Flecc,reread my post...I thought I was very supportive of our former illustrious PM,what would the world have been like if we hadn't had Tony Blair? One wonders what history will value the Blair/Brown partnership?
Dave
More government support for 4-wheelers, nothing for 2-wheelers....
- Thread starter Hero Eco
- Start date
Dave
Please dont spoil my happy, electronically enhanced, vaping mood Dave by mentioning Blair/Brown
.....oh bugs.....looks like I just did it too......lolLynda
But it isn't set aside. The budget only has a third of the money which is also neded for other things as well, the rest would have to come from central government which is highly unlikely in present economic circumstances.
It's just another of the false promises that Boris Johnson is so fond of making. As I pointed out the other day, this is the mayor elected on a promise to cut council tax, and his very first act to start that process was to cut £20 millions from the London annual cycling budget.
As far as his achievements in Middle East peace are concerned, he's the modern day equivalent of "Peace in our time" Neville Chamberlain!
Bitterly cold day today,my warehouse faces the North Sea,howling gale,turned the heat up to keep warm..glanced out to sea,not a single wind turbine turning....reason,wind too strong,causes damage to the turbines,nil electricity....the wrong sort of wind!
I long ago invested in a massive 40kv diesel generator,that is the most inefficient way of producing electricity but when they turn off the lights on the rest of the estate,I will still have power....thats a coherent joined-up energy strategy.
KudosDave
There's no need to stop with former PMs - look at the number of directorships and board seats or consultancy fees earned by former Ministers of the Crown. Corruption in Westminster has been rife for decades. The knives should be out for them all, not just those of a particular stripe.
I tell you, if I ruled (haha) there are some who would pay dearly for corrupt acts in public office.
Point of order; for at least the last two years prior to WW2, Chamberlain was also desperately trying to buy time so Britain could get some decent warbirds to what would be the front-line squadrons.
He may have been an appeaser until then, but even he saw the absolute inevitability of war with the Hun.
Exactly so. I don't like it, but fossil fuel will be with us for a long while yet. Eventually, all the scare-mongering will have a beneficial effect of making most of the housing stock energy-efficient (at least, as much as reasonably possible) and home appliances will steadily go down in their power consumption. Even so, that doesn't solve the problem of wind turbines being in the wrong places, generating when not needed or not generating at all.
Energy storage is the Holy Grail of the mix - and if we crack that well enough, we'll be really on the way to making a difference.
Of course, allied with this, we desperately need to develop thorium reactor technology - for too long it's been abandoned and the UK/US long lost their lead on it to the Indians and Chinese.
I know a lot of greenies will throw up their hands in horror at the thought of nukes, but these are friendly nukes (well, as friendly as you can get with a nuke) and it's a hard fact of life, that unless we want to be huddling around a candle to keep warm we'd better be sorted out or our collective asses will be well and truly hung out to dry when oil becomes too expensive and/or in short supply.
Nail on the head Scimitar. Sadly, corruption is everywhere, Westminster and especially the EUSSR, but seems prevalent in every state section of society. How else do incompetent NHS executives get £800,000 for 6 months stupidity and laziness whilst patients needlessly die at the hands of their greed.
Aside from the cash, they have my utmost contempt, every stinking one of them! May they rot in hell for eternity.
Sorry to sit on the fence but that's the way I see it.
There’s an alternative view.
On this side of the Channel, the government probably doesn’t include any millionaires. It’s hard to tell, because the kind of detailed reporting of expenses, conflicts of interest and other measures to promote transparency now in place in Britain just don’t exist here. An attempt by some parliamentarians to introduce similar, although milder measures was heavily outvoted, on the basis that they attacked the right to personal privacy and encouraged voyeurism.
On the contrary, the government wants to squeeze the rich till their pips squeak. As a result many of them, some publicly but most discreetly, are leaving. Worse, large numbers of the educated and dynamic young, hoping someday to become seriously rich themselves, are also heading for fresher pastures.
