Bon Accord

I think a major problem today regardless of whether it's public or private sector is that HR has become an industry/private fiefdom all in itself, in much the same way as in-house safety departments. The change is such that I often wonder if they've forgotten why they're there in the first place and that it is most certainly not the case that the rest of the company and it's employees should only operate at their own convenience/whim. With my current employer the HR and HSEQA departments would appear to the unfamiliar observer to be companies within companies such is their well guarded autonomy, creeping expansion and continual "power grabs". The other very noticeable thing is that the overwhelming majority of the personnel in those departments have no actual experience of the industry they're supposed to serve.

If you're not willing to understand why these things happen and accordingly be prepared to do something meaningful about it then don't expect it to stop any time soon. Delivering meaningless soundbites whilst continuing to openly aid one of the biggest supporters of ISIS and then maintaining a foreign political and military policy that's been a sick joke for most of my lifetime will achieve nothing. Events like Manchester will happen again and again both here and on the continent, just as they have become a near fact of life in the MIddle East - that's the inevitable price for cack-handed interference. The daughter of a fellow I work with was at the concert in Manchester on Monday night and she is still missing - her parents went down there yesterday and as far as I'm aware are still searching for her. The sadness I feel over their anguish is only made worse by the realisation that sadly they won't be the last parents to have to go through it.

It's probably still there, although payment will have undoubtedly been handed over to cover the cost of repair!

Most of the people involved with the Windfarm side of things seem to be overwhelmingly ex fishermen and literally "people off the street", such that I've heard some real horror stories of goings on. The money and T&Cs are generally quite poor in comparison with seagoing jobs, so in common with the offshore standby industry it doesn't always attract the best people. When the oil industry eventually recovers I strongly suspect that the 10 years or so leading up to 2014 will be looked at as a golden era commensurate with the 70s e.g. money being thrown around like confetti, because I doubt it'll ever be that good again, at least from an employee's perspective anyway. Certainly most of the companies will (already are) use this downturn as an excuse to get rid of most of their permanent, pensionable staff such that when things do recover there will be no such thing as a permanent employee - it'll just be endless fixed term or ongoing contractual work, or indeed zero hours.

We actually have a few ex offshore 2nd mates sailing as AB in our ships, such is the shortage of jobs in that market. I remember hearing about such occurrences during the Great Depression but never thought I'd see it myself. Of course it isn't lost on many that there's been a huge influx of ex-offshore people into jobs that they themselves actively sneered at and turned their noses up at only a few years ago.

I can assure you it is much more serious than that. (with apologies to Bill Shankly)

I'm curious to know how you link being against animal cruelty to a person's political position.

Now that is very interesting! Any chance you could do a bit of "writey writey" as to how it was done? Is the loco/tender wheelbase correct or at least good enough? I've been searching for a J37 kit for years but have still yet to find one!

Indeed, hence why monarchs of Scotland (including those to the present day) are styled King/Queen of Scots, as opposed to King/Queen of Scotland. A subtle, but incredibly important difference.

Not unlike a significant part of the leave vote then....

Prepare to be surprised.... All ships out there are still berthed/unberthed manually using the experience and judgement of the Master, Pilot (if carried) and Officers onboard - there is no automation involved at all save for natural modernisation of control systems e.g. no more clanking polished brass telegraphs with their bells and chains for engine orders and wooden wheels to steer by, but electronic switches and levers. Even those vessels fitted with dynamic positioning equipment (offshore oil industry) are still manoeuvred manually when in close proximity to hazards or structures. I've no doubt systems exist where it might be possible to bring some form of automation into play using sensors/cameras etc and the "machine" does it all, however I've no knowledge of any vessel where that is the case - although saying that there are probably one or two out there in highly specialised and controlled circumstances. You may be equally surprised to learn that even today there is no mandatory training in shiphandling available to ship's officers nor are they examined on it by their flag state. There are naturally unofficial courses you can attend to get a gist of the basics using theory and limited simulation, however it's still primarily learnt "on the job" both under supervision and without. P.S. The modernisation of control systems mentioned earlier basically means those on the bridge have full control over engine movements, i.e. they have the levers and dials up there, as opposed to past times where you rang down your engine order on the bridge telegraph. This was a large, highly polished brass piece of kit (usually manufactured by someone like Chadburns) with a dial and levers and which was connected by a chain all the way below to an engine room repeater which displayed the order transmitted on a dial, once received the engineer below would repeat the order upwards using his lever which would move a small arrow on the bridge telegraph thereby assuring those therein that their order had been correctly received. Naturally this always led to a very slight delay between asking for an engine order and getting the desired response. This system was however useful when things all went wrong and the vessel either landed heavily on a quay or collided with something, as the officers on the bridge would usually place fault on those in the engine room by alleging that they hadn't answered engine orders quickly enough or indeed correctly. With modern systems which are controlled by those on the bridge, that get out of jail free card potential incident root cause is no longer usually applicable.

