WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Tizer]

"This caused a small but significant depletion in the ionosphere above Slough".

Well, that could account for a lot of what I know about Slough!

I have to admit that I am biased. I mistrust blind patriotism, even more now that Trump endorses it. I have always believed that when someone wraps themselves in the flag it's a bad sign.......

That's exactly my feelings about political party conferences!

[PanBiker]

The staring difference between the Labour Party Conference and any of the others Lib Dems and Tory is that the Labour conference is primarily a working business and policy making exercise rather than a flag waving event. If you judge only by the sound bites and snippets put out by the media they all look the same. I bet the Tories don't spend a morning debating policy for Palestine or the corporate greed of PFI companies. I predict one of their keynote features will be chucking money at the Royal Liverpool and I bet also that it will be covered in depth by the BBC. How many personal interviews has Theresa May given to Laura Kuenessberg over the last week?

[Tripps]

or the corporate greed of PFI companies.

Looks like the responsibility for PFI rests partly with the Labour Party. Here's a couple of extracts from the wikipedia page on the topic.

In 1992 PFI was implemented for the first time in the UK by the Conservative government of John Major. It immediately proved controversial, and was attacked by the Labour Party

The use of PFI was very limited until 1997 but became widespread under the New Labour government.[11]

Two months after New Labour took office, the Health Secretary, Alan Milburn, announced that "when there is a limited amount of public-sector capital available, as there is, it's PFI or bust".[10] PFI expanded considerably in 1996 and then expanded much further under New Labour with the NHS (Private Finance) Act 1997,[12

In 2005/6 the Labour Government introduced Building Schools for the Future, a scheme introduced for improving the infrastructure of Britain's schools. Of the £2.2 billion funding that the Labour government committed to BSF, £1.2 billion (55.5%) was to be covered by PFI

[PanBiker]

Indeed and if you watched conference this was accepted as a mistake by New Labour, The party is so far from that now as chalk and cheese. Widely accepted that the current return to proper socialist policies is the way forward, works for rocking on 600,00 members, more than all the other parties put together. Some will say that the party faithful, loony left or however you regard the membership are deluded but unlike any other party it is they that mandate, debate, adopt and promote party policy, a fact that can't be said for any other mainstream contender. As a bog standard member of the party I can put forward any idea for policy, rule change or debate to my branch. If accepted locally it can be formulated into a mandate, passed to the constituency party and if successful can be turned into a mandate to conference. That's called democracy.

[Big Kev]

Thanks Kev, I'm hoping not to be available by the end of next week but I will give you a shout if I'm still here and not sorted.

No roof access required at all just up to the eye on the gable. It's the remote end that has failed not the business end that is tied back to my chimney stack. It's failed because I used cable ties to fold the ladder line into a loop, it's been open to the elements for around 5 years and the ties have broken.

Do I need to bring a ladder?

[PanBiker]

Yes please Kev, it needs to be long enough to reach gutter height but on the gable. I'll PM you my phone number if you could give us a bit of notice when you can make it. I will get the remake materials for the end of the ladder line ready, I can do that on the ground. It will then only need reattaching to the anchor point.

[Big Kev]

Got the dentist at 10 in the morning, I'll wander round after that. I'll give you a call when I'm setting off.

[PanBiker]

Smashing Kev, kettle will be on if you want a brew.

[Big Kev]

Smashing Kev, kettle will be on if you want a brew.

[Stanley]

People helping each other.... Nice!
The main thing to remember about PFI is that the driver for it is that it is a cunning wheeze to get large capital investments off the books allowing public debt totals to be lower. The approval process was skewed to make it look cheap by ignoring the fact that public borrowing by a bond issue is cheaper and massaging the other figures as the pressure was always to accept. Rather like a household taking on too much hire purchase debt at high interest and being swamped by the repayments. It is dodgy accounting and is now recognised as such.
The East West band of high mackerel cloud this morning with a clear Northerly edge, everything to the North is clear sky. Very unusual.

[plaques]

that it is a cunning wheeze to get large capital investments off the books allowing public debt ..

