Demolition

Despite on a personal level having a great view of the Didcot cooling towers coming down, for some reason I failed to capture decent footage on my mobile phone. Thus instead I've uploaded footage from a mate who was camped in a field nearby (1:05 mins in):



Interestingly the Express noted on the demolition that:

About 1,000 earybird [sic] spectators gathered to watch the fall of Didcot power station, which has stood in Oxfordshire for more than 40 years.

Yet the 1,000 'earlybird' figures put forward by the Express were contradicted by the Daily Mail, the Independent and the Guardian which reported identically:

Hundreds of locals are thought to have defied the guidance issued by power company RWE npower to stay away from the site and watch the demolition via a webcam livestream.

Given that the power station can be seen for miles around, the figures reported spectators gathering to view the demolition are undoubtedly completely wrong. The area where I chose to watch the spectacle was standing room only - filling up from midnight onwards five hours before the actual event.

Plenty of other areas surrounding the power station were the same in terms popularity. Thus there was no way of accurately judging the number of locals given the scale of the viewing area which amounted to a large part of the county.

Again we see a media not interested in facts just making up spectators figures to suit lazy journalism.

Didcot Power Station: The Final Countdown

With around 12 hours to go until three of Didcot Power Station's iconic cooling towers are demolished I took the opportunity this morning to take a last few pictures. As it turned out I wasn't the only one with the same idea, the area is currently teeming with photographers, both amateur and professional, though hampered slightly by some road restrictions that are already in place.

Talking to a number of 'sightseers' it appears that many have made the journey from all over the county for one last look. One theme is consistent, within Didcot and outside it, despite the undoubted joy by the likes Greenpeace, the overwhelming mood is one of frustration, disappointment and sadness. And not just because of the jobs lost in the process. There is no doubt where the blame lies.

So here are a selection of pictures taken this morning of Didcot power station's last stand:

Blowing Up Didcot Power Station.

Time is soon to be called on the structures of Didcot A power station which, despite being in working order when it was closed last year and being an iconic landmark in Oxfordshire, was thrown onto the scrap heap over a year ago due to EU laws regarding coal-fired power stations.

As a consequence Didcot A power station and three of the six iconic cooling towers which have dominated the skyline for 40 years will now only dominate for just over a week as the countdown marches on relentlessly towards their demolition.

RWE NPower, who owns the site and associated land, is due to bring down three of the 325ft southern cooling towers with explosives between 3am and 5am on Sunday 27th July. A process which is subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment:

The Court of Appeal ruled in March that demolition projects previously excluded from the need for planning permission will require environmental impact assessment (EIA) where they are likely to have significant effects on the environment. The practical implications of the decision are far - reaching. The decision was based on 1999 EIA Regulations which have been superseded (on 24 August 2011) by new Regulations. But the same principles will apply, since the new Regulations make few changes.

The 1999 EIA Regulations are naturally subject to EU law as per this Statuary Instrument (my emphasis):

The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, as respects England, and the Secretary of State for Wales, as respects Wales, being designated(1) Ministers for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972(2) in relation to measures relating to the requirement for an assessment of the impact on the environment of projects likely to have significant effects on the environment, in exercise of the powers conferred by that section and section 71A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990(3) and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, and having taken into account the selection criteria in Annex III to Council Directive 85/337/EEC(4) as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC(5) hereby make the following Regulation.

RWE npower has called this "Deconstruction of Didcot A" a process which it has "handed over to the appointed demolition contractors, Coleman and Company". Naturally "deconstruction" of a power station is a very complex process, and much of it has already undergone "deconstruction" as detailed by the RWE website. An example is this Daily Mail article from November 2013:

Traffic came to a standstill for the biggest load ever transported on Britain's roads - a power station transformer weighing an earth-shattering 640 tonnes.

The giant transformer, a vital component used to transmit energy at power stations, and specialised transporter vehicle combined are heavier than a space shuttle.

The enormous vehicle is 100m long and 5m wide and took up two lanes of the motorway while it crawled to its final destination at just 4mph. Such an epic undertaking has never before been attempted in the UK and took a team of six heavy haulage experts nine months to plan, as well a team of 20 accompanying the vehicle as it inches its way along the road.

It began its slow journey from Didcot power station in Oxfordshire on Friday and caused 13-mile long tailbacks when it wound its way along the M4 on Saturday.

