Seen in the News

[Tizer]

After my experiences with the Environment Agency in the Somerset Levels this news doesn't surprise me. The locals had to fight to get much of the work handed back to the old drainage boards. As Gordon Brown notes today on a different subject, the UK is turning into a failed state....

`Swathes of England's vital flood defences ‘almost useless’: Data from Environment Agency shows thousands of people and businesses ‘at risk from ruined assets’ Guardian
`Thousands of England’s vital flood defences were in such a state of ruin last year they would fail to protect communities from extreme weather, an investigation has found. More than 3,400 of England’s “high consequence” flood assets, defined as those where there is a high risk to life and property if they fail, were judged by the Environment Agency to be in such a bad condition they were almost useless. This means that more than one in 20 of the country’s crucial flood defences were in disrepair in 2019-20, the highest proportion in years. This rose to nearly one in 10 in the regions battered by Storm Christoph last week.

[Stanley]

" I wouldn't fancy anyone's chances of getting to a safe area if they broke down in lane 4!"
Even so, safer to risk getting off the road completely. Away from the guided missiles doing over 70mph.
I seem to remember D Cameron saying they would 'spend whatever it takes' when flooding happened in the South. Remember that? The bottom line is that there is no political capital in doing the drudgery, the every day maintenance and improvement that is the hallmark of good management. The civil service know how to do it but the preference in Downing Street is for the big headline projects like HS2 and Crossrail which make great TV but suck the available investment funds out of government.
Only this week the proposal to spend £30billion on the Chesterfield, Sheffield Leeds line has been questioned on the grounds that that amount of money spent on general improvement of Northern Rail connections would be much better value for money. Guess which will go forward.....

[Tizer]

A different way to make a tunnel...
`East Coast Main Line: Tunnel painstakingly pushed underground' LINK

[PanBiker]

I wouldn't fancy anyone's chances of getting to a safe area if they broke down in lane 4!"
Even so, safer to risk getting off the road completely. Away from the guided missiles doing over 70mph.

And that's the problem. When the smart motorways were first proposed there were supposed to be safe refuges every 250m or so. What has actually happened is any refuges that are present are generally 2,500m or more apart! No central reservation and no hard shoulder. Most of the fatal accident so far have happened either before folk had a chance to get out of the vehicle or when they did and tried to cross the carriageway. Main problem seems to be being rear ended by HGV's who are just tramming along in the first or second lane. If you stop for any reason you effectively are seconds away from an accident.

How long is it since you were actually on a motorway Stanley? You have to see the developments to appreciate how they have really cocked up.

[Tizer]

`Rugeley Power Station's 600ft chimney demolished' LINK to BBC video

[Big Kev]

Sarah White, Headteacher at Coates Lane Primary School, Barnoldswick has gone 'viral' with her letter to parents
https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2021-0 ... goes-viral

[Stanley]

Ian, I may be old but I am not completely out of touch!
Peter, Rugely power station.... remember it well.
Kev, what a good letter. It deserves wider publicity.

[Big Kev]

Kev, what a good letter. It deserves wider publicity.

It made national TV and some of the papers...

[Tripps]

In the Daily Mail, and on the main news on ITV last night. Generated a few adverse comments it must be said - too soft on the kids and the parents sort of thing. I wish she had been my primary school head instead of Sister Theresa.

[PanBiker]

Ian, I may be old but I am not completely out of touch!

Never said you were it was a genuine question of your experience.

38 Killed on Smart Motorways.

Latest research says that the average delay to a lane closure is 17 minutes and a further 17 minutes for rescue.

[Tripps]

I used the M6 to go home after my last pilgrimage to Barnoldswick in October 2018. First encounter with 4 lane / no hard shoulder motorways. It was dark and raining.

If possible, It will be the last time I use one. I hope there will be a next time, and it's back to the A1.

[Big Kev]

In the Daily Mail, and on the main news on ITV last night. Generated a few adverse comments it must be said - too soft on the kids and the parents sort of thing. I wish she had been my primary school head instead of Sister Theresa.

It's attracted over 1600 comments on the Daily Mail website, not that I'm a Daily Mail reader. There are a few who don't agree with the sentiment but they seem to be in the minority.
It's promoting mental health and well being which, in my mind, should take precedence over education. Children can catch up on education...

[PanBiker]

Children can catch up on education...

Boris has said as much today and has outlined his thinking for reopening schools. Potentially the 8th March. With regard to the kids catching up, he is going to chuck a few million quid at extra tuition sessions. I would ask, delivered by whom and when? Will this be offered right across the education sector, inner city, primary, secondary and not just to the upper echelons?

I still think it would be a lot easier for them to sit the year again with their existing teachers.

[Stanley]

"Children can catch up on education... "
Indeed they can. I was not taught at all for two years from age 9 to 11 and managed to scrape entry to the grammar school in their examination. I'm not saying it didn't damage my chances but I caught up afterwards.
Children are always more resilient than we think.
Johnson's speech in Parliament on reopening England contained common sense. It was written down and he didn't indulge in bumbling. Someone has given him the hard word. They should do it more often! Basically I agree with the logic in it. And never mind the past or our standing in league tables, time for that later. Let's concentrate on the job in hand.

