Would Reorganising Cross-Channel Freight Cut Illegal Migration?
People can argue about the advantages and disadvantages of migration into the UK.
But in my view one of the reasons for the high level of illegal immigration into the UK, is that it is a rich source of income for criminal gangs and probably money lenders in countries like Syria, Ethiopia and Somalia, which transport these migrants to the French ports. Never underestimate the role of money-lenders in these sort of enterprises!
Once in the ports, they probably only have one reliable way to get into the UK and that is to sneak or be welcomed aboard a truck. I have only heard very occasionally of an illegal immigrant trying to get into the UK in someone’s car.
So could we reorganise cross-channel freight to cut illegal migration?
It would be a good exercise to analyse truck movements through the Channel Tunnel and see how many could be replaced by a direct rail container transfer. It could be argued that jumping on to a train going at over a hundred kilometres per hour is not easy and this alone would cut the number who try to enter the UK illegally.
Could we also run the truck-shuttles from a dedicated truck terminal at a remote location perhaps fifty kilometres from the tunnel itself? I’ve heard drivers complain of bad facilities and not being able to stop before the tunnel, so this could be a lot better for the drivers. I’m sure the French have a really isolated spot close to the autoroutes. If someone thought about this sort of terminal, it could be made into a very secure and comfortable facility.
Obviously, we’d need a similar facility on the UK side! Manston?
Energy Efficient Houses Linked To Asthma
I found this research on the Exeter University web site, after seeing a report in today’s Sunday Times.
Very Interesting!
Match Twenty-Two – Ipswich 2 – Middlesbrough 0
At one point, I thought I might miss this match.
But as luck would have it, I was on the 13:00 rather than the 13:30 train out of London, so the delay induced by signalling problems in the Shenfield area only meant I missed the first ten minutes or so of the match.
I’ll put in this quote from the Middlesbrough manager; Aitor Karanka, as it sums up what happened well.
Ipswich wanted it more than us. Murphy was first to the rebound for their first goal, Teddy Bishop at 18 years old was the best player on the pitch and Jay Tabb, at 5ft 5ins, scored with his head.
With a bit of luck, we’d have had a third, but a two-nil victory keeps us near the top of the Championship.
My Front Garden
I now have a front garden.
Note the berberis. People regularly sit on my front walls and drink rubbish beer and eat disgusting takeaways late at night. As none of it is gluten-free I worry about their helth.
Hopefully, a few pricks up the backside will make them think twice about their diet and they will sit somewhere else!
Am I Pedantic?
There is an old joke about surgeons operating on electrical engineers, saying they like doing it as everything is colour-coded. I did find a version of the joke here.
Five surgeons were taking a coffee break and were discussing their work.
The first said, “I think accountants are the easiest to operate on. You open them up and everything inside is numbered.”
The second said, “I think librarians are the easiest to operate on. You open them up and everything inside is in alphabetical order.”
The third said, “I like to operate on electricians. You open them up and everything inside is color-coded.”
The fourth one said, “I like to operate on lawyers. They’re heartless, spineless and gutless.”
The fifth surgeon says “I like engineers . They always understand when you have a few parts left over at the end.”
I sometimes can be very disorganised, but I’m also very pedantic. This morning, after sorting my washing, I had two socks left over; one blue and one red.
Two Odd Socks
I’d obviously put one red and one blue together whilst sorting them out.
I must be one of the only people I know, who would sort through the sock balls to find the other odd pair.
Luckily, they were only the third pair I checked.
So now I can sleep soundly, knowing that I don’t have two pairs of odd socks in the drawer.
An End-Of-Year Report For The Crossrail Surface Works
To many, Crossrail is all about the tunnels under London, but this report from New Civil Engineer gives the status for the extensive works being done on the surface by Network Rail, which they say are now one third complete.
Reading the report, makes me realise that Crossrail will bring a lot of work on new and refurbished buildings in the next year!
