Readers may recall my story from last night about the Met office and their spectacular failure of a forecast for April. See Met Office April Forecast: “…drought impacts in the coming months are virtually inevitable.”.
Today I got confirmation of the PR being foisted on the UK public surrounding that forecast, and I don’t think even Josh could outdo this one, it is one for the books.
This is British humor at its absolute finest (FAIL added by AW):
Photo by Delemere Lafferty with a h/t to commenter RichieP
This is hardly dry humour!
Why do the Brits announce droughts on buses?
Saw on Twitter today… Love it! And yes a perfect description of both the weather and our crazy water shortages.
So now the bus drivers are forecasting the weather…Oh wait… I get it, the bus drivers USED to be UK Climate Scientists!
It’s the wrong kind of rain
They are desperately trying not to look as stupid as usual. The flooding now is due to 18 months of lack of rain. The ground is hard and the water is running straight off. Except that that is another pack of their usual PR BS. The ground is as soggy as it has ever been and that is why the water is now running off into the rivers. But it isn’t all the MO although they are pulling the strings. Remember there was a summet about 4 weeks ago which it is believed included several NGOs like greenpeace and the MO. They declared a drought and a hose pipe ban and that the drought would last through the summer and on to Noel.
It seems the MO couldn’t even forecast the torrential rain 10 days ahead when weatheraction could. Ah, hold on, I forgot. They haven’t got their new, new £60m computer yet. If they had they have failed to predict the rain before the end of the summet.
Josh says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:16 am
You surely cannot resist one of your famous (infamous) cartoons, can you??
This is British humor at its absolute finest (FAIL added by AW):
This is british establishment at it’s absolute stupidest.
Ah Anthony – sigh. You know, we have to live here. By the way DirkH it is buses, not busses – busses are kisses, but that’s another story. There are many wonderful things about living in the UK but our politicians are not one of them. Yes, they (mostly) all support CAGW theory even though the science is completely bust.
It is so they can raise the taxes and control us. They all support the BBC who support the Met. office. It’s like an evil, self-supporting cabal. And, of course, they all support the EU, all the more to remove democratic government from the UK and, eventually, from the US where the EU disease will spread like leprosy.
Never forget Anthony, Willis, Tall Bloke et al – we have few things to support us in our time of need but you and this wonderful website are a constant source of intellectual and spiritual nourishment. Please – keep on keeping on.
“This is certainly their finest hour!”
It is an absolute miracle how the British won the Battle of Britain or even went through WWII as one of the first three great Allies. Their meteorologists must have been a lot better in those days than they are today.
Get rid of the MET Office as soon as possible. It costs too much. Way too much.
It’s on buses because when in droughts we aren’t allowed to use hosepipes,fill home swimming pools etc etc also we are encourage to conserve and use water butts for gardens.
It’s rained pretty much every day since the drought became official….But it does seem like an age since we had decent rain. Very odd for south England. 🙂
Brilliant. It really is 1984 (war is peace, freedom is slavery, etc.).
Never mind the rain Winston, this is a drought.
Good FAIL, but there’s no patent on dumb.
MSNBC –
“Breaking News – Osama Bin Laden killed one year ago today.”
The British that won the Battle of Britain were brave patriots. They were not loony leftists seeking to destroy Britain. We must come to recognize the danger we are in from the socialists and communists and their destructive agenda. Remember Churchill? He certainly was a great man and a great patriot.
Priceless!
MtK
////Every casual conversation you have with an acquaintance or stranger begins with a sarcastic remark about drought. This is the worst thing that could happen to the authorities who claim the drought (which is caused entirely by mismanagement) is somehow our fault, global warming, global weirding or whatever. Massive win for us.
The only way this post would be better would be to have it read aloud by the Monty Python men pretending to be women. And some Spam, of course.
I am an Aussie and lets face it the Brits ( “Poms” as we call them ) really are not the go to people on drought. It is little wonder they are confused and disoriented on such a topic. But the UK Met Office really have scored an own goal here, well done boys and girls. “Every picture tells a story” and “a picture is worth a thousand words” indeed.
Len says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:33 am
The British that won the Battle of Britain were brave patriots. They were not loony leftists seeking to destroy Britain. We must come to recognize the danger we are in from the socialists and communists and their destructive agenda. Remember Churchill? He certainly was a great man and a great patriot.
Yes, we know. Remember, he was half-Yank (on his mother’s side), a matter of considerable pride amongst knowledgable Americans.
A bronze bust of Churchill used to have a prominent place in the Oval Office, that is until our President sent it back (to the British Embassy, IIRC). Something about lingering anti-colonial sentiment from his muslim polygamist Kenyan fore-fathers. Never mind that Churchil oversaw the dismantling of the Empire; facts should never get in the way of the frisson of a politically correct leftist gesture.
Sweet. One to add to the best-warming-headline-evah!
Someone on another thread today asked why we (In the States) can’t find another Reagan. Well, Brits, where is the 21st Century Maggie T? (BTW: Live here in states – actually Canadian – wife English from [dare I admit it] South End).
It makes you wonder how the media manipulation will go when the Met office improves to say 1 in 10 predictions? I do hope the internet is appreciated as an independent source in the free-thinking pockets of the UK in much the same way technology was used in the Arab Spring and ongoing in China. Monopolies of information, commerce, and thought are coming down everyday as a result of new models of electronic exchange.
Yeah, but you can have a huge down pour and still be in drought. Drought is when the resevoirs are not their usual levels, sometimes caused by using too much compared to it’s input or at other times wasting it via leaks.
A huge downpour will not fill the resevoir. In fact a lot of the rain will just go into the rivers and out to sea as it’s coming down too fast to soak into the ground and provide a long term supply of water for the resevoirs. We need a lot of rain. Months of rain like the recent downpour to really fill the resevoirs.
As has been said above, this is the wrong type of rain. We need a constant drizzle for sometime to wet the ground so that proper rain can soak into it rather than just run off causing rivers to burst their banks.
John V. Wright,
We in the US have not just the BBC but NBC, MSNBC, CBS, ABC and CNN completely in the tank for NOAA and NASA/GISS. I will admit that our National Weather Service gets it right more often than your met office. But we have more than our fair share of socialists in positions of power.
As an aside, leprosy is not particularly contagious. Influenza would have been a better analogy.
Actually, in defense of the Met Office, they have won the Exeter 20/20 cricketing competition in recent years (and a five-a-side competition). So – their inability to forecast the weather does not come at the expense of sporting activities.
http://sport.exeter.ac.uk/eventsandactivities/corporateactivities/corporatechallenges/
Let’s hear it for the plucky crooked damp climatologists – undaunted by insurmountable odds, facts, or the lack of computational resources.
Hip hip!
