The Guardian: "Millions of trees at risk in secretive Network Rail felling programme"

[Mike Storey]

Just done the survey think my comments will also upset the tree huggers about time the Guarian went bust it just stirs problems for the sake of it.

 

I have just completed the survey and found it quite objective, despite entering answers probably similar to many of you above.

 

Interesting that some have picked on the Grauniad and tree huggers. Which other media outlet has promoted a survey on this scale? Answer on a postage stamp......can we please stop using this website for promoting political views which are simply adolescent, and concentrate on the issue? In other words, tackle the ball, not the player.

[jjb1970]

All they have to do is throw the trees that cut down into a power station boiler and NR will be the darlings of tree huggdom for saving the trees by burning them. No, I never worked that one out either, but working during the construction and commissioning of the UK's biggest biomass power plant paid my mortgage for a while which was all I was bothered about. Not that I'm a cynic.

[david.hill64]

Just managed to complete the survey before the deadline. I suggested that people look at photos of the railways taken 50+ years ago to see what a properly managed lineside environment looked like.

[Reorte]

Just managed to complete the survey before the deadline. I suggested that people look at photos of the railways taken 50+ years ago to see what a properly managed lineside environment looked like.

Semaphore signals, signal boxes, telegraph poles, no OHLE?  Sorry, just trying to do a bit of winding up on my own (it's not as if there weren't some more modern-looking lines then anyway)

[Steamport Southport]

I filled it in. But that was amongst the worst designed online surveys that I've ever seen.

 

There should always be a "don't know" and/or "not applicable" option. Otherwise you are leading the survey taker.

 

 

 

 

Jason

[Reorte]

I filled it in. But that was amongst the worst designed online surveys that I've ever seen.

 

There should always be a "don't know" and/or "not applicable" option. Otherwise you are leading the survey taker.

I get work surveys every now and then without such options, just left with "agree" or "disagree." Then later they start grumbling about not getting high enough scores in some areas, without realising that in some cases if large numbers of people are ambivalent it probably means you're doing it right. If you force a choice heaven knows how you think you can get anything meaningful from the answers (but they're mostly box ticking exercises anyway).

[jjb1970]

I was planning to do my bit to save the world by buying a Tesla Model 3 to replace Mrs JJB's Golf next year but Mrs JJB has put her foot down and told me there'll be ice bergs in hell before we buy anything that benefits Eon Musk financially on account of him being a total ***** (I paraphrase). She is very cross about him accusing the young fella me lad that helped rescue those trapped Thai boys of being very naughty. On the upside, if I'm no longer to save the world by being ecologically responsible I've suggested reverting to plan A to buy a 5.0 Mustang in blue with white viper stripes. She now admits she was wrong to ever question my wisdom in counselling her that the Mustang was the more ethically responsible choice.

[hayfield]

I filled it in. But that was amongst the worst designed online surveys that I've ever seen.

 

There should always be a "don't know" and/or "not applicable" option. Otherwise you are leading the survey taker.

 

 

 

 

Jason

Jason

 

Designed to get the answers they wanted

[The Stationmaster]

Fortunately for those offering it I missed out on the survey.  I would however have been more than happy to draw their attention to the mass of biodiversity which has been destroyed by the emergence in the past few decades of unconstrained tree growth and undergrowth on railway embankments throughout much of Britain.  There was a piece on R4 earlier this week about the enormous loss of pollinating insects, and not just bees, which has occurred in recent decades and many of them had a habitat which has been destroyed by tree growth on railway embankments.

[Trog]

Should I be surprised that there is a 100% support for network rail ,,

 

I don't think many of us really care about Network Rail, it is The Railway we believe in.

[The Bigbee Line]

Fortunately for those offering it I missed out on the survey. I would however have been more than happy to draw their attention to the mass of biodiversity which has been destroyed by the emergence in the past few decades of unconstrained tree growth and undergrowth on railway embankments throughout much of Britain. There was a piece on R4 earlier this week about the enormous loss of pollinating insects, and not just bees, which has occurred in recent decades and many of them had a habitat which has been destroyed by tree growth on railway embankments.

Quite agree. The policies for verges etc do nothing for the essential creatures. The Zealots do not understand that things need managing. That management sometimes requires thinning out etc and the removal of weak specimens.

 

Probably said before but the embankments at home used to get burnt regularly and one regrow were a mass of wild flowers.....

