mercian
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Post by mercian on Aug 12, 2022 23:16:29 GMT
leftieliberal Yes, seen that. It's been on BBC News and I expect other places. Thunderstorms forecast for here on Monday, but I had the foresight to buy a house on a hill 40 years ago. I pity the poor b*ggers at the bottom. (Well not that much )
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Post by leftieliberal on Aug 12, 2022 23:19:04 GMT
leftieliberal Yes, seen that. It's been on BBC News and I expect other places. Thunderstorms forecast for here on Monday, but I had the foresight to buy a house on a hill 40 years ago. I pity the poor b*ggers at the bottom. My house is on the (north) side of a hill as well as being over 65m above MSL, so pretty safe even if the East Antarctic ice sheet melts.
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mercian
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Post by mercian on Aug 12, 2022 23:24:06 GMT
@leftie liberal I worked out as a teenager, with the limited data available to me (or anyone) then, that if all the ice melted sea level would rise by 170 feet (about 50 metres). That's probably way off, but it gives an idea of the order of magnitude. Anyway when I looked at what that meant, it made me realise that Birmingham was one of the few major cities in the world not either on the coast or a major river (apologies to the mighty Rea, Cole and Tame), and would therefore become the de facto capital of the world! Yay! đ That's why I stayed nearby. It's an investment in global chaos.
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oldnat
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Post by oldnat on Aug 12, 2022 23:32:41 GMT
Heavy rain does run off dry ground, but that video doesn't show why.
More importantly for a University, it won't help the water companies to improve their earning potential, so Sunak will shut down the University of Reading.
(and why is there a university of reading and not one of riting and another of rithmetic? With Sunak as PM these will be the only ones.)
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mercian
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Post by mercian on Aug 12, 2022 23:44:01 GMT
oldnatI saw the bloke interviewed on the telly, and he said it was just a demonstration rather than a scientific experiment and was surprised it had gone so viral. I must admit I was a bit surprised at the results even though I knew in principle that water runs off baked ground more easily. perhaps we should all water our gardens as much as possible to enable rainfall to sink in better?đ
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Aug 13, 2022 5:10:58 GMT
@danny Yes, I understand the need for dry weather when harvesting, and the farmer I spoke too also mentioned the absence of heavy storm rainfall during the early summer months being a bonus too, preventing large sections of the crop being driven down and rendered useless. Wet summers were his enemy too, but when you contemplate the zero rainfall/drought during the main growing months this year, and the arid soil conditions caused, it is remarkable that they are currently harvesting, albeit ten days early, such a remarkably good crop of wheat. Good news too for both the UK and world's market, maybe partially offsetting the Ukraine blockade. Speaking of which now described as the breadbasket of Europe, presumably their weather is typically hotter than Britain? What makes it so good for grain? It may be good news for the UK But ..If it's like that here then what is it going to be like in large swathes of Africa that can no longer feed their people ? How big a wall ( both literal and metaphorical ) will we have to build to keep them out? And what sort of a society will that transform us into ? Somehow I'm not filled with unalloyed joy on contemplating the alleged benefits Well luckily we are inside the EU block so we can act together in dealing with world migration and resource problems. Always helps to be part of a big organisation in that sort of situation. Oh...We arent?
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Aug 13, 2022 5:32:54 GMT
And of course as ever, theres always another perspective .. That makes no sense. Farm irrigation requires massively more water than hosepipes could use in homes, or people would use at all. The article says farmers are annoyed at being ordered to stop using their own bore holes to extract ground water or presumably take from rivers. That would be to preserve long term water stocks or wildlife and is because of shortage of rain, not using hosepipes. Its still the case we dont net have a shortage of water, just a shortage of storage for winter water. We have a situation which became evident after the hot summer of 76 that we are not storing enough water, but to create more storage is very expensive. At the time we were promised something would be done, but if the water has run out again now...evidently 35 years of privatised water companies has done no better. In fact worse, because the storage we do have is largely government organised from a time government felt it needed to create national assets like water supply. I also heard a figure hosepipes use 7% of consumption. How is this calculated? How can it be calculated? The only thing which comes to mind would be to compare volumes of water pumped into the system compared to volumes returning through sewers. Which first has to be imprecise. Second presumably leaks increase in dry weather because dry ground would not saturate near leaks but instead suck away water faster. Third, people would start recycling more used water onto their gardens anyway. Someone mentioned they are dumping the washing up water onto the garden, but I'm also using the bath water. Fourth, how much rain ends up in public sewers even though its often dealt with separately, and there isnt any now. Fifth how much does human demand increase. So does a hosepipe ban make any real difference?