Some readers who visited Eastern Europe before The Iron Curtain fell in 1989 may remember those statements on buildings, buses, coaches, in railway stations, in soccer stadiums, anywhere. it was all one thing, citizens were encouraged to be political correct.
Wow – stunning display of misinformed opinion all around. Climate and weather are two completely different concepts. It could continue raining every day for the next 2 months, and we’d still be suffering drought. Thank you all for giving me a good laugh at the end of the day.
atlas isn’t going to shrug, is he? there is no atlas there.
and the bleat goes on…
Hide the de-rain!
Robbie:
“This is certainly their
finestfunniest hour!”There, fixed it.
Aye, no one could accuse us Brits of not getting irony.
sadbutmadlad says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:59 am
“A huge downpour will not fill the resevoir. In fact a lot of the rain will just go into the rivers and out to sea as it’s coming down too fast to soak into the ground and provide a long term supply of water for the resevoirs.”
Does the UK really rely largely on underground reservoirs for its water supply? In places with above-ground reservoirs — dammed streams and rivers — downpours are just what you want to fill them quickly.
sadbutmadlad says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:59 am
You really are sad aren’t you?
Unable to fill your swimming pool except by bucket?
Sadbutmadlad, see en.wiktionary.org/wiki/drought
drought (plural droughts)
1.A period of below average rain fall, longer and more severe than a dry spell
What is happening in the South East of England is overuse of water resources caused by overpopulation and lack of investment in the water utilities by the, usually, foreign owners.
sadbutmadlad:
I cannot decide if your post at May 1, 2012 at 11:59 am is – or is not – sarcasm. It begins;
“Yeah, but you can have a huge down pour and still be in drought. Drought is when the resevoirs are not their usual levels, sometimes caused by using too much compared to it’s input or at other times wasting it via leaks.” etc.
Everything in your post has been refuted in the previous thread at.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/04/30/met-office-april-forecast-drought-impacts-in-the-coming-months-are-virtually-inevitable/
I commend that you read all that thread. As a taster (and to answer your point which I have quoted) I copy a post I made in that thread as the end of this comment.
Richard
———————————–
richardscourtney says:
May 1, 2012 at 2:54 am
Ken Hall:
Words matter. It is Orwellian Newspeak to claim the word “drought” means other than it does. And there is no drought in England.
However, the untrue assertions of such a drought enable nonsense such as that from ‘david brown’ who says at April 30, 2012 at 11:37 pm;
“A warmer climate, with its increased climate variability, will increase the risk of both floods and droughts (Wetherald and Manabe, 2002 ] .”
His clear implication is that the “drought” in England is an expected effect of AGW.
There is no drought in England, but at April 30, 2012 at 11:36 pm you assert;
“All these things combine to create a real drought (due to a low water table) with floods if it rains heavily.”
NO! A drought is a physical impossibility in a region which is flooded.
“All these things combine to create a” shortage of stored water, but that shortage is not a “drought”.
The government has imposed an “Official Drought” to impose the hosepipe ban. But that does NOT mean there is – as you claim – “a real drought”. It only means the Ministry Of Truth has made a declaration.
The Free Dictionary defines drought as follows:
drought (drout) also drouth (drouth)
n.
1. A long period of abnormally low rainfall, especially one that adversely affects growing or living conditions.
2. A prolonged dearth or shortage.
You admit that;
“Firstly there is the low level of rain fall over the last two years. Every few decades there are periods like this.”
So, clearly you admit there has NOT been a “long period of abnormally low rainfall” and the “dearth or shortage” has not been “prolonged”. Indeed, a “shortage” does not yet exist and the ‘hosepipe ban’ has been imposed in attempt to avoid such a “shortage”.
A shortage of stored water for the now-existing population in Southern England has resulted from increasing the population while failing to build any additional reservoirs since 1975. This shortage could be overcome by providing connection of water supplies available in the North and West of England (e.g. by renovation of existing canals and using them to provide the connection).
Words matter.
Southern England has a shortage of stored water as a result of factors which have nothing to do with altered weather and/or climate.
Importantly, Southern England does NOT have a drought.
Richard
@ sadbutmadlad, Read this:-
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5ifZBOpWOg4huOJqwDYt5_f0xzAMw?docId=N0008081335809035803A
It’s from the Press Association. Over TWENTY reservoirs in the drought area closed, not used, declared redundant! The population in the so-called drought areas has increased by about 10% in the last 20 years.
Read this, too:-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/9150638/Water-why-we-are-paying-more-and-getting-less.html
The English don’t own their own water supplies any longer, the water utilities are all foreign-owned.
MET Office: Global warming caused the drought, er um rain, um flying monkey. We’ll get back to you.
Let’s add the Met Office’s latest faux-pas, shall we?
Met Office 3-month Outlook
Period: April – June 2012 Issue date: 23.03.12
SUMMARY – PRECIPITATION:
The forecast for average UK rainfall slightly favours drier than average conditions for April-May-June as a whole, and also slightly favours April being the driest of the 3 months.
I just got back from 5 rain soaked days in London. The rain was torrential. It was miserable. The silver lining? Being forced to shelter in pubs and drink beer.
sadbutmadlad says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:59 am
Yeah, but you can have a huge down pour and still be in drought. Drought is when the resevoirs are not their usual levels, sometimes caused by using too much compared to it’s input or at other times wasting it via leaks.
Bewl water is filling up nicely (from a record low I admit).
http://www.southernwater.co.uk/environment/managingresources/bewllevel.asp
[click on graph for current level, average and minimum]
lol, really coolest pic…
Well at least someone had the foresight to put the advert on a double decker bus so that when the inevitable flood followed the drought call it could still be seen above the waters.
sadbutmadlad says: May 1, 2012 at 11:59 am
Unfortunately for your theory, almost every UK reservoir is at least 95% full.
You shouldn’t believe what the BBC tells you.
Of more significance is the fact that, since privatisation, the monopoly water companies have squandered billions on implementing largely unnecessary EU directives and more billions on fancy salaries and bonuses for management.
But population of the UK has increased by 11% since privatisation and the amount of additional storage capacity is negligible. And one water company (Thames) loses more water through leakage of poorly maintained ancient pipework than the total “drought deficit” claimed for the entire Country.
Incompetence, with scare stories siezed on by the media to try to talk up the global warming scam.
Sorry. the reservoirs are nearly full, they have been for a while now. The problem is caused by not enough storage to back-up the consumption. The storage capability has barely improved on what it was PRIOR to the water system being sold to private companies, while the population has increased considerably. Leakage leads to large losses, currently one region leaks some 210 megalitres of water every DAY.
As for the bus slogan:
http://ruletheweb.co.uk/b3ta/bus/
[IMG]http://i48.tinypic.com/wuf5gj.jpg[/IMG]
“DirkH says: May 1, 2012 at 11:15 am Why do the Brits announce droughts on buses?”
