Putin Loses A Decisive Poll!
The Times is asking if Russia should be banned from international sport on its web site.
This is a screen capture.
It appears that Putin can’t win them all!
Ukraine Conflict: Champions League Final Moved from Russia To Paris
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
UEFA has done the right thing!
How will Putin get his own back on UEFA?
He could stage the Anti-Nazi World Cup by inviting Belarus, Brazil, China, Cuba, Iran, Kazakstan, Myanmar, Syria, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Russian Grand Prix Cancelled Following Invasion Of Ukraine
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
Formula One has done the right thing!
How will Putin get his own back on Formula One?
He could ban Formula One for ever from Russia, but then somewhere else like Ukraine, Poland or one of the Baltic States would happily stage a Grand Prix.
Where Are The Warthogs?
It must have been over twenty years ago, when I ended up in the Clopton Crown public house, spending an evening’s drinking with two USAF pilots, who lived locally.
They flew A10 Thunderbolt IIs out of RAF Bentwaters.
These aircraft are effectively a flying-gun, which are affectionately known as Warthogs, were designed with one purpose in mind and that was to stop Russian tanks marching through Europe.
When I told the pilots, that I had several hundred hours flying light aircraft. they told me, how easy the Warthogs were to fly.
Perhaps the Americans should have brought a few out of store and given them to the Ukrainians with a training package?
Was Storm Franklin Named By An Old Minchendenian?
This press release from the Met Office is entitled Storm Franklin Named.
When I first heard yesterday, that the storm was to be named, I must admit, that I allowed myself a small smile.
I went to Minchenden Grammar School in Southgate, leaving in 1965.
One teacher, that we looked upon with a degree of affection was our German teacher, who was Frank J Stabler, who some pupils referred to as Franklin J Stabler. I don’t know whether that was his real name or whether it was fellow pupils making it up.
But he did have one story, that he used to liven up one of the lessons, where he taught me enough German to get by in the country.
Apparently, he was returning from France to the UK on the night of Saturday, the 31st of January in 1953, using the ferry from Dieppe in France to Newhaven in Sussex.
That ferry route used to have a reputation for being rough and on one bad crossing around 1975, my five-year-old son fell and cut himself just above his eye. He was skillfully cleaned up and plastered by one of the chefs. Luckily the chef had been a soldier, who had been well-trained in first aid.
Back in 1953, Mr. Stabler could have chosen a better night for his trip, as that day was the night of devastating East Coast Floods, which killed over five hundred people in the UK.
The captain of the ferry decided to sit the storm out and crew and passengers spent twenty-four hours being tossed about like a cork in the English Channel, which was a tale Mr. Stabler told with great drama.
He finished the tale, by saying that in the end, he prayed for the boat to go down to put everybody out of their misery.
Conclusion
I have to ask if someone on the committee that decides storm names, either directly or indirectly, has heard this tale and decided that Franklin would be an appropriate name for a storm beginning with F.
Tideway – Blackfriars Bridge Foreshore – 13th February 2022
I took these pictures of the Tideway’s Blackfriars Bridge Foreshore site from the top of a 63 bus on Blackfriars Bridge.
Compare the pictures with those I took on the 4th September 2021.
Tony Radakin And Ben Wallace In Russia
The Times today has published a picture with this caption.
Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, his counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, chief of the defence staff, and Valery Gerasimov, chief of general staff
Ever since, Tony Radakin was made Chief of the Defence Staff, I’ve been curious about his name.
So tonight, I typed “radakin surname” into Google and got this answer.
Radakin (Russian: Радакин) is carried by more people in Russia than any other country or territory. It can also be rendered as a variant
Interesting! But surely, something that will enable the three military men and the former Scots guardsman to get on a bit better!
Macron Refused To Take Russian Covid Test
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
These are the first four paragraphs.
French President Emmanuel Macron refused a Russian Covid test ahead of his meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin has confirmed.
The test required a health protocol that was unacceptable and did not fit with the French leader’s schedule, a French source told the BBC.
It follows reports that Mr Macron refused the PCR test over fears the Russians would get hold of his DNA.
The leaders subsequently held a socially-distanced meeting on Monday.
The article is accompanied by an hilarious picture of the two leaders at each end of a long marble table, which is crying out for a caption like Who Isn’t Using Lifebuoy?
Seriously though, if the Russians wanted Macron’s DNA, there are ways.
- Send his water glass or coffee cup to a lab.
- Make sure Macron uses a special toilet that collects his pee, poo and toilet paper.
- It might even be possible to collect it off the marble table.
I suspect that the Russians have collected Macron’s fingerprints from the table for some nefarious purposes.
Offshore Service Facilities
Some years ago at a wedding in The Netherlands, I got talking to a Dutch engineer, who had a lot to do with the creation of the Delta Works.
Also in The Netherlands, I visited the Watersnoodmuseum, which describes the floods in the Netherlands, that brought about the Delta Works.
So I was not surprised to see the spectacular offshore construction ideas talked about on the Offshore Service Facilities web site.
The site talks about a project to create a four GW wind farm, eighty kilometres off the coast, all serviced from an artificial island.
This is their overview of what they call the IJVER project.
IJmuiden Ver (IJVER) is one of the designated wind farm areas under the Dutch offshore wind road map 2030. With a capacity of at least 4 GW and a distance to shore of approximately 80 km, it is currently the largest foreseen Dutch wind farm zone, and the furthest from shore. The area also includes legacy oil & gas asset, including several gas pipelines that can be retrofitted to transport other gasses such as hydrogen or for CCS-purposes.
Note.
- 80 km. is not far offshore, when you consider the UK’s Dogger Bank C wind farm is 196 km from Teesside.
- There are depleted gas fields for storage and pipelines to transport gases to and from the shore.
This page describes the concept, starting with this introductory paragraph.
A multi-purpose island provides additional benefits over fixed offshore platforms (so-called jackets). It stimulates the energy transition, drives down the costs of the renewable energy transition, creates room for nature inclusive island design, facilitates Research & Development (R&D) and innovation, creates a safe working environment, as well as additional economic opportunities.
One feature they are proposing is an interconnector to the UK.
In Is There A Need For A Norfolk-Suffolk Interconnector?, I suggested that Bacton, Sizewell and Felixstowe could be places, where wind power from the North Sea were to be landed.
Distances to the IJVER island would be as follows.
- Bacton – 85 miles
- Sizewell – 77 miles
- Felixstowe – 92 miles
These distances are feasible for an interconnector.
There is this explanatory video.
Conclusion
My experience of the Dutch, their civil and marine engineers and their creations, indicates to me, that the Dutch could build an island like this.
Once you have built the island and it can stand up to the weather, you could of course fit it out how you want. Even with a football pitch, as shown in the video.
As with many ideas, the realisation of this concept will depend on the costs involved.
It should be noted, that some UK wind farms have been built with offshore substations, but nothing appears to be as ambitious as this idea and is probably based on proven oil and gas platform technology.
The Dutch also have plans with the Germans and the Danes to create the North Sea Wind Power Hub in the middle of the North Sea.
- This would probably connect to the UK’s Dogger Bank wind farms.
- It would feed electricity as required to the countries around the North Sea.
- Hydrogen could be created on the hub.
- Over a hundred GW of electricity could be generated according to some forecasts.
I like the concept of the North Sea Wind Power Hub and suspect that the Dutch will see it built.
The Anonymous Widower 