Seen in the News

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report of a devastating wild fire in Colorado. Driven by high winds and encouraged by a very dry season with no snow cover this is devastating towns.
There is much to be said for living in Barlick!

[Tizer]

There has been a lot of strange and extreme weather worldwide in the last week but much of it didn't float up to the top of the news, what with Maxwell and Omicron etc grabbing the headlines. Parts of California had very heavy rainstorms and then unusual heavy snow. One of the south-west states had record temperatures, as high as those in summer. In Alaska Anchorage had snowstorms and rainstorms but Kodiak had a record high temperature of 65 degrees F. The north and west of Japan had record-breaking snowfall, warnings of extreme weather conditions and freak avalanches. And down here in Somerset we've been at 14C during the day and 14C at night for the last week - no heating on in the house!

[Tripps]

"Send three and fourpence we're going to a dance"
*************************************************************

Heard on the radio news.

Thurs morning :
Euro Tunnel announce that no Britains will be allowed to cross France to access their tunnel, since Britain is now a "third country".

Later that same day:
French Government spokesman says 'that isn't true and they can transit France to access the tunnel. They always could and the rules have not changed'. Eurotunnel take down the posting.

Friday
"British tourist are once again being allowed to cross France to access the Channel Tunnel. "

[Stanley]

I noted that 'news' and the later volte face David.

[Big Kev]

Disgraceful behaviour by a group of 'anti-vaxxers' in Milton Keynes yesterday. It's just vandalism, if they don't want a jab, or testing, why don't they just not have a jab and not have any tests? I wonder what makes them think they can intimidate those who want to be jabbed and tested? Hopefully they're all identified from the video footage provided to the police, one is pictured in the BBC news story https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-b ... s-59836172 for theft of equipment. These aren't protestors...

[Tizer]

And see this morning's news, Kev...
`UK government’s Covid advisers enduring ‘tidal waves of abuse’: Exclusive: Guardian survey shows level of intimidation, including death threats, against scientific and medical advisers' Guardian

Climate scientists have been suffering similar for the last 15 years and so have some other research scientists and medics simply because they are a scientist or medic. It doesn't matter if they are saving us from climate change, viruses, pollution etc we now have a section of the population that hates them.

I also noticed in particular this paragraph in the Guardian article...
[/Prof John Edmunds, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a member of Sage, said he and junior staff were targeted regularly with abusive emails. “If you mention vaccination in the media, particularly vaccination of children, then there is likely to be a reaction,” he writes. “However, this only occurs if one’s comments are picked up by the right wing press – particularly the Daily Mail."

[plaques]

France set to ban plastic water drinking bottles.

And later in 2022 public spaces will be forced to provide water fountains to reduce the use of plastic bottles,

All we need now is for Barlick to connect the Victoria fountain up to a water supply and they will be World leaders again.

[PanBiker]

All we need now is for Barlick to connect the Victoria fountain up to a water supply and they will be World leaders again.

I have mooted this with the Town Council on more than one occasion. First when it was moved to the Town Square and latterly when even more refurbishment has taken place when it was moved to its present location, (it is still not finished). Apparently the H&S rules are so complicated it can't be done. I pointed out that in Rome there are over a 1000 community drinking fountains. You can usually find one within about 100 yards of wherever you are in the city. You don't see folk falling over either. Jubilee Fountain wasn't originally a drinking fountain for humans but it was provided for animals. Surely in this day and age with modern sanitised plumbing it wouldn't be too difficult to plumb it up with drinking facilities for the public. We used to have drinking fountains in both of our parks but they are a proper forgotten corner now. I know, lets make folk buy water in a plastic bottle that they can chuck away when they have done with it, proper good idea.

[Tripps]

in Rome there are over a 1000 community drinking fountains.

That caught my eye, since I spent six months in Italy, (was it really 50 years ago? - yes ) and spent a lot of the weekends wandering round Rome. I was totally unaware of these drinking fountains. In fact that was the first time I ever saw anyone pay to buy water in a bottle. Just assumed that was because the tap water wasn't reliable.

You live and learn.

I always played it safe abroad where drinking was concerned.

DT and Mad Eric Latina 1971.jpg

[Stanley]

I followed Kev's link for the Milton Keynes disgrace and my eye was caught by THIS procession of front pages. Scrolling down them was like having a mob shouting at you and I was reminded of what Peter said about the abuse being more likely if comments were picked up by the Daily Mail. How much blame should the media, particularly the more rabid examples, carry for bad behaviour and crackpot theories. Alien lizards?
Some things stick in your mind and I can remember walking home form school once when I was about seven years old and wondering why we kids didn't have as much to talk about as the grown ups. That's a question that could do with careful consideration these days. They get plenty of ideas fed to them now, question is, are they healthy or sensible ideas?
David, that pic is worth a thousand words! How the Empire was built and misspent youth come to mind.....