This is precious! Thank you Dirk.
“Why do the Brits announce droughts on buses?”
Because Brits are used to do the weirdest things -they still keep an expensive and useless Royal House.
DirkH says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:15 am
Why do the Brits announce droughts on buses?
We have to because otherwise no one would believe it because it’s raining all the time!
I think the battle of Britain victory was due to the use of foreign pilots, especially Polish. It is a reminder that just because the odds are against you, when you fight a “good” fight, you use everything you have got, and who knows – you might win!
The wrong kind of rain is a throwback to the paralysed British Rail network blamed on the “wrong kind of snow”. It was joked one autumn that the trains stopped because of the “wrong kind of leaves” on the track. I think Nick Park played on this with his “Wrong Trousers”. As they say in Sweden, there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. In the British case, it is bad preparation.
Buses have become popular in recent years for advertising ideas rather than just things to pay cash for. Churches had ads on buses, then the high priest of athiesm decided to use a bus to say “God probably doesn’t exist”. God probably didn’t agree with him, but perhaps it would be good for the British to use probably more often, so the bus could have said “We are probably in drought”. After all, it is probably true.
“”””” hareynolds says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:47 am
Len says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:33 am
The British that won the Battle of Britain were brave patriots. They were not loony leftists seeking to destroy Britain. We must come to recognize the danger we are in from the socialists and communists and their destructive agenda. Remember Churchill? He certainly was a great man and a great patriot.
Yes, we know. Remember, he was half-Yank (on his mother’s side), a matter of considerable pride amongst knowledgable Americans.
A bronze bust of Churchill used to have a prominent place in the Oval Office, that is until our President sent it back (to the British Embassy, IIRC). Something about lingering anti-colonial sentiment from his muslim polygamist Kenyan fore-fathers. Never mind that Churchil oversaw the dismantling of the Empire; facts should never get in the way of the frisson of a politically correct leftist gesture. “””””
I’m sure that others who are better googlers than I am, can confirm (or otherwise) that Obama’s grandfather was a Maumau terrorist who machetteed the white settlers and farmers in the dark of night and burned their farms; which then PM Winston Churchill took a dim view of, and put a stop to. That is the craw in Obama’s anti-British insults. [SNIP: Sorry, George, but we are just not going there. -REP]
If you look above the roofline of the bus you’ll see the pole mounted CCTV cameras. “We know who you are”.
now we need mea culpas from the rest of the MSM for doing precisely the same for years:
(WITH THE OFFENDING PIC)2 May: Brisbane Times: Judy Prisk: Misleading smoke gets in public’s eyes
Several times in past months the Herald has used photographs of steam rising from power station chimneys with captions or subheads intimating that the steam was a polluting pall.
The most recent example was on the cover of BusinessDay on April 17. The photo, taken at Bayswater power station in July last year, shows funnels of dark steam silhouetted against white clouds and a blue sky…
First, the photographer did not manipulate the image in any way. He says he shot a series of four in the middle of the day using F22, which means a small aperture made the images razor sharp. And the reason he stopped to take the pics on the way to another job was because the scene looked so unusual. He presumes the darkness of the vapour was because it was heavy with moisture.
Second, and for me the most galling, is that the photographer had clearly written in his attached caption: ”Please note that it is NOT smoke coming out of the stacks, it is steam.”
Many readers feel the Herald and The Sun-Herald do not publish enough alternative opinions and stories on climate change and global warming, that they have formed an opinion and will stick with it. If you read the Herald’s editorials, there appears little doubt that it has accepted the scientific consensus on the effects of carbon pollution on climate: there has been a gradual warming of the planet. The Sun-Herald leans that way, too. So when those who question the climate-change science see what they consider examples of the ”old trick” referred to by the reader, they feel their concerns are justified.
The decision to use the image with such a misleading subhead was a poor one, and one which drew a message from the editor to ensure it did not recur. Although it was not the first time it has happened, hopefully it will be the last…
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/misleading-smoke-gets-in-publics-eyes-20120501-1xwzs.html
Oh. I see, a Thames Water ad campaign.
http://www.vaguelyinteresting.co.uk/?tag=cabinet-drought-committee
I thought it was some kind of official announcement system. Like, say “We are fighting the Huns”, “Beware the Zeppelins” or what have you.
It’s worse than we drought!
BargHumer says:
May 1, 2012 at 1:10 pm
“I think the battle of Britain victory was due to the use of foreign pilots, especially Polish. It is a reminder that just because the odds are against you, when you fight a “good” fight, you use everything you have got, and who knows – you might win!”
I would say it was a for its time superiour messaging system, collecting information from the radar stations and guiding the few fighter craft effectively.
Irony Alanis Morissette would understand. Or not.
Its getting to the point where I feel sorry for the Met Office. They freely admit their models are only capable of a 5 day forecast and hope to some day achieve a 30 day forecast. They also freely admit the same models are used for climate projections.
Why are they so determined to undermine their own honesty by making foolish predictions?
It just doesn’t make any sense.
I once asked a question of my UK expatriate friends, “What kind of dry wit criticality incident might occur if too many of you Englishmen were placed inside a room too close together?”
Their answer was, “the British Empire.”
BargHumer says:
May 1, 2012 at 1:10 pm
The wrong kind of rain is a throwback to the paralysed British Rail network blamed on the “wrong kind of snow”. It was joked one autumn that the trains stopped because of the “wrong kind of leaves” on the track.
I think “the wrong kind of …” has become a standing joke here in the UK. I have heard on Brit Rail the “wrong kind of rain” affecting traction. I have heard announcements about the “wrong kind of snow” and it was reported in the paper that the GPS train/platform positioning system used to control door opening on trains failed because of the “wrong kind of clouds”. To cap it all, after enjoying an historic steam train trip to York we failed to make it back to London because they had replenished the train at York with “the wrong kind of coal”. Perhaps it is just the wrong kind of mentality? Time to head back to Aotearoa, “The Land of the wrong white crowd”!
CS says:
May 1, 2012 at 12:08 pm
“Wow – stunning display of misinformed opinion all around. Climate and weather are two completely different concepts. It could continue raining every day for the next 2 months, and we’d still be suffering drought. Thank you all for giving me a good laugh at the end of the day.”
True–Weather and climate are two different concepts, although the alarmists tend to pick and choose when that is the case.
On to your other point… So lets says it rains an inch every 24 hours, at the end of 2 months there would be a total of 60 inches of rain. Outside of the mountains and moors the UK averages ~20-25 inches of rainper year. Are you honestly saying that the UK would still be in a drought after this?!
Why do the Brits announce droughts on buses?
where ever there’s a crisis, there’s money to be made. There are 2 logos on that advert, business logos? They might have invested interest in droughts.
