Westminstenders: Local Elections Madness

[RedToothBrush]

This week has gone from banging your head against the wall to wanting to bang your head through it.

Labour have voted to support a 2nd ref as their EU election campaign strategy. Only for Corbyn to ignore it. And a row has broken out.

Change UK seem well on track to make everyone else look professional and to look as 'liberal elite' as humanly possible in a real life reverse paraody of themselves.

The Brexit Party is going from strength to strength with the most wtf candidates imaginable and Farage is happy cos his mate is coming to tea with the Queen.

The Liberal Democrats have decided that anti semitism is OK in an effort to keep Labour seats.

And the Conservatives. Where to start? Probably with the Tory Leadership Election infighting which looks suspiciously as if its now breached national security.

As for Brexit. No one really wants to talk about it. Local elections are next week. May is now apparently supporting the Malthouse Compromise. Be warned, it is difficult to see it as anything but a Trojan Horse for No Deal. Not that everyone has worked this out yet. But until we have the blood bath of the local elections over and done with on Thursday, don't expect much to happen.

Then expect the Tories to lose their minds...

LeClerc Unfortunately I think many governments won't act, or act sufficiently, until climate change is so advanced that it's too late - they're too driven by greed. I find that far more terrifying than anything Brexit can throw at us.

I’ve just voted (I was number 4 at 8.10am). For the first time that I can remember we had an option that wasn’t labour or conservative. I’m taking that as a positive sign of people getting more involved in politics

LonelyTiredandLow
Your thoughts are not 'bonkers' but you come up against peoples 'demand' for free choice. You can pick apart each of your suggestions and find the weak points and come against tough issues.
School catchment, demand that schools do actually take all that are in a certain area and allow some flexibility to take others.
A diesel engine is more 'power efficient' than petrol (more energy is contained per litre of diesel) BUT you have to do something with the particulates. This is not so easy for small (car size) engines but is possible for larger engines (where there is space to put the necessary hardware).
Look at Holland for proper implementation of bike routes. Basically all 'roads' are 3 channels, with a car (road), a cycle 'road' and a footpath, which are totally separate and at junctions each 'class' has it's own traffic lights. Nothing like the half arsed 'paint a stripe on a road and call it a cycle lane' that tends to be usual in the UK.
I have seen road markings in Europe where although only a single 'road' it does not have a central stripe but 2 stripes marking a metre wide cycle lane on each side, so emphasising the cyclist priority and putting the onus to pause on the car not the cyclists.

CrunchyCarrot
It's not really government's final say. The WISH to save the planet has to come from the 7 Billion people that live on it deciding that they are not entitled to the next fabulous gizmo, a 'right' to trek up the Himalayas and to live in an air conditioned house in Death Valley California.
When mining in Coober Pedy in Australia, the miners actually had their houses underground as well because it is just too hot to live above ground (before aircon).
The (UK) government announcement about banning gas central heating and cookers in 2040 or whenever, what is going to replace the functions of these. Wearing a thick coat (made of what that is environment friendly) and eating things that are uncooked (that's cake done for!)? These things have to be considered for the whole ecosystem not just cherry pick some parts.
A bit like on a space station, everything has to be accounted for.

Not that there’s any point. Tories win here every time, no matter what

It is still worth voting. You’ll be counted in the turnout figures. And in the locals it isn’t unusual for the number of people who are registered to vote, but don’t bother to outnumber the people who voted for the winning candidate(s).

There is no way that you will change anything by not voting.

LeClerc Hmm I wasn't aware of the gas CH ban! Gosh. However I was reading just now that new tech using Hydrogen could provide an answer, and 'hybrid' boilers that use heat pumps. I hope so otherwise a lot of us will freeze come winter!

www.logic4training.co.uk/blog/heating/no-more-gas-boilers-from-2020-surely-not/

Agree LeClerc - as I was typing it I was considering how authoritarian it seemed. I do believe we should have more schools however - ours is in a village because the town hasn't adapted to the increase in housing. New developments of thousands of "family homes" never seem to add a school, or it is pencilled in to follow in a decade or so after the entire build is completed. It's too profit driven (as we all know) but a complete shake up is needed in development to give back before they profit. Build the school first, put in new roads prior to building the first show home.

