Seen in the News

[Stanley]

I heard Linda Bellos David and believed her. I also wonder about the scale of abuses like this and get the impression, as yesterday, that many of the informants believe the abuses have not stopped. My attitude is that until we know differently we should believe that evil is still possible and it hasn't all been transferred to the dark web. By its very nature activity like this thrives in dark places where there is minimum scrutiny. In many cases the police themselves could be involved and will be most expert at hiding their activities.
Ask yourself the question.... Why is it that even though it is so obviously the right thing to do whistle blowers are still not protected in any organisation?

[Stanley]

Depending on where you get your news from, the percentage of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban varies but today we are told that it is 80% and the Taliban's aim is a complete takeover of government.
The talks are still going on between the Taliban and the rest but are regarded by many as simply a stalling tactic. There aim is a Sharia state and in the areas they control the former repressive practices have been brought back in.
This is not being reported in the west properly because it is such a reproach to us and all our efforts. We have totally failed.

[Tizer]

It's all reported in depth in The Times and The Guardian. I can't speak for any other newspapers.
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I'd not heard of this before and there's still a lot of explosive munitions there...
`Mitholz - the tranquil Swiss village facing a time bomb' LINK

[Stanley]

I've never heard of that either Peter. How could the authorities be so negligent and leave dangers like that? If I lived there I would be even more angry than I am about climate change!
It reminds me of the Liberty Ship in the Thames estuary. Too big a problem so let's ignore it and hope it goes away....

[Stanley]

I've just heard a report about the peak of drug deaths we are having particularly in the NE. Much talk about why 'Generation X' from the 70s is so vulnerable. What was their unique disadvantage?
The thought that passed through my mind was 'Thatcher's Children'.

[Tripps]

Of course - what a burden to bear.

Hard to work out how my children, and yours I suspect, and Kevs, ever made a go of life.

[Stanley]

David, my kids weren't living in a pit village in East Yorkshire where everyone was out of work. Villages like those became hell holes especially for the young. That's why heroin use rose quicker in those places than anywhere else. As Walter Greenwood said in 'Love on the Dole', "the quickest way out of Salford was three pints of beer'. Heroin was a cheaper way of doing it. It was an education to go to towns like Barrow in Furness when they were short of contracts at the shipyard which in the end was only kept going by naval orders for submarines. There was a good reason why property prices were so low there!
Margaret Thatcher was a follower of the mad monk, Keith Joseph who rethought Tory policies and saw her as the conduit through which they could be achieved. There was no room for smoke stack industry, in his brave new world all you needed was a service economy and a free run for the Lords of the Universe in the financial sector. At the same time the workers had to be brought back under control and the best way to do that was finance a pool of unemployment using the windfall tax bonus coming in from North sea oil. The result was a disaster for those working in industries that were no longer supported. Many never worked again, their children were reared in an atmosphere of despair and the phrase 'Thatcher's Children' was born. We see the effects of it to this day in some places but that's another even longer story.
Ask yourself how the income gap between rich and poor could grow and keep on growing. Why are there parents and children going hungry? (There was a complaint about this in Parliament this week!) How did we suddenly become a nation that couldn't function without food banks? Why is it that families with full time employment can be classed as needing Income Support to survive? Where did that most valuable and under estimated good, job security, go? In the end it's the kids that suffer, we even took their free school milk off them.....

[plaques]

Today's young people come under a lot of flack that is totally undeserved. Some of us had the swinging sixties, flower power not to mention the Beetles and the KInks. Today they get blamed for everything that is going wrong. The Delta variant of Covid is a good example. 'Its the kids ignoring the rules' is the cry. Forgotten is the fact that Boris has been weeks too late in taking action and letting flights from India bring it into the country just to get into the good books for a trade deal which never happened.
Amazingly, these good for nothing kids are winning medals in the Olympics, taking part in charity runs, and in general being an asset to the community. The sad thing is that after working hard to get through 'Uni they have to leave the area to get a job.

