General Chat

You couldn't make it up :-S

A typical example of Brexit bureaucracy - A 101 year old Italian has been asked by the Home Office to get his parents to confirm his identity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5raJeid9WzI :-(

The rot set in when we lived there in the 70s-80s, Allan. Shipbuilding :-( steel :-( car manufacture :-( mining etc.

Gradually, other manufacturing industries too, as you know. It meant that an awful lot of people either retired very early, found work outside of manufacturing or began to work for themselves in maintenance, using engineering skills they learned in production - harder for a guy in his 50s to compete against a 30-year-old.

When we returned to the UK the same process began here too.

Some countries learn quickly how to corner the market - historically, the East and West Indies companies' models were good examples, not to mention others from the Elizabethan age and beyond.

It makes one wonder how much assistance is given to overseas companies by their governments. Our home-grown companies often find themselves behind the eight-ball yet still some people won't accept that the need for government-backing and support is necessary to compete globally.

The same with currying favour through foreign aid. Here, and on paper, is where I would except some countries from receiving it, although I would add that without knowledge of benefits such as contracts etc accrued by British companies it could well be a necessary evil.

Walking the tightrope can be difficult at times. You're often damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Meanwhile, the B word has not affected our weather - still sunny and warm ...... I jest, of course but I have never been a worrier or a pessimist. :-D

:-D :-D

Ha! At least the two months worth of rain in the last few days have helped put out many of the bush fires in the East.

Meanwhile a cyclone to the north of WA is causing havoc. Is it a coincidence that these weather conditions have only occurred since Brexit? ;-)

We've got b****y awful weather here in the UK is Brexit to blame for that too :-0 :-0 :-0 :-0 ;-)

Oh dear, and there's me thinking that all the problems in Oz were due to world conditions :-(

How naïve I was.

Ah but Allan is Brexit to blame as it is in the UK it seems........

Australia stopped manufacturing cars three years ago

https://www.caradvice.com.au/269528/end-of-australian-made-cars-what-happened-and-what-it-means/

Not sure when Steel manufacturing stopped, but now all iron ore is exported and we re-import steel.

Retail Businesses are folding at am alarming rate

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-21/australian-retailers-shut-down-by-foreign-competition/10832062

Here in Bunbury, whilst some of the outer shopping centres are surviving the town centre is nearly dead, with every other shop being vacant.

Our own local centre at Australind could now double as a morgue, and the range of foods etc is restricted to what the supermarkets want to supply us with.

It may be better in the Eastern States, but I doubt it :-(

One of my biggest shocks was seeing the Sydney fish markets. Every Christmas and Easter we are shown how busy they are and the queues of cars waiting to access them.

The market actually consists of four or five large stalls all selling the same types of fish, and the choice was not large.

From all the hype, and my own experience at the Grimsby fish markets, I was expecting something similar. it was beyond disappointing.

So it would seem that it's not just the UK experiencing recession-like conditions

I was a student living off campus during the 1970s 3 day week. It was winter and cold the never ending power cuts a royal pain. Luckily the uni was on the same grid as the hospital so it was an island of warmth, somewhere to study and get hot food.

During the 1987 storm we lost power for two weeks. We could not even get out of the village for three days. Luckily we had a solid fuel Aga and woodburning stove but the kids did not adapt v well to no TV.

In the French bocage we have a fallback 30 Amp AC system powered by a generator adapted to use LPG. As power outages in wild weather tend to be the norm it has been a good buy, However if the local cab goes down that is it for broadband. I think the battery is good for 4 hrs. 4G is more reliable but much slower of course.

As the Uk power cuts last year showed green power and a monolithic grid does not work. The grid needs to be redesigned on a modular basis with more thought to resilience.

IMHO moving the world, inc the UK, off petrol cars and gas CH is going to be a really tough job in all sorts of ways. I cannot see carbon neutrality by 2030 even if the govt got behind it which for sure it is not doing right now.

I suppose if you look on the bright side we could at least be self sufficient in energy and not reliant on Russia for our gas and the middle East for oil. :-D :-D :-D

I've been in a situation when the power cables were washed away and everything in a village that was totally dependant on electricity. Thank goodness for camping gaz ;-) ;-)

Here is one analysis ...
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20022019/100-percent-renewable-energy-battery-storage-need-worst-case-polar-vortex-wind-solar

UK Govt is planning on mini nuclear bought from China to fill in the gaps plus at least three full size, one of which is in construction.at Hinckley Point.

Mixing green and nuclear on the same grid presents a lot of problems.

SEE "COBRA" Sky Atlantic for what heppens when the lights go out.

Basically all the negative points Rollo mentioned are happening elsewhere too in countries not affected by Brexit at all.

What I would like to know is what happens when we've all gone electric and there's a power cut. :-| :-| :-|

The carbon energy era is coming to an end , the problems with it are not a matter of opinion.

The various rare earth elements needed for modern technologies are not in fact "rare" but can be found all over the place. Neodymium , used for making powerful permanent magnets, in particular is plentiful.