Demolition of the cooling towers themselves were apparently due to happen in January earlier this year but had been delayed as the train loop around parts of the power station was until recently being used as temporary sidings (trains are now being moved to Banbury) while the Great Western Railway from London to Bristol undergoes electrification, a track which passes right next to Didcot A.

As an aside it's worth noting that electrification of the GWR is of course being carried to help comply with climate change targets and according to National Rail "presents a huge opportunity and is vital for long-term, low carbon economic growth". Nor will it come as a surprise that the overhead line electrification (OLE), rather than a third rail, has been chosen as a solution because it has to be compatible with the European rail network, notably Directive 2001/16/EC.

Installation of OLE has resulted in massive disruption along the route and the major reconstruction or partial destruction of many grade listed bridges and other buildings. The Box Tunnel, near Bath, for example will require a lowering of the railway to accommodate OLE thus requiring significant gradients to enter and exit. Given that Brunel prided himself of how level and flat the railway was to be; his obsession described as "Brunel's Billiard Table", we would imagine that he would have a duck fit over current alterations in order to comply with EU Directives. 

However regarding bringing down the towers what has apparently vexed a number of local residents most - supported by members of the local council - is that demolition is due to take place in the early hours of the morning. RWE NPower argues that the pre-dawn demolition is to ensure 'safety' and 'minimal disruption'.

But residents are demanding, maybe understandably, that the demolition be pushed back to 6am so that there is more opportunity to witness the 'historic event':

Some of us have lived with the towers on our doorsteps for the last 40 years. Demolishing them whilst it is dark robs us of our chance to say a final goodbye. We are stakeholders in this project, yet our voice has been ignored. 

Another example of such objections regarding the timing of demolition is illustrated by chief executive of South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC) David Buckle (my emphasis):

On behalf of my two councils I am writing to say how disappointed we were to hear that RWEnpower’s contractors are planning to blow up the first 3 cooling towers at Didcot Power Station between 03:00 and 05:00 on Sunday 27 July.

The cooling towers are of huge significance to Didcot and the wider area for many local residents they have lived with them all their lives. Whilst the vast majority will be pleased to see them go they would also like to witness the event and your timing will make this very difficult.

We would like to suggest that you look at pushing the demolition time back to 06:00. I think that many people would see this as a reasonable compromise; it is still early enough to avoid significant disruption to road and rail services but is late enough for local families to get up and watch this once in a lifetime special event.

It's probably worth noting at this point that David Buckle's grasp of details and due process on such matters is rather undermined by his previous actions regarding cocking-up elections as a returning officer:

OFFICIALS had no idea until after elections in southern Oxfordshire that thousands of people didn’t get their voting papers, the returning officer has said.

More than 2,250 polling cards were not printed and 2,035 postal votes were not delivered for May’s council elections in South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse district, an independent report revealed.

Funnily enough he didn't lose his job despite admitting responsibility stopped with him:

"...I was a little naive and I’ve learned lessons for the future...Mr Buckle said the buck stopped at him and said more checks would be done in the future to make sure Royal Mail received the expected number of cards"

But no matter David Buckle's sentiments regarding the timing of the demolition are echoed by the local Tory MP Ed Vaizey:

"...I believe that it will be much better, and much safer, if they can do so in an organised way a little later, perhaps around 6am."

Interestingly the words "I believe" betray "lazy" Vaizey's impotence - the only realistic option available to him is to jump on the bandwagon of Facebook campaigns in an attempt to make it seem he is being active. Peter Hitchens in the Daily Mail puts forward a slightly cynical motive for the timing:

I wonder why the electricity company npower wants to demolish the mighty cooling towers of Didcot ‘A’ power station in the middle of the night, between 3am and 5am on Sunday, July 27.

Didcot ‘A’ has been shut to satisfy EU rules against coal-fired power stations, themselves driven by unproven fantasies about man-made global warming. Even if this were true, it would be futile. As Didcot falls, China will no doubt be opening two or three coal-powered stations.

The company says the pre-dawn demolition is to ensure ‘safety’ and ‘minimal disruption’. But could they be influenced by the fact that film of the levelling of a perfectly viable power station might become a lasting symbol of our insane energy policies – the deliberate, dogma-driven destruction of scarce generating capacity just as we face a severe risk of power cuts?