[Tizer]

I received a newsletter this morning and one of the articles was this. I'd not heard anything about it before. Apparently the reservation should only last minutes but there are some people finding they have to wait days before their £100 is released. It seems to apply only to payment at the pump - if you pay in the kiosk there is no reservation. It already applies at some service stations but now the supermarkets are setting it up too.
`Card providers to 'reserve' up to £100 when you pay at many self-service fuel pumps – here's what's happening' MoneySavingExpert.com
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This is an example of how several issues are conspiring to make a bigger problem than normal - covid lockdown, climate change, wildfires, tree diseases, increased timber buildings etc....
`Timber shortage due to 'unprecedented' post-lockdown demand' LINK

[Tripps]

Saw this in the news today. Well done to the Company and the Town.

Bikes from Barlick

It puzzled me to read that part of the frame is made from Titanium by means of 3D printing. How do you print when the 'ink' is titanium? I can't visualise it. Is heat involved? Perhaps Stanley should look at 'printing' a steam engine - with Brass ink?

The bikes look seriously weird - even compared to when I used to go to the Fallowfield Track to watch the races. A bit after Reg Harris was riding though. though. Wouldn't it be good to see them all using 'road legal' bikes like the Raleigh Roadster.

[Stanley]

Peter, if someone took £100 out of my account in case I reneged on the payment when I had already paid I think I would be protesting vigorously. How can the retailer be allowed to interfere in your account?
David, I'll stick to the old fashioned ways. I note that only some parts of the frame are printed. I'd need to know a lot more about it but in general, materials used for 3D printing are not homogeneous like normal production methods and not as strong. They are also a lot more expensive.
"Wouldn't it be good to see them all using 'road legal' bikes like the Raleigh Roadster."
David, can you remember Wilson winning the Tour de France on a butcher's delivery bike? Was it in the Hotspur?

[Tripps]

It was either the Wizard, The Hotspur, or The Adventure. Memory fades but I keep 'getting' the name Alf Tupper.

[Stanley]

Then there was the Rover..... Rockfist Rogan? Hoo Sung and the Rolling Sphere?

[PanBiker]

"Wouldn't it be good to see them all using 'road legal' bikes like the Raleigh Roadster."

You could apply the same criteria to F1 but I bet you wouldn't like it.

Onward and upward, the forks have been widened for better airflow as they now align with the riders legs. Some day all bikes will be like this but they need to be a lot less than £24K

[Stanley]

Only problem with that post is that you are on the wrong horse Ian, I didn't say that.

[Tizer]

Most people won't realise the diversity and beauty of marine life around our shores. Look at these great photos taken in Scotland...
`Scuba-diver photographs Scotland's colourful marine life' LINK

[Cathy]

Wow, lovely pics and so many of them looking like flowers, hence the names. Do we know if the flower names came first, or the sea creature names?

[PanBiker]

Only problem with that post is that you are on the wrong horse Ian, I didn't say that.

Ha, no you didn't it was David but you didn't use the normal quote function so it looked like your own comment.

[Stanley]

Italics and quotation marks is regarded by grammarians as an indication of a quote Ian.

[Stanley]

Heard actually, a representative of the oil industry arguing that the development of a new oil field off Scotland will aid the fight against global warming..... Like many others I can't quite follow this argument. See THIS report in the Scottish Herald. It would seem I am not alone.
Also the furore raised by Johnson claiming in Scotland that Thatcher aided the fight against global warming by closing the coal industry down. The Northern Red Wall support base might have an opinion.

[Big Kev]

Italics and quotation marks is regarded by grammarians as an indication of a quote Ian.

That may be the case but it doesn't immediately show who made the quote...

[PanBiker]

Italics and quotation marks is regarded by grammarians as an indication of a quote Ian.

That may be the case but it doesn't immediately show who made the quote...

Ha, I was just going to say that Kev.

I am aware of the grammatical use by the way. We have a quote system built into the editor so why not use it rather than type it out and set italics and all that nonsense, just seems daft to me.

[Tizer]

Heard actually, a representative of the oil industry arguing that the development of a new oil field off Scotland will aid the fight against global warming..... Like many others I can't quite follow this argument.

They use the same argument as those supporting the Cumbria coal mine - it will cut down CO2 emmsions by not having to import the stuff - and I don't follow it, too!

[Stanley]

We have a quote system built into the editor so why not use it rather than type it out and set italics and all that nonsense, just seems daft to me.
I'll carry on being daft Ian. Three keystrokes is no problem.

[PanBiker]

I'll carry on being confused then.