Also interesting will be the Water (Special Measures) Bill.
Are they going to send directors to jail or let the Water Cos go bust ?
Cant see it myself it will be the usual lawyer fest of public enquiries and establishment non events.
With Thames Water, I am getting a strong Solihull Project vibe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3V15rLi4xI). There is enormous systemic resistance to letting them just go bankrupt.
It will be the usual talk tough do nothing imo. But really they should be yanking a handful of directors off to the courts or striking them off at companies house. If only pour encourager les autres.
Then turn up at Ofwat balaclava and baseball bat in hand.
The whole board of Ofwat should be walking the plank. They’ve let the largest company under their regulation effectively go bust.
Does Ofwat have a duty to ensure the viability of a private business?
Maybe: secure that water companies can (in particular through securing reasonable returns on their capital) finance the proper carrying out of their statutory functions
Perhaps that's why there is resistance to letting them go bust.
It's both deeper (ha) and wider (ha) than Offwat.
A plethora of reasons are brought up - Pension funds, Foreign Pension funds, risk of government being sued, Security implications! Ml5! Ml6! Foreign powers! National interests! Consult our allies! CIA, NATO, SEATO, Moscow!
What we need is an Oftwat, to deal with Leon?
There aren't enough sewage farms in Europe to cope with the sh*t that @Leon produces. Perhaps the reason he travels so much is to stop inundating local areas with feculence.
To remind you: he once said that one of his books was stated as part of the inspiration for Anders Breivik. He now claims he said that as a 'joke'.
Also interesting will be the Water (Special Measures) Bill.
Are they going to send directors to jail or let the Water Cos go bust ?
Cant see it myself it will be the usual lawyer fest of public enquiries and establishment non events.
With Thames Water, I am getting a strong Solihull Project vibe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3V15rLi4xI). There is enormous systemic resistance to letting them just go bankrupt.
It will be the usual talk tough do nothing imo. But really they should be yanking a handful of directors off to the courts or striking them off at companies house. If only pour encourager les autres.
Then turn up at Ofwat balaclava and baseball bat in hand.
The whole board of Ofwat should be walking the plank. They’ve let the largest company under their regulation effectively go bust.
Does Ofwat have a duty to ensure the viability of a private business?
Maybe: secure that water companies can (in particular through securing reasonable returns on their capital) finance the proper carrying out of their statutory functions
Perhaps that's why there is resistance to letting them go bust.
It's both deeper (ha) and wider (ha) than Offwat.
A plethora of reasons are brought up - Pension funds, Foreign Pension funds, risk of government being sued, Security implications! Ml5! Ml6! Foreign powers! National interests! Consult our allies! CIA, NATO, SEATO, Moscow!
The point is that the resistance to simply letting Thames go drown is systemic, not just OFWAT. Why?
Because way too many senior Ofwat and CS staff will also have to end up drowning, when they were hoping for the CBEs to which they believe themselves to be entitled after a career in public service.
While the RNC largely overshadowed the verdict, Chuck Schumer, Cory Booker, and Governor Phil Murphy have all called on Menendez to step down.
The reasons why he should resign seem obvious: You can’t continue to serve the people of New Jersey after a jury determined you were actually using your position of power to serve two wealthy foreign countries.
And yet we are two days into Trump’s nomination party, and no one has asked — much less answered — whether Donald Trump is a business partner, paid foreign agent, or merely an employee of Saudi Arabia.
This is not a frivolous question...
There's an associated question as to who provided much of the money Musky Baby used to buy Twitter. It wasn't all his own. So who did, and what do they expect back from the investment?
Also interesting will be the Water (Special Measures) Bill.
Are they going to send directors to jail or let the Water Cos go bust ?
Cant see it myself it will be the usual lawyer fest of public enquiries and establishment non events.
With Thames Water, I am getting a strong Solihull Project vibe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3V15rLi4xI). There is enormous systemic resistance to letting them just go bankrupt.
It will be the usual talk tough do nothing imo. But really they should be yanking a handful of directors off to the courts or striking them off at companies house. If only pour encourager les autres.
Then turn up at Ofwat balaclava and baseball bat in hand.
The whole board of Ofwat should be walking the plank. They’ve let the largest company under their regulation effectively go bust.
Does Ofwat have a duty to ensure the viability of a private business?
Maybe: secure that water companies can (in particular through securing reasonable returns on their capital) finance the proper carrying out of their statutory functions
Perhaps that's why there is resistance to letting them go bust.
It's both deeper (ha) and wider (ha) than Offwat.
A plethora of reasons are brought up - Pension funds, Foreign Pension funds, risk of government being sued, Security implications! Ml5! Ml6! Foreign powers! National interests! Consult our allies! CIA, NATO, SEATO, Moscow!
What we need is an Oftwat, to deal with Leon?
There aren't enough sewage farms in Europe to cope with the sh*t that @Leon produces. Perhaps the reason he travels so much is to stop inundating local areas with feculence.
To remind you: he once said that one of his books was stated as part of the inspiration for Anders Breivik. He now claims he said that as a 'joke'.
Leon must save a fortune in life, when he’s not travelling at the Gazette’s expense he appears to be living rent free in people’s heads here.
