Skip to content

studiot

Senior Members
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by studiot

  1. I've not seen the Gateshead one, but I walked over the Pero a couple of years ago. My daughter was staying at the YHA, seeing the sights of Bristol So I drove up for the day and we went round the amazing Brunel permanent exhibition and Cabot's ship. Pero's bridge closed and the waterway was open in the morning but that was changed later in the day. The much older swing bridge carrying the main road across the Cumberland Basin has been operating for a very long time.
  2. Posted 14/08/2026 but the incident actually occurred the previous day. Pero's footbridge lead across an side leg of the old harbour from the Youth Hostel to some a plaza spectacular with fountains, but in my opinion is particularly ugly. Interestingly it is very close to the dry dock with Brunel's famous steamship, he must be shuddering in his grave at the poor engineering. Far more interesting and better engineered millennium bridges are Miller's Crossing in Exeter, nearby and the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland.
  3. If you read the article you might have noticed that the money is going on - Data Centres - amongst other thins. So we, the public are funding yet another soak the public scheme and we have a Prime Minister wringing his hands and crying crocodile tears, but doing nothing. I have no interest in Reform, or any party as I do not support the party system. Underneath it is part of the overall problem. They are all "say-one-thing-whilst-doing-another" outfits. And everybody these days seems to have "sloping shoulders".
  4. I particularly like that catch. +1 Here's a prime example of the sort of shenanigans I am referring to. £3.4 billion rise quoted. BBC NewsWater bills set to rise for many after firms permitted ex...Ofwat has given provisional approval for 13 water companies to charge customers more to pay for investments.
  5. Well spotted. But we have been at the game centuries longer.
  6. Having read through the overhyped blathe r from your Luddite friend, which is every bit the equal to that of Farage employing many of the same rhetorical tricks, I accept that over use of AI may well lead to the loss of some traditional jobs. Of course Trump and the American legal system have nothing to do with the topic, being non British. Only someone without knowledge of the British legal system would make the claims he has. Did you not read my comment about the lower birth rate being due to to later, fewer or even no babies by choice as a direct result of economic circumstance ? This thread is about Britain. We do not have a construction crisis, although it would be far better if we stopped building rubbish structures that have to be pulled down prematurely. Most of the great names in UK construction have gone to the wall or left the sector. What's left are a few foreign owned firms cutting corners left, right and centre and clamping down on workers so no one works for them unless they have to. I keep saying that the UK is different from America and those differences are significant. @Phi for All keeps pointing out the practice of greed that allows a few to benefit at the expense of the many. Sadly I have to observe that the British are the world's greatest experts in this practice.
  7. I do wish folks would consider the points I make, rather than ones I didn't make. Nowhere have I said that migration is the answer to foodbanks. Nor have I suggested that immigration causes house price increases. But I definitely points to resource constraints in housing, food, jobs and other places. I also said, several times that these problems are not caused by immigration, they are exacerbated by it, the underlying causes being a 'broken system'. So what is the employment rate for say the under 25s in the UK ? These are the future. It is very difficult to take you seriously and provide a balanced response if you insist on introducing off topic material. What does seventh century Egyptian history to do with present day British problems at home ?
  8. Good reasons but there were further considerations, most notably portability and speed of firing/operation. Note the Ballista could also fire stones. However the ballista was a much smaller machine with a much shorter range. So we have the difference in modern terms between a 5inch and a 15inch gun and shell. Note in the Game of Thrones Trebuchets were also used to hurl Greek Fire (called wildfire in the films) . In Medieval times hot pitch was more likely to be used. I thought they had lost the formula for Greek Fire.
  9. Sadly that's a big part of human nature for you, though there are usually only a few real zealots and a lot of folks being led by the nose. +1
  10. Talking about Lagos Did you ever come across Jonas M K Dake of fluids textbook fame ?
  11. Thank your mother for us please. Unfortunately your statistics are somewhat out of date. It would be true to say We have a rising unemployment, many people who can't find jobs particularly amongst the youth who also can't afford places to live and/or food and/or winter heating. We have a ridiculous tax/ benefit system were we have seen a series of bureaucratic 'adjustments that have been plainly unfair to various people, particularly women, who are the main sector that may only have a state pension. Most men already receiving a pension will have gone through good employment times, not a prospect for those still working. Actually the national average life expectancy has recently fallen, for the first time since the big war slaughters. Yes we have a falling birth rate, since youngsters are choosing to have children later or not to have children at all. cf my first comment about jobs and housing. None of this is the fault of the immigrants, but their presence makes things worse as they most certainly do absorb resources which is why immigration should be carefully managed, as the Norwegians and Swiss have done. This is not a Brexit issue ; neither Norway nor Switzerland are part of the EU. I don't recall any pertinent threads about feeding people, but the cost of food is bothering many folks here in the UK. You want some evidence ? Go to food bank and ask yourself why a society that is allegedly so rich need to feed much of its population that way ? Consider the county town of Somerset. The greedy are promoting a new extension building 1000 + houses and thus increasing the population by some 20,000 to 30,000. Yet nowhere is there provision for a new reservoir or water catchment facilities or sewage disposal facilities. That many people will clog up the already overcrowded roads and other public facilities. And where will they find work ? There are certainly not tens of thousands of jobs listed at the job centre nor tens of thousands of extra school places etc etc. And the worst of it is that scenario is being repeated up and down the country all in the greedy name of growth = profit = economic health = nonsense unless properly brought in. Remember America has almost limitless resources to do these things. The UK does not.
