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MajorMajor
MajorMajor
2 months ago

In the Times, Patrick Maguire warns that McSweeney’s exit leaves Starmer’s premiership on the brink.”

So I don’t know much about this McSweeney guy (I only know about McSween’s haggis) but… this almost mystical qualities that he’s supposed to have… the brain behind Labour’s strategy… the guardian of their success…
You really have to ask yourself: what on earth has he achieved?
Labour got into power by default: nobody could be bothered to vote for the fake conservatives.
Their governing can be characterized as total failure. Rising taxes, everything broken, incompetence, dithering, embarrassment, fiasco, humiliation.
And yet somehow when this guy leaves, it’s as if he had been some intellectual giant that will be sorely missed.
Really?

For a fist full of roubles
Reply to  MajorMajor

He is Irish. I want to know why he was (according to his resignation letter) in the government. I thought we we governed by our elected representatives

huxleypiggles
2 months ago

Irish and committed Republican. See the article posted above.

pjar
2 months ago
Reply to  MajorMajor

It occurred to me in the wee small hours of this morning that the problem we have today might, perhaps, be laid at the doors of the universities that offer PPE degrees that churn out identikit and interchangeable ‘politicians’ who see politics simply as a career choice, where they can line their pockets?

Very few of them have actual political views, as can be seen by the presence of focus groups and people like McSweeny, who guide them in how to package whatever they are saying to try and sell it to as broad a spectrum of the electorate as possible suggests they neither know what they’re talking about, nor believe it.

The ease with which they can cross the floor and accept a ‘broad church’ approach to the membership of their party, when there should really be two or more separate parties is too, further evidence that they have little conviction in their beliefs.

I see Starmer is to speak to the nation today. I imagine he will have been shacked up again with his voice coach all weekend, practising his angry voice and his sorrowful voice…

Monro
2 months ago

Chris Packham ‘harassed’ huntsmen for five hours

The most tragic thing that we are likely to see today is that young woman on a horse…’

Very little concern from Mr Packham regarding the consequences of the ‘Hunting Act’, dramatically increased numbers of foxes shot, shot and wounded foxes in their thousands every year left to die an unspeakable lingering death unrecovered as a direct consequence of the Hunting Act’s two dog follow up limit, useless in thick cover.

For a fist full of roubles
Reply to  Monro

Packham is only interested in himself.

huxleypiggles
2 months ago

Packham is an appalling specimen.

soundofreason
soundofreason
2 months ago

Goodbye to diesel: British scientists develop an engine that runs on seawater and promises to revolutionise maritime and land transport

For now, the Brunel and Genuine H2 team is taking a concrete step that many coastal communities will be watching closely. Turning seawater into fuel that can push a boat without pumping carbon into the air sounds almost like science fiction when you first hear it. The coming years will show whether this solid hydrogen approach can move from lab rig to everyday workhorse and help bring cleaner air to ports and coastal towns.

Almost? I do hope they’re on to something – but solid H2 storage at scale sounds too good to be true. I like most SciFi.

JohnK
2 months ago
Reply to  soundofreason

It’s an interesting article, especially about the storage mechanism for Hydrogen, but “The system uses advanced electrodes that split hydrogen directly from seawater using renewable electricity.”. And where is that going to come from, either out at sea or on land? It says nothing about thermal efficiency, either; probably not very good, a cynic might say.

pjar
2 months ago
Reply to  JohnK

Yes, I wondered that, too… I think, from what the article says, the electricity for the cracking is to come from 100%‘renewables’, which suggests that they will recharge in port, probably from battery arrays for those occasions when the wind don’t blow and the sun don’t shine… not unlike bunkering a conventional vessel, I suppose?

No indication of the time required to recharge the vessel, or course, though at this stage they probably don’t know… it would be interesting too, to see a EIEO calculation for the system.

Still, everything has to start somewhere and I don’t imagine the first ICE demonstrations would have suggested the massive engines these devices are proposed to replace?

Dinger64
2 months ago
Reply to  soundofreason

I Dont think we’ll be waving goodbye to diesel just yet as this quick peice of googling explains

Producing solid hydrogen is energy-intensive and currently not cost-effective for large-scale, commercial use. It remains primarily in the experimental phase.

soundofreason
soundofreason
2 months ago
Reply to  Dinger64

Yes. I have it filed in the same category as cold fusion, but not in the same category as dilithium crystals.

Tonka Rigger
2 months ago
Reply to  Dinger64

Diesel is here for the foreseeable future. Whether it is produced from crude oil or biomass, it’s here for the long haul – figuratively and literally. Whilst the most efficient way to move large loads long distances is by electric freight train (supplied by overhead catenary systems), medium and short range distribution will continue to rely on diesel vehicles.

JXB
JXB
2 months ago
Reply to  soundofreason

“…. sounds almost like science fiction…” No it sounds like gimme-a-grant and taxpayer cash harvesting scam.

Free Lemming
2 months ago

Theatre for the proles. Better to entertain the savages than to have them burn your house down.

stewart
2 months ago
Reply to  Free Lemming

Absolutely.

But I’m coming round to the idea that the proles want the theatre.

Our society is like a pretty fat, unfit person that smokes, that knows he has a pretty unhealthy lifestyle and makes noises every now and then about how he should really quit smoking, join a gym and start getting healthy, but actually has no intention or will power to do it and knows it will never happen.

pjar
2 months ago
Reply to  Free Lemming

Talking of which… when are the arsonists , now allegedly five people, due in court?