[Tizer]

I mentioned the US government request in a previous post - now we see two big phone companies refusing. Who's in charge over there, I wonder? Also, this concern about 5G will be a boon to the anti-5G fanatics...
`Top US phone firms reject call to delay 5G rollout' LINK
`Two of the biggest US phone firms have rejected a government request to delay the rollout of 5G services this week. The US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) made the request over concerns about aviation safety. However, AT&T and Verizon did say they will implement temporary safeguards. Plane makers have warned that C-Band spectrum 5G wireless signals may interfere with sensitive aircraft electronics and could disrupt flights.'...

[Stanley]

It's a funny old world isn't it.... 5g could be a killer if it interferes with safety systems but that isn't an automatic reason for banning its use until a solution ids found. Which is more important?

[Whyperion]

We used to have drinking fountains in both of our parks but they are a proper forgotten corner now.

We they the granite block ones, with the brass push valve button (and brass outflow at the top - a little cup area at the bottom sufficed for dogs). I presume copper/brass had some intrinsic anti-bacterial arrangements, the ones in schools were a toggle valve trigger and chrome finished outflow over a ceramic bowl. With careful use of a finger across the outlet one could soak another child as you could increase the pressure through the smaller apperture created.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on the state of play in the NY court that is deciding if Prince Andrew has a get out of gaol free card or not.
Here's what the BBC legal correspondent says....If Judge Lewis Kaplan had been minded to rule swiftly in Prince Andrew's favour to stop the case, he could have done two things immediately today.
First, he could have indicated in court his direction of travel - and secondly he could have torn up the currently tight timetable he has set for the duke to meet Ms Giuffre's requests for documentary evidence - the next important stage in a damages case that's heading for trial.
He did neither. But what he did do, in the dying minutes, is closely question both sides over part of the Epstein deal that had gone unnoticed in the hours since its publication.
Even if Prince Andrew could be properly classed as a "potential defendant" to Ms Giuffre's 2009 Florida claims, her settlement with Epstein says that third parties - meaning someone whose signature was not on the agreement - could not use that agreement in another court without their permission.
Given that Epstein is dead and Ms Giuffre doesn't want the prince to benefit from the agreement's terms, a strict reading of that paragraph would mean the agreement is irrelevant to her damages case.
We may yet find out whether the Duke of York can sweat or not.

[Whyperion]

Following up the debates of Law , where wording and rights are very important, one sees the latest note from the European Court of Human Rights with respect to the same - sex couple and the image requested to be placed on a (wedding) cake from a bakers in Northern Ireland , whom refused to carry out the bake and make instructions and refunded the persons placing the order. The ruling seems to be that the ECHR could not rule as the previous legal action taken was under UK Equalities Legislation, and not under the directive/treaty that actually enshrined such human rights. So the correct course of action would be back at first to the relevant UK court to effectively rule if the Treaty had correctly been incorporated into UK law, and then appeal if the ECHR on the matter of either law or interpretation if unsatisfied with any UK Court ruling. My understanding is generally the ECHR Treaty mainly covers the role of The State (or quasi state or governmental bodies) against its people / all peoples in terms of negative discrimination or persecution, and to ensure that individuals cannot persecute others due to their beliefs or other characteristics by means of such states incorporation legislation to that effect. Quite why the lawyers bringing the initial action did not raise these points to be ruled on I dont understand.

[Whyperion]

More on Law. As Jacob Rees-Mogg defends (for now) the right of trial bu jury. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59893024
As unwanted statues were toppled for what they represented, the offence taken by (some)(tory) MPs, to me , seems meaningless. I am sure there are other regulations or laws under which such protesting could have been brought to the courts, which may impose a different level of sanction against perpetrators. I feel sure, for once, the use of the statute knowing that under a jury trial the 'guilt' would be tested and that indeed some actions seen as rightfully innocent in the eyes of the law.

Apparently there are "powers in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill would close a "potential loophole" limiting the prosecution of people who damage memorials."
The bill - currently going through Parliament - would allow courts to consider the "emotional or wider distress" caused by damage to public property and raise the maximum sentence to 10 years - regardless of the cost of damage."

I doubt such clauses would change the verdict any jury would bring in under the same facts.

