Slight interlude, some stuff I wrote for something to do over Xmas when Newsnight was off the air.
Delivering Rock Salt
Its not really news but it is topical at the moment, going back to my wagon driving days, ( I can't remember the exact year but probably the late 1980s ) we occasionally hauled rock salt in bags in winter.
It was mid January and as it had been freezing hard our regular concrete aggregate work was cancelled, the boss came up with a load of bagged rock salt from Coppull near Chorley to Boston hospital in Lincolnshire. The trouble was Lincolnshire was officially closed to all traffic due to the snow, so an alternative load to Darlington was arranged instead.
I loaded up at Coppull on the afternoon, ready for an early start from the depot at Chatburn the morning after. Our usual start time for such a trip was 5 am, but as it had been snowing intermittently all night I waited till 6 to let the ploughs have a chance to get out at least on the main roads. Not much problem on the A59 to Skipton, then over the A65 to Addingham, Ilkley, Otley to Harrogate, then through to the A1. We usually used the A59 Blubberhouses route but that was traditionally the first route to be blocked by snow, Ilkley-Otley was dicey in places that morning but she ploughed through no problem. The snow gradually built up going north on the A1 and there was about 6 inches lying at Darlington, however it seemed quite grippy, never had any major problem steady away despite being a 38 ton max length artic.
On arrival at my first drop ( a garden centre ) the owner instantly realized that he was never going to be able to unload me so I was directed to my second drop, the Cummins engine plant at Darlington. The whole load had been ordered through the garden centre who said they would pick up their share later. It took about an hour to unload at Cummins but the battery was flat when I came to move due to me foolishly leaving the headlights on with the engine stopped. No problem though, got towed off with a little grey Fergy tractor they had, thence to Hartlepool docks for a load of wood pulp for Sun paper mill Blackburn.
By now the snow was starting to thaw yet I kept hearing on the radio that all roads over the Pennies were blocked. At least I could rope and sheet in a shed and time was getting on, would be well dark by the time I got home. I came back down the A19 no problem and thence to Boroughbridge where the A1 intersects the A59. I was thinking about parking up at Harrogate for the night but I kept seeing Alfred Hymas wagons with Bell containers which I knew must have come over the top despite what the radio said.
Although under the circumstances it could be classed as a big risk I set out up the A59 Blubberhouses road from Harrogate. It was fairly easy going, not much snow at all and approaching Menwith Hill the plough fitted gritters passed me going in the opposite direction. Got down into the bottom of Blubberhouses OK, then on the climb up to the summit it started getting worse. Ploughed through a couple of drifts on the way up at 20 Mph, lost her feet nearly a couple of times in drifts but had her soon checked on the accelerator. The quarter mile flat section at the summit was the worse, drifts had formed but she just ploughed her way trough, It would appear that the gritters had been ploughing this section all day to keep the road open for traffic. Good job the road had been improved by then, easy to wind down the straight wide new road, I can remember once seeing an 8 wheeler going down one of the steep bits on the old road sideways.
No real problems after skipton and I pulled into our yard just before 6 to fuel up and went into the office. " What are you doing here " was the remark, " how did you do it ", Just came over Blubberhouses " I replied. It turned out that one of the local lads in an 8 wheeler had got stuck at Addingham, 3 of the wagons of a company we subcontracted to for animal feed jobs were stuck on the M62 for three days.
I did the alleged load to Boston Hospital a couple of weeks later and their was still plenty of snow on the ground even then. Perhaps the main factor why we seem to struggle so bad in the snow these days is the use of alleged energy efficient tyres. My steed ERF 2 axle tractor with Rolls-Royce Eagle diesel DGR 728W was fitted with Michelin almost new XZT traction tyres on the drive axle, XZA for positive steering. Just take a short glance at modern tyres and you can see that they are totally unsuitable for mud or snow ?
BTY #108
Its probably not just the tyres fault the country has ground to a standstill, the type of tarmac used on trunk roads has also changed. Back in the 1970s all main roads were surfaced with Hot Rolled Asphalt with 20 mm grit stone ( green granite ) rolled into the surface for traction.
More recently the Highways Agency has been using the new ( alleged green again ) quiet road surface which uses 6 mm open texture tarmac. Its OK in the dry but when it rains it holds water on the surface and if its not religiously gritted in chance of frost it can so easily turn into a skid pan. Furthermore, you can no longer use the trick of winding down your window a bit and listening to the tyres swishing on an apparently wet road. As soon as the tyres went silent you knew instantly you were on ice and could do something about the situation like steadily ease off.
It is probably the case that any lying snow becomes embedded in the open texture surface and when your wheel spins the tyre tread can no longer dig through to get a positive mechanical grip as was the case with HRA and 20mm chippings. As for the alleged green aspect the use of the new material has left a mountain of unwanted 5 mm-dust at all related quarries. Dust was the main ingredient in HRA but it used a range of other sizes also, now there is a shortage of 6 mm, which was traditionally in short supply anyway because 6 mm dense bit was the favourite for footpaths, school yards etc. I believe they now often use FCA sand carpet for footpaths etc which is not as good for pedestrian grip. Its always the same, let the university boffins loose anywhere and they always come up with the most expensive and oveall inefficient method of doing anything.