Hitchens clearly implies that the early morning timing is a policy by RWE NPower to try to reduce the symbolism of EU-inspired insane energy policies. Yet RWE NPower have made no attempt to disguise this as noted in a previous post RWE sent out a letter to all residents of Didcot and surrounding areas specifically mentioning the EU right from the outset:

This is because we were required to limit the lifespan of the power station under the Large Combustion Plant Directive - an EU law aimed at reducing emissions across Europe.

In addition, destroying an iconic landmark in the middle of the Oxfordshire countryside which can be seen for miles and miles around, as pictured below, can hardly be done discreetly and will be filmed regardless. Someone is going to notice missing cooling towers whatever time it is destroyed:

Hitchens therefore is reading a little too much into this. In contrast it is reasonable to conclude that the timing has instead been influenced by other factors. The power station is not out in the middle of nowhere, instead it is close to residential areas and also has to take into account other significant considerations.

Didcot lacks an "X Factor" appeal in terms of a desirable place to live but there is no denying that one of its main attractions is superb transport links. It has excellent train links into London - a consequence of Mr Brunel's "Super Iron Snake" which arrived in 1839 and transformed Didcot into a place of major significance. It became a junction on the Great Western Line to Bristol, London, Oxford and Southampton (the latter line closed due to Beeching), so much so it became an important part of military logistics - Vauxhall Barracks is still there.

Therefore Didcot's rail links are precisely why the power station was built where it was (even after the Beeching Axe). The rail links near the power station can be seen below:

Thus due to the importance of the Didcot junction, in the early hours of the morning when passenger trains are not running, it is still very busy with freight traffic. On average 20 - 30 freight trains pass through Didcot at such time, around 10 came from London for example - oil wagons pass through Didcot to Bristol and a similar number pass through coming from Bristol to London. Other traffic comes from north of Didcot such as from Oxford.

For example the Cowley car plant in Oxford produces Mini's and over 35% of its cars are moved by train much of it going to Southampton docks via Didcot. Then Swindon pressing plant provides most of the body panels and body sub-assemblies for the Mini models which are produced at the Oxford plant in Cowley. Again this is moved by rail through Didcot.

Due to the proximity of the power station to the railway lines they would need to be shut, before, during and after the demolition. Freight trains would need to be held back. Thus by moving the time of the demolition to 6am would increase the risk of impacting on the scheduling of passenger trains.

After demolition train tracks need to be checked for debris, damage and other problems associated with blowing up 325ft towers made of concrete and bricks. Any delay especially if the demolition doesn't go according to plan would have a significant knock-on effect with the rest of Sunday's passenger train's timetable with freight trains held in the wrong place completely out of position.

And demolitions don't always go to plan, an example in the UK was the iconic Tinsley Towers in Sheffield which were very close to the Tinsley Viaduct on the M1 motorway - towers which featured in the film The Full Monty. They too were brought down at 3am:

Thousands of people turned up to watch the planned demolition of the Tinsley Cooling Towers in Sheffield at 3am on Sunday 24th August 2008.

Yet:

A section of the north tower remained pointing into the sky. Two hours passed while  the Highways Agency and the owners of the towers - energy company E.On - debated what to do.

Given the unpredictability of explosions it's not unreasonably that a window of opportunity is necessary to account for unforeseen problems.

And nor are trains the only problem. Two major trunk roads pass very close to the power station, notably the A4130 which is busy with heavy goods vehicles not only to Milton Park, but Southmead Industrial Estate which has among other things distribution centres for Asda and Tesco stores across the county. Deliveries to and from these distribution centres begin at around 5am. A 6am demolition proposed by Vaizey and others therefore would have a significant impact on deliveries given that the main roads out of Didcot would be closed.

Other problems may include that blowing up at a later time cooling towers which are very visible from major roads such as the A34 and the M40 motorway is likely to induce rubbernecking to the detriment and safety of other road users.

RWE NPower have confirmed that the site will be floodlit - no surprise given health and safety considerations - so the argument that it occurs in the early hours when it is 'dark' has no bearing on whether we can actually 'see' it and given it is a Sunday morning (not a school night) the hour should be inconsequential:

They'd been camping out since teatime. Some had portable gas stoves, some brought their young children tucked up in duvets in the back of their cars - all were there to watch the demolition of the Tinsley Towers.

So the choice is clear if we want to see the Didcot towers fall, we either get up or stay up. In truth getting up at 3am on Sunday morning is not really that difficult or inconvenient.