I don’t understand why people let themselves get wound up by him yet alone actively come on just to have a dig at him when he’s not even on here at present. Strange.
Also interesting will be the Water (Special Measures) Bill.
Are they going to send directors to jail or let the Water Cos go bust ?
Cant see it myself it will be the usual lawyer fest of public enquiries and establishment non events.
With Thames Water, I am getting a strong Solihull Project vibe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3V15rLi4xI). There is enormous systemic resistance to letting them just go bankrupt.
It will be the usual talk tough do nothing imo. But really they should be yanking a handful of directors off to the courts or striking them off at companies house. If only pour encourager les autres.
Then turn up at Ofwat balaclava and baseball bat in hand.
The whole board of Ofwat should be walking the plank. They’ve let the largest company under their regulation effectively go bust.
Does Ofwat have a duty to ensure the viability of a private business?
Maybe: secure that water companies can (in particular through securing reasonable returns on their capital) finance the proper carrying out of their statutory functions
Perhaps that's why there is resistance to letting them go bust.
It's both deeper (ha) and wider (ha) than Offwat.
A plethora of reasons are brought up - Pension funds, Foreign Pension funds, risk of government being sued, Security implications! Ml5! Ml6! Foreign powers! National interests! Consult our allies! CIA, NATO, SEATO, Moscow!
What we need is an Oftwat, to deal with Leon?
There aren't enough sewage farms in Europe to cope with the sh*t that @Leon produces. Perhaps the reason he travels so much is to stop inundating local areas with feculence.
To remind you: he once said that one of his books was stated as part of the inspiration for Anders Breivik. He now claims he said that as a 'joke'.
Leon must save a fortune in life, when he’s not travelling at the Gazette’s expense he appears to be living rent free in people’s heads here.
I don’t understand why people let themselves get wound up by him yet alone actively come on just to have a dig at him when he’s not even on here at present. Strange.
Except he does the same...
I find him amusing, in the same way any sad old git trying to prove his life is brilliant is amusing. In a sad, decrepit way, except in his case he does not even have past glories to look back on.
Besides, I daresay he gets a chuckle from the attention, which I'm guessing is why he posts here. It's not about politics, it's about HIM. So in reality we're doing him a favour...
Do you ever really adapt to hot as hell climate of the sandpit?
No. You cannot spend any significant time outdoors for 4-5 months a year. It’s utterly inhospitable to humans and that’s nothing that can be solved by ‘acclimatisation’.
FWIW: "PARIS — Over half a century after the Seine was declared biologically dead, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo dipped into the river on Wednesday and declared it sufficiently clean for Olympic swimming competitions.
Under the gaze of a contingent of soldiers and police officers, and surrounded by an entourage of swimsuit-wearing city employees, Hidalgo’s symbolic swim in the turquoise-brownish waters was broadcast live on national television. Hundreds of spectators also watched from the riverbanks and nearby bridges." source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2024/07/17/anne-hidalgo-seine-swim/
And, speaking personally, I was pleased to see, on Sunday, that the nearest swimming area to me on Lake Washington has re-opened, after being closed for bacterial problems. Often, so I hear, caused by Canadian geese.)
A first-ever like from me, for the Yemeni Houthis!
It's worth remembering that whilst much of world trade is currently being diverted away from the Red Sea Russian oil has continued travelling through uninhibited.
Do you ever really adapt to hot as hell climate of the sandpit?
No. You cannot spend any significant time outdoors for 4-5 months a year. It’s utterly inhospitable to humans and that’s nothing that can be solved by ‘acclimatisation’.
I remember a friend that lived out there for a while told me a story (don't know if urban legend) that petrol stations were fitting roofs not because of day of the year it rains, rather people needed the shade while they were waiting 5 minutes to fill up their massive gas guzzling cars.
Do you ever really adapt to hot as hell climate of the sandpit?
No. You cannot spend any significant time outdoors for 4-5 months a year. It’s utterly inhospitable to humans and that’s nothing that can be solved by ‘acclimatisation’.
Some odd comments above about EVs. Audi and Volvo have *not* announced they are ending EV production.
This kind of FUD seems to permeate, with an ever-shifting list of the manufacturers allegedly pulling the plug. None of them are. What is happening is that some manufacturers - and VAG are top of the list - have right royally screwed up the early stages of the mass market transition to electric and are having their lunch eaten.
Of course they are changing tack, because their strategy so far has been a disaster.
"Electric car sales keep rising and could reach around 17 million in 2024, accounting for more than one in five cars sold worldwide .... global sales data remain strong. In the first quarter of 2024, electric car sales grew by around 25% compared with the first quarter of 2023, similar to the year-on-year growth seen in the same period in 2022. In 2024, the market share of electric cars could reach up to 45% in China, 25% in Europe and over 11% in the United States,
Do you ever really adapt to hot as hell climate of the sandpit?
No, not really. You adapt the way you do things to the weather, and the place is obviously set up for it, but it still comes as something of a shock every summer just how hot and humid it gets.
Right now it’s 38ºC and 60% humidity, at 18:00 hrs. The humidity will build to 80% at 35º overnight , and we’re looking for 43º tomorrow. https://www.avmet.ae/omdbfc.aspx <<— official weather forecast at the airport, way more accurate than what the local radio station might have to say.
