The Night Mail

[jjb1970]

Unless you're very unlucky, have poor judgement or wilfully annoy the wrong person/people you've got to be pretty unlucky to be the victim of a serious assault or end up murdered. Of course it can happen to anyone, but statistically you're unlikely to be murdered or stabbed. The crimes which blight the lives of so many tend to be low level crimes - burglary, loutish behaviour, shop lifting, pick pocketing, road rage and such like. The reason Singapore feels a lot safer than Britain isn't because they don't have murder, violent assaults and rape, they do. What is different is the much lower levels of low level crime, anti-social behaviour (you just don't see grafitti or loutish behaviour on public transport here, for example), and part of that is a zero tolerance approach to low level crime and enforcement of laws. 

[jjb1970]

7 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

 

No complaints here at all, ignoring any progressing difficulty about getting in and out. The funny thing is when I drive to town I see at least three Porsches but I've only ever seen one other 124.

 

I have never driven a Fiat 124, but whenever I've driven the Mazda MX5 I've found them a joy. Mazda have always resisted the urge to try and make it fast or a track day toy, weirdly they seem to be one of the few manufacturers of sports cars who get the fact that cars are driven on public roads and so a car which is a hoot on public roads and at road legal speeds makes more sense than something which only starts to come to life at speeds which would be dangerous and irresponsible and probably illegal on a public road (though not necessarily, there are plenty of national speed limit B roads in Britain where driving at 60 would be irresponsible IMO). A small, relatively cheap light car with fantastic handling and which puts a smile on the face in normal use has been a winning formula for Mazda.

 

And of course there's the brand image thing, all the magazines, 'influencers' etc pushing certain brands.

[jjb1970]

The cars that could have been brilliant were the Smart roadster and coupe, the mini sports cars made by Smart a few years ago. Tiny cars, tiny engines but go kart handling and the small size and weight made them feel fast at almost any speed. Great, unfortunately they came with an awful semi-auto gear box which kind of ruined them, and they were quite expensive for what they were.

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

 

I have never driven a Fiat 124, but whenever I've driven the Mazda MX5 I've found them a joy. Mazda have always resisted the urge to try and make it fast or a track day toy, weirdly they seem to be one of the few manufacturers of sports cars who get the fact that cars are driven on public roads and so a car which is a hoot on public roads and at road legal speeds makes more sense than something which only starts to come to life at speeds which would be dangerous and irresponsible and probably illegal on a public road (though not necessarily, there are plenty of national speed limit B roads in Britain where driving at 60 would be irresponsible IMO). A small, relatively cheap light car with fantastic handling and which puts a smile on the face in normal use has been a winning formula for Mazda.

 

And of course there's the brand image thing, all the magazines, 'influencers' etc pushing certain brands.

 

There's not much between the Mazda an the Fiat. The Fiat has the smaller engine with a turbo but there's little difference in the performance.

 

It is a joy to drive. I usually drive close to the limit which seems to upset a lot of silly-billies and they tailgate me. Of course when we get to twisty bits they have to slow down. I don't slow down at all. 😆

[polybear]

4 hours ago, skipepsi said:

It always struck me as madness to cut police numbers when the population was expanding, I have no details to support this idea but surely the percentage of wronguns remains the same?

 

I'd say that, bearing in mind where some members of the expanded population are coming from then the percentage of wrong 'uns is actually increasing; also the fact that younger members of society seem to have a much greater sense of being "entitled" as well as not being taught respect for the law to anywhere near the same degree as we were certainly doesn't help either.

 

 

 

[iL Dottore]

6 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

Unless you're very unlucky, have poor judgement or wilfully annoy the wrong person/people you've got to be pretty unlucky to be the victim of a serious assault or end up murdered. Of course it can happen to anyone, but statistically you're unlikely to be murdered or stabbed. The crimes which blight the lives of so many tend to be low level crimes - burglary, loutish behaviour, shop lifting, pick pocketing, road rage and such like. The reason Singapore feels a lot safer than Britain isn't because they don't have murder, violent assaults and rape, they do. What is different is the much lower levels of low level crime, anti-social behaviour (you just don't see grafitti or loutish behaviour on public transport here, for example), and part of that is a zero tolerance approach to low level crime and enforcement of laws. 

