Britain hit by worst conditions for 18 years

[Vermilion]

Me outside Kenwood house this morning

Wow, you're a lot older than I thought!

 

[NoJo]

Not mentally, I'm sure

 

[Xelebes]

Be thankful it's wet snow. Unless you're the one shovelling it.

 

[amicus]

Promised myself not to make any Al Gore comments on this thread and so far I have abstained.

Anyone rememeber the Blackout in New York City, some years back? The population increased dramatically nine months following.

As the British government is considering China like methods in controlling the population, forbidding Brits to have more than two children, perhaps you might take advantage of your inclement weather and get really friendly?

Ahem

Doncha jus luv that Ami?

 

[starrkers]

Make all the Al Gore comments you want, Ami.
Temperature peaked here at 113F yesterday. Been that way for the past week and a half.
It's 103 now with storms brewing.

 

[amicus]

Hi, there, naked lady...heard in the news a day or so ago of a Bush fire that was threatening an electric power generating facility....hope all is well, ahm, down there.



Ami

 

[voluptuary_manque]

A downright Dickensonian winter, that side of the pond. Next thing you know there'll be little match girls expiring from exposure faster than the dear angels can police them up.

Don'tcha just love soppy endings?

 

[oggbashan]

The sun is shining on the golden sand (er, mud), the sky and sea are a brilliant blue, there are a very few remains of ice.

Winter? That was yesterday.

Og

 

[oggbashan]

Promised myself not to make any Al Gore comments on this thread and so far I have abstained.

Anyone rememeber the Blackout in New York City, some years back? The population increased dramatically nine months following.

As the British government is considering China like methods in controlling the population, forbidding Brits to have more than two children, perhaps you might take advantage of your inclement weather and get really friendly?

Ahem

Doncha jus luv that Ami?

The recommendation to have no more than two children comes in a report from a sociologist. It is not, and is unlikely to be, UK government policy. What we need to reduce our massive population growth are some effective controls on our currently unregulated immigration. Our government has no real idea how many people have entered the country in the last ten years, legally or illegally. All we know is that the number is greater than the government's worse case estimate.

Movement within the EU is no real problem. The number coming in is less than the numbers leaving e.g. to retirement in Spain or France and workers returning home as their own countries' economies improve. The French are beginning to revolt about Les Brits taking over whole communities.

However it is some comfort that the UK is seen as such a desirable place to come to. Maybe we haven't got it totally wrong.

Og

 

[Vermilion]

The recommendation to have no more than two children comes in a report from a sociologist. It is not, and is unlikely to be, UK government policy. What we need to reduce our massive population growth are some effective controls on our currently unregulated immigration. Our government has no real idea how many people have entered the country in the last ten years, legally or illegally. All we know is that the number is greater than the government's worse case estimate.

Movement within the EU is no real problem. The number coming in is less than the numbers leaving e.g. to retirement in Spain or France and workers returning home as their own countries' economies improve. The French are beginning to revolt about Les Brits taking over whole communities.

However it is some comfort that the UK is seen as such a desirable place to come to. Maybe we haven't got it totally wrong.

Og

Or maybe it's just the fact we do have such lax immigration laws. I wonder how it would work out, though, if the govt only paid child benefit for the first 2 children born to each woman? I wonder if it would curb the numbers being born to people who can't really support them?
Anyway, the problem in the UK is more that we're an unbalanced population - too many old folk, not enough young to support them in their dependency. We actually need to encourage procreation, from what I understand, otherwise the situation will just get worse.

 

[neonlyte]

Promised myself not to make any Al Gore comments on this thread and so far I have abstained.

Anyone remember the Blackout in New York City, some years back? The population increased dramatically nine months following.

Ahem

Doncha jus luv that Ami?

Urban myth... there was no increase in pregnancies. http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/blackout.asp

 

[rgraham666]

Damn it, Will. Whatcha doin' introducing facts into this discussion?

 

[oggbashan]

Or maybe it's just the fact we do have such lax immigration laws. I wonder how it would work out, though, if the govt only paid child benefit for the first 2 children born to each woman? I wonder if it would curb the numbers being born to people who can't really support them?
Anyway, the problem in the UK is more that we're an unbalanced population - too many old folk, not enough young to support them in their dependency. We actually need to encourage procreation, from what I understand, otherwise the situation will just get worse.

The immigrants are typically younger than the resident population and tend to have more children than the UK average.

Perhaps we should encourage immigration to redress the imbalance of ageing population? Immigration isn't necessarily bad. The UK and England in particular have benefitted from many waves of immigration over the years - the Huguenots, the Ugandan Asians were just two groups that had a significant impact for good on our economy.

What we need is some sort of system to ensure that the immigrants will not be a disproportionate burden on our society. As it is now, any determined person can get into the UK and stay here illegally. People with that sort of drive tend to work hard to improve themselves.

