openspaceman

Yes, I worked with him many years ago and visited his mill when I retired but he didn't keep in contact.

@wills-mill

You are sorry your mum gave birth to you?😆 Happy birthday Stubby, glad you are here.

Yes Russian economy had already fallen way behind since it became a centralised economy in 1917, who knows how they might have been with better rulers given all the resources available to them. The british economy largely depended on imports from the empire and its manufacturing was in the hands of a wealthy minority. Once it had to pay world prices for materials the wealthy largely bailed out. What it did have was a well educated middle class and technocrats which not only provided the science that developed innovative solutions Chain Home, cavity magnetron, Colossus amongst many others, details of which were freely given to US who benefited very well from the gift. Despite the set back to the economy it remains a good place to live and work although Canada and Australia were tempting. The national insurance scheme actually means I would only spend 60% of my life earning 🙂 but that probably won't last for the next generation as the Gini ratio moves to the american way. The answer is probably that there never would have been an invasion of europe; that depended on our half american prime minister persuading Roosevelt, to deal with Europe first while the bulk of the German army were engaged in Russia. Japan made a fundemental mistake in attacking America when they did, this doomed Hitler. Japan was in an onerous position, already embargoed by US and, like Britain dependent on imports. Their miscalculation was in thinking if they swept up all the colonial assets of the French, Dutch and British once Germany occupied mainland Europe , their main enemy now now occupied fighting germany for the las six months and with the incursion into China stalled, America would intervene. It would not have. Eventually there would have been a war between Japan and US but too late to save Europe. The axis were a dysfunctional alliance whereas America, Britain (which headed the commonwealth of nations, many still colonies) and Russia (less so) were coordinated. The fly in Hitler's plan to create a reich which could out compete the american economy depended on the securing of land and resources in eastern europe, he thought he had settled a deception on Chamberlain but 31 March 1939 Chamberlain had signed an agreement with France and Poland (which Russia was planning to invade) that they would come to their aid should Germany attack. German plans depended on taking Poland in order to get to their goal of the agricultural lands of Ukraine and the oil fields to the south of USSR. When Hitler invaded Poland in September 1939 and Russia was given the east Poland two months later as a feint, Hitler did not expect Chamberlain to declare war. So he had to bring forward his contingency plan to attack France through the low countries.

It wasn't by the Marshall plan. Germany and Japan were rebuilt under it wheras UK was excluded from any of the resulting trade. Worse was the exclusion of british scientists from knowledge they had supplied in the Manhattan project. The UK government realised the new threat was Russia and embarked on our own nuclear weapons project but without some core knowledge which resulted in a fire at Windscale. As I said the war in wouldn't have been won without US industrial might ( which was able to develop hugely in the absence of bombing) and the many more of their servicemen that were killed than brits ( in fact US commanders have always been a bit gung ho with their use of troops from 1917-18 through 1942 to 45 then Korea and Vietnam). Yes during the war we received massive amounts of material and food but the american economy grew well from the war, we emerged destitute and the cost was the loss of the colonies as a result of the Atlantic treaty. I grew up in the early post war years and saw the way the american standard of living was outstripping ours ( my father's younger sister was a GI bride and the family visited several times in the 60s, twice on Cunard queens before air travel took over). Then half a crown was referred to as half a dollar, a dollar was 10 shillings and 4$ to the £, That's how far we slipped in economic terms. I did not know about the WW1 debt but oddly we committed troops in the russian civil war after 1918 but don't think the US did . I suppose their irrational fear of communism had not yet developed.

That says something about the profitability of growing food nowadays. When I started work I would often see a Bedford MK lime spreader on the road to and from the water works, collecting lime which came up from the aquifer with the water, or spreading it in a field.

I'd guess sorbus too but aria, whitebeam

I don't normally allow myself to indulge in the personality's of politicians but this one infuriates me, how can a religious bigot be involved.

I admit to a bias as I blame american quasi diktats for a lot of the problems in the middle east and the problems with our economy in the post war years. Yes the war would not have been won without them but they benefited hugely from the Marshall plan where they hung UK out to dry because we elected a what they considered was a socialist government.

When was that then? It was never put to the test after 1945 and then it had taken a direct attack on them to commit troops.

Pussy moth cocoon? We really need an etymologist to answer

So where does it sit in the range of saws or is it just for next to the chipper? You cut 3 logs on the video but would it cut half a cubic metre bulked on your 300Wh battery?

So that's the piston but no rings showing? If that's the actual cylinder bore the scoring looks bad, more akin to having sucked something hard in

It normally means a slight leak in the heating circuit, often only visible around a radiator tap gland as a faint greenish stain. The heat of the water having evaporated the leak before it drips.

Yes I drink the Guiness if I am trying to be sociable