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November 12, 2015 - Today was the second of two guest lectures I was giving to a class in my old faculty. Their course is on stress and coping in animals and I was providing a different aspect on that topic from the standpoint of fish in culture.
It's kinda neat to go back to your roots and see it from a different angle.
September 25, 2015 - In trying to decide what to cook Kirk for a birthday (belated by one day) dinner, I wandered out to the garden and tugged on a few carrot greens to see what might come up and got a fun little collection of colourful vegetables to add to the menu.
There has been a lot of music in our house recently as Maddie is learning the ukulele in addition to the violin, and Rich and I have been working on practicing the guitar and piano! Love my piano!
Today I had a day with Maddie, who is off on Easter holiday. We ran/scootered, visited the dentist, went to CostCo, did some scanning, did some cross stitch and had a swimming lesson!
Taken a long time ago. Before I knew not to look at the sun through something that focuses the awesome power of nuclear fusion onto your retina. Still, it's got lens flare like you can make really easily in Photoshop, but it's for reals!
# TP113 Leap Year, Jump, Jumping, Leaping, 1 in 4, miss a few and show one, 29, the odd one, a proposal or even a wedding your choice
I am teaching a class this week and wrapping up work for Christmas- it's so busy on top of our house work I sort of feel like this kid Richard painted.
We bought this colouring book at a museum in Nottingham and Maddie and I had fun colouring in it this evening.
The Savoy Buildings, long owned by the Trehearn family, housed several attractions on Rhyl's West Parade Promenade, including Vern's Amusements and the Savoy Bistro. I always viewed it as one of the largest and best situated Amusements in Rhyl, yet it always felt as though the owners had lost interest in the place from the 1990s onwards? This entire block of buildings is currently being demolished.
www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/blast-past-50-y...
November 13, 2015 - Egg picking is a thankless, repetitive, tedious job. But the benefits in reducing losses from fungus are worth the effort.
August 24, 2015 - The renovation we did last year included a new front door, though that was held up for months because the darned doorknob took two months longer than anticipated to arrive. But the end result was well worth the wait.
Day 141 of an Unknown Number
"One in the Hand is Worth a Hand in the Tree"
They've finally completed major construction on the house next door!!!! The little ones had to view the progress, so we wandered over. What did I see next to the Andy Gump, but a freshly-planted tree with a rubber glove in it, with a fly in the palm. The light is the Sun, and the Sun is located in the west. Thanks for passing by!!
#ishotthiswithmyphone #iambuyinganewphone #naturallight #glove #fly #construction #newhome #shermanoaks #rubberglove #dailypost #dailyimage #
Daily Post #37
Rummaging through the archives, I found the blossom photos from last year. The flowers don't last long in real life, but the image lasts forever.
September 17, 2015 - I'm up in Bella Coola again, working with one of my hatcheries. As usual, the Lower Atnarko River is crawling with grizzly bears fishing and getting their weight up to make it through their winter hibernation.
Anglesey Aluminium Metal Ltd (AAM) started up production in 1971 and was joint-owned by Rio Tinto and the Kaiser Aluminium & Chemical Corporation. The newly built plant occupied a site of over 800 acres close to the town of Holyhead on the Island of Anglesey. AAM produced aluminium metal and was one of Britain's largest single users of electricity during its time of production.
The company’s smelting plant was closed down in September 2009 and its re-melt plant also closed in 2013, with a total loss of over 400 high-paying quality jobs. Since then, the factory has been mothballed and there are plans to commence construction work during 2018 that will convert it to a biomass energy recovery plant (300 MW wood burning plant) to produce electricity for the national grid. There are also plans for other projects on the site such as a food company and a holiday village. But these plans were dependent on funding from Chinese investment sources (Sino Fortune Group) and Horizon Nuclear Power but the plans are now in doubt (as at 2018).
This badge displays the company’s logo.
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References:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglesey_Aluminium
www.dailypost.co.uk/business/business-news/anglesey-alumi... (Daily Mail newspaper 20th September 2017 - ambitious plans to regenerate the Anglesey Aluminium site and provide new jobs may never happen, certainly as originally intended).
www.facebook.com/groups/188375124656/ (Face book page for the Anglesey Aluminium Metal Ltd company).
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Enamels: 3 (blue, red & white).
Finish: Gilt.
Material: Brass.
Fixer: Pin.
Size: 25/32" x 13/16" (20mm x 21mm).
