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I was very fortunate to see Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt before lockdown. Those comfortable turn-of-the-century middle-class assimilated Viennese Jews were confident that "it couldn't happen here". It did. It can. It will if we let it.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

*Explain to me why we have draft legislation that if passed would actually allow HMG to do many of the really nasty things that we lay at President Putin's door?

It's "salami" tactics aimed at reducing the respect for law and basic civilisation. (Aka "human rights".) 

There is no way such a law could have even been considered a few years ago, but by a process of gradual erosion, "we" (or our elected representatives who should have been voting not along party lines but as their conscience dictates, assuming they have a conscience, of course) are prepared to sanction laws against unknown future targets, "just in case". We end up potentially in a situation where a dictatorship can be proclaimed using nothing more than existing legislation, all of which was approved "democratically" by preceding regimes.

 

Despite some of what I said earlier, I don't think BJ is a moron, and the buffoonery is an act. He is just the populist front man for some much nastier people. President Trump, on the other hand, may be slightly unaware of his exact role in such.

 

"Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after you." Curt Cobain, and may others.

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

I was very fortunate to see Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt before lockdown. Those comfortable turn-of-the-century middle-class assimilated Viennese Jews were confident that "it couldn't happen here". It did. It can. It will if we let it.

Which nicely ties in the discussion to the pre-grouping era. 

 

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing." - Edmund Burke.

(Which is very pre-grouping!)

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There is a small danger in having too much politics in an RMWeb thread that hasn’t been mentioned: The thread getting locked.

 

It only takes one deliberate act of trolling, or one accidental outburst of hot-headedness by perhaps a casual visitor, to spark major trouble, and The Mods’ tolerance then has to be withdrawn for the sake of good order.
 

Better to debate here-and-now politics in threads that aren’t so ancient and treasured as this one. Maybe CA should spawn a sub-thread The Parish Pump.

 

 

Edited by Nearholmer
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6 hours ago, Malcolm 0-6-0 said:

 

Whatever the fish, could I have double chips .......... 

To get back on topic (well nearly), in that case you'll need a bigger fishplate!:D

 

BTW it's haddock every time for me, though I can't see the point in mushy peas.  Oh! and if you're in that city in the East which we from the West hesitate to name, they'll ask if you want salt and sauce rather than salt and vinegar.  Funny folk in E..... Oops, nearly did it then!:scared:

 

Jim

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1 minute ago, Caley Jim said:

Oh! and if you're in that city in the East which we from the West hesitate to name, they'll ask if you want salt and sauce rather than salt and vinegar.

Always wondered what that was about.

But yes, haddock is much better, unless it’s a bad haddock, in which case you need to lie down in a quiet plaice until you don’t feel so down at eel.

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8 minutes ago, Regularity said:

.....in which case you need to lie down in a quiet plaice until you don’t feel so down at eel.

What did the one sole say to the other sole?

 

Don't look now, but there's a couple of eels following us.  :jester:

 

Jim (hat & coat on and windae picked.)

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58 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

There is a small danger in having too much politics in an RMWeb thread that hasn’t been mentioned: The thread getting locked.

 

It only takes one deliberate act of trolling, or one accidental outburst of hot-headedness by perhaps a casual visitor, to spark major trouble, and The Mods’ tolerance then has to be withdrawn for the sake of good order.
 

Better to debate here-and-now politics in threads that aren’t so ancient and treasured as this one. Maybe CA should spawn a sub-thread The Parish Pump.

 

 

 

 

You have got the situation completely battened down. For as long as the discourse flows along with no ripples in the water it will not present calls for moderation. It just requires for one agent provocateur to slip in under the antisubmarine nets to set a charge in the harbour and blow the vessel sky high.

 

p.s. One of my other hobbies is mixing up metaphors and then tying knots in them.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

There is a small danger in having too much politics in an RMWeb thread that hasn’t been mentioned: The thread getting locked.

 

It only takes one deliberate act of trolling, or one accidental outburst of hot-headedness by perhaps a casual visitor, to spark major trouble, and The Mods’ tolerance then has to be withdrawn for the sake of good order.
 

Better to debate here-and-now politics in threads that aren’t so ancient and treasured as this one. Maybe CA should spawn a sub-thread The Parish Pump.

 

 

May I draw the attention of the council to this notice;

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/158850-the-jubilee-assembly-hall-castle-aching-norfolk/

No obligation to use that thread but I thought I'd create it anyway.

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16 hours ago, brianusa said:

Of course railway station is the old correct.  However in the general sense of evolution it has evolved over the (recent) years into the contemporary train station.  If there wasn't evolution in any form, we would still be dragging our knuckles on the ground!  As much as I personally dislike TS, it will never be RS again!:fie:

       Brian.

 

16 hours ago, Annie said:

As far as I can observe those who say 'train station' do have their knuckles dragging on the ground.

 

 

Excuse me Ladies and Gentleman, while I will, carefully, express no opinion on the Railway Station/Train Station debate, I do feel I should raise objection to the above assumption that having longer arms in proportion to one's bodylength is a mark of inferiority. This is 'apeism' in a particularly ugly form.

 

If I understand the taxonomy correctly, 'modern humans' are one of the surviving types of Great Ape, and in terms of breeding success clearly the most successful. However, we have achieved this at enormous cost to our fellow Great Apes, to the other big-brained social creatures (for example the Great Whales and the Elephants), and I am deeply suspicious as to why we form the only extant version of Humans and the other recent forms,the so-called Neanderthals, Denisovans, and others have somehow vanished.

