Disgraceful & a disaster in the making.....

More frontline cuts

A couple of comments on the article really hits home.....

"Why is it that the Victorians were poorer than we are today , yet they could build fantastic public buildings like Libraries , swimming pools , public toilets , Public parks etc and keep them open yet now we are supposed to be richer we can't afford anything . The country has been destroyed and full of litter and graffiti , you hardly ever see a litter bin or public toilet anymore because it costs money to clean and empty them .. We need to look at other countries and see how they manage to do it , there again they don't get involved in every silly war and argument around the world."

"I had the great joy of serving 18 months at the MOD. Some civil servants were competent and able to see the 'bigger picture'. Most were hopeless. To a man they'd "I've been a liability in any of the three services". And for the most part they disparaged the fighting men, routinely sneering. The smile went away when I pointed out that I'd led 18yr-olds with bigger balls than any of them. The expression that comes to mind when faced with bureaucrats is simple and true. They know the price of everything, but the value of nothing."

And our estemmed Foreign Secretary in the House of Commons on 20th November 2012: -

"But the absence of that political and diplomatic solution, we will not rule out any option in accordance with international law that might save innocent lives in Syria and prevent the destabilisation of a region that remains critical to the security of the United Kingdom and the peace of the whole world."

Wake up Hague, the forces are not pawns on a chessboard!

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Wake up Hague, the forces are not pawns on a chessboard!

Sorry you are completely wrong. A countries armed forces have always been used for political reasons, and always will be. How do you think WWI and WWII started, and most other 19th/20th century conflicts? The poor bloody infantry have always been cannon fodder.

Good post. However, I know that you are aware that I'm an ex-serviceman, so you're preaching to the choir here.

The point, that you already highlighted & one I agree with btw, is that with the massive reduction in our armed forces, Hague cannot stick his oars in & send our forces into conflicts that they & indeed the country cannot afford.

We see cutbacks in practically every public body, but & it's a big but, we still send billions abroad in foreign aid, which itself is being investigated due to the corruption involved & the fact that much of it is going to countries that do not need it.

As for the conflicts our forces are currently involved in, have you noted that the length of the tour of duties are getting longer?

Our forces are like us, we're human, not machines & the longer the reduced forces remain in combat, the more errors creep in, leading to un-neccessary casualities.

The politicians have the guts to make cuts, then they should have the guts to make hard decisions on where/when/why our forces are to be committed & not make decisions to boost their egos.

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Another good post & I have to admit, agree with all the points stated.

However, it's been on Hague's wish list for months, so, pray tell (asides from a humanitarian reason), just what is Britain's interest in Syria?

It's high time the west let the Middle East fester in its own stew & if this comes to pass, they'll be a footnote in history for the next 250 years.....

Undreamed of reserves

As for referring to India & foreign aid, no I meant the stupid waste......

Good use of foreign aid?

So what price "austerity at home?"

Nice holiday Del-boy

Crime does pay

Recession fears? Thought we was in one already!

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Good old Mail, doom and gloom headlines sell more newspapers. They really are a miserable bunch of beggars.

Gordon Bennett! Another good reply....although......

...Thanks for confirming that the muppets in charge are also miserable buggers as the Daily Toerag only published the "official" figures released by those very same muppets..... :)

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Britain is on the brink of a triple-dip recession, experts warn as latest figures reveal industrial output has now fallen to its lowest level in 20 years.

Good old Mail, doom and gloom headlines sell more newspapers. They really are a miserable bunch of beggars.

Just Britain...looks like the whole of Europe will be joining us too.
I still feel that next year will be the year of the depression for how many
dips can you have before you are in one?...I ask!!

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The Kite Fliers

--------------------
Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

Makes a self fulling prophecy.

I doubt the GDP is as bad as the scare mongering press keep banging on a bout. But not good ...

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It's good to be back amongst friends and colleagues

As I said ... unemployment down this last quarter, and the 5th quarter in a row.

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It's good to be back amongst friends and colleagues

But government advisers warn today that shale gas may be unlikely to bring down energy prices much in Britain.

The government needs to get their act together here on this point.
Is it a cheap source of energy as has been stated by the government several day ago or is it
not? Even if it is a cheap source as previously stated by the government it
was never ever going to be made available to the British public cheaply for
nothing ever has been in Britain. We'll pay through the nose for it like we have
for all other forms of energy in the past. Mr & Mrs Britain will once again get
ripped-off by the profiteering utilities who's policy of make the British pay
through the nose gets wholly underwritten by successive British governments
because high prices means more tax to the exchequer.

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The Kite Fliers

--------------------
Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

An update on UK fracking.

Fracking

It's good to see that shale gas fracking has been given the go ahead, and will build up gradually.

Regarding the potential for earth quaked, possibly of the scale Richter 1-1.54, I have never heard such BS in my life. Look at all the coal mines dug across the UK, and aside from a small amount of subsidence no earth quakes have happened.

