The Sun Does It Again!
You can always rely on The Sun to be funny on Election Day.
They sum him up like this.
- Terrorists’ Friend
- Useless On Brexit
- Destroyer Of Jobs
- Enemy Of Business
- Massive Tax Hikes
- Puppet Of Unions
- Nuclear Surrender
- Ruinous Spending
- Open Immigration
- Marxist Extremist
The front page is very much in the tradition of the notorious It’s The Sun Wot Won It front page of 1992.
Incidentally, if Jeremy Corbyn were to become Prime Minister, he would be only the second one, who’d divorced. The first was the Duke of Grafton in 1769. But the Duke was only divorced once.
Let’s Get Fracking
In Fracked Or Fiction, I talked about my attitude to fracking. These two paragraphs, were my conclusion.
My overwhelming conclusion after the lecture was that before we can embrace fracking in earnest, we must collect a lot more information. For example, we don’t know the background levels ofearthquakes and natural gas seepage in this country. So if say it is thought, that fracking had caused a small earthquake, can we be sure that that isn’t one that we habitually get in this country.
A secondary conclusion, is that my engineering knowledge indicated that there are several very fruitful areas for the development of new technological solutions to mitigate some of the possible problems of fracking.
But things have changed a bit in the over three years, since I attended the lecture at the London Geological Society.
We still get gas from the North Sea and a few smaller fields, but we have to buy in gas from places like Algeria, Russia and Qatar.
I suspect too, that we can always ship liquefied natural gas from the United States.
The Green Party would say that we shouldn’t burn natural gas, but what do we do about?
- People do with gas boilers who keep themselves warm in winter?
- Businesses that use gas as part of their industrial processes.
- In 2015, thirty percent of our electricity was produced from gas.
Renewables such as solar and wind are increasing, but for the forseeable future, we wil still need gas.
But how would you feel, if the Government said, that you must change your boiler for an electric one, as you can’t have any more gas?
We can continue to get our gas from those shining democracies of Algeria, Russia and Qatar or buy it from Trumpland, which would probably not be acceptable to everybody.
There is also the problem, that countries like Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and The Netherlands are also short of gas and are relying increasingly on the Russians.
Surely, the best solution to avoid the cold and loss of employment in industries reliant on gas, is to extract the gas from our own fields, using fracking in a professional and engineeringly-sound manner.
We have form in the extraction of hydrocarbons in this way from land in the UK. The is the first paragraph, from the Wikipedia entry for Wytch Farm.
Wytch Farm is an oil field and processing facility in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England. It is the largest onshore oil field in western Europe. The facility, recently taken over by Perenco was previously operated by BP. It is hidden in a coniferous forest on Wytch Heath on the southern shore of Poole Harbour, two miles (3.2 km) north of Corfe Castle. Oil and natural gas (methane) are both exported by pipeline; liquefied petroleum gas is exported by road tanker.
Is there is an onshore oil-field in a more sensitive environment? Wikipedia says this under Environment.
Most of the field is protected by various conservation laws, including the Jurassic Coast world heritage site, Purbeck Heritage Coast and a number of sites of special scientific interest, areas of outstanding natural beauty and nature reserves (including Studland and Brownsea Island), so the gathering centre and most of the well sites are small and well screened by trees. Directional drilling has also contributed to reducing the impact on the local environment, with extended reach drilling from the Goathorn Peninsula attaining distances in excess of 10 km.
Note the reference to directional drilling, which according to a friend, who was associated with the development of the project, was very much pioneered at Wytch Farm.
Directional drilling is often very much part of the fracking process, prior to the actual hydraulic fracturing. I’m very much of the opinion, that to be a successful fracker, you need to have very good directional drilling capabilities.
I’ve heard it on good authority, that fracking is used in the Highlands of Scotland to extract drinking water. But the F-word is so sensitive, there is nothing about it on the Internet. I did find this web page from a company called Clearwater Drilling Company in Tennessee, which is entitled Hydrofracturing -A procedure designed to increase the amount of water in existing dry and low yield water wells.
Would you prefer to give money to dodgy regimes or build on the Wytch Farm experience and develop the World’s best fracking industry to keep us warm in winter and preserve jobs?
It may seem a stark choice to some, but I believe in the competence of engineers, as demonstrated at Wytch Farm!
Let’s get fracking!
Overdoses Kill As Many As Vietnam
This is the headline on an article in The Times.
