Screams of terror and excitement were heard across central Christchurch as children flocked to the the Margaret Mahy Family Playground's "scary" new slide. The eight-metre spiral slide opened on Sunday as the latest addition to the park, which opened in December. Stuff
Yesterday Christchurch's newest children's attraction The Towers of Terror at Margaret Mahey's Family Playground was closed because it is dangerous. It seems that the unsupervised children attacked the tunnel from both ends!
The tower of terror slide at Christchurch's Margaret Mahy Playground has been closed just weeks after it opened.
The eight-metre spiral slide and three towers opened in June as the latest addition to the popular park, but safety concerns forced park management company Otakaro Limited to close the towers.
Otakaro Limited spokeswoman Annemarie Settle said the decision was not made lightly.
"It comes down to trying to strike the right balance between safety and excitement. Kids obviously love the slide and the scariness adds to the excitement but it's our job to make sure it is safe for everyone," she said. Stuff
One look at the design should be enough to tell the powers that be that cramming unsupervised children into cages and tunnels with no means of escape was slightly unwise to say the least.
Common sense should have told anyone at Health and Safety that as children will be children this is bound to happen and it could be difficult to get them out.
Now I come to look at it Auckland has a grown up version of this concept in the design stage but it is a slightly larger a1.2 k, 4 meter tube with two blocked egresses. It is called SkyPath!
This Sunday Paul Little an independent columnist with The Herald on Sunday wrote an article about the residents of Northcote Point and their battle with SkyPath entitled Nimbies battle flight of Fancy which is about the only part of the article he got right. The link is there so you can read it for yourselves. He was particularly scathing about me and my voice and completely wrong.
In the past it was easy for columnists in the Herald to destroy a project or person because it was the only show in town. Now it is not.
It is fashionable on Sundays in the world media to have a Long Read so I thought in the interests of fair play, and I feel sure Paul Little will want to be fair, his article has become the topic for my first Long Read. It is usual to introduce Paul Little so that readers can get to know him and where he is coming from so here is his Linkedin profile and an article by Whale Oil Paul Little Blithering idiot for reference. It is easy to ascertain that Paul Little is in favour of SkyPath and sometimes the Herald runs sponsored articles but I shall give him the benefit of the doubt on this one. Paul Little is passionate about SkyPath. He can see no problems at all except for people like me or The Northcote Resident Association who point out a few issues that might just spoil his dream. For them he shows no mercy and of course the NRA cannot hit back.
As this is a Long Read, I intend to publish it again in sections so I can elaborate in more detail exactly what Paul Little got wrong and why he is misleading. One has to trust a paper's reporters and they must get the facts right. Paul Little has not. Then one has to trust that that the reporter is not prone to discrimination of any kind if he/she shows any discrimination to one person in an article then he is likely to do it to others. Just living in an area, or having a different type of voice is no reason why these people should not be taken seriously. Is Paul Little biased? Does he give the other point of view? Does he make fun of people because he does not appreciate their voices? If in doubt it may be time to change your paper.
So to begin - The easiest way is to publish the letter with all the links that I wrote to Paul Little who has no idea who I am except that I have IT skills above the average for my age, he is right about that, I have a posh voice, which appears to get up his nose and I care enough about the safety on SkyPath to do something about it enough to make a video. He did not add a link to this video so I have placed What Bike The Bridge did Right - a lesson in crowd management at the top of this blog.
Regarding the inaccuracies in above article I really do not know where to start! Good balanced accurate reporting it was not! So here is some ref information for your next article.
My name is Janette Miller. I reverted to Miller after my husband a Heffernan died because I got so much racist abuse and an assault for being thought to be Southern Irish because of my name! I am English/Scots.
Here is my live CV
BBC Monitor Britten Noyes Fludde Aldeburgh featuring Janette Miller and Michael Crawford 1958
This CV was made shortly before I caught Clostridium Difficile or gangrene of the stomach.
Just because the residents of Northcote Point wish to object to SkyPath does not make them NIMBIES. They live here and they are aware of the problems. The size of the crowds is going to be a problem. The image shows about 1,000 cyclists, there was another 1,000 stretching back to Smales Farm.
I live near to a 400 seater theatre, a 50 seat restaurant, a 50 seat cafe, a 100 seat Senior Citizens Rooms and an antique shop. During one period on Northcote Point, I lived near to Junk and Disorderly, a junk yard and I have lived happily on Northcote Point for 43 years. Never had a park outside in years! NIMBY? I don’t think so.