BYT #111
As a 1930s grass roots apprentice trained wagon driver I take issue with your link #7 always use high gears nonsense. Its always best to use an appropriate gear for the speed, engine braking is far safer on snow / ice than using the foundation brakes. One idiot rolled his Land-Rover coming down an icy steep hill near here, the consensus of informed opinion was that he had tried to come down said straight 1 in 6 hill in third instead of second.
However, when you weigh up the position we are now in as far as car ( Roger #109 ) and road design you have to lay the blame at the foot of typical motoring journalists. They may be good at pulling fancy wheel spin stunts etc but when it comes down to basic driving skills and common sense they leave a lot to be desired.
BYT #113
You remind me of Garth Dawes, a lecturer at tech who had been around a bit, started off in Aussie. He would wax lyrical about how the Americans had the rule that you had to give way to traffic coming down hill, the reverse of British policy. The point was that Yank motors had really crap brakes, even into the 1970s US six wheel trucks had no brakes on the front steering wheels. The reason behind this was that they were scared of a front wheel blowout on a long decent taking the air brake pipes out ( with some foundation as it once happened to me but that's another story ) The point was that in the 1930s many vehicles relied on Hardy fabric couplings for the prop shaft and these would fail quite regularly, especially under reverse torques. British vehicles always had decent brakes in general, although in the 70s you could still see 8 wheelers in the scrap yard with no brakes on the second steer. The moderators would bounce my version of " everyone's an idiot except me " but it holds true even today. Like you say road safety is all about allowing space but that fact would appear to have escaped modern road designers with traffic calming etc.
I have been following the debate about the future development of Clitheroe and just wondered whether any of the local councilors had considered the following option. I suppose that it means eating humble pie for many but perhaps the " new transport interchange " should form the basis of an adequate coach park for Clitheroe. Utilizing the " transport interchange " site could offer a low cost provision of a half decent coach park for tours offering toilet facilities and if well advertised and signed " coaches welcome " from the by-pass could attract much needed trade into the town without reducing the number of car parking spaces anywhere.
The bus interchange could return to Well Terrace, with a regular " shuttle bus " connecting with rail services at the station. Said shuttle bus could originate at Well Terrace, then proceed past Tesco to Lowergate thence to the bottom of Moor lane for Sainsbury's, back up towards the town centre then down Parson Lane for Booths and ultimately the station and back to Well Terrace. Said arrangement could relieve any timetable pressure on the Skipton-Preston services, local services could still pass the station as part of their route. I suspect that there is far more chance of people actually shopping in Clitheroe if their bus deposits them direct into the town centre and are not faced with a long walk ?
It will be no great loss to loose rail interchange between Blackburn / Burnley services either although said buses could lay over at the new coach park. It would be even better still if at least the Blackburn service came direct straight through to Chatburn like they did in the 1970s. I suspect that there are now so many speed limits cut to 40 from 60 and from 40 to 30 on their route that this is no longer legally practical ?
My name is Mim, I'm nice but dim
And like a good little ten bob fat cat
I spam the blog with Polish chit-chat
I believe everything the celebrity politicians tell me
And swallow what the stock market parasites want to sell me.
From US health reform to climate change
I tow the line and would willingly pay for any of their money making scams
Forget about all those who can never afford it
Revert to spamming about my love life if I can't handle the argument.
The said flammable petrol is not exactly inside the car and therefore on the principle of the Davey lamp presents no problem unless you are involved in a sertious crash which ruptures the fuel tank /lines. So its OK to smoke in a diesel car on your theory, stopping people smoking will destroy the levelihoods of many small farmers allowing multinational corporations the chance of buying up the land cheap. Choose between lining the pockets of the Corporate Nazi pharmacuticals for patches etc and small farmers ( particularly in Virginia ) and I will choose the small family farmers anyday.
Looks like I wasn't far out with my choice of the Stoning Sketch but then the anti-smoking lobby have always been a bit like some BNP supporters and their quasi-religious openly hostile attitude towards Muslims. I was brought up under the impression that being British was all about tolerance, the trouble is the more smoking becomes politically unacceptable the more likely teenagers are to start as an act of rebellion. Increasing the age limit only makes things worse, Harry Enfield's spoof 1930s smoking add was spot on, teenagers will smoke to infer that they are older and can therefore consume alcohol legally.
Good point barrie #199
The trouble is our Corporate Nazi government use minor details like the smoking ban and Foxhunting etc to keep the feeble minds of the ten bob fat cats occupied. At the same time the country rolls further down the slope into total anarchy ( remember what jj said, the politicians are Anarcho Capitalist Trotskyites ). At the next election you can bet we don't get true vote on the direction of Climate Change policy ( unless you have a BNP candidate ) likewise a fair direction for the long term future of our welfare state. Telephone No salary journalists will ensure that nothing is done to curb in the stock market parasites with any form of transaction tax or making people hold shares for two years before drawing any dividend, just the same old Corporate Nazi business as usual.