And having watched some documentaries about the Singaporean prison system, they don’t get coddled when they’re inside either. From what I saw, it would seem that although prison conditions are incredibly spartan (although the yooman rites lawyers would consider them as “inhumane”), the prisoners are treated with respect and provided the prisoners follow the rules, the prison system will do its best to fully rehabilitate them.

 

Add to the highlighted text, I remember reading way back in the late 70s/early 80s, that various big city experiences in the US had shown that by having a zero tolerance approach to low-level crime together with the strict enforcement of the laws, resulted not only in reducing low-level crime, but also resulted in the reduction of more serious crimes as well.

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

I'd say that, bearing in mind where some members of the expanded population are coming from then the percentage of wrong 'uns is actually increasing; also the fact that younger members of society seem to have a much greater sense of being "entitled" as well as not being taught respect for the law to anywhere near the same degree as we were certainly doesn't help either.

 

 

 

I’ve always wondered about the wisdom of being deliberately ambiguous about the identity of criminal suspects when they are being sought by the police who turn to the public for assistance. If you were to say that the suspect is a middle-aged male, that’s hardly descriptive enough for the general public – or the police for that matter – to keep an eye out for the miscreant.

 

But if you were to say that the suspect is a middle-aged male white bear with pizza and baked bean stains on his fur, then it is very clear who the authorities are looking for (sorry PB for using you as an example). 
 

Why it is “discriminatory” to properly identify all the characteristics of a criminal is beyond me. If, returning to my example above, all criminals were identified by their animal ethnicity and we found out that polar bears were over represented in the criminal population; then that should be a wake up call to the authorities (and to society as a whole) that there is something amiss with the polar bear community. 

[DenysW]

42 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Add to the highlighted text, I remember reading way back in the late 70s/early 80s, that various big city experiences in the US had shown that by having a zero tolerance approach to low-level crime together with the strict enforcement of the laws, resulted not only in reducing low-level crime, but also resulted in the reduction of more serious crimes as well.

My recollection of that is that it simply moved the wrong-uns and their behaviour out of the cities and into the suburbs.

[Winslow Boy]

8 minutes ago, DenysW said:

My recollection of that is that it simply moved the wrong-uns and their behaviour out of the cities and into the suburbs.

 

42 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I’ve always wondered about the wisdom of being deliberately ambiguous about the identity of criminal suspects when they are being sought by the police who turn to the public for assistance. If you were to say that the suspect is a middle-aged male, that’s hardly descriptive enough for the general public – or the police for that matter – to keep an eye out for the miscreant.

 

But if you were to say that the suspect is a middle-aged male white bear with pizza and baked bean stains on his fur, then it is very clear who the authorities are looking for (sorry PB for using you as an example). 
 

Why it is “discriminatory” to properly identify all the characteristics of a criminal is beyond me. If, returning to my example above, all criminals were identified by their animal ethnicity and we found out that polar bears were over represented in the criminal population; then that should be a wake up call to the authorities (and to society as a whole) that there is something amiss with the polar bear community. 

I think that's was the Broken Window Theory. The idea being that if you keep the small things i.e the broken window in a good state of repair by replacing it straight away the ner do wells get the message that the area is being monitored and the likelihood of them being nicked goes up. I seem to recall an ex-policeman stood for mayor of Hartlepool ( I think?) on such a premise.

 

I think much of the 'naughtiness' we are currently experiencing does owe itself considerably to the poor state of open spaces/built environment. This I put down to the 'merr'r not my problem's that seems to have infected not just public services but also private concerns as well. But that is just my opinion.

[br2975]

8 hours ago, skipepsi said:

It always struck me as madness to cut police numbers when the population was expanding, I have no details to support this idea but surely the percentage of wronguns remains the same?

.

Let's look at it from a Senior Police Officer's point of view.

.

And, unbeknown to most members of the public, senior police officers can be paid a handsome annual bonus that is performance related.

.

It is accepted that shoplifting (it is actually "theft" - there is no offence of 'shoplifting') is a crime, and in most such offences the value of the stolen items does not exceed £200.

.

Therefore, if the police are 'instructed' to take no action, the offence goes unreported and unrecorded.