Dead Pensioners

I now rarely watch PMQs, its relevance about as important as Parliament itself. But my attention was brought to the following exchange between Cameron and Miliband today:

Edward Miliband: Here is the reality. This is not a minor policy adjustment—it is an intellectual collapse of the Government’s position. For two months, they have been saying that if we take action to intervene in markets it is back to the ’70s—it is Marxism—but now they realise that they are on the wrong side of public opinion. That is the reality. The Prime Minister must realise the gravity of the situation, as figures this week show that there were 31,000 deaths as a result of the cold winter, with about 10,000 as the result of cold homes. Can he explain how things will be better this winter than they were last?

The Prime Minister: What there will be this winter—and this is a vitally important issue—are the cold weather payments that we have doubled from their previous level. The winter fuel payment will be in place, as will the warm home discount, which helps 2 million people in our country. Last year’s increase in the pension of £5.30 a week will be in place. Every excess death in the winter is a tragedy, and there were 31,000 last year. The right hon. Gentleman might care to recall that when he was energy Secretary there were 36,500.

Edward Miliband: I asked the Prime Minister a very specific question: how are things going to be better this winter than last? The reality is that prices will be higher this winter than last. For the average household, the British Gas bill went up £123 this week. It was also revealed that the profits of the energy companies were up 75% in the last year alone. Why, under his Government, is it acceptable for the British people to pay exorbitant prices to fund exorbitant profits?

The Prime Minister: What is intellectual incoherence is not to address the fact that there were 36,500 winter deaths when the right hon. Gentleman was standing here as energy Secretary. That number was lower last year. What is intellectually incoherent is to promise a price freeze for 20 months’ time when we do not control the global price of gas—that is completely incoherent and a total con.

With all three parties agreeing largely to the same expensive energy policy, PMQs is reduced to two men bickering over who has killed the fewest number of people. Shameful doesn't even begin to describe it...

Hot Wired

In light of Autonomous' Mind's excellent post on the stupidity of the media's reporting of our current energy crisis, I had a quick gander at this Hansard account from Thursday 17 October 2013. What's intriguing is the openness of MPs in mentioning the EU when discussing our energy policy in contrast to most media reports.

That is not say though that all of the discussion had a degree of sense. This from Alex Cunningham - Labour MP for Stockton North - in particular struck me (my emphasis):

I think that just 25 people have benefited from the green deal in my constituency so far, but thousands of people across Stockton-on-Tees could have warmer homes thanks to a tremendous project to externally clad their homes run by the borough council and deliverer partner, Go Warm. This has attracted £20 million of investment and 300 jobs. Sadly, a legal judgment means that BT is the only company that can remove the eyelets that support the wires in the houses that are benefiting from the scheme. This is slowing the programme down because of insufficient resources to do the work in a reasonable time. Will the Minister please intervene, tell BT to get its act together, get the work done more quickly and give my constituents the warmth they deserve?

Having dealt with BT for over 10 years in my previous job I can accuse them of many things, but that they are somehow culpable of failing to provide "constituents with warmth" is a new one on me.

A Power Station Obituary

Today Didcot A will be thrown onto the scrap heap. No longer considered fit for purpose under EU law, it is set to be turned off after 14:00, even though it has many years of life in it yet. Its only job now is a lonely agonising wait for demolition of the cooling towers, chimney and turbine hall. Unhelpfully the closure is at a time when we are being warned of a looming energy crisis.

Odd as it may seem there are mixed emotions locally at its closure. One woman noted on local news that; "I'm sad 'cos it's a landmark innit...?", a view echoed, albeit slightly more elegantly by Didcot Town Council leader Margaret Davies:

“The cooling towers are so large, and the power station has been such a big part of our lives that it’s hard to believe it is not going to be powering away any more.

The cooling towers have been a reassuring sight, a friendly giant, but the closure paves the way for when the cooling towers will be demolished and vanish completely from the skyline.”

A landmark it most certainly is even though it resides as comfortably and inconspicuously in the Oxfordshire countryside as Eric Pickles in a salad bar.

But many memories and fond thoughts. Once I was collared by a motorist as I was walking back from town asking for directions to the power station. My reply of; "take the next left, left again and it will be on your right - you can't miss it" must have been one of the easiest directions I have ever given to a motorist. One can never forget either the windows rattling when it fired up or the conclusions of the environmental survey when you buy a house which noted that there is a power station nearby - as if you haven't noticed.

