but are they on the inside or the outside……
I list below some recent stupidities in UK governance. It’s almost like we have a fifth column of foreigners bent on destroying us (or possibly a bit like Trump appearing to be in Putin’s pocket?). A Trojan Horse of destroyers invited through the gate……
Sadly, however, it appears that these problems are self-inflicted, courtesy of poor quality – low calibre – leaders.
This blog seems to almost write itself. The nonsenses are so in our face.
I list five below. The first comes from our Housing Minister, who was previously an Environment Minister.
When viewing a new ‘green’ house, he was shown a hot water cylinder in a cupboard. Incredibly he thought it was a heat pump. This really is scandalous. Where to start! Air source heat pumps are now more common – ‘obviously’ they process air to extract heat – this needs air flow, something not possible in a cupboard. They tend to look like big white shoeboxes (on edge), they look nothing like a hot water cylinder, so presumably he is in charge of encouraging people to use heat pumps, but has never seen one. He should have known that their location is an issue – not too close to neighbours, difficult to locate if you live in a flat, and so on. Nobody has ever suggested putting them in a cupboard to solve the location issue!
The second example is the Ajax armoured vehicle. The senior army officer (client) expressed concerned seven years ago about noise and vibration. He spent limited time in one, but sustained 20% hearing loss. It is apt to say he wasn’t listened too, There has been an almighty cover up. Everyone wanted to turn a blind eye to the problems.
It is now seven years late, a billion over budget, and one option now being considered is to scrap them.
It appears that the main problem might be the use of metal rather than rubber tracks. Rubber was felt not the best option. If addressed at the time, it may be that a third way would be possible, maybe a metal/rubber hybrid
My third example is the procurement of two aircraft carriers, without funding a full complement of aircraft, and destroyers/frigate to escort them. Can it really just be called stupid?
The other two examples come in the ‘green’ category. How on earth can you procure wind and solar without energy storage. Or pricing in the cost of storage or substituies? I live ‘off grid’ in terms of electricity. I bought solar panels, the ‘controller’ and batteries. The batteries are clearly crucial and non-optional. On a dark winter’s night, no sun, and frequently no wind…….. there’s no renewable supply, so are we supposed to sit in the dark?
Yet that is what ‘Mad Ed’ has done…..as have his predecessors…… And moreover he has to pay to turn off wind power at times, partly at least because it cannot be directed into storage…..
The fifth example is just as bad. I think it fair to say that electric cars are not entirely a good idea, but their ubiquity by 2030 – five years time – has been government policy.
Everybody knows that if this happens, if will ‘fry the grid’. There is not sufficient national electric grid capacity (let alone power) to meet this demand. Obviously it has not helped that AI has come from nowhere, and it’s demand for electicity for computer processing power is huge.
The responsible civil servant appears to be living in ‘cloud cuckoo land’. His probably optimistic view is that we need twice the equivalent of what has been built (pylons etc) in the last ten years and build it in the next five years.
In other words four times the quantity each year. Given the delays with procurement, planning permission and so on, this seems like wishful thinking. No doubt he’s hoping to have moved on to another job by 2030.
In summary, I despair……
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