.

Hey Presto - it reduces the incidents of reported theft.

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Similarly, if you downgrade drugs related offences - you take less punitive/positive action and have fewer recorded drugs offences

.

Hey Presto, statistics show, drug offences are down.....so you are making progress in the fight against drugs.

.

As was once cynically said to me "if you don't arrest anyone for drugs, you won't have a drug problem"

.

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Let's move on to the judiciary

.

In the overwhelming majority of matters, the police must approach the  Crown Prosecution Service with the available evidence, and seek the CPS authorisation to charge the suspect, and the CPS will tell the police what charges to lay.

.

The CPS can, and do, refuse charges - they also have the power to take on any private prosecutions brought by outsiders, and either 'run them' or 'terminate the prosecution'

.

The CPS is judged by its success rate i.e. the number of success prosecutions it brings, based upon convictions or guilty pleas.

.

Therefore, if a police case brought to the CPS for advice on charging appears difficult, or 'could go either way' - the CPS can refuse to authorise charges, thereby not running the risk of losing the case at court, and thereby reducing their 'success rate'

.

.

Such is the way  policing and justice are administered in Britain today.

[br2975]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Why it is “discriminatory” to properly identify all the characteristics of a criminal is beyond me. If, returning to my example above, all criminals were identified by their animal ethnicity and we found out that polar bears were over represented in the criminal population; then that should be a wake up call to the authorities (and to society as a whole) that there is something amiss with the polar bear community. 

.

Society, in the form of vote seeking politicans, newspapers pursuing greater circulation figures, media outlets obsessed with viewing statistics and pressure groups with agendas have brought this about.

.

In short, many currently serving police officers will openly admit that if a suspect's description is broadcast over their radios and that suspect is unnamed, or unidentified, save for his/her clothing and ethnicity ; the ethnicity may decide whether or not the officer stops and searches that 'suspect' if they see him/her.

.

If the suspect is named in the radio broadcast, and the officer knows or recognises the suspect by name and description, then the officer is more likely to take positive action.

.

Officers at the sharp end are too scared of losing their livelihood due to generally spurious allegations of racism, racial profiling,  misogyny etc.

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This has, in recent times been compounded by senior police officers apologising for officers actions, even though their officers have been acquitted/cleared of any wrongdoing or impropriety.

.

Trial by media, and focus groups with a jury composed of  ill informed members of the public, and a police officer defendant with no support (even from his senior officers) is part of what determines the officers actions. 

.

In the 16th. Century, if you wanted to ruin your neighbour with no evidence you called her a 'witch'

By the 1950s, if you wanted to ruin your neighbour with no evidence you called them a 'communist'

Nowadays, if you want to ruin your neighbour with no evidence you call them a racist, misogynist, transphobic, Islamaphobic etc ( any number of other terms are available )

[polybear]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I’ve always wondered about the wisdom of being deliberately ambiguous about the identity of criminal suspects when they are being sought by the police who turn to the public for assistance. If you were to say that the suspect is a middle-aged male, that’s hardly descriptive enough for the general public – or the police for that matter – to keep an eye out for the miscreant.

 

But if you were to say that the suspect is a middle-aged male white bear with pizza and baked bean stains on his fur, then it is very clear who the authorities are looking for (sorry PB for using you as an example). 
 

Why it is “discriminatory” to properly identify all the characteristics of a criminal is beyond me. If, returning to my example above, all criminals were identified by their animal ethnicity and we found out that polar bears were over represented in the criminal population; then that should be a wake up call to the authorities (and to society as a whole) that there is something amiss with the polar bear community. 

Definitely not this Poly then - Pizza and baked bean stains would mean waste….and Poly doesn’t do that…..

[Happy Hippo]

Trayne Klubbe this morning was a building session as we were getting the last of the cassettes sorted out.

 

Everything is now in neat little piles, and I just need at make good use of the gas torch and the soldering iron to finish the assemblies.

 

Having looked at the weather for next week, we are going to erect Pantmawr North on Monday* and test it in its new configuration.

 

This testing will also include the newer rolling stock acquired since its last public outing in November.

 

I'm expecting a delivery of 3D printed guttering and spouts form Modelu sometime tomorrow, so I'll be able to get on with finally finishing off the signal box.