We remember other quirks also. Despite being called Didcot Power Station, it doesn't actually reside in Didcot, instead in the parish of a village called Sutton Courtney - more well known for the burial place of George Orwell and British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith. Rumours have persisted locally for many years that underhand persuasion was used for it not to be called Sutton Courtney power station when it was built.

And despite being voted the third worst eyesore in Britain, it's often forgotten that it won architectural awards when it opened. Designed by the British sculptor Henry Moore - his biggest piece- the cooling towers were positioned in such a way that all six towers could not be seen in their entire completeness from anywhere in Oxfordshire. A clever, yet subtle use of perspective, designed to limit the station's impact on the surrounding environment.

The loss of history and 'be careful what you wish for' reminds us of the Blackburn Meadows Power Station in Sheffield, the two cooling towers which resided next to the M1, and was portrayed in the film The Full Monty, were only demolished 28 years after the power station closed - against much local opposition.

But it's an end of an era, an era that once thought that keeping the lights on was more important than implementing a flawed ideology.

Didcot A leaves behind a wife (Didcot B) and 1000's of children who live on benefits.

No flowers.

40 Years

In his last column of the year, Booker of the Sunday Telegraph has a cracker of an article, well worth reading in full, combining the themes of climate change and the EU noting that 2012 was the year that these long held beliefs are beginning to collapse.

Tuesday will mark the 40th anniversary of our membership of the EU (EEC as it was known then) "the maddest political experiment in history" where there will be much coverage, some of which has already started. As Booker alludes to, fighting such comprehensive belief systems has been a lonely and frustrating business. Oppose the EU, and you are called "xenophobic", "a nutter", or "Little Englander". Question climate science and the insults consist of “climate-change denier”, “anti-science”, a “flat earther”. But all that has changed:

For many of the major stories which have long been followed by this column, 2012 has been the year when long-dominant belief systems and fondly held illusions have been conspicuously falling apart, portending a time of agonising reappraisal when familiar certainties give way to greater realism and painful rethinking.

On Tuesday, for instance, much coverage will be given to the 40th anniversary of the day in 1973 when Britain finally junked “1,000 years of history” – in the famous words of Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell – and threw in her lot with the attempt to create an all-powerful super-government over the nations of Europe. (Gaitskell had shrewdly predicted, in his speech back in 1962, what the Common Market, as it was then known, was intended eventually to become.)

It is 20 years since this column began regularly reporting on the damage that our membership of the European Union (as it was then about to become, under the Maastricht Treaty) was starting to inflict on our national life. In those days, to question our membership was to be dismissed by all right-thinking people as a crank, a nutter, a xenophobe who could not be taken seriously. When at the start of 1992, I first began reporting horror stories about the tidal wave of new regulations hitting so many British businesses with the approach of the Single Market, along with the destruction of our fishing industry and much of our agriculture, we were still locked into that forerunner of the single currency, the ERM (almost unanimously supported, it is salutary to recall, by every political party and right across the media).

Forty years on from our entry into “Europe”, as we see “the project” plunge deeper into the misery and chaos it has brought on itself by its even more hubristic desire to give the EU its own currency, British attitudes to our membership have changed beyond recognition.

Reality has kicked in, which Booker notes must inevitably be painful and bewildering, for those that hung to such beliefs for so long

28 Gate

The climate change issue is not really my forte, so I tend to leave it alone to better informed others. This though is worth noting. Days after blogger Tony Newbery lost this legal case against the BBC...

Newbery wanted the list of "scientific experts" who attended a BBC seminar at which, according to the BBC Trust, they convinced the broadcaster to abandon impartiality and take a firmly warmist position when reporting climate change. When the Beeb refused to divulge who these people were and who they worked for, Newbery took the corporation to an information tribunal. Now the names and affiliations of the 28 people who decided the Beeb climate stance - acknowledged by the Corporation to include various non-scientists such as NGO people, activists etc - will remain a secret.

...those names are now freely available on the internet thanks to the persistence of Maurizio Morabito.

Despite legal arguments, a biased Judge, the BBC spending years and huge sums of our money and a 'very flexible' interpretation of the Freedom of Information Act to keep this information from us, all was undone by a simple copy n' paste of a broken url link into WayBack Machine.