Process: Die stamped.
Imprint: None (but may have been produced by Manhattan Windsor Ltd of Birmingham).
We spent the first day of 2016 in my favourite way - watching the London New Year's Day parade.
Sent from my Windows Phone
I flew from Washington DC to Doha, where I had a brief stop and spent most of the time trying to source a passport photo it turned out I didn't need. But I did have a lovely cup of Qatari Tea as well.
Daily Post #102
For October's Monthly Scavenger Hunt.
Conservatory of Flowers, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.
For February's Monthly Scavenger Hunt.
One of Kinder's short lived "Stripper animals" series. Or maybe it was to do with entertainers, or the arts, something like that anyway.
You also get a close-up of the base of my lovely lamp. Aren't you lucky. Oh, and happy weekend!
Daily Post #16
For January's Monthly Scavenger Hunt.
I appear to have lost today to a book. I think my increase in books I'm getting through this year might be directly related to procrastination techniques...
A visit to Caernarfon Castle in North Wales. It was here in 1911 and 1969 that the Prince of Wales was inaugurated (Prince Edward later Edward VIII and the current Prince of Wales, Prince Charles).
Caernarfon Castle (Welsh: Castell Caernarfon), often anglicized as Carnarvon Castle, is a medieval fortress in Caernarfon, Gwynedd, north-west Wales cared for by Cadw, the Welsh Government's historic environment service. There was a motte-and-bailey castle in the town of Caernarfon from the late 11th century until 1283 when King Edward I of England began replacing it with the current stone structure. The Edwardian town and castle acted as the administrative centre of north Wales and as a result the defences were built on a grand scale. There was a deliberate link with Caernarfon's Roman past and the Roman fort of Segontium is nearby.
While the castle was under construction, town walls were built around Caernarfon. The work cost between £20,000 and £25,000 from the start until the end of work in 1330. Despite Caernarfon Castle's external appearance of being mostly complete, the interior buildings no longer survive and many of the building plans were never finished. The town and castle were sacked in 1294 when Madog ap Llywelyn led a rebellion against the English. Caernarfon was recaptured the following year. During the Glyndŵr Rising of 1400–1415, the castle was besieged. When the Tudor dynasty ascended to the English throne in 1485, tensions between the Welsh and English began to diminish and castles were considered less important. As a result, Caernarfon Castle was allowed to fall into a state of disrepair. Despite its dilapidated condition, during the English Civil War Caernarfon Castle was held by Royalists, and was besieged three times by Parliamentarian forces. This was the last time the castle was used in war. Caernarfon Castle was neglected until the 19th century when the state funded repairs. In 1911, Caernarfon Castle was used for the investiture of the Prince of Wales, and again in 1969. It is part of the World Heritage Site "Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd".
A Grade I listed building.
History
Begun in 1283 and still incomplete when building work ceased c1330. Built for Edward I of England, it combined the roles of fortification, palace and administrative centre. A motte and bailey castle had been built here in the late C11 by Earl Hugh of Chester, although it became a residence of Welsh princes, including Llewelyn ap Gruffudd, after the Welsh regained control of Gwynedd by 1115. The English conquest of N Wales followed quickly after the death of Llewelyn ap Gruffudd in 1282 and Caernarfon was built to consolidate the English gains. Edward I employed James of St George as his architect, who had previously been employed by Philip of Savoy and had designed for him the fortress-palace of St Georges d'Esperanche. James also directed the building other castles for Edward I, including Harlech, Conwy and Beaumaris, using English craftsmen and labourers. The design of Caernarfon Castle echoed the walls of Emperor Constantine's Roman city of Constantinople, which also has polygonal towers and banded stonework, and was thus intended by Edward to be an expression of imperial power. Edward I and Queen Eleanor visited Caernarfon in 1284 and it was said that their son, Edward, the first English prince of Wales, was born at the castle in 1284.
Construction of the castle was integrated with the construction of town walls protecting the newly established borough, the town being situated on the N side of the castle. By 1292 the southern external façade of the castle was probably complete, while on the N side the castle was protected by a ditch and the walled town. The castle was damaged during an uprising in 1294 led by Madog ap Llewelyn, but Edward I swiftly regained control of Caernarfon and the castle, where restoration work began in 1295. The uprising had demonstrated the need to complete the castle's defences on the town side, which were largely built in the period 1295-1301. Work subsequently continued at a slower pace in the period 1304-30 and included the completion of the towers, including the Eagle Tower which was completed 1316-17 and in 1316 the timber-framed 'Hall of Llewelyn', the Welsh prince's residence at Conwy, was dismantled and shipped to Caernarfon. The upper portion of the King's Gate was constructed in 1321 and included a statue of Edward of Caernarfon, who had been crowned Edward II in 1307.
