WEEKENDER: The water company scam, by Wiggia

Perhaps water should be charged as to area that needs to covered, just a thought…………..

 

There is no doubt that the privatisation of utilities has had mixed results, some such as telecoms have had a plus in most areas of supply and enjoy a degree of real competition.

Others not so much. The water companies which are monopolies have used their trading position to tread water (sigh) ever since they took over.

We had a vivid example a few years ago here with Anglia Water who saw the way forward as a reason to further fleece the customer. A survey was sent to all paying customers on how they would ‘prefer’ to pay for a modernisation plan, this from a well funded private company. I always believed that private companies would spend money on updating, modernising, expanding to then attract private finance, but not Anglian Water who provide the plan and want all customers to fund the ongoing works. The attitude of the survey was one of no modernisation without pay, not that this would have stopped price rises anyway.

Anglian water is fortunate in that it relies mainly on aquifers for the supply and even in dry years in a dry area escapes hose pipe bans and restrictions most of the time. This doesn’t stop them on their crusade to tell us how to use less water, endless emails give that information.

All this is to save the water company from doing its job: to supply fresh water as needed to an area with a growing population. No new storage facilities are being built or have been built since they took over.

The government has announced we need to save 20% of water by 2038; one has to ask why. It can only be because of the necessity to spend large sums on an industry notorious for not spending what it should. Why the government should back all this under a nefarious 25 year environment plan is a mystery.

Or is it? With an extra 400,000 immigrants per year the demand for water as with everything else inexorably rises. Once again years of neglect in infrastructure mean governments have dug a huge hole for themselves after the profligate covid period; we didn’t have the cash before covid, and now... !

If you take leakage into account, which should be an ongoing maintenance item, yet has become a permanently neglected problem, there would be currently no need to update water storage for some years. Endless neglect has seen leakage become a major problem nationally as old pipe infrastructure has reached way beyond its life expectancy and fails now on a regular basis.

Not only does the pipe fail but the road has to be dug up. A road parallel to us has been dug up at least three times in the last five years because of leaks and a substandard surface installed on what was a new pavement!

Wasn't it this government that decreed all local authorities should be informed of future utilities works so as to stop this constant digging up of newly laid roads and pavements? It seems like that has joined the long list of words and no deeds.

The current eco movement has its teeth into everything at the moment and water companies are not alone in band wagon jumping when it suits. Telling customers to cut back on usage and giving ‘advice’ has now had the inevitable threat of withdrawal of modern installations - dual flush toilets, which I always assumed were to save water are one, though in fairness experience shows they don’t: evidently they leak, and should be banned, though they don’t leak nearly as much as the supply mains!

Also power showers: I have had a power shower for years and if used sensibly they use less water than standard showers. I certainly spend a lot less time under a power shower than a standard one, but really I don’t care, these are devices of the modern age. The problem is not them but the supply companies who have failed to keep a decent standard of maintenance and an almost complete lack of future infrastructure needed with our increasing population, though why it is increasing is a separate matter.

To put it briefly, instead of managing resources either by building more reservoirs or by reducing immigration they want to reduce our quality of life and make us pay more for the privilege.

One final comment: water meters are still not compulsory other than for new builds. Why one section of the public should be forced to pay for water at a given rate and another use as much as they like is a mystery, I would not have a water meter from choice, the myth that they save you money was a statement to get people to change. Anyone who has had a water meter for any length of time and has looked at the differential between the cost of the actual water used and sewage removed will have noticed that the sewage component has become larger than the water amount without any explanation;  here, it used to be roughly two thirds of the water element of the bill.

Once again we are being taken to the cleaners.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Easter, by JD

Praise the Lord - Sergei Rachmaninov

LORD REMEMBER ME, ALBERTINA WALKER

"Hymn to the Eternal Flame" 

from To be Certain of the Dawn by Stephen Paulus

"Every Orthodox Holy Saturday in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, thousands gather to witness a flame “miraculously” appearing in the tomb of Jesus.

Orthodox Christians believe it’s a potent symbol of the resurrection.

It’s the Church's most important miracle. And it’s believed to have been happening annually for the past 1,200 years.