Do you ever really adapt to hot as hell climate of the sandpit?
No. You cannot spend any significant time outdoors for 4-5 months a year. It’s utterly inhospitable to humans and that’s nothing that can be solved by ‘acclimatisation’.
I remember a friend that lived out there for a while told me a story (don't know if urban legend) that petrol stations were fitting roofs not because of day of the year it rains, rather people needed the shade while they were waiting 5 minutes to fill up their massive gas guzzling cars.
Nah, that’s rubbish. We have attended service petrol stations, and most of the locals keep their engines running during the process.
Yes, sandpit petrol stations otherwise look like petrol stations anywhere else, with a canopy on top.
Also interesting will be the Water (Special Measures) Bill.
Are they going to send directors to jail or let the Water Cos go bust ?
Cant see it myself it will be the usual lawyer fest of public enquiries and establishment non events.
With Thames Water, I am getting a strong Solihull Project vibe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3V15rLi4xI). There is enormous systemic resistance to letting them just go bankrupt.
It will be the usual talk tough do nothing imo. But really they should be yanking a handful of directors off to the courts or striking them off at companies house. If only pour encourager les autres.
Then turn up at Ofwat balaclava and baseball bat in hand.
The whole board of Ofwat should be walking the plank. They’ve let the largest company under their regulation effectively go bust.
Does Ofwat have a duty to ensure the viability of a private business?
Maybe: secure that water companies can (in particular through securing reasonable returns on their capital) finance the proper carrying out of their statutory functions
Perhaps that's why there is resistance to letting them go bust.
It's both deeper (ha) and wider (ha) than Offwat.
A plethora of reasons are brought up - Pension funds, Foreign Pension funds, risk of government being sued, Security implications! Ml5! Ml6! Foreign powers! National interests! Consult our allies! CIA, NATO, SEATO, Moscow!
A first-ever like from me, for the Yemeni Houthis!
It's worth remembering that whilst much of world trade is currently being diverted away from the Red Sea Russian oil has continued travelling through uninhibited.
Yes, the Houthis (so beloved of a poster on here...) are attacking 'Israeli' shipping. Which appears not to be just ships registered or owned by Israel, but any ship that has any association with Israel, even if that's the fact an Israeli once saw it from the shore in Australia.
We ought to treat this in exactly the same way 'we' did the Barbary Corsairs.
Formally known as a couple of days of nice weather... 😂
The Met Office should probably update its heatwave thresholds, especially given that in most years these days the temperature hits 33C+ somewhere in the country. Some of the thresholds outside the SE seem too low to me - heat rarely becomes dangerous until you're comfortably in the 30s (or 20s overnight) unless you are doing intense physical exercise.
The trouble with the current levels is they get triggered in short lived warm spells during otherwise unremarkable summers and have a cry wolf effect.
The French thresholds for "canicule" are more meaningful and have more stress on nocturnal temperatures: for example in Paris it's 3 successive days above 31C by day and above 21C at night. That would rarely be breached here because our nights are almost always much cooler.
Also interesting will be the Water (Special Measures) Bill.
Are they going to send directors to jail or let the Water Cos go bust ?
Cant see it myself it will be the usual lawyer fest of public enquiries and establishment non events.
With Thames Water, I am getting a strong Solihull Project vibe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3V15rLi4xI). There is enormous systemic resistance to letting them just go bankrupt.
It will be the usual talk tough do nothing imo. But really they should be yanking a handful of directors off to the courts or striking them off at companies house. If only pour encourager les autres.
Then turn up at Ofwat balaclava and baseball bat in hand.
The whole board of Ofwat should be walking the plank. They’ve let the largest company under their regulation effectively go bust.
Does Ofwat have a duty to ensure the viability of a private business?
Maybe: secure that water companies can (in particular through securing reasonable returns on their capital) finance the proper carrying out of their statutory functions
Perhaps that's why there is resistance to letting them go bust.
It's both deeper (ha) and wider (ha) than Offwat.
A plethora of reasons are brought up - Pension funds, Foreign Pension funds, risk of government being sued, Security implications! Ml5! Ml6! Foreign powers! National interests! Consult our allies! CIA, NATO, SEATO, Moscow!
The point is that the resistance to simply letting Thames go drown is systemic, not just OFWAT. Why?
Because way too many senior Ofwat and CS staff will also have to end up drowning, when they were hoping for the CBEs to which they believe themselves to be entitled after a career in public service.
CMG, KCMG and GCMG, Shirley?
I refer the gentleman back to the Solihull Project...
Also interesting will be the Water (Special Measures) Bill.
Are they going to send directors to jail or let the Water Cos go bust ?
Cant see it myself it will be the usual lawyer fest of public enquiries and establishment non events.
With Thames Water, I am getting a strong Solihull Project vibe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3V15rLi4xI). There is enormous systemic resistance to letting them just go bankrupt.
It will be the usual talk tough do nothing imo. But really they should be yanking a handful of directors off to the courts or striking them off at companies house. If only pour encourager les autres.
Then turn up at Ofwat balaclava and baseball bat in hand.
