Happy Birthday M1
Today marks the fiftieth birthday of the M1 motorway.
The first time I went on the motorway must have been soon after the road had opened in my father’s MG Magnette. This car would have been the equivalent to something like an Audi A4 these days. But it only had a 1.5 litre engine with twin SU carburetors.
I remember the road fondly as I drove or hitched from London to Liverpool in the mid-1960s, whilst I was at university. In one instance, I drove the whole way in my Morris Minor with a big-end gone.
Now I rarely use the motorway, as if I’m going north, it’s easier to use the A1. And when I go west, all I do is cross it.
Scientifically-Correct
Some years ago, I had a letter published in The Times, criticising Greenpeace for measuring exhaust emissions in a very unscientific way. They were trying to make a point, but their methods were very wrong. I used the term scientifically-correct in the letter. A few months later I was phoned by the OED and asked where I’d got the phrase. I said that it’s use was obvious and I’d used it for years. So I don’t really claim any first usage on the term, although it may be the case. But I very much doubt it.
But it illustrates how I think. You must get your facts right, even if they end up with a set of thinking that is politically incorrect.
My reasons for being so strong on this, is that sometimes a researcher finds something that is totally against the general view and his peers stop publication and rubbish the research. There was a Horizon program some years ago about how the body works and how a Glasgow professor of veterinary science proved everybody wrong. But it took him years to get his research accepted.
So when Alan Johnson fired Professor David Nutt for speaking the truth, you can have no doubts as to who I think is right.
I also applaud his colleagues who are now saying they have resigned or will do so.
But this row means that what scientist, doctor, engineer or computer scientist would advise Prudence and his rabble, when they know that their good advice will be totally ignored.
Two Lemons for Asda
This must be one of the silliest health and safety stories in recent years.
Chris Pether, a retired oil-worker from Aberdeen, was refused permission to buy two loose lemons, because it was felt that he might throw them at others.
In the end he made two separate purchases.
If You Don’t Like the Message, Shoot the Messenger
Professor David Nutt‘s sacking by Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, is a classic case of, “if you don’t like the message, shoot the messenger”.
I should say now that I have never knowingly taken any illegal drugs. I say knowingly, as I might have had some cake with cannabis in it in the 1960s or 70s. On the other hand in those days, I rarely ate cake, so probably that route of illegal imbibing was closed.
I don’t smoke, although I’ve had perhaps a hundred cigarettes in the past, but I do drink some alcohol. I wish sometimes I do drink less. But at least since my wife died, I’ve probably only been near the drink-drive limit once. And that was on my birthday. And at home too!
Now, I’m very much an anti-smoker and don’t let anybody smoke in my house, cars or office. I’m also pretty much against illegal drugs and a lot of legal ones too. As a coeliac, I know how ill a banned substance can make my body. And that is only the gluten found in wheat, barley and rye.
So I think the best advice is to avoid anything that has a negative affect.
But I still drink alcohol. On the other hand, if a doctor, said to me that I mustn’t drink it, I would find something else like Belvoir Ginger Beer to waste my money on.
Read Professor Nutt’s bio and research history and you’ll see that the word eminent was designed to be used for him. So when Johnson sacks him for speaking the truth, we should all take note. On the one hand, we should read and take action on what the Professor says and on the other we should distrust even more what Prudence and his wretched Government, try and bambozzle us with.
Farewell – Norman Painting
Norman Painting, the voice of Phil Archer has died.
My late wife would have been very sad, as she was an avid listener to the programme. It’s funny, but I used to listen, but about ten or fifteen years ago, I gave up on it. It was one of the few things we disagreed about. She always wanted to listen and I didn’t.
Mount Pleasant
The largest postal site in London, if not UK is Mount Pleasant.
Years ago, when I lived in the Barbican and worked at Time Sharing in Great Portland Street, I used to cycle past the site to get between the two locations. I could never understand, why most of this valuable site is just a ground-level car-park. The site is still mainly undeveloped in an area of London, where property prices are sky-high.
If you take other large organisations, who used to have large premises of this sort in central London, they have closed and redeveloped them. As an example, a lot of London rail stations are new and spectacular, with or without offices, shops and apartments. These developments have enriched the environment and the organisations that owned the sites.
So why have Royal Mail not closed these massive sites in central London and developed perhaps four large sorting centres on the M25, with just smaller delivery offices in the centre?