The castle was garrisoned for nearly 2 centuries but was increasingly neglected as hostilities softened from the C16 onwards. The castle was garrisoned for Charles I during the Civil War but was surrendered to the Parliamentarians in 1646. In the C18 the castle became one of the most celebrated of ruins in Wales, which began its present phase as tourist attraction and ancient monument. Restoration was undertaken in the final quarter of the C19 under the direction of Sir Llewelyn Turner, Deputy Constable. In 1908 ownership passed from the Crown to the Office of Works and restoration work continued. This included the reinstatement of floors in most of the towers and reinstatement of the embattled wall walks by 1911. The castle was the venue for the investiture of both C20 Princes of Wales, in 1911 and 1969.
Exterior
Constructed of coursed limestone with darker stone banding to the S and E external façades between the Eagle Tower and NE Tower. The plan is polygonal, resembling a figure of 8, and constructed around an upper and a lower ward in the form of curtain walls and mainly 3-stage polygonal towers with basements (in contrast to the round towers of the town walls). The structure is in 2 main phases. The earlier is the S side, from and including the Eagle Tower to the NE Tower, was constructed mainly in the period 1283-1292, while the N side facing the walled town was built after the uprising of 1294. The curtain walls are embattled with loops to the merlons and a wall walk. Openings are characterised by the frequent use of shouldered lintels, giving rise to the alternative term 'Caernarfon lintel', and 2-centred arches. The towers have reinstated floors of c1911 on original corbels. The outer walls have arrow loops. Windows are mainly narrow single-light, but some of the mullioned windows incorporate transoms.
The principal entrance is the 3-storey King's Gate on the N side. It is reached across the ditch by a modern segmental-arched stone bridge with stone steps to the outer side, replacing the medieval drawbridge. The King's Gate has polygonal towers with 2-light windows to the outer facets in the middle stage and 2-light windows in the upper stage. The entrance is recessed behind a segmental moulded arch. It has a 2-centred arch beneath string courses and 2-light transomed window. Above the main arch is a statue of Edward II in a canopied niche with flanking attached pinnacles.
To the R is the outer wall of the kitchens and then the Well Tower, of 3 stages with basement. The Well Tower has a higher polygonal turret reinstated in the late C19 and full-height square projection on the W side housing the well shaft. The tower has 2-light windows in the middle and upper stages.
The Eagle Tower at the W end is the largest of the towers, having been designed to accommodate the king's lieutenant. It has 3 stages with basement and 3 higher polygonal turrets. The battlements are enriched by carved heads and eagles, although much weathered. On the N side are 2-light windows and an attached stub wall with drawbridge slot. This is the planned water gate through which water-borne supplies were intended to be conveyed to the basement of the Well Tower at high tide, but it was not completed. It has polygonal responds to the gate, a portcullis slot and 2 superimposed windows between the basement and ground-floor levels. On the N side is a flight of stone steps to an arched doorway at basement level. This postern was the main entrance for those approaching by sea. On the S side the curtain wall is built on exposed bedrock and the Queen's Tower, Chamberlain Tower and the Black Tower each have a single higher polygonal turret. The outer faces have only narrow loops. On the W side of the Chamberlain Tower are stone steps to a doorway under a shouldered lintel that led into the great hall. On the E side of the Black Tower is the shorter polygonal Cistern Tower, with the unfinished Queen's Gate at the SE end. Between the Chamberlain Tower and Black Tower the curtain wall is stepped in, from which point there is a substantial raked stone plinth continuing around to the NE Tower. The Queen's Gate has double polygonal towers linked by a straight wall above the gateway, while the openings are all narrow loops. The gateway is raised above a high basement storey (and would have been reached by the building of a massive stone ramp) and is recessed beneath a segmental arch with murder holes. The Watch Tower to the N is narrower and higher than the remaining towers, beyond which is the 2-stage NE Tower, which has a 2-light window. Returning along the N side, which was built after 1295, the curtain wall and the 4-stage Granary Tower incorporate 2-light windows.