It’s almost as if much of London lives in the midst of a giant building site. But at least it’s a well-run one!
Junction Road And Tufnell Park Stations
When there is speculation about new stations on London’s railways, the possibility of a new Junction Road station on the Gospel Oak to Barking line, linked to Tufnell Park tube station by escalator sometimes crops up.
This map shows the area.
Tufnell Park
Tufnell Park tube station is indicated at the bottom and Junction Road leads up from that station to the top right. The Gospel Oak to Barking line runs across the image to the top right corner at a thirty degree angle to the horizontal. The old Junction Road station was where the road and railway cross. Only Station Road survives.
What is interesting is to follow the railway under Dartmouth Park Road towards the top left and you can see some cars parked. This is a school, that has been built over some of the tracks of the railway.
If Junction Road station was to be reinstated, it is not that close to Tufnell Park tube station, so some heroic engineering would probably have to be employed to connect them.
But a better idea for the area must be being considered by Transport for London and property developers! After all, just as the school was created on the west side of Dartmouth Park Road, surely a similar method could be used to build something else over the railway. This map shows the area to a bigger scale.
Junction Road Station
If this should lead to a rebuilt Junction Road station, then this will be a bonus for everybody in the area and a good selling point for the developers.
I have since taken a few pictures of the area.
It’s quite a large area and it does seem to my engineering rather than property development brain, that it could be developed to either create housing or perhaps a school. A reinstated Junction Road station is probably not feasible as it is quite a walk to Tufnell Park tube station, which means crossing a busy road.
Note in the picture the actual junction, where the connection to the Midland Main Line, diverts from the Gospel Oak to Barking Line. This would be used if the line is extended to Hounslow.
The question has to be asked that if the line is extended, would the Gospel Oak to Barking Line still terminate at Gospel Oak station?
Why Should Hackers Censor What I Watch At The Cinema?
As one of my friends was born in Korea, I was quite looking to seeing The Interview.
However, it now appears that Sony has cancelled all showings of the film in response to threats from hackers.
In response, I will not buy any more Sony products. Not that I have for a couple of years.
Surely, the film makers were only following the route of Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator.
Properly used humour is a vicious weapon and I’ve been wondering what Joan Rivers would have said of the cancellation.
I hope that Have I got News For You give the whole story comprehensive coverage.
I decide what I watch, not dictators, hackers or those with weird political views!
At least the film will soon be available on the Internet, as Sony’s Plastic Collander Of Security, will have let at least one complete copy escape.
Two Energy Stories
Two stories appeared on the BBC today.
One was entitled North Sea Oil Industry Close To Collapse and the other was a report on BBC Breakfast about how new appliances and technology are enabling domestic customers to use less electricity and gas. They showed the heating system at Pimlico.
In a compact country like the UK, which generally doesn’t get too much cold weather, where according to this report from the World Bank, eighty-two percent of the population lives in towns or cities. we have some great opportunities to cut our energy use.
- District heating schemes like Pimlico are surely easy to develop.
- Public transport like trains, trams and buses can be developed that are fast and frequent.
- Shared car ownership could be made to work well.
- People are adaptable and will change their habits to save money, so if say, the local High Street gets better and has good public transport links, they’ll use it more.
All of these and other factors will mean we require less energy.
It also means that we’ll do other things like use the trains a lot more.
I also think that the difference in energy costs and provision of public transport, will make that isolated cottage in the country much less attractive.
Manchester Trams To Get Wi-Fi
Modern Railways is reporting that all trams in Manchester are to get wi-fi.
Now that wi-fi is becoming more universal on trains in the UK, with some operators like Chiltern and Virgin offering it free to all passengers, it would seem logical to apply the technology to trams and light rail systems. I believe Edinburgh is going along the wi-fi route with its new trams.
Naively, as trams go slower and tend to operate on the surface in cities, the technical problems of wi-fi on Manchester trams must be less than those on say a Scottish rail line.
The Anonymous Widower 