Northmoor

My career has been a roughly 50/50 split between private/public sector. From what I have seen in terms of getting rid of the incompetent: The private sector is more likely to sack the person* regardless of the law and run the risk of being sued (knowing that most can't afford to); The public sector is less likely to sack the person because middle managers don't know their job and employment law well enough, at least not as well as the Union Rep. If they did, in most cases the Union would do very little to defend their affected member. It's not that Unions are strong, it's that managers are weak. I think it was @br2975 who wrote on here about the PF supporting officers who they privately accepted should have been thrown out of the service, but who knew the law better than senior police officers. *I once came very close to being that person....

Yep, just over a year ago a relative was treated for a rather unpleasant infection but with what should have been a routine operation, but discharged too early with a secondary infection (fortunately his daughter was staying with him and got him to A&E when he was close to collapse). So where did the hospital place someone with clearly weakened immunity? That's right, the COVID ward.

Since you can still legally drive cars without seat belts if they were built without them, I wouldn't worry too much. If all cars older than eight years suddenly became unusable and unsellable, such a huge number of people would instantly become immobile (or thousands of car dealers would be bankrupted overnight) that MPs would have to go into hiding. That's not to say that bad legislation can't sneak through. Dad is a civil engineer and recalled how in the early 80s(?), a construction safety bill had passed through the Commons and was it's second reading in the Lords before someone on the committee realised it would become illegal to erect scaffolding.

It looks like an almost perfect recreation of Lavenham, complete with identical track plan. Compare with the third photo on its Disused Stations page: http://disused-stations.org.uk/l/lavenham/index.shtml

I heard something on the radio the other day saying that Construction and Use Regulations may soon mandate such controls being via separate switches and not through menus. How they have ever been (a) permitted legally and (b) considered a good idea by an automotive engineer, is beyond me.

I'm not a lawyer but think it would be illegal to exhibit one in some countries including Germany, but not Britain.

Oh dear. It looks like we're well on the way to having another thread locked. See if anyone can spot the common factor.

What's under the Networker (365s) which worked well? The T4 is certainly capable of being powered, as it is under the 158/159, even if via a gearbox and cardan shaft rather than a motor parallel with the axles. Thanks @phil-b259for the explanation of how Capitalism works......... Regardless of cause/blame, that same constant need for "innovation" is why we have so many unit types in a relatively small country, many incompatible with each other to some degree, with all the increased costs of spares support and driver/maintainer training that this creates.

It's easy to point the finger at the purse-string holders but what is to stop train builders designing trains to use BT10/BT15 or T4 bogies, all of which are proven to ride well and reliably at over 125mph, without destroying the track? Nothing, they'd rather "innovate" to produce something that is 2% better in one specific measure but at least 5% worse in every other one. And all the design, testing and approval costs have to be written off over what are in historic terms, very small fleets.

The Glendronach 15 y.o (Sherry Cask) is widely considered to be one of the very best single malt Scotches you can buy and I will certainly endorse that view. It sounds like your price range is a little higher than mine but what you have to ask yourself about the oldest whiskys/whiskeys is, what if I don't actually like it? Once you've opened the bottle the value is largely wiped out (which is why most are bought by collectors who never open them) and as the woman in my local whisky shop put it, it must be disappointing to spend three grand on something to find it just tastes of barrel.

I love that the recommended videos at the end include, "Don't put Sodium down the toilet" and "I'm going to put a hand grenade in a porta potty". Without watching, we can assume both are from the land where such people are allowed to own automatic weapons.

If any rechargeable lead-acid battery is allowed to get below about 20% (too low to crank the engine) it will never recover. There are treatments which help clean the plate cells but they tend to involve putting something more than a steady trickle charge through the battery, which isn't normally a good thing. Basically if your battery has previously been flat it is more liable to become so again.

The amount of rain matters a great deal if that 1 in XYZ year storm happens after a prolonged period of unseasonably high rainfall (like getting a typical January rainfall in June). If the ground is already saturated and the drains are running fairly high, they will not cope with that 1 in XYZ year storm in addition. Which is now happening in 1 in XYZ/5 years, due to the change in weather patterns. 30-40 years ago my Dad was designing storm water and sewerage schemes; even then it was being acknowledged that what was previously a 1 in 1000 year storm was now probably a 1 in 200 year event. There was an amusing event where a local MP complained after some properties were flooded, that he'd been told the drains were designed for 1 in 100 year storms, which he insisted was ridiculous as he'd only been MP for less than 5 years and it had happened already....

What he said. The first quick experiment @SM42 is to check the main interior lights are switching off correctly when you lock the car. Then ask Mrs SM42 to get in the boot and see if the interior light goes off when it's closed. Taking the opportunity to pretend you can't hear her asking to be let out, is optional, obviously. Either of these small lights left on can easily flatten a battery in a week.