Here's the list in full:

Specialists:

Robert May, Oxford University and Imperial College London
Mike Hulme, Director, Tyndall Centre, UEA
Blake Lee-Harwood, Head of Campaigns, Greenpeace
Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen
Michael Bravo, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
Andrew Dlugolecki, Insurance industry consultant
Trevor Evans, US Embassy
Colin Challen MP, Chair, All Party Group on Climate Change
Anuradha Vittachi, Director, Oneworld.net
Andrew Simms, Policy Director, New Economics Foundation
Claire Foster, Church of England
Saleemul Huq, IIED
Poshendra Satyal Pravat, Open University
Li Moxuan, Climate campaigner, Greenpeace China
Tadesse Dadi, Tearfund Ethiopia
Iain Wright, CO2 Project Manager, BP International
Ashok Sinha, Stop Climate Chaos
Andy Atkins, Advocacy Director, Tearfund
Matthew Farrow, CBI
Rafael Hidalgo, TV/multimedia producer
Cheryl Campbell, Executive Director, Television for the Environment
Kevin McCullough, Director, Npower Renewables
Richard D North, Institute of Economic Affairs
Steve Widdicombe, Plymouth Marine Labs
Joe Smith, The Open University
Mark Galloway, Director, IBT
Anita Neville, E3G
Eleni Andreadis, Harvard University
Jos Wheatley, Global Environment Assets Team, DFID
Tessa Tennant, Chair, AsRia

BBC attendees:

Jana Bennett, Director of Television
Sacha Baveystock, Executive Producer, Science
Helen Boaden, Director of News
Andrew Lane, Manager, Weather, TV News
Anne Gilchrist, Executive Editor Indies & Events, CBBC
Dominic Vallely, Executive Editor, Entertainment
Eleanor Moran, Development Executive, Drama Commissioning
Elizabeth McKay, Project Executive, Education
Emma Swain, Commissioning Editor, Specialist Factual
Fergal Keane, (Chair), Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Fran Unsworth, Head of Newsgathering
George Entwistle, Head of TV Current Affairs
Glenwyn Benson, Controller, Factual TV
John Lynch, Creative Director, Specialist Factual
Jon Plowman, Head of Comedy
Jon Williams, TV Editor Newsgathering
Karen O’Connor, Editor, This World, Current Affairs
Catriona McKenzie, Tightrope Pictures catriona@tightropepictures.com

BBC Television Centre, London (cont)

Liz Molyneux, Editorial Executive, Factual Commissioning
Matt Morris, Head of News, Radio Five Live
Neil Nightingale, Head of Natural History Unit
Paul Brannan, Deputy Head of News Interactive
Peter Horrocks, Head of Television News
Peter Rippon, Duty Editor, World at One/PM/The World this Weekend
Phil Harding, Director, English Networks & Nations
Steve Mitchell, Head Of Radio News
Sue Inglish, Head Of Political Programmes
Frances Weil, Editor of News Special Events

This meeting, described by the BBC as one which had “the best scientific experts”, was the one that decided future BBC policy on climate change reporting, thus breaching fundamentally its legal duty to remain impartial. Funnily enough only 3 scientists appeared to have attended. the rest are made up of activists, charities & environmental pressure groups...

No wonder the BBC were so determined to keep it quiet. One would like to think this is another hole below the waterline in what is left of the BBC's credibility - one that will undoubtedly be ignored by the legacy media at large.

Next up must be the release of the infamous Balen Report in 2004. Autonomous Mind has an interesting take on how the suppression of this can be challenged again.

It's A Bit Wet...

The predictions

And the reality...

I have tickets for Silverstone tomorrow which should be 'fun'...

Deadly Switch Off

Swindon recently engaged in an experiment, despite local concerns, to save money and to 'reduce their carbon footprint' by switching off streetlights - enthusiastically supported no less by a Tory councillor.

But whoops it's gone a bit Pete Tong according to the BBC:

Hundreds of street lights in Swindon which were turned off to save money are being switched back on.

Swindon Borough Council said the authority felt it was not worth continuing due to the number of concerns being raised by the public.

But what the BBC report and the Councillors don't say is 'concerns being raised by the public' refers to the fact that lights have been turned back on because of significant safety considerations, views which were aired well in advance, and that accidents have subsequently increased as a result of the blackout.

Still at least it was supposed to save £20,000, only a snip compared to the total basic Councillor's allowances of £722,600.

Huhne The Loon Charged

After a rather lengthy process, the Euroslime, rabid-greenie, Lib Dem millionaire Chris Huhne has been charged with perverting the course of justice. If found guilty Huhne will certainly face a custodial sentence - previous politicians found guilty of this offence such as Jonathan Atkin and Lord Archer were sentenced for 18 months and 4 years respectively.