The whole board of Ofwat should be walking the plank. They’ve let the largest company under their regulation effectively go bust.
Does Ofwat have a duty to ensure the viability of a private business?
Maybe: secure that water companies can (in particular through securing reasonable returns on their capital) finance the proper carrying out of their statutory functions
Perhaps that's why there is resistance to letting them go bust.
It's both deeper (ha) and wider (ha) than Offwat.
A plethora of reasons are brought up - Pension funds, Foreign Pension funds, risk of government being sued, Security implications! Ml5! Ml6! Foreign powers! National interests! Consult our allies! CIA, NATO, SEATO, Moscow!
Also interesting will be the Water (Special Measures) Bill.
Are they going to send directors to jail or let the Water Cos go bust ?
Cant see it myself it will be the usual lawyer fest of public enquiries and establishment non events.
With Thames Water, I am getting a strong Solihull Project vibe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3V15rLi4xI). There is enormous systemic resistance to letting them just go bankrupt.
It will be the usual talk tough do nothing imo. But really they should be yanking a handful of directors off to the courts or striking them off at companies house. If only pour encourager les autres.
Then turn up at Ofwat balaclava and baseball bat in hand.
The whole board of Ofwat should be walking the plank. They’ve let the largest company under their regulation effectively go bust.
Does Ofwat have a duty to ensure the viability of a private business?
Maybe: secure that water companies can (in particular through securing reasonable returns on their capital) finance the proper carrying out of their statutory functions
Perhaps that's why there is resistance to letting them go bust.
It's both deeper (ha) and wider (ha) than Offwat.
A plethora of reasons are brought up - Pension funds, Foreign Pension funds, risk of government being sued, Security implications! Ml5! Ml6! Foreign powers! National interests! Consult our allies! CIA, NATO, SEATO, Moscow!
What we need is an Oftwat, to deal with the likes of Leon?
Some odd comments above about EVs. Audi and Volvo have *not* announced they are ending EV production.
This kind of FUD seems to permeate, with an ever-shifting list of the manufacturers allegedly pulling the plug. None of them are. What is happening is that some manufacturers - and VAG are top of the list - have right royally screwed up the early stages of the mass market transition to electric and are having their lunch eaten.
Of course they are changing tack, because their strategy so far has been a disaster.
"Electric car sales keep rising and could reach around 17 million in 2024, accounting for more than one in five cars sold worldwide .... global sales data remain strong. In the first quarter of 2024, electric car sales grew by around 25% compared with the first quarter of 2023, similar to the year-on-year growth seen in the same period in 2022. In 2024, the market share of electric cars could reach up to 45% in China, 25% in Europe and over 11% in the United States,
It's difficult to find solid stats, but around 30 million e-bikes were sold in 2022.
The battery revolution is also changing how people get around (cities). If you consider that the electric motor is much more efficient than an ICE, and then you have the reduced weight and cost of an e-bike.... revolution is the right word. It doesn't even require power generation to switch to renewables for there to be a significant reduction in carbon emissions.
A first-ever like from me, for the Yemeni Houthis!
It's worth remembering that whilst much of world trade is currently being diverted away from the Red Sea Russian oil has continued travelling through uninhibited.
Which is why it’s good to see a couple of tankers carrying Russian oil heading to the sea bed.
A first-ever like from me, for the Yemeni Houthis!
It's worth remembering that whilst much of world trade is currently being diverted away from the Red Sea Russian oil has continued travelling through uninhibited.
Yes, the Houthis (so beloved of a poster on here...) are attacking 'Israeli' shipping. Which appears not to be just ships registered or owned by Israel, but any ship that has any association with Israel, even if that's the fact an Israeli once saw it from the shore in Australia.
We ought to treat this in exactly the same way 'we' did the Barbary Corsairs.
Send Lord Exmouth to shoot *all* the ammunition into Algiers?
Also interesting will be the Water (Special Measures) Bill.
Are they going to send directors to jail or let the Water Cos go bust ?
Cant see it myself it will be the usual lawyer fest of public enquiries and establishment non events.
With Thames Water, I am getting a strong Solihull Project vibe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3V15rLi4xI). There is enormous systemic resistance to letting them just go bankrupt.
It will be the usual talk tough do nothing imo. But really they should be yanking a handful of directors off to the courts or striking them off at companies house. If only pour encourager les autres.
Then turn up at Ofwat balaclava and baseball bat in hand.
The whole board of Ofwat should be walking the plank. They’ve let the largest company under their regulation effectively go bust.
Does Ofwat have a duty to ensure the viability of a private business?
Maybe: secure that water companies can (in particular through securing reasonable returns on their capital) finance the proper carrying out of their statutory functions
Perhaps that's why there is resistance to letting them go bust.
It's both deeper (ha) and wider (ha) than Offwat.
A plethora of reasons are brought up - Pension funds, Foreign Pension funds, risk of government being sued, Security implications! Ml5! Ml6! Foreign powers! National interests! Consult our allies! CIA, NATO, SEATO, Moscow!
The point is that the resistance to simply letting Thames go drown is systemic, not just OFWAT. Why?
Because way too many senior Ofwat and CS staff will also have to end up drowning, when they were hoping for the CBEs to which they believe themselves to be entitled after a career in public service.