The ritual begins with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem (or another Orthodox archbishop), descending into the empty tomb of Christ within the church and reciting special prayers. A non-Orthodox Christian is also said to examine the edicule (a small structure surrounding the tomb) to make sure no oil lamps have been left burning inside that the patriarch could use to light his candles."

~~~~~

Victoria Clark recounts a conversation she had with Orthodox Bishop Theophanis in which she asked about the miracle. He replied: “In this ceremony we are offering created fire and from it comes uncreated light, by the grace of the Holy Spirit…before the ceremony begins, a kantila – a little oil lamp – is placed, already lit, on the tomb. The patriarch lights his candle from it while he says a special prayer.”

Bishop Theophanis likens the miracle to Holy Communion when the bread and wine becomes the body and blood of Christ (transubstantiation/ metousiosis). The natural is transformed into the supernatural. In his mind the Holy Fire really is a miraculous fire because the prayer has changed it from ordinary fire to Holy Fire.

https://www.premierchristianity.com/holy-fire-the-biggest-miracle-youve-probably-never-heard-of/244.article

Miracle of the Holy Fire (Holy Light) Presentation

An Everyday Tale of Online Banking, by Wiggia

This was one of those moments which did not come to light until I returned home and tried to start normal procedures in my life after a spell of oblivion, it transpired that various updates re banking, shopping, Google and other sites had updated their log on procedures and in the case of banks two had actually frozen my account making access unless I updated all the info and supplied new paswords and security information.

All well and good in this scam ridden world of internet shopping/banking, except my main bank account has now become completely unobtainable.

It’s catch-22 gone mad.

Every other site has with much time and effort been returned to its former self as regards usability, though even there the jumping through hoops necessary to get things moving again has been considerable as there is no doubt that the procedures are made more difficult every time there is a reason to upgrade the system; this is not for the customer's benefit.

Nowhere is that more obvious than with the banks. In a nutshell I have been trying to access my online account for six weeks! My mobile app follows the same course, no entry without a new password which cannot be obtained because the system stops it.

Apart from endless attempts to rectify the problem resulting in amongst other things a greyed-out final box that would allow me access, I have also had various attempts at circumnavigating the system; all of which ended up with the same result: no go, whether online or on mobile.

My phone calls have resulted in an inordinate amount of time explaining the situation, endless security questions which all end with a question of what transactions on what dates after the date given I can recall - obviously without access to my statement which I don’t have I can’t answer that so I am effectively blocked from further progress.

Add to that being cut off on two occasions after 30 minutes on the phone and you have a perfect lock out.

Being told I will have to go to the nearest branch, there are only two left in the city five miles away, with photo ID does not thrill me, especially as I cannot walk at the moment apart from room to room and cannot drive yet, and my wife does not drive any more either. None of this was because of actions on my part; as I have statements only available online I have no idea of my current position re available money.

It is easy for the banks, and they are all the same, so changing my account would not achieve anything other than making me feel better. This has been getting worse for some years. The real problem is the security the banks have is insufficient for the task so more security is asked for and this is put on the customer with layers of security questions so the problem becomes that of the customer; it is cheaper for the banks and odious for the customer.

There must be an awful lot of bank customers who are totally bemused by all this and the lack of branches just makes the whole process more annoying or as in my case beyond the pale.

My answer is to go back to telephone banking and paper statements, but I still have the same initial hurdles to negotiate before that can be achieved!

FRIDAY MUSIC: Sam Brown, by JD

Something different - I know I'm always saying that but this time it really is different. 

Sam is the daughter of Joe Brown, one of this country's pioneers of 'rock,n,roll' who began his career in the 1950s alongside Cliff Richard and Marty Wilde and many more who are mostly forgotten. What makes it different is her ukelele orchestra. I've tried counting the players on stage and there are 35 I think but it is clear they are having a great time. Music guaranteed to raise a smile!

"Sam Brown is a musician, songwriter, performer and recently, ukulele teacher from London UK. She currently lives in Dorset UK.

Born in October 1964, Sam has been ‘doing’ music from the age of 12.