As regards a gas powered electricity system, this should go ahead and the gas prices WILL DROP as seen by the US experience over the last 10 years.

This will give us the time to build sufficient power stations to meet the CO2 reductions, and build wind/tidal/wave power.hydro across estuaries to keep the lights on. During this time I am sure the ultimate power generation from the Tokamak will finally happen.

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It's good to be back amongst friends and colleagues

As regards a gas powered electricity system, this should go ahead and the gas prices WILL DROP as seen by the US experience over the last 10 years

Not according to the latest quote from a government advisor it wont be. The
utilities have put their oar in here for cheap gas means less profit to them
hence less tax to the government. Clearly the government got things wrong here
when they stated that this was a cheap source of energy. What they meant to
say that it was a cheap source for the utilities but not for the customer in
the street. I had a hunch when I read this initial quote by the government
that they were only trying to get public support behind fracking. To this end
they tried to portray that the public would get access to cheap gas when
in actuality it only meant that the utilities would get it cheaply. It's
the usual rhetoric coming from government that we have become accustomed too.
Ted Heath started it when he said we were joining up to a Common Market when
all along he knew he was misleading the public by not telling them the whole
truth.

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The Kite Fliers

--------------------
Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

Excellent reply & agree with.

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But government advisers warn today that shale gas may be unlikely to bring down energy prices much in Britain.

Thanks Sirius, it's amazing how the above quote only comes out after the
government has backed fracking...who do they think they are fooling here!!

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The Kite Fliers

--------------------
Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

But government advisers warn today that shale gas may be unlikely to bring down energy prices much in Britain.

Maybe not as much as is currently being hoped, but certainly by a worthwhile amount in the long term.

The current exploration in Lancashire is an experiment that was halted amidst safety doubts. This has been addressed and is now resuming. Shale gas has helped transform the USA energy market, lowering gas and coal prices, and offers Britain, Europe's biggest gas user, a means of switching to greener energy while bolstering its falling natural gas production.

If it doesn't work out, then it doesn't, but we have to try.

From what I read on this fracking issue the UK could be sitting on at least
50 years of gas reserves here. Hopefully not to become another misleading
governmental quote. France and Germany have in place policies that don't
permit their utilities to explore fracking at the moment. I see the potential
for Europe to suck up our fracking gas cheaply then when run dry explore their
own and sell it to us as expensively as they do for their other energies.
The UK government would love this scenario for it would bring in valuable
foreign currency....just like they did with our oil. I know the game, seen it
all happen before.

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The Kite Fliers

--------------------
Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

From what I read on this fracking issue the UK could be sitting on at least
50 years of gas reserves here. Hopefully not to become another misleading
governmental quote. France and Germany have in place policies that don't
permit their utilities to explore fracking at the moment. I see the potential
for Europe to suck up our fracking gas cheaply then when run dry explore their
own and sell it to us as expensively as they do for their other energies.
The UK government would love this scenario for it would bring in valuable
foreign currency....just like they did with our oil. I know the game, seen it
all happen before.

Totally agree. The main cause of that was & still is, too many "Sir Humphrey's" getting involved so that they can see their names go down in the history books!

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Yes Sirius, really some of us aren't so wet behind the ears as our government
would wish us to be.

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The Kite Fliers

--------------------
Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

Have you two got a long piece of string and two tin cans? You both seem to pop up within minutes of each other.....

Darn it, rumbled already...ah well, just have to create another account........

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And what makes you think we would sell gas that we need abroad? Apart from which if there is 50 years supply there, that scenario is so far in the future as to be completely indeterminable. We could have two world wars in the next 50 years. We do have to be a little realistic here.

Humpy....you know why.....the same reason our Maggie got the North Sea oil
companies to maximise their output......to export for valuable foreign currency.....it is documented.

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The Kite Fliers

--------------------
Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

Good old Mail, doom and gloom headlines sell more newspapers. They really are a miserable bunch of beggars.

Gordon Bennett! Another good reply....although......

...Thanks for confirming that the muppets in charge are also miserable buggers as the Daily Toerag only published the "official" figures released by those very same muppets..... :)

...then again, no wonder the papers get their info wrong......

Office of National Statistics under fire

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This is an old market -

The UK has 300 years of coal used at the rate we did during the 1970s. To make it viable again, research in to underground coal gasification is needed. A project I believe is quietly being done.

There is a similar story over shale gas reserves .... assuming it was fracked, released and used at the UK's current gas use, then the UK has well over 100 years of reserves at a 10% extraction rate. Shale gas extraction is likely to peak at up to 30% of the agreed reserves. Which is why the Greens and others are so concerned over a dash for gas, rather than building expensive and inefficient wind turbines.

I still think the gas price will drop, but it will take 10 years, and commercial pressures and Government greed for revenues may well reduce the size of the price reduction.

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It's good to be back amongst friends and colleagues

Total Chaos

MPs dismayed by 'total chaos' of £42m lost in translation

Outsourcing of courts' interpreter service was 'an object lesson in how not to do it'