Don’t worry the now rapidly developing countries will still be buying, in fact at present rates of growth very shortly no-one would notice if we sank.

JG
Like your idea, but in order to make a considered decision we will also need the facts available, now here comes the problem how many will truly take the time to study all aspects before voting, that is assuming that enough people will bother to vote in the first place.

We have a major problem with apathy in this country, I don’t care about anyone’s political allegiance in this sense, I would prefer to see a true majority vote even if the vote went against my own wishes.

Good old climate change back on the agenda, I do wonder what is the “standard fit climate” for this planet?

Throughout it’s time as far as is known the planet has gone through numerous ice ages and ages of extreme warmth all without the helping hand of mankind, even during man’s existence we as a species have come close to extinction due to climatic changes on at least two occasions according to these same researchers.

I have no doubt that our climate is on the move, I have equally no doubt that human activity is giving it a push. When it comes to answers the scientists come up short, it’s all very well fingering the worry beads and chanting the mantra of CO2 emmissions as if this will ward off the evil spirits.

We can’t function, feed or maintain the present and growing population without quite high energy usage, because there are too damn many of us. Our own growth in knowledge and ability actually contributes to our problem, now if any country suffers a natural catastrophe, aid is very quickly on it’s way, we are slowly but surely controlling or eradicating many killer diseases, thanks to health programmes people are living longer, in many countries deaths of children are being dramatically reduced, we are curbing the natural controls on population.

I am not for one moment proposing that we allow populations to starve to death, or allow killer plagues to flourish, but world wide we must look at population growth and somehow slow or halt the rise, how to do this is the real question, because fiddling around with CO2 emmissions, ripping off people with crack pot energy schemes will do nothing as long as we have more mouths to feed, more energy required to even move about, greater demands on all resources.

I don’t see anyone proposing anything on those lines anytime soon, until we get wars over land and resources, mind you we already have a degree of that right now.

All we will get, will be another round of initiatives and green projects all designed to extract even more money from the people and into the pockets of financiers and assorted fat cats, yet so many green campaigners wonder why there is so much cynicism regarding the whole issue.

For a good chunk of my working life my cars have been company cars, can’t claim to have owned them, but one occasion a young lady from accounts managed to write “my” car off, not easy with a Saab particularly in a 30 MPH zone, better find another set of wheels to get home, in the compound was a 12 months old Fiat X 19 with RFL, not the best car by any means, but damn good fun for the couple of weeks I managed to hang on to it.

I ran a Saab 9-5 2.3 HOT Aero for about 18 months and 50,000 miles, without any significant problems and had great fun at the same time!!:highly_amused:

Amazing car for such a big lump and yes good fun to drive, my cheap pleasure was peeing off BMW drivers who discovered that they couldn’t catch the car through mid range acceleration, the discs had been upgraded again by the time 9-5 came out so didn’t have any regular problems as such.

PS
Did you ever get your hands on a 95 Griffin?, there were no extras for this car, it came standard with just about everything on board, with 3.0 litre V6 and auto transmission only built for luxury rather than sport, but a lovely, lovely car, must confess I would never have got my hands on one if I hadn’t been in the trade.

So, in a former life, I guess my wife was a cat.:highly_amused:
Jim.
Lincoln .7

Dogs have owners, cats have staff.

Wasn’t that one of the Saabs that had ALL the brakelines “Hidden” under/in the bodywork to prevent rust?.

Jim.
Lincoln .7

That’s going back a bit, used to put the handbrake cables inside the body as well to try a keep them dry and frost free during the winter months.

Just for laughs, one of the best security devices in it’s day was the need to put the car in reverse to get the key out thus locking the car in gear, that system was never designed with security in mind, the reality, during winter months in Sweden if a car was parked outside, drivers did not use the handbrake because the cables would freeze up, Saab put that system in to make drivers leave their car in gear knowing very well that the handbrake would not be used, it was also a legal requirement in Sweden, when parking that wheels had to be turned into the kerb to try and prevent runaways.

Saab? I seem to remember them. Nice cars until General Motors got hold of them and turned them into Vauxhalls with new clothes.

I always wanted one of these back in the eighties
http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/imagecache/file/fit/730×700/media/5650505/Saab%20900%20Turbo%20(3).jpg

Didn’t mind the General motors involvement initially, because Saab needed new models, but when some loony tunes so called engineer decided that Cavalier brake discs were adequate for stopping the Saab 900 hpt, the salesman knew that those discs weren’t up to the job never mind engineers, our fears were soon realised, warped front brake discs became an occupational hazard for a while.

Other than that the Saab SAABS, ran and ran, bodily as tough as old boots with safety features built into the car before other manufacturers (Volvo excluded) had even thought about it.