But we are also wide open to the minority who are imported criminals who will work hard to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of us. Locally two brothels have been raided and closed by the police because the women were illegal immigrants forced into prostitution to benefit their bosses who were also illegals with criminal records in their own country.

We should welcome immigrants who want to contribute. We should deter that minority who want to exploit us.

Og

 

[R. Richard]

We actually need to encourage procreation, from what I understand, otherwise the situation will just get worse.

If the UK government is looking for volunteer studs for the pre-production setup, where do I volunteer?

 

[R. Richard]

What we need is some sort of system to ensure that the immigrants will not be a disproportionate burden on our society. As it is now, any determined person can get into the UK and stay here illegally. People with that sort of drive tend to work hard to improve themselves.

But we are also wide open to the minority who are imported criminals who will work hard to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of us. Locally two brothels have been raided and closed by the police because the women were illegal immigrants forced into prostitution to benefit their bosses who were also illegals with criminal records in their own country.

We should welcome immigrants who want to contribute. We should deter that minority who want to exploit us.

Og

What you people in the UK need is direction. Not so long ago, I lived in California. I attended a meeting that was supposed to address the problem of illegal immigration. The meeting drifted on for a bit, with time wasting political speeches.

I then rose and tried to give the people direction, "You catch illegal immigrants from time to time, although the scumbags don't work very hard at it. You then deport them to the South. They then come back and we 'play it again, Sam.' You people need direction. Try deporting the repeat offenders to the West, mind you, you will need to go 200 miles to the West. A change in direction will solve the problem."

Direction is the key.

 

[neonlyte]

Damn it, Will. Whatcha doin' introducing facts into this discussion?

My Bad

 

[gauchecritic]

What you people in the UK need is direction. <>blah blah blah<>

Direction is the key.

So we send the Poles to Ireland, the Irish to Iceland, the Vikings to France and the eastern Euros to Scandinavia.

What we actually have here is a failure to communicate.

 

[oggbashan]

Back on topic.

More snow due tonight.

We're not ready. We have real snow falls so rarely that our infrastructure isn't equipped to cope with it. If we had thick snow every year it would be worthwhile equipping our roads, rails and cars for it - but once every 15 years?

Og

PS. My county, Kent, has been boasting on our local radio station. They still have 8,000 tonnes of road salt and another 4,000 tonnes in ships due to arrive in the next couple of days. That is about 50% of the total stock of road salt that was held by all English counties last week.

 

[amicus]

Urban myth... there was no increase in pregnancies.

http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/blackout.asp

~~~

Well crap...thanks neon, I scanned the first entire page of the googe search and it does appear I was swept along with the Urban myth.

A thriving urban legend arose in the wake of the Northeast blackout of 1965 in which it is told that a peak in the birth rate of the blackout areas was observed nine months after the incidence. The origin of the myth is a series of three articles published in August 1966 in the New York Times in which interviewed doctors told that they had noticed an increased number of births.

To me, and many others I suspect, the scenario of being alone in the dark with no television might well have led to a little excess cuddling & stuff, seemed to be a fairly logical extension of what we think we know about human nature.

Interesting to have one's thoughts jogged off the beaten path now and then, oops...


Amicus...

 

[R. Richard]

So we send the Poles to Ireland, the Irish to Iceland, the Vikings to France and the eastern Euros to Scandinavia.

What we actually have here is a failure to communicate.

I'm not aware of a great influx of Polish illegals. It's suspected that the Irish visited what was to become Iceland and perhaps before the northmen. The northmen not only visited France illegally, but the French efforts to expel them failed miserably. Finally, the King of France gave the northmen land [that they already controlled,] so that they would maybe stop raiding France. The northmen then decide to invade England. Instead of throwing the bastard out, the English let him be their King. As to the eastern Europeans going to scandanavia, that resulted in the Battle of Lützen.

Yes, apparently we have a failure to communicate.

By the way, the English treatment of John Kelly of Killane [1798] was far worse than anything I have suggested.

 

[Weird Harold]

~~~

Well crap...thanks neon, I scanned the first entire page of the googe search and it does appear I was swept along with the Urban myth.

To me, and many others I suspect, the scenario of being alone in the dark with no television might well have led to a little excess cuddling & stuff,

Hollywood can be partially blamed for the Urban legend I think:

Taglines for
Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968)

Oh, the liberties that were taken the night New York flipped its fuse... and became "Fun City"!

The story of 8 million New Yorkers who were lost in the dark... until they found each other

IIRC, the final scene of that movie is a hospital's overcrowded nursery ward full of crying newborns.

 

[NoJo]

Lobs giant 80' diameter snowball at Weird Harold R. Richard amicus gauche neon etc

 

[Nirvanadragones]

It's cold.

 

[cloudy]

It's cold.

You won't be cold for long.

 

[gauchecritic]

Lobs giant 80' diameter snowball at Weird Harold R. Richard amicus gauche neon etc

snowball melts in sudden sub-sahara yorkshire temperature today. (+6 and bright sunshine)