 

If the ability to use a large brain and having binocular vision and an opposable thumb has given us the ability to change environments to suit ourselves then we have been singularly irresponsible with it. What is so superior about bi-pedalism and balancing the heaviest weight in our bodies on top of a critical and highly-stressed structure?

 

If a rapidly changing tectonic environment, and our co-evolution with fast and deadly predators, encouraged us to develop tools and weapons, then it is rather sad that we haven't evolved a more extended sense of responsibility.

 

In my 'bucket list' of things to do in what must be, presumably, the last third of my life, I would, in addition to sailing across the Atlantic (in a crewed-up boat obviously, none of this single-handed stuff), want to meet a Great Whale and an Elephant. I would also very much like to meet an Orang-utan, and possibly some Gorillas. Bonobos (largely matriarchal) would be very interesting, but I would be nervous of meeting Chimpanzees. They are far too close to us, both genetically and in behaviour to be comfortable with.

 

If there had been a slightly different series of tectonic events in what is now East Africa, we might have developed more in an arboreal environment, and stayed more a climbing animal than a running animal. Then long arms and prehensile feet would have been very useful. Think what advantages that would have for railway systems! 

Multi-level carriages with more hanging straps than seats. No need for expensive footbridges, just simple fibre structures. 

 

So please, don't claim that our fellow Great Apes are very inferior to us. We have, so far, had a few lucky environmental breaks, and then set about abusing our heritage.

I don't think many Orang-Utans, Gorillas, or Bonobos voted for DT or BS. Chimpanzees I'm not so sure about, but if I understand correctly, dominant males are most likely to be deposed by younger, stronger rivals. Not ones much the same age as themselves!

 

Anyway, why should we be so proud of our physical form? Big heads (with all the problems those confer) and Big Bottoms are what define us!

 

Addition:-

The Postman has just delivered a cardboard tube from that nice Mr Isinglass. So now a choice is required about what locomotive to work on next:-

NER Class Z

NER Class V

LNER Class V2

 

Any opinions?

(I am happy to use my binocular vision and opposable thumbs in the course of construction!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by drmditch
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9 minutes ago, drmditch said:

I do feel I should raise objection to the above assumption that having longer arms in proportion to one's bodylength is a mark of inferiority.

 

It is a definite advantage if one has wide baseboards. Whether that means it is a characteristic that will be selected for (found desirable by a mate) is less clear.

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11 minutes ago, drmditch said:

 

 

 

I do feel I should raise objection to the above assumption that having longer arms in proportion to one's bodylength is a mark of inferiority. This is 'apeism' in a particularly ugly form.

 

 

 

Oh, I assumed Annie was talking about Orcs!

 

e082b8f6f25e237ab6b2a6ad64d24b23.jpg.e93c060a75535d58a82f47b7390df100.jpg

 

Hmm, an Atlantic of 1903 or a Pacific of 1911?

 

On balance, the former. Always good to see a few more of this rather Edwardian wheel arrangement about the place. 

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2 minutes ago, Northroader said:

Yes, the Atlantic every time.

Are we talking here sailing it or building a loco of that description?  :unsure:  I have no wish to do the former and no need for the latter.

 

Jim

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1 hour ago, Caley Jim said:

BTW it's haddock every time for me, though I can't see the point in mushy peas.  Oh! and if you're in that city in the East which we from the West hesitate to name, they'll ask if you want salt and sauce rather than salt and vinegar.  

It's definitely 'Salt & Vinegar' in Newlyn, and Haddocks the main seller.

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9 minutes ago, Northroader said:

Yes, the Atlantic every time.

Chesterfield Footy Club changed to a 4-4-2 format on Saturday and won.
Apparently it's the first time they've tried that format, so another poster on here tells me :jester:

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8 minutes ago, Northroader said:

But Jim, they were the most magnificent scottish Locomotives ever built:

115BE59F-F1DA-45E8-A7EA-3DB7A0B176AB.jpeg.a31362578ac1fbc31590f5f94b6799fd.jpeg

Could the moderators please, pretty please, supply a 'dislike' button?

 

Having said that, in 1905 the CR did have proposed Atlantics, in both simple and compound versions, but the order was cancelled and they built the 903 (Cardean) class 4-6-0 instead.

 

Jim

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1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

 

Oh, I assumed Annie was talking about Orcs!

 

e082b8f6f25e237ab6b2a6ad64d24b23.jpg.e93c060a75535d58a82f47b7390df100.jpg

 

Hmm, an Atlantic of 1903 or a Pacific of 1911?

 

On balance, the former. Always good to see a few more of this rather Edwardian wheel arrangement about the place. 

Yes of course I was.  As a former Fantasy wargamer I know nothing at all about apes, but I do know about Orcs.

 

And I'll put in a vote for the Atlantic as well.

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2 minutes ago, Annie said:

Yes of course I was.  As a former Fantasy wargamer I know nothing at all about apes, but I do know about Orcs.

 

And I'll put in a vote for the Atlantic as well.

 

Atlantics are nice .....

 

2086990346_DSCN5678-Copy-Copy.JPG.37c2aed6a75614a68d75f24ef1b83167.JPG

 

Orcses are nassssty!

 

20200823_142150.jpg.20a49c9e9611b8f0cc63fcc99dd2526e.jpg

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Even the LNWR ended up with a 4-4-2, a Precursor Tank loco, 

which doesn't really cut the mustard compared with proper 'Atlantics' that have tenders.
Even 'Way down West' we have Atlantics - other than a nearby Ocean......

image.png.5ac5f5630c73ae019d61933822922800.png

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