[Tizer]

`How UK spent £800m on controversial Covid tests for Dominic Cummings scheme: US firm Innova believed to be largest beneficiary of contracts after selling millions of Covid tests that are dividing opinion'
Guardian
----------------------------------------------------------------------

This Guardian story is 3 days out of date. Today's issue of The Times has very different figures on its front page: `A company owned by a friend of Len McClusky has been paid £95 million by [Unite] for a construction project that was initially supposed to cost £7 million' (I can't access the full story in the Times.)

`Unite union apparently doubles expenditure on hotel project to £74m: Leaked accounts come days before meeting to discuss claims project costs have spiralled out of control' Guardian

[PanBiker]

Seems like the education think tank agree with me. They have suggested children should be allowed to retake year groups if their grades are not good enough or they are assessed as lagging behind. You heard it here first.

[Stanley]

I heard that also Ian and was going to comment on it....

[Tizer]

`HS2: Could the pandemic kill off the rail project?' LINK
`Leading environmental groups have joined the call from protesters tunnelling under London's Euston station to review HS2 in the light of the pandemic. The high-speed rail line was planned to accommodate increased passenger numbers over the coming decades, but experts forecast that the home-working revolution may permanently reduce UK travel demand. Now, the government says the main justification is that HS2 is part of a long-term infrastructure plan serving future needs. But the head of the Department for Transport has admitted it has no idea of future travel patterns nor passenger numbers..'.

[Stanley]

HS2. There has always been doubt about the validity of the 'economic forecasts' (or best guesses?) that were used to justify shaving half an hour of the journey time to 'The North'. As you say Peter, so many things could have changed permanently. The airlines face similar problems, for years they have banged on about vital face to face meetings to boost long haul business travel with high fares. International business seems to have found ways of managing that are independent of travel. Look at the way firms like Apple and Microsoft have cashed in. This is not a flash in the pan.
There is a good case for putting a moratorium on planning and looking very carefully at schemes like HS2 which are debating how to move into a new phase. That was why we had the news the other day that questions were being asked about the Chesterfield/Sheffield/Leeds line and asking whether £50billion could be better spent on existing infrastructure in the region.

[plaques]

Infrastructure programmes have always been considered the way forward to lift a country out of depressions. The problem with HS2 is that it is typical pork barrel politics with plenty of opportunity for cost overruns and inflated prices. It also has the feel that once it gets going its too big to fail and with it carries what is now termed the moral hazards of wasting more money to keep the project going. Another down side is that being so big that the end date and job stimulus is so far in the future that any immediate affect on local economies is lost because it only has a single starting point (London). There is also an underlying feeling that once it has achieved its first target of London to Birmingham it will put on the back burner to be completed at a later date. Mission accomplished? Spreading rail improvements round the country may not produce the same big ticket headline but as a job stimulus for the surrounding areas it has a lot going for it. Of course Boris Johnson and his team will have considered all these points won't they?

[PanBiker]

There is a good case for putting a moratorium on planning and looking very carefully at schemes like HS2 which are debating how to move into a new phase. That was why we had the news the other day that questions were being asked about the Chesterfield/Sheffield/Leeds line and asking whether £50billion could be better spent on existing infrastructure in the region.

I cant understand why we are pouring billions into redundant technology which is essentially still the same as 150 years ago?

They should scrap HS2 and put all future rail investment into Monorail Maglev. Lots more efficient, safer, faster and does not take vast swathes of land up. We should have done it over 50 years ago but that's par for the course with successive governments not supporting British innovation. They told Prof Eric Laithwaite he was barmy with his floating tea tray.

[Stanley]

I agree Ian and in that same category you can now place monster nuclear power stations like Hinkley Point but the silly buggers are going to do it again I think at Sizewell C.

[Big Kev]

It's all kicked off in Burma

Myanmar coup: Aung San Suu Kyi detained as military seizes control, the US is't happy about it...

BBC News

[PanBiker]

Boris isn't happy about it either.

Having said that she did turn out to be a bit of nasty once elected and that's a bit of an understatement. We have had war's to get rid of other folk that have had some of the same ideas.

[plaques]

Having said that she did turn out to be a bit of nasty once elected and that's a bit of an understatement. We have had war's to get rid of other folk that have had some of the same ideas.

Obama in his book was initially a supporter of her's but became very disappointed after she gained power. Obama was anti-communism but very much anti-dictator.

Trumpism is that a new word? The world is watching what is happening in the Republican Party, well this bit of OG is, The Senate voting with the Democrats is an anathema for the Republicans who take a very much 'see if I care' attitude when the Democrats are in power. Taking the view that supporting anything the Democrats do is seen as a weakness with a not my problem attitude. If Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Republicans, votes first with a 'Nae' then he will get 100% backing and the impeachment will fail. If he votes last even with a 'yeah' there probably won't be enough votes to pass the impeachment numbers. Trump wins again.