Boris Talks Sense
The unions are incensed that Boris Johnson has talked of introducing driverless trains on the London Underground.
But we’ve effectively had driverless trains on the Underground ever since 1967 on the Victoria Line. The so-called driver sits in the cab and when he’s satisfied that the doors on the train are shut, he effectively pushes a button and the train automation moves the train to the next station.
So as Boris said, everybody could drive an Underground train. Well not exactly, but any sane person, with a strong sense of responsibility and a degree of proper training could do it. I suspect that any bus driver could do it very well, especially as now, the average London bus, is probably almost as complicated as an Underground train. Remember, I’ve seen at first hand, what it takes to drive a train. But that was on a much more complicated line, at twice the speed and without the same degree of automation.
The unions are only delaying the inevitable day, when drivers on Underground trains, are only there for the rare times, when something goes seriously wrong. Even the announcements, when there is a problem could be done remotely from a control centre.
US Troops Turn to a Tricycle
The third leader of The Times today is unusual in that it tells the story of how the Pentagon has commissioned two command performances of The Great Game, by North London’s Tricycle Theatre. Here’s an extract.
The idea of staging The Tricycle Theatre’s production in Washington is so that generals, and soldiers heading to Afghanistan, might come away thinking what General Sir David Richards, Chief of the Defence Staff, thought after seeing the show in London; that “if I’d seen the plays before being deployed to Afghanistan for the first time in 2005 it would have made me a much better commander”.
Let’s hope we see more education of those who go to war, as we always tend to forget the lessons of history. I would also hope that they also read the thoughts of Aircraftsman Shaw.
I’d love to hear Sarah Palin’s thoughts on US forces being educated by Britain’s leading political playhouse.
Fuel Prices
Someone has sent me an invitation to join their group protesting about fuel prices.
I will not be joining, as I’ve always felt that a large part of the problems of this fragile planet are caused by people, and especially Americans, who create just too much carbon dioxide, which every scientifically correct individual knows has a lot to do with global warming. Today, as I write, the Zoological Society of London, launches the Edge Coral Reefs project to save them from extinction.
So what should we do about fuel prices?
It’s not so much about what you do with the prices it’s what you do with the tax revenues they generate.
I have seen the benefits of putting container traffic on the trains in and out of Felixstowe Docks. There are less trucks on the road for a start and how much is this contributing to reduction in carbon emissions and shorter journey times for other motorists. So the first thing we should do is make sure that more and more containers go between the ports and inland depots by train. And preferably by electric trains. There are a few links that need to be built, like one to the new container terminal in Liverpool and we also need better road-rail interfaces in some large conurbations.
I actually think that one of the reasons truck drivers are militant, is tat they can see these job losses arriving as the containers shift to rail. The rail freight companies are talking about saving truck journeys in hundreds of thousands with each new scheme.
Railway electrification and better commuter trains and buses should be another beneficiary of extra tax revenue, as give people better services and they use them. I know it’s only a small line across Suffolk, but as the Ipswich-Cambridge service has improved over the last few years, more and more people have used the service. I also know examples of couples, who have effectively gone from two to one car, because of better public transport.
I’ve worked at home for over forty years and this can easily be encouraged by faster broadband everywhere. I also believe that this can in itself be a strong engine for growth in rural areas, where public transport of a sufficient standard will never be available.
I would also like to see fuel taxes used to reduce Income Tax and increase benefits in some cases.
We must use all of these things to nudge people towards a more sustainable lifestyle.
Technology too has its part to play in this and I’d like to see developments like these cars proposed by Gordon Murray. But would these wean people away from their beloved 4x4s and people carriers? Probably not, but fuel prices are one way to make them pay for their selfishness!
So in my view, high fuel prices should be here to stay.
The Virtual Beagle
The headline of “It might look like a dog’s dinner; but this artificial stomach will save (canine) lives” caught my eye as I read The Times this morning.
Apparently, AstraZeneca have virtually replaced dogs with an artificial stomach for drug testing. So not only is it good for drug development, it’s good news for dogs. I’ve always felt that animal testing was wrong from a scientifically correct point of view as keeping animals is expensive and the in vitro and computer alternatives are cheaper and much easier to scale up.
The Times article doesn’t say who is behind this development, but it does quote Troy Seidle of the Humane Society International as saying.
