Looks like a Sea around the Mump

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26078592

David Cameron has said many times about many things that there are lessons to learn. How many lessons does he still need? He's in charge of the whole of the UK yet he seems to keep on admitting that he knows nowt about anything.

In a couple of centuries, there will be comedies written about this period in history.

I wonder if he will get a cool nickname like Ethelred the Unready.

 

Cameron the Clueless (no offence intended )

 

Cameron the Hero................he's chucked a few coffers in the pot,he's sent the army inhe's been having 'on going' tea parties i think they're called 'Cobra Meetings'Oooo get himhe's been talking of flood defenses being put in place...ey even mentioned doing a bit of dredging.........and all this in the last few days...who's been a busy boy then........

What i'd like to know is ....WHERE'S HE BEEN SINCE CHRISTMAS ?

1...2...3....and breath...........

 

nice one our kid,
Jenny

 

Still, it could be worse. Imagine if it was so bad that there was no hope of putting anyone better in charge next year. At least next year we could choose to try out someone else for a few years. There's Nick Griffin, Nick Clegg, Ed Milliband, Nigel Farage...

Oh. Hang on. Sorry, yes, we're doomed.

 

Sorry i've got to do it...................

 

My favorite

 

Don't forget Boris, if we're going bust, at least we're have fun doing it

 

These were the figures on 6th of Feb, but there was a whole load more flooding yesterday stretching from the South West to the South East.

 

How do you do this, quote in a quote please

 

@Jiffy What, like this - nested quotes? By cheating and using the select text to quote facility and adding some BB Code.

 

Been thinking about the horror situation in Somerset and the responsibility for both the Rivers and drainage ditches. Up here in Scotland we personally have the responsibility for the burn (stream) which runs through our ground and likewise the neighbouring farmer is bound to keep clear that section which runs through his land and so on. It is not the council's job to keep the burn clear. I am not sure about proper rivers and where responsibility lies there. Presumably our equivalent of The Environment Agency which up here is called SEPA has responsibility. I do know tho that when we lived adjacent to and once for about 24 hours, in the middle of The Clyde!!!!!! we owned half way across the river and suppose it could be argued that it was our responsibility to dredge it maybe?
Are the current horror problems in Somerset exacerbated by the rivers not being dredged or the drainage ditches not being kept clear or both?
To me it does seem quite tricky when having to decide who is liable to pick up the tab for protecting against sea erosion/flooding. When we flooded there was not a cat in hells chance of SEPA or the council paying to raise the banks of The Clyde to prevent us flooding again. Perhaps if 200 council houses had been at risk ! Likewise I know people who have had to spend a fortune bringing massive boulders down onto a beach to prevent further erosion to the dunes which were the only barrier between the sea and their houses. The council refused to assist! It could be argued that the poor folk in Dawlish who have had the foundations of their houses damaged should have to pay for the repairs? Don't get me wrong I am extremely sympathetic to all who have experienced the complete nightmare of being flooded, I'm just interested in who is going to foot the bills. Maybe some areas will just have to be given up to nature? When our Nation was the most powerful in The World and we were very rich during The Victorian times we could afford many extravagant schemes and afford the MAINTANENCE of them, can we still?

 

There's 2 major difference that immediately spring to mind, between then and now.

1. While the nation might have been rich, the people were far from it. Much of what the Victorians achieved was achieved using what we would now consider to be slave labour. Kids as young as 5 working alongside their dads for very long hours in horrible conditions just to earn enough for some basic sustenance. I.e. to the engineering firms/government/crown, things cost a lot less.

2. Nowadays, between government/crown and the actual workforce, there are innumerable layers of leaches. The work will be outsourced to a private outsourcing company, who often will in turn outsource it to several other companies. They in turn have to pay the actual workers a decent wage. All the while the government will ensure that the taxpayer is getting value for money by spending many millions on private auditors firm, like Price Waterhouse Coopers for example, who will charge the government upwards of £1000 per consultant per day just to have someone stand there slowing down the work by asking an endless series of stupid questions that only serve to prove their complete lack of understanding of the job, and then make ridiculous recommendations that the engineers must then spend days or weeks contesting because they know that if they follow those recommendations, the project will fail catastrophically.

This latter point is why all government projects end up way behind schedule, way over budget, and often fail. At inception, a team of engineers will work out how long it will take and how much it will cost to do a piece of work, then multiply those figures to put in a safety margin. Then the auditors will delay everything and force them to modify their plans half way through, and generally knacker it.

This isn't just theory by the way. I've worked on government contracts for a substantial part of my career. I've had the arguments, I've stopped actually working on the project so I can spend the next 3 weeks explaining why the auditors recommendations will break the project, and I've stood before my MD explaining that no I'm not in breach of contract for refusing to do what was asked of me, but on the contrary if I did what was asked I'd be in breach of the clause that says I must not knowingly do anything which I believe would be to the detriment of the company, its contractors, partners or clients.