sime42

I know what you mean; of course this is a hugely complex subject, it's not just an easy black and white issue. The ridiculously arrogant and ill informed, (not to mention partially illiterate), post precipitated a strong response. Lots of very nasty things happened in every civilisation throughout history, I'm not claiming it was just within the British Empire. All the other European Colonial Powers were doing similar things at the time. I just don't think that Colonialism, of any nationality, should be glorified, and to claim that the world would be a better place if the British Empire still existed is just nonsense. (As is the assertion that British culture is in some way superior to all others.) Of course plenty of positives came out of it, but I can't believe that any fair and open minded person could argue that it was a good thing on balance for all those countries/peoples/cultures that we subjugated or even obliterated. Just look at all those straight lines on maps of Africa and the Middle East, they can't be a good thing. Those borders were obviously drawn up with scant regard to the native people actually living on tbe ground. We're still paying the price for those arbitrary divisions now, especially in the Middle East. On the other hand I'm not one of those people demanding apologies and pulling down statues all over the place, that's just pointless BS. What happened happened, it was of its time, we can't change that. Creating the country of Israel where it is was patently a big mistake with hindsight. I dont know the answers either. All we can do is approach these very complicated issues in an intelligent, diplomatic and if possible empathetic way. I do know for certain that sentiments like those expressed below will not resolve anything, and serve only to inflame the situation further.

All that from a Muslim country too.

Iraq is not called the Cradle of Civilization for nothing. We would have struggled to subjugate a third of the world without some of the important things invented there. 5 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know Were Invented In Iraq - Preemptive Love PREEMPTIVELOVE.ORG Iraq has an incredibly rich and unique history. Istanbul, Rome, Paris, New York, Tokyo—centers of culture rise and fall, but there’s only one Cradle of Civilization, and that’s what we today call Iraq. A long…

We're on the same page mate, I was being ironic!

Oh yeah. The Romans didn't do much for us did they? Apart from giving us rabbits.

Perhaps theft and all the other numerous barbaric and criminal things that we did don't matter if they're in "shit hole" countries. [emoji848]

You're a complete anachronism mate. Have you ever heard of the ancient Chinese, Egyptian, South American, Middle Eastern, even Zimbabwean cultures? Most of them were highly civilised well before the "Great" British Empire, we were still grovelling around in the mud when they had their heydays.

Ummm, this is interesting. Cheers gents. Maybe what I've got isn't Leylandii after all. It's certainly not creamy white, (except a tiny bit of sapwood on the edge), as arbwork described. It looks more like macpherson's photos, also has the strangely kind of acrid smell. So maybe it's Thuja plicata. Bit unnerving as I'm now doubting myself; perhaps some of the trees I've been thinking were Leylandii for years weren't actually.

Lovely. Nice to see that Colonialism is still alive and kicking.

You think? I'm not a fan. It lights easily and burns hot certainly, but doesn't last nearly long enough. I get fed up with constantly having to feed the wood burner.

So I took down a sizeable Leylandii yesterday. Probably about 3ft diameter at chest height. I'm just wondering if it's worth saving any of the timber for some kind of woodworking. It was just destined to be logs, but after bucking it up and splitting a bit it looks too nice to just burn. Crap firewood anyway. Lovely straight grain and highly contrasting growth rings. As it's in a back garden with no access I had to cut it into manageable chunks for handling, nothing long enough to mill, so it'll be for turning or carving etc. Anyone got any experience of working with Leylandii?

I need to watch that, missed it the other week.

Covids are indeed very smart. I learnt the other day that they can recognise human faces as well. There was a story about people who'd caught crows to ID tag them, they were mobbed and squawked at forever after by those particular crows.

I'm impressed that people have been able to sharpen Silkys at all. Must need a very small, fine file and manual dexterity, for those three faced teeth. I thought the idea was that the blades couldn't be sharpened because if their manufacturing process, Silky would say that though wouldn't they?!

My thoughts entirely. Cronyism of the highest order. I caught the tail end of the program. "" As the government refuses to reveal the full details of all its so-called VIP deals....."" - and we don't even know the full extent of the fleecing yet because they not being open and honest with us again.

Ah, thank you. I didn't watch the whole thing I must admit.

Pretty much what it said on that RHS page. It's all my fault, I started this scaremongering by mistakenly overstating the nitrogen robbery thing!

Brilliant. What's powering the hydraulics?

Mulching is to stop.weeds but you don't want to do it to the detriment of the garden plants as well. The weed suppressing mechanism is largely by depriving them of light I think. But ......... I've subsequently looked this up and it seems that I overstated the nitrogen deficiency issue. I take most of it back! See halfway down the page for this link:- Woody waste: using as a mulch WWW.RHS.ORG.UK Wood and bark from chipped or shredded tree, shrub and hedge prunings makes a useful mulching material in the garden. Anyway, we digress. We're running the risk of seriously derailing Steve's well intentioned Thread!

Of course, I was talking short-term.

Maybe not quite what you meant but might be useful nonetheless. If the wood chip is destined for use as a garden mulch it needs to be at least 1 year old. If it's fresh it sucks nitrogen out of the soil apparently.

That tragedy about the ancestral trail being cleared has a certain Orange glow to it if you ask me. Reminds me of the Keystone pipeline controversy. Keystone XL pipeline: Why is it so disputed? WWW.BBC.CO.UK As President Biden cancels the Keystone XL pipeline, we look at its history of controversy.

Case in point;- """"There’s no trolls as you put it on here in reality.…………………………… don’t ask me to explain any further as I’m busy.""""

That's the thing, you might seem to say some random things, at random points in discussions, but from what I've seen you're always good natured, polite and respectful to others at least. Unlike the real one or two Trolls on here who are aggressive, angry, belligerent, bullying, disrespectful etc etc.

""Taxes to be at ‘highest sustained level in history’, warn experts. "" Maybe this is one of the reasons that we'll all be crippled by taxes for life;- Covid-19: NHS Test and Trace 'no clear impact' despite £37bn budget WWW.BBC.CO.UK It was set up to help prevent lockdowns but there have been two more since its launch, MPs say.