We seem to be spending a lot lately with everything needing repair or replacement at once. Last year one toilet started leaking which could only be repaired by taking it out, so we took the opportunity to replace it. In the last couple of months the other started doing the same and it rapidly got worse, so this week we got the siphon replaced (but not replacing pan and cistern this time) and the plumber did note that the waste hadn't actually been installed correctly over 20 years ago. So that's my wallet quite a bit lighter, but I don't resent paying skilled tradesmen for doing something I don't trust not to balls up myself. Last month we bought a car (Yaris) to replace Mrs Northmoor's Focus before something else small, cheaply-made but expensive to replace, breaks. The Focus is still to be sold to offset it a little. Then last week I renewed my season ticket, expect that I've bitten the bullet and got a Gold Card instead of another monthly flexi season. That cost almost as much as the car but at least I can claim a substantial proportion back. This week I defrosted the freezer which has been particularly noisy; that seemed to largely eliminate the noise but today I noticed the fridge compartment wasn't cold and adjusting the temp setting did nothing. It's just over six years old; I've known fridges that have outlived their owners. So tomorrow we get another fridge-freezer delivered which has cost a few more Deltics. We are incredibly fortunate to have the funds available at short notice but wow! The last time I spent as much money in a short period of time was when we put down the deposit on this house.

To be fair it's a free country and they can walk by if they wish. However the ones who criticise the layout audibly to the owner/operator are ignorant in both meanings of the word.

Yep, recreate the Liverpool Overhead Railway (or much of the Dockland Light Railway) through the middle of Bedfordshire..... Actually I do wonder if at some locations, having the railway "humped" over the road might be a better solution than diverting the road, although much more disruptive to the railway while under construction. Modern units passing non-stop aren't going to be slowed by a 1in40 slope on the approach to the bridge, and it helps with braking and acceleration for those that are stopping.

Sad that you think that as we (TfL) do still devote a great deal of effort into these things. The Johnson font is still our standard (and believe me that standard is detailed) seat materials are individually designed for each line*, our newer stations are pretty much all architecturally individual - there's no standard (yet still staggeringly expensive) glass and metal box that most new main line stations get - with features that reflect their location. Have you taken a close look at the stations on the JLE, NLE or Elizabeth Line? Every one of them is built to accommodate growth and up to a standard, not down to a price, which was the mistake made with the Victoria line in the late 1960s. As for the roundel logo, a small team is kept busy clamping down on unauthorised use as it's considered one of the most recognisable logos in the world. *Those seat materials must be attractive to many, judging by how much is made by the LT Museum selling souvenirs made from them. Remember LU is one of very few Metro systems in the world that has upholstered seats. Every so often some smart@ss one comes along and announces they've worked out how much money could be saved by fitting hard plastic seats, but fortunately, every Mayor regardless of Party affiliation supports the idea that ambience is worth paying for and trains you can hose out at the end of the day, aren't desirable.

There was a brilliant article in the New Scientist years ago, describing what would happen to a major city if people abandoned it overnight, after a week, a few months, a year, 10 years, 50 years etc. If I remember it correctly, the commonly-held view that the place would be overrun with vermin is true, but only for a few months, by which time they would have exhausted the food supply which is primarily that left behind by humans. After a year or two, the species to thrive would be the herbivores as the weeds and shrubbery started to grow unhindered.

Mornington Crescent, which is strangely appropriate for an ISIHAC fan. I did note "your favourite line" didn't include the Piccadilly, Jubilee or any of the sub-surface lines as an option.

SNAP! It took me about two weeks in January, a bit at a time; agree about the black areas, I think that's what I finished with! I think we actually have two of this puzzle - accidentally bought a second at a charity shop - so one will go to a friend. It is a lovely pair of images with lots of little indicators of the beginning and end of the war.

I can report that while there were still cancellations this morning, service had returned to near normal this evening; we whizzed past the accident site on the Down Fast at near line speed where you could see the wheel marks on the Up Fast's sleepers. I don't know if the line was actually in use today but the site had certainly been cleared. So some small congratulations to NR for that.

Careful, that's almost a three-quarter view.... 😉

When it comes to the FI, do we make the mistake of assuming that we couldn't do things the same as last time - probably true - but then we would take advantage of things we didn't have then? Why try to repeat Op Black Buck and all the AAR demand, trying to close a runway, when you could just pick a window in the Control Tower for a Tomahawk to arrive through? As for the Argentinian military, they are probably less well-equipped than they were in 1982. They have almost no Navy to speak of so are unlikely to be able to support a substantial garrison and it was the limitations of air supply that they struggled with last time. Yes they have some F-16s but the serviceability of their Air Force is very poor; like the majority of less than First World air forces there is a tendency to buy some impressive-looking shiny things like what the USA has but be utterly unable to maintain them. I agree though about the ability of UK plc to ramp up production though. Lean, efficient production tends to be running flat out already - that's why it's efficient - and requires specialist skills to operate it. Even if you could build a second line quickly, the spare personnel with the skills to manage and maintain it, don't exist. However, we can be reassured that the UK does have an abundance of management consultants who can write reports on the feasibility of doing something, using information that the manufacturer knew already.

I have read an excellent book, "What Might Have Been" by Andrew Roberts which contains about a dozen such essays by various historians. The most "recent" is what would have happened in UK politics if the Brighton bomb had resulted in the death of the PM. I think the writer's conclusion was that the Conservatives would have remained in power until 1992 with Michael Heseltine as leader.