“sadbutmadlad says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:59 am
Yeah, but you can have a huge down pour and still be in drought. Drought is when the resevoirs are not their usual levels,……..etc”
I would have believed you had I not just have read on the Bristol Water website fishing report that the rapidly rising reservoirs had spoilt the fishing and that their group of reservoirs in the Mendip hills were 90% full and rising.
Every Government and quasi government department in this country are habitual liars no matter how grave or trivial the subject may be.
However, as the calibre of recruits to government positions from Prime Minister down is poor in the extreme, their lies lack even the thinnest of veneers that might disguise them.
Sadly we are for the most part sheep, governed by braying donkeys, the only alternative to which are mentally challenged asses.
Both are interchangeable at elections.
Dear British friends,
Not to worry, I’ll be visiting Great Britain soon and that should spell an end to the drought. Everytime I’ve been there, it’s rained 9 out of 10 days.
Don’t let those Met Office folks out in this weather. They’re liable to drown staring up at the rain like their avian cousins, the domestic turkey.
All this British and WW II talk have me pining for a good “Hitler Discovers that Climate Scientists Are Too Stupid to Be Used” vidoe mockeries.
Hahaha! You couldn’t buy that kind of advertising. Oh wait, they did. Hahaha!
more effective without the FAIL
DirkH says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:15 am
>> Why do the Brits announce droughts on buses?
Exactly !
what clearer testament could there be to the propagandist nature of the AGW hype.
Someone (probably the UK taxpayer) is shelling out large amounts of money to have “WE ARE IN DOUGHT” splashed [sic] across the side of London buses.
Forget peer-review, it must be true, I say it on a bus!
Murray Grainger says:
May 1, 2012 at 1:45 pm
How about “wrong kind of forecast”?
Sadbutmadlad – check my site (link above). Post there explains in very simpl language: the reservoirs are all full or over three quarters full as of a week ago.
Wake up a see reality son.
From the UK met office site a few minutes ago
UK Outlook for Wednesday 16 May 2012 to Wednesday 30 May 2012:
Overall there are no strong signals favouring any particular weather type during this period. Total rainfall and cloud amounts during the two weeks are a little more likely to be above average than below average, whilst mean temperatures are more likely to be below average than above average. The balance of evidence does also hint that if we do get a spell of relatively warm, dry weather this is a little more likely to come in the second half of the 15-day period.
This is a weather forecast ? We pay for this ! (BTW this from the same computing goliath in Exeter that predicts with near certitude the EOTWAWKI in 2100)
I seem to recall controlling the water supply was one of the themes in Michael Crichton’s prescient and catalyzing State of Fear.
I can picture a Monty Python sketch with John Cleese and Eric Idle (dressed as a waitress) in a outside Cafe.
The waitress pouring a glass of water:
Cleese “Don’t pour that”
Idle “What? Why not?
Cleese “We’re in a drought”
Idle “A what?”
Cleese “A drought you silly woman”
Idle “But it’s raining”
Cleese “well yes, . . . now”
Cleese “But that’s not the point is it. The BBC and the Met say we’re in a drought and that’s all we really need to know.”
My Sussex water comes from Poverty Bottom pumping station, it fell as rain about 200 years ago. Lack of rain doesn’t affect supply, but there is a limit to how fast they can pump it. Pumping more water puts a dent in the water table, pumping too fast would let the sea water move inland. High water demand due to drought is the problem, not lack of water entering the supply.
At lunchtime I walk my dogs round Friston Forest. All our natural forests were cleared in the Neolithic, probably for sheep, Friston was planted in the 1940’s because forest soaks up more water than grassland. Levels were running low so they had to cut demand which meant declaring a drought.
Seems perfectly logical to me. If it rains you can undeclare a drought. If it doesn’t rain you cannot backdate a cut in demand.
Just a misspelling, the sign should read “We are Dought”
Dought: (from Urban Dictionary)
1. Someone who is a dumbass.
2. Someone with no idea what they’re talking about.
3. Someone who can’t do anything at all.
*Pronounced like THROAT..but with a D instead of a THR sound!
Its a dry rain. Classic wet/dry weather. Nothing to see here.
Sorry guys but can everyone stop going on about the UK like it is run by our politicians it is not, we are now controlled by the the unelected EU http://www.eureferendum.com/fcosovereignty2.pdf the only reason we appear to be separate is because we did not join the Euro.
Oh if you ever meet a British PM ask what is meant by ‘Schools and Hospitals’.
Between 1959 and 1962 I frequently flew from the UK to the continent and back as pilot of an old twin Beechcraft. I was always impressed with the professionalism and competence of the weather people who gave me the aviation forecasts. The Beechcraft did not handle icing well (remember Glen Miller?) and forecasts were critical. I believe some of the forecasters I dealt with were the same ones who briefed pilots during WWII. They were good people all.
When you see stories about drought in the UK you have to factor in the “record breaking” rainfall that broke it – they had some 2 inches in a few days – about a month ago we had more than 4 inches in an HOUR with over 20 in a day !
They really don’t know drought at all – try 10 years of way below average rainfall ending with the flooding of Brisbane and other cities in Queensland – all the British migrants here in SE Queensland feel right at home again with the never ending stream of wet weather we have had since the end of 2009.
I particularly liked the ad with pictures of scantily clad Philippino girls that appeared at the end… 😉
(I know, I know, the ads are automatic….but they were in bathing suits!)
It seems to me, that the Met forecast was a bit shifted. Here in Czechia, in the middle of Europe, we have indeed rather dry spring, not enough water in wells and the farmers aren’t happy about their fields at all.
We are getting used to it in the UK, everytime the Met Office mentions the ‘D’ word we have weeks if not months of rain. All they have to do next is forecast a BBQ Summer and we can be sure of dull, grey cool days for the Summer months, followed by a ‘mild’ Winter so that we can have record cold and snow. Odd isn’t it!
To all of those here wondering what happened to the British spirit of 1941, please read this:-
Horatio Nelson at Trafalgar
Nelson: “Order the signal, Hardy.”
Hardy: “Aye, aye sir.”
Nelson: “Hold on, that’s not what I dictated to Flags. What’s the meaning of this?”
Hardy: “Sorry sir?”
Nelson (reading aloud): “England expects every person to do his or her duty, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious persuasion or disability.” – “What gobbledegook is this?”
Hardy: “Admiralty policy, I’m afraid, sir. We’re an equal opportunities employer now. We had the devil’s own job getting ‘England’ past the censors, lest it be considered racist.”
Nelson: “Gadzooks, Hardy. Hand me my pipe and tobacco.”
Hardy: “Sorry sir. All naval vessels have now been designated smoke-free working environments.”
Nelson: “In that case, break open the rum ration. Let us splice the mainbrace to steel the men before battle.”
Hardy: “The rum ration has been abolished, Admiral. Its part of the Government’s policy on binge drinking.”
