This Is Not The Way To Fight The IS Threat To Britain
This report on the BBC about the Islamic State threat to the UK worries me. Here’s the first bit.
Islamic State militants could grow strong enough to target people on the streets of Britain unless action is taken, David Cameron has warned.
The PM, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, said a “humanitarian response” to IS was not enough and a “firm security response” was needed.
It comes as Church leaders expressed concern that the UK had no “coherent” approach to tackling Islamic extremism.
By saying they are a threat so strongly, David Cameron is actually encouraging those disaffected young men, who want their five minutes of fame to do something that we’ll all regret.
We must find a way to channel this aggression that some young Muslim men feel into more worthwhile areas.
In the nineteen seventies and eighties, there was a lot of trouble in areas like Bristol, Brixton and Toxteth. I wonder how many of those, who might have thought about rioting are now pillars of society?
The solution will not be a simple one. But I can’t help feeling that better schools and transport infrastructure are two areas to start, as this gives us more of the better educated we need and allows them to travel to the jobs that are available.
We should also open up opportunities for Muslim women to become full members of society, whether the men like it or not. In fact you could argue that intelligent Muslim young women are one of the problems, as they are rejecting these idiot men and effectively giving them more reason to join the Islamic State.
Clamping down hard, as the Israelis have shown in Gaza, will just make matters worse.
Match Two : Reading 1 – Ipswich 0
After the Fulham match this was a disappointment in many ways.
But the visit to Reading started well with this greeting from the structural steelwork of the station.
Steelwork At Reading Station
I had wanted to have a delicious egg and watercress sandwich from Marks and Spencer, but their stores in both Paddington and Reading stations were gluten-free free zones. Or at least as sandwiches were concerned!
The Police on duty at the station didn’t know where to get the buses to the Madejsky stadium, so in the end I guessed. And luckily right! The Police did say they weren’t from Reading, but surely they should be briefed on basic questions.
When I got to the stadium, I was at least met by these bikes.
Ready Bikes
The name of Ready Bike is certainly memorable and there’s more here.
In the stadium I was treated to the worst cup of hot chocolate I’ve ever had.
A Very Bad Cup Of Hot Chocolate
I have the same drink at Ipswich and they make sure it’s all mixed up. They are obviously berks in Berkshire, when it comes to making hot chocolate.
They also expected me to climb to the top of the back of the stand.
Wot No Handrails!
Surely there should be some form of handrail! I did climb up and down without any trouble.
Throughout the match we had to put up with the worse public address system,I’ve not heard in a long time. They also weren’t putting up things like substitutions on the big screen.
The match was the final disappointment in that Ipswich lost to a single goal scored after a bad mistake by David McGoldrick.
Let’s hope it’s all a lot better on Tuesday in Birmingham.
Child Wins European 400m Hurdles Gold
This headline appears on the BBC web site. Surely a child would find it difficult to jump the hurdles.
But of course the article refers to the Scottish athlete, Eilidh Child.
Headline writers should be more careful.
On Line Rail Tickets Aren’t Always Cheapest
I’m going to Reading today to see Ipswich play Reading at the Madejski Stadium. It is one of the easiest out-of-town stadia to get to, as there is a bus service from the main Reading station.
I live about a ten minute walk away from Dalston Junction station on the Overground.
They have recently updated the ticket machines there, so you can buy any point to point ticket for use on the day or the next one after 16:00.
So yesterday, I would my ticket for Reading today at Dalston Junction station. As I have a Freedom Pass, which gives me free travel to any station within the Zone 6 Boundary, I was able to buy a ticket from the machine that took me from the Zone 6 Boundary to Reading. Previously to this clever machine appearing on the Overground, the only way to buy this extension ticket was to go to a Ticket Office and queue for often twenty minutes or so.
Zone 6 Boundary to Reading Ticket
The ticket cost me £7.40 with my Senior Railcard.
That seemed cheap to me, so this morning I looked at the First Great Western web site, to see how much they’d charge.
It would have cost me £11.70.
Was the ticket machine programmed by a senior citizen with a Freedom Pass or just somebody, who understood how holders of such passes think and behave!
I suspect though that over a season buying my London to Ipswich tickets at an Overground station, might save me nearly a hundred pounds.
The only problem for some people will be that their local Overground or Underground station doesn’t have these new ticket machines.