The trouble is our Corporate Nazi government use minor details like the smoking ban and Foxhunting etc to keep the feeble minds of the ten bob fat cats occupied. At the same time the country rolls further down the slope into total anarchy ( remember what jj said, the politicians are Anarcho Capitalist Trotskyites ). At the next election you can bet we don't get true vote on the direction of Climate Change policy ( unless you have a BNP candidate ) likewise a fair direction for the long term future of our welfare state. Telephone No salary journalists will ensure that nothing is done to curb in the stock market parasites with any form of transaction tax or making people hold shares for two years before drawing any dividend, just the same old Corporate Nazi business as usual.
barrie #210
I suspect that you have to have studied early Soviet politics and in particular Trotsky to get your head around the anarcho capitalist Trotskyite bit but needless to say Trotsky was a key DNA component of the Bush line of thinking. Corporate Nazi is a bit of an easier way to describe the end result, all government policy run in the interest of the stock market parasites and the continued existence of the Corporate Multinational Cartel of global business players. The thing was that Bush and Blair went so far as to appease the CMC that they eventually gave the CMC enough rope to hang themselves, hence last years global financial crisis.
The only sensible way out of the problem would have been to nationalize all the international assets, but Brown, Bush and now Obama perhaps foolishly placed a taxpayer funded trampoline under the Banks. Now the stock markets have bounced back but their is still slack in the rope and the noose is still around their neck. Many multinationals owed so much money to the banks ( especially when post merger ) that they were almost in breach of their banking covenants and technically insolvent when the stock markets were at there low point. It it would appear that many of the CMC members have increased their borrowing since the stock market rose, many even talking about further mergers to hide their potential financial black holes. The trouble is that the real cash money is not out there, look how the GM deals to sell Saab fell though recently, and now the Dubai property fiasco.
The next downward swing on the hangman's yo-yo could break through any trampoline and finish them all off permanently. Many commentators are predicting another major stock market crash during 2010, who knows just how far it will fall this time. Perhaps the only sensible way out will be to nationalize all the banks and technically nationalize the UK assets of any CMC company which can't keep up its interest payments. Otherwise the stock market parasites will use the situation to asset strip what remains of our vital infrastructure and our entire country could end up potentially nationalized by the Arabs and China ?
barrie #218
I can't help speculating that the Christmas day bomb plot was all a set-up in order to sell the new X-ray machines now appearing at airports like even Manchester. From the photo footage the said bomb looked really professionally ( tailor ) made using a sowing machine ( would need to be to be skin tight ). Perhaps said X-ray machine manufacturers indirectly funded the whole thing, security forces conveniently omitting to swap information to allow a high risk suspected terrorist to carry out the attack ?
Perhaps as an indication of just how bad local authority management has become totally inefficient is the news that our local parish council has been offered cash back to employ a local lengthsman.
For example, Lancashire County Council send a team to cut the grass strips between the main road and pavements, whilst Ribble Valley BC send a team to cut the rest of the public grass. This must cost a fortune yet the parish council is unlikely to find enough work for one man on his own full time on an annual basis.
Even back in the 1960s when we had two full time men and a mini-depot ( was in the six cow shippon section of our barn ) where they kept at least 8 tons of rock salt for manually spreading on ice spots, the main pavements were cleared of snow and gritted when required. They also swept up all the leaves in autumn, but in summer the workload was smaller so they would go out on LCC road resurfacing projects. Just so long as you could swing a shovel all day but for the less fit, jobs like operating the stop-go boards on roadworks, far more efficient at keeping the traffic moving than today's temporary traffic lights. With the stop-go boards it was also easy to do a rolling road disruption, now tarmac is laid in short stops with a " bed end every " 200 yards. It is also advisable not to lay tarmac in the rain, or when its freezing but they will insist on doing it. The end result is shoddy and it doesn't last as long before it needs doing again, total false economy. Those on road surfacing went on to be standby gritting teams in winter, now its often some part time bloke ( or woman ) out of the offices.
Perhaps a classic example of what can happen is the plight of the hamlet of Twiston during the recent cold snap. The snow originally fell on the Thursday,( 17th dec ) followed by minus 10 and then a heavy snowfall on the following Monday. The main road remained open throughout this period ( now bus route ) but the spur which connects the " low road" up the big end of Pendle hill had only been gritted as far as ( and including ) the little used Martin Top branch, where all the people lived was left untouched until late Wednesday afternoon. According to my local councilor his phone was red hot, the official LCC excuse was that said road was not included in its satellite map so all the drivers ignored it. Anyone with local knowledge would have known that the route through Twiston was the priority all the time. I suspect that the real reason was that it could not be fitted into a one way trip without having to go over previous gritting technically idle.
Anyway it all started going down hill in the 1980s, the fleet of Ford 13 ton gross carry 8 tons of salt in winter or shraff in summer ( for tar spay and chipping ) resurfacing were replaced by 3.5 tonne Transits. It was hilarious, they even had to tip off collecting the minimum 1.5 ton mix of tarmac at Horrocksford quarry. We made a fortune getting paid for 10 tons when they only wanted 3 or 4 to finish the job, often there was plenty left, did the drive at the back of my house for free. Anyway all said trucks could be fitted with a plough and even if their wasn't an IPO gritter to go on the back there was sometimes a hole at the front of the box with a spinner beneath where a bloke could shovel to whilst mobile. H&S would freak out but you could never fit a plough on a transit pickup, the small wheels on a modern 7.5 tonner are also of little use in snow, although an improvement on the Transits.
Once upon a time I used to build gritters, our particular selling point was the actual spreading technology, the bodies were not that brilliant. As usual in the UK the best all round manufacturer of gritters ( Atkinson ) had gone bust first, and the company I worked for got took over and closed by a competitor. The technology got excessive to a point where it was uneconomical, interestingly enough some London boroughs had the best idea fitting a basic gritter to an old withdrawn dustbin wagon, others got ex-army 4 by 4 Bedfords. Anyway following today's purpose built gritters it would appear that the technology is much more basic than in the late 1980s.