Arrogant, ruthlessly ambitious and nasty with an obsessive tendency to smear opponents as Nazis I doubt many tears will be shed at the demise of Huhne's political career. Indeed there will probably be the quiet popping of many champagne corks. Personally I think he should be locked up anyway for his dangerous, reckless and deluded energy policies. But at least this is a start.

It couldn't happen to a nicer chap.

Update: James Delingpole also doubts many tears will be shed.

On Standby

Out of necessity I've had to purchase a new idiot's lantern. It's nothing particularly special, I don't really watch much television but I'm pretty pleased with it.

Naturally the box was festooned with copious environmental messages, most of them images with red lines through, telling you not what to do such as; don't dispose of in a wheelie bin, or throw it at your neighbour's cat - that sort of thing. On the box also was a large logo with the words "Planet First: Making the world a greener, cleaner place to live".

Inside the box, the 'think of the polar bears' theme continues. Included is a foil sticker which contains an EU energy rating and has energy consumption figures on it. Mine is rated 'A' so apparently that's good (it looks remarkably similar to those foil club badges in Panini football sticker albums).

And so onto the instruction manual. Now, don't expect it tell you how to set the tv up, because it won't, there's the e-manual on the tv to do that - saves paper you see. So you have to turn the set on in order to get instructions on how to plug the tv in. Instead, in the paper version, we get more environmental messages such as the carbon footprint and the following advice:

Do not leave your tv in standby mode for long periods of time, as a small amount of electric power is still consumed.

So all well and good, I've bought a new tv and have nice warm feeling inside that I've done my bit for the environment.

However, there's a problem...

There's one feature my shiny new tv doesn't have that all my previous ones did...an on/off button. It doesn't have one, no push button, no rocker switch, no nothing. That then leaves only two options. Either unplugging the set, which means clambering around the back, fighting the cable spaghetti to unplug it from a four gang socket (for Mrs TBF this is a complete non starter). Or...wait for it...leave it on standby...permanently.

Genius, eh?

ClimateGate II

This subject is not really my speciality but here we go again, And here; even the BBC is doing a slightly better job than last time (not difficult and 'slightly' being the operative word which underlines the seriousness in which the BBC are taking it)

Apparently the UEA says (my emphasis):

"If genuine, (the sheer volume of material makes it impossible to confirm at present that they are all genuine) these emails have the appearance of having been held back after the theft of data and emails in 2009 to be released at a time designed to cause maximum disruption to the imminent international climate talks".

That will naturally be reported, by the MSM, as an entirely different type of data theft in comparison to this, this and this.

Shooting Up The Priority List

One of the most common arguments against a referendum, or discussion on the EU, is that it doesn't register in the list of voters' concerns. That of course overlooks the fact that 99% of issues in the top ten of voters' concerns do involved the EU in one way or another - to paraphrase Lord of The Rings; one issue rules them all - and that this logic never applies to climate change.

However leaving all that aside, the latest YouGov poll shows that Europe is now seen as the 3rd most important issue facing country (click to enlarge):

As I've blogged before, this was always going to happen - the Euro crisis has simply brought the inevitable forward. So no longer can this be treated as a fringe issue, and no longer can our political class ignore it. The EU nettle simply has to be grasped and hilariously it's happened on Cameron's watch.

Voters' Concerns

One of the most common arguments proposed against an EU referendum (particularly by Tories) is that not enough voters 'care' about it according to opinion polls:

Nick Boles told a fringe event that he would only engage with the issue when it became one of the top five issues of concern to people. Brandon Lewis MP echoed the point at IPPR’s own fringe. Meanwhile, Ben Page from Ipsos-MORI explained that Europe was one of the least important issues for British voters concerning well under 10 per cent of voters.

Leaving aside that the usual top ten issues, particularly immigration, all have an EU element to it, which politicians cover up to absurd levels, there is also another issue which never comes anywhere near the top of voter's concerns either:

Can you guess what it is? Funny how that, in contrast, it gets far more prominence and coverage despite the fact that voters' don't give a shit.

Blackout

Former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband, used part of his conference speech to bash the energy companies for their prices. This would be the same idiot who wanted to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by the middle of this century and whose policies have directly led to energy price rises.

However in proof that God has a sense of humour, Miliband's speech suffered from a power cut - meaning all the live feeds went down:

Ed Miliband's landmark speech to the Labour conference was dealt a massive blow today when the live link went down just five minutes into his address to the nation.

