Seen in the News

[Tripps]

British Railways

I read that there is no truth to the rumor that the rail unions have announced the dates of the first strikes on HS2, despte quite reasonably arguing that twice the speed deserves twice the pay.

[Stanley]

David.... If you sit back and consider all the policy decisions taken by politicians over the years you can quite reasonably come to the conclusion that political thinking is the worst possible mechanism for deciding on policies that directly affect the real world..... The last one that I can recall that worked was the Beveridge Report and Aneurin Bevan's translation of that into health and housing. Since then, zilch!

[Tripps]

This does not seem to have been spotted by the BBC yet. The only fire they are interested in today is the one at a wedding in Nineveh.
(Where the quinqueremes come from).

Tesla battery storage fire Queensland

RResidents have also been warned to close windows and doors, and those with respiratory conditions have been urged to keep their medications close by. [Always sound advice in these situations] (Ed)
Queensland Senator Matt Canavan shared news of the fire on Facebook, blasting the state’s new energy grid.
“A Tesla battery is on fire near Rockhampton and crews have been told not to put it out,” he wrote. “Our new energy grid is worse than our old energy grid.”

A graphic demonstration of Hutber's Law in action again.

[Stanley]

Is the instruction to fire services to let it burn because this is the best way to get rid of the residue from the batteries (if the most controversial)? I don't know the chemistry involved but would bet a penny to a pound that such residue would be nasty apart form the gases generated when water was poured on the burning batteries..... Working on the accepted definition of 'The polluter pays', do the manufacturers have any liability?
Silly me, of course the answer will be no. Otherwise the car industry could be held responsible for all the pollution that cars have caused. Quite obviously a ridiculous position......

[Tripps]

The reaction to the (as yet totally unexplained) felling of a tree on Hadrian's wall is getting hysterical. I am expecting a mass placing of floral tributes at the stump and perhaps a memorial plaque any time now. We have just seen on TV a mum whose baby "took his first steps" on a visit to the tree.

Good grief.

A 15 year old has been arrested and bailed. There must have been more involved. The location and the expert looking cleanness of the cut. He won't be short of offers of work from Tree Surgeons.

In view of the astonishng similarity of the tree to the newish Tory party logo - it was probably political and a revenge attack by a 'far left' group. Thank goodness we have 24 news coverage of such important events.

Get a grip people - it's just a b****y tree.

(upside down - but I haven't mastered that yet)

PS - I can find no more news of the Australian battery fire. So just one unit amongst many and burns out eventually. The trade are minimising the whole thing. Nothing to see here.

The family of three who died in a flat fire in Cambridge recently after trying to charge their bicycle battery indoors remain deceased though.
* * * * * * * * * *

PS Later that same evening. . .
A second person has been arrested in connection with the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree at Hadrian's Wall.
Police say a man in his 60s is in custody and assisting with enquiries.



: upside down:
Sorry Kev - I can't get it to work. . .

[Stanley]

Try THIS David...
I also thought there was something funny going on when I saw the clean cut and the age of the alleged miscreant.....

[PanBiker]

: upside down:
Sorry Kev - I can't get it to work. . .

See Upside Down

[Big Kev]

: upside down:
Sorry Kev - I can't get it to work. . .

Screenshot_2023-09-30-14-07-30-707_com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox.jpg

Will give you


Make sure there are no spaces between the colons and the words.

[Tripps]

Let's quickly change the subject - Two recent trends noticed.

1. I note that John Lewis Insurance are refusing to cover electric vehicles at all, and others have increases the premiums steeply. They are looking again at the risks involved. Could it possibly be anything to do with battery fires?

2. A few weeks ago the French Government gave a subsidy 200 million Euro to their wine industry to counteract a huge drop in sales. I note this week that the usual 25% off from Tesco (and the Coop) only needs you to buy three bottles rather than the traditional six.

This wine maker in Portugal seems to be responding understandingly to the situation. Wine river.

Has the wine drinking fashion passed?

I know I've stopped drinking entirely (over a year now) but I didn't expect the consequences to be so great.

[Big Kev]

I know I've stopped drinking entirely (over a year now) but I didn't expect the consequences to be so great.

A bit of a responsibility there

[Stanley]

Can any of you remember the Daily Liar that used to be published in Blackpool? David Moore had a copy with the headline that read 'David Moore stops drinking. Brewers panic'
I think we need a Pshopped headline for David.....
I stopped drinking also David. No conscious decision, it just happened. Mind you, it has never held a great attraction for me, all that ended when I started driving regularly......

[Tripps]

Can any of you remember the Daily Liar that used to be published in Blackpool?

Billly's Weekly Liar - sold in Blackpool, but I now find published in Preston. Look here BillysWeeklyLiarfor as much info as you could wish for - and a bit more.

