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I completely agree not all change is progress - very rarely feel the need for Uber, Just Eat - but made the point simply to illustrate how fast change can happen. The "net zero" aspiration is 2050 not 2030 (needs better definition). Effectively the replacement of fossil fuelled energy with...

Refineries will not stop production overnight - they will wind down over a 20-30 year period as ICE is replaced by EV. There will still be demand for their products even if the transition to EV is fully complete with no laggards. By nature I tend to be glass half full: there will be a drive...

Tilt the table and use the fence to support the workpiece - that way the bevel should end up fairly even,

For goods manufactured in the US being sold in the UK: VAT is at 20% vs sales tax in the US typically 4-7% depending on state import duties which depend on item - around 2% on a few I looked up shipping costs admin, documentation and processing Taken together I can see that prices may be...

Just a thought - when my 50L dust extractor is full (probably with about 30-40L) before the filter starts to clog it is a bit of a pain to lift and empty. A garden wheelie bin may hold 150-200L - I would find this unacceptably heavy when full (perhaps I'm a wimp!). It could be worthwhile...

From a paper produced by Eumetsat on the subject - there is no trend since 1980, and apparently most authoritative work on the subject suggests a reduction in these storms with climate change. Most probably it has nothing to do with climate change! Climate change is a serious threat - but...

The loss of life in Libya has (probably) nothing to do with climate change. The Mediterranean has a few (between 0 and 4) violent storms each year with hurricane level winds and rain (Medicanes) The impact depends on the storm track and and the quality of the local infrastructure hit. Similar...

Y2K and climate change are fundamentally different. The former had the capacity to disable critical and integrated systems on the "stroke of midnight" - banking, communications, energy supplies, water, sewage etc. Food and fuel supplies would have become stressed within days, civil unrest...

I have little doubt that climate impacts are largely man made and potentially severe. However, insisting that we stop using fossil fuels with almost immediate effect and transition to an alternative which may involve renewables and lifestyle changes is a fantasy (removed from reality). The...

Many (perhaps most) larger town centres that would previously have had a wide range of shops have a road network dating back to Victorian or earlier times. They functioned well before the post war urban expansion based largely on walk, horse power or public transport. Car became the...

In the past I have always found Axminster very helpful, although in recent years their prices have started to become quite uncompetitive. I have just moved house and am setting up a workshop. Part of this is dust extraction. Axminster sell a 63mm kit for £154. Yandles and some other...

Housing completions in the UK have fluctuated around the 200k pa for the last 40 years - some may be additive to the total housing stock, some replacement. UK population has grown in the same period by ~7m - 350k pa. Of these ~60% relate to net migration, the remainder due to UK resident...

My main recollection of the 1970's (aged early 20s) is of a strike ridden nation in decline relative to most of Western Europe. Nationalised industries were a comfortable place to work but bureaucratic and very inefficient. I recall £50 limit on foreign currency due to the dire state of the...

We all know the expression "slice of the cake". In conventional economic thought the total economy is the whole cake. By giving more of the cake (a bigger slice) to some, the slices enjoyed by the rest become smaller. The issue is how society shares the cake - should everyone have a same size...

Under section 24 (B1) of the Immigration Act 1971, a person who a) requires leave to enter the United Kingdom and, b) knowingly enters the UK without such leave, commits an offence It makes no difference whether they have entered UK territory but not yet passed through immigration - it is an...

"Woke" according to our friends at Google is derived from Afro-American vernacular generally as "alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice". It has morphed somewhat to include awareness of social inequalities - eg: Black lives matter, LGBT etc. It is often used by the right as a...

Compared to where they may have originated, minimum wage, adequate calories, clean water and sewage, basic health care, a roof over their head, relative personal security etc, is fulfilment of a utopian dream. Far from persuading them they had made a mistake, the effect would be the complete...

We need to control our borders. Alternative - the UK becomes a destination of choice until the quality and economics of existence in the UK means it is no longer attractive. Not a good idea from my perspective. We also have both moral and international obligations to help those genuinely...

You clearly don't believe in free market economics. I did not buy in to the Truss Kwarteng experiment but their key problem was the profoundly incompetent way in which they sought to implement their policies. Basic communication management requires briefings, persuasion of colleagues, media...

Limited liability in the UK was established in 1855. It is an enabler of economic growth allowing larger companies to be formed with investment from an unlimited number of shareholders. The Victorian industrial and economic "miracle" may not otherwise have happened. Unlimited liability makes...