After a two-minute opening during which he rattled off five jokes, the Labour leader declared he was going to 'get down to business' - but almost immediately the screens went blank, and those watching the BBC and Sky were cut off from the speech.

Oh the irony.

Quote Of The Day

A telling quote from the Financial Times regarding Merkel and Sarkozy's press conference today on how to prolong the Euro crisis for another week (my emphasis):

Attention will be given to the Tobin-style tax proposal but it’s worth remembering that Sarkozy has suggested this before. The only difference now seems to be that he’s looking to use the proceeds to prop up the eurozone rather than fund development in Africa and climate change mitigation efforts.

'Nuff said

Banned.

I was just trawling through the Independent's list of the most controversial films - the tagline being:

"Take some needless violence, a religious satire and a dash of incest - and you've got yourself a collection of films too shocking for cinema".

It includes of course the usual suspects - A Clockwork Orange, The Exorcist and Last House on the Left to name but a few (Interestingly the Independent leaves out The Battleship Potemkin which had one of the longest running bans in British film history). Then at number 17 up pops this (click to enlarge):

It's official, the 'No Pressure' film is on a list that includes such notorious gems as Salo, I Spit On Your Grave and Cannibal Holocaust.

Franny Armstrong must be right proud.

We're All Gonna Die!

So says Huhne reported in the Mail. As opposed to the current situation of peace, plenty of food and no immigration. However what can we expect from a Minister who says this...

An editor, frankly, knows what's going on in her or his newspaper and either they know what's going on in which case the editor of the News of the World at the time was either complicit in some criminal activity or they're extremely incompetent.

...when facing this.

Unintended Consequences

My favourite car I've ever owned - and have driven - is the Mark III Golf VR6 (pictured left).

It was a VW Golf fitted with a 6 cylinder 2.8 litre engine - the engine was specifically designed to fit on a standard Golf chassis with no further modifications needed, and it was the best engine that Volkswagen ever made.

I'd always wanted one but for obvious insurance reasons I didn't own one until I was 25. It was brilliant; the power output was so smooth I'm sure it ignored the petrol I put in to it and ran on double cream instead. And boy was it quick, without trying to incriminate myself on this blog I can confirm that never once did the engine get out of the; "tapping-its-fingers-impatiently-because-it-was-bored" mode. The engine far outperformed the car built around it.

Sadly, and inevitably, rust took its toll so I needed a replacement. The Golf R32 it was. In many ways the R32 was superior. It was quicker (a 3.2 litre engine), had more bells and whistles like air con, and was far more stable in corners at high(er) speeds. But the thrill was no longer there - the Mark IV Golf chassis had become too bloated and too heavy to have the same impact.

However there was a fundamental problem with the R32. There was a consistent issue that occurred in certain circumstances where, as the throttle was deployed, the car started to stall; in essence the pedal started to work in reverse - the more you pressed it the slower the car would go, and that is very unnerving to say the least. This was especially prevalent at roundabouts where you haven't quite stopped, have checked to the right that all is ok to enter the roundabout and then apply the throttle only to find that the car no longer responds. Effectively the car's problem left me stranded on a roundabout in danger of being 'T-boned' by another car that wasn't there seconds before.

Naturally I took the car back to VW many times, but despite 'expert' diagnosis by laptop the response I got was; "No Sir there's nothing wrong with it". I tried some independent garages too and received the same response. It wasn't until I went to a garage who specialised in sticking superchargers on VW V6 engines that I got a more honest response.

The R32, like many cars, had an engine management system which could constantly control the fuel mixture to prevent it being either too rich or too weak. This is great of course for maximum efficiency of the engine, but the management system had different priorities - EU car emissions legislation. In effect VW cheated. In order to get their larger engined cars to pass EU legislation they set up their management systems to prioritise emissions rather than performance or efficiency. So when the sensors in the tail pipe registered too much carbon monoxide it immediately weakened the mixture - effectively starving the engine of fuel. This is what lead to me 'stalling' at roundabouts causing a potential collision.

'Chipping' the ECU to prioritise performance solved the problem - at the cost of about £90, however as the car was more than 3 years old I had to have it changed back to factory default (i.e. emissions settings) every year to pass the MOT and then remapped again afterwards.

Bizarrely chipping the ECU actually improved the fuel consumption.

Can we leave yet?