As I complete this anecdote Twiston remains ungritted since last Wednesday despite further snow this Tuesday. The Corporate Nazi's at LCC apparently refuse to grit said two mile stretch of road due to having to concentrate on bus routes and lack of salt. This is despite the fact that said route is the only alternative over the big end of Pendle if the main route gets blocked for some reason.
Salt Shortage
It would appear that many local councils are experiencing a severe road salt shortage, and current film footage suggests that Winsford is working flat out 24/7 just to keep the country in salt hand to mouth. Back in the 1980s Winsford had massive stock piles of salt stacked up 100ft high either side a mile down the road into the town centre. You could drive up onto the top and turn round an artic no problem whilst loading.
There was never a shortage of salt in winter, but I suspect that the eco-fascists put their oar in in the 1990s. Salt was always tipped and stored in the open, but the eco fascists squealed about run-off during rain so councils and the highways agency had to build sheds to put it in. Some people have attempted to portray that rock salt gets less effective if exposed to the rain. The truth is that apart from an inch or two on the outside of the pile which forms a crust due to the clay component the inside remains as fresh as the day it was tipped. Now local councils are forced to pay well over the odds for white " cooking salt " and mix it with 5mm-dust grit from a quarry with aggregate tax on it.
I'm a bit skeptical about the alleged detrimental environmental aspect of storing salt in the open. Lancashire County Council once had a massive open air strategic stock pile at Samlesbury by the A59, the standing water in the dyke at the side of the adjacent lay-by old road was the best place for kids to find frog spawn in spring. So it looks like appeasing the eco-fascists has stuffed us all again for no real benefit to anything.
It was interesting to note that although BBC breakfast were pushing the McCelebrity eco-fascist " No Meat Monday " in early news, Benn instantly dismissed it when questioned. The link is broken to the full story of what was said in the full announcement but it should be clear to anyone with a working brain that we need to produce more meat. Much of the UK is unsuitable for producing anything else, and like one HYS post pointed out, Monday is traditionally used to eat up what remains of your Sunday roast. ( if you can afford one ) Even Chip shops would traditionally stay closed on Monday for the same reason.
NN 07/01/2010
Jaunty #2
Its not really fair to blame the " market " entirely for the lack of gas storage capacity in the UK, various companies have tried to set up adequate cheap gas storage. Just in the north west ( 1 in Cheshire and one on the Fylde ) two applications have been made to store gas in old salt workings. However, each time the high profile eco-fascist groups moved in and organized effective local campaigns in opposition based on alleged ( perhaps bogus ) safety concerns. The government could have stepped in and approved said plans but remained silent.
As for predicting the weather, Piers Corbyn and his Weather Action team predicted the current cold snap 6 months ago based on sun spot observations. The Met Office are totally useless, all they are interested in is attempting to portray further global warming to appease their quasi-religion. Perhaps time to sack everyone in the Met Office and use public funds to get a free to the general public accurate set of forecasts from Weather Action ?
John Ketley was on News 24 reckoning that the cold weather was down to which way the wind was blowing, but how do you expect to model that. As everyday passes the evidence for the climate change scam looks thinner, just as Anne Winterton pointed out in yesterday's PMQs. Of course all the brain dead would be eco-fascists on the Labour benches broke out laughing. Perhaps the boot will be on the other foot in a couple of years time ?
Perhaps if Lord Adonis is genuine in his promise to ensure local authorities receive all the salt they desperately need ASAP, he needs to suspend the drivers hours regulations for the next couple of months. There is an historical precedent, the Tories once did it back in the 1980s when our country was in the grip of arctic conditions.
Furthermore, he needs to suspend the current gross vehicle weight limits regulations, allow up to 10% GVW above the plated weight ( as an allowance not a target ). Things have improved since the 1980s with the introduction of weigh scales on loading shovels but the science is not perfect and takes far longer to load than a rough yet educated guess. Its pretty soul destroying to sit in a queue for a weighbridge and then be sent back to tip off a ton from a 40 ton gross load, then join the queue all over again. From the film footage it would appear that loading capacity is a key factor in creating the queues of lorries in Cheshire. The above measures would go a long way towards alleviating the current salt shortage situation.
NN 08/01/2010
Anything which damages to political credibility of the DUP has to be a good thing for the progress of peace in Northern Ireland. The DUP have always been the biggest obstacle to true devolution, but if it was up to me I would give Ulster back to where it really belongs with southern Ireland. Ulster is nothing but a drain on the UK economy and we can do without the bent deals their Westminster politicians enter into like voting for 42 days detention on the basis of a bribe for massive UK government / corporate investment. It was the same back in the 1990s with the Road Fuel Tax Escalator, tobacco factory shut in Oldham and relocated to Ulster despite the extra transport cost implications.
Jaunty #50
It looks like Gordon Browns foolish 100bn offshore windmill investment scam has pushed mining shares even higher. It would appear that pension funds etc have been selling gilts and buying equities ( probably mining shares ) on the back of quantitive easing. When the stock market probably goes tits up later in the year pension funds are going to be decimated. The whole scam is based on lunacy, heavy copper cables from as far offshore as Dogger Bank must make offshore wind totally uneconomic unless we are all forced to pay a hefty Private Tax on energy in general. The trouble is that it doesn't look like we will get a vote on it at the next election, Tories not presenting any real opposition to green lunacy. Like you say the money would be far better spent on solar panels for factory roof's, or any other roof for that matter. At least solar energy will be reliably available during the working day when demand is highest.
