I think actually it's politically correct Frenchie. Most sheep herders are looking for white wool, for obvious reasons ie. dying etc. and so are going to be displeased with the occasional black sheep that turns up. The sheep are often used for mutton rather than being permitted to breed (take note Bojo).
Thanks cologne. I have a neighbour who runs a sheep fleece business. Lots of hard work, with a poor return. He has a heap that the black fleece are put into, but as there are not many it takes quite a long time to get enough for a bale.
Reminds me of the notion in India that white bread white rice etc are superior products.. But they are refined carbs and not good for the body.. And of course there is a very high incidence in s Asia of diabetes..
It's strange how ideas like this come about Yorkie - very often if something is scarce it becomes desirable, whatever the quality of it. If something is plentifull for the masses then it can get a reputation as 'poor man's food' which can take centuries to disappear. Apparently at the Laird's table in the highlands of the past the clan chief and his entourage ate old mutton whereas the servants were only allowed salmon. 200 years ago lobster was only served up to prisoners !
It seems that James Dyson has pulled out of making electric cars. Despite moving the production to Singapore with cheap labour, he says it cannot be made to pay. The first cars had already been developed and were being tested. But in an email on Thursday, Sir James revealed that Dyson was closing electric car facilities both in the UK and Singapore. The project employed 523 people, 500 of whom were in UK, and Sir James praised their "immense" achievements. "This is not a product failure, or a failure of the team, for whom this news will be hard to hear and digest," Sir James wrote. The big international companies have poured billions into the design and build of the electric car, and can afford to take the hit until mass production reduces the costs. Dyson clearly cannot afford to take this price as a small company. He tried to sell on what he had developed without success. When you look at all the car manufacturers they have links to each other and manufacture where it suits them best. While I am happy enough to see electric cars, I am worried about how we are going to provide enough electricity to charge them up.
Dyson also stated much of the planned finance for the electric cars will still be invested in other future projects including battery technology, much at the design centre in the UK.
Dyson has to try and find something new to come up with. He hit a spot in the market when he first brought out his vacuum cleaners, but looking for one out here now is like trying to find a chateau bottled Bulgarian Bordeaux. This has cost him a small fortune with a partly built factory in Singapore and all the costs of the UK operation. The trouble for him is that all the major motor manufacturers have been investing in battery technology, and will prefer to see the result of their own investments rather than buy in from him.
I'm sure he will soon fill the factory in Singapore, he is almost unique in being equally an excellent designer and businessman. His decision to re-evaluate the electric car market and pull out early is a sign of strength and good management. I know businessmen who plod on with failing businesses for years without properly assessing the chances of future success. My brother-law is a typical example.
I don't see electrical cars as being the direction we should be going in Frenchie - we need to invest massively in public transport in give people more incentive to use it, whilst deincentivizing car driving. The environmental consequences of making lithium batteries more than negates any environmental advantage which electric cars may have had. I do not want to replace one car with another but rather reduce all transport on the roads.
I don't disagree that there should be far better public transport systems. It is quite ridiculous that it is cheaper for me to travel in my car on my own from Watford to Liverpool than catch a train. However this requires a massive shift in how public transport is run. I remember spending hours on a bleak cold station waiting for one connection to be joined up with another one. It is no surprise that much of the UK public train and bus services are run by foreign companies who see that they can make and take profits because of the lack of regulation and investment by central government. It still means that no matter how well you provide good transport links, there will be many who live too far away from them to benefit and need cars.
The main problem is that Public Transport is either Electric or Diesel powered Diesel is of course a fossil fuel which causes Pollution and Global Warming Electricity needed to power trains etc is generated by burning fossil fuel for the most part, eco friendly ways are way behind where we need them to be Their must be a solution to this which ie either hidden away for economic reasons or not being pursued because of lack of funding My main fear is that to achieve zero emissions the general public will be in their artificial caves without light and heating, and the small amount of green power will be gobbled by governments and the very rich and powerful
Presuming that the electricity used for trains remains conventional the Co2 emissions per head, calculated in kilograms of Co2 per passenger for a journey from London to Edinburgh are as follows: Small car one passenger 147.4 Kg. Small car two passengers 73.7 Kg Large Car one passenger 297.5 Kg Large car two passengers 148.8 Kg Large car four passengers 74.4 Kg Train 69.6 Kg Coach 103 Kg Plane 202.6 Kg. I don't know exactly where the border is between a small and a large car. The key appears to be to incentivize car sharing wherever possible, and however possible. More importantly to ask if you really need to go to Edinburgh in the first place. We also need to ban things like SUVs from all civilized places !
Chelsea tractors are the curse of urban areas even more so in London Another problem is the main supermarkets are mostly located in out of town retail parks meaning cars are the most practical method of taking home your shopping, meanwhile the high streets are turning into ghost towns
This depends, presumably, on how full the train is Frenchie - I was unable to find more detailed figures on this. The best would be to cycle from London to Edinburgh But this would take 5-6 days if fully fit, and could involve staying overnight somewhere (or camping) with all the necessary consumption on the way - better to stay at home and read a good book.
Three more of the iconic cooling towers at Ferrybridge on the A1 - M62 junction were demolished yesterday... The end of the coal fired era. 40% of UK electricity is now generated by renewables... Nothing hippy dippy about that eh...