It would seem that being millionaire-free does not of itself ensure an enhanced level of governmental competence. The President’s most notable achievement has been to score a lower level of popularity (30%) within the first year of office than any of his predecessors. I would venture to suggest that never in the field of politics have so many promises been broken so quickly- and cynically. The only thing that is growing is unemployment, fast rising towards 11%.
Many comfort themselves with reports on Britain showing that things are even worse there. There are others however who point out that at least the UK has had the gumption to start doing what France is incapable of: reducing public expenditure. If only it had been done ten years earlier, like in countries such as Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Finland… (the list is actually quite long but their success stories, sadly, are rarely mentioned in Britain) and where now reigns a sense of relative prosperity.
As you may gather, Moustache and I are grumpy. A sudden icy spell has nipped hopes that the much longed-for spring had arrived. Buds that burgeoned too soon will not live to see it. And it comes from the frozen North- thanks you guys! There’ll be no riding out today.
On this side of the Channel, the government probably doesn’t include any millionaires. It’s hard to tell, because the kind of detailed reporting of expenses, conflicts of interest and other measures to promote transparency now in place in Britain just don’t exist here. An attempt by some parliamentarians to introduce similar, although milder measures was heavily outvoted, on the basis that they attacked the right to personal privacy and encouraged voyeurism.
On the contrary, the government wants to squeeze the rich till their pips squeak. As a result many of them, some publicly but most discreetly, are leaving. Worse, large numbers of the educated and dynamic young, hoping someday to become seriously rich themselves, are also heading for fresher pastures.
It would seem that being millionaire-free does not of itself ensure an enhanced level of governmental competence. The President’s most notable achievement has been to score a lower level of popularity (30%) within the first year of office than any of his predecessors. I would venture to suggest that never in the field of politics have so many promises been broken so quickly- and cynically. The only thing that is growing is unemployment, fast rising towards 11%.
Many comfort themselves with reports on Britain showing that things are even worse there. There are others however who point out that at least the UK has had the gumption to start doing what France is incapable of: reducing public expenditure. If only it had been done ten years earlier, like in countries such as Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Finland… (the list is actually quite long but their success stories, sadly, are rarely mentioned in Britain) and where now reigns a sense of relative prosperity.
As you may gather, Moustache and I are grumpy. A sudden icy spell has nipped hopes that the much longed-for spring had arrived. Buds that burgeoned too soon will not live to see it. And it comes from the frozen North- thanks you guys! There’ll be no riding out today.
I agree, and I've often defended Chamberlain's stance. However, his "Peace in our time" statement made a convenient metaphor for Blair's "achievements" in the Middle East.
Yup ... that's what we used to use in Africa pretty much as a way of life despite being on mains. Power cuts nearly every single day and massive power surges every time they tried to restore supply blowing everything on an extension lead up you can think of if you forgot to turn it off at the mains. Generator installed and only had to make do with cooking on BBQ, rationing the watching of VHS videos for too long in the absence of TV and turning off the aircons in order to leave enough power to keep the fridges and freezers going so as not to lose all our perishable food. That way we could happily keep going for hours until they got their act together and restored the supply.
We only really suffered when there were diesel shortages and you were rationed as to how much you were allowed to buy. Needless to say there were stockpiles ... of most things ... and some pretty intimidating security measures making sure we held on to 'em.
That is very true and I've said the same many times - certainly about those in very high-ranking positions. The other difference though is that many middle-ranking African officials and Civil Servants don't get paid the wages they are promised by the gov't and it's expected that if they want any money at all they'll have to get it through hand-outs from private sector. So they do. And no-one there really bats an eyelid. Those guys (and girls) work every day often for no pay as taxes are diverted to expenditure other than their official salaries so that aspect in substance is basically just unstructured taxation by another mechanism.
As with many things in life it's a cultural thing and how you look at it. In UK there is rampant corruption at local govt. and civil service levels (planning departments spring to mind). It is often sophisticated but no different in terms of personal gain in a variety of direct and indirect forms in return for using influence and position to facilitate outcomes. Difference is the corruption involves people on index-linked pensions and decent pay. Which is wrong ? I know what I think ... but as ever the West is always holding itself out to be "right" and those unsophisticated countries are usually held to be "wrong". Hmmm....
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