Iain_S

However, I doubt that diesel with a bio content would last as long.

On a ship restoration I'm involved with, the generators ran quite happily on diesel that was in the tank prior to 1986.

The red light usually only comes on when the pump runs. Useful warning if it fires up on auto when you're not expecting it!

Don't know where the £700,000,000 comes from. The figures may well be increased by different procedures following death. In Scotland, there is always a post mortem, unless the deceased has been treated by a doctor in the month prior to death and that doctor is prepared to sign a Death Certificate. I believe that in England a post mortem is at the request of the coroner? It might be interesting to compare recorded "cause of death". It is quite a few years since I have seen a Death Certificate with "Cardiac arrest" or "Pulmonary circulatory failure" as the sole cause of death, although it used to be quite common. As stated in the linked article, the methadone programme is not a howling success, being under resourced and administered by overworked G.P.s. One of the main problems is lack of supervision. Supervision, if any, is carried out by the dispensing pharmacist, but most on the methadone programme get a week's supply at a time and a lot of it ends up being stockpiled or diverted to other users. One apparently unlikely cause of the excess death rate may be enforcement : remove one supply and it will be replaced by another source, which may be a different purity, have different additives or be a completely different substance which the addict is not used to, or which reacts in different ways with other substances. (Most of the addict deaths involve multiple drugs) I am always surprised by the apparently lax drugs enforcement in Englandshire compared with Scotland, but that , perhaps, accounts for a lower death rate. There needs to be a study done to compare Scotland and England, and attempt to find the cause of the differing death rates. There has been a decline in the use of Drug Testing and Treatment Orders, and also a decline in their success rate. My personal view is that that is due to resourcing. Fewer resources devoted to DTTOs => lower success rate => fewer orders made => resources diverted elsewhere, bit of a vicious circle. I don't think KPIs would do any good : as soon as they're set, ways are found to fiddle the figures. At least the headline national news is a change from cricket!

Possibly not, but there are more than two possible outcomes. He could do it if the Conservative vote splits between them and the Brext party. If neither Conservative nor Labour have a majority, who is going to deal with who? Lib Dem could do better than expected, if they attract Remain vpters. Would they do a deal with the Tories? I think not, considering what happened last time. There might be a deal with the SNP, but that would be dependent on agreeing to Indyref2. Despite Labour's and the SNP's mutual hatred, they are more natural bedfellows than either is with the Conservatives, so in the event of a hung Parliament Corbyn is a likely P.M.. Anyway, I suspect this discussion is moot : I don't think either Boris or Jeremy (H) would call an election, unless forced to do so by losing a vote of no confidence!

They (Parliament) repeal quite a lot; usually when passing new legislation.

Major prorogued Parliament by disolving it and calling a General Election. Would Boris do the same?

My understanding of a contour canal is one that follows the contour, minimising earthworks. Probably best example is the South Oxford, which can easily be compared to the North Oxford, which was originally contour, but was later straightened, cutting out many loops, etc. Most contour canals are early builds, before the builders had experience in extensive ground works such as cuttings and embankments. "Contour canal" does not denote a lack of locks. The Edinburgh and Glasgow Union is a late build. It has 3 major aqueducts, and for much of its route is either on an embankment or in a cutting. I'm not entirely sure where the "mathematical canal" description comes from, but it may well be from the extensive calculations necessary to balance the soil needed for embankments with the soil removed from cuttings. The canal may follow the present 240' contour, but the contour is created by the canal. I haven't seen the "contour canal" description prior to publication of Jean Lindsay's "Canals of Scotland", where she uses that description (in my view, a rare error). Scottish Canals state that the Union is a contour canal, because it has no locks until Falkirk. Lock free does not equal contour, however! The artwork under the bridge is part of the Kirkhill Pillar project : a re-creation of the scale model of the solar system originally centred on Kirkhill House and commisioned by the 11th Earl of Buchan in 1776. The new one has the sun at Broxburn Academy and the diagram is the representation of Saturn. http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/The-Solar-System-in-West-Lothian

In this case, I think I'm fighting a losing battle. Even Scottish Canals describe it as "a contour canal"!

That's been my experience of Wikpedia as well. I amended the description of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Canal from "a contour canal", which it certainly isn't. A month later, it was back in, although apparently it's now a contour canal by virtue of extensive cuttings, embankments and major aqueducts!

He suspended Parliament by calling a General Election, thus delaying the publication of the report on the "Cash for Questions" scandal. Will Boris or Jeremy do the same?

Our definitions of "democratic" and "sovereign" seem to differ!

Hope they have enough left over for airyplanes ...

The same amount of sobbing as when a 12V fridge pops its clogs?

I did say "catalyst". I accept my post is a bit of an over simplication, although it was the overt discrimination against Catholics/Republicans that kicked the Troubles off.