The King's Gate has murder holes to the vault and porters' rooms to the L and R, leading to the interior. Internally the castle is planned around an upper ward on the E side and a lower ward on the W side. Through the entrance passage is a 2-storey projection on the R (now housing a shop), the S side of which retains 2 portcullis slots and a vault springer, indicating that a second entrance was built here, although it no longer survives above the foundations. Above the main gate is a former chapel, which retains its original piscina. The upper storey hall has window seats. On the W side of the King's Gate are the foundations of the kitchens in the lower ward, in which are 2 round foundations for copper cauldrons and springer of a former vault. The Well Tower does not have reinstated floors, but in each storey a fireplace and garderobe are retained and in the second stage is a small kitchen above the well chamber. The fireplaces all differ in detail: in the basement is a segmental arch, the lower storey a tripartite lintel, the second stage a projecting lintel on corbels with raked hood, and chamfered lintel to the upper stage. The tower has a full-height newel stair. The basement is reached by external stone steps. Between the Well Tower and Eagle Tower is a restored fireplace with a raked hood in a chamber whose outline walls are visible.
The Eagle Tower has stone steps to the basement to the L of the main doorway, both lower stage and basement having pointed doorways. The upper stages have 2-light windows similar to the outer faces. The thick walls incorporate mural passages and stairs. In the lower stage is a large fireplace with raked hood and a small octagonal chamber that probably served as a chapel. The great chamber in the second stage also has an octagonal chapel, which retains a stoup or piscina. Between the Eagle Tower and the NE Tower the curtain wall and towers have mural passages in addition to the wall walk and generally have stone steps in either straight flights to the wall walks or newel stairs, and most chambers in the towers have associated garderobes. The Queen's Tower, known as the 'Banner Tower' in the C14, and the Chamberlain Tower have chambers in each storey with small square subsidiary chambers that probably served as chapels, and 2-light windows. The Queen's Tower has 3 octagonal chimney shafts behind the parapet. In the Chamberlain Tower the lower storey retains a fireplace with shouldered lintel. Both towers are occupied by the museum of the Royal Welch Fusiliers. Between Queen's Tower and Chamberlain Tower are the foundations of the great hall, while the 2 superimposed mural passages in the curtain wall have 2-light windows that formerly opened into the hall.
The Black Tower is smaller than the other towers and has only single chambers in each stage, with cambered fireplace in the upper chamber, and 2-light windows. The Cistern Tower has a vaulted hexagonal chamber beneath an open stone-lined rainwater tank visible on the wall walk. In the unfinished Queen's Gate the position of porters' rooms is discernible in the flanking towers of which the S has a lintelled fireplace while both have garderobes. Portcullis slots and murder holes are in the passage. The upper storey over the passage was to have been a hall but was not completed. The Watch Tower is entered by a doorway at the wall walk level only.
The NE Tower is simpler with single chambers in each stage, as is the Granary Tower, which incorporates a well shaft and has a fireplace with raked hood in the upper stage. Between the NE Tower and the King's Gate the curtain wall has corbels representing former buildings built against the curtain, and its mullioned windows incorporate window seats.
Reasons for Listing
Listed grade I as one of the finest medieval castles in Wales, and unique in its royal associations.
Scheduled Ancient Monument CN 079.
World Heritage Site.
Cistern Tower
An open, stone-lined rainwater storage tank is on the roof, hence the name.
Caernarfon Station and the Afon Seiont
The new Caernarfon Station seen under construction on 14th May 2018 in Caernarfon on St Helen's Road.
We went down to have a look at the old Caernarfon Station on the Welsh Highland Railway.
Unfortunately on the day of our visit (14th May 2018) there was no trains running that day!
The new station is close to the car park that we parked in near Caernarfon Castle.
Caernarfon's train station is taking shape with new planned opening date. The new station is due to be finished sometime in summer 2018.
Didn't look quite finished when I saw it!
It replaces a temporary Caernarfon Station that opened in 1997
The 30-foot OO gauge replica of Dolgellau was built by a group of Liverpool-based model railway enthusiasts.
Begun 18 years ago, progress was hampered by Bill Follett and George Revell working full time on shifts.
But an influx of new members to the club saw an upsurge of interest in the project six years ago and Bill, now a retired firefighter, said progress quickened.
“It was completed and exhibitied at the NEC in 2011 and won best layout in show. It is always a showstopper,” he said.
