Making the news today....

[trigger_andy]

4 minutes ago, devon TWiG said:

The great myth of urban Britain

WWW.BBC.CO.UK

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What proportion of Britain do you reckon is built on? By that I mean covered by buildings, roads, car parks, railways, paths...

 

Such a misleading article. You just have to look at the light pollution in the articles own picture to see what nonsense it is. Its like looking at a virus spreading in a Petri dish. We've also bisected the landscape to such a degree that wildlife simply does not have a chance. What is not built on is given over to farmland and the issues that causes as well. That will need to increase in relation to the population as well as we'll have more mouth's to feed, more homes needing built and more roads needed to connect them all. Thank feck Scotland is so rugged and isolated that the prospect of urbanising it like England will not happen in my generation. Hopefully in my Children's, or Grand Children's Generation we realise the folly of what we're doing, or something comes along and makes that decision for us. 

[openspaceman]

24 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

something comes along and makes that decision for us. 

What makes you think it hasn't?

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

3 hours ago, Gimlet said:

And the tribalism, misogyny and intolerant thinking that caused the failure of their own societies

I’d add - nepotism, corruption and hypocrisy to that mix. 

[trigger_andy]

6 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

What makes you think it hasn't?

For example?

[donnk]

On 23/03/2020 at 18:52, Matthew Storrs said:

Feel your pain. I suspect everyone is feeling the frustration to not crack on as per normal. I have a lot of work ahead of me- 95% of it involves not seeing a soul all day- but if we are put in lock down- I guess it can’t be one rule for one and another for another? The twist of the blade is the nice weather on the cards for the next two weeks- been waiting for this for 6 months!

 

Regarding childcare- my other half is a ‘key’ worker. But the school sent us a letter (and I agree with them) saying If the partners are not key workers then the child should stay at home. I wouldn’t want her going to school anyway. So we are in lock down in the garden at the moment!

you are 100% fine going to work as you cannot work from home, just practice sensible distancing if it takes your fancy.

 

We havent stopped on site, if anyone starts sounding a bit rough then off home they go but it hasnt happened yet.

[tree-fancier123]

1 hour ago, devon TWiG said:

The great myth of urban Britain

WWW.BBC.CO.UK

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What proportion of Britain do you reckon is built on? By that I mean covered by buildings, roads, car parks, railways, paths...

 

you said before about spending some of your time driving - surely you must have seen vast swathes of new builds that were open countryside in your younger days? 

The article states the obvious - that the Scottish highlands are still relatively unspoiled. If the 10% figure for England is correct it must mean the best 10% has gone, leaving a few flood plains, remote hill tops and boggy marshes we haven't ruined yet.

Hey what a boon it would be for the building trade if we tried to turn for example Lyme Regis into this

 

 

[Guest Gimlet]

1 hour ago, trigger_andy said:

Thank feck Scotland is so rugged and isolated that the prospect of urbanising it like England will not happen in my generation. Hopefully in my Children's, or Grand Children's Generation 

Don't bet on it. Japan is more mountainous than Scotland and has less available arable land as a percentage of landmass than the UK. It is a third larger than the UK but has double the population, mostly in mega-cities on the coastal flats. It's all too feasible for Scotland to follow suit.

 

For Scotland to achieve comparable population density with England it needs to add 35 million to its population. More people means GDP. More GDP means more of other people's money to play with. Money means power. Never underestimate the determination of your political class to do precisely that. A lot of them would love to compete with England on every level, including population growth.

Edited April 19, 2020 by Gimlet

[trigger_andy]

Just now, Gimlet said:

Don't bet on it. Japan is more mountainous than Scotland and has less available arable land as a percentage of landmass. It is a third larger than the UK but has double the population. 

 

For Scotland to achieve comparable population density with England it needs to add 35 million to its population. Never underestimate the determination of your political class to do precisely that. 

Hmmm, thanks for pissing on my chips.  

 

You're most likely right too! I can see me migrating to a more remote spot of Scotland as I get older. Or I'll manage to convince my mate to sell me 20 acres of his forested land and I'll build a cabin on it and live happily ever after.  The family are down to their last 1000 acres, its only a matter of time before they sell another parcel.  

[Guest Gimlet]

5 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

Hmmm, thanks for pissing on my chips.  

 

You're most likely right too! I can see me migrating to a more remote spot of Scotland as I get older. Or I'll manage to convince my mate to sell me 20 acres of his forested land and I'll build a cabin on it and live happily ever after.  The family are down to their last 1000 acres, its only a matter of time before they sell another parcel.  

 

And educate the next generation in the meantime to your way of thinking. The powers that be will move heaven and earth to indoctrinate them with the idea that endless expansion under the micro-control of benign government and their sponsors in big business is the only right, "safe" and equitable way to live. And right now they are winning that argument with those who have never known any other existence. You see youth everywhere swallowing it wholesale. It's up to us to reverse that.

Edited April 19, 2020 by Gimlet

[David Cropper]

51 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

Hmmm, thanks for pissing on my chips.

Try vinegar, slightly better flavour.