Things Noticeable this week

[Mal Hombre]

You don't want to buy a Diesel,Not so long ago They were the future of motoring,Now They're an abomination unto the Lord..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_exhaust

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by Mal Hombre

You don't want to buy a Diesel,Not so long ago They were the future of motoring,Now They're an abomination unto the Lord..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_exhaust

I am going to drive up to the front of my local borough parking services department and rev the engine.

[gedly]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

Of course it will. However, even if it wont, I rather think we will not be striking any trade agreement of any description whatsover involving the Kingdom of Spain having a say on whether or not the agreement applies in Gibraltar. Since the alternative will be no agreement, I reckon we should be making preparations. I would already be building a number of well armed and fast fisheries protection ships and preparing to expel the EU fishing fleets from British waters.

I've never really understood this call for sympathy on UK fisherman. Even by the 1970s fishing accounted for less than 1% of the EU economy and politically not worth saving. I do recall that during the referendum campaign it was pointed out that shell fish such as prawns and whelks still provide lucrative export markets for the UK. Over the passed forty years this country has seen thousands of coal miners, steel workers and manufacturing workers get thrown on the dole queue with little prospect of those jobs coming back.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by gedly

I've never really understood this call for sympathy on UK fisherman. Even by the 1970s fishing accounted for less than 1% of the EU economy and politically not worth saving. I do recall that during the referendum campaign it was pointed out that shell fish such as prawns and whelks still provide lucrative export markets for the UK. Over the passed forty years this country has seen thousands of coal miners, steel workers and manufacturing workers get thrown on the dole queue with little prospect of those jobs coming back.

I think several million is closer to the mark.

[SanteeFats]

Originally Posted by gedly

I've never really understood this call for sympathy on UK fisherman. Even by the 1970s fishing accounted for less than 1% of the EU economy and politically not worth saving. I do recall that during the referendum campaign it was pointed out that shell fish such as prawns and whelks still provide lucrative export markets for the UK. Over the passed forty years this country has seen thousands of coal miners, steel workers and manufacturing workers get thrown on the dole queue with little prospect of those jobs coming back.

So are you saying the fishermen's jobs are not important?? That only political expediency is important in considering what job sector(s) to support???

[seany65]

Originally Posted by gedly

I've never really understood this call for sympathy on UK fisherman. Even by the 1970s fishing accounted for less than 1% of the EU economy and politically not worth saving. I do recall that during the referendum campaign it was pointed out that shell fish such as prawns and whelks still provide lucrative export markets for the UK. Over the passed forty years this country has seen thousands of coal miners, steel workers and manufacturing workers get thrown on the dole queue with little prospect of those jobs coming back.

Hmmm. Fishermen risk life and limb every day that they can to go fishing, just as miners risked life and limb every day to get coal, just as steel workers who work with molten steel do every day to make steel do, and you have no sympathy for them even though the British fishing industry is being damaged, even destroyed, just as the mining industry has been and the steel industry is virtually being destroyed?

Why should the British fishing fleet be cut back and cut back, supposedly in order to save fish stocks, when fishing boats from the EU can enter British fishing grounds and take up the fish that the Brits aren't getting?

If we do manage to actually get out of the EU we are going to have to be a little more 'self-sufficiant' than we are now, and part of that means stopping foreign boats entering britisah fishing grounds.

Yes I know the fish can swim from one place to the next and don't reckon much of any 'boundaries', but that ain't the point.

[rotobott]

Originally Posted by seany65

If we do manage to actually get out of the EU we are going to have to be a little more 'self-sufficiant' than we are now, and part of that means stopping foreign boats entering britisah fishing grounds.

Yes I know the fish can swim from one place to the next and don't reckon much of any 'boundaries', but that ain't the point.

We'll have to do better than last time

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod_Wars

[Devius]

The Turkish government has sacked almost 4,000 more public officials in what appears to be the latest purge related to a failed coup last July.

They include more than 1,000 justice ministry workers, a similar number of army staff and more than 100 air force pilots, officials said.

In a separate decree, Turkey banned TV dating shows - a move previously mooted by the government.

Earlier on Saturday, Turkey blocked the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia.

Details:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39759050

According to the Daily Mirror the TV dating shows were banned because they do not fit with Turkish traditions and customs.

[scoundrel]

Having taken three hours to venture into Kent to a place called Paddock Wood and eyeball two cars on my beginnings of a list I am getting back into the swing of something I have not done for over a decade: the used car dealership. We are not talking the $10,000 a night hooker here; we are talking the oldest whore on the block, rainy midnight street corners end of the market.