It includes a model of the old Plaza cinema, now the site of the town's police station, and extends as far as Penmaenpool.
“We were hampered by the shortage of photographs of the station. We cannot study the site as it has been cleared and the Dolgellau by-pass built on it,” he added.
“We were fortunate to meet Bob Crump, who lives in Dolgellau. He had built a layout of the Dolgellau station based in the 1930s and he was able to give us a great deal of information – it was his idea we bring the layout to show people.”
The layout is set in Dolgellau in the mid 1960s shortly before the line closed.
The station opened in August 1868 on the Ruabon to Barmouth line. It had two platforms and a passing loop, a goods yard and turntable. The station closed in January 1965 as a result of the Beeching axe.
While the subject may be of a railway station more than 50 years ago, the layout makes use of the latest technology – some engines having sound chips.
Bill added: “We have a selection of sounds – from the whistle through to chuffing from the engine.
“We have two people controlling the points and informing the two drivers which trains are to run and controlling the signals. This allows the drivers to watch the signals and only move when the signal is with them.
“The only time this causes an issue is when the signalmen are busy talking and forget to change a signal so the drivers start blowing whistles to attract their attention – I suppose we could shout for him to change the signal but it's more fun this way.”
www.dailypost.co.uk/news/local-news/super-model-tiny-vers...
HUNDREDS of bus drivers could strike over Easter in a bitter row over pay.
The move threatens to plunge the region into travel chaos, after a ballot yesterday revealed 275 out of around 500 North Wales drivers are prepared to take to the picket line.
They claim they get paid £1 an hour less than drivers in Liverpool for doing “exactly the same job.”
Last night, one angry driver, who did not want to be named, said North Wales’ transport system could suffer “severe disruption” if a strike is held during one of the busiest Bank Holiday weekends of the year.
He said it could mean thousands of journeys will be scrapped, leaving the region with only a handful of services from other companies.
“All we want is to be on the same level playing field as drivers in Liverpool. We don’t understand why they get paid more than us,” said the driver.
“The results of our ballot showed 275 in favour of strike action with only 82 against.
“Bosses have offered us a 20p rise but we won’t be happy until we’re on the same money as our colleagues in Merseyside.”
The disgruntled driver warned that Arriva depots in Wrexham, Rhyl, Llandudno Junction, and Bangor, could be lined with picketers if better pay deals aren’t offered before the holiday.
Counterparts in Merseyside are on £9.50 an hour whereas those in Wales get only £8.50.
The Unite union said drivers “feel strongly” about the widening pay divide and have no choice but to resort to industrial action.
Spokesman Peter Hughes stressed no dates for potential strike action have been set, but said: “The ballot represents a valid 77% of the workforce in favour of striking and we are pleased with the result because it shows the strength of feeling towards this pay issue.
“Bus drivers are all professional people who do professional jobs, where they work makes no difference to their role. “We have a good mandate to go forward and take the results to the management – the ball’s in their court now.”
Yesterday, officials at Arriva Buses Wales assured commuters services will continue to run as advertised no matter what over the Easter weekend, which starts on April 2.
Managing director,Michael Morton said: “We have received the results of the ballot and will now continue discussions with our Trade Union colleagues and involve ACAS with a view to resolving the matter.
“Customers should not at this stage be concerned about our service provision and we will continue to operate all advertised services.”
Source: Daily Post (North Wales)
The lack of care facilities is without doubt a serious problem in cut-lorn Britain, albeit it's nothing new.. my grandfather spent the last year of his life in a hospital's "geriatric" ward as long ago as 1964. No doubt too, the present round of “Robin Hood In Reverse” chicanery in Whitehall will aggravate it. But wait... I have a more recent experience, from this winter in fact, in the very same hospital that is the subject of this article. We didn't request care facilities although I will admit I was glad of the rest – or rather would have been were it not for the commuting (no treatment available locally for the condition that caused the admission) My observation, and not just in our own case, was that while the staff bemoaned how “desperate for beds” they were, they still clung on to the patients that they had bedded well beyond feasible discharge dates. Why? Two reasons I think, each equally indefensible.
