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Deep breath. Heavy sigh. Choose words carefully. The thug quite likely does come from a broken home, probably from generations all depressingly the same. probably has had a troubled /deprived childhood. Quite possibly not very bright, probably got no chance of getting a flat or halfway decent job, may well father a few more to tread the same path. Chucking him in jail doesn't break the cycle. A flat and a job just might, money spent on that stands a chance of working and could well be cheaper than the cost to everybody in police time, jail, future victims etc. Personally I think that for about 30% of the population evolution stopped in the 1970's and they are turning into some sort of brutish sub species.

I suspect the canal boat registration would fail that even if the current test allows it! I suspect in some respects the victorians were more sanitation concious than some current boat persons i have seen. The full elsan collection on the roof is certainly a backwards step.

You mean all those eBay products that you can add to your car to get an extra boost don’t work? Seem how they were made for off-road that’s not a good statistic

If you fully flatten them, they won't fit in the phone anymore.

Surely the real problem is our reliance on excessive use of transport, in particular for commuting and for moving goods around. Why can't we eat local products at specific times of the year, rather than import food from around the globe? Support local manufacturing as well, rather than move half-built items expensively, in terms of pollution, around the continent of world. Unfortunately, that would require a major change in our economic model - I can't see much evidence of a policy - which ensures that a small minority accrue vast fortunes at the expense of the majority, not just financially, but also in terms of declining health resulting from pollution of all types. The problem can also be seen in the Brexit negotiations with regard to the Irish border. Those with money want to maintain an open border for trade, whist I suspect the majority of those voting for Brexit wanted a closed border to control immigration. Once again, those accumulating the most money are making others pay for their greed.

Any electrical drive not using hydrogen fuel cells is a non-starter because it involves heavy and expensive batteries (the manufacture and disposal of which is far from environmentally friendly). Hydrogen does not derive from oil. It is derived from electrolysis of water preferably at a location where the electricity supply is renewable. Ideally think of a fuel station n the Arizona desert near a water source where free solar power converts the water into hydrogen and oxygen, the hydrogen is stored and used to fill cars, the oxygen enriches the atmosphere. The fuel cell in the car produces water as the only emission. James May on 'Cars of the People' last week came to the conclusion that all we need is a hydrogen infrastructure (in existing petrol stations) to enable cars like the Hyundai to become the truly environmentally friendly car of the future.

This is worth a small story - travelling the Ashton flight a few years back we had other boaters further back saying "watch out there's trouble ahead with yoofs on bikes ………………." so we did the usual sensible stuff shut the front doors took the phones off of the roof etc and cruised on - we then met these lads on their bikes and yes they were a bit loud and "out of control" BUT we said hello asked how they were, let them say hello to the dogs etc and they helped us down the flight then we asked them where to moor and they said "anywhere mate we control this area and you will be OK" - and we were - the moral is common sense and engage don't confront - I admit I have spent most of my life working in "social/affordable" housing (I hate labels but just used here to explain my background) so perhaps I'm a bit more streetwise than some but if you cruise the system and are looking out for trouble it will probably find you...………. blend in relax and enjoy and don't flaunt your apparent "wealth" just humbly acknowledge your good fortune

There was a study done years and years ago that calculated an average car (which at that time meant 30 mpg burning petrol and lasting 100,000 miles or 10 years), would take 3 times more energy to manufacture than that vehicle would have burnt. So if we are truly interested in reducing greenhouse gases the immediate short time answer is to make the vehicles last longer. And they have, there are 10 year old cars in the scrap yard now that I would have given my left arm for 30 years ago, nothing really wrong with them other than "we the consumer" want new and better and to hell with the environment or worse still, we think we are doing the right thing by replacing "old" cars and going for first diesels to increase the mpg and then silly hybrids because diesels kill everything, and now electrics. The only sensible place that I can see for an EV is in the town/city because of the no point of use pollution, but will that really make any difference when the biggest polluters of all in cities are, building heating, buses, diesel trains, delivery vans and taxis, I doubt it...

I think that's rather Bee's point. Locking them up didn't do any good, apart from getting them out of society's way for a bit. If anything, it just sent them to a better school for learning thuggery. It's a bit like the bring back the birch merchants - all that does is teach kids that it's OK to hit people as long as they're smaller or less powerful than you. All that being said, I've no idea what the solution is, except that increasing the level of poverty, deprivation and homelessness, which is what this government has been doing for the last few years, is probably not it. Nor is reducing the numbers of police, banning books for prisoners, cutting prison staff, privatising the criminal system, demolishing legal aid and virtually destroying the probation system. Heinlein, I recall, reckoned everyone should be allowed three crimes on their record. Any more than that, you just kill them as being too much of a nuisance to society. I suspect there are flaws, even in that...