Nelson: “Good heavens, Hardy. I suppose we’d better get on with it. Full speed ahead.”
Hardy: “I think you’ll find that there’s a 4 knot speed limit in this stretch of water.”
Nelson: “Damn it man! We are on the eve of the greatest sea battle in history. We must advance with all dispatch. Report from the crow’s nest please.”
Hardy: “That won’t be possible, sir.”
Nelson: “What?”
Hardy: “Health and Safety have closed the crow’s nest, sir. No harness, and they said that rope ladders don’t meet regulations. They won’t let anyone up there until a proper scaffolding can be erected.”
Nelson: “Then get me the ship’s carpenter without delay, Hardy.”
Hardy: “He’s busy knocking up a wheelchair access to the fo’c’sle.”
Nelson: “Wheelchair access? I’ve never heard anything so absurd.”
Hardy: “Health and safety again, sir. We have to provide a barrier-free environment for the differently abled.”
Nelson: “Differently abled? I’ve only one arm and one eye and I refuse even to hear mention of the word. I didn’t rise to the rank of admiral by playing the disability card.”
Hardy: “Actually sir, you did. The Royal Navy is under represented in the areas of visual impairment and limb deficiency.”
Nelson: “Whatever next? Give me full sail. The salt spray beckons.”
Hardy: “A couple of problems there too, sir. Health and safety won’t let the crew up the rigging without hard hats. And they don’t want anyone breathing in too much salt – haven’t you seen the adverts?”
Nelson: “I’ve never heard such infamy. Break out the cannon and tell the men to stand by to engage the enemy.”
Hardy: “The men are a bit worried about shooting at anyone, Admiral.”
Nelson: “What? This is mutiny!”
Hardy: “It’s not that sir. It’s just that they’re afraid of being charged with murder if they actually kill anyone. There’s a couple of legal-aid lawyers on board, watching everyone like hawks.”
Nelson: “Then how are we to sink the Frenchies and the Spanish?”
Hardy: “Actually sir, we’re not.”
Nelson: “We’re not?”
Hardy: “No, sir. The French and the Spanish are our European partners now. According to the Common Fisheries Policy, we shouldn’t even be in this stretch of water. We could get hit with a claim for compensation.”
Nelson: “But you must hate a Frenchman as you hate the devil.”
Hardy: “I wouldn’t let the ship’s diversity co-ordinator hear you saying that sir. You’ll be up on a disciplinary report.”
Nelson: “You must consider every man an enemy, who speaks ill of your King.”
Hardy: “Not any more, sir. We must be inclusive in this multicultural age. Now put on your Kevlar vest. It’s the rules. It could save your life”
Nelson: “Don’t tell me – health and safety. Whatever happened to rum, sodomy and the lash?”
Hardy: As I explained, sir, rum is off the menu! And there’s a ban on corporal punishment.”
Nelson: “What about sodomy?”
Hardy: “I believe that is now legal, sir.”
Nelson: “In that case…………… kiss me, Hardy.
Someone has got to use this for a book cover! Is there a date to this photo?
Easy to fix, that. Just remove an “r” from the bus ad; from:
“We are in drought” to:
“We are in doubt”.
Yes, but it’s a very dry torrential downpour!
The Met Office couldn’t find its rear end using both hands.
What makes you think they can out-forecast Piers Corbin of WeatherAction?
Surely Romm, Mann and the rest of the AGW advertisers have to also be laughing about this ironic photo. Oh, you think not?
Robin Hewitt:
re. your post at May 1, 2012 at 2:27 pm.
The meaning of words has importance.
There is a water shortage caused by excess demand in Southern England.
THERE IS NO DROUGHT IN ENGLAND.
Please read my above post at May 1, 2012 at 12:30 pm.
Richard
Heavy rain can cause drought, consistent with the argument that cold is an artifact of warming.
It’s just rotten rain. Can’t be compared to the way rain used to be in the good old days.
Hey it’s a dry rain!
On the good old BBC a few days ago the weather forecaster was explaining that because the ground was dry through drought, much of the rain would not soak in and so would increase the risk of flooding. Today I heard the weather forecaster say that a particular eye must be kept on the rainfall overnight because the ground is waterlogged so would increase the risk of flooding.
Steve Clauter says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:19 am
So now the bus drivers are forecasting the weather…Oh wait… I get it, the bus drivers USED to be UK Climate Scientists!
___________________________________
Don’t Insult the bus drivers. At least in the USA they have to show they have a high level of competence to get a CDL (Commercial Drivers Licence)
Anopheles says @ May 1, 2012 at 11:39 am
////Every casual conversation you have with an acquaintance or stranger begins with a sarcastic remark about drought
A friend of mine from The Former Yugoslavia would understand that attitude. In a totalitarian state, all news are assumed lies.
Isn’t St. Swithin’s Day a bit early this year.
A recurring theme in the coments is the lack of reservoir capacity, blamed on the eeevil public water companies.
However, when said companies attempt to build new reservoirs, the NIMBYs* scream and shout to prevent it. And, almost invariably, succeed.
* not sure if this translates outside UK. Not In My Back Yard
So the lesson for Brits is: When in drought, doubt.
AllanJ says @ May 1, 2012 at 2:28 pm
(remember Glen Miller?)
He took off from Bovingdon Aerodrome heading for France and was never seen gain. I grew up over the road from Bovingdon Aerodrome; many of the sixties air war movies were filmed there. As a kid, I had Spitfires and Meschermitts dog-fighting over my house. Cool 🙂
They’re lowering their sights a bit on their new summer forecasting:
““The wet weather is definitely helping the grass grow so if we have dry weather in May and June it would mean a high grass pollen count and grass pollen affects 95 per cent of sufferers.” ”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/9239504/Why-Aprils-showers-could-mean-a-very-sneezy-summer.html
If …..
In 1976 UK had a hot and dry summer with nine continuous weeks without rain. The government eventually appointed Denis Howell as Minister of Drought. Three days later it started raining so heavily that his appointment was changed to Minister of Floods.
Gary D. says @ May 1, 2012 at 2:25 pm
… Cleese “But that’s not the point is it. The BBC and the Met say we’re in a drought and that’s all we really need to know.”
In WWII in the UK, I understand people said “If the BBC says you’ve been bombed, you know you’ve been bombed”
Humour seems to be the key to success in life. This site has humour in abundance, yet the subject of climate is still taken very seriously. I have found most AGW sites, the Oil Drum, the Nazi party, Bill Maher, etc. are all devoid of humour. Never take yourself too seriously.
I suppose I’ll have to say it, but you can’t help getting the feeling that God is on our side …
Pointman
Easily solved. From now on instead of calling it drought, it will be referred to as “wetness change.”
It’s been droughting heavily in April and it looks like May will be more of the same.