CMG, KCMG and GCMG, Shirley?
I refer the gentleman back to the Solihull Project...
"Bangkok hotel cyanide murder victims 'were poisoned by US woman who also took her own life': Married couple among the group of six 'were furious she had lost their $280,000 investment'
Six people were found dead at the luxury Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel on Tuesday Police believe they were murdered based on evidence gathered at the scene "
Some of the thresholds outside the SE seem too low to me
Eh, are you sure ? Why would heat alert thresholds be different in different parts of the country ?
That's my point. They are. The idea is that people in hotter areas are more used to heat. But it means that in some places you have ridiculous thresholds like 26C.
Also interesting will be the Water (Special Measures) Bill.
Are they going to send directors to jail or let the Water Cos go bust ?
Cant see it myself it will be the usual lawyer fest of public enquiries and establishment non events.
With Thames Water, I am getting a strong Solihull Project vibe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3V15rLi4xI). There is enormous systemic resistance to letting them just go bankrupt.
It will be the usual talk tough do nothing imo. But really they should be yanking a handful of directors off to the courts or striking them off at companies house. If only pour encourager les autres.
Then turn up at Ofwat balaclava and baseball bat in hand.
The whole board of Ofwat should be walking the plank. They’ve let the largest company under their regulation effectively go bust.
Does Ofwat have a duty to ensure the viability of a private business?
Maybe: secure that water companies can (in particular through securing reasonable returns on their capital) finance the proper carrying out of their statutory functions
Perhaps that's why there is resistance to letting them go bust.
It's both deeper (ha) and wider (ha) than Offwat.
A plethora of reasons are brought up - Pension funds, Foreign Pension funds, risk of government being sued, Security implications! Ml5! Ml6! Foreign powers! National interests! Consult our allies! CIA, NATO, SEATO, Moscow!
The point is that the resistance to simply letting Thames go drown is systemic, not just OFWAT. Why?
Because way too many senior Ofwat and CS staff will also have to end up drowning, when they were hoping for the CBEs to which they believe themselves to be entitled after a career in public service.
CMG, KCMG and GCMG, Shirley?
I refer the gentleman back to the Solihull Project...
A first-ever like from me, for the Yemeni Houthis!
It's worth remembering that whilst much of world trade is currently being diverted away from the Red Sea Russian oil has continued travelling through uninhibited.
Yes, the Houthis (so beloved of a poster on here...) are attacking 'Israeli' shipping. Which appears not to be just ships registered or owned by Israel, but any ship that has any association with Israel, even if that's the fact an Israeli once saw it from the shore in Australia.
We ought to treat this in exactly the same way 'we' did the Barbary Corsairs.
Send Lord Exmouth to shoot *all* the ammunition into Algiers?
Not quite... Algiers would be the wrong target as the Houthis are not there.
There’s a fine line to draw between encouraging EV adoption, allowing Chinese dumping without imposing tariffs, and possibility retaliatory tariffs on British luxury cars by the Chinese.
Some of the thresholds outside the SE seem too low to me
Eh, are you sure ? Why would heat alert thresholds be different in different parts of the country ?
That's my point. They are. The idea is that people in hotter areas are more used to heat. But it means that in some places you have ridiculous thresholds like 26C.
Lol seems bonkers. The oldest area (By population) in England is I believe Rother (Rother in the Southeast, not anywhere near the other river Rother up here), so if you were going off of vulnerability to heat then you'd need to set the threshold there much lower than say London which has a younger populace. Setting it lower outside the SE just seems odd and wrong.
A first-ever like from me, for the Yemeni Houthis!
It's worth remembering that whilst much of world trade is currently being diverted away from the Red Sea Russian oil has continued travelling through uninhibited.
Yes, the Houthis (so beloved of a poster on here...) are attacking 'Israeli' shipping. Which appears not to be just ships registered or owned by Israel, but any ship that has any association with Israel, even if that's the fact an Israeli once saw it from the shore in Australia.
We ought to treat this in exactly the same way 'we' did the Barbary Corsairs.
Send Lord Exmouth to shoot *all* the ammunition into Algiers?
Not quite... Algiers would be the wrong target as the Houthis are not there.
Shirley that would be in the best traditions of government? Implement the plan in the files without checking reality first....
48-60 hours for warm weather mainly for the south and south east lasting from Friday morning to early Sunday afternoon. It never gets too warm over the bulk of the British Isles and by next week it's all back to what passes for normal.
In essence, we get a glancing blow from a wave of heat pushing north east across Europe but the real warmth doesn't get further than central France.
A first-ever like from me, for the Yemeni Houthis!
It's worth remembering that whilst much of world trade is currently being diverted away from the Red Sea Russian oil has continued travelling through uninhibited.
Which is why it’s good to see a couple of tankers carrying Russian oil heading to the sea bed.
It doesn't say much for the leadership of the free world though does it?
How much money is Egypt losing as a result of this? I just don't get the Arab world's passivity towards Iran.
What ever low spirits Tory MPs are feeling now watching Starmer outline his King's Speech will be exactly how Democrat law makers will feel in the US in January next year unless they act.
