Steven P

Grrr.. I've been fact checked!!!

Was just about to say that. There are loads of examples of smaller trees and other species - such as the bonsais but hawthorn and other hedge trees, fruit trees - apples are often done as espaliered which is a kind of fan

Noted your 'leave it be tone' below. Point is from the article that was making the news yesterday, a short sentence that you take offence to (how easily offended are The Daily Mail readers!), that if you look at the numbers, there are many cities grubbier than Glasgow, your own Aberdeen being one of them! Glasgow is not a grubby city. If you can't hack that then yes, time to leave this part of the discussion.

I'll leave it up to you then, you give us a fair way to compare whether a city is actually grubby, rather than Agnus and the problems with her back passage, some sort of comparison that can fairly be applied to all cities. Until then I'll stick with the number of rats, the rat ratio if you like, as a fair way to compare places. Over to you.

At the risk of dragging on with news stories from 2 or 3 years ago, just quantifying how grubby Glasgow actually is compared other cities might help those who have never been there make a fair and honest judgement. Compared to other cities I have visited or lived in, Glasgow isn't a grubby place, the numbers show that.

So what is your metric for the streets being dirty? Is it just Agnus from 3/1 saying "My back passage is dirty, there has been a filthy animal in there all weekend and now I need to get a team of guys from the council around to give it a good going over" ? Hardly a fair comparison when I bet Agnus has never been in anyones back entrance in say Dundee or Aberdeen Anyway, I'll go with numbers. Trickier to argue with them. Rats, I reckon are a good indication of dirt on the streets - perhaps food waste and so on. Glasgow has 1.3 million rats. That is a lot. London 19.9 million (all off google this morning). I can forsee your argument, London is a much bigger city - bound to have more rats? That is reasonable from you. Perhaps rats per person? Number of people - the more the larger the city, you'd expect more rats. Hmmm, lets go with that. So London 2.26 rats per person, Glasgow 2.04 rats per person, which is comparable to other cities like Sheffield (2.08), Manchester (2.01). Liverpool does quite well for having a large dock and grain stores (1.95 rats per person, maybe they are all cat people). Edinburgh, Scotlands capital and tourist hotspot 2.25 rats per person. That is more that Glasgow! Makes me think then what about other Scottish cities - Dundee, 2.2 (doesn't surprise me), Stirling is nice (0.89 rats per person), Aberdeen... oooh, 2.5 rats per person - that is a lot more that 'filthy' Glasgow, and topping the list.... Inverness with 3.83 rats per person! Glasgow doesn't look so bad based on hard numbers, I think it is just Agnus who doesn't like them up her rear entrance.

ULEZ -> more anger from The Daily Mail (and apparently The Daily Express, but I thought their obsession was "Princess Diana, did you know she died by the way?") -> more rubbish papers sold

Now you know that numbers and analysis is hard to dispute. Rumours and stories are. 'My city is filthy' doesn't say whether it is dirtier than others, just the respondent has a lower threshold for muck than others. Google any city + "Rat problem" and guess what the results will be. Anyhow, not sure if a story from a year or so ago qualifies as 'making the news today' but here is a link with analysis based on numbers rather than hearsay. A much better way to look at the world. Of course, detracting from the 'making the news today' story into one where you can invoke your mock rage, rather than admitting some good stuff goes on in the world will only make your day an angry one. The UK's Dirtiest Homes - Buildworld Blog WWW.BUILDWORLD.CO.UK House prices are determined by location cost and condition. We reveal the UK's dirtiest areas to live.

This farmer, the evicted one, doesn't make sense for him to chop it down, though might have had some involvement on a consultancy capacity

Probably, given his profession.....

So a direct answer to a direct question: a 13 mile trot around Glasgow and the south side today. And you? I wonder what results I would get if I typed into Google "streets of Glasgow now filthy" Only saying.....