I made and narrated What Bike the Bridge did Right as evidence to show the Mediation Court, that even 2,000 is too much to host at Northcote Point without serious crowd management. I stand by every frame of the footage. I am an independent and solely interested in safety aspects of this project. Whatever Paul Little says these problems will not magically disappear if the NRA cannot continue with the appeal and will have to be faced by someone in the future.
The Minister of Transport Simon Bridges and NZTA are aware of the safety problems of Northcote Point. At the invitation of the Minister I was invited to a formal on the record interview which was not in confidence at NZTA where I was assured that SkyPath would not be built unless it was safe. I was very impressed with their understanding of the problem and I was totally reassured that this will be done, even though it may mean SkyPath although desired may not be built.
I asked if I should stop publicly campaigning on the safety issue and was told they had no objection to me continuing as at present they could say little to get this point across officially. Anything that could be done to inform the public of this problem would be welcomed.
There is no doubt that Northcote Point is not able to become a major transport hub simply because there is no room for the infrastructure required. That is a fact. It cannot be changed unless huge earthworks and demolition of the Point is undertaken. The residents of Northcote Point know this and so does the Minister and NZTA but the media coverage by the cycle lobby has ensured the NRA is pilloried for the greater good. On the whole the general public has no idea of the major problems of hosting SkyPath at Northcote Point under the present design and accommodating the numbers required to make it commercially viable. The public think it is OK as the media constantly refers to them as Nimbies and the residents are making a fuss just because the residents peace and quiet will be removed. If a resident is interviewed the article is usually hostile.
This video was made as evidence for the Mediation Court that had to take place before the Environment Court proceedings. It shows clearly 2,000/3,000 cyclists cycling over the Bridge. However it does not show 2,000 cyclists on the Bridge at the same time as SkyPath proposes as the cyclists had evened out before they got there and of course no pedestrians and two way traffic. This was a simple one way run.
Cyclists take up a lot of room and they go fast. The video also shows which the design animation does not the camber/gradient on the bridge which is flattened by the animation. Although SkyPath allows use of SkyPath's images in public by crediting Reset Urban design I chose in fairness not to use any of the images in public against SkyPath but the one below I shall use and credit below as this is in the public interest.
You can see it is very different and deceptive as it makes the SkyPath look flat. It isn't. SkyPath is a 1.2 k enclosed tunnel just 4.5 m wide( 6.5m in a few places to allow people to stand and look). I am told the speeds a cyclist can reach on the downhill run are 50+ kph! The first child that is hit or even a small pile up of bikes that can block the enclosed tunnel are problems that have to be faced. Saying one can reduce speeds is not an answer because we know with visual evidence that on many flat open bridges with pedestrians in the way cyclists speed. SkyPath is enclosed and that is the big difference. Cyclists are good at ignoring instructions and take risks. It is what cyclists do! If you want a sensible discussion on the safety aspects I am happy to give them to you. This is just one on the Bridge, there are other issues for Northcote Point!
Paul Little takes exception to my voice.
Paul Little did not mention me by name but he did say incorrectly that is was made for the Northcote’s Residents Association. It was not. I do not belong to that association. In fact I removed the video from the site.
The effect of this would be classed racist if I exchanged one or two words for opponents. It is like saying:
These black people aren't a fusty old bunch of dinosaurs!
( These black people are smart not like the usual ones!)
The black people were clever enough to even make a Video on YouTube.
(WOW! These black people who we thought were rich and stupid were clever enough to make a video that is the evidence to prove them right to protest! It was so dangerous to our cause that we are not going to embarrass them by showing it)
It voiced by a narrator with an unacceptable black accent that is so unacceptable even for her own black community!
( People with voices like that are not to be believed)
Paul Little did not mention me by name but the effect is the same. It is me! It could not be anyone else. My name is on the Janette Miller YouTube Channel. The article is implying that because my accent is unacceptable then I must be unacceptable even to my own community and my word not to be trusted. I find this deeply offensive and cruel. By smearing the messenger you reject the message. If this was the 16 century I should be burnt as a witch by now and I am not joking. Making fun of me for raising a serious issue is unacceptable.
I cannot help it if I speak proper! I speak the regular BBC received English. I am considered by many to have one of the best voices on YouTube and I made a living in UK doing voice overs.