[APOLLO]

Teslas ? Watch some of these very interesting videos. I wouldn't touch one with a bargepole - talk about control freakery !!! (Tesla turns your car off (i.e insurance write off for any reason) your car is wiped from their database - NO spares, NO updates, NO supercharging etc etc. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfV0_wbjG8KJADuZT2ct4SA/videos

 

By the way I was over in Bangkok when the cave boys were rescued. Musk was not mentioned on the news but the Brits and everyone else who found and rescued them were (on TV) portrayed as hero's. Well done everyone involved.

 

Brit15

[jjb1970]

Quite agree. The policies for verges etc do nothing for the essential creatures. The Zealots do not understand that things need managing. That management sometimes requires thinning out etc and the removal of weak specimens.

 

Probably said before but the embankments at home used to get burnt regularly and one regrow were a mass of wild flowers.....

 

A good part of my life is spent in discussions with green NGOs, the experience has resulted in me being profoundly distrustful and sceptical of them despite being a tree hugger myself.

[Mike Storey]

A good part of my life is spent in discussions with green NGOs, the experience has resulted in me being profoundly distrustful and sceptical of them despite being a tree hugger myself.

 

Indeed. I felt the same about council preservation officers, even though I love old buildings.

[hayfield]

I had a customer/friend many years ago who was an architect employed to look after historic buildings, rightly paranoid about preserving each and every detail. Ensuring wall fixings went into mortar rather than old bricks etc

[petethemole]

That reminds me of the local council conservation architect who insisted that repairs to a gable end wall on a C19th listed building be done in lime mortar. The wall in question had been blown down by a bomb  in 1940 and rebuilt in modern brick and cement mortar, covered in cement render. The council archives even had photographs of the damage.

[jjb1970]

When you get green NGO's calling for whales to be identified on marine charts (not areas where whales can be expected in numbers which is reasonable, but actual whales) it all goes from the silly to the outright stupid. That was a particularly idiotic proposal, but many of the ostensibly less silly ideas aren't actually that much better.

[Reorte]

I had a customer/friend many years ago who was an architect employed to look after historic buildings, rightly paranoid about preserving each and every detail. Ensuring wall fixings went into mortar rather than old bricks etc

I'm sympathetic with the attitude (after all you can't meaningfully undo sticking a hole in something), aided by my dislike of just about everything modern that's built but they really do seem to go to the extremes sometimes. It's one thing contemplating drilling in to Stonehenge but I don't have a problem drilling in to my own (19th century) house. Other than due to some of the stones in it apparently being of the hardest rock known (whilst others barely seem to hold together, and presumably they all came out of the same quarry).

[Horsetan]

..., there aren't enough trees in the world

 

Just ask Sheffield City Council....

[PatB]

There definitely seems to be a bit of a "get Elon Musk" trend at the moment. Sure, the man's a bit of an egotistical git but, presumably, he always was. I don't really see what's changed in the last 6 months or so barring one (admittedly seriously out of turn) comment. But everyone loves a good pile-on, eh?

[jjb1970]

There definitely seems to be a bit of a "get Elon Musk" trend at the moment. Sure, the man's a bit of an egotistical git but, presumably, he always was. I don't really see what's changed in the last 6 months or so barring one (admittedly seriously out of turn) comment. But everyone loves a good pile-on, eh?

 

I think his ####### allegations take him from being the usual egotistical rich bloke category to something deeply unpleasant. He is undoubtedly blessed with extremely high intelligence and is a visionary, but when a big shot billionaire makes particularly distasteful comments and basically baits somebody to try and sue him in full knowledge of the asymmetric power and resources of the two parties it goes from normal asinine egoism to something profoundly contemptible. Certainly I think my wife is right in deciding she doesn't want to buy a car that will financially benefit such a person.

Edited September 18, 2018 by jjb1970

[Zomboid]

I think those comments crossed a line. I do admire what he's achieved, but that was too far. And what I don't understand was why he went and repeated the claim, unless he's got some evidence to back it up.

 

And I don't really want a Tesla anyhow, though I would like an electric car...

[Hroth]

I hear from reports on the radio that train services have been disrupted this morning by the number of trees that have been blown down onto various lines.

 

Seems like Network Rail haven't culled enough trees!

[Mark Saunders]

I hear from reports on the radio that train services have been disrupted this morning by the number of trees that have been blown down onto various lines.

 

Seems like Network Rail haven't culled enough trees!

What will the Guardian readers have to say about this when sat on their delayed trains!

 

Mark Saunders

[hayfield]

I hear from reports on the radio that train services have been disrupted this morning by the number of trees that have been blown down onto various lines.

 

Seems like Network Rail haven't culled enough trees!

I guess the tree huggers are up in arms with Network Rail being in secret collusion with the weather.