Only it'll be far, far worse because they will be listening to Trump 2.0 from the White House and he has no interest in democracy or the rule of law. Or indeed in handing power back when he loses.
Ex obvious border regions, Russia has had more problems internally with Islamic fundamentalist terrorism (Moscow concert hall) than with anything Ukraine et al have cooked up recently.
Some odd comments above about EVs. Audi and Volvo have *not* announced they are ending EV production.
This kind of FUD seems to permeate, with an ever-shifting list of the manufacturers allegedly pulling the plug. None of them are. What is happening is that some manufacturers - and VAG are top of the list - have right royally screwed up the early stages of the mass market transition to electric and are having their lunch eaten.
Of course they are changing tack, because their strategy so far has been a disaster.
"Electric car sales keep rising and could reach around 17 million in 2024, accounting for more than one in five cars sold worldwide .... global sales data remain strong. In the first quarter of 2024, electric car sales grew by around 25% compared with the first quarter of 2023, similar to the year-on-year growth seen in the same period in 2022. In 2024, the market share of electric cars could reach up to 45% in China, 25% in Europe and over 11% in the United States,
And yet sales of EV cars in Germany have dropped 30% year on year to May 2024. In the EU as a whole they are down 12% and in the UK the only reason they have risen is because of sales to fleets. Private sales are down 14% year on year.
So again the question is why? This can't be due to cheap chinese imports as this is ovberall sales, not just European production.
As I have said previously, the sooner we can move to EV vehicles and end the ICE the better (because I think additives are poinsoning our inverebrates). So I would really like to understand why we are seeing this drop in the attractiveness of EVs.
I do get what some have mentioned about early adopters now being out of the market but I had expected that the improvements in EVs would have compensated for that.
The continued presence of hereditary peers in the House of Lords is outdated and indefensible.
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill is a short and narrowly focussed bill that delivers the Government’s manifesto commitment to bring about modernisation by removing the right of the remaining hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords. This will be the first step in wider reform to the second chamber.
Sounds like it could happen pronto, but no specific timescale.
Would be better to get rid of the appointed lot first.
At least the remaining hereditaries have been through a rudimentary election. Who elected Charlotte Owen?
I actually am I bit weird in thinking the remaining hereditaries are defensible in that they provide a link to our ancient history. A colourful echo of how things were.
I kinda like that.
I know it is not a very good reason in terms of the exercise of law making but there you go.
IF what's wanted is "a link to ancient history" then scrap the nouveau riche Norman House of Lords, and re-establish the good old Anglo-Saxon Witan.
For example, PB's own NPxMP could be chosen by his tribe (lefty animal lovers?) to be their WM (Witan Member) at the next Witenagemot.
What's in the High Speed Rail; Crewe to Manchester Bill ?
P43 in the doc I linked. To me it smells of investment decisions being much more devolved regionally.
What does the Bill do?
● We are not reversing the decision to cancel the second Phase of HS2. Instead, we are repurposing the High Speed Rail (Crewe – Manchester) Bill to provide powers to construct and operate rail projects which improve east to west connectivity across the north of England. ● Using this Bill to enable delivery of key infrastructure ensures that we can deliver on our manifesto commitment to improve rail connectivity in the north of England at pace. The Bill includes powers for important rail infrastructure in Manchester and the surrounding area, including new stations at Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport. ● Local leaders in the north of England have been vocal in calling for this Bill to support ambitions to address the productivity gap in the north of England by transforming rail connectivity between the region’s economic centres through transformative infrastructure investment. ● Carrying this Bill over demonstrates commitment to making progress on rail connectivity whilst we work with local leaders on an improved overall strategy.
It is very hard to see how any of that is possible without the extra capacity from the full plan of HS2.
"east to west connectivity" is the phrase. That's not quite the same thing.
It's reusing the HS2 bill for the bit from High Legh to Piccadilly as part of the proposed Manchester-Liverpool alignment.
The thing that concerns me about this is that it *may* be the opposite of what is needed. Local services, e.g. tram networks, bus routes - are best done locally. But a high-speed rail network is a *network*. By its very nature, it needs to be part of a network, and building piecemeal may lead to serious problems down the line.
Take the Great Central: built (in part...) in the 1890s as a stand-alone network, which never played very well with the rest of the network, and was hence in part closed.
HS2 itself suffered from a lack of network thinking: some parts, especially the termini, were not particularly well thought out from an expansion viewpoint. This may be worse, with local areas thinking about *their* needs, and not needs further away.
I think this is a fair point. My view is that if NPR is to succeed, it needs to do much more than 4-6pth Leeds-Manchester-Liverpool. The principle of separating fast and slow trains is sound and will lead to transformation of what we can do with the classic network. But the new infrastructure delivered needs to be *part* of the wider network. For example, as a starting point, you connect NPR to the WCML through Arpley sidings in Warrington, and use the new alignment to run Manchester-Chester trains (thereby relieving the Castlefield corridor and Chat Moss lines). There are half a dozen other things you could do too.
Perhaps... it requires a forward-thinking national strategy.