 

*Nyda is helping run the country Guide camp Sun/Mon/Tue, so it would be foolish to miss the opportunity for some real hardcore railway stuff in her absence.

Edited July 25 by Happy Hippo

[Northmoor]

19 hours ago, skipepsi said:

It always struck me as madness to cut police numbers when the population was expanding, I have no details to support this idea but surely the percentage of wronguns remains the same?

Ditto doctor's surgeries, hospital beds, fire stations, road repair men, the list goes on, and on, and on.  In fact anything relating to health care should probably increase in an ageing population.  The only reason there is a reduction is because too many politicians believed some management consultants who insisted they could make the system that much "more efficient".

 

Actually you can make such organisations more efficient.  A couple of percent savings per year is perfectly possible anywhere I've worked.  The problem is no-one gets into leadership positions by promising such evolution; they promise revolution, reducing costs by 20% in two years or something.  This is normally achieved by deferring costs of something essential for a few years, just long enough for the "revolutionary" to have been rewarded with huge bonuses, a promotion or by being poached by another organisation to do the same.  Meanwhile everyone else is left behind to clear up the mess.

 

One of the few satisfying things about the Post Office/Horizon enquiry is that the guilty PO directors and staff are still alive and well enough to get at the very least, a highly-public @rse-kicking of their reputations and preferably imprisonment for more than a few.

[Northmoor]

18 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

The cars that could have been brilliant were the Smart roadster and coupe, the mini sports cars made by Smart a few years ago. Tiny cars, tiny engines but go kart handling and the small size and weight made them feel fast at almost any speed. Great, unfortunately they came with an awful semi-auto gear box which kind of ruined them, and they were quite expensive for what they were.

I remember when the original Mini was about 30 years old, Autocar magazine still made it one of their cars of the year for similar reasons.  They reckoned that if the roads you regularly drove on were 50mph limited or less, there were very few cars that would give you as much driving enjoyment.  In their words, you could have pleasure without performance.

[Michael Hodgson]

20 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

One of the few satisfying things about the Post Office/Horizon enquiry is that the guilty PO directors and staff are still alive and well enough to get at the very least, a highly-public @rse-kicking of their reputations and preferably imprisonment for more than a few.

Don't hold your breath.

[Michael Hodgson]

12 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I’ve always wondered about the wisdom of being deliberately ambiguous about the identity of criminal suspects when they are being sought by the police who turn to the public for assistance. If you were to say that the suspect is a middle-aged male, that’s hardly descriptive enough for the general public – or the police for that matter – to keep an eye out for the miscreant.

 

That reminds me of when I was working in Sri Lanka, and I read a description of some felony in the local newspaper, along the lines of "the police are looking for a dark-skinned man wearing a sarong".  Well, I thought at least they can rule out the 50% of the poulation who are women, but I didn't rate their chances of finding him if that was all they had to go on.

 

 

To be fair to the police, it's difficult.  If they name the individual or otherwise make him idenitifiable,  he could be lynched by neighbours, and in most cases he is innocent, at least in law,  because he hasn't yet been arrested or even charged, never mind convicted.  We have paedriatic consultants attacked when the press have reported crimes by #######s.

 

And if they do catch him following a lot of publicity, is it possible for him to get a fair trial?

 

The reason the public don't trust the police these days is that they rarely see them in a postivie light - in days of yore, everybody knew the village bobby and would chat to him.  Nowadays, the local police station (if it still exists) keeps its doors locked to keep the public out.  There often isn't a desk sergeant to whom you can report a crime, so how do they hope to obtain information from witnesses if they make the place look like a fortress with keep out signs?  It is said the police have lost the trust of the public - but for most younger people they never had any trust to lose.  Many ethnic minorities have suffered bad experiences in the past at the hands of prejudiced officers - who can blame them for not trusting the police even if they have managed to weed out their racist rotten apples..  If the police show no interest in common "minor" offences like shoplifting and malicious damage, the public has a right to see the law as ineffective.

11 hours ago, br2975 said:

 

In the overwhelming majority of matters, the police must approach the  Crown Prosecution Service with the available evidence, and seek the CPS authorisation to charge the suspect, and the CPS will tell the police what charges to lay.