This is the first paragraph.
The US suffered its largest ever increase in drug overdose deaths last year, with as many Americans dying because of illegal drugs as were killed in the entire Vietnam War.
59,200 Americans died in the twenty years of the Vietnam War.
F*** You, I’m Millwall
This is an extract from a piece on the responses to the London Bridge Attack in The Times.
Roy Larner, the football fan, who took on the attackers at Black and Blue, has told how he shouted, “F*** you, I’m Millwall” in response to their shouts of “Islam, Islam, Islam”. H received knife wounds to the head, chest and hands, but continued to fight, while other customers sought shelter.
“He kept slashing and hacking away at me,” he told The Sun. “They were stabbing and slashing at me as I waved my arms for 20 or 30 seconds.” More than 4,000 supporters have now signed a petition for Mr. Larner, 47, to be awarded the George Cross.
I do think, that there should be a few awards handing out after the two attacks in London and the one in Manchester.
The IRA Bombing Campaign In England Of 1939-1940
When most people think of bombings by the Irish Republican Army, they think of the bombings like 1993 Bishopsgate, 1984 Brighton, 1992 Manchester and 1996 Manchester by the Provisional Irish Republican Army of recent memory.
But there was another campaign in 1939-1940 called S-Plan.
There were three hundred mainly small bombs, seven fatalities and ninety-six injured.
Unleash The Hyenas Of Comedy
In January 2010 I Wrote a post called The Ban on Islam4UK. I started it with the following paragraph.
Organisations such as Islam4UK and all the other so-called Muslim organisations, that don’t like the way things are done in the Western World bother me. But then so do right-wing so-called Christian groups and also those fake religions and cults beloved of celebrities with too much money and not enough common sense.
Most preach fiery hate to unbelievers like me and say we will rot in hell. That by the way is impossible, as hell doesn’t exist, unless you are stuck on the M25 (put your favourite in here) at the time of a small bump, that the Police decide is worthy of an enormous investigation.
When these groups commit crimes such as murder, assault, kidnapping and extortion, then hopefully they will feel the full force of the law.
And finished with this.
There is also one very powerful weapon that we should use against all of these people – humour.
Remember in the Second World War nothing was off-limits when combating the Nazis. Just read this little piece about Spike Jones in 1942. We need him now!
All of these groups give splendid opportunities for satire, ridicule and just plain fun.
After the attacks of recent months in the UK, Europe and other parts of the world, perhaps we should unleash the hyenas of comedy.
Remember in a straight fight a hyena would probably make mincemeat of the most vicious pit-bull, but laugh all the time it is doing it.
This article in the Daily Mail is entitled Brits mock ISIS with #IslamicStateClaims hashtag blaming them for everything from Bake Off moving channel to the shrinking size of Quality Street tins.
Everybody go for it! And in packs!
I would also hope that the Masters of Black Propaganda are working on the Internet equivalent version of Aspidistra, which was used with some success, against the Nazis in World War II. Or in this Politically Correct Age, is something like Aspidistra, just unacceptable?
But surely, no non-violent method is unacceptable against those who kill indiscriminately!
Temporary Barriers On London’s Bridges
Barriers to protect pedestrians have been installed on some of London’s bridges.
I hope these monstrosities are only temporary and they are replaced with something more in keeping with the historic bridges.
I still feel that we should shut Southwark and Lambeth Bridges to all traffic except buses, cyclists and pedestrians.
Imams Refuse Funeral Prayers To ‘Indefensible’ London Bridge Attackers
This is the title on this article in the Guardian.
This is said.
More than 130 imams and Muslim religious leaders have said they will refuse to say funeral prayers for the perpetrators of Saturday’s attack in London.
In a highly unusual move, Muslim religious figures from across the country and from different schools of Islam said their pain at the suffering of the victims and their families led them to refuse to perform the traditional Islamic prayer – a ritual normally performed for every Muslim regardless of their actions. They called on others to do the same.
Obviously, the last crop of attackers can’t do anything more to us, but will a sanction like this make it more likely other attackers will strike?
I’m not against imams and Muslim religious leaders coming to their own decision, as this is still a free country, but I also think ot’s something the government should stay clear of.
The Vigil For The Victims Of The London Bridge Attack
I went to the Vigil At Potters Field Park for the victims of the London Bridge Attack.
Will London’s solidarity and defiance make any difference?
The Anonymous Widower 