  12. That's a fair question. So if we have nowhere to put additional people would you consider that overcrowded ? It is difficult to get accurate figures, as the construction of the statistics is 'ethnicity led' , current official figures seem to concur with this. This undesirable state of affairs is not only a waste of public money but promotes racism. Just to offer a counter story to your unpleasant experiences. Back in the mid 1980s, my wife suffered an very extended labour with our daughter. Eventually after nearly 2 days without success for the whole team of white midwives, doctors and nurses a huge black man was called who said "I'm Dr Larry and I hear you need some help" The remaining time for the birth was then measured in minutes, with no surgery needed. Prejudice was the farthest thing from our minds. However there is the consideration "Should we be trying to attract the best from these countries ?"
  13. Not sure what you mean by this but 1845 Ireland 1868 India They had all your requirements but millions died, although the British administration could have intervened to prevent this. (To our eternal shame) I agree wholeheartedly, although it depends upon the solution to what, I assume you are referring to 'the decay'. Yes I have already agreed with your perceptive observation about the cultural dimension. But I don't want political parties full stop. They seem to inevitably lead to corruption and decay.
  14. I have already answered you.
  15. I agree +1
  16. So who is prepared to say that the UK is not already seriously overcrowded ? Or that we can properly feed, house, support the people already here ? And yes, there are other parts of the world that are also seriously overcrowded. Yes there is short-termism in our current approach which has been going on for a long time and doesn't seem about to change. It is not immigration per se that is driving the decay in our society.
  17. You should compare population density, not population directly. Only Belgium (of those mentioned) has a higher pop density than the UK, which is already heavily overcrowded. We can't feed the people we have already got. And you didn't address my last point at all.
  18. One might observe that the UK is 'the end of the line'. You mentioned integrated minorities in New York. You didn't mention that they had a whole 3000 miles of a continent to disperse into. West of the UK is 3000 miles of Atlantic Ocean. One might also have expected at least some of these immigrants to have dispersed throughout Europe. The asylum convention require the seeker to seek in the first free country they reach, not the last.
  19. There still is between the Celts and the Saxons. It's called the River Tamar.
  20. Perhaps, but they are usually called the 'Ancient Britons' to distinguish them from later Britons. Please note also that the Celts were far from the first peoples to inhabit these Isles.
  21. Thank you for noting this and paying attention to it. Yes there have been some good posts, but still no comprehensive answers. I've have tried to explain why they are not comprehensive - It is because everyone's 'answer' excludes some aspect of what another post maintains as correct. And this also applies to you definitions. I think @iNow comment that it depends on your definitions of truth and fact is relevant, although others have als0 indicated this less clearly. Perhaps I should explain further and will try when I have finished considering your other points. I think that the question "What is thought" and the associated questions about reflexes, conscious v unconscious, emotions are all off topic so I made a very short comment only. As regards facts (not truths or absolute truths) I have yet to see the distinction made between facts which only have meaning (rather than truth) in human context (A) and facts which are set by the environment around us (Nature, reality whatever you wish to call it) (B) and facts that are abstract tautologies (C). A) It is a fact that salvias are a group of plants in the sage family and the largest genus in the mint family the lamiaceae. However this classification is an entirely human construction - There are many other possible classification schemes, there is nothing in 'reality' or theory to prove that this is the only or even the best scheme. B) It is a fact of reality (Nature) that hydrogen is the lightest (least massive) element and no amount of Human classification can alter this. C) It is a fact of theory (tautology) that all trilaterals have three sides. Note I said trilaterals, not triangles as triangles have three corners or vertices but there must be deduction to claim these figures have three sides. When one starts recognising that there are different kinds of facts one can start analysing them.
  22. Thank you for expanding on my comment. +1 Since you have phrased this as a statement, but added a question mark at the end I will answer both. No it is not true firstly because not all candidates represent parties. Secondly any voter could also stand as a candidate if they so chose, and even vote for themselves. In 1066 England did not exist. There were then the Kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex and a chunk of country still emerging from Danelaw. The Magna Carta was nearly a century into the future. Mercia apparently supported the Normans, else Wessex might have won the Battle of Hastings.
  23. Does no one think that there is some encouragement for these 'cranks' when respected Physics professors publish books about TOEs and other woo (eg Sean Carroll, Frank Wilczek, Penrose) ?
  24. You posted a whole load of links to unreliable sources without saying why, and then asked a question about voting. Only some immigrants are allowed to vote in Britain, Britons can vote unless disbarred by way of prison or other misdemeanour. Axis SolicitorsCan Immigrants Vote in UK? Complete Guide for 2026Can immigrants vote in UK elections? Axis Solicitors explains who can vote, what rights depend on immigration status, and how British citizenship or settlement affects electoral eligibility. So what is this thread about please and why does it appear self contradictory ? The word Britain is a corruption of the word 'Pretani' which is shown of Ptolemy's map of 'the world' as the name of the islands in question.

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

Account

Navigation

Search

Search

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.