Perhaps the latest government sponsored legal scam ?
Just the other day some corporate woman cold called me on the land line ( despite being on the telephone preference scheme ). She attempted to portray that I was suffering from significant hearing loss and could claim damages on some alleged government scheme. I instantly told her the my hearing was perfect considering my age but she would persist that I needed to take a hearing test ( suspect this is the government NHS funded component ). Eventually I got rid of her, but if the NHS is wasting money on scheme to generate business for the legal profession it stinks. Both Labour and the Tories claim NHS spending is sacred, but if its funding projects like the above it needs clamping down on ASAP.
ecolizzy #60
Why don't we have a 50% tax on all party political donations to create a fund whereby Independent's or candidates from " smaller parties " can claim back at least a proportion of their local election expenses. Then at least most constituencies would have the chance of voting for a candidate opposed to policies based on the climate change scam. ( do you do facebook, check out the New Commonwealth Party )
What Britain needs in response to the economic crisis is not foolish wind farm projects to suck in massively global environmentally damaging copper imports but home grown solutions adapting to possible climate change. For instance a national grid for water, primarily comprising one gravity feed /syphon aqueduct from Kielder to London, one from the Lake District Intersecting Yorkshire, no expensive pumps required and the Romans could have done it. Likewise a Severn but also Morecambe Bay barrage, generate loads of carbon free electricity on a reliable ( and continual basis if you use pump storage using the nearby hills in both cases ), get our steel and cement industry working at peak efficiency instead of the current energy wasteful low capacity. When said projects are complete we could send the spare excavation equipment to places like Bangladesh where they need to build better sea defences, far better than cash aid the stock market parasites can embezzle.
The national grid for water could be funded by water companies in the south east, ( and the scheme enforced by the regulator ) obviously any consumers benefitting from said scheme could be expected to pay extra on their water bills. I'm not really that familiar with the logistics of the Severn estuary, but a direct road to Barrow in Furness could stimulate the west Cumbrian economy. Barrow itself could be virtually brought back into Lancashire where it traditionally belongs with a new direct road link across any barrage. As you well know I am not generally in favour of road tolls but a small cost to use said direct route could help pay for the project as a whole.
Anyway, what do you think about the said projects, far better value to our nation than wind farms which will be scrap in under 25 years ?
One I missed from earlier ( 01/12/2009 )
It would appear that the " Corporate Nazi " eco-fascist leaning celebrities have still not come to terms with the fact that the quasi-religious science they base their catastrophic predictions if we don't cut CO2 emissions on is fatally flawed.
It would appear that they are determined to plough on with their New World Order agenda regardless of the facts. Only this afternoon I watched an episode of Aubrey Manning's Earth Story which amply portrayed how the earth's temperature has fluctuated wildly between hot periods and ice ages. One scientist actually calculated it all worked out on solar activity, variations in the earth's orbit around the sun. After his death his theory was proved by geologists working in Bermuda studying the ancient fossilized coral beds. Analysis of ocean sediments prove more significant fluctuations in climate not so long ago, of course Earth Story was made before the eco-fascist took control of production at the BBC.
Just take a look at the credentials of some of the celebrities promoting the eco-fascist quasi-religion.
I can't help speculating that Zac Goldsmith virtually stole his alleged 300 acre farm in Devon in 2001 as a direct result of the damage done to the rural economy by the Road Fuel Tax Escalator. 7.5 million pound mansion then he preaches to the relative poor that they should turn down their central heating and freeze in winter. Likewise stop driving when he like perhaps others like Sting frequently use helicopters and private jets for their global joyriding.
Its almost as though the " Corporate Nazi " celebrities desire to introduce some new form of corporate Darwinism based on financial apartheid. Only the super rich will be able to afford to " breed " regardless of their ultimate intelligence of physical fitness. They can rely on a pool of virtual wage slaves, their slavery enshrined in carbon taxes.
Its just a pity that distinguished journalists with humble roots like Jeremy Paxman don't have the moral courage to challenge the Corporate Nazi propaganda on Climate Change, Perhaps years years on telephone number remuneration have destroyed any moral compass they may once have cherished.
Although not directly related one of the eco-fascists ( that Joseph character ) were squealing about this.
Lets look at the history of how we got here ?
Even though there were no tachgraphs at the time, the EU 8 hour driving hours ruined transport efficiency. Industry in central Scotland was decimated when the tachographs eventually came in, mostly due to Dumfries & Galloway police rigidly enforcing the 40 Mph HGV speed limit on the A74. Srathclyde had a spell at it also but could see the damage to the economy, didn't help rail freight either. Now there were lots of empty wagons in central Scotland who couldn't get home for a load the next day so spend the rest of your day loading one to take back. Stuff like spuds and whiskey, basically anything not in a particular rush and you could use traditional railway stock. The yard of the garage where I worked backed onto the Blackburn-Hellifield line so you couldn't miss what was going on. The trains just got shorter and shorter, Scotch wagons were also taking stuff back in the other direction. The final nail in the coffin was the APT and the need to take the catch points out of the WCML so all partially fitted trains were withdrawn.