The £350 Ford Focus1.8TD LX 90 Hatchback 5d is the Hilda Ogden of this pair. Smaller, but not prettier, it comes with a nice line in gaffa tape on the front bumper which makes me feel right at home. There is a bit of a crack on the rear bumper as well, just where the exhaust come out. The interior is tired but not exhausted; a valet clean would be beneficial. Time has elapsed since the advert photoshoot as I can see because the front windscreen wipers, matt black on the photo, have turned brown, as mild steel will when it stands out in the rain. I estimate that the tyres are about 75% worn. The good news is that it has an MOT until November.

As is Pat Butcher to Hilda Ogden, so is the Ford Mondeo 2.0 Zetec Estate 5d 1999cc to the Ford Focus; bigger and bulkier, but no more attractive. The car was standing forlornly at the bottom corner of the plot surrounded by other cars so that you would need to move at least four of them to get it out, even if it should start, which I doubt after being there so long. The mere way in which it has been relegated to that corner and penned in by so may other cars tells me a great deal.

No gaffa tape needed here, to be fair, but a big scrape mark on the front passenger side bumper which tells me that someone tried to leave the parking space and did harm to the car on front before getting away. The drivers door seems to have passed too close to a stationary object as well. Slightly more worrying is the state of the upholstery: it is minging, filthy dirty even by my undemanding standards. This car is a 2003 model and by the look of those seats no one has ever cleaned them since the warranty services ended. They are so dirty I don't know if they even can be cleaned; though there's a bunch of Eastern European lads at a hand car wash down the road from me who can do this job if any human beings can do it. Trouble is, they're down the road from me and the car is somewhere near Tonbridge. I may need to buy an NBC suit to drive between A and B.

The actual significant points on the Mondeo are:

• Catagory C writeoff: though it has passed an MOT since then so the damage should have been fixed. With these older cars, it doesn't need a lot more than a broken mirror before the insurance company writes it off. Provided the car is roadworthy, this is not an issue for me.
• Sitting on those seats may cause blood poisoning.
• The MOT has run out. Given the way this vehicle has self-evidently been stood idle for many months, that is serious. If it fails on anything worse than a light bulb, it is not worth bothering.
• The car has nice alloy wheels but they show how brown the brake disks are and, much worse, how brown the calipers are. So even if they don't fail the MOT, I wouldn't drive this thing to the front entrance of the dealership unless those calipers are exchanged and new pads and disks installed.

The MOT will be around £50. Tax will be £190. To replace the brake disks and exchange the brake calipers will be at least £250. For sure it will need a full annual service before it is fit to take the road: about £200 for that if nothing else is wrong. This car is on sale for £490 but I calculate that if it was given to me gratis, I would spend at least £700 just to rehabilitate it.


Pity: it was probably a perfectly good motor when it was PXd at the dealership. But the dealer stuck a £699 sticker on it and no one wanted to pay that for a 14 year old car. If he had priced it £399 for a quick sale he would probably have room in his lot now.


Some time and thought needed for this project, I surmise. The quest will continue.

[vinceprince]

Originally Posted by seany65

Hmmm. Fishermen risk life and limb every day that they can to go fishing, just as miners risked life and limb every day to get coal, just as steel workers who work with molten steel do every day to make steel do, and you have no sympathy for them even though the British fishing industry is being damaged, even destroyed, just as the mining industry has been and the steel industry is virtually being destroyed?

Why should the British fishing fleet be cut back and cut back, supposedly in order to save fish stocks, when fishing boats from the EU can enter British fishing grounds and take up the fish that the Brits aren't getting?

If we do manage to actually get out of the EU we are going to have to be a little more 'self-sufficiant' than we are now, and part of that means stopping foreign boats entering britisah fishing grounds.

Yes I know the fish can swim from one place to the next and don't reckon much of any 'boundaries', but that ain't the point.

My uncle was a fisherman and nearly all he caught (mostly sole and plaice) was exported to the continent where there is a big market for it. If British people really wanted to support the British Fishing fleet they would eat the fish that are caught in our waters but they don't, they eat basically cod, tuna and salmon which are nearly all imported.

All the patriotic bluster is fine but if no use if they don't put their money (or fish) where their mouth is. And if we can't export it to Europe it won't be going anywhere so the industry will die anyway.

There is a 6-12 mile inshore limit where only British boats can fish. But a lot of the big 'British' boats are only British registered anyway, many are owned and crewed by foreigners.