China, an authoritarian state, can ignore the environmental fallout of its actions at least in the short term. The toxic waste resulting from rare earth mining is an example of this. As the costs of environmental security to mining are high Chinese policy has pretty well crowded others out of the market. Nevertheless non Chinese sources account for a third of world production.

The technology of electric cars is constantly improving and the switch from ICE should not be all that difficult. Due to the weight of the battery pack all other elements of electric cars are as light and strong as poss.
A fallout from this is that they are rust free while electric motors last for a very long time. Given a massive reduction in parts reliability is much better too.
Hybrids are not the way to go. The jury is out on using hydrogen cells but most analysis sees hydrogen as too expensive.

Commercial short haul flying with electric planes will happen ( 75 people, 300 miles ) but nowhere near as soon as Johnson believes.

Wood burning stoves are carbon neutral 'cos the treets trap carbon but their days are numbered 'cos of the particulates they emit.

None of this has anything to do with brexit.

As to manufacturing, which does ...

The Brits declined to modernise both their manufacturing methods and organisation back in the 60s and 70s. Shipbuilders were far too late in dropping rivetting and one off designs with plans literally chalked onto the plates. They were glacial in uptake of welded components and such. Much the same was true of everything else from autos and trains to wallpaper.

Consequently most of what remained was defence based. With Cobham sold to the USA (take back control) and BAE wings to Airbus there is no signficant UK mfg not controlled by foreigners based in the EU, India and China.

It is far too late in the day to change this while brexit could easily be the nail in the coffin as steel, autos and aviation depart. Much the same is true of Big Pharma while the chances of theCity ( 7% of tax revenue) getting an EU passport diminish by the day. In any case most of the population are innumerate ( taking maths A level as a minimum ) and do not have the skills.

Johnson's plan to avoid a steep rise in the cost of living post brexit is to run a tariff free ( and regulation lite) import regime in everything from chicken legs and wine to manufactured goods of all kinds and services esp NHS. That is all very well but hardly helpful to native farmers and manufacturers. The penny has dropped and they are squealing loudly. Johnson's response os to ban them ( eg CBI ) from government contacts.

The gigantic housing Ponzi scheme is also coming to an end and that is the key reason for large scale failure in retail not the internet.

The C20 is over.

"The life of man is nasty brutish and short" - Leviathan, Hobbes.

I am sick to the back teeth of the climate change brigade ramming their opinions down my throat.

A 'right-on' neighbour runs an electric car but has a 4WD drive for long journeys and uses a wood burner - what's that about, I ask? Something she seems not to ask herself.

Apparently, electric vehicles need neodymium for battery manufacture and mining the stuff releases radioactive contamination as well as other toxins so, it appears, that only China allows such mining. It can't only be found in China, surely, but China has its eye on the ball and beggar the consequences.

Meanwhile our government pushes the use of electric cars in the same way that a previous government promoted diesel vehicles.

The use of nuclear power seems also to defeat the objective. It may leave some feeling righteous and smug but, to me, totally oblivious to and uncaring for, future generations who have no option but to cope, somehow, with the fall-out from deteriorating and, possibly, weeping storage facilities. This is not clean power.

Some people just seem to love a good march and demo and will turn out at the drop of a hat. Others NEED to work to support selves and families. I often wonder who is sneakily behind all the environmental demonstrations in the western world; and why. Money, power, domination? The impetus has to come from someone. My suspicions have been aroused.

As far as the environment is concerned, it is my opinion, the UK needs to reboot its manufacturing and be quick about it before we discover the real cost of imported items. That is, not only living wages to those employed to make 'our stuff' but the real cost of transportation that includes manufacturing ships (sadly, now rare in the UK) and the power to propel them - oil supply can easily be interrupted at the behest of other countries.

I believe we, in the UK, may be in for some steep rises in cost of living - but not because of Brexit, rather due to our reliance on overseas nations a little too much. BoJo needs to don his thinking cap cos he is no dunderhead.

Shops large and small old and new (Inc the Bunnings fiasco) closing down all over the place, lots of eateries closing too. Car sales down 20% along with production and exports. Terrible crime figures with a record low in detection. Climate change movement added to official terrorist list. Disabled man denied benefits starved to death. Little settlement and minimal pa yment for Windrush victims. BBC under attack by govt. Guernsey starts fishing war with France. BRAVE NEW WORLD.

Where is all the doom and gloom?

Well it's now a week since Brexit was done. Where are all these super deals that we would sign up to, the moment we left the EU?

Tawny - :-D :-D :-D :-D

Oh, goodness, RTR, your first job was about 5 miles from where I was an Agricultural Labourer, at Wavers Farm, Blackmore End, in 1977 - 1980 (ish). Jobs included riddling potatoes, planting potatoes, cabbage, cauliflowers, lettuce etc, picking potatoes, cabbage cauliflowers, lettuce etc
Then owned by Julien Courtauld - now, it appears, not!