.  They are calling for 5-6 inches of snow for us.  A gal from a blog I read termed this season Spinter.  I am ready for spring!

Saturday I made Triple Chocolate Cheese cake.  This is a baked cheesecake with layers of dark, white,and semi-sweet chocolate and an Oreo cookie crust.  Recipe to come on Wednesday’s post.

The Pioneer Woman is influencing our meals this week.  I have a brisket marinating in the refrigerator for supper on Tuesday.  Tonight I am going to try the MM Sandwich – PW Style

Wishing all of you a great week!

Is it Sprinter or Spring at your house?  Are you a fan of the Pioneer Woman’s cooking?  What is your favorite recipe from PW?

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4 Responses to Spring, Winter or Sprinter?

  1. Tina @ Faith Fitness Fun says:

    It’s full on spring here…in fact almost summer like with highs in the 80s all week. I can’t believe you are still getting snow. Although I know I will be jealous of your milder temps when we’re at 100+ degrees soon. LOL

    Sounds like some yummy meals ahead. And that cheesecake sounds insanely droolworthy.

  2. Robyn says:

    My Cowboy really liked the MM Sandwich! I thought the flavor was good using beef broth instead sherry. Cube/Tenderized steak is just not my favorite cut of meat.

    This brisket recipe is one I make often. I have adjusted the amount of soy sauce down as it can be too strong for us. This time I got it just right!

  3. We have SPRINTER in North Dakota and I am so tired of it. I love PW’s cooking and make just about anything of her recipes. I love her cinnamon rolls with the maple coffee icing. I love also the bacon meatloaf…and so many other recipes!

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Tuesday, October 24, 2006

First day using Live Writer

So I found out about this live writer program that is supposed to make blogging on Live easier. We'll just have to see how that works. After too many failed attempts to organize my photos (so that my blog photos don't show up also) I had come to the sad conclusion that I either needed to give up or move over to a new blogging site. (Since reading instructions never crossed my mind...)

Today I'm tired. I could run down a list of things that make me tired, but I'll spare you (and me) the gruesome details and just say "I'm tired". I've been doing a lot of blog surfing lately and there are people out there with a lot to say and a lot going on in their lives. Maybe reading their drama is what made me tired... but being nosey is so much fun!!!

Today was an email day for the girls. We were all on point! We talked about everything, including what I wore to work. I didn't plan to keep the gym shoes on all day, so I wasn't worried about my sock selection this morning. But by the afternoon, I was officially in violation of numerous fashion codes.

I should have known better. I know, I know... white socks and all black is only ok when worn by Michael Jackson. There's nothing I can do about it now so let it go. The day is over.

This weekend I will be missing my alma maters homecoming (that would be the one at Tennessee State  - I doubt I would ever go back to State College for a homecoming unless I was already living there). I was really excited to go, until last week. It was like one day I woke up and my mind said "spare me the trouble, you have overworked me all month". So I agreed and decided to lay low. Instead, I will be in Birmingham hopefully enjoying the weather (please stay warm) and spending time with "the family". I am going to start including photos of the places I travel. I have racked up about 50k frequent flier miles this year alone... the last trip was 2 weeks ago. We went to Chicago and had a wonderful time. This was the view from our room at the Ritz Carlton Hotel... you can see Lake Michigan and Navy Pier... it was sooo beautiful!

Today I need to show a real item of the day because I need a new top and it must be something I can afford! I want to get something cute to wear since my boyfriend claims he is taking me out. I'm really liking these ultra-feminine tops, but I get cold easily so the sweaters and elbow sleeve jackets are catching my eye. After endless online searching, I'm thinking about this top...

  or this one...

...with a dark pair of Joe's Jeans. Hmmmm, I've got a few days to think about this one...


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2012 Holiday schedule

The holidays at The Reefs are always a magical affair. Excitement fills the air as we put the finishing touches on our schedule of holiday activities. There's something to please everyone!