She has worked as a backing vocalist, song writer and lead vocalist and has sold in excess of 3 million records. In the 1980/90’s she had her biggest hit Stop which was in the top ten."

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Brown_(singer)

Sam Brown Horse To The Water 2002

Ronnie Lane Memorial Concert - Slim Chance with Sam Brown "Lad's Got Money"

Sam Brown - Tea

Sam Brown's Ukulele Club of Sonning Common play "Ace of Spades"

Pinball Wizard - The Fabulous International Ukulele Club of Sonning Common

MiLord - Sam Brown's International Ukulele Club of Sonning 

(Sam is here at far left conducting the 'orchestra' and playing her ukelele)

PandeMIC: the enemy above

My wife opened her email yesterday and found a recruitment ad from GCHQ - yes, really. She’s been retired for twenty years but this looks like a dream opportunity - she could ‘work from home’ simply by spying on me. For the system has become so crap and evil that it has radicalised me.

‘Crap’: all that cyber-snooping and GCHQ can’t analyse its data to see why my wife is not in the frame for a job with them! But then, how come two Russian agents were allowed to fly into the UK and wander around Salisbury in 2018 during Toxic Dagger, an annual military exercise themed around chemical warfare? And that narrative of the Skripal poisonings, which has more holes than a string vest! I thought our spooks were good at lying.

‘Evil’: it’s not just foreigners who study the technology of mass murder. The laboratory at Porton Down is less than 20 minutes’ drive away from Salisbury and has a long history of potentially lethal experiments both in-house on Service personnel and covertly on the civilian population across the country.

We have had a UN Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) since 1975, forbidding the development of such things; yet across the world, well-paid and -pensioned whitecoats are at work on them. ‘Oh, but we have to do this research, because of what the Other Lot might do,’ they will tell us. ‘This is for defence!’ But everybody can make that excuse; really, the whole lot of them ARE the Other Lot. Go back to the BWC and try harder, harder! Meanwhile, if only they could be rounded up and sent to some remote Pacific island, concocting their hellbrews in segregated valleys and constant mutual fear.

Actually, that may possibly have started already. Seven years ago the French opened a ‘biosafety laboratory’ in Tahiti, allegedly for research into mosquito-borne diseases. Oddly, the original announcement in Tahiti News has since disappeared and the laboratory is not on the main island but on a tiny two-square-mile atoll called Tetiaroa - hardly a convenient commute for the staff. Still, let’s try to believe it is what it says; at least it’s safely isolated.

There are four categories of lab biosafety precautions; Tetiaroa is equipped to NSB3 containment standard; good, but not the best. A microbiology facility in Beijing was also a Level 3, yet the SARS virus escaped from there, twice; presumably that is why China’s first NSB4 lab was constructed in Wuhan, 650 miles away and with a population a third the size of the nation’s capital.

Now the West is claiming that despite Wuhan’s top-level safety rating - the same as for the UK’s Porton Down - Covid was another lab leak. That is worrying, for as the Telegraph and Mail have reported, Imperial College conducted ‘gain of function’ research on the Covid virus last year in a lower, level 3 setting. Are our boffins definitely more safety-conscious, less fallible than the Chinese? They were combining elements of the original disease - one that is estimated to have killed 6.8 million people worldwide so far - with those of Delta and Omicron variants. What were they hoping to achieve? What if they had succeeded in breeding a new strain that was as transmissible as WuFlu but far more lethal? Was that the intention?

There are so many potential monsters of modern war under construction: biological (including genetic targeting of ethnic groups), chemical, atomic, drones, robotics, artificial intelligence… Think of all those clever people preparing a Hell on Earth, for nothing but money and power, things that they and their superiors can enjoy for only a blink of history’s eye. That is why I say the enterprise is evil: an irrational project to cause lasting harm for the sake of fleeting gains.

President Eisenhower warned us about the ‘military-industrial complex’ in 1961:

We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. . . . This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. . . .Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. . . . In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

How much do we invest in peace research?

In this context it is very interesting to hear what Tucker Carlson of Fox News has been saying recently. Leftists often dub Carlson ‘far right’, i.e. not a revolutionary Communist; yet unlike them he can confess to being mistaken and ashamed, as on the issue of his former support for the Iraq War.

Carlson now goes further, drawing a line between the murder of JFK, the defenestration of Nixon and the derailment of Trump’s foreign policy. What have they in common?