Jon Garvey
2 months ago

I had an abortion due to climate anxiety. How can I come to terms with it?

Funny how for nearly 60 years they’ve failed to cover the lasting grief of many millions of mothers who had abortions, of which I saw plenty in my medical career. The grief and guilt were compounded by the fact that “society” conspired to tell them there was nothing to feel bad about.

stewart
2 months ago
Reply to  Jon Garvey

Self-genocide.

That’s what the white western population is engaged in.

Free Lemming
2 months ago
Reply to  Jon Garvey

Sadly, there are a significant number of women that have been brainwashed by the machine into believing their gift is a curse. So brainwashed that they will passionately sing the tune of the machine whilst it tears their babies from the womb and slams every door to true meaning around them. As the machine looks down and smiles they celebrate their empowerment by gleefully planning their own funeral in an empty church.

Jon Garvey
2 months ago

British scientists have unveiled a system that turns seawater into hydrogen fuel, promising cleaner ships and vehicles, according to EcoNoticias.

I gather that as a byproduct it turns lead into gold, and it gets the energy required from rainbows.

ComradeSvelte
ComradeSvelte
2 months ago
Reply to  Jon Garvey

Ahhh, that explains it, and the Unicorn?

Myra
2 months ago

The news of the enormous funds and time needed to refurbish the Palace of Westminster was published last week. It is ludicrous.
Another plan is needed.
I start: build a new Parliament. Use maybe the Treasury building (way too big for its current use and you could build the upper and lower debating chambers in the courtyard) and Old Scotland Yard. You may have to compulsory purchase another building next to it.
Then turn the Palace of Westminster into a history museum.
I briefly thought of moving the new Parliament out of London, but it would be quite tricky to move all of Whitehall.
Other ideas welcome!

EppingBlogger
2 months ago
Reply to  Myra

Get quotes other than from establishment mates. Listen to Jacob’s talk about it.

pjar
2 months ago
Reply to  Myra

And, while you’re at it, build in living quarters for 650, so that they might have somewhere to lay their heads whilst not in their constituencies, and stop this ludicrous gravy train of second homes that we pay for…

huxleypiggles
2 months ago
Reply to  pjar

This is an absolute ‘must do.’

Myra
2 months ago
Reply to  pjar

Or give them vouchers for the Holiday Inn?

pjar
2 months ago
Reply to  Myra

To be fair, there are security issues these days, which are probably better managed in a special secure unit, though not sub-contracting prison officers for the job, apparently…

Stewardship
Stewardship
2 months ago
Reply to  Myra

Build a new one on the site of the proposed Chinese embassy. Give parliament to the Chinese for their embassy. Sorted.

For a fist full of roubles

I wonder where the “renewable electricity” is going to come from on these boats that are electrolising sea water? That seems to be the bit that is being glossed over’
Perhaps they plug in to a handy wind turbine, or have an array of them mounted on deck.

For a fist full of roubles

And if they have handy renewable electricity why don’t they power the ship with electic motors directly and cut out the inevitble losses of electrolysis and storage.
Power out can never exceed total power in. Entropy rules OK.

Tonka Rigger
2 months ago

Absolutely this. My first thought. Every time energy is converted, some of it is lost.

soundofreason
soundofreason
2 months ago

Electic motors!? you’re infringing my patent.

soundofreason
soundofreason
2 months ago

I agree but I think the article suggests fueling the boat with solid hydrogen (presumably actually some sort of adsorbtion onto some other material). The hydrogen is produced on-shore from the plentiful and reliable renewables… Oh.

pjar
2 months ago
Reply to  soundofreason

The article this piece is derived from, suggests that the entire thing will be done ‘on board’.

The energy will come from the vessel’s own renewables, either solar or wind, and will convert the sea water to hydrogen and oxygen, storing it in solid state on nano-films, having apparently sidestepped the production of chlorine gas.

The solid state hydrogen thus produced is then immediately burned , as required, in modified diesel engines, with a buffer storage to maintain supply when neither wind nor solar are available…

Outside all the other issues, the trick appears to be to produce the fuel at the rate is required, direct to engine, depending on whether the engine is idling, under full load, or somewhere in between?

soundofreason
soundofreason
2 months ago
Reply to  pjar

Thanks for that.

Presumably then the boat will have a nuclear reactor to make electricity to split the seawater and store it in the wonder-storage-material before letting it out again and burning the H2 in the infernal combustion engine to make the boat go along.

I think I can see a shortcut.

EppingBlogger
2 months ago

So the Governor of the Bank of England is now an expert on the economics of AI. He does not know how to manage inflation within the requirements given to him but he has spare time on his hands to lecture us about AI.

The BoE like all other government agencies use has time and money to operate works policies, lecture us on partisan policies it wants us to support and to give a running commentary on all social, economic and political issues of the day.

When will we be rid of this turbulent Governor.

pjar
2 months ago

More bad news for PM as freebiegate donor Lord Alli is named in the Epstein Files

With the revelations that keep tumbling out of Epstein’s cupboards, are the claims of the ‘fantasist’ paedophile Carl Beech gaining credibility or, are they still just the wishful musings of a conspiracist? 🤔