I wonder when or if the hosepipe ban be lifted. In a few days time ground frosts are supposenly making a comeback… in May. That’s pretty unique no matter what the Met might say.
I’ve been getting updates from my daughter in Hull, and she says what others have mentioned, that due to the terrible drought, the ground is so hard that all the water is running off instead of soaking in. The people are looking out their windows and laughing. Yeah. Sure. 🙂
Len says: “The British that won the Battle of Britain were brave patriots…”
That they were. Wait. The British won? What makes you think that? Isn’t the UK ruled from German-occupied Belgium?
AllanJ said “..I believe some of the forecasters I dealt with were the same ones who briefed pilots during WWII..”
My late Grandfather worked for the Met Office in Africa in WWII and post war in Germany attached to the RAF. At that time the MetO was fully integrated into the RAF and later becaame a division of the minsitry of defence. While the MoD is the political and procurement arm of Defence the MetO was at the time purely Operational in it’s aims – e.g. briefing Eisenhower regularly before D-Day. Like many private companies, gov depts want prestige and rewards – you don’t get many of those working with the masses civilian or military, which in my view is one of the many reasons most gov depts become political rather concentrate on the worthy but dull – being the civil servants they were meant to be.
mike seward says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:45 am
Here’s what I was told by a New Zealander. It’s POME, and it stands for Poor Old Mother England. It refers to the poor b@stards who miss England, or consider it superior, and wish they were there. It’s more likely Kiwis are POMEs, a lot of them trying too hard to be British to distinguish themselves from Aussies. Except they have this special fondness for ovines. Ah, yes, 10 million people and 30 million sheep. Now that’s heaven.
Here’s what a discussion from the Guardian had to say:
Why are British people called poms?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-59927,00.html
The false etymology as an acronym of “Prisoner Of Mother England” only works for Australia, and ignores the term’s common usage in NZ and South Africa. It makes much more sense for the colonials to refer the homesick Brits or haughty colonials as POMEs -> poms. Of course, you get pommy, if you pronounce the final ‘E’.
When a Brit was elsewhere, he’d reasonably miss home, and (at least at one time) he might very well have looked down on the locals. Calling him and locals who pretended to be more British ‘poms’ would have been a great way to describe both. It makes sense to me, but doesn’t make it so.
Look, there is an element of truth in the hard ground/runoff thing. We had the same comments made when the 7 year drought across much of Australia began to break in 2009. But, it is very location specific – forests take up heavy rain better than bare ground, the topography matters, and anyway, the water may or may not run off into a storage facility. Generalisations are worse than useless in this regard.
Far more to the point are the common factors between the UK and Australian droughts – that no significant storage has been built for the last 30 years because of the convergence of interest between greenies and governments that would rather throw bread at the punters than fund the capacity to grow grain.
Water conservation has been used as an excuse to put up prices, introduce restrictions and reduce drought resilience. Apparently, there is a finite amount of water in the world, and we need to use it as little as possible so that there will be some left for our grandchildren …
After decades of people paying “water rates” up to the late ’70’s to the Nationalised water system. The Governments took all the money but never reinvested. Everything Nationalised was run down, all profits were taxed and everything turned to shit.
You name it. dirty electric generators, rackety rail, leaky water, militant coal miners, British Leyland cars, Expensive but crap steel nobody wanted. It was almost endless. Politicians should of been impaled at traitors gate.
Every year the UK had water shortages with no exception. A National disgrace! Now the cretins in power have added to the national populace en masse from abroad but there are no new rains to pay for it.
Maggie Thatcher fixed the pipes so she could sell off the water works to private companies. Well, the private companies are now doing what the old Governments did. Taking the money and fixing nothing.
My garden is like the Somme. Where’s my Global warming?
There is dry ice and wet ice: that bus add is about (PC) wet rain , not dry rain. Since ~2010 any extreme weather was considered more proof of CAGW. From today onwards any weather event becomes automatic proof of CAGW.
/sarc off
CS says:
May 1, 2012 at 12:08 pm
Don’t choke on your laugh, CS, but the universally recognized panacea for drought is always rain. Not another electricity-intensive algorithm-without-clouds model run by some “weather” bureau computer. Rain! You know–the stuff that’s coming down in drops. Very abundant drops. In the UK.
Dought is not a “Climate” term, CS. It’s lack of rain. So speaking of “misinformed”…. (even stunning).
The best way to predict British weather is not by a Terra flop computer running of some political wish list but by a scarily accurate terror flop abacus:-
It’s an abacus with one bead on it. You tip it one way — Rain!
Tip it the other way — No rain!
It’s never been wrong yet.
To me this is just further evidence that our would-be tyrants see less and less point in trying to hide their true (deceptive) nature. Too many people are now wise to the lies, the deceit, the endless propaganda, the theft of money and freedoms. But how will this all play-out? There’s an air of desperation about from the propagandists… I don’t like their chances: people are getting angry – and they know who the culprits are…
Eduardo Ferreyra says:
May 1, 2012 at 1:08 pm
“Why do the Brits announce droughts on buses?”
Because Brits are used to do the weirdest things -they still keep an expensive and useless Royal House.
—————————————————————————————————————————
Pathetic comment, clearly Eduardo has no clue what he is babbling on about, the British Royal Family are extremely popular with the citizens of the UK, they also bring vast amounts of money into the economy and they each perform on average 250+ official engagements every single year, in the Queens case over 300+ which is not bad for someone who is aged 85, tell me Eduardo what have you done in your life that comes close to matching the achievements of the British Royal Family?
“I don’t like their chances: people are getting angry – and they know who the culprits are…”
Quite.
But, along with an ocean of water descending, the UK has an unarmed population.
Fortunately we have the impartial police service to protect us…oh wait…they are being privatised as I type.
Oh well, the armed forces are there…ahhhh…..no aircraft carriers, and no aircraft for the ones being built, so we’re going to use French aircraft and pilots ?
Army….fighting too many wars abroad, gotta keep them busy somehow.
Oh well, it’s nearly holiday time….let’s try the fighting for freedom stuff later shall we ?
The reservoirs were full even before the rain – March figures for Thames water at 97% full. Rain came in April. The rivers were low, but they aren’t now. It’s criminal that Britain should bandy the word ‘drought’ about when it is nothing like a real drought.
http://www.thameswater.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/prod/hs.xsl/12826.htm
The bus picture is a great sight gag. We have had the wettest April for a century, allegedly, but there is still a drought, allegedly. This is the official line, so that when we don’t heed the instructions to economise on water use, and it gets a bit short, we can be blamed, not the authorities or utility providers (that’s the Thames Water logo on the left of the bus poster).
I think the difficulty of re-wetting dry soils may be overstated, but try watering a dried-out houseplant in peat compost to see this effect. What is real is the volume of water which will be retained in soil until it reaches field capacity. After that, once the soil reaches saturation, and precipition exceeds infiltration – run-off goes to surface drainage. We live in a small island, with nowhere further from the sea than about 80 miles. So fresh water doesn’t have far to go to get lost.
