Well, we'll see then, won't we

The AA has warned that half of the UK's local authorities only have enough road salt for six days of continuous freezing. And it turns out they're right:

But the Local Government Association said the suggestion councils were not ready was "ridiculous scaremongering".

...but didn't deny it. Also "scaremongering" implies that they'd prefer it wasn't reported at all.

The organisation added local authorities' reliance on "just in time" deliveries left too many of them vulnerable to a lengthy big freeze or major snowfall.

Like last winter?

He told the Today programme it was "ridiculous" for the AA to focus solely on the amount of salt, which could be increased within 48 hours and moved around the country.

Fucking didn't happen well enough last winter, though did it? Happily, the AA have a habit of doing this - pointing out things the government really wish they wouldn't, such as what percentage of fuel cost is duty. It looks like in this situation, they're going to be right again.

"If the AA thinks the only way councils can ensure they have enough salt is by stockpiling it, it is showing startling ignorance.

"Councils realise how important it is to keep roads clear. It's up to councils, not the AA, to decide whether it is a good use of their council taxpayers' money to stockpile more salt or have other plans in place to make sure they can get enough grit to keep Britain moving."

Well, we'll see, won't we. I bet the AA are right about this one as well.

War for Oil?

Remember the start of the Iraq invasion? Remember the reasons given by many, including this smarmy cunt?



Whilst we suspected Oil was high on the list, this was always strenuously denied, usually with bollocks like "It's not that simple".

But look...

A joint venture between the UK's Shell and Malaysia's Petronas oil companies has won the right to develop Iraq's giant Majnoon oil field.

A total of 44 companies are bidding for 10 fields in the second such auction since the invasion in 2003.

Well, what a fucking surprise.

Although Majnoon is a huge oil field, with reserves of 13 billion barrels of oil, it currently produces just 46,000 barrels per day.

Shell and Petronas have pledged to increase that output to 1.8 million barrels per day.

Their venture will receive a fee of $1.39 a barrel. In June this year, a winning bid to develop an Iraq oil field received $2 a barrel.

Would anyone who so confidently stated that oil wasn't the primary motivating factor like to rethink their position?

The most unlikely people

...have done a study in support of 20mph speed limits.

UK cities should have more 20mph speed zones, as they have cut road injuries by over 40% in London, a study claims.

In particular the number of children killed or seriously injured has been halved over the past 15 years, the British Medical Journal reported.

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine study estimates 20mph zones have the potential to prevent up to 700 casualties in London alone.

Well, I can't think of anyone more qualified to do a study on 20mph zones.

The researchers compared data on road collisions, injuries and deaths in London between 1986 and 2006, with speed limits on roads.

Is it a quiet time for tropical disease research, then?

After adjusting for a general reduction in road injuries in recent years, they found that the introduction of 20mph zones were associated with a 41.9% drop in casualties.

What kind of adjustment? Why is any kind of adjustment needed? Either 20mph zones make a difference or they don't. Or maybe they've been attending the CRU's classes on data fiddling?

He estimated that 20mph zones in London save 200 lives a year, but this could increase to 700 if plans to extend the zones were implemented.

Is this using the "adjusted" figures, perchance? And I rather think this figure is calculated using the same method as the amount of money lost to music piracy each year (as in it's completely made up, because they have no idea if people would have bought the music if they couldn't otherwise download it - in this case they can't firmly state 200 lives have been saved because they've don't conclusively know that they would have been lost if the 20mph limit wasn't there).

Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: "This research confirms that one of the most effective ways of protecting vulnerable road users, especially children, is the introduction of 20mph zones.

All very well. For the record, I think that 20mph zones in residential areas/around schools/high streets, etc are generally a good thing, provided we don't see "feature creep" of people then pushing for these limits in non-residential areas as well.

But I would ask: What the fuck has happened to this gentleman?



Surely, with the introduction of 20mph speed limits, education for pedestrians and cyclists should come with it? After all, leaving aside the extreme minority of cases where a car has mounted a pavement, if a pedestrian was hit in the road by a car, it's likely they weren't looking properly, a mistake which is exacerbated by a car travelling at excess speeds. Cars need to keep to the speed limit, but by the very same token, pedestrians need to be aware of how to look for traffic properly, and pick safe places to cross.

It's all very well having this plastered over every advert break:



But let's have a little balance, shall we?:

Jandroid will not be happy

However, I think this is fucking hilarious.

Bristol City's chief executive Colin Sexstone has condemned North Somerset councillors after they dealt a potentially serious blow to plans for the football club's new £92-million stadium.

Although the decision to deny planning permission for a vital part of the scheme could yet be overturned at a further meeting or on appeal, by the time this happens the Football Association will have made up its mind whether to include Bristol as a host city for England's 2018 World Cup bid. The new stadium is central to Bristol's hopes.

They have rather successfully pissed over the border onto Jandroid's chips, haven't they? I don't give a fuck about football really so I'm not bothered - but she must be fucking livid. She's put all this effort and taxpayer's money into this bid, and now it could all have been a waste of time as this stadium was central to it.

It was a fucking shit location for the stadium anyway - Bristol just doesn't have the infrastructure in that area to cope. What ever happened to the stadium by Temple Meads idea, anyway?

Won't somebody think of the children?

The cheeeeeeeeelllldren?

The campaign intends to encourage children to not give out personal information on the web, block unwanted messages on social networks and report any inappropriate behaviour to the appropriate bodies, which may include the website, teachers or even police.

Sounds like a good idea, right?

The measures were drawn up by the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS), which was set up following Dr Tanya Byron's review into inappropriate material on the internet and in video games.

Who?

Oh right. Nice to see our old friends the IWF on that list.

Thing is, I can't help feeling that these kind of campaigns always pave the way for simply more draconian measures, all in the name of "thinking of the children". It doesn't help when they (deliberately) use emotive language like:

One measure that has been discussed by the group is the use of a "panic button" on social network sites to flag up inappropriate content.

And how on earth will this panic button be monitored and acted on? If it's going to be there for everyone, people may just click it whilst viewing completely innocuous content just for a laugh. Then somebody, god knows who, will have to investigate the site that was reported, and make a completely fucking arbitrary decision, based on a combination of their own personal feelings and fuck all, on whether to block the site or not - this was illustrated perfectly with the IWF and the Scorpion's Album Cover. And since it's not possible for the ISP to know the age of the person browsing the internet, they'll block it for everyone.

I fear what this is just a pre-cursor for a Chinese-style firewall. The Wikipedia article on China's firewall doesn't state what justifications were used in the introduction of it, only the reasons (a fear of not being able to control the publications of the China Democracy Party).

However, I think the government know that the UK wouldn't accept a similar firewall without some pretty good justification - after all, look at the opposition to ID cards. I think they've realised pretty much the only justification is the cheeldren.

A sense of perspective is needed, I think

ITV have apologised because one of the contestants on their ridiculous fucking show cooked and ate a rat. According to the RSPCA in New South Wales,

it was "not acceptable" an animal had been killed as part of a performance.

I'm sorry, but It's a fucking rat.

How many people are tucking into chicken, or fish, or sausages, or steak tonight? I know I am. What's the difference?

Taxing the bankers

I was going to blog about this, but frankly CF has done a fantastic job already, so I'd recommend you read that, as I agree with every word.