Obviously I do not do this in NZ. It is a NZ accent that is wanted and I don't do Kiwi! Many in UK find the NZ accent funny too but would be too polite to say so. I am allowed to speak as I like, after years it is hard to change and it could be considered discriminatory to dismiss the contents of my film just because of my voice. If you attacking my voice, you attack the contents by association.
My cousin who lived in Woodford Green has what is called an Estuary Accent which she hated but her schoolfriend Helen Mirren has the same accent as I do and is still acceptable to The Royal Shakespeare Company today. I should not have to defend my accent.
Paul Little imagines that I must be a middle class, rich unpleasant person who is just interested in herself. Well, appearances are deceptive. Yes I am middle class, I married an Oxford educated GP, my working class accent would not go down to well in Oxford even now. It would be tolerated though. Marrying an Oxford man is quite special, not too many of them so I must be quite something. They have the pick of everyone and only go for the best. Why? Because I am intelligent and nice. I care about people. I care about safety.
Actually my family come from the slums of Manchester and Glasgow. I was brought up by my working class grandfather who was the son of man who made coal wagons for the railways in Manchester, rather like living Coronation St in 1900. My grandfather Henry Thorpe was brilliant, He went to night school, passed civil service exams and eventually went on the manage Wembley Stadium for 40 years. He gave the world the FA Cup and the Olympic Games and he managed crowds. I was brought with the crowds, my grandfather brought me up while my own father was in the War. He taught everyone in Wembley Stadium to respect crowds as he had had two occasions where but for luck there could have been 2 horrific disasters, You can look them up on Google. One was the first FA Cup and the second the Zeppelin of 1929. He had a large framed photo of that incident on the wall of his office to remind everyone to keep safety in mind.
When I bought on Northcote Point in 1975 nobody wanted to live here. Now they do. I can see why people want to live here. It is wonderful so why ruin it by overcrowding. Yes I do have a valuable house but only because I did not pull it down. In 1975 I was told to pull it down in the name of progress. I was right to keep it.
SkyPath should limit numbers or give the cyclists a lane on the Bridge now. It could be done today with a couple of traffic cones!
You might me interested to know my background. Here is my amazing grandmother born in a slum raised to a Lady.
Road beside mainline railway in Manchester where Henry Thorpe and his family lived in a two up two down cottage
The Northcote Resident Association
I do not belong to the Northcote Residents Association but I did allow them to use my video for their Give a Little Appeal. I did give them a donation and I am happy to do so. They deserve a chance to put their case across in a NZ court with real judges not laymen. I have found NZ Justice to be fair and just. NRA does have a genuine case and it should be heard.
The What Bike the Bridge did Right video does not form part of the NRA Environment Court Case at all and will not be presented in evidence. I could not afford to join this appeal so the safety aspects of SkyPath will not be considered there although SkyPath again gives the impression that they will. Safety is considered later but safety will be considered. However the video does show visually that Northcote Point will have problems in managing the crowds that will use it. The video is on YouTube and anyone can use it via a link. Both the NZ Herald and Stuff did this and so can NRA.
Bike the Bridge management obviously thought differently. I learned later that they did not want to be associated with this appeal and felt that even though the video is full of praise for the management of their event, which I think is exemplary, they had it taken down themselves saying they owned the video which of course they don’t. Give a Little would not give me the name but being pressed told me it was Bike the Bridge.
When I went to my YouTube page I found out who it was as Callum McNair owner of Bike the Bridge had left a very offensive comment which I felt I had to remove. I then wrote to him on his FB page asking him to contact me which he has failed to do because he does not check his FB messages. I waited for days for his call.
Instead of getting in touch with me he contacted Amelia Wade of the NZ Herald and she explained the situation and after thinking about it I could see his point and so although it was not necessary for me to do so in the interests of fair play I instructed the NRA to remove the video from that page of the Give a Little site.
I need not have bothered. The media still reported that I had made the video for the NRA. Stuff slightly changed there story but the Herald has not.
Again I have nothing to do with the NRA. I do not belong but my video is being used against them as if I did. It seems that fair play is only allowed on one side.
Again with or without an appeal to the Environment Court the safety management issue of crowds descending on Northcote Point will not go away and will have to be addressed.
Len Brown's vanity Legacy project and the 11,000 submission from all over the world
Big public support for Sky Path says Len Brown.
Len Brown knows that once the Resource Consent is obtained then even if the opposition has serious reasons for objection it is virtually impossible to take an appeal to the Environment Court. Law costs money, that is why there are rich lawyers. It would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and until NZTA gives the go ahead no one knows if it can be built or managed safely.