This says something like: "In 2060, we predict we will require 50,000 (*) journeys daily between London and Manchester. We predict that 4/5ths of this will be by rail if we get journey times less than two hours. we also predict 30,000 (*) journeys between Manchester and Leeds per day, and 25,000 between Manchester and Liverpool, with 1.3 of London to Manchester trains continuing on to Liverpool or Leeds.
It will then be up to the local authorities (e.g. mayors) to work out the sort of station needed to cope with the trains per hour, and how to get the people from the station to where they want to be (e.g. busses, trams). They will then pay for this with help from central government. The lines linking those stations (but not the stations) are the responsibility of a project like HS2.
The thing is, this sort of modelling is already done for infrastructure projects, with current and projected demand between endpoints measured and calculated. Whilst modeling is often out, it may still be better than piecemeal development.
(*) Figures plucked out of my svelte backside.
The problem is that there’s no joined-up thinking, because the whole point of HS2 is nothing to do with passengers at all, it’s about freeing up freight routes from Felixstowe and Southampton to Birmingham.
They really should have called the project “Capacity 2030” from the start.
The Northern cross route, on the other hand, that’s very much a passenger line aimed at creating a single commutable conurbation from Liverpool to Leeds.
No its about freeing up capacity for more commuter trains between London and Rugby owing to three vast New Towns being built along the busiest trunk railway corridor in the country.
Most of the freight from Southampton and Felixstowe only joins the west coast line at Nuneaton. Just in time to have HS2 merge and the existing line go from 4 to 2 tracks at Colwich.
What's in the High Speed Rail; Crewe to Manchester Bill ?
P43 in the doc I linked. To me it smells of investment decisions being much more devolved regionally.
What does the Bill do?
● We are not reversing the decision to cancel the second Phase of HS2. Instead, we are repurposing the High Speed Rail (Crewe – Manchester) Bill to provide powers to construct and operate rail projects which improve east to west connectivity across the north of England. ● Using this Bill to enable delivery of key infrastructure ensures that we can deliver on our manifesto commitment to improve rail connectivity in the north of England at pace. The Bill includes powers for important rail infrastructure in Manchester and the surrounding area, including new stations at Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport. ● Local leaders in the north of England have been vocal in calling for this Bill to support ambitions to address the productivity gap in the north of England by transforming rail connectivity between the region’s economic centres through transformative infrastructure investment. ● Carrying this Bill over demonstrates commitment to making progress on rail connectivity whilst we work with local leaders on an improved overall strategy.
It is very hard to see how any of that is possible without the extra capacity from the full plan of HS2.
"east to west connectivity" is the phrase. That's not quite the same thing.
It's reusing the HS2 bill for the bit from High Legh to Piccadilly as part of the proposed Manchester-Liverpool alignment.
The thing that concerns me about this is that it *may* be the opposite of what is needed. Local services, e.g. tram networks, bus routes - are best done locally. But a high-speed rail network is a *network*. By its very nature, it needs to be part of a network, and building piecemeal may lead to serious problems down the line.
Take the Great Central: built (in part...) in the 1890s as a stand-alone network, which never played very well with the rest of the network, and was hence in part closed.
HS2 itself suffered from a lack of network thinking: some parts, especially the termini, were not particularly well thought out from an expansion viewpoint. This may be worse, with local areas thinking about *their* needs, and not needs further away.
I think this is a fair point. My view is that if NPR is to succeed, it needs to do much more than 4-6pth Leeds-Manchester-Liverpool. The principle of separating fast and slow trains is sound and will lead to transformation of what we can do with the classic network. But the new infrastructure delivered needs to be *part* of the wider network. For example, as a starting point, you connect NPR to the WCML through Arpley sidings in Warrington, and use the new alignment to run Manchester-Chester trains (thereby relieving the Castlefield corridor and Chat Moss lines). There are half a dozen other things you could do too.
Perhaps... it requires a forward-thinking national strategy.
This says something like: "In 2060, we predict we will require 50,000 (*) journeys daily between London and Manchester. We predict that 4/5ths of this will be by rail if we get journey times less than two hours. we also predict 30,000 (*) journeys between Manchester and Leeds per day, and 25,000 between Manchester and Liverpool, with 1.3 of London to Manchester trains continuing on to Liverpool or Leeds.
It will then be up to the local authorities (e.g. mayors) to work out the sort of station needed to cope with the trains per hour, and how to get the people from the station to where they want to be (e.g. busses, trams). They will then pay for this with help from central government. The lines linking those stations (but not the stations) are the responsibility of a project like HS2.
The thing is, this sort of modelling is already done for infrastructure projects, with current and projected demand between endpoints measured and calculated. Whilst modeling is often out, it may still be better than piecemeal development.
(*) Figures plucked out of my svelte backside.
The problem is that there’s no joined-up thinking, because the whole point of HS2 is nothing to do with passengers at all, it’s about freeing up freight routes from Felixstowe and Southampton to Birmingham.
They really should have called the project “Capacity 2030” from the start.
The Northern cross route, on the other hand, that’s very much a passenger line aimed at creating a single commutable conurbation from Liverpool to Leeds.
No its about freeing up capacity for more commuter trains between London and Rugby owing to three vast New Towns being built along the busiest trunk railway corridor in the country.
