Because The United Kingdom?

[JWB]

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

[JWB]

 

[urbanoid]

15 hours ago, JWB said:

 

I knew I liked Israel for some reason. 

[Stuart Galbraith]

Thing is, they arent all white...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Hebrew_Israelites_in_Israel

[Ssnake]

Are you calling the antisemites uneducated and ignorant!?

[Stuart Galbraith]

Its a shocker, but im going to have to go with it, yeah...

There was a really interesting documentary on Discovery Channel (back when it was good) about how they smuggled African Jews out of Ethiopia. it was a secret Mossad led operation based out the back of a wooden hut, pretending to be a dive shop on a beach. There was a movie made out of it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Sea_Diving_Resort

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Moses

Still pretty much ongoing if that timeline is correct.

 

[JWB]

 

[JWB]

 

[rmgill]

Now why would they do that? 

[Ivanhoe]

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13206731/fish-chip-shop-ordered-remove-Union-flag-mural.html

From the photos and video accompanying the article, doesn't look like an eyesore to me, particularly in that neighborhood.

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

'He said: 'It's just something to put a smile on people's faces. But the council said "this is a preservation area - you can't have that and you've got to paint over it".

 

And there you have it in a nutshell. Although yes, I think someone is being overly officious in this case. Somehow I doubt they would insist on it if it was a Banksey.

[rmgill]

Strange to think that I can show more Britannic spirit as an American LARPing a Brit than Brits can in their own stores. 

Edited March 19, 2024 by rmgill

[Ivanhoe]

Council can assert the area is a preservation area. Had the restauranteur hired a decent lawyer, Council might have arrived at a different conclusion.

Had this occurred in the US (and similar cases happen all the time here), my expectation would be the "preservationists" were motivated by either envy or greed. Often its because some wannabee Boss Hogg is miffed the victim didn't pony up for election campaign contributions.

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

No, they do have legitimate grounds for keeping things nice. I too live in a conservation area, but because the local landowner sits on the parish council, they can usually push through what they want. For example, the cottages opposite have been fitted with absolutely hideous PVC windows, that in no way fit how they look. Its like giving the Mona Lisa lip filler, although happily, far more remedial.

Such things have to be taken seriously. Personally in this case I think they are being over officious, but chip shop owners do have a history of overdoing things to get trade. A guy near me actually posed a life size shark breaking through his roof, and it took the local council seemingly years to get him to remove the ruddy thing.

Astonishingly it wasnt even the first shark to be put through someones roof, it originally happened in Oxford. There, probably sensibly, the Council got fed up with taking him to court and let him keep the damn thing. it might have been a different reaction if he had done it on the high street.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/111888743/the-headington-shark-the-story-behind-the-giant-shark-crashing-into-a-uk-roof

[rmgill]

In the case of upgrades, how many are required by taxes and green energy initiatives? How expensive are the more characteristically fancy looking but more efficient windows? 

One thing I've noticed is that there are a LOT of regulations that well meaning busy bodies push on people folks are forced to adjust and the pretty versions aren't as cheap or affordable. 

[bojan]

  

26 minutes ago, rmgill said:

In the case of upgrades, how many are required by taxes and green energy initiatives? How expensive are the more characteristically fancy looking but more efficient windows? 

Key question. Locally, to get wooden windows with insulation coefficient as high as PVC ones you would have to pay at least ~2-2.5 times as much. IOW, simple supply, price and demand question, and everyone not wallowing in cash will go for PVC ones. And it is not even mandated efficiency question, it is a fact that changing old windows for well insulated modern ones will pay off reasonably quickly - a friend changed his old fancy but crap (since they were 70+ years old) windows for new PVC, his heating bills (gas) went ~30% down.

 

Edited March 20, 2024 by bojan

[Stuart Galbraith]

Well in this case, the landowner of the cottages opposite made the decision, not because he was poorly off, but because he couldnt be assed to do any better.

Yes, its perfectly true I also live in an identical cottage built in the 1850's that leaks like a sieve, and would benefit from loft insulation and double glazing. Nobody forces us to get it. There are even financial incentives to get it done. OTOH, I can honestly say that my house is so damn weird that I think anyone wanting to upgrade it would run away screaming, particularly if its Guvmint money. And frankly, whom wonts builders poking over your gaff, unless you badly need something done? So we dont have it done.

I can tell you this, if I ever have double glazing, it wont be pvc, and it will be lead imitation like they used to have when built.

[rmgill]

Well, maybe his tenants decided they didn't like moldy window panes from water leaking in the old glazing? 

Many of the rules on this stuff don't actually include government money to pay for it. Just a code requirement. 

Having made my own double glazed windows for a nicer than average shed, it's tricky, but it helps that this was for a small gable top window set. 

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

And thats fine, except as I say, its perfectly possible to buy efficient double glazing in the UK that looks like it comes from the 1850's. He could have gone the extra mile to do right by his tennant, and make it look nice. He didnt do that, because reasons.

Funnily enough, I gather many of the windows and doors in our cottages were nicked from the RAF airfield before it was knocked down. You might think it would be easy to improve on that. Well, not in this case. Imagine Hogwarts castle being fitted with PVC windows. Yes, it looks that bad.

[Ivanhoe]

[DB]

I suppose if you mix Harriet Harman's hair with Maggie's choice of attire and political themes, you might just get Rachel Reeves.

https://voxpoliticalonline.com/2024/03/19/labour-to-embrace-thatchers-economics-in-new-betrayal-by-starmer-and-reeves/

In short - Labour tries desperately to make "floating" Conservatives believe that they can vote for new-New Labour and that people like Diane Abbott (suspended for racism, but wanted back in the firm) and Jeremy Corbyn (suspended until Starmer takes a knife in the back) are mythological shadows of a dead past Labour that will never be seen again, no sirree.

[Stuart Galbraith]

Whereas the Conservatives have the comforting spectre of Nigel Farage to comfort their inevitable implosion.

https://www.politico.eu/article/nigel-farage-leader-uk-conservative-party-2026/

And have the Conservatives handed back the 10 million pound bung from the guy wanting to shoot Diane Abbot? Not a bit of it!

 

[Sardaukar]

3 hours ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

Whereas the Conservatives have the comforting spectre of Nigel Farage to comfort their inevitable implosion.

https://www.politico.eu/article/nigel-farage-leader-uk-conservative-party-2026/

And have the Conservatives handed back the 10 million pound bung from the guy wanting to shoot Diane Abbot? Not a bit of it!

 

Hey! What is mine is mine and what is yours is also mine! 

[Stuart Galbraith]

Lets be fair, both parties have their fair share of skeletons in the closet, no argument about that. My own view is the labour party is going to be shit, but they will struggle mightily to descend to the levels of utter shitness we have endured over the past 14 years. Because yes, its really been that bad. Even Tories have noticed, which is why they are all quitting the Conservative party.

All im saying is give another group of incompetents a chance. They will struggle to do worse, and might even do better. Who knows?