Because SkyPath won the resource consent it is fully funded for the Environment Court by lawyers paid for by The Auckland City Council via the Ratepayers of Auckland. Only in the Resource Court can ordinary people speak for themselves. Once it goes to a real court expensive lawyers are required.
Those that wish to appeal any appalling judgment must pay a barrister. If they cannot pay, the appalling judgment wins. It is not that the SkyPath is correct it is just the other side hasn’t enough money to pay the court expenses. That is how appalling judgments in the Resource Consent get through. It is all done by which side gets to chose the resource commissioners.
In this case Len Brown said publicly he needs to do everything to ensure SkyPath wins and he has and still does. Len Brown with a majority on the Council got to chose the Independent Commissioners who are paid by the council and he said he needed decision makers who would do what they a required to do. They did!
The judge, in the pre trial last public judgment, said he felt the commissioners had been “hasty” and The Northcote Residents Association should not have to fight a case before it was known if SkyPath could be built.
Again I do support NRA's right to go to court and the lack of their being able to go does not prove they are wrong only that they cannot afford it and Len Brown can!
As for the 11,000 in favour. Well when it came to the submissions to the Resource Court this came down to around 3,500 in favour. It is a lot but not the 11,000 in favour that were used and still are to justify SkyPath. These figures can be obtained off the council web site.
Video evidence to prevent disaster
Lastly is it wrong to show people evidence that they might find upsetting? Even the Table of Major Stampedes above is upsetting. People think stampedes/panics/crushes are unusual and never happen or they happen to others but they do happen. The Hajj had approx 1,600 dead this year not the 2,000 as stated by Paul Little. It happens every few years as the authorities never learn. See above 1420 crushed in 1990!
The official concentration camp film in 1946 was considered too difficult to show even in a court of law because it might upset! The Allies said it had to be shown because it was so horrific that no one would believe it if he/she didn’t see it. It happens all the time, disasters that could have been avoided are not shown because people are upset.
The first video I made which is not publicly available was for the Resource Consent Court as I wanted to show the results that can happen when bridges first open. There were 347 dead and 755 injured, and I am not going to show you the footage. 347 dead sort of trips off the tongue like 2,000 cyclists, I did show the cyclists and it is a lot.
However this week a brave woman had the guts and ability to show the world what happened when the police killed her boyfriend when stopped and asked for his license. I am not going to show you that either. But Google it and look. The video shows graphically the horror that this woman lived through. Video evidence does make a difference.
I showed mine in court where the commissioners are supposed to be adults. Three found it uncomfortable. One wished to have the evidence stopped. I told her to look. They asked no questions, they dismissed the evidence and yet a panic on this project is very possible. Smoke wafting down from a car fire on the Bridge, there was one last year, is very real. Asians are known by research not to panic. They are very calm under stress but all children can with smoke, bikes, children and only 2 exits one maybe a kilometre away and a panic is very likely. I cannot show you this. You will have to imagine it. But is has to be considered and actioned. At the moment it is considered by the public, if not NZTA who do know and will do something when they can, as irrelevant until one child is badly injured then the question will be asked why did someone not foresee this and who is responsible now for this oversight.
Paul Little cannot win it appears even with gangrene!
I was nearly killed by Clostridium Difficile or gangrene of the stomach and had to give up all thought of work and struggle for my life. The drugs given to me were horrific. To make fun of gangrene to those who have suffered from it is despicable but then Paul Little likes to create conflict. Bad luck Paul Little chose gangrene as an example!
So there we are! The Long Read reply to Paul Little but I shall add further blogs on each topic and I might even re voice over the video with my working class accent to see if he prefers that. Very easy for me to do! I was brought up in Wembley!
Sadly this is no laughing matter. SkyPath is deadly serious. It is a dream and sometimes dreams become nightmares. One thing is certain if SkyPath is built it will be safe. I asked NZTA what was the acceptable death toll for the greater good and NZTA quickly said not one and I believe them.
Not very private is seems as I found out to my cost this morning when a private Facebook message I had written to Mat Collins of Auckland . He is so passionate about the proposed SkyPath shared path which I consider dangerous and he was so furious that I had questioned his judgment because I asked him a couple of questions in private that he should have been able to answer that in a fit of hate he published my private email not on FB but on Twitter where I am not a member so could not reply.
