Good old Nigel! He stuck it to them. I heard the same old stock answers and rhetoric from the rest of the panel and, reading between the lines, if we ever do get a referendum from David cameron, it will be worded so that whatever the public decide it will show we want to stay in the EU; we will not get the choice for IN or OUT.
Some may not realize this but the EU gave (and I mean gave) Romania over 1 Billion euros to bring their country up to scratch so that they could be elligible to join the EU. Talk about buying membership!
Richard

There’s no need for a warning Merlin; this subject is probably close to us all in one way or another. Neither was it felt heated, at least until your unwarranted warning which did turn the gas up a bit.
As said, there are people receiving benefits in a legitimate and most deserving way. And, because they try to be self reliant and have pride and don’t relish asking for benefits, are the ones who find the “hoops” placed in front of them at every step. Conversely, the scroungers do have all the time in the world, have no pride or self-respect and are more than happy to take the lot without even a thought as to who may be paying for it. These I have no truck with. I have come across them a few times and, where possible have reported them to the authorities for blatant fraud where I have seen them in a half marathon and also on a mountain trek, totally incongruent to their reported disability.
A very emotive subject to be sure but when I, and many others, shout disability scroungers down, we do mean the fraudsters and not the genuine people.
Richard

The Komet could be – but mainly at the end of its fuel burn. However, for initial acceleration (and also point to point intercept up to fairly recently) I put forward the English Electric Lightning.
Richard

Agree with PeeDee as in essence the ABS remains dormant until required.

There are a few misconceptions regarding ABS brakes whereby some believe it increases the brake efficiency, allows a driver to stop shorter than normal and even lets some drivers drive beyond their normal limits. All are erroneous beliefs and I would suspect such belief being a cause of some/many accidents.
Richard

Hi Baz, I would not have thought much space would be required as the flutes could be formed in the wheel periphery, or, even the tyre for that matter.
I would also think that once the wheels were on the runway with the a/c weight on them then the flutes would have no energy left. All conjecture on my part of course.
Interesting though that as expensive a/c tyres are, their limited life and the punishment they take on initial landing, there seems to be no call for wheel spin prior to touchdown.
Richard

Many (and some) years ago I worked in workshops linked to a research physics lab. They had designed a very small conical shaped spinner made of metal, very much like the old Apollo space capsules. This had tiny flutes cut into the slanting face; this face then resting on a conical bed which had tiny holes in it from which compressed air exited. They managed at that time (1964) to reach speeds of up to 7,000 revs per second and were aiming for 15,000 rps.
Could not the same flutes be designed into aircraft wheels so that they rotate when lowered into the airstream? Doesn’t really matter how fast they go as any speed will reduce the sudden wear currently experienced. I do though think that brains better than mine may have thought of this already and for some reason decided against the idea. Still, I would like to know why.
Richard

Well, I am one that prefers we left the EU as it stands. It has mutated drastically from the original 70s trade agreement that those in power at the time, and advocating us to join, should have seen it as the thin end of the wedge; which it surely has become, driving deeper and deeper into our national control.
I also don’t believe that if we left trade would diminish; they (the EU membership) are surely not going to bite their noses off to spite their faces. As Charlie Hunt said, and I agree, we import more from them than we export to them.
Cost is another point. The regular monthly meetings are shared between Brussells and Strasbourg. The cost of transporting all documents, hotel bills, expenses, etc. is astronomical and comes to over a 1 Million euros per month. That is just the cost of the monthly venue change, not the meeting itself. Also, the last 13 or so annual EU accounting audits have not been ratified and hence not signed off; an occurance they seem happy about each year.
Judging by PeeDee’s first post, I imagine I will be seen as a heretic and, as a non-believer, a fervent reader of the tabloids feeding on s***e. However, my opinion is based on an erudite grasp of the current situation but nonetheless, respect others who may have differing opinions to mine on this subject.
Richard

I had more or less dicided not to vote due to 99% of them being affiliated to a political party, so in my eyes they instantly lost credibilty. Additionally, I also strongly suspected the post to be another layer of costly bureaucracy and “jobs for the boys”.
However, listening to the a radio phone-in one day I heard that the post at a certain area was replacing 7 other current posts and hence was cost neutral. We were informed that the new post warranted a basic salary of £80,000 per annum, plus all the office staff, premises, computers, software,etc., etc. all which equated to £250,000 – but still cost neutral. The next caller then asked “are you sacking the redundant 7 posts then?” The reply from some of the candidates was of course “no, as we will find other work for them to do”. I then waited for the programme host to task the candidates regarding “cost neutral”; it never came.
So, no voting for me.
Richard