Alan de Enfield

The clue is in the title. (It's not Royal Navy)

I believe that there are quite a number of islands in the Nile. Example : In the middle of the Nile between the Aswan reservoir and the High Dam stands Heisa Island like a rocky gem in the Nile. Serenity reigns over this virginal island that has been untouched by modern technology.

Pleased to meet you Earl.

Lets just look where the top 20 financial centres are in the world - how many are in Europe I wonder ? (Not many it would appear) Can you find any reports showing that we cannot work with non-European regulators ? I bet all those who threatened to set up shop in Paris or Frankfurt now feel a bit daft. 1 New York City 794 6 2 London 787 1 3 Hong Kong 783 4 Singapore 772 3 5 Shanghai 770 4 6 Tokyo 756 10 7 4 Toronto 755 27 8 1 Zurich 739 7 9 1 Beijing 738 5 10 Frankfurt 737 7 11 4 Sydney 736 2 12 3 Dubai 733 11 13 Boston 732 7 14 2 Shenzhen 730 4 15 5 Melbourne 729 30 16 2 San Francisco 727 3 17 1 Los Angeles 724 3 18 6 Montreal 722 32 19 1 Vancouver 721 12 20 3 Chicago 717

It looks as if the sky won't come crashing in after all :- GERMAN finance bosses have stepped up preparations for Brexit by signing an agreement of understanding to work with Britain after the nation unshackles itself from the bloc. The Memorandum of Understanding, signed by Germany’s BaFin, Britain’s Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) means the two nations will work together to avoid a cliff-edge Brexit. German moves to cooperate with Britain comes as Europe’s strongest economy is plunged into a financial crisis amid trade disputes and Brexit uncertainty. The agreement of understanding will ensure financial supervisors can continue to work without interruptions. It regulates the exchange of information between the authorities and cooperation in the fight against money laundering and in the licensing of companies. BaFin President Felix Hufeld said: “We have ensured that we will be able to work together with the British supervisory authorities in the future.” It comes after Germany recorded a string of weak economic data, pointing to the economy grinding to a halt.

I had a headmaster who thought on similar lines.

It may be changing - I don't know. But - in the past the population of France has been very laissez faire about managing the environment, they have virtually no wildlife left (including birds) after shooting it into extinction, they even shoot migrating swallows - not much point in that. Their fishermen 'pillage' the sea taking undersized fish with the head of France's National Fisheries Committee supporting the taking of undersize fish. The French have decimated their historic woodlands as shown by their lack of Oaks to re-build Notre Dame. There are some very nice French people, in fact some I would class as good friends from when I had a factory outside of Paris employing 200 France is a lovely country but spoiled by the occupants. A couple of news reports : France gets record fine over fish France is being penalised for endangering fish stocks The European Court of Justice has fined France 20m euros (£14m; $24m) and imposed an extra rolling penalty for flouting EU fishing rules. France will have to pay 57.8m euros every six months if it fails to comply. The fines are the biggest ones the court has levied against a member state to date, the court confirmed. The head of France's National Fisheries Committee (CNPMEM) reacted angrily to the fines, calling them "completely unacceptable pressure on France". It is the first time the court has imposed such a "combination" fine on a member state. Pierre-Georges Dachicourt of the CNPMEM told France Info radio that the court was unfairly singling the country out for criticism. "Tonnes upon tonnes of small fish are unloaded in Spain, Portugal. There is fishing over and above the quotas in Scotland, Britain and elsewhere, and you never hear anything about it. People always point the finger at France," he said. "We follow the letter of European rules," he insisted. The court press service told the BBC News website that no fines were currently envisaged for any other EU members apart from France for fishing violations. Bird hunting in France A crusade against migrant birds Hunting of migrant birds, as also trapping, is still a national sport in France and, since the days of the French Revolution, is considered to be a citizen’s right. In no other EU state is hunting such a natural part of daily life - with fatal consequences for nature and the environment. The hunting of waders - here a Ruff, in decline in Europe - is still widespread (© Marek Szczepanek/wikimedia commons) Every year some 1.3 million French hunters, almost twice as many as in Italy, take to the fields and woods to hunt. It is hardly surprising that more birds are shot in France than in any other European state. According to government sources more than 25 million song birds and migrants (in Italy the figure is 17 million) are the victims every year of an extremely long hunting season, long lists of huntable species, and an often not very law-abiding hunting community. The main prey of the hunters is, in addition to Pheasant, ducks and partridges, above all song birds. Each year more than 5.5 million thrushes are shot, including more than 2 million Song Thrushes and a million Blackbirds, and far more than 600,000 Skylarks. These figures do not include the millions of thrushes and larks that are additionally legally killed in traps that are elsewhere banned by EU legislation.

