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Measure is the right word in this context. Metric as you used it is jargon, emanating from America, and using it instead of measure shows ignorance. You were just trying to make yourself look clever, and succeeded in doing the reverse. The use of such words is an indication of the speed at which this nation is becoming culturally indistinguishable from America. It's a situation I deplore, but that you no doubt either welcome, or are blissfully unaware of.

Merely pointing out what we all know already, which is that the Board has failed to reach its financial targets, is not very illuminating. I had hoped that your article would have analysed where things went wrong, and why, but alas, it did not even attempt to do so. The financial crisis, which was not of Robin Evans' doing, must have had an effect (perhaps a substantial one) on finances and perhaps also on visitor numbers, but nowhere did you attempt to evaluate this. No, as far as you are concerned, it is ALL the fault of Robin and his mates. This is a theme that plays well to the gallery, but it's not very helpful to us who are trying to work out what is going to happen in future.

Independently audited accounts What would be useful would be for the Board to come clean about the situation. I suspect Carl is right to say that the maintenance could be done more cheaply than it is, but even with the most efficient maintenance crew in the world, there is still going to be a significant shortfall, and if that is not addressed either by more government or local government money (highly unlikely), then it will be a matter of voluntary labour making up the slack.

Metric? What's wrong with measure? Why use ignorant American jargon when there is a perfectly good English word? I suspect you are right. Unless boaters are prepared to organise themselves into work-parties, and undertake 75% of the maintenance themselves, I can see this whole house of cards collapsing very quickly. However, this is exactly how many of the derelict waterways were brought back into use. I remember being waist-high in water, clearing reeds from the Ouse around Great Barford lock back in the mid-60s. So repair your waders and sharpen your scythes, people, you're going to need them. And tow a weighted bucket behind the boat if the canal needs dredging.

You need barge grease (AKA bilge grease or hull grease). Available from Energy Solutions. Or Holland.

Spoken like a true blogger. Why use one word when you can use four or more? Remember that it's not the writing of this masterwork that counts, it's the reading of it. Keep it short, and people will read it. Make it long, and they won't. Good luck. (Seriously!)

Good man. I've had one for a couple of months, but it's got to go. Never in the field of human entertainment has so much rubbish been served up by so many morons to so little effect. B&Q have started selling one for £45.00 (corded) under the brand-name MacAlister. Mine hasn't packed up yet. Better after-shave?

He owned a boat, and couldn't swim? Nothing to add.

Saw it a couple of years ago. It's quite impressive, but has seen better days.

It's certainly an odd way to recommend somebody. Perhaps the OP thinks nicking things is OK, or perhaps it's a subtle way of warning people off.

I have a number of "3" dongles. The latest MiFi one is allegedly more sensitive than other dongles, and is capable of working faster.

It is not the same with debit cards.

On the boards? Anybody got an old mattress to make things more comfortable?

Most of the time, pump-outs are better. However, there are four disadvantages: 1 They take up more space - so not good for short NBs. 2 They can go wrong - especially macerating ones. 3 If you are frozen-in with a full tank, you are effectively bog-less. 4 They are more expensive, both to install and to run. Against all that, you avoid the unpleasantness of having to empty a cassette every few days. And cassette-lovers lie and lie and lie when they tell you that this task is not sometimes rather nasty. MUCH nastier than pumping out. I have both on my boat, so am impartial. The PO is used daily, and the cassette is there as a standby against items 2 and 3 above.

Not always, but through most of the 20th Century certainly. The great Georgian and Victorian engineers were heroes then and now. Watt, Brunel, Bazalgete, and many more.

I'm not sure this sort of thing can be blamed on the Tories alone. The rich-poor gap widened considerably under Labour. When I used to be sent on management courses (of which the best by far was the Leadership Trust at Hay-on-Wye) I was often told that most people were not motivated solely (or even largely, in many cases) by money. And yet we keep being told that if we don't pay top people loads of wonga, we won't get the best. Frankly, if the likes of Fred the Shred and Andy Hornsby are the "best", I'd rather live a less interesting life with companies run by second best people whose motivations might be more closely aligned with the interests of shareholders, employees, and society generally. The trouble is that performance-related pay is usually based on very short-term measures which do not correlate with the best long-term interests of the organisation. It would be nice if we could provide incentives for companies to convert themselves, over time, into John Lewis type operations.

Never buy a macerator. It's not a matter of IF it will break down, but WHEN. And when will be when you have a party of guests aboard, and no alternative to offer but the nearest hedge. Don't pay any heed to those who tell you that their's has been reliable. It will break down next week, guaranteed. I have a proper sailors' loo, a "Lavac", which is very simple and reliable. Works on a vacuum principle, and I installed two pumps so that if one fails, the other will still go. One is a stout Henderson manual pump, and the other an electric (for the ladies). Plumbed properly, it can double as a bilge pump. And it didn't cost anything like a grand. ETA: Take your flushing water from the canal. It's mad to waste good clean water.

To be fair, while Michael Edwardes was MD, he had no time to manage the company. He spent every waking hour trying to deal with Red Robbo. Yes, we had plenty of bad management, but militant unionism was also a huge factor. And whatever one may think of Thatcher, she did sort out the unions, for which we all owe her an enormous debt. Shame she made a hash of so much else.

Really? I drink the water from mine. Amazingly, I'm still alive. You mean a chapess, surely?

They riot. Since the English are essentially German (or Saxon, to be precise), we just need to re-inculcate a bit of deference and respect for authority, and our lads can become footmen, coachmen, and butlers to all the resident oligarchs. Alternatively, let's intervene in Syria with some proper infantry, not these drones and missiles. We could sort out Syria, and cure our unemployment/over-population problems at the same time. Where there's a will there's a way. But, joking apart, Dominic, you are quite correct. That's why we should subsidise useful degree courses, and make it worthwhile for the less bright to take lower-paid jobs rather than hand-outs. No. I misunderstood you. For me, the way the roof slopes up at the rear of a well-made NB is crucial to how it looks, and I thought that was what you were referring to.

So it would seem that you DO care about how they look. And I think you are mistaken if you think that aesthetics are purely subjective. There is generally a high degree of unanimity concerning aesthetics, especially amongst knowledgeable people. Formidable indeed. The huge Gdansk shipyard went bust as soon as the communist era subsidies ended. There are no other shipyards of any size, incidentally, or at least not since the U-boat facility at Elblag closed in 1944.

One day, more than likely, you will have to sell it. You will then find that looks are very important. And when it comes to things that people have made, beauty is more than skin deep. What looks good, often is good, because good design usually results in something that is pleasing to the eye. One has only to consider the origin of species, and reflect on the fact that only the best survive, to realise that in Nature, what works best usually looks damn good too. There are exceptions, of course. No walrus has ever won Miss World, and neither has a young, pouting, manatee. But in general, Nature's offspring are beautiful, whether we are talking of willows, gazelles, the London Plane, or a maidenfly. So don't sacrifice form on the altar of function. A good-looking boat will repay it's owner in several ways: pride of ownership; the admiration of passers-by (don't under-estimate the feel-good factor of being told your boat looks good); and, of course, a quicker sale.

There is one other point to consider. The 20 weighs 21 kilos, the 10 weighs 13. Both with empty tanks. For a woman (Amazons excepted), that weight difference could be a clinching argument. Even for the average man, 21 kilos is not exactly light.

Yes, but.... Friction losses are small, and heat losses are irrelevant - the cooling system equals out any differences there. The big problems are the mass of the components that have to be accelerated and decelerated as the pistons go up and down, and the compression that has to be overcome.