I also think so many jobs can be done online - I know a dozen NHS office workers who cannot understand why they are on site in our hospital taking up space/heating/electric when they could do exactly the same job from home and have a better work/life balance.

I would also happily scrap my diesel for an electric but the infrastructure needs to be increased before the govt can do this on any grand scale. Ditto with air-source heat pumps; would love one but when I looked at installing it 4 years ago was told they are hard to fix because they aren't widespread. I'm sure that has changed but it's another example of putting the cart before the horse.

@Crunchy don't worry, I'm not threatened by competition
My ex's footprint was huge (well he was 6ft 5!) as he'd be off to USA /NZ and India to work on films for weeks at a time. I never completely understood the need for that as he was post production and everything is electronic. The money involved in flights/ensuring kit/hotel rooms/entertaining him etc was ridiculous! I know the personal touch is big business, but once a year should be enough now we have Skype!

ensuring/insuring!

{I would also happily scrap my diesel for an electric but the infrastructure needs to be increased before the govt can do this on any grand scale.}

Hold on there...!
Electricity does not appear out of thin air and the batteries for cars are not 100% efficient (you don't get out as much as you put in).
Where is the electricity to run a car to come from? Solar PV (uses lots of glass in production), wind, people object, Nuclear/gas/coal/hydro (from continually falling water).
Air source and ground source heat pumps use electricity, roughly 2,5 to 3 times less than an equivalent 'electric heater' but still a significant amount. The UK building industry has some strange restrictions either in terms of actual legislation or 'small mindedness' of some of the tradespersons. Solar heated water is very widespread over much of the world, but until recently if you talked to a UK plumber you would think you were talking about witchcraft. Many of the solar systems are German or other 'European' manufacture, why?
A 'air source heat pump' is only an air conditioner with the 2 basic parts in opposing positions and are essentially the same as a fridge or freezer, for which the technology has been around for what 100 years or more? It could be a 'post Brexit' technology that the UK engineers could work on and refine further than some of the existing equipment that is available. Solar water heating in the near east does not need to be efficient as putting a bucket of water outside will get got. Not so easy in Northern Scotland in winter.

Just been to vote - a steady stream of people turning out. More than usual I would say, but locally we expect it to be a closely fought contest.

It feels like the whole country needs a massive re-shuffle perhaps with people being awarded higher salaries if they take jobs within a certain radius of their home?

Yes! I would like to get a corporation tax rebate because my entire workforce (admittedly I only employ myself ) works from home.

I was looking at electric cars just yesterday - they appear to have become much more affordable in the past few years, and might be perfect for the very short journeys I tend to do.

Labour are not pushing a second ref because they think their remain vote is secure and their leave one isn’t.

Well, I did not vote for Labour and refused to campaign for them. This means nothing in my North East constituency, but only way to send a message.

regarding gas ch ban.
there are loads of technologies already that can replace it. plus insulation of homes to the max

remember the old style light bulbs?
what did some cry about that, but with the advent of led (driven by that ban) it's been fine.

Well, I did not vote for Labour and refused to campaign for them
I have campaigned for Real Labour and refuse to vote for these Corbynite/Milne Nazi imposters.

LeClerc - yes I agree, post Brexit we should be looking at this as our Brave New World lead role. Env based tech has been underfunded for years. I don't think if we team up with USA we will be supported in this, in fact it is likely to be blocked by Big Business.

If everyone had solar though, the initial outlay in glass would be huge, but they don't often need replacing. Once the grunt work had been done you could rapidly drop the use of the factories and have a small turnover every year for repairs and new homes, no?