The result was even more wagon's on the road and everyone had to buy new more powerful equipment, then they did it again in 1985, new 38 tonne weight limit when they should have gone straight to 44 tonne and allow a " full " 40 foot ISO container to be handled by road. The only problem is that much of the current road freight is low density stuff like Stobart's empty beer cans to Worcester and full cans back to Carlisle, which could make such traffic more " eco friendly " ( fuel efficient ) by road.
The new " B-Train " 83 foot double bendy artic could significantly reduce carbon emissions and like the operator said, actually reduce the number of wagons on our road. The B-Train principle is well proven safe in New Zealand and Aussie, at the moment UK operators are running less stable " wagon and drags " in order to increase volume. The point is that the weight pushes you trough the wind so a heavier vehicle in total will consume less fuel for more goods moved. Like the haulier said, they were not intending to exceed the current 44 tonne max weight limit, such vehicles would also do less damage to the roads. The eco-fascists were attempting to portray that said project was going to increase the weight limit.
Perhaps the future is a network of road / rail container interchange depots, with regular trains running between the WCML / ECML extremes stopping off on route to interchange traffic. For instance if you had a consignment of goods ( container ) from the south west for destinations in the north east you would intersect the train at somewhere near Preston and deliver ( perhaps several drops ) to as far as Newcastle the next day. Reciprocal from the east coast route, arrange things to make the best use of both rail and road transport. For instance a road vehicle sent from Preston could collect goods to go by rail from a north east depot as part of a working day. It just needs clever organization, computers are not really up to it yet if rail ticketing software is anything to go by.
Health & Safety is a major nightmare for our parish council when it comes to maintaining the children's play equipment on our village playing field. The field was left to the " villagers " by a wealthy spinster who was killed during a bombing raid on our village during the war and is not local authority controlled. The playing field officially opened in 1953 on the Queen's coronation and the equipment comprised of a " swing boat ", two small kiddies swings and a group of six older children's swings varying in height from one end to the other. We also had a 15 foot high slide which the kids would grease with candles to make it faster, but the swing boat was the most popular. The older kids would get it bouncing off its stops, eventually one of the radius arms snapped and was replaced, however it was decided to close it as " too dangerous " in the late 1970s after one of the arms broke again. Likewise the slide, plywood was put on the sides at the top to stop kids climbing out and falling. However in the 1980s the safety fascists closed closed down to be replaced by a boring steel tube climbing frame. The swing boat was replace by a small tame slide although we did get a roundabout at the same time. Now ROSPA are alleging that the main frame for the group of six swings is potentially unsafe, they have already been reduced to four. Its quite simple to test the integrity of the steel tubing at vital points by whacking it with a hammer, but ROSPA insist we get a chartered engineer from the manufacturers to inspect them. It would appear that the whole focus of ROSPA is to force playground operators to install new equipment, like all H&S legislation its designed to promote false economic growth, in all probability the swings could last another 50 years with maintenance. The price of new play equipment is also inflated by various government grants available. Perhaps the whole object of the safety fascists exercise is to eventually steal the playing fields from the villagers.
NN 13/01/2010
Yet another Newsnight non-discussion about the future of world finance and how the taxpayers are going to be able to get their money back. Was Vince Cable the best you could do, perhaps obviously working under party orders not to mention any possible version of the Tobin Tax. After all, all three main parties are almost certainly seeking heavy funding from the Corporate Nazi stock market parasites in the run up to the election. It wasn't made clear whether Labour or the Tories had been asked to provide a spokesperson for said discussion, perhaps they were just " practicing the art of not being seen " in the true " Monty Python's Flying Circus " tradition of British Politics these days ?
NN 14/01/2010
Of course we over reacted to the potential of the swine flu outbreak, but as with everything Brown's government embarks upon, any convenient excuse for a false economic growth investment scam. Its mainly the fault of the media, perhaps especially the BBC and " News24 " ramming it down the throats of the ten bob fat cats that they are all going to die unless we spend lots of money.
The thing is that it has emerged that Tamiflu is not that effective as first claimed yet I suspect that the NHS keeps stockpiling it. Perhaps fair enough to try it in the first instance, had big stocks on the back of other baseless health scares and it was likely to go out of date anyway. Its all part of Brown's Corporate Nazi welfare state for the stock market parasites, the biggest potential investment scam is climate change but perhaps the evidence over the next few years can save everybody scarce time and money.
I am eligible for the swine flu jab as a priority, but I have not bothered to get it yet even though I have had the seasonal flu jab. It can wait until I see my GP on my annual appointment later this month, might just as well have it if its available.
It would appear that mainstream media weather forecasting has got itself into a bit of a politically correct pickle. It would appear that they are not always as short term accurate as BTY would suggest. The last Saturday just before Xmas was the key big seasonal prize domino meeting at remote rural Tosside. On the strength of the forecast my 87 year old dad stopped at home under a warning of " heavy snow, in the event there was no snow till Monday.
The BBC TV weather forecast was far better in the 1980s when they showed you the full Atlantic chart with all the fronts and pressure gradients on it. If it showed an occluded front in a northerly wind you could work it out yourself that it was likely to snow. ( that is assuming you did the 1970s O level geography syllabus ) Its just a load of fancy computer graphics these days designed to please the average brain dead ten bob fat cats. Even then, if they predict rain in summer the tourist industry are ringing up on their backs complaining about potential loss of business
Indy #64
It rather looks like Griffin has been bought out by the Corporate Nazi's on his pre-Xmas climate change scam position as he is now apparently playing all his key cards on " Troops Home ". I can't see much political point in that as if you support an end to involvement in Afghanistan you can vote Lib-Demmic, and if you are even considering voting for Clegg you are hardly likely to be voting BNP even as a desperate protest ?
