Steven P

For tree maintenance, one truck every 5 years and a couple of hours of chainsaw use is small stuff considering the traffic that will pass a tree in that time, insignificant really, Road sides are a massive land area in the UK and it makes sense to use it if you can - so long as it is safe. There are many old trees along road sides that would have been removed if else where to make room for housing or larger fields, but you have a point, too close to the road is no good. Personally local to me, I prefer my walk, cycles or runs to be along roads with trees and hedges as opposed to those lined with fences and wall, definitely better than ones lined with houses too.

Not a troll by the way, just an opposing opinion. Oh, and google to back that up.

From previous post a good tip is to make any mods reversible so that if you ever sell it you can do so with it at it's default 'safe' arrangement

I missed this post in July - but been fancying one of those little crawler tractors for a while now. Couple more years and I can empty The Boys climbing wall out the garage and have space for a new toy.

awww, you moved on too quick from renewable energy and now on to nanny states. Just when I had been reading that China despite building coal power stations also.... - Produces 30% of its electricity from renewable resources (the UK is about 40%, more than the US, but not as much as Germanys 50%... nordstream anyone?) - Uses less electricity per head of population than the UK so has a massive demand for electricity generation (and far less than the US, or Canada - I use the US as a beacon to the world with their Holywood influence) - Also has a massive population, in 60 years has required 6 times more electricity per person as the country industrialises and modernises. This is a lot of electricity generation needed. Nuclear won't cut it with the lead times on a new power station, they want power now, not 20 years time. As a nation we cannot say "Don't" because then a billion migrants will be coming to the bright electrical lights of the west. What we can do is use our (post brexit dwindling) influence on the world to lead by example. Africa is even further behind their electrification and will no doubt go down the fossil fuels route before switching to renewable energies. Got to look at the world, do the reading, look at the facts, the numbers, what will happen if we say 'do this' or 'don't do this'. It all works together as a glorious whole thing, rather than getting angry about 1 headline that pushes a political narrative. Noting that the UK government is relaxing the 'de-facto' ban on onshore wind turbines (todays press word of the day). This is a good thing. Right, Nanny state.... I'll tick renewable energy off my list.

I might contest this. Most European governments are at most centre left, not far left (communist totalitarian states). The US is centre of centre with a chance of going right, China going more capitalist. Old school far left? Totalitarian communist states? Not may at all. Same with far right totalitarian fascist states, not many at all. We bumble along slight shift wither way of the centre for the majority of the world with free elections

electric chain saw, £100, goggle, helmet, boots, gloves, saw proof trousers - any more minimum kit required? + £100, see the saw after, maybe the safety kit -£70, total cost £130. Might almost be viable for a few ££ more to pay someone, end of the day job if you are not demanding which day they do it. However, looks like something you could do yourself

That's that's the one. Known and accessible. 100+ years of using oil as a fuel. satellite technology, geologists and geographers, massive corporations desperate to pay the next dividend, countries who would love a nice oil dividend leads to some intense investigations. Known reserves arn't far off what there is. Will have to dig out theoretical reserve quantities sometime for you.

PS Just having a month playing "Daily Mail Rage Bingo",

Yup, UK has enough reserves for the UK for 30 years with no exports (see links below) Worldwide, Wikkipedia reckons 60 years, this might be a race between me and the oil though which one ends first. BP report on worldwide oil was a similar report, but they might be biased for making profits and that report takes a little understanding - no easy to quote summary figure, have to do sums to calculate it. Neither of these reports come from any political divide, just numbers. But why let a number worry you,. it won't affect me but my children will have to work out the solutions I guess if we don't OEUK: There's Enough Oil & Gas in North Sea to Fuel UK for 30 Years, But Industry Needs Fiscal WWW.OEDIGITAL.COM The UK North Sea still has a lot to offer when it comes to oil and gas reserves yet to be produced. However, unpredictable fiscal… List of countries by proven oil reserves - Wikipedia EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

To be fair it is fairly plain that relying on oil is a dead end, Russian, Arab, or Nigerian, it is predicted to run out in my life. Nordstream has had a benefit that more people are recognising how reliant we are on the ore stable regimes of the world.

Just to confirm this, take a walk in your local park to look at some of the mature horse chestnut trees there (or other large mature trees) - you'll get the idea.

I'll read The Daily Mail review of it and tell you his opinion shortly....

again... why let some fact checking get in the way of a good mornings rage..... grrrr!!!

Amazingly angry when you tried to defend reading the press that you do, why is that? Anyway, wasn't here to make you look silly this morning, just one to remind me to write a story about cats later, European cats, so I expect you to bite nicely, perhaps even fume for a little while

Arsonists? Simple disposable BBQ left at the end of the night will do the trick. Hot summers, people go out and about, cook things, fires start, wet summers and we don't plan weekend BBQs and camping trips, fewer wild fires. Hardly a conspiracy, more stating the obvious, or not as the case might be. I should be a scientist - how much does he get paid to figure that out? More important I guess he also got paid again by the Mail Online to write that..... follow the money

By the way, not buying your change of tune here, for so long everything that you think is wrong with the UK is down to Asylum seekers trying to cross the channel in small boats to reach a place of sanctuary. Never a peep about economic migration. I reckon you need a very serious rethink about the press you read, the political leaders you follow, and to pop online every so often to check that their political agenda is the full story.

Ahha! Much better now, moving on from immigration where the numbers don't suit? At least I can let rip with the quality of our last half dozen prime ministers....

Oh, yes, Government policies have made asylum seeking in the UK illegal, and massive economic migration retained as legal. What were the numbers I got off the government website, 1.1 million economic migrants in a year, 78,000 'illegal' ones. Where is the migration problem happening that you keep banging on about?

I reckon the numbers would change, so many people shout so loudly and they'd have to be really silly to keep at it if it made no difference to reality.

Bollocks, doing that statistics thing again arn't I?

From the government, year June 2022 to June 2023 work visas (including dependants) ..... 538,887 - controlled be government policies study visas (including dependants), ..... 657,208, including sponsored and short-term students - controlled by government policies Asylum applications 78,768 (the small boats) - cannot control this

When the last labour government was in power there was about 4 asylum seekers crossing the channel in a small boat, now there are thousand, a real success of Tory policies, from nothing to a thriving industry of small businesses making a go of it. We should celebrate that.

Ahh, I've messed up again, whoops. Sorry!

Why let a good argument ruin a statistic.... per head of population Refugees in the UK ranks below Germany, Switzerland, Norway and even Sweden, which you might expect, but also places like Cameroon, Libya, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Algeria and even Canada (you have to really want to get to Canada in a Dinghy!). For a G7 country we are quite far down the list. The vast majority of the small boat crossings are by asylum seekers apart from Albanians (who only something like 1/3rd are given permission to stay, the rest are sent home again) Kind of ruins the argument that they are picking and choosing where to go to doesn't it... or maybe it doesn't an actually they'd prefer to go to Iran than the UK!