Bring an ornament to adorn The Reefs’ tree while singing along to carols during our Christmas Eve tree trimming party, toast marshmallows and sip hot cocoa at our beach bonfire and enjoy a special dinner Christmas Day.

Monday, December 24

10:30 a.m. – Lighthouse tour with Glenn or Clarkson. Meet at the front desk.
2:30 p.m. – Sail boat race with Glenn or Clarkston. Meet at The Reefs Club pool.
5:30 p.m. – Christmas cheer, tree trimming and egg nog in the lounge.

Tuesday, December 25

11 a.m. – Christmas egg nog drinks with Santa in the lounge.
12 to 3 p.m. – Christmas Brunch in Ocean Echo.

Wednesday, December 26

7:30 a.m. – Morning walk with Glenn or Clarkston. Meet at the front desk.
2 p.m. – Sand castle competition on the beach.
4:30 p.m. – Bingo with Glenn in the lounge.

Thursday, December 27

10:30 a.m. – Lighthouse tour with Glenn or Clarkston.
2 p.m. – Golf putting competition at the putting green at The Reefs Club.
5 p.m. – Blind wine tasting in the lounge.

Friday, December 28

7:30 a.m. – Morning walk with Glenn or Clarkston. Meet at the front desk.
2 p.m. – Golf chipping competition on the beach.
5 p.m. – Tour of hotel and wine tasting in the Wine Room. Meet at the front desk.
6 p.m. to 11 a.m. – Latin Night

Saturday, December 29

10:30 a.m. – Lighthouse tour with Glenn or Clarkston. Meet at the front desk.
2 p.m. – Cocktail competition in the lounge.

Sunday, December 30

4:30 p.m. – Bingo with Glenn in the lounge.

Monday, December 31

8 a.m. – Cool Dip with David Jr. on the beach. Meet at the beach — we provide towels and coffee and a little courage if needed!
2 p.m. – Pool competition in the Club house at The Reefs Club.
6:30 to 7:30 p.m. – Wine, champagne cocktails and canapés in the lounge.
7:30 to 10 p.m. – Special 5-course New Year's Eve Menu at Ocean Echo.
10 p.m. to 1 a.m. – Musical entertainment by Working Title
11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. – Cocktails in the lounge.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

New Year's Day Swim at the Beach.
11 a.m. – Bull Pups and Bloody Marys in the lounge.
2 p.m. to midnight – College Bowl games on big screen in the Wine Room.

Around the World in Five Wines

Take a journey around the world at our new International Wine Dinner Series.

The five-course wine pairing dinner starts off in the sunny climes of South Australia. We then jet quietly to the US to taste a rich Napa Valley Chardonnay. This is followed by a hop over to France to taste some aromatic Alsace Riesling. Seatbelts are then firmly fastened as we head to Italy and taste a robust Nebbiolo. Finally arriving in Chile, we taste an exquisite late harvest Sauvignon Blanc. Petit fours & snifters of Hennessy V.S.O.P Cognac will then be served in the departure lounge, to cap off a truly magical night of food and wine.

This intimate affair is limited to only 40 guests, and includes a reception in the lounge before and after your dinner at Royston's. Our chefs will prepare all your meals right in front of you in at the show kitchen, while Gosling's very own wine aficionado showcases the perfect wine to accompany each dish.

Reservations & schedule

Seating for these dinners are limited to 40 guests and are $175 per person. Please make your reservation in advance by calling (441) 238-0222 or e-mailing FBCoord@TheReefs.bm.
  • Wednesday, November 28, 2012 at 7 p.m.
  • Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 7 p.m.