Failure to accurately predict the UK weather over the past few weeks must demonstrate that the Met Office is not fit for public purpose. Although I am not generally in favour of privatizing any " public services " perhaps privatizing the Met Office would be a good way of at least reducing the current astronomical public borrowing requirement. That is assuming that any private investor would be foolish enough to buy it ?
( From last week )
As for predicting the weather, Piers Corbyn and his Weather Action team predicted the current cold snap 6 months ago based on sun spot observations. The Met Office are totally useless, all they are interested in is attempting to portray further global warming to appease their quasi-religion. Perhaps time to sack everyone in the Met Office and use public funds to get a free to the general public accurate set of forecasts from Weather Action ?
John Ketley was on News 24 reckoning that the cold weather was down to which way the wind was blowing, but how do you expect to model that. As everyday passes the evidence for the climate change scam looks thinner, just as Anne Winterton pointed out in last weeks PMQs. Of course all the brain dead would be eco-fascists on the Labour benches broke out laughing. Perhaps the boot will be on the other foot in a couple of years time ?
Perhaps if Lord Adonis is genuine in his promise to ensure local authorities receive all the salt they desperately need ASAP, he needs to suspend the drivers hours regulations for the next couple of months. There is an historical precedent, the Tories once did it back in the 1980s when our country was in the grip of arctic conditions.
Furthermore, he needs to suspend the current gross vehicle weight limits regulations, allow up to 10% GVW above the plated weight ( as an allowance not a target ). Things have improved since the 1980s with the introduction of weigh scales on loading shovels but the science is not perfect and takes far longer to load than a rough yet educated guess. Its pretty soul destroying to sit in a queue for a weighbridge and then be sent back to tip off a ton from a 40 ton gross load, then join the queue all over again. From the film footage it would appear that loading capacity is a key factor in creating the queues of lorries in Cheshire. The above measures would go a long way towards alleviating the current salt shortage situation.
( I heard on the grape vine that many bulk haulage contractors are not even bothering to participate in salt distribution, even though they currently have wagons laid idle. The long queues make salt haulage totally uneconomic, anyone participating is probably doing it as a social service to keep their drivers from being laid off due to lack of their regular work for the construction industry )
Where ever you go whether its a reduced speed limit, new roundabout, traffic calming or HGV ban there are always a bunch of ten bob fat cat property speculators riding the wave of media indoctrinated emotions. Never mind the massive extra carbon footprint caused by the weight limit on Grane Rd, think of the false economic growth it creates in order for the stock market parasites to pay themselves even bigger bonuses than ever, whilst small business closes because they can't afford to pass on the increased transport cost. ?
NN 18/01/2010
Try again, being particularly touchy this evening and anyway all the teachers mentioned are most likely severely dead and may never walk again ?
#16 Brilliant observations JAperson
Perhaps especially the bit about school teachers, when I was a secondary modern in the early 1970s the best teachers we had were well qualified trades people often with an engineering background. The first three years of Physics was brilliant as taught by Jack Wright, ex RAF bloke with practical engineering experience. We learnt more useful practical in life stuff in the first three years with him than we got on the alleged O level course under an idiot with a BA in two years. All he was interested in was that you never called him ASPIN at it was ASPDEN, lazy swine just used come in and tell you to copy sections from the text book. He was missing a lot of the time, couldn't see the point of simply copying the textbook, you need different angles to learn efficiently, lucky for me there were programmes like Horizon and all the other excellent educational stuff. Anyway I used the physics lesson time to do homework from other subjects and still got a C despite having to pay to take the exam because Aspin put me in for CSE, but I couldn't be bothered with the course work project homework. These days pupils spend far too much of the time being preached Shakespeare, would be far better to practice written English through something like geography or history. I believe that physics has disappeared and become part of a combined science course that can never be as good as taking the individual subjects.
One of the most memorable episodes in my secondary school education was the close links between both the science and math's departments. They collaborate on practical jokes on certain pupils by masters. Perhaps the best one was sending somebody for a long stand, which I witnessed personally in one of Ma Sharpe's math's lesson. Said pupil would come into the lesson and state " Please Mrs. Sharpe Mr. Wright ( the physics master ) sent me for a long stand ", not so stupid request as it might seem as Ma Sharpe did in fact possess a " long stand " which she used to illustrate the practical in stuff like geometry. However said pupil would make said request but Ma Sharpe would continue the math's lesson for another ten minutes or so. When she ended her spiel said pupil would ask " what about my long stand " to which Ma sharp would retort that " you have already had it ". It took a couple of seconds for the penny to drop after which said pupil would make a speedy exit to avoid the embarrassment. I never quite worked out whether it was a punishment for stupid pupils who disrupted lessons, perhaps just get them out of the way during any crucial bit.
NN 20/01/2010
US Rejecting Obama Eco-Fascism ?