You do realise that some foreign nationals are already permitted the right to vote in the UK, with varying levels of qualifying criteria? Personally I have no problem with an individual who is resident and pays tax in a country from being permitted the right to vote as they also have a stake in the future. I would absolutely agree inheritance tax should be abolished, as to me it's an opportunistic and vindictive tax on money and assets that have already been taxed previously. Since we do not let UK companies vote (merely fund politicians and parties), I don't see why foreign companies would be permitted to do so.

I disagree, not only is it barbaric but despite fanciful claims to the contrary it serves no practical purpose with regard to pest control. I say that as someone who over the years regularly waged scorched earth campaigns against our local fox population from the age of short trousers onward.

Let us not also forget today's revelation that repealing the ban on Fox Hunting is very much back on the table by none other than May herself.

I'm not doing anything of the sort. The example you gave applies to a handful individuals, indeed the number of under 16s in the UK who actually pay tax (they don't pay NI) I would suggest probably doesn't exceed three figures if it's even that much. However denying suffrage to those aged 16-18 affects some 2 million individuals.

Do you know if there many 10 year olds paying tax out there? I rather doubt it. At the age of 16 a person can leave the life of childhood and legally enter the world of adulthood and work, get married, have children and join the armed forces - that to me seems a perfectly logical starting point for the voting age. For the law to allow them to do all those things, indeed to trust them to do those things, but not to permit them the right to vote I find particularly ridiculous.

By that same logic then shouldn't those aged under 18 not be liable to pay any income tax or national insurance on earnings? Surely there should be no taxation without representation?

For those unaware as to how modern political campaigning works, then this article from the Observer explains much: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great-british-brexit-robbery-hijacked-democracy

There were 10 choices to number on my ballot paper, of which 9 were duly anointed - I couldn't bring myself to the number the last one as it was National Front (had no idea they were even standing).

If autonomous ships actually happen. then I do wonder at the scale of the PR disaster when a cruise ship gets into trouble and the nearest vessel is unmanned and therefore unable to assist. Same for dealing with refugees etc.

When you consider that all the Scottish re-openings have been delivered without any extra Westminster funding and without the ability to borrow money, plus in some cases (e.g. Waverley route) having to deal with outright opposition from the Tories/Labour etc then I must say I think Transport Scotland and the Scottish government have done exceptionally well with the resources available.

I only remember 60009 carrying the Osprey name in the 1990-1991 period, which was ironic seeing as apartheid was on it's way out by then.

One ship that is missing from what is an excellent film was the Canadian-Pacific cargo ship BEAVERFORD. After JERVIS BAY had suicidally taken on the German cruiser and thus gave the convoy time to scatter, the raider then turned her attention to the other merchant ships in the convoy. BEAVERFORD and the Brocklebank Line ship MAIDAN made smoke whilst the former opened fire on the ADMIRAL SCHEER. The German ship fired a full salvo into MAIDAN and detonated her cargo of ammunition, witnesses reported she disappeared instantly in an enormous fireball (all 90 crew lost). BEAVERFORD then duelled with ADMIRAL SCHEER for 5 hours, darting in and out of the smoke playing "hit and run" and thus holding the raider's attention throughout thereby saving countless other vessels from attack and sinking; an 11 inch heavy cruiser against a near helpless cargo ship armed with only a 4 inch "sub chaser" gun on the poop. Inevitably after many serious hits and damage she was sunk, not by gunfire but by a torpedo from the German ship which detonated BEAVERFORD's own cargo of ammunition killing her crew of 77 instantly. Witness reports state she simply disappeared in a cloud of black smoke and flame. Unlike JERVIS BAY or SAN DEMETRIO there were no survivors, no medals and no media or popular recognition. A very good friend of mine (also MN) is the grandson of a JERVIS BAY survivor and I met the old man some years back - he enjoyed a long life and saw in the millennium and I remember that on his living room wall was a faded and damaged photograph of himself and some shipmates in JERVIS BAY taken just before she set out on her final voyage.