[Tizer]

More than 4 years have passed since the Grenfell fire and yet the government is only now recognising that the same cladding used on buildings of between 11 and 18.5m is as dangerous as on those over 18.5m. Shortly after the fire, experts were stating that it shouldn't have been used on any building over 11m so why has the government delayed so long and caused so much grief for the flat owners? The Grenfell disaster alone should be enough to bring down this government - but these days Brits seem too engrossed in their social media and TV dramas to get fired up about politics. Excuse the cliche but `it doesn't bode well for the future.
`Cladding: More flat owners to be freed from bills' LINK
`Flat owners will not have to pay to remove dangerous cladding from lower-height buildings under new government plans, BBC Newsnight understands. It means leaseholders in buildings of between 11 and 18.5m will no longer be expected to take out personal loans to cover the cost of the work. Instead, the government will try to secure up to £4bn from developers towards the costs. It had already promised to pay to remove cladding in taller buildings. If ministers are unable to secure the funding from developers it may come out of the housing department's budget.'...

[plaques]

I always remember what my friend said who worked for a firm that made insulation tubing to fit round the central heating pipes. He said one of the biggest problem was stopping it burning. I questioned that I had never got it to burn, it just melted. Yes but if you stand it on its end and put a light to it so that the heat is funnelled up the tube it can be made to burn with little encouragement. That's why we (the firm) has to send samples to Manchester to have them tested. All their products had to meet this safety standard. This was all years ago so how did these building firms get away with cladding that would burn in a similar manner?

[Tizer]

Sadly, because the government decided the companies could be trusted to design their own tests and do their own testing. They never learn. Sack the lot of them!

[Stanley]

And Local Authorities and developers who always went for the cheapest option. The building inspectors should have been the safeguard but the regulations were too confusing to be applied logically. The bottom line is cost and ease of application. We can all cite non flammable options like slag wool but it's getting them installed that costs the money. Why cladding in the first place? because the buildings had so little original installed insulation. Indeed many had serious fire safety faults that were very conveniently covered up by cladding. Many of the people trapped in unsaleable flats are the victims of these original flaws.
One simple example. The fire brigades will tell you that all flats and public buildings, no matter what height, should ideally be fitted with sprinkler systems. This is still not the law. Ask yourself why. Once again it comes down to money.

[Tizer]

Dr Dean Lomax, a palaeontologist from Manchester University, called this discovery "truly unprecedented" and - due to its size and completeness - "one of the greatest finds in British palaeontological history"....
`Ichthyosaur: Huge fossilised ‘sea dragon’ found in Rutland reservoir' LINK

I like the council's response when the finder first contacted them: "We don't have a dinosaur department at Rutland County Council so we're going to have to get someone to call you back."

[Stanley]

I heard that report as well Peter and I reckon that switchboard person deserves a bonus.

[Big Kev]

New smart motorways have been suspended
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59956911

[Stanley]

But the Transport ministry still won't admit they are inherently dangerous.... That would mean adding another lane to all the existing smart motorways to retain the increased capacity. Money is more important than safety. Hard shoulders are there for a reason.

[Whyperion]

Why cladding in the first place? because the buildings had so little original installed insulation. Indeed many had serious fire safety faults that were very conveniently covered up by cladding. Many of the people trapped in unsaleable flats are the victims of these original flaws.

I dont think that is true - from a practical point of view. The use and defects are from a multiple reasons, and the types of cladding vary in application.

It needs to be separated the retro-fit of an external cladding on an existing building, the change of cladding or otherwise to an existing building , the new build with cladding as some or all of the external facings, other faults within the construction giving rise to fire risk, products used for thermal or acoustic insulation.


We can look at these - in a reverse order.
Insulation materials - mostly because I do not have enough information to comment on them as such - There are solid (or blown) insulation products 'Jablite' which is either a form of expanded polystyrene in bubble or sheet form, normally it is tightly encased by concrete blocks or brick and plasterboard, sometimes (and this is the risk factor) other materials. There is I think a vermiculite form of insulation I understand this is a volcanic derived material and has no known fire risk, the polystyrene block ones can be treated to resist fire (though maybe not in the real world - and the chemicals used are questionable on toxicity as they deteriorate). Man Made Mineral Wool is normally by design or treatment fairly robust against flame spread. 'Kingspan' or 'EcoTherm' (trade names effectively), are a chemical polymer gloop solidified and cut to a sheet size, sometimes with a glued face of aliminium foil. it is this that I am unaware which forms are a fire risk, and how and when such risk is mitigated. Note when fitting horizontal and veritical and external angle corner fire break material (effectively concrete or plasterboard) should be fitted - so the insulation is snugly in place (and free from ingress of water).