The government understood this and certainly our friend Mr Blair understood it. The problem arose at ground level where Councils and Treasurers didn't grasp or chose to ignore the long term implications. Kick it down the road and let it become someone else's problem. Meanwhile those who drew up the contracts saw it as one big gravy train. This is one of the problems with Trade Deals with America. Their Lawyers are a lot smarter than ours and any contract will always favor them.

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

Maz sent this pic......

[Marilyn]

Thank you Stanley. Taken from the car window, driving home, after saying Goodbye to our English vistitors. We had a great time for two days. Felt sad driving home after we waved them off, but suddenly this magnificent rainbow appeared.
There was a second rainbow above it, which you might just see part of. How special is that?!

[Tizer]

It is special Maz, not only because there are two rainbows but also because the outside (secondary) one is always the reverse order of colours compared with the inside (primary) one. The reason is that the light is reflected twice in the water droplets of the secondary but only once in the primary. Your photo is a textbook example. It also illustrates well another characteristic of rainbows - the area of sky under the bow is always lighter than that above it.

[Marilyn]

Oh!...(ha) ...thanks for the science behind it all, Tiz. Never realised the reality behind it all to be honest. We were just feeling slightly glum on our trip home and it brightened our spirits. I wish I had captured the second rainbow in its entirety, but travelling at speed i was lucky to catch what I did between trees on the roadside.
We had been a bit sad because one of our family members connected to our UK visitors and my husband had been greatly on our minds during their stay ( my husband's dear cousin, who was murdered in the UK last year as a result of domestic violence)...and that rainbow meant so much to us as we drove home.
It was good to finally catch up and talk of things that needed to be discussed.
Horrible thing...domestic violence.

[PanBiker]

Nice picture Maz.

Kev has been round and sorted my HF antenna. Not a big job but massive if you are banned from climbing and can't do it yourself. No worries Kev went above and beyond by carrying the ladder round from his place to mine, good job he's big lad! Antenna is reconnected with an extra fastening method to secure the loop in the ladder line. Thanks again Kev, it brings the whole range of my transceiver back into use which will be handy for when the bands pick up. I will probably be on the air a little more post op now that the station is fully functional again.

[Big Kev]

No worries Ian, it kept me out of mischief for a bit while the filler dried. I'll be back decorating once I've finished my lunch

[Stanley]

"Horrible thing...domestic violence." From your mouth to God's ear Maz!
Kev, I once asked Jack Platt how retirement was going down and he said " It's all right Stanley, once you've finished decorating!"
Grand Prix in Russia tomorrow so qualifying today.....

[Stanley]

The gradual progression of the seasons as we slowly slide into colder weather. I like seasons and always remember what my old friend Bob Jacobsen said to me once. He had a large general haberdashery and clothing shop in Northfield MN. He said he had run such shops in places like California where they had no seasons and he would far rather have what he had in Northfield, a definite division where he could rotate the stock and in effect have a new shop every six months. In Northfield the summer days regularly reach the high 90sF and in winter -45F, a definite change!
I agree with him even though I hate the dark nights from now until March next year. Another consequence of our high latitude. Even now I have to remind myself that we are on the same latitude as Labrador.

[Stanley]

How the inside of my microwave oven shines! I remembered to address the matter yesterday and gave it a good clean. I don't know about anyone else but I sometimes have a mental block about things like that. I resolve to do something and promptly forget all about it..... I think deep down I must be a bad housewife!

[Stanley]

Susan is home today, she sailed from Lerwick on the overnight ferry to Aberdeen on Sunday afternoon. I hope the North Sea was kind to her! She says she has had a wonderful time in the Shetlands..... Good!
The admission by the Indonesian government that the entire system of buoys that were supposed to give early warning of tsunamis was out of action due to "theft and vandalism'.

[Tizer]

I'm sad about the death of penguins from malaria but I couldn't help laughing at the idea of `model penguins' in a zoo...
`Penguin shortage means Telford Zoo uses models' LINK

[Stanley]

Remember the concrete cows at Telford?
Manchester arrived from the States, a new hardback made to a high standard and 1170 pages....... A proper good read! I hope it's as good as the first two. It's co-authored by Paul Reid who stepped in in 2003 at Manchester's request and finished the book. William was in bad health and knew he couldn't do it. That's why I thought the last volume would never appear.....

[Tizer]

It must be the time for zany things...
`Driver filling car with branches branded 'absolute madness' LINK