I've posted before that we use Octopus Energy and have cheaper bills. It seems this is becoming more widespread and understood to be cheaper across UK now too. Moving away from the Tories and their support for Big Businesses who won't move with the times should help.

I believe the proposed gas changes also apply to gas hobs. Which housebuilders are worried about because buyers have a preference for gas hobs.

@QueenofThorns I also think people working locally would help with the sense of community so many of us lack.

You've inspired me to look up electric and hybrid cars now...

Sorry to continue the derail but it has a slight 'political' angle.
I am not 'knocking' attempts at sustainable technology, but unless people really understand the full implication and make a complete 'eco system' audit it is easy to fool the public into schemes that really are not 'eco sustainable'. Insisting that manufactured items can be repaired (by design) and that their lifecycle should be say 20 or more years. So perhaps using 'rust resistant' steel in vehicles, so the main bodywork won't rust. Easily replaceable parts for things that do wear and so on.
There is a problem with having politicians setting agendas in that they are not experts and are not necessarily motivated to understand.
With the big 'race' to reduce Co2, is that necessarily the biggest problem earth faces? The use of lead, in electronic construction and batteries, is it necessarily the big 'bogeyman' or is it more the careless ways that it was being handled? Lead is poisonous if ingested by animals, so preventing ingestion rather than 'ban' lead which is very useful ought to be the way to go.

I think that the issue with hobs is that people have potentially only ever had experience with those awful solid plate electric hobs. If the alternative to gas is those induction (I think they're called, the totally flat, shiny ones #technicaldescription) hobs, then I'm OK with that.

If I had a choice between a house with solid plate electric and gas, I'd take the gas. Induction (?) hob, then it would be down to other options which swung the choice.

Alternate heating is an interesting thought. It's not like we're Iceland with its readily-available thermal energy (though wasn't there some talk about a pipeline? I may be wrong, but even if there was it wouldn't sort the whole nation). Some clever thinking is needed pretty fast to meet a deadline which is only 20-30 years away.

As it is I admit I curse cyclists en-route as they cause huge tail backs in already crowded traffic, especially along a 50mph road

Really? huge tailbacks? like miles of cars at a standstill because a cyclist as the temerity to ride to work, similar to the ones on the M4/5/6/62/25 etc etc which are nothing to do with a cyclist.

On the odd occasion i might get held up by a cyclist, its for few minutes, if at all on some very busy roads in and out of city centres.

Unfortunately, with this mindset we will never change our habits until sea levels rise 20m and there is mass extinction, which is certainly within our childrens lives unless we act very quickly, there is no sign we will.

I know it's not Brexit related but I do think it is currently the political golden ticket. As much as Leavers are supposed to be anti-environment/climate change deniers, all of the ones I know love David Attenborough and consider him a National Treasure. Memes on fb and all!

Yes sustainability is key. Similarly to the lead I remember reading how many bird die due to eating elastic bands dropped by Posties (thinking they are worms). Joined up thinking across the board is needed, much as there is in public health with the threat of antibiotic resistance (another hot potato for the future!).

NoWordForFluffy

A friend has built an eco house, they use heat re circulation and insulation, especially in regard to the glass used, the ground source heat pump is rarely used, they struggle to get the temp below 23'c in winter.

The tech is already there but UK house building standards are shockingly low and we continue to build houses miles away from where there is employment or decent public transport, encouraging further car use.
The housing policies across the UK are crazy.

@jasjas yes but if 100 cars are held up by 1 cyclist each for 4mins, that's a lot of extra pollution. It's also likely these cyclists do these routes twice a day at peak times. Also likely the same cyclist I see twice daily holds up other traffic I am not aware of and causes other tailbacks. It's like that research into using the brake pedal when it's not needed causes miles of tailbacks further down the line.

I'm not knocking the effort, but the infrastructure currently doesn't give as much benefit as I think the cyclists would like to think.