Hot & Cold Hors d'oeuvres
Greg Norman Sparkling Brut, Australia, Non-Vintage

United States of America

Scallop "Feuillantine" Baby Fennel, Micro Herbs, Lemon Grass Cream Sauce
Rombauer Carneros Chardonnay, Napa Valley, USA, 2010

Mussels en Croustade with Leeks and White Wine
Domaine Weinbach "Cuvee Theo" Riesling, Alsace, France, 2008

Lemon and Ginger Sorbet in Limoncello

Grilled Garlic and Coriander Marinated Lamb Loin
Pea and Mint Puree, Haricots Verts, Sambal Oelek Aioli
Angelo Gaja 'Sito Moresco' Nebbiolo, Piedmont, Italy, 2010

Orange "Panna Cotta" Honey Roasted Fig
Errazuriz Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc Casablanca Valley, Chile, 2010

Petit Fours
Hennessy V.S.O.P. Cognac
Coffee or Tea

Why exfoliate?

The benefits of exfoliation are endless and is the key to keeping your skin in tip-top condition.

The outer layer of your skin, the epidermis, is made up of 5 layers. Skin cells are produced in the bottom layer and travel to the top over a period of time to form what we see and feel on the surface. This process is called the skin cell renewal cycle.

At its peak, which is between the ages of 16-20, it takes a mere 14 days for the cells to renew themselves. Each year beyond the age of 20 you can add at least a day on to the cycle: at age 30, 24 days, age 40, 30 days and age 50, 44 days. The longer the cells take to get to the surface, the worse they look when they get there, especially if you don’t take good care of them along their journey!

When their life begins in the bottom layer of your skin the cells are like plump grapes; exposure to toxins internally and externally, UV light and the elements leaves them looking like shriveled raisins once they reach the surface.

This is where exfoliation comes in. By regularly sloughing off the dull, dead cells on the surface you stimulate your skin to produce new fresh cells in the bottom layer to enhance the skin cell renewal cycle. This also removes the barrier between the dead cells and more active cells. Even the best or most expensive products won’t work by simply sitting on top of dead cells.

Benefits of regular exfoliation

  • Smoother
  • More hydrated
  • Less fine lines and wrinkles
  • Fewer blackheads
  • Clearer complexion
  • Simulate collagen production

Ways to exfoliate

There are two main options when it comes to exfoliation: physical exfoliation and peels.

Physical exfoliation utilizes particles to scrub away dead cells. When choosing a scrub it is important to choose the particles that are right for the job. Many exfoliating products contain inexpensive large particles that are too abrasive and can cause micro tears on the surface of your skin. Rather than the glowing complexion you are hoping for, you will have blotchy, irritated skin that is prone to breakouts and more susceptible to pigmentation.

Peels dissolve the surface cells and encourage the production of newer cells in the bottom layer of your skin. Some more effective peels will even open up pathways to the middle layers of the skin that allow post-peel products to penetrate deeper. A well formulated fruit peel is the most effect gentle exfoliation there is.

My advice: If you like to physically exfoliate, trade in your apricot, nut and plastic scrubs for gentle seaweed particles that will buff your skin to perfection with Skin Buff by Elemis. For a peel with acids that really work, try the Tri-Enzyme Resurfacing Gel Mask by Elemis or the ever popular Papaya Enzyme Peel by Elemis.

Happy exfoliating!

The Reefs is Honored by Condé Nast Traveler Readers

Our most heartfelt gratitude to you, our loyal fans, and the other Condé Nast Traveler readers. In the Condé Nast Traveler 2012 Readers' Choice Awards announced this week, The Reefs was honored as the #1 resort in the Atlantic for the fourth year in a row.

The Reefs earned a total score of 95.1, earning a spot among the Top 100 Hotels & Resorts in the World.

A record 46,746 readers participated in the 25th annual survey, which ranks hotels based on rooms, service, food, location, design and activities.

While it is always nice to be recognized by the travel industry, our biggest joy comes from creating a memorable Bermuda vacation for our guests and welcoming you back to our pink sand beach home.

Thank you for your ongoing support. We hope to see you soon!

La Serena Spa Honored by Travel + Leisure

La Serena Spa at The Reefs has been recognized by Travel + Leisure magazine as one of the "World's Best Spas" for 2012.