Hi everyone an update on the tiller/rudder issues. So today went with some help and some more tools including a grabber/puller for the swan neck and after a lot of force and banging with hammers as well as heat we managed to free the swan neck and then the rudder from the cups. Basically it was rusted badly inside and also lots of paint that had been sprayed did not help either. cleaned all the rust off everywhere and also before putting the swan neck back on noticed there was metal on metal sorry dont know the correct word for it but where the bolts go in to hold the swan neck underneath that was metal on metal and there was a lot of rust and debris, that was all cleaned and we also put a rubber seal between the two metals so that they did not rub each other greased all areas including the screws with thread grease and put everything back and now everything is aligned perfectly and moves freely. There was nothing bent and all is fine but feel that this was important to know that regular maintenance in these areas is probably essential to avoid this happening especially if the boat is not moving and in a yard. Apologies if my terminology is not correct but hope what we did makes sense. Thanks to everyone for their help with this a huge relief that this is done however still lots to do no doubt other issues will arise but glad this one is now resolved without the need to resort to drastic measures.

And if you happen to be a bit longer than you want to be - just drop the guillotine and Robert's your Mother's brother.

When we 'overcooked' the PoM we had to evacuate the factory. Nasty, nasty stuff. I think it is Formaldehyde ?????? (certainly catches your eyes and throat)

And a MiFi box to plug the posh antenna into

Thanks to Mr Frank Hornby I made a Meccano trivet to dry wet coal before putting it on the fire. As you can see fresh supplies of coal are brought in by the Ford Dinky lorries on the mantlepiece. The coal is then unloaded onto the right hand side of the trivet and taken off to use from the left hand side. An anti-clockwaise process which also involves turning the coals over every so often,'' like cooking Chestnuts'' to ensure thorough dryness.

If someone who isn't after our m9ney is enquiring our boat is 25ft. Which it is from the tip of the bow rails to the end of the prop cone. If someone who is after our money is enquiring it is 23ft. It says so on the side. (This is the hull length)

Just ask any smoker

Go on then, extend your pedantry - what range might you get in Birmingham? The New Main Line is around 490 feet above sea level Richard

Its an unfortunate fact that boats are expensive. Buy an expensive one and everything works, Whoopee. Buy a cheap one and spend a fortune making everything work. The only advantage of buying a cheapo is that you can spread your costs over the many years it will take to fix-it-up.

Nice one, bigcol - the OP probably needs this kind of support more than my humour at the moment. Keep going Rory; we're all behind you really!

That can’t be true as I keeping seeing offers for my car that supplies a little jar that uses almost no energy but makes so much Hydrogen that I can reduce my fuel consumption by 15%. Next you will be telling me that the Bank Executive offering me a share of a lost fortune in exchange for ten grand upfront isn’t true either...........

Most nox in cities comes from gas central heating about 50% I think and if you are near an airport a jumbo taking off produces as much nox as 100 busses running for 8 hours. The pollution report for London found that 11% of nox came from cars, but they are an easy target and central heating is politically untouchable.

This is the Irish solution to the issue.

The problem with charging batteries is that it doesn’t matter how big the alternator, how massive the charger powered by the travelpower is, they don’t and won’t take much charging current towards the end of the charge. And so it is an intrinsic feature of lead acid batteries that they take many hours to fully charge, regardless of how they are charged. And if you don’t fully charge them regularly, they accumulate damage.

As I travel round this country on my boat I see more and more building, 'ouses, 'ouses. 'ouses. And lots of these are on greenfield sites some way from the nearest town. No schools, no shops, no pubs, totally dependent on road transport for all the day to day needs of the residents. We need to urgently learn to use less energy and to travel less rather than expecting "new technology" to somehow let us continue our current energy consuming lifestyle. The internal combustion has to go, or at least massively reduce in popularity, but it will take time. The the current decision making is driven by urban dwelling Londoners with a very limited knowledge of life outside London, and a limited technical knowledge too. London is one big polluted traffic jam with good public transport. A self driving electric Taxi would be great for a short evening trip to a local trendy restaurant, not quite as clear cut in the rest of the country. ...............Dave

The guy is talking rubbish. Apart from the fact that the current discrepancy is tiny and probably the result of measurement inaccuracy, the whole point of blacking is to insulate/isolate the hull from the water. So it is not feasible to suggest that this (probably imaginary) tiny current is in any way responsible for the blacking degrading. There will still be plenty of exposed metal (the baseplate, the propeller etc) which would conduct away any current much more easily than blacking (if the current wasn't imaginary!). He is simply making up an excuse for the blacking issue and probably thinks that with you being a girly he can bamboozle you with fake science. Fortunately you are sensible enough to seek advice and not take his mansplaining at face value!