As you'd epect the article is cleverly written while not innacurate, the suggestion in it are. For example "addicts can legally take drugs" there... but it is not illegal to take them anyway (a point of law, since to take them you also have to possess them which is illegal)... and of course going to the proposed centre the users will still be breaking the possession law. Which brigs me to the second point, "Pharmacists kitted in scrubs, face masks, and rubber gloves will prepare the pharmaceutical grade heroin and measure out dosages before it is taken"... but only to users who have been prescribed the drugs - such as heroin in the first place... all the others will have to source their own of course. I say users since you won't have to be an addict to use the facility when it opens. Similar facilities exist in Scotland for those prescribed drugs such as heroin can be taken, which is where the photos are from (I don't think these centres are limiting which drugs can be taken there, just providing the safer facilities). Of course "dirty backstreets" of Glasgow... suggest that Glasgow is a grubby town, which is isn't Anyway, the article is talking about a place to be built near the city centre where drug users can go with their drugs, be given sterile equipment, and do their stuff a bit safer... (and of course, a bit further from me when I am walking about the city)

Perhaps, and this is a long shot, perhaps, there should be a new thread 'World Wide Immigration' - since it is repeatedly looping around and taking up a lot of this thread space, I think if you get overly excited by it knock yourself out and have a discussion devoted to it? (Perhaps I am as guilty as any, but reckon I have got that marked off my Daily Mail Rage Bingo card now)

Unless you have a gasket like Paul in the Woods - which sounds reasonable from a manufacturer - I'd use a high temperature sealant rather than fire cement. All about the 'right tool for the job' - sealer for sealing

My car does 10,000 miles between annual services, spark plugs every few years when I remember. Same manufacturers, same materials, if that helps. As Stubby, and with cars too, I'll change them if performance drops - but after changing the filters first

Not sure how this goes with a tree that was there well before the tenancy started, probably had very little care or input from the tenant. Might be different if for example the tenant had planted an orchard. However I don't think that this counts as coppicing either

That's what I reckon too, sent 'the boy' to chop the tree down, shown him how it was done, marked the cuts on the tree, probably drove him up there on the quad bike (it is about a mile round trip to a car park otherwise), never without doubt the boy didn't go alone and for a bit of a laugh. Farmer and his son my thoughts, and probably snapped at the weekend when he'd either had a field gate blocked by a walkers car or had to pull over in his tractor to let someone pass for one too many times. Remove the tree... remove the walkers...

Depends how friendly you all are round your way, a 5 minute chat when they drop off waste might see you picking up the odd job helping them out or able to pick up an extra hand if you're busy.. or they might be scouting you out to undercut you.... depends how friendly they are

Thinking about this last night, and not to create a villain until convicted of course, but a suitable punishment would include purchasing, planting and caring for a new tree in the spot. Perhaps to care for it till the tree reaches lets say 10 years old.. and if it dies.... reset to the start, plant a new one till it gets to 10 - the lad maybe has to visit the tree once a month.... I'd be a bit lenient and mandate that the lad also attends and passes a course in Arboriculture, plus whatever fines and so on that the court would normally set. Sounds easy till it is February 5 years on and he has to haul himself out of bed in the snow to check on a tree

Almost as if there was someone else up there with him (allegedly of course) showing him what to do. Just a thought, it is quite a bare part of the country, not a lot of people living there, though I can't say for sure and without knowing exactly but I'd be putting a bet on that the lads family farm the land, of close to this spot and have finally been inconvenienced by walkers walking to see this tree for the last time. Just a suspicion. Would also put a bet on his dad driving him up there on a quad bike, mid week when it is quiet for walkers, bad weather coming, and all that

That was quick Google!

Well, you can't. No trees....

16 year old boy... I suspect that there is a full grown adult somewhere behind this too - too convenient that a 16 year old has access, knowledge, skill and experience to do that and to take off on his own accord to cut a tree down

That's what I was thinking too.

For HS2, I don't understand the need to get to Birmingham quicker in the first place. If it was me, I'd be making an assessment of how much of this project is actually needed at the moment. Office based business has shown that they can work with meetings via the internets, I'd be guessing there is a reduced business demand now - and it would be business who will be banked on to pay the hundreds each journey for peak time travel. For leisure travel the time savings don't add up so much when you might want to travel by public transport to one of the hubs - Leeds or Manchester in the north - and this is where real time savings can be made. More frequent services, or some places, actual public transport - which would be a far better benefit to whole communities rather than the odd people who want to get to Birmingham quickly. Yup re-assess where to spend the money. But budget, I never believe any of the numbers they throw out for large infrastructure jobs.