UK reservoirs may be full-ish but its aquifers are depleted. Until water tables at boreholes are back to normality I guess water use restrictions will stay.
Serious droughts – like the 1930’s drought in the US – are prolonged periods of reduced rainfall. They are typically interrupted by spells of rain, but that does not mean the drought is over.
In the UK much of the water supply comes from boreholes, and it is claimed that this source of water is still suffering from two years of reduced rainfall.
So it is credible that there is still a drought.
However, it is obvious that the government and the ecological movement were keen to find a drought. When drought was declared in East Anglia, a small area comparable in size and population to the State of Connecticut, many of us Brits – being no more stupid than anyone else – saw it as part of the Climate Change industry. That is confirmed by pronouncements from the Environmental Agency here: on BBC Radio the other day we were told that we must “preserve water for future generations!”
This is out of the same stable as the wheeze (Brit for “trick” or “scam”) of declaring a species “extinct” in some limited area.
We can’t blame Europe/Brussels for this. On Climate Change the UK is the daftest of the whole bunch – but no dafter that the US with its EPA definition of CO2 as a pollutant, for example. Our government and its agencies are often stupid, sometimes self-serving, sometimes Politically Correct, but that is true the world over. We would elect a better government if there was one on offer. Unforunately we have a choice, realistically speaking, between Conservative and Labour, recently described by the leader of an even less attractive minority party here as “two cheeks of the same arse.” (That’s Brit for “ass”.) No doubt many Americans feel the same about the forthcoming Romney-Obama contest.
Two real reasons we have a drought:-
1] The population of this small rock, which already had problems collecting enough water, has increased by a further 5% over the last 10 years, and is now growing exponentially with unchecked immigration. No plan on how we are to provide water to all when the population is expected to reach 120million over the next 50 years.
2] The floods of 10 years ago encouraged greater flood prevention measures in order to compensate for what was seen as permanent climate change due to AGW. These flood prevention measures cause the flow of water in rivers to be faster, allowing rainwater to drain quicker to the sea. This means that when it does rain – the water no longer has time to seep into the aquifers. Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear oh dear. Cure the regular flooding and by design you cause water shortages during dry periods.
Re
John says:
@ May 1, 2012 at 11:51 pm
Well, I’m now largely out of touch with Britain and I can’t know how the story ends. But I am sure that force of number will have a lot to do with the outcome, and when it comes to arms, people can be surprisngly industrious, inventive and cooperative. Particularly when push comes to shove. And even more so when they have a common enemy.
“Joseph says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:29 pm”
Thats right. She is so busy she pays tax now. Bravo! Not bad for a bunch of, former, Germans, some of which changed names in WWI. And most of the Crown Jewels are Russian. So much for the British Royal Family.
There are also UK schemes to slow the progression of flood waters to urban areas by creating or re-creating flood reserves on farmland – as on the Tone catchment in Somerset. The system of water control on low lying areas like the Somerset Levels, by means of large ditches and level boards, was already so effective that in the wet autumn of 2001 no towns were flooded, although Taunton was within one inch of partial evacuation. I had a bag packed and was ready to leave Highbridge for the Mendips – but it wasn’t necessary. At Christmas, there were still flooded, unharvested maize fields near Yeovil.
“Ryan says:
May 2, 2012 at 2:13 am”
There is another reason for water issues in the UK, and in particular the south/south east and Thames area. Thames Water was bought (AU$20bil) by Macquarie Bank, an Australian bank often refered to as the “Millionare Maker”. This bank is famous for asset stripping, using companies to borrow large sums of money to pay massive bonuses to shareholders and directors and the like etc, and then leaving that debt to be serviced by customers. Don’t mention infrastructure, maintenance, catchment and supply that just gets in the way of their profits.
Hide the de-rain!
“Why do the Brits announce droughts on buses?”
It’s part of a campaign by the water company to encourage water conservation, there are posters up in the tube (subway) as well. Ironically, last week the Bakerloo line was shut for a day after water ingress caused a roof collapse that partially blocked the tunnel.
A lot of the stuff comingfrom the water co’s and politicoes isn’t necessarily stupidity. It’s being done to protect the “water is scarce” meme that underpins the policy of driving domestic users from fixed charges to metered supplies so that profits can be maximised.
Always follow the money………
Tom G(ologist) says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:52 am
Someone on another thread today asked why we (In the States) can’t find another Reagan. Well, Brits, where is the 21st Century Maggie T? (BTW: Live here in states – actually Canadian – wife English from [dare I admit it] South End).
Tom, I know we are “a people separated by a common language” (as Chuchill put it) but it is not South End. It is, to give it its full title, Southend (all one word)-on-Sea. (Which it isn’t – it is really on the River Thames estuary).
BargHumer says:
May 1, 2012 at 1:10 pm
I think the battle of Britain victory was due to the use of foreign pilots, especially Polish.
That is NOT true. A large percentage were British young men, often straight out of school or college, who were drafted for the “war Effort” Many of the fighter pilots killed in the “Battle of Britain” (1940) were in their early 20s.
John from CA says:
May 1, 2012 at 1:43 pm
Its getting to the point where I feel sorry for the Met Office. They freely admit their models are only capable of a 5 day forecast and hope to some day achieve a 30 day forecast. They also freely admit the same models are used for climate projections.
Why are they so determined to undermine their own honesty by making foolish predictions?
It just doesn’t make any sense.
Because they are a bunch of “Civil Servants” aka bureaucrats doing as they are told by their “betters”, including a “Chairman” (Why does a department of the Ministry of Defence need a Chairman at a presumably inflated salary) who was formerly CEO of WWF (or was it Greenp…?) Europe? They even get paid bonuses on top of their excessive salaries, not for getting the forecasts right but for pushing the CAGW message.
I agree, you couldn’t make this up! No need to feel sorry for them. We who live here don’t.
Wucash says:
May 1, 2012 at 4:55 pm
It’s been droughting heavily in April and it looks like May will be more of the same.
I wonder when or if the hosepipe ban be lifted. In a few days time ground frosts are supposenly making a comeback… in May. That’s pretty unique no matter what the Met might say.
Hardly. I can recall a County Cricket Match being abandoned at Chesterfield in June……because of SNOW on the ground!
Robert of Ottawa says:
May 1, 2012 at 3:43 pm
AllanJ says @ May 1, 2012 at 2:28 pm
(remember Glen Miller?)
He took off from Bovingdon Aerodrome heading for France and was never seen gain. I grew up over the road from Bovingdon Aerodrome; many of the sixties air war movies were filmed there. As a kid, I had Spitfires and Meschermitts dog-fighting over my house. Cool 🙂
As a kid I saw Spitfires and Meschersmitts dog-fighting over Bushey Arches….with real ammunition!
