No free dinners and learning that there’s always ‘a catch’

Country Living with Francis Farragher

AGE and journalism probably increase cynicism levels at an alarming rate. One of the oldest stories in the book about journalism is that there’s no such thing as a free dinner. If someone is offering you something for nothing, there has to be a payback somewhere.

Many years ago, a former colleague of mine was quite innocently offered a couple of free tickets for some show or concert, and although he accepted the gift, he was quick to pose the questions of: “Where’s the catch.”

A realistic level of cynicism and doubt is no bad ally and especially in those times of social media interchange when every kind of lie, ruse and con is being tried on. Instead of asking: “where’s the catch,” it’s nearly to better start off on the assumption that “there is a catch.”

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been delving into the world of new cars and trying to convince myself of the merits of doing the all-electric ‘thing’ but in the end of course erred on the side of conservatism.

Now, I won’t pretend for one second that my decision was based on the environmental hazards of mining lithium from under the deserts of places like Chile – price and worries about a limited driving range were my main concerns – but yet it is worth taking at least a superficial look at the whole electric battery industry.

The biggest reserves of lithium across the planet are to be found under the Atacama Desert of Chile. Lithium, with its chemical symbol of Li, is an element of the alkali metal series – the lightest known metal – which is the absolute jewel in the crown for battery manufacturers across the planet.

Chile is estimated to have about eight million tonnes of this precious metal with huge reserves in places like Australia and China, while in Europe, Portugal also has large quantities of this now highly sought-after element.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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