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Aug 13, 2022 5:45:15 GMT
@danny "Things like internet and netflix seem set to go up, which are increasingly essential rather than luxuries." I can see the internet, but Netflix? Really? Just recently I came across someone who has ditched their TV licence which is payable to the BBC and instead just uses free internet entertainment. Netflix apparently is currently going through a wave of price increases, but seems to be comparable or cheaper than buying a tv licence. How are you going to entertain the kids, or indeed yourself? Its no longer obvious a TV licence is the best way to go. If the BBC hadn't got that special concession from government that you have to pay a licence fee for their programs via internet too, then if they were forced to transmit over internet on the same terms as ITV etc, the licence fee would be dead already and people buying whatever is best value instead.
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Post by alec on Aug 13, 2022 6:05:07 GMT
Up here, we seem to be one of the few areas of England that remains green. Following the last extreme heatwave, the ground was decidedly brown, but after several good downpours, the warm soil and sunshine led to a rapid period of growth, especially on fields that had just been cut (hay and silage). At the start of this week, the soil retained a dampness, and apart from the fields cut late in August, which will roast off now in this sun, the countryside looks charmingly green and lush. River levels are low, but not exceptionally so. It seems to have been a generally good year for fodder crops up here (no arable to speak of, although the few farmers that do try to grow grains lower down the valley will, I think, have had a good year). Tree growth appears to have been good, with plenty of spring moisture enabling good growth.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2022 6:18:19 GMT
Robert Buckland has switched from Sunak to Truss now. I had him down as a sensible bloke with some principles. I would not have suspected him of jumping on a moving band wagon.
Sunak,s key claim to legitimacy _support at Westminster seems to be crumbling.
Why ?
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Post by alec on Aug 13, 2022 6:18:37 GMT
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Aug 13, 2022 6:31:18 GMT
I see NICE is sceptical about the latest antibody based covid treatment. Being pushed by some, but as per usual is this another case of drug companies pushing their products? The obvious problem with an antibody based treatment if you plan to give it en masse to a large group of people, is that it will encourage mutation of the virus specifically to avoid those particular antibodies.
That isnt just bad news for the people who have come to rely upon it because they are especially vulnerable to covid, but also for the wider world population who get a couple of their established antibodies knocked out. The natural response to any virus is to produce a range of different antibodies unique to each person. A broad attack always works better against pathogens than a single one (or in this case a mix of two antibodies?). Our human response is to rely on many points of attack each adding to our defence, whereas this treatment and the vaccines we have fast tracked rely on picking specific vulnerable points. It makes them poorer defences.
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Post by catmanjeff on Aug 13, 2022 6:56:30 GMT
Robert Buckland has switched from Sunak to Truss now. I had him down as a sensible bloke with some principles. I would not have suspected him of jumping on a moving band wagon. Sunak,s key claim to legitimacy _support at Westminster seems to be crumbling. Why ? Clearly wanting to placate the Tory party leadership is more important than getting off an ancient political institution, as it careers headlong into oblivion. It's looking more and more like a cult than a party that can represent modern Britain.
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Post by hireton on Aug 13, 2022 7:00:28 GMT
More adverse reaction from the Jewish community to the Truss accusation of creeping anti-semitism in the Civil Setvice:
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Post by hireton on Aug 13, 2022 7:05:42 GMT
Robert Buckland has switched from Sunak to Truss now. I had him down as a sensible bloke with some principles. I would not have suspected him of jumping on a moving band wagon. Sunak,s key claim to legitimacy _support at Westminster seems to be crumbling. Why ? He wants to stay in the Cabinet having been reappointed by Johnson after the mass resignations and the Conservatives are "zombie party without a living intelligence".
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Aug 13, 2022 7:12:40 GMT
Labours response to the energy bill crunch is pathetic - they should be taking gordon browns and martin lewis advice (and - whisper it - jermey corbyn's) on this - its a national emergency that needs to tackled immediately - otherwise millions of people are going to have their lives smashed. uttlerly self defeating political cowardice when they could be taking an acutal lead and speaking for the nation. But it seems "vaguely trying to be not being quite as useless as the tories" seems to be their electoral strategy. So what would you have them do?
There are two fundamental choices here, either leave it to the markets, or create a centrally controlled economy. or somehow pick a point between the two.