But as they are so comprehensive and surely every non-London ticket sold is revenue to Transport for London, it can’t be long before these are the universal ticket machines in London.
The only thing they don’t do is to issue Oyster cards, which is probably not needed, as they will probably not be needed for ticketing at some point in the next few years.
Consultation Starts On The Bakerloo Line Extension
The Standard is reporting that consultation is going to start on the route of the Bakerloo Line Extension.
I’m always surprised that this project which was first proposed seriously in 1931, has taken so long to this point, given that the line is the most lightly used of all the main Underground lines.
Will St.Pancras Cope With More Trains On Thameslink And Eurostar?
This lunchtime I walked through St. Pancras station from the entrance by Kings Cross station on Euston Road, through the Underground ticket hall and the shopping mall past the Eurostar Entrance and exit to get a train on Thameslink.
It is a long walk, but if you want to catch Thameslink after arriving in the area on a 30 bus, it’s the shortest way. When Thameslink had a station on the Pentonville Road it was just a short walk through the passages at the bus stop direct to the Thameslink platforms.
What made matters worse was that a Eurostar train had just arrived and the ticket hall and shopping mall were teeming with passengers and masses of luggage. After all it was Friday and the time was about that, where early morning trains from Paris and Brussels will arrive.
The Thameslink station wasn’t busy, but at this time there are only about half-a-dozen trains an hour each way through the station.
But in 2018, there will be twenty four trains an hour each way for a lot of the day.
As by then, Eurostar or other operators should be running to Amsterdam and Cologne, these will be delivering a whole lot more passengers into the station.
So I can’t help feeling that St. Pancras will be an incredibly crowded station.
I’m probably lucky in that I can pick up Thameslink at London Bridge by using a 141 bus or perhaps at Farringdon using a 56.
If the Thameslink station had been built as an island station with escalators at more than one place, the problems would have been mitigated, as I said in this post. I won’t withdraw my concluding paragraph in that post yet.
St. Pancras is very much a fur coat and no knickers station!
Show on top and draughty and lacking at the bottom!
It’s up to Thameslink and Network Rail to convince me to do so.
Beware Of Underground Winds
I saw this at Kentish Town Underground station today.
Beware Of Underground Winds
It’s nice to see humour getting involved with Health and Safety!
Was Jerry’s Junk Poisoning Me?
This afternoon the cause of the temperature rise I noticed here, has hopefully been resolved.
Richard from RC Electrics has removed the old transformers from the roof and replaced them with modern units.
Have you ever seen junk like this? They were running really hot and all the Bakelite cases were in bits.
I asked if there were any health hazards with what I thought was Bakelite and I found this page. It says this.
Bakelite is made in a process that uses Phenol and formaldehyde both of which are toxic. Bakelite is safe to handle, but may deteriorate over time releasing the toxins in small quantities.
Only time will tell, if there is any improvement in the air in this house.
But after sitting here with the windows closed and the lights off for half-an-hour, the temperature has stabilised at 24.6°C, as opposed to 25.3°C last time. The difference is accounted for by different temperatures outside and the updated roof. I’ve now switched the lights on and we’ll see what happens.
After half-an-hour it’s risen to 24.7°C with a humidity of 44%. Three hours later it was 24.1°C and 43%.
My New Crap Design Tag
The new WordPress screen has resulted in my bringing in a new Crap Design tag. Click the tag on this post to see the design horrors.
Doing this was not as easy as it used to be, due to WordPress’s new editor design!
So is it back to the future with WordPress?
How Do You Get Rid Of The Beep Beep Boop Screen On WordPress?
Every day, I add my current INR reading to a post in the blog. It is just a simple way to show my results to doctors, dentists and anybody else who needs to know. I’ve also got a couple of researchers looking at the figures for interest, as it shows INR might vary from day to day.
It used to be easy and quick. I just got the page up and then clicked the Edit link on the WordPress toolbar and then the edit screen came up immediately. After typing in the new value, I just clicked Update and that was it.
If I wanted to check the page, I clicked on a View Post link and it replaced edit edit screen. Now it creates another tab in my browser.
What took a couple of seconds now takes a lot longer.
I have better things to do than look at the work of an imbecile.
I suspect the guy who designed this crap was the designer of the chocolate tea-pot.
If my blog wasn’t so big, I’d move it elsewhere!
The Anonymous Widower 