[Stanley]

That's the one David. Thanks for the correction......
Later at 05:30.... Did I hear correctly in a news item this morning about investment by water companies in new reservoirs and improvements to limit discharges of sewage into watercourses that this would be put on customer's bills and they could be raised by £150 per annum by 2030?
How brass-necked can they get? Are they going to be allowed to get away with this?

[Tripps]

Just about in the news. Indonesia has opened a High Speed train line, rather cleverly called 'Whoosh' - from Djakarta to Bandung. Similar distance as from London to Birmingham.

The costs and timings are worth looking at.

Indonesia HS train

[Tizer]

This good news came out a couple of days ago while we were on holiday. The report in The Times said that they expect to able to extend the idea to treating other cancers....
`Prostate cancer trial: Radiotherapy doses can be cut safely' BBC

[plaques]

This good news came out a couple of days ago while we were on holiday. The report in The Times said that they expect to able to extend the idea to treating other cancers....
`Prostate cancer trial: Radiotherapy doses can be cut safely' BBC

I was advised not to go down the surgical route even though the beam surgery was a reduced intervention my age and frailty were against me. It would have meant travelling to Preston for each session. My cancer is contained within the prostate and fortunately not in the bones.

Got to look on the bright side of life.

[Stanley]

I thought about you Ken when I heard the report..... fingers crossed it stays that way....

[Stanley]

Two things, first the awful story about the causes of the death of the female soldier.... Anyone who can remember Deepcut will be saying "Surely, not again!" LINK.
Second the news that the interest rate paid on the National Debt has reached historic high levels further cutting any wriggle room that the Chancellor might have.
Another tertiary matter is that our survival over this winter without crippling charges or power cuts depends on how mild the weather is, If we have a severe winter we are in trouble. Deep joy all round.

[Tripps]

National debt issue noted . Trivial compared to the USA.


I struggling to believe this story.

Runaway electric car

He telephoned his partner to come and warn traffic ahead to get out of the way is just one of several points which is causing me credibility issues. He later called 999 and had a response within minutes.

PS The Guardian are now saying he was moving at 15 mph which is a little more believable. I don't think I'd still be owning the car though.

[Stanley]

Makes a good story doesn't it David!
Regardless of the speed, whatever happened to fail-safe design? e.g. Like fitting a reliable manual hand brake.

[Tizer]

More space rubbish...
`Amazon Kuiper: Jeff Bezos joins satellite internet race' LINK
`Jeff Bezos, the founder of the online retail giant Amazon, is expanding his interests in space. On Friday he launched two prototype satellites for a broadband mega-constellation he calls Project Kuiper. Mr Bezos is planning to put up more than 3,200 spacecraft in the next few years to deliver internet connections to anywhere on the globe. He hopes to challenge Elon Musk's Starlink, which already offers satellite internet in many countries....

`Elon Musk's SpaceX company is the leader in the field and already has more than 4,800 working spacecraft in orbit. UK-based Eutelsat-OneWeb has also built out a network of 620 satellites, but the list of wannabes in the sector is growing all the time with similar projects announced in Canada, the EU, and China, in addition to proposals from other US companies...

`Just this week, astronomers reported on the glare coming from an experimental telecommunications satellite called BlueWalker-3. This spacecraft has a 64-sq-m (690-sq-ft) antenna to connect with mobile phones direct from orbit. At times, BlueWalker-3 would appear as one of the 10 brightest objects in the entire sky, the scientists said. Added to concerns about interference are worries over the traffic management of large populations of satellites. Multiple collisions in congested space would create debris that might then restrict what anyone can do in orbit.'

[Tripps]

Several members, not least myself and our leader, have been predicting, in fairly vague terms, for some time now, a forthcoming calamity. If you predict often enough - you will eventually be right.

Now the Telegraph has taken up the cry, and it looks as if the piece was written before the current Middle East crisis. Black Monday?

All the ingredients are in place. We will see tomorrow.

PS. - Metro Bank are pretending all is well, and there is no need to take your cash out - but meanwhile the Bank of England is trying to get someone to take them over.

[Tizer]

I've been following this Kevin McCarthy story and it's getting increasingly tortuous. The US Republican Party is eating itself from the inside...
`The Republican party is at last paying the price of its Faustian pact with Trump' Guardian

[Stanley]

I suppose you're right David, the prophecy, if repeated often enough, will one day be fulfilled and Levels of debt and world instability are all favouring it at the moment.
I have thought exactly the same Peter, the GOP is eating itself from the centre. Whereas the UK is taking a different course, it is decaying from the centre due to the failed policies our politicians have saddled us with for many years but in particular since 2010. The structure of the country is slowly crumbling like the cheap concrete in our public buildings.
Sorry, I know that's gloomy but can anyone find a ray of hope?

[Big Kev]

Flights suspended at Luton airport because the car park is on fire, could it be another electric car?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-b ... s-67073446