It should be obvious to everyone that markets solutions do not work in this sort of situation. Private actors main goal is to maximise their own profit, which is obviously better the higher prices go. Markets always want to create high prices.
On the other hand, some politicians adamantly set themselves against a central command economy. With some justification because there have been some spectacular failures, most recently how central government intervened in covid whereas allowing people to act independently would have worked as well and vastly more cheaply. Plus that government seems to have lost sight of the economic consequences of what it did-which we are seeing now. So the planning was bad, and perhaps that is precisely the problem with central planning, when it isnt very good it affects everything badly.
But currently we have had bad planning over energy security. We have had ten years of con dither over nuclear power, which they have finally ordered way too late to avert the current problem. Its the wrong decision anyway because they have now committed the Uk to expensive electricity for 50 years to come, which will continue to harm our economy all that time, but ten years ago it could have been in service and helping now. Instead, they should have been pro actively pushing renewables construction, and infrastructure for same. In particular seeking to develop other than the mainstrem wind and solar. So tidal. So energy storage schemes. Which the private sector is sceptical about because they are capital intensive and uncertain returns. We have abandoned stockpiling a fuel reserve prematurely. We have blown up coal fired power stations which ought to have been mothballed, which suddenly might be the only route to avoiding power cuts. That has happened because they are now private industry assets, and ironically government has ordered their use to be discontinued. no private company would keep them on standby. We have abandoned schemes to encourage improving insulation, and I dont think there has ever been much attention to insulation standards or energy efficiency within industry and commercial property.
At the moment, the only sensible solution would be world rationing of fuel supplies. Prices staying low, but consumption constrained by law. The reason for doing this would be to prevent all the economic damage being done right now. Structurally however, the surge in prices probably means energy has been too cheap overall. World rationing isnt possible because major actors have frankly conflicting needs. Fuel producers are laughing all the way to the bank. The only way out really is by creating groups which are big enough to protect their own energy supplies. The US can do this. Perhaps the EU can do this. The UK ought to have some ability as it is still a fuel producer, but its much weaker acting outside the EU and simply refuses to tax producers making monopoly profits even when they are within its jurisdiction. Plus it has a government which will not spend money on national infrastructure paid for through taxation. Yet no one else will or can.
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Post by crossbat11 on Aug 13, 2022 7:19:01 GMT
mercian
OK, when I referred to Truss gliding seamlessly from academia to politics, I should have said "it took her two years to become chair of her local Conservative Association after leaving university". I have no idea what those two years involved although, as is now famously recounted, she was a keen Lib Dem activist in her student days.
Of course, you are right to say she spent 9 years working in Finance for Shell and then Cable & Wireless, between leaving university and taking up full time politics, but she was immersed in the world of politics from a very early age. I believe during her time as a Senior Accountant at Shell she made a number of unsuccessful attempts to become a Tory councillor before finally succeeding in 2005.
The more serious point I was making was that her time making her way in world as a gainfully employed citizen before immersing herself in Tory politics and setting herself on a political career was very limited. I'm not sure either that her short non-political career was the sort that qualified her as attending the University of Life, was it?
It's worth making the point that I'm concentrating on Truss because of the likelihood of her becoming our next PM very soon. An equivalent argument could be made about senior politicians from all political parties. Indeed I mentioned some in my post. The core of my argument was comparing the lives led by typical Westminster politicians and media personalities compared with someone like Mick Lynch.
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steve
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Post by steve on Aug 13, 2022 7:22:33 GMT
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steve
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Post by steve on Aug 13, 2022 8:38:57 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2022 9:03:06 GMT
Robert Buckland has switched from Sunak to Truss now. I had him down as a sensible bloke with some principles. I would not have suspected him of jumping on a moving band wagon. Sunak,s key claim to legitimacy _support at Westminster seems to be crumbling. Why ? Clearly wanting to placate the Tory party leadership is more important than getting off an ancient political institution, as it careers headlong into oblivion. It's looking more and more like a cult than a party that can represent modern Britain. Do you mean like the SNP ?. Jesus ! " the party shouldnât be about the cult of leader, whether itâs Alex [Salmond] or Nicola, or anyone elseâ. Joanna Cherry
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Post by leftieliberal on Aug 13, 2022 9:13:11 GMT
Heavy rain does run off dry ground, but that video doesn't show why.
More importantly for a University, it won't help the water companies to improve their earning potential, so Sunak will shut down the University of Reading.