Typical Fire Risk Elements , assuming Electrical and Gas Standards have not been compromised and other products likely to burn with intensity or toxicity within the internal elements of the building. Internal Doors to common parts and the main external doors of a residential unit to be of half or one hour fire resistance, sealed with expandable material in door or frame to prevent passage of smote. Internal residential doors can also be to same or similar standard but are less effective as realistically people dont always shut their doors. Not often mentioned are window frame materials , and also in summer net or other curtains which can burn easily and spread flame dependent on design of block. I would also check and confirm stopping materials between adjacent dwellings - complete where cables , pipes pass through ( this is typically compromised in flat refurbishments where both common parts and individual flats may have new electrical or water riser or supply systems in place, and holes not sealed (correctly), same applies to floor coverings and choice of materials.

New builds - and Manchester / Salford seem particulary affected by designs. The main external cladding choices , when the type of internal wall system and its insulation have been decided, if (full or thin fired brickwork has been ruled out), has been the kind of sandwich panel ( a metal - normally steel, zinc or aluminum with a type of infill (polymer normally, of some kind, some treated against flame spread), it is important that the panels are pre-ordered to size with all joints correctly sealed - cutting on site will expose the internal form. The metals themselves can be compromised at various states of heating / melting , allowing either the infill, or the underlying insulation (discussed earlier) to be exposed to fire. Again the main 'cover up' would be the hiding of mis-made joints and non existant or incorrect fire breaks. Such designs should be at Building Regulations level, ideally at planning permission, and a full sign off - on the plans and the execution of the plans. Other cladding can include some timber, in shingle or butt/lap plank formats. Some say that wood will char and provide fire resistance that way. Of the few fires involving timber I am aware of - one (Farnborough I think -flats above shops), there were no vertical fire breaks in the low attic spaces so flame chased along the internal rafters helped with a chimney/flue effect). One was from a barbecue outside on add-on balconies made wholly out of timber in terms of flooring, railings and the vertical supports , this form was chosen for architectural effect , fire spread vertically, but less so horizontally but every building would need to be assessed for the actual likely fire route given the location of materials.
One incidence in buildings until recently was no requirement for smoke detectors in individual flats, or even common parts, and how that alert system is connected to a fire call and warning system. It still remains with Cladding, if any test to give rise to what are Fire Class ratings , were carried out, or complied with such regulations, the building data sheets for them are confused and the presence of European Regulations (Items only to be used IF they comply) and UK ones (items used must comply - there is a subtle difference), was unhelpful for supply and installation.
Some external cladding I have noticed are some that appear to be a compacted resin panel , not unlike some artifical flooring panels you might buy. I have seen the standard of application not very good, and am uncertain as to what design plans were actually put in place for them , nor the extent of fire resistance of the panels.

Retrofitting - perhaps the most difficult to look at, as actually not many buildings have been done, and most have been in the public sector or housing association world. Again the main cover up is one of any underlying joints and fire break materials being omitted with no visual. The Lambeth flats which had a fire were a change from single glazed crittall steel framed windows with a painted asbestos sheet decorative infill to PVCu double glazed units with a coloured insulated PVCu infill feature panel. The type of flats were ones where an entire facing was a vertical strip of such windows, with a narrow thin wall above to the full width upper windows again changed for PVCu and repeat as stacked maisonettes. The entire original 1970s design of essentially 4 / 8 storey low rise blocks had little structural materials other than poured concrete floors and edge uprights. It is probable the windows did not have an internal fire resisting thermally insulated sandwich in them (most double glazed powder coated alimium ones which are the present preferred ones do. There have been some high rise 'system built' blocks which have had their concrete external panels replaced with steel insulation sandwich ones (watney market in East London being one I am aware of). Any other specific examples I would be interested in.

Of course such panel use has not been confined to residential flats, we know of hospitals, hotels, offices and even fire stations which have had the sandwich and similar panels as the final facing material.
As to sprinkler systems in flats, these have never been a particular requirment , in part the damage from water can be to the building as annoying as the damage from fire, the insurance concept being that industry needs to continue and the valueable materials and equipment in situ can be protected by a sprinkler - particulary as mill floors etc are open from one wall to the other, workers can leave the building in case of fire by the required multiple fire escapes. For residential blocks, the fire separation is individual units, which can be isolated from each other by the use of the fire resisting materials , and stay put is acceptable unless close to the source of fire and a limited fire escape route - or wait on a balcony for safe rescue- is normally sufficient. Residents are also encouraged not to bring in likely fire materials - like portable gas or parrafin heaters