United Kingdom V: Son of a beach

[QualityChimp]

I saw this documentary where they used methane from pig poo to power their cars, then fought over it in a Thunderdome.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/feb/05/bbc-facing-funding-cut-as-licence-fee-consultation-launched

Following the license fee increase of £3, the BBC's fee is to be submitted to a full review which includes proposals such as the decriminalisation of non-payment. The license fee charter itself is safe till 2027 but the government wants to begin discussions on the long term viability of the fee citing that the BBC could go the way of Blockbusters if it fails to evolve with the times which are moving past the era of the fee.

[Brad]

I know it sounds defeatest but it really does come from a benchmark of decades upon decades of hindsight on the state of the UK and our government. I mean, we're still waiting on the EU to properly commit to a similar wide ruling which if they did would likely be set for 2050 instead whilst at the same time our government is about to sell us up the high river to the US which is steadfast committed to smothering environmental based shifts. They still haven't really decided on what the infrastructure will be for electric vehicles but I can definitely imagine a sharp swing towards hydrogen at some point.

That uncertainty will kill any serious investment in electric infrastructure as a wholesale replacement and let's be honest, the current approach of free terminals and 'you can charge it at home' isn't going to last very long because the big corporations like BP, Shell etc will never allow it and once both techs reach maturation will champion Hydrogen of the two because it allows control of supply. Electric is like the Betamax to Hydrogens VHS but the key part really is that 2020 is so far away from 2035 that Boris is literally just spouting a soundbite. If you don't get a full, comprehensive and hard launching initiative to revolutionise the UK's fuel network in preparation by the end of the current government term then it'll be exactly what it firts comes across as, Johnson promising something he knows a successor will get all the blame for not delivering.

Car manufacturers do not care about BP and Shell. I have electricity at home right now! Most of the manufacturers that were toying with Hydrogen Fuel Cells have already given up basically haven't they? I can't wait for the £1.60 a litre motorway services to die.

[Neon Ignition]

But I bet many of those big fuel corporations have a lot of fingers in political circles. Plus, electrical companies already exist meaning the fuel industry falling in on itself would be a huge economical bomb both financially and jobs wise. Whilst the screws being turned on them is possible I've got next to no belief that Johnson will be the man to stand alone in the world and do it.

[Hirst]

People are so short sighted it's shocking, we should be looking at why people travel and what for. Electric or hydrogen cars will not save the environment at all. They are still chock full of petro-chemicals right across the board.

Huge amounts of people could work from home, work places could house week day accommodation. There must be 1000s of people who drive past each other on the motorway and could swap jobs if they wanted too.

We need to be clever and resourceful.

I'm with VP on this one - about 80-90% of my mileage could be easily averted.

I drive to work in an office to use a computer, Internet connection and phone. I've got all of these and would very easily do my entire job from home, which I'd greatly prefer. I bet that would be half by driving gone immediately. But there's no encouragement to let people do this. I think when they build city centre offices, they should have to justify every single post and say "this is the only way it can be realistically done". I wouldn't even want to go in for meetings, just stick a webcam up if you want to see my face that badly.

Then there's just the entire system of amenities - when I go to Bangkok I love the fact that you can just live out of convenience stores. Always open, always cheap, always everywhere. I accept you get more with greater population density, but the only thing within realistic walking distance here is a badly-stocked petrol station that shuts at like 10, so if I need milk then I have to actually drive to the next town over! I'm constantly making huge journeys to just get basic supplies, because most suburban areas from the 70s onwards weren't designed around amenities - just houses and nothing else. Not even a corner shop.

Other thing is just how broken our public transport system is for the journeys I do want/need to take. I'd love to take the train more often, but the ticket prices are completely laughable for most journeys. If I wanted to take my folks to Scarborough for the day it'd be something like £150 versus about £40 petrol. As a result anything further than maybe the next city or two is almost guaranteed to be in the car.

[Dogg Thang]

Yep, here in Ireland the public transport thing is a huge issue. They want to take drivers off the road and yet our public transport system is about a century behind where it needs to be. Dublin city is a deathtrap for cyclists too so, basically, a lot of people see no other option but to take their car. And yet if the public transport was better and we made a cyclist-friendly city, there is no reason why massive numbers of cars couldn’t be taken off the roads. But one needs to be in place before the other can happen.

[vanpeebles]

Even if you did all of that, do those people still need to be there?

I think shortly we will find out very quickly why centralising mass populations in large cities is a bad idea.

[Hirst]

The most efficient thing to do is look at why a journey is being taken and figure out if there's a way to make it unnecessary. I wouldn't mind if I did a quarter as much mileage if the majority was spent on leisure/exploring rather than chores/commuting like it is now. We're still designing towns like it's the old days in an age of global logistics and worldwide internet. We don't have to meet round a water cooler somewhere to talk turkey, we just log on here!

[fuse]

I think shortly we will find out very quickly why centralising mass populations in large cities is a bad idea.

I genuinely don't get what this is implying?

[Zaki]

I think shortly we will find out very quickly why centralising mass populations in large cities is a bad idea.

https://persiancatcorner.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/James-Bond-cat.png

[dvdx2]

The joy of it all.....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-51389931

[vanpeebles]

I genuinely don't get what this is implying?

Not seen the news?

[Brad]

The joy of it all.....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-51389931

I'm a remainer. However, headline says reduced choice for NI, content mentions nothing about this. BBC journalism at its finest.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Am I seeing a link between the government looking into the BBC licence and the bias BBC reporting during the election or is it just me?

[Anpanman]

I think we also need to start pushing towards Hydrogen fuel cells, that's the real future of vehicles.

I'd agree, for me the future of road transport is hydrogen and not electric.