The Duke of Rutland has offered to donate mature oak trees grown on his estate at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire to help restore Notre Dame. The 850-year-old cathedral in central Paris lost its spire and much of the ornate timber roof during Monday's devastating blaze. French cultural heritage expert Bertrand de Feydeau said France no longer has trees on its territory big enough to replace Notre Dame's ancient wooden beams, which were cut in the 13th century from primal forests. But the Duke of Rutland and a number of other owners of historic British estates have now offered to provide some of the oaks.

For those that like to quote the YouGov polls : "A YouGov poll put the Brexit party on 27 percent, ahead of Labour on 22 percent with the Conservatives trailing on 15 per cent. It means the new party is on course to crush opposition at elections to the European Parliament if Britain is forced to take part next month". And : Pro-European candidates are set to suffer a hammering at the European elections in May as a shock study reveals more than half of the electorate have lost faith in the EU The European Council of Foreign Affairs has warned would-be MEPs there could be as many as 97 million swing voters to convince ahead of May 23-26 ballot. According to the in-depth study, 54 percent of voters will have “no faith in politicians and political systems at both a national and European level” or “would like to see a reparation of power from Brussels”. One of the study's authors, Susi Dennison, has warned that EU politics finds itself in a "highly precarious moment of system failure". The think tank collected data, alongside pollsters YouGov, from 46,000 participants across 14 member states, between January and February 2019 which make up 80 percent of the European Parliament’s seats, finding that 57 percent of participants are unlikely to cast their vote.

Agreed

And to balance that - I bought a panel, delivered next day by their preferred carrier and it was broken - phoned up and a replacement was received the next morning. Have bought several since and never had a single problem - the only issue was one that arrived without any leads - however as they pointed out - the text did say no leads supplied with this panel.

Are these the same as 'your' figures ? The IHS Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing PMI rose to 55.1 in March 2019 from an upwardly revised 52.1 in the previous month, defying market consensus of 51.0.

Pound LIVE: GBP Sterling higher against weakened euro as Germany manufacturing SHRINKS THE pound inched higher against a weakened euro this morning after the single currency was dented by weaker data coming from Germany. Sterling climbing against the euro shortly after a business survey showed the German manufacturing sector contracted for the fourth month in a row. The German flash manufacturing PMI was weaker than expected at 44.5 in April, well below the 50.0 mark separating growth from contraction. The figure made for disappointing reading for the largest economy in Europe, despite it being slightly up on the previous month, which came in at 44.1. Sterling was boosted by the weak performance and at 9.01am UK time was trading at €1.1556 The picture of a slowdown was mirrored across Europe as a whole with the flash manufacturing PMI for the eurozone registering a reading of 47.8 in April versus the 47.9 expected. In UK news, the Office for National Statistics revealed today how retail sales surged in March. Sales were up 1.1 percent on February, well above expectations of a fall of 0.3 percent, driven by food and non-store retailing. Yesterday saw the ONS release property figures showing British house prices rose in February at the weakest rate in six-and-a-half years. Meaning, consumer price inflation was unexpectedly held just below the Bank of England's 2 percent target in March. Meanwhile employment and wage revealed the UK labour market is robust in the face of Brexit uncertainty. The data showed the number of people in work hit the highest total since records began in 1971, with those classed as employed reaching 32.7 million for the three months to February. Unemployment fell by 27,000 to 1.34 million, with the rate of 3.9 percent now lower than at any time since the end of 1975. Average earnings increased by 3.5 percent in the year to February, unchanged from the previous month.

I originally thought it was an earthquake, but it seemed to stop when I switched the PC off.

Did you notice how every picture was 'blurred' and 'photoshop looking' Even the picture of the 'person' was blurred compared to the Amazon boxes. It was good whilst it lasted.