Big J

I'm reminded of a Gyles Brandreth quote: "The definition of a Scottish Gentleman is someone who knows how to play the bagpipes, but chooses not to"

Just started at the other large sawmill in the village this week as work had been a bit inconsistent at the first. But the first are desperate for me too now, so it seems I have two jobs! In the long term, I'm hoping to split my time between the two, but I am not sure that'll be optimal for everyone. We'll see.

I'm in Sweden but work in the sawmilling industry. I'm British, but also have a German passport, so I didn't have to deal with post-Brexit red tape. @josharb87 would be my first port of call. He's worked extensively in arboriculture and would be able to offer good advice. For general "moving to Sweden" stuff, I can help, though I live very rurally, so our situation is quite different to that of someone in a city.

Fell it and replace with something nicer. Literally anything is nicer than a leylandii.

Not surprising anyone here, I suspect.

The forecast is extreme for the Bristol channel. I checked Minehead and it's forecast a steady 105kph gusting almost 150kph. We did a lovely thinning job on a hill above the town in 2021. It's going to get hit square on. Id be surprised if much is left standing after that. Shallow, rocky soil and 100ft plus Douglas fir. Included is the forecast for Minehead tomorrow morning

It was only minus 3c, so normal (fairly cheap) winter cycling gloves are fine. When it's much below that I switch to ski mittens. In my previous post, it should read serious gales, not serious fakes. Bloody autocorrect.

Some serious fakes forecast for Saturday in the SW of England. I saw a sustained wind speed of 75kph for Barnstaple. Winter is a bit late arriving here but we've had some reasonable frosts and light snow the last few days. Here are a few photos and a video from the last two days on the bike. VID_20241204_123150_527~2.mp4

I think it wouldn't be a bad idea if they sent all trainee gritters and snow ploughers to Scandinavia for a few weeks in winter. It's not rocket science and living with ice and snow is something people just do for 4-7 months a year (depending on how far north you are).

Totally agree, but didn't we hear enough from so called experts in the run up to the Brexit referendum? I think it was in the news this week that the OBR stated that Brexit has caused a 15% reduction in export activity. Damn those experts - why didn't they warn us of this? Oh wait.....

To explain what I believe a cynical take on a rational position, I'll make a series of statements. Let me know if you disagree with any of them: The US political system is disfunctional, corrupt and anti-democratic It's also corrupted by undue and ridiculous religious influence Despite the clear and obvious differences between the candidates, there will be a continuation of the status quo (to a greater or lesser degree). Trump is an awful human being, by any measure. Harris is not an awful human being. I am not saying that this is how I feel. I believe that a Trump presidency presents a clear and obvious danger to the world, but I'm making the above list from a deeply cynical standpoint. Trump is awful. Harris is not. Any idiot can see that.

You don't really understand how the weather works, do you? Wonderful how you bring in some conspiracy theory into climate science too. Marvellous.

Human caused climate change? It's irrefutable. I have a good friend in Devon who is a deputy chief forecaster at the Metoffice. Sometimes he's the acting chief, depending on shift patterns. I chat to him a lot about climate and weather and the rate at which the climate is changing is horrifying. It's not gradual or something that's tied to any natural process. It's rapid, it's accelerating and it's something that's self evident even over our lifetimes. For reference, the last time that the world had the same CO2 levels as are found today (3 million years ago), it was 2-3c warmer than it is today. There is a lot of scope for it to get a lot warmer. With the advancing and accelerating melting of the ice caps, global sea rises will cause vast issues for tens of millions of people in low lying regions, resulting in mass migration. Similarly, advancing desertificiation in regions experiencing increasing temperatures and reduced rainfall will result in tens of millions of refugees. I would have thought that it would serve the white nationalist agenda of people like Trump to try to do all that is possible to keep the darkies in their own countries 😄 🤪

The UK system of first past the post is also a poor representation of democracy, but it's positively wonderful compared to the UK electoral college system. At least in the UK, Labour got the most votes and formed a government. In the US, it's perfectly possible to lose the popular vote (by millions) and still win the electoral college. As regards Biden's cognitive decline - yes, it's definitely happened and I think it happened quite quickly. I think that there was a culture of denialism within the Dems about that and they should have been more forthright and much sooner. I'm not defending that. But I'd far rather see a good man suffering the ill-effects of old age in the White House than a narcisistic scumbag with dementia. As regards how Trump is a fascist? John Kelly, Trumps former chief of staff has stated, on the record that he meets all the criteria of a fascist. His statement has been backed by 13 former Trump officials. It is noteable that virtually no one from Trump's former administration is backing him, and many have spoken out against him. I don't like the state of US politics at all. I don't especially like Harris and I wish the situation were different. The best politicians in US politics don't make it to the top due to the sheer weight of corporate interest in the system (Bernie Sanders being a case in point - a top bloke). The situation with next month's election cannot be overstated. If Trump is elected, there will be long lasted and catastrophic consequences for the world. People like to say that the previous four years weren't so bad but what they don't realise is that he never expected to win in 2016, and as such, he had no time to pick toadies and yes men to enact his will. During 2017-2021, most of his administration acted as a buffer, a restraint, a check on his impulses and desires. There were management strategies in place in the White House to distract and divert his attention away from his more extreme whims. In 2025, none of that would exist. The whole Project 2025 document outlines exactly how they'd dismantle the federal state, replacing apolitical positions with Trump loyalists. It's f**king frightening, and directly out of Hitler's (who Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for) playbook.

I do agree that the Dems have a habit of picking candidates who are suboptimal. I would have liked to have seen Pete Buttigieg, but there are too many people in the US who wouldn't elect a gay guy. And whilst I'm no huge fan of Harris, compared to the alternative, she's the obvious choice. The entire American political system is totally f**ked. It is completely dominated by money and inevitably doesn't serve the people. The electoral college system is anti-democratic and the country is so starkly divided along party lines that the notion of it being a United States of America is laughable. I read recently that congressmen/women spend fully 50% of their time fund raising. It's insane.