Joseph says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:29 pm
Eduardo Ferreyra says:
May 1, 2012 at 1:08 pm
“Why do the Brits announce droughts on buses?”
Because Brits are used to do the weirdest things -they still keep an expensive and useless Royal House.
—————————————————————————————————————————
Pathetic comment, clearly Eduardo has no clue what he is babbling on about, the British Royal Family are extremely popular with the citizens of the UK, they also bring vast amounts of money into the economy and they each perform on average 250+ official engagements every single year, in the Queens case over 300+ which is not bad for someone who is aged 85, tell me Eduardo what have you done in your life that comes close to matching the achievements of the British Royal Family?
I know quite a few Americans who would willingly take our Royal family. The only trouble is they insist on giving me Obama in return!
Hey Ryan,
They will have to do something about this borehole problem down South. How about a bit of fracking? That will get rid of the immigrants and poison the politicians.
I was stunned and lost last month as I entered into a “New town”. Lost was the sleepy little old place, now replaced by massive business units, big new roads and new buildings full of “white flighters” covering well over 2 sq km area * rainfall at 0.8m/year and we are talking of draining away 1.6 million tonnes of water in a year (averaging over 3 tonnes a minute) into one small river.
And they talk about floods and drought. Must be global warming.
It’s a dry rain. (Kinda like the dry heat one hears about in Arizona.)
”
Despite the rainiest April since records began, government minsters are openly speculating that total mains cutoffs and standpipes in the street may be required next year.
And yet, astonishingly, it would require only a small investment – far less than has been spent on fixing leaky pipes in recent years – to render the capital’s water supplies completely and utterly drought-proof, forever. All the fresh, drinkable water the city’s population requires for its taps, its showers and its hosepipes could be produced without taking a drop from rivers, aquifers or reservoirs, at minimal cost and with only a tiny impact on energy use and carbon emissions”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/02/water_vs_energy_analysis/
The models say it is dry and the debate has ended. Get over it.
Hardly. I can recall a County Cricket Match being abandoned at Chesterfield in June……because of SNOW on the ground!
June ’75. Six inches on the pitch at BUXTON. At a reasonble altitude above sea level. Elsewhere, including central London, it snowed heavily but did not settle.
http://www.lccc.co.uk/news/this-day-in-1975-snow-stopped-play/2894
David Jones says:
May 2, 2012 at 4:31 am
I agree, you couldn’t make this up! No need to feel sorry for them. We who live here don’t.
Absolutely. They will not feel sorry for you, the british taxpayer, when they take the next £60m for a suplurflous next super computermabob.
BargHumer says:
May 1, 2012 at 1:10 pm
I think the battle of Britain victory was due to the use of foreign pilots, especially Polish.
NOT TRUE. There was one Polish wing. That’s it. But we are never the less very grateful for their efforts.
David Jones says:
May 2, 2012 at 4:04 am
Tom G(ologist) says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:52 am
Someone on another thread today asked why we (In the States) can’t find another Reagan. Well, Brits, where is the 21st Century Maggie T? (BTW: Live here in states – actually Canadian – wife English from [dare I admit it] South End).
Tom, I know we are “a people separated by a common language” (as Chuchill put it) but it is not South End. It is, to give it its full title, Southend (all one word)-on-Sea. (Which it isn’t – it is really on the River Thames estuary).
David – is it possible Mrs Tom actually came from – South End, in Croydon? There might be others [Huish Episcopi, Greensted-juxta-Ongar, Moreton-in-Marsh, or elsewhere], but that is a real South End. Of course, it’s likely that it was Southend . . . .
I see sadbutmadlad was only a driveby.
Sad.
Speaking as a Brit, Stephen Brown seems to have it right.
I think this has been well covered here. There is no drought, just mismanagement.
The reservoirs closed I think was because of their small capacity.
There was a proposed new reservoir about the Didcot/ Abingdon area but it was rejected, purportedly because of excessive leakage in the Thames Water Authority area.
Now they’re asking people to save water!
Water is abundant on this planet. The only way to save it is to store it in a reservoir until it is needed!
As I said on EUReferendum., The infrastructure can be relieved by using water run-off from roofs to supply non-drinking water and using subsequent waste for flushing toilets
DAveE.
The FAIL is unnecessary. The original photo says it all.
global warming has now produced the wettest drought on record !!
We now have a hose pipe ban in UK – does it mean they will flip it to hose pipe OBLIGATION if it does not stop raining soon?
Will it be our patriotic duty to go out there, in the rain, and water our lawns, and wash our cars, at least once a day?
Will we be fined a £1,000 for not watering our potatoes on our soaking wet vegetable patches?
I foresee adverts on buses urging “Take a long shower twice a day – we are in Flooding”…
Oh, boy…
“Stephen Richards says:
May 2, 2012 at 1:15 pm
BargHumer says:
May 1, 2012 at 1:10 pm
I think the battle of Britain victory was due to the use of foreign pilots, especially Polish.
NOT TRUE. There was one Polish wing. That’s it. But we are never the less very grateful for their efforts.”
For the sake of Brevity here are the numbers of foreign and commenwealth pilots recognised as participating in the Battle of Britain :
Poland 145
New Zealand 135
Canada 112
Czechoslovakia 88
Australia 32
Belgium 28
South Africa 25
France 13
Ireland 10
United States 7
Ceylon 1
Jamaica 1
Southern Rhodesia 1
Unknown 7
2353 British pilots participated.
89 Polish pilots formed 302 and 303 squadrons, with the rest serving in other units.
303 Sdn claimed 126 enemy aircraft destroyed (more than any other Squadron) Top Polish score in the Battle was held by Witald Urbanowicz with 15, Tony Glowacki was one of only 2 pilots creditied with 5 kills in one day, Top scorer in 303 Sdn was Josef Frantisek who was a Czech. Top RAF scorers in the battle were Eric Lock with 21 and James Lacey with 18. 30 Polish pilots were killed during the battle Total RAF/RN casualties were 544 killed, 422 wounded.
Don’t focus the precipitation. It’s just raw data!
It gets worse ..a recent BBC2 Horizon program called “Global Wierding ” seriously put the case for extreme weather events such as the recent rain here to be caused by CAGW..
Andyj said:- ” Politicians should of been impaled at traitors gate.”
Educational standards down the pan as well.
Len your right keep up the fight we will win
@tango :-
“your right”
Your right what ?
Oh I see: you mean “you are right” usually written as “you’re”.
Oh hum
In response to:-
{Matt (The grammar Nazi) says:
May 5, 2012 at 4:18 pm
Andyj said:- ” Politicians should of been impaled at traitors gate.”
Educational standards down the pan as well.}
You are wrong…. Apart from the tense, “ought to be”.