Most of the freight from Southampton and Felixstowe only joins the west coast line at Nuneaton. Just in time to have HS2 merge and the existing line go from 4 to 2 tracks at Colwich.
It doesn’t go from 4 tracks to 2 at Colwich.
Rather, two tracks diverge on the direct line to Stone to miss congestion at Stafford.
The lines to Stafford temporarily stay two tracks before widening to four a couple of miles further on.
Comments
To remind you: he once said that one of his books was stated as part of the inspiration for Anders Breivik. He now claims he said that as a 'joke'.
https://news.sky.com/story/heat-health-alert-issued-for-parts-of-england-13179461
I don’t understand why people let themselves get wound up by him yet alone actively come on just to have a dig at him when he’s not even on here at present. Strange.
I find him amusing, in the same way any sad old git trying to prove his life is brilliant is amusing. In a sad, decrepit way, except in his case he does not even have past glories to look back on.
Besides, I daresay he gets a chuckle from the attention, which I'm guessing is why he posts here. It's not about politics, it's about HIM. So in reality we're doing him a favour...
Under the gaze of a contingent of soldiers and police officers, and surrounded by an entourage of swimsuit-wearing city employees, Hidalgo’s symbolic swim in the turquoise-brownish waters was broadcast live on national television. Hundreds of spectators also watched from the riverbanks and nearby bridges."
source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2024/07/17/anne-hidalgo-seine-swim/
(According to the Post, the Potomac downstream from DCmay be clean enough for swimming in a few years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potomac_River
And, speaking personally, I was pleased to see, on Sunday, that the nearest swimming area to me on Lake Washington has re-opened, after being closed for bacterial problems. Often, so I hear, caused by Canadian geese.)
https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2024/executive-summary
Right now it’s 38ºC and 60% humidity, at 18:00 hrs. The humidity will build to 80% at 35º overnight , and we’re looking for 43º tomorrow.
https://www.avmet.ae/omdbfc.aspx <<— official weather forecast at the airport, way more accurate than what the local radio station might have to say.
Yes, sandpit petrol stations otherwise look like petrol stations anywhere else, with a canopy on top.
We ought to treat this in exactly the same way 'we' did the Barbary Corsairs.
The trouble with the current levels is they get triggered in short lived warm spells during otherwise unremarkable summers and have a cry wolf effect.
The French thresholds for "canicule" are more meaningful and have more stress on nocturnal temperatures: for example in Paris it's 3 successive days above 31C by day and above 21C at night. That would rarely be breached here because our nights are almost always much cooler.
I refer the gentleman back to the Solihull Project...
Sound like a brand of cheap vegetable oil
The battery revolution is also changing how people get around (cities). If you consider that the electric motor is much more efficient than an ICE, and then you have the reduced weight and cost of an e-bike.... revolution is the right word. It doesn't even require power generation to switch to renewables for there to be a significant reduction in carbon emissions.
"Bangkok hotel cyanide murder victims 'were poisoned by US woman who also took her own life': Married couple among the group of six 'were furious she had lost their $280,000 investment'
Six people were found dead at the luxury Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel on Tuesday
Police believe they were murdered based on evidence gathered at the scene "
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13642835/bangkok-hotel-cyanide-murder-victims-woman.html
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/07/17/insanity-labour-electric-car-plan-now-glaringly-obvious/
There’s a fine line to draw between encouraging EV adoption, allowing Chinese dumping without imposing tariffs, and possibility retaliatory tariffs on British luxury cars by the Chinese.
48-60 hours for warm weather mainly for the south and south east lasting from Friday morning to early Sunday afternoon. It never gets too warm over the bulk of the British Isles and by next week it's all back to what passes for normal.
In essence, we get a glancing blow from a wave of heat pushing north east across Europe but the real warmth doesn't get further than central France.
BRACE
How much money is Egypt losing as a result of this? I just don't get the Arab world's passivity towards Iran.
Only it'll be far, far worse because they will be listening to Trump 2.0 from the White House and he has no interest in democracy or the rule of law. Or indeed in handing power back when he loses.
FFS act now.
Blimey. So many lost hours
So again the question is why? This can't be due to cheap chinese imports as this is ovberall sales, not just European production.
As I have said previously, the sooner we can move to EV vehicles and end the ICE the better (because I think additives are poinsoning our inverebrates). So I would really like to understand why we are seeing this drop in the attractiveness of EVs.
I do get what some have mentioned about early adopters now being out of the market but I had expected that the improvements in EVs would have compensated for that.
NEW THREAD
I met Sunak in 2020 and was genuinely impressed by his warmth and normality. The Sunak who is now Leader of the Opposition is the same man.
Once he became PM something crazy happened to him, transforming the nice Rishi into the idiot disaster Rishi.
For example, PB's own NPxMP could be chosen by his tribe (lefty animal lovers?) to be their WM (Witan Member) at the next Witenagemot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witan
Most of the freight from Southampton and Felixstowe only joins the west coast line at Nuneaton. Just in time to have HS2 merge and the existing line go from 4 to 2 tracks at Colwich.
Rather, two tracks diverge on the direct line to Stone to miss congestion at Stafford.
The lines to Stafford temporarily stay two tracks before widening to four a couple of miles further on.