It surely must be a much more efficient way of doing things. Or am I talking garbage?
The union will say I am. But then if you start with new sorting centres, you’ll probably break the power of the unions to hold everybody to ransom.
On the other hand, as mail volumes are dropping substantially, it is the management of Royal Mail’s responsibility to provide an efficient service suitable for the new circumstances.
My post is getting through, but I have a feeling that the junk mail that goes straight in the bin is not being sent. So perhaps, we’re seeing a benefit of these silly strikes.
Just a Minute
There is a Radio 4 program called Just a Minute.
I think some of the rules of this program should be applied to Prime Minister’s Question Time.
For instance the Repetition Rule. Prudence is a great man for repeating lists of things and it would leave him without his debating style.
Postal Strikes Don’t Work
I’m just putting the new tax disc on my Lotus Elan. Incidentally, for the first time in some years, I’m taxing it through the winter, as I need the sun. I just need a new warm coat to go with the car. I don’t think I’ll buy it in yellow though.
I renewed the tax disc on-line after I received the demand in the post. I actually did it last Thursday in the middle of the postal strike and got the disc in the post on Saturday. So despite the two-day postal strike, the mail got through, perhaps a day late. But then it’s only the 28th of October and because of the strikes, the DVLA have given us all another five days. I also had a letter saying that.
I don’t know what percentage of vehicles are now taxed on-line, but in July 2007, Computer Weekly said it was over a third. I would be surprised if it was less than that now.
So how much has on-line purchase of tax discs cost the Post Office?
A lot!
I have a feeling too, that since the strikes of last week, the volume of junk mail I have been receiving is down.
Are these enemies of the environment coming to their senses?
I hope so!
President Blair
Prudence is backing Tony Blair for European President.
I am not a lover of Mr. Blair, but is there anybody else with as much experience to do the job? Europe needs someone who countries like the US and China will treat as an equal, so it probably means that person must come from either the UK, France, Germany or Italy.
I also feel that having a Brit in charge may help us in our tricky dealings with Europe. But I doubt it, as Britain is far too against the continent.
Incidentally, I’m not!
I’m all for joining Schengen and the Euro, but feel that we must get a stronger grip on fishing and agriculture. We must also create a coherent foreign policy to which we all sign up and then create the defence structure underneath it.
What Happened to Confidentiality?
Like most people in this country, I want a proper solution to the remuneration and expenses of our MPs. I say most, because I feel that there are some people, who just want MPs to go through the wringer again and again, as it is the latest spectator sport.
But what worries me about the two enquiries going on, is that they seem to be leaking their findings. Or at least testing the marketplace to see how they can be popular with the public and bring MPs into line.
As the title says, “What Happened to Confidentiality?”
To me though what we pay MPs is simple. We should cut their numbers and distribute seats fairly, pay those that remain more and then put all MPs under the same rules as we all are with our businesses. These rules would be enforced by Revenue and Customs.
The latter point may actually relax some rules, as say you are an MP for a distant rural constituency, you would get a lot of allowances and perhaps even pay, but someone who represented say Enfield in London, would be very much on the basics.
Years ago, when I was working for ICI, I did a job for some months, which meant that I was travelling at lunchtime between two places of work. Company rules, meant that I got a taxable bonus, because of the extra stress involved. So even in those far off days in the very early 1970s, industry recognised the stresses and strains of jobs and rewarded people accordingly.
Do we pay our MPs correctly for what they are supposed to do and the stress they suffer? Some yes, but others we don’t!
It would be interesting to also look at the rate of divorces and other problems in MPs families. As I write this, there is a local news story about a prospective candidate, who had a high-profile affair with an MP. I have no idea whether it is more than the national average, but MPs staying overnight in London, with their spouse in the constituency do seem to feature in the tabloids from time to time.
It’s a mess. And in my view, it’s a mess created because we do not pay MPs the going rate for a difficult job, that should attract the best talent in the country. More and more, it seems to attract political timeservers and yes-men, who want to get to the top, by any means possible.
There is one solution to the problem. Several countries have a political list system, where you vote for the party and then MPs are chosen proportionally. All are party hacks and all live near Parliament. It solves the expenses problem, as MPs don’t have particular constituencies, so they have few travel expenses.
Heaven save us from such a system.
The Anonymous Widower 