This whole debate about the 'value' of a degree education seems to me to demonstrate that we want to know the price of everything but know the value of nothing. I would suggest that the purpose of a degree education is to try to expose people to a diversity of thought, the subject is only relevant if your only concern is money and how much they can earn. Stephen Hawking spent pretty much his entire life in education, either in studying or lecturing, was it a life wasted because he didn't come out into the wider world and get a 'proper' job? My view is that he achieved a lot more in his lifetime than I ever will working in a 'proper' job, he has given people a whole different way of thinking about things. Most of the matters he raised were some pretty abstract concepts that I am more that willing to accept that I do not understand, my loss not his. As another example, I don't know exactly what CERN in Geneva hope to achieve with a lot of their theoretical experiments, would I recognise a Higgs Boson if I were hit in the face by one? but then one of the Fellows of CERN was a certain Tim Berners Lee without whom we wouldn't have this forum. If we only study stuff that has an immediate practical/financial benefit we are going to lose a lot of other stuff.

And in case nobody noticed, the publishers are supported by the German car industry which is heavily in favour of diesel, having poured billions into the technology and little into electric cars. Also they're comparing electric cars where the electricity comes from fossil fuels with diesels, where the whole point in the future is that we'll have to massively cut down on fossil fuel use, and diesels can't run on electricity from renewable sources. In other words, a meaningless biased study...

We are still in the denial stage of motoring, we still think we can have our cake and eat it, a car for everyone, and green motoring. Its not just the stuff that goes in the tank its making the steel, the plastics, the several sets of tyres in a cars lifetime, the tar on the roads, the whole exercise just to give us personal mobility and then its scrapped after 10 years or so. Unless there is a quantum leap in how to make and store electricity then it will probably be a dead end.

We once went through somewhere where someone said something had happened to someone else. Phew, that was a close one! (Note to self: remember the commentator's curse, you idiot!)

Guys, guys, c'mon - there's a week between the first of the posts above and the rekindling of the argument today. Anyone else would have let it go by now. Either go outside and sort it like silly, pissed "men", have the good grace to give the rest of us a break and continue your argument over PM, or shock us all and man up and let it go! Now, let's see who's the silliest silly billy...

Whenever WotEver had a BSS the inspector would point out that the weed hatch was only 8” above the waterline and should have 2” added to it. Each time I thanked him and ignored him.

I've been cruising for 53 years - the only vandalism was in my home village of Hopwas at the time and stoning in Stoke which is common place in the areas mentioned - the canal system is generally very good if you are reasonably streetwise and strive to fit in rather than confront. As with all things these days there is too much hype both in the formal and social media highlighting the bad aspects of our society

All sounds like a disaster waiting to happen to me. The present siting of the flue so near to the rear doors is bad to start with, covering it with anything even a canvas tent is a no-no. Is the bedroom at the rear? If so I would not sleep in it with the flue there and the Alde burning. If you make it higher, consider low bridges. Ask Alde certainly, I think the answer will be no. Altering any gas burning appliance flue is not allowed, it has to be installed according to the makers instructions as that is what the approval certificate was based on. You must be very wealthy to afford the gas for an Alde. How old is the heater? If it is of a fair age and will need repair soon, cut your losses and fit a real boat stove up front, or central even better.

It means it probably won't need one!

That bit of Marcellus does in fact have the correct back end ….. it just happens to be at the other end.

I saw it on the upper thames earlier this year near Oxford and was intrigued to note that the stern appears to be "Northwich" ie Yarwoods style motor stern in that it has 3 tunnel bands whereas the front is the back of a H&W butty. It would seem more logical to replicate the stern of a "Woolwich" motor when using part of a "Woolwich" boat. Its a nice boat though and the stern is very well executed as is the steel cabin.

It will only achieve its potential if someone has enough gumption to dig out the end down to the Thames, been mooted many times, the proles would accept compensation but probably not the public schools in the way.