(and why is there a university of reading and not one of riting and another of rithmetic? With Sunak as PM these will be the only ones.) If you understood surface tension, then you would understand why the water in the glass doesn't quickly soak into the drought-stricken ground. Your level of argument doesn't rise above chanting "It's oor oil".
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Post by catmanjeff on Aug 13, 2022 9:16:14 GMT
Clearly wanting to placate the Tory party leadership is more important than getting off an ancient political institution, as it careers headlong into oblivion. It's looking more and more like a cult than a party that can represent modern Britain. Do you mean like the SNP ?. Jesus ! " the party shouldnât be about the cult of leader, whether itâs Alex [Salmond] or Nicola, or anyone elseâ. Joanna Cherry My comment had nothing to with the SNP. I didn't know Joanna Cherry had said that. However, if she thinks the Conservatives have fallen victim to being a cult of the leader, she'd be right.
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Post by leftieliberal on Aug 13, 2022 9:27:34 GMT
oldnat I saw the bloke interviewed on the telly, and he said it was just a demonstration rather than a scientific experiment and was surprised it had gone so viral. I must admit I was a bit surprised at the results even though I knew in principle that water runs off baked ground more easily. perhaps we should all water our gardens as much as possible to enable rainfall to sink in better?đ Or just make sure that our gardens have natural hollows instead of pan-flat lawns. The gardeners whom my next-door neighbour employs were mowing her lawn again yesterday, despite it not needing mowing. I mowed the grass under my trees (I deign to call it a lawn anymore) once at the beginning of June and have not mown it since. Had I known then we were going to have a drought, I would not have mowed it at all. My neighbours on the other side have a suspiciously green lawn.
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steve
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Post by steve on Aug 13, 2022 9:32:23 GMT
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Post by laszlo4new on Aug 13, 2022 9:35:40 GMT
I feel sorry for Truss for one reason. By the time she became an adult, the Communist Party effectively ceased to exist. The CP had many Jewish members and even senior people, so the party was obviously in support of setting up business and supporting family and the British values.
More seriously. What she has been saying is absolutely not different from what OrbĂĄn is saying. So, if you think (and you would be right) that OrbĂĄn is a.fascist, then so is Truss (Trump is more centrist than OrbĂĄn, just in case).
Three days ago I was watching episode 5 of Series 4 of Shetland - there is Norwegian man who makes speech during interrogation in that episode. Truss is frequently plagiarises from him.
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Post by isa on Aug 13, 2022 9:43:42 GMT
Robert Buckland has switched from Sunak to Truss now. I had him down as a sensible bloke with some principles. I would not have suspected him of jumping on a moving band wagon. Sunak,s key claim to legitimacy _support at Westminster seems to be crumbling. Why ? The game looks increasingly up for Sunak and Truss' appointment as Tory leader appears virtually a formality. That being the case, perhaps Sunak should just end this self-indulgent leadership charade now, and withdraw, so that we might get back to having a semblance of a functioning government, rather than this seemingly neverending, paralytic, navel-gazing nonsense continuing for weeks. Meanwhile the economy implodes, millions face financial hardship, even ruin, and the country is quite literally burning. Do these people have no shame?
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Post by leftieliberal on Aug 13, 2022 9:48:55 GMT
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Post by shevii on Aug 13, 2022 9:55:13 GMT
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pjw1961
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Post by pjw1961 on Aug 13, 2022 9:58:21 GMT
More importantly for a University, it won't help the water companies to improve their earning potential, so Sunak will shut down the University of Reading.
(and why is there a university of reading and not one of riting and another of rithmetic? With Sunak as PM these will be the only ones.) Given that Truss, Sunak and Cameron all took PPE degrees at Oxford can I suggest that course be shut down immediately as it clearly is a training ground for half-wits.
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pjw1961
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Post by pjw1961 on Aug 13, 2022 10:05:00 GMT
The game looks increasingly up for Sunak and Truss' appointment as Tory leader appears virtually a formality. That being the case, perhaps Sunak should just end this self-indulgent leadership charade now, and withdraw, so that we might get back to having a semblance of a functioning government, rather than this seemingly neverending, paralytic, navel-gazing nonsense continuing for weeks. Meanwhile the economy implodes, millions face financial hardship, even ruin, and the country is quite literally burning. Do these people have no shame? I take your point, but lack any optimism that Truss will produce the "semblance of a functioning government", unless banging on about 'wokeism', whatever that is, and further crashing the economy counts.
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