This new use of the intestinal model in drug testing is a fantastic example of how innovative technologies can replace animal experiments and improve medical research at the same time.
I have searched the Internet and it would appear that the company behind this wonderful development could be SimCyp, based in Sheffield.
But why is everybody being so coy about this development? This British company should be on page one of all the newspapers.
On a personal note, I was involved in computer simulation of processes for several years in the 1970s, when I worked at ICI. We always felt that computers had a large part to play in modelling the body, but little seems to have been heard over the last four decades. These are two pictures of the PACE 231R analog computer, I used for simulation of chemical processes.
In my view, there are computers, good computers and the PACE 231R.
The 231R was built in the 1960s and it was all valve or vacuum tube, if you are from the United States. It was a formidable beast for solving differential equations and I have a feeling that there isn’t one left even in a museum. These pictures taken by a colleague at ICI seem to be two of the only ones of a 231R in a working environment. Hopefully the Internet will preserve them for ever!
The biggest claim to fame of the 231R was that two of them were used in tandem to solve all of the mathematics and differential equations of getting the Apollo spacecraft to the moon. They were actually linked to virtually a real spacecraft to test everything out.
So when Apollo 13 blew up and they had to use the Lunar Excursion Module to bring the astronauts home, it was these two computers that were reprogrammed to try to find out how to do it. They wouldn’t have stood a chance with a digital machine, but the engineers, programmers and astonauts were able to get the two 231R’s to find a strategy. I’ve never seen the Apollo 13 film, but I suspect that the role of the 231Rs is downplayed or ignored.
So when you ask me, what is the greatest computer ever made, there is only one answer. The amazing PACE 231R.
The Problems With Pakistani Men
There has been a lot of problems reported in the papers and the media lately about Pakistani men.
I have never had any problems in my dealings with them in any way, but C and I stopped going to a restaurant because the owner’s son kept bragging to us about the things he got up to, despite having a wife, who couldn’t speak English as she was from Pakistan at home. C told him in no uncertain terms that she should learn English, especially as she was pregnant.
I think what wer’re seeing in the media is the tip of an iceberg caused by their culture and the way they keep their male kids on a very short lead and the girls completely hidden.
As an example, I’ve never been to an Indian restaurant, where the waiters were female except once and that was a superb place in Doncaster.
Everybody Got it Wrong
The US Government report on the Deepwater Horizon disaster would appear to lay the blame thick and evenly.
But should we really be drilling offshore, when statistics show that on-shore drilling is so much safer?
The problem is also made worse in the United States because of their misguided energy policies and absolute adoration of the car.
Beckham Makes It to North Korea
Pehaps the most surprising news over Christmas, was the news that Bend It Like Beckham was shown, albeit heavily edited, on North Korean television.
What odds would you get on David himself going to North Korea this year?
Not very good, I suspect!
Rubbish Collection
Some parts of the UK seem to be having problems with collection of rubbish.
But!
I’ve recently moved just before Christmas into the London Borough of Hackney. I thought there might be problems, what with disposing of all the moving boxes, the deep snow and unfamiliarity on my part with the new systems.
But not at all!
Everything has worked smoothly and they even made a return collection for all the excess cardboard.
So what has gone wrong in places like Birmingham and Exeter. This article from Channel 4 News offers some reasons.
It says this about Birmingham.
Refuse collections have been hit by a combination of cold weather and industrial action – at a time of year when there’s already far more household waste than usual.
December’s heavy snow and icy roads meant many collections were cancelled for safety reasons, as it was deemed too dangerous for refuse trucks to negotiate slippery roads.
On top of that, hundreds of binmen have been involved in a work to rule, after a one-day strike before Christmas, in a long running dispute over pay. The dispute relates to the council’s obligation to equalise pay rates between men and women, under the Equal Pay legislation – but the GMB union claimed some workers, like binmen, could be left £4,000 worse off.
I think Birmingham’s rubbish problems may only be just starting as the Government cuts will mean that Danegeld will no longer be a solution.
Northern Ireland Shoots the Messenger
It is being reported that the Chief Executive of Northern Ireland Water, Lawrence MacKenzie is being asked to step down.
It may be partly his fault, but as The Times said yesterday, non-privatisation and the consequent lack of investment is the real cause.
The Anonymous Widower 