onetruth

Just in case anybody cares but doesn't know, Steven Hawking is in the new series of Hitchhiker's Guide on radio 4 on Thursdays. First episode is on the i-player. Edit: they're also repeating one of his Reith lectures tonight at 9.

Either engineer a Sino-Russian border war or prove that he's gay.

Definitely not an easy one, and in the absence of any suggestions of my own, I feel a bit mean in criticising yours. Oh, well... You are spot on in identifying him as a gangster: hitting his mates financially is absolutely the right thing to do, unfortunately we've been doing that since not long after he took power, and there aren't that many more easy targets. All the obvious sources have been tapped already. We could probably put a bit more of a squeeze on, but there is a cost to doing this sort of thing. God knows what nefarious deals have been made with his buddies by our own elites - there's possibly too much to risk for the sake of a couple of Russians, a policeman and a minor chemical attack in a minor English town. Flippancy intentional - but that's the way our decision makers will have to look at it. The "making Russia great again" thing is true. A bit of agro with the west does him no harm politically. No amount of sanctions can change that. The Iran thing is simply wrong. Russia has a very temporary, very shakey "alliance" with Iran over Syria only. The Iranians hate the Russians nearly as much as they hate the Americans and Brits. Nothing to be gained there (as far as hurting Putin is concerned) - if anything, he'd welcome any souring of relations between UK and Iran. Syria - well, we've well and truly missed the boat on that one. There was a time (circa. first vote on intervention), before Putin committed to supporting Assad, when this could have worked. Though, equally, intervening could have gone horribly wrong (and based on our other recent adventures in Muslim countries, almost certainly would have done). Won't work now - he's thoroughly committed, and UK has neither the means nor appetite to play in that theatre. Cyber aggression - I think we have much more to lose, tbh. We could hurt Russia, Russia could hurt us. Putin would still be there, posing topless on a horse for his official 2019 calendar. As I say, I have no better suggestions. He shouldn't be allowed to send bombers into our airspace, send submarines off our coastline, invade friendly countries, annex bits of Europe, support genocidal regimes, disrupt our democratic elections, murder journalists, defraud his population, carry out assassinations in the UK using radiological and chemical weapons, etc. etc. But what can we do? Vlad will be Vlad.

They did, but they didn't realise what had happened for several days after the attack, so there was less urgency in the clean-up operation.

I think the US and EU will show solidarity and stand firm beside Britain as we do absolutely nothing.

Probably will after the first round.

What are the rules for updating competency certificates? For example: - Do I need to take a full reassessment for CS30 every 5 years, or is it only recommended? - What about all the other tickets?

I thought that was more down to the quality of the oil than the machine. Stihl and husky both say you must use their own branded oils, which can be used a lot leaner than generic 2-strokes. Hopefully somebody who actually knows something about engines can confirm or correct me...

Only to third parties, though. The drunk driver wont get anything from them.

Probably for much the same reason - it's a minor hassle to do so and all the insurer wants is to secure your business. I note that I do have to provide proof of no claims entitlement each time - funny that. Also, drive without a licence and the police might get involved. Not likely for operating a chainsaw without the right ticket.

Discussions on all of them in the chainsaw forum. Tried here? https://arbtalk.co.uk/forums/topic/46801-3120xp-or-ms880/ Including 661 isn't really like-for-like comparison.

Had to google it for comparison - leaves and bark do look remarkably similar. I'd guess ash, and if I'm wrong, whatever it is would have been my second guess.

He obviously meant "mile", stop taking the Mick.

I'm slightly embarrassed to ask, but - what?

Seems like a lot of hand-wringing by this insurance broker to me. Why not ask for proof of qualifications or training? Never used them, so I don't know what questions they do actually ask when selling a policy. "Are you suitably qualified and trained?" would just be them covering their backs, not making any effort actually find out.

They keep changing it.

Reading back, it seems nobody is making the crucial distinction between farmers and landowners (apart from @kevinjohnsonmbe). With regards to subsidies, the current system is not great. But the idea of abolishing all agri-subsidies and letting the market sort itself out is terrible. Nevermind the effects on those working in the industry and all us consumers, which would be unpredictable but almost certainly very painful, the real concern might be existential. Twice in the last century Britain was nearly starved into submission, and these were at times when we had an empire and wealthy sympathetic ally to help us out. If we don't subsidise our inefficient farming industry, we will have but a tiny fraction of the capacity to feed our cities if, for whatever reason, our ability to import food disappears. This isn't a crazy could-never-happen scenario, it has been hundreds of years since we produced a net surplus of food. We definitely need to sort out how we subsidise, both what and to whom. But we'll still need to do it. Proper custodianship is essential, and that will come with a hefty price-tag.

yes, I could say all of that about myself. pretty much every word. one bad thing I've noticed is that, although i'm more patient than ever with strangers, I'm becoming increasingly grumpy towards people I love. tbh I hate that change and i'm sure it's not normal, but haven't yet learnt the self-discipline to overcome it

...and with margins being tight in the industry, unless there was a willingness for the consumer or government to fund a mass vaccination programme, it wont be an effective solution either.

To be fair, he never said there wasn't, just that it wasn't relevant when compared with the various practices he mentioned. I think the scientific evidence supports this, or at least that sporadic culling of badgers is almost completely ineffectual. (Not my field, I'm just basing this on what I can recall hearing on Farming Today over the years).

Nature of the beast, isn't it? To be a successful politician you need to be a self-serving bastard to some extent. Only exception I can think of was Mo Mowlam - she never said anything that angered me and actually managed to achieve something genuinely worthwhile. I'd happily have Jacob Rees-Mogg feeding the chipper.

easy to replace. they serve a purpose but are completely devoid of any glamour and tend to attract grime.

Looks like two guys in rubber masks and Kim Jong Un.

isn't that how you're meant to test them? chainbrakes, that is, not moderators.