In its debut on the prestigious World's Best Spas list, our intimate Bermuda spa is ranked No. 3 among the top five hotel spas in the Caribbean, Bermuda and the Bahamas. With a score of 92.60, The Reefs was also the top-ranked Bermuda hotel spa.

For its annual World’s Best Spas award, Travel + Leisure readers evaluated hotel spas based on ambience, treatments, service and value. This is the second award for La Serena Spa this year.

You may view the awards online and in the October 2012 issue of the magazine.


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Thursday, October 24, 2013

We love fall!

Friday, July 19, 2013

Reese is 1!!!

Took this little babe in for her 1-year appointment last week, which she thoroughly enjoyed right up until being poked repeatedly in her chunky thighs, the poor thing. She drown her sorrows in some stair-climbing afterward. :) Stats: 22.5 pounds (72% ile) and 28.8 inches (37%ile)--we love our short little chunk!

Some of her cute things right now:
--Waving hi and bye
--High fiving
--Attempts to comb her hair and put on sunglasses and bows
--Closing doors
--Saying, "That?"
--Her nervous hand movements when around new people :)
--Walking along everything, just not walking! Her chubby legs just get tired too easily, I guess!

We LOVE this girl! She is so easy to love!

Saturday, April 06, 2013

9 months old!

(This is the best 9-month shot I could get--suuuuper snotty and miserable, thanks to cousin Easter germs!)

Can you believe this little gal is 9 months old? We barely can. Time flies with these little adorable people!

19.6 pounds (65%ile)
27.5 inches (49%ile)
17.8-inch head (81%ile)

What she's up to:
--being stinkin' cute
--waving hi and bye, when she feels like it
--pulling up onto her knees
--saying "Dada," but making absolutely no attempt at "Mama"
--crawling like she's got places to be
--still putting herself to sleep and sleeping for 12+ hours

Sunday, February 03, 2013

We have a FOUR-year-old!

Our little Beckster turned 4 on Tuesday! I cannot believe I have a 4-year-old, that is so old! And so, so fun.

We LOVE. this. boy! He is everything we ever wished for-- fun, loveable, sweet, energetic, tender, silly, bright, excitable and stinkin' adorable. He and Reese are the best things that have ever happened to us.

His 4-year-old self loves:
His daddy
Sleeping in the "big bed"
Playing tag
His "action boots"
"Comfy" pants
Being a big brother

The poor kid spent his actual birthday in the doctor's office, with RSV. It was definitely not the funnest birthday on record, but we did buy him an awesome McQueen car for being such a trooper while he was sick. And he is having some belated celebrations this week now that he is better, so his birthday gets to be like two weeks long, lucky kid!

At the doc office on his b-day...

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

What little Reese is up to

So I realized that even more important than stats is what little babes are up to in life, so here are a few quick things on what our little Reesie-poo (we cannot help calling her that, it just comes out!) is up to:

--Dang happy. This girl really is just a happy little gal, always just hanging out, smiling and content unless she needs something.
--Sits up by herself for probably about 1 minute or so before she tips over, depending on her attempted adventures in that 60 seconds. ;)
--Puts herself to sleep! Yes, this girl thankfully didn't end up with her brother's sleeping habits. From just a couple months old, she has fallen asleep on her own, when she's not too wound up. Lately teething has interfered with that (no teeth yet, but lots of working on it), but in general she is ridiculously easier than Beck was even when he was three times her age, so we are happy!
--Basically sleeps through the night, since about 3 months. I say basically because we still have to get up and put her paci in usually a few times a night. Probably going to start making her crying it out soon but haven't come to that yet.
--Rolls all over. And attempts to bend her chubby legs to crawl. It's super cute.
--Is a great eater! She loves rice cereal, sweet potatoes and squash thus far. Again, thankfully different than her bro at this. ;) Beck, ever since we started him on solids at 5 months, would get frustrated and spit out his food. We seriously had to teach that kid to swallow. Reese at 6 months is actually almost better than Beck is right now... Now if she can just turn out as fun, energetic, and as great of a talker as Beck, she will literally be the perfect child to us! Haha
--Is a jumping fool. This girl goes. to. town. in her Johnny Jumper! Beck always just kind of hung out in it, but she goes crazy, jumping as if her little life depended on it! So funny to watch. I'm uploading a little video here, but it really doesn't do it justice (dang kids and their fascination with cameras!) but she is still just cute. :)