.

The CPS can, and do, refuse charges - they also have the power to take on any private prosecutions brought by outsiders, and either 'run them' or 'terminate the prosecution'

.

The CPS is judged by its success rate i.e. the number of success prosecutions it brings, based upon convictions or guilty pleas.

.

Therefore, if a police case brought to the CPS for advice on charging appears difficult, or 'could go either way' - the CPS can refuse to authorise charges, thereby not running the risk of losing the case at court, and thereby reducing their 'success rate'

.

.

Such is the way  policing and justice are administered in Britain today.

This is quite true, but we now have a prime minister who used to be DPP, and who has not yet got his feet under the desk at No 10, and I will give him time to see what emerges although I am not optimistic.   Ideally he will have realised and will do something about the wrongs of having a CPS that is afraid of bringing prosecutions which might prove unsuccesful, and who have the power to hijack private prosecutions if others try to pursue their legimate grievances in the criminal courts.  It should be the role of the judge and jury to determine whether the suspect dunnit or whether he should go free; on the other hand, the Horizon affair has highlighted the inadequacy and incompetence of the system for resolving claims of miscarriage of justice.  It's not just the NHS that is a broken system.

[Northmoor]

40 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Don't hold your breath.

Maybe, but at least it could happen while they're still alive.  One of the saddest things about Operation Yewtree was that Saville went to his grave knowing he'd got away with it.

[SM42]

We've arrived in the motherland after a mammoth trip that had everything. 

 

More fault lights on the dashboard. 

Dealer service department says its OK to carry on

 

Another light appears, ( near Eindhoven) the handbook tells tales of doom

 

Breakdown guy comes out and basically says we can put you in  a hotel while we try and find someone who can fix it this week, or  as it's not major issue you could just carry on. 

It will be be cheaper to fix in the motherland  or look  for better places help in Germany where they have big cars and more likely to have hhe resources e to help.

 

Find a main dealer in  Germany who say, yeah pop in. 

 

We do so. Car guru plugs in and states that problem is a failed glow plug that is causing other systems to shut down and show faults. 

We can fix it bu t we don't have the part.

 

No problem, just carry on he says. It's OK to drive. 

 

Call dealer here and they have part but can't fit us in the workshop for over a week  butit will be fine to drive in the meantime they say. 

 

All in all quite a trip. 

 

The weather is good and the beer is cold, so it's been worth  it. 

 

Andy

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

The applause is for the COLD BEER!!!!

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the thundering Piedmont.

[AndyID]

Oh goody! I've been able to reduce the analgesics to almost nothing. I'm hoping my brain has expanded enough to reoccupy the brain-box. No doubt other members of the community will be able to provide a more science-based explanation 😀

 

Unfortunately there has been no stampede to the front door by those interested in acquiring the rights to my patent (not that I ever believed there would be). There might be no alternative but to make a working prototype and show it off on YouTube.

[jamie92208]

Good moaning. Sunny here, fly screen to fit the trainspotting.  Not a bad day in prospect. 

 

Jamie

[Oldddudders]

35 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Good moaning. Sunny here, fly screen to fit the trainspotting.  Not a bad day in prospect. 

Not the same here, where we expect a wettish day, but it hasn't arrived yet, just dreary overcast, although Alison says they had a shower there earlier. Fortunately most of the garden has been trimmed or strimmed so not much opportunity lost. I am back to UK next Thursday for a fortnight, and in the meantime must prepare for the roofing chappies to access the terrasse from Aug 5th in my absence. I still don't believe their now-written quote, but as I am a regular customer they really do have something to lose if I find I'm being ripped off. As I'm sure they will find more rotten wood than they expect, I have asked for a capped contingency to cover replacement and that is on the quote. 

[SM42]

No sooner have we unpacked, it's time to pack again 

 

Tomorrow we head for the Suwalki gap. 

 

Hopefully we will have good weather and we might get chance to visit the narrow gauge railway in Elk. 

 

Luckily Mrs SM42 quite likes a narrow gauge railway. 

 

" Ahhh! Sweet man. "  and  ' It's so cute" are often heard uttered forth from her lips.

 

She says the same about narrow gauge railways too.

 

Andy