‘Elements in the federal bureaucracy… working to undermine the American system of government… Unelected lifers in the federal agencies make the biggest decisions in American government and crush anyone who tries to rein them in and in the process, our democracy becomes a joke.’

Peace initiatives like those the three Presidents above attempted are a threat to the Masters Of War whom we must seek to oppose. Quite possibly radical change - reform - may come not from the anarchic Left, but from the decent-hearted faction among conservatives: not the money-mad globalist British Tories, not the crush-the-poor American Rightists. It will take radicals like us, not ‘woke’ but disillusioned, who see emerging from Pandora’s box the last and only real gift: Hope.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Mean Mary James, by JD

'Mary James, youngest of six children, was born in Geneva, Alabama, though her family lived in Florida, a couple miles below the Alabama line. Mary learned to read music before she could read words and was an official singer/songwriter before she’d started her first day of kindergarten. 

'With the help of her mom, she wrote her theme song “Mean Mary from Alabam’.” The press immediately baptized her with this handle, and she’s been Mean Mary ever since. 

'Mary plays 11 instruments and has recorded 16 albums, her newest being Cold. There is not room here to tell the whole life story of Mean Mary, but if you would like to hear more of it, listen to her music—it is all there.'

https://www.meanmary.com/

The Sparrow and the Hawk - Mean Mary with Frank James

Mean Mary on fast banjo - Iron Horse

Mean Mary - Blazing

Dance of the Thistledown - Mean Mary

Mean Mary's Sweet Pickin' Balm (Medicine Show)

Mean Mary - Friend I Never Had

Mean Mary when she was a child (age 6) singing Long Tall Texan

Mean Mary - Trumbull County Antique Tractor Show

Fake freedom: transport

Freedom is not simply a matter of personal choice.

Let’s take freedom of movement for example. Here is the unperson Laurence Fox being interviewed by the BBC at the 18 February Oxford protest against the Council’s ‘15 minute city’ proposals to limit vehicle movement:

The interviewer tells Fox it’s a choice: either allow the Council to promote clean air by these restrictions, or see motorists zoom around willy-nilly, polluting the atmosphere.

Fox points out that the fad for ‘clean air zones’ benefits the privileged who live and work in the expensive central areas; and that mothers dropping off their children at school will create more toxic emissions as they are forced to take the long way round via the ring road.

It’s a false dichotomy. Neither side mentioned the possibilities of public transport.

Years ago I visited a friend in Sheffield. At that time the bus system was generously subsidised so that one could travel into the centre for literally a few pennies - the onboard machine pressed the coins onto a paper ticket roll so you could see exactly what you used to pay the fare. The service was so regular and cheap that even car drivers used it instead, especially for an evening out to get full of Sam Smith’s ale.

Then came privatisation. Even now, some think every service would be better run as a business for profit; well, so are banks, and see where they have got us today. Nevertheless, the opportunities for the ambitious and greedy - and the friends they make in public office - are irresistible temptations to ignore the maxim ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’

In Birmingham the system was well fixed when I arrived in the mid-Seventies. The Number 11 went 26 miles round the Outer Circle and was kept strictly to timetable by a ring of clocks on the route, into which the driver would insert a key to punch the internal recording roll at the right moment. We could forgive the driver his occasional stop at the pissoir on Hamstead Road, or nipping out for a packet of chips to put on the dashboard, or even his regrettable habit of leaving the bus door open in cold weather; the thing is, we got where we wanted to go, and arrived on time.

Then in the mid-Eighties such smoothly-run operations were disrupted by ‘deregulation’. Routes were cherry-picked and less profitable ones made less frequent. The Outer Circle clocks disappeared; and some directors made millions.

Now if public transport becomes more expensive and less regular, you are going to need and want a car even if you didn’t have one before. This becomes a feedback loop so that the bus service shrinks; and the social mix using it alters - the old, the poor, schoolchildren; it gets grungier and rowdier.

If cities want cleaner air and less crowded roads they don’t have to set up road blocks and charge for entry into ‘Clean Air Zones’ and fine people who forget to pay. Instead, they could run clean electric buses (and trams and trains) frequently, cheaply and at all hours. The cost of the subsidies would be more than covered by the economic and tax revenue boost as money saved personally by not needing a motor car could ‘fructify in the pockets of the people.’

Or is it that the hairy-eared tyrants in local and national politics prefer control, coercion and punishment? I fear it may be so.