--Little bit of crazy. Reese is no Beckster, craziness-level-wise, but she definitely has some crazy to her. Like, when she is restless, she has to be shaken to sleep (don't report me, we don't shake, shake her!). Everybody thinks I'm crazy when I tell them this, but babysit my kids and you will soon discover it for yourself (Brittany knows!). And when she is on the changing table, she kicks like a bucking bronco. And after she has been in her jumper, she does gyrations all day long! Whenever she is crazy we say she is "channeling Beck," haha.
--Kicks her feet together constantly. For this reason I have to pull up her socks about 10 times a day--I need to invest in some baby soccer socks!
--Loooves the "Zumba song." So a couple months after Reese was born I started doing Zumba (until the holidays rolled around...). Anyway, one night I was being silly to make Beck feel better about something, and did a little Zumba move while boom-ba-da-booming this Zumba song. Beck and Reese both loved it, and now whenever Reese is upset, I sing that song and it calms her down. She absolutely loves it. I will do it when she's not upset sometimes, and she instantly turns and finds me wherever I am and beams a huge smile. Cuteness!
--Shares mutual adoration with her older brother. They are in love with each other! Beck thinks she is the cutest thing in the whole world, and Reese thinks he is the funniest person ever. It's adorable to witness!
--Growing up too fast! We had Beck at the end of January (yes, he will be FOUR next week!), so the first few months of his life were pretty non-busy, cooped up in our little apartment during the winter, followed by the slow-going spring and early summer months. But a July baby is totally different. Once you get the hang of things after the first couple of months, before you know it is Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, add a 3-year-old brother to the mix--and your baby is 6 months old! It has seriously flown by!

She is the perfect addition to our family. We just love her and her sweetness!

Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Reese's 6-month stats!

Forgot to post Reese's 6-month stats! Her Mammaw (who is a godsend and is here taking care of us post-surgery) was nice enough to take her to her appointment since I was drugged and out of commission. ;) Oh, p.s. I had surgery on my nose one week ago today. Nothing super serious, I've just never been able to breathe well out of it (deviated septum), so we decided to get it taken care of since we had already hit our max-out-of-pocket expenses with Reese. Anyway, the stats!

(I haven't taken any 6-month pictures yet since the surgery, but here is a cute one of her just a few days before her 6-month b-day.)

Weight: 16.2 pounds (56%) Height: 25.8 inches (52%) Head: 17.3 inches (86%) She's teenier than Beck by 4 pounds at that age, but has the same body-to-head ratio, haha. Means they're smart, right? ;)

Two posts in 2013 already, I'm on a roll!

Saturday, January 05, 2013

Blogger app test on my SIII!

Just typed up a whole post on my phone and, of course, it got deleted! Seems to happen every freaking time! I guess this is how my mom feels when "the internet erased everything!" Except that mine literally was erased and cannot be saved by an Edit, Undo. Lol, love my cute little mom.
So now I'm too impatient to poke out another post, and too tired to go do it on an actual computer.  So in summary: I discovered something about myself--I am not an iPhone person! It was pretty and fast but not for me. Enter Samsung Galaxy SIII--life. changed. Love it!
One sad thing about the Android world, though, is that its Blogger app stinks for some reason. And since that is honestly the only hope for my blogging life, it's easy to see why I almost literally never blog. BUT I am going to give it another try! So here we go:
Me lately.
Reese lately.
Beck lately.
Adam lately.
Hope this works and that you all are doing well!