First, our old friend the litigious society rears its ugly head. This contemporary ailment of no specific political colour seems to elicit a response of “butt-covering” whereby the risk assessment (don't make me laugh, these people wouldn't recognise a risk if it were to bite them on the leg) states that there is more concern about fallout from a premature death post-discharge, than say MRSA or even – and this actually happened! - having the respiratory ward re-painted while still full of patients. (only two died, though, which was pretty normal week)
Second, in the workplace nowadays those people still “fortunate enough to have a job” (*1) increasingly show signs of working harder at justifying their existence instead of doing the job they should be doing. Contemporary apolitical mores such as the meetings culture fashion this too: those create another invisible form of the wage inflation so severely frowned-upon that it inspires endless rounds of cost-saving meetings, such that the disproportion of chiefs to indians must by its own self-fulfilling prophesy be further amplified.
All of this though, be as it might does belie the central issue, that there are soulless unscrupulous and greedy people in government and elsewhere ready to exploit the very real fears I outline above. That the fear was largely self-generated gives permission to the takers to increase its momentum, and they have not overlooked the opportunity. The Cameron government says in effect the only way to save the National Health Service is drastic reform, and they would be right if only the word “reform” were not their shorthand for “cuts”, the thinking greedy man's alternative to neglect, Meanwhile the so-called “Obamacare” is under attack from the American Right... well, if you are going to avoid paying taxes, that has to be paid-for! … as indeed does the military presence in the Middle East still perceived necessary by both UK and US governments to protect “our” interests in the Oil Reserves (let's just consider the definition of “us” for a moment: are * you * profiting from this?) (*2) Sure, it all has to be paid-for, by somebody else! And that “somebody else” aspect is only one of many things agreed-on by left and right as they carve up the spoils of what's left of YOUR money: their only point of contention is the theoretical and idealogical definition of “somebody else”. Never mind the theory, the ideaology... the identity as opposed to any definition is, you and me.
Now, my political position is essentially anarchist, or more properly anarchic, ie. anarcho-syndicalist, since “anarchists” as-defined are not prepared to pay taxes either but are prepared to kill people, to which-two positions I am diametrically opposed. So, my sympathies towards UK Uncut shouldn't have been hard to predict. And equally, but quite separately I find it offensive in the extreme not just that Vodafone's disputed and now largely handed-back tax bill could have more than funded the proposed cuts in the NHS, but also that as a nation “we” still have the temerity to spend grotesque amounts of money causing death and destruction in the middle east while Cameron and co vow to round up Islamists on the one hand and merely pay lipservice to the intolerable nature of thugs bringing Tony Blair's War On Islam not only to Luton (where it DIDN'T all start, it started in Algeria in the 11th Century) but also to North Wales. (*3) to keep company with the hospital follies related in the newspaper article illustrated. (The “English” “Defence” League? Right! Well one out of three isn't bad is it?)
I am now thinking very seriously about leaving Britain: until lately it has suited HM Government to pay me £53 a week to save the NHS £700 a day by their own figures. Penny-wise, pound-foolish for sure. And I have gone along with it largely because thanks to the corporate whoredom afoot in every western economy I believed that as a sentient being my productive life was over anyway. I don't doubt that the government figure is overstated, but even so there is a significant gap between what I get and what I save them. In a fully-functional economy someone like me should be making enough to pay either the tax bill that funds either decent carers (but not the political stooges that in the main populate what is left of the medical and social-work professions in this country) or a private carer whose shots I could call, or even both of those.
Britain is dead, and I don't much care for the undertakers.
(*1) Isn't strange how the emphasis changes from day to day between being fortunate to be employed one day, and a sponger if you don't work the next? Neither of those terms of exploitative herd-management takes into account that by working you might actually achieve something! As a nation we seem increasingly to aspire to collecting supermarket trolleys when we (fail to) grow up.
(*2) something like 80% of the cost of motor fuel in the UK is taxes and levies that go to central government: what the hell do they DO with it all? Other countries, the US in partcular springs to mind, have equivalent and often better road and rail infrastructures and fight unwinnable wars too. So whose pocket is being lined, please?
(*3) within 24 hours of this article hitting the news stands a building in Shotton, Deeside, earmarked for conversion to an Islamic Cultural Centre was destroyed in what is widely believed to have been an arson attack inspired by an EDL march through the town a few days previously. Also just a few days before this hospital story the “Daily Post” was carrying the Cultural Centre as a major news item with a mostly-positive slant: the fire was less than 48 hours after the news broke that the sale of the building had been completed: meanwhile the EDL is promoting a boycott of the new owner's business.