I suspect that many former Obama supporters are not voting against health care, just the pathetic current health care proposals that wont benefit any US citizens, just a welfare state for the health companies in its present form. The real elephant in the room is the Climate Change Scam after Obama flew to Copenhagen and associated himself with the Corporate Nazi eco-fascist carbon taxers. From the posts on YouTube it would appear that there is a healthy debate going on in the US regarding the climate change scam, it may be the case that the prospect of blocking any proposals on climate change were the key factor in Obama's apparent implosion in public support ?
Putting myself in the shoes of the average " independent " or " progressive " Democrat leaning US voter keen to promote true equality in US society, I could actually see myself now voting Republican in protest. I suspect that many of those who supported Obama at the presidential election are at least extremely peeved with where the progress of the health bill stands. As drafted at the moment it is little better than a welfare state for the health insurance industry and not really worth the paper it is written on and little better than the status quo.
Obama has failed to come up with his promise to the poor on health care, then he flies off to Copenhagen and associates himself with the Carbon Tax Corporate Nazi eco-fascists. He also allowed CO2 to be classified as a pollutant when it is clearly essential to life on our planet. Any intelligent voter can see that even if Obama had got the most important " public option " in his health bill, carbon taxes would have more than destroyed any potential gain to the overall quality of life for the US citizen.
NN 26/01/2010
I don't profess to know all the rules that the statisticians use but it strikes me that for the UK to have achieved 0.1% growth we also now have even on the most conservative of estimates 2.9% inflation. Perhaps if you knock out what could be perceived as false economic growth ( inflation ) our economy actually shrunk 2.8% in the last quarter. Of course the stock market parasites are doing well on the back of quantative easing, but it would appear that the likes of Hedge Funds are soaking up most of any extra money which could be going into the real economy.
As your Salford report last night suggested there are still plenty of ten bob fat cats out there foolish enough to be willing to sign their financial life away on a poxy terraced house for 150k. The banks must be pretty foolish to allow anyone to do so, perhaps sowing the seeds of a new financial crisis in near future when many may loose their public sector job as a result of Tory spending cuts.
#89 ecolizzy
That's the whole object of the exercise based on Corporate Nazi ideology and supported by Corporate Multinational Cartel friendly Trade Unions. The CMC wants to kill small businesses as they know full well they are always more efficient at doing anything than them. All three main parties are a Corporate Nazi mirror image of themselves, competing for the vote of ten bob fat cat virtual bank slaves, hence the apparent focus on keeping interest rates low.
That's the whole object of the exercise based on Corporate Nazi ideology and supported by Corporate Multinational Cartel friendly Trade Unions. The CMC wants to kill small businesses as they know full well they are always more efficient at doing anything than them. All three main parties are a Corporate Nazi mirror image of themselves, competing for the vote of ten bob fat cat virtual bank slaves, hence the apparent focus on keeping interest rates low.
Perhaps Tim nice but dim has got an injunction put on it after he was exposed gaining 80k in his back pocket for a HoC banquet he organised for a possible environmental investment scam company. It would appear that most politicians with alleged green credentials are bent as a nine bob note, Gavin intervened but it was about to be revealed about his directorship of another green company concerned with promoting electric cars. No wonder nice but dim Tim was bleating for massive increases in road fuel duty more recently, his chairmanship of the Environmental Audit Committee must be untenable if the truth comes out.
It would appear that the whole thrust of the Lorry Ban proposals are deriven by ten bob fat cat property speculation of a style which probably makes " house flipping " bent politicians famous for it look amaeture. Perhaps many of the members of the chamber of trade think that they can sell up and make a tidy profit on the strength of any lorry ban. It is petently obvious that these people do not care about the true future long term interest of the Settle local economy, of which the quarry industry and it HGV's are the key.
Perhaps asking tourists whether they would come to Settle more often if HGVs were banned is likely to precipitate the same answer as if you had asked BNP members whether they would support the construction of a new Mosque. Such is the media indoctrinated black propaganda emotion against HGVs and the haulage industry in general to the point of virtual racism in most cases. The eco-fascist element in society ( and Settle would appear to have more than its fair share of these people ) will support anything which destroys the long term job prospects of the true indigenous population, work to close industry like the quarries, paper mill and creamery.
I seem to remember that Gordon Brown was boasting the support of 80 companies including Shell when he flew off to Copenhagen to allegedly save the planet from doom. Given Shell's past human rights record especially in Nigeria where they got Ken Sarawiwa hanged for attempting to use democracy to protect the rights of the people its perhaps hardly surprising that they support the Climate Change scam. I suppose I could go back and get the full list from news archive but Tesco was another member of the corporate multinational cartel supporting brown, famous for screwing the small farmers, I don't remember any potential human rights infringements by Exxonmobil.
NN 10/02/2010
Perhaps Mr. Athens dustbin man was not that far wide of the truth when he said that Greece was probably being used as a guinea pig for other countries in the EU. It would appear that the Corporate Nazi stock market parasites are trying their level best to ferment an EU wide civil war ( including in the UK ). Perhaps the " markets " can't wait until policies driven by the Climate Change Scam ( the lights going out due to reliance on wind farms ) create enough anarchy to precipitate the suspension of basic human rights in the UK. Perhaps its ironic but it is governments who have given the hedge funds the liquidity to target individual nations. Significant regulation of global finance can't come soon enough to save what remains of our alleged civilisation. End Panda's ( nee Darling ) New Labour's G20 welfare state for the stock market parasites ASAP if this is how the Corporate Nazi's intend to repay our citizens.