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Thursday, 16 February 2012

Artist: Gonjasufi
Album: MU.ZZ.LE
Release Date: 23/1/2012

Sonic adventurer's second proves he's not quite out of ideas yet

Gonjasufi, aka Sumach Ecks, has adopted a more straight forward and straight- thinking viewpoint for his second album "MU.ZZ.LE," but that's not to suggest that there aren't moments of masterful innovation here. "Skin" revolves around a melody purely comprising of soft and gorgeous vocal harmonies and fractured drums, whilst album standout "Blaksuit" samples shimmering and twanging guitars. It's less versatile than "A Sufi And A Killer", but in no way suggests that Ecks is out of ideas.

Download: Blaksuit
For Fans Of: Shabazz Palaces, Flying Lotus

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Thursday, May 17, 2007

Surely I am not alone in not caring about the Transformers movie? Had it been a Micronauts feature, I mighta' been there, but this is a toy I never cared about. Didn't care about the old animated movie with Orson Welles either. Heck, I'd have had more interest in a Gobot movie just because they were the Beta to the Transformers' VHS. (More interest, yes...but would I go see it? Hell no!)

Somebody wrote the following on YouTube as a reaction to the trailer:

"This really looks crappy compared to what it could have been. No Soundwave, Megatron looks like crap, and bumblebee looks like a cross between Johnny 5 from short circut, Kain from robocop 2, and a lemon. But i have to admit, they did good work making optimus prime and scorpinok. Lots of lost potential making this, but it could have been worse."

The idea that the Transformers movie "could have been" so much more leaves me amused. The idea that it "could have been worse" leaves me speechless. (Or maybe it's the other way around...or maybe it doesn't matter which way it is.)

Now lest these thoughts be mistaken for snobbery, I will be there for He-Man and the Masters of the long as Evil-Lyn figures into the proceedings.


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Thursday, June 28, 2007

It's Not Enough to Shoot Fish in a Barrel...

By all measures I give Comedy Central shows far more consideration than they deserve. Outside of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, there are far more misses than there are hits. Even, to me, South Park is spotty, though I do enjoy Reno 911 and The Sarah Silverman Show.

Actually, that's not bad for one network.

No doubt conservatives are whining about Li'l George. I can tell them right now they can relax. If anything it proves that it's not enough to just make fun of GW Bush, it has to be funny, and man does this show not deliver.

In some confusing hybrid world, George Senior is in charge, but we're still in our current war. Li'l George runs around with equally bad caricatures of Cheney, Rice, and Rumsfeld.

They are characterized with such 'insightful' strokes as Cheney mumbling/growling out indistinguishable sounds marked with key Cheney quotes while the people who he's talking to interpret as brutal suggestions. Just a note, self-effacing Jon Stewart occasionally doing Penguin imitations when talking about Cheney is funny, the cut rate Evil Kenny, not so much. Having Cheney's father being Darth Vader is less than one note.

Rumsfeld is of course abused by his father.

Rice is naturally in love with Bush. This wasn't funny when it was Janet Reno and Clinton (and at least Clinton had the ladies man rep) and it's not funny here. As usual for the cartoon style they're using, Rice is the smartest of the group, but this is of course blinded by her love for Bush.

Tonight's episode of course used "Li'l Blair" to imply the British are homosexual in a half assed attempt to parody the Bush administration's homophobia. Ultimately it boils down to little other than "Ha ha, the Bush administration hates gays." We know. You have to try harder (they even missed opportunities to play with hypocrisy and tough situations with Cheney, instead having him follow Barrack Obama when George is off playing with Blair, making Obama interchangeable with Carter...)

Nothing about this show digs deeper than a surface level understanding of the situation. Truth be told the humor wouldn't be affected if the connection to the real life characters wasn't there, which is to say that it still wouldn't be funny. There is no insight to it, it's no more insulting than a fifth grader calling a sixth grader stupid.

What it comes down to is satire is hard, even when what you're satirizing seems like an easy subject. And this phoned in attempt does not succeed. The sad thing is that given divided world we live in a crappy show of this nature actually ends up reflecting bad on me and others who put a little effort in making fun of this administration.

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