Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Councils face bills running to hundreds of millions of pounds to make tower blocks safe after the Government said it would NOT guarantee extra money to pay for vital work to prevent a repeat of the Grenfell disaster.

Ninety-five high-rise buildings in 32 local authority areas have failed safety tests, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said yesterday, with hundreds more blocks still to be tested.

The findings prompted Theresa May to announce a “major national investigation” into the use of cladding on high-rise blocks, with every sample so far tested in the wake of the Grenfell found to be unsafe.

Hmmm?

And then there's the small matter of the insulation behind the cladding too.

Residents of these tower blocks are also being refused home insurance

No mention of Burnley, Stan. Must be improving.

It is often said that home is where the heart is - and that there's no place like it.
But a new league table of the worst places to live in England reveals the areas branded 'scummy' and 'run-down' by their not-so-proud inhabitants.
Here is what they have to say about the towns voted England's worst...
In reverse order:
10. Blackpool
'Go back a few streets from the prom and you will see the deprivation, the ghettos and the scummy pubs that make up the REAL Blackpool.'

9. Oldham
'I think Oldham was best summed up by a friend of mine who remarked the people look as though the government has been performing nuclear testing in the area.'

8. Sunderland
'It's a pretty sad place, to be honest. Find somewhere with easy access to Newcastle city centre and you'll be happy.'

7. Gravesend
'If you must come to Gravesend, please stop by the estate agents and buy my house, because it's far to close to chavs for comfort.'

6. Bradford
'Bradford is literally hell on earth. The city centre resembles a squalid cess pit, full of monstrous partially demolished 60s concrete office blocks.'

5. Rochdale
'Rochdale, once described by Monty Python as a quaint Northern village, I am sure you already recognise this as a misnomer of the greatest degree.'

4. Scunthorpe
'If Maccy Ds is the chav's staple diet, what does that tell you about a town that boasts not one, not two but THREE of these gourmet eateries?'

3. Luton
'One of the most shocking moments in Luton was on Christmas day. My friend pointed out the local McDonalds, saying "it gets busier every year".'

2. Hull
'I lived in Hull until I was ten but my parents moved when local gangs started to have pitched battles using such weapons as garden shears.'

1. Dover
'Let us for a moment imagine that the British Isles are the silhouette of an old man.

'Scotland is his cap, Cornwall his toes, Anglia his curved spine, making Dover his herpes infested s***hole.'

Hold on a sec.


We keep reading about the council/gov having to cough up millions to put the tower blocks right.

But where are the suppliers/installers and their insurers?

That would only be appropriate once someone or a company found to be to blame

Grenfell Tower: 149 high-rise buildings in 45 local authorities fail fire safety tests

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/grenfell-tower-latest-news-149-high-rise-building-fire-safety-tests-fail-local-authorities-uk-a7816311.html

put up the rents to pay for the work to e done if you own your home does the gov and tax payers pey . answer NO NO NO .

PUT UP THE RENTS AN PUT THEM UP NOW MAKE THOSE THAT USE THEM PAY FOR THEM

council rents are far to cheap and most should not be in council homes ,

put up the rents

"iturama - 30 Jun 2017 09:22 - 78279 of 78289

Sorry Stan. That is from the Guardian, the lefts favourite rag. My fault, I should have realised that coming from the graun it would be fake news."

Reading the Guardian eh these days..may I be the first to congratulate you on your choice of Newspaper );-

iturama - 30 Jun 2017 14:32 - 78285 of 78291

No mention of Burnley, Stan. Must be improving.


Burnley like a lot of Penine towns never recovered from the loss of Cotton, Coal Mining, The Shoe industry and of course the dreadful Thatcher years on top, but the area around the Town is an attractive area with many settling down there and commuting to Manchester each day.

Further more with the recent resurrection of the Todmenden Link commuting into Manchester is even quicker then it is by road.

all MT's fault that the cotton industry went down the pan - stan will confirm and ditto coal . .... as for shoes, blame it all on these developing economies

All tower blocks tested have failed. At least 600 blocks to be tested.

Twice as many mines closed under Harold Wilson than under Thatcher.

Sounds like since the Todmorden Curve opened folk can't get out of Burnley quick enough.

probably so, though MT was seriously tough on the unions - as was fully deserved by the more militant - and that caused massive collateral damage

The underground coal industry died in this country for one major reason - it was too expensive compared with the open pit coal from the likes of South Africa and Australia. The 60s was a time of major changes in open pit mining with the introduction of very large excavators and off road haulage trucks as well as bulk tonnage handling systems at ports. Coupled with the move away from heating homes with coal and the cheap oil and gas from the North Sea, the death of most small tonnage underground coal mines was predictable. Nothing to do with the politicians of the day. You can prop up industries for only so long before the inevitable happens.
Glad to see that Burnley is going ok Stan. Just ragging you. I really like Northerners, salt of the earth IMO.

I'll like Burnley FC even more Stanley if Everton sign Michael Keane. £25m worth the money?

what you say IT is not incoreect
nevertheless the collateral hardship was immense and has taken a generation and more to repair
easy to be objective if one is not directly affected

I was on a NCB scholarship. I worked at the coal face at a number of collieries in Lancashire and Yorkshire while at Uni. I saw how managers were being transferred into non jobs and changed course. After Uni I went to South Africa and worked with the competition. The timing and opportunity was right for me. Not so for those that saw their pits closed. I couldn't help but notice that the work was physically hardest at the least profitable pits because of ground conditions, thickness of seam etc. The most profitable pits were much easier to work. The men were very hard working and did deserve better but keeping the pits open was not an option.

it,

I was from a "mining" background and in general agree with you about the "problems" with UK mining post WW2.

These problems were probably in the 30s and its mainly due to geological problems, which had made much of UK coal mining uneconomical. (Worked out.)

I also worked some of my holidays "underground" and "surface" but was protected from much of the physical dangers. (I think educational on my father's part to make sure that I didn't go down pit.)

Also, my father and grandfather and many of his family were "miners". My father left school and 12 and worked at the nearby pit as a boy. But via "School of Mines" etc. later becoming a colliery mananger etc.

Later reopening the pit as a colliery manager, which then became one of the few South Wales profitable pits.

Pit closures were on the cards from the post 1945 year period, but what many disagreed with was that there was little preparation by governments for alternative "industry" or "work" and the workforce was to be dumped.

However, even in the 30s, there had been preparation fo "light" or other industries to be developed and provide alternative work.


Maggie Thatcher and her government were correct in their diagnoses, but callous in their implentation of necessary changes in the industry. (This had already be recognised, but the social problems which would occur were the deterrent.)

The results her actions or implementation of the policies in the manner they were done are seen in society now.

Changes or evolution are always necessary, it is the manner they are done that is questionable.

PS

(I also think that Scargill was stupid in some of his actions and had some responsibility for the manner of the pit closures. Also, not realising the police and government had had 2-3 years to prepare for pit strikes etc.. Too cocky.)