What I found totally unacceptable was that Mat Collins then made it impossible for me to reach him and get him to remove it and succeeded in having me banned from other sites.
Mat Collins did know about the privacy because his last remark to me was so unpleasant that I asked him if I could use it as it was so telling. Obviously I cannot repeat it here because he has not given me his permission.
Mat Collins seems to think his actions are acceptable and a payback for something he perceives I did which as it happens he could not have been more totally mistaken and instead of writing or even phone me to check he goes out on a limb to teach an old Batshit Crazie a lesson she will never forget.
So what to do next! Obviously a private message in Facebook is not a private message. This came as a shock but one I have to face. It means I can no longer ask questions in private as of norm because if the recipient feels aggrieved as in the case of Mat Collins and is not aware of the rules of privacy your private message is revealed to the world and worse still you may never know it.
So what to do? To be adult about it, I was possibly naive in thinking that Mat Collins would be rational and I was right. I have learned a lesson about private FB messages - they are not private unless both sides agree so in future I shall never use them again to people whom I am unsure will not stick to the rules or if I must then anyone I don't know personally and trust, I did not know Mat Collins, then I shall state the rules up top as one does with a letter, i.e. In confidence or even better In strictest confidence. That should do the trick.
Well Mat Collins has found himself the star attraction in my blog and he will possibly now face a three day FB stand down for his Tweet which I had not authorised. It was a truly vicious thing to do and totally unnecessary but I must have hit the nail on the head.
Another tip before corresponding on any level with someone you do not know is to Google them then you have some idea of who you are dealing with. I should have looked Mat Collins up before I FB private messaged him. I didn't , so for the first part of the conversation I had no idea who he was, he could have been anyone and he did not help me except eventually to say he was a safety expert, at that point I looked him up. I realised my mistake. I should have looked him up sooner.
Before becoming an engineer who worked for Auckland Transport, Mat Collins was a fireman. He was a fireman for 17 years so he must know that Blocked Exits are one of the greatest dangers when evacuating crowds of people during emergencies. Blocked Exits are banned in USA.
Yet he, an expert, finds it impossible to answer my simple questions
Why are the only two exits on SkyPath blocked by turnstiles when all safety regulations say these should be free of obstruction?
Mat Collins is positive SkyPath as designed is safe and that these problems will never occur and I am being a scaremonger. I think he is a very brave man.
I did send him this video to refresh his memory. This too will be considered by SkyPath promoters scaremongering but I consider it evidence to I shall take the risk and show you. Nowadays uncomfortable videos seem to be the only way to get things done.
This unfortunate episode has taught me a lesson and hopefully this will teach Mat Collins a lesson and that he takes more care in future. If you get a private FB message the sender may intend it to be private. If he had phoned up or answered in a sensible manner none of this would be necessary. An unpleasant business for all of us! Sometimes Sorry is a useful word.
An Auckland woman is bemoaning the dearth of intelligent, creative and eloquent men in what she describes as the "era of the lone older women".
Kerry Carter, 72, has written to the Weekend Herald to express her frustration and incredulity at the lack of men in her social circles.
"I really wrote it to express my strong feelings about it, because it doesn't matter what I go to, it's always women, women, women." Corazon Miller NZ Herald
I am about the same age as Kerry Carter and I have great sympathy for her plight. In my experience when many women lose their husbands and some of us do at a fairly young age we are in for a long time on our own. Men like younger women and have no difficulty in marrying again and their young wives do not encourage other relationships unless forced to do so or they don't know, so we are in for a longtime on our own. My own husband was older than I and he told me this before I married that I could be in for a long time by myself but I loved him and yes he did jump ship by dying rather too soon but I knew this might happen so can hardly complain. Unlike Kerry Carter I have not had any problems. I have had many male friendships over these 14 years and there are plenty of interesting men around, far more than women so what is the difference between us?
I think it is upbringing. When I was a child I was the only girl in the neighbourhood so I was brought up with boys. I did 'boy' things, stamp collecting, mechano, radios, soapbox derbys, train spotting, collecting odd things like tadpoles, mice, cigarette cards. I joined in battles, tennis, cricket and rugby. I wasn't very fond of the last two but I knew about them and as a teenager I was involved in ballet and opera, yes lots of men in this area too. This does make life easier as I am used to meeting men not as potential lovers but as people. I sort of tagged onto their education too as I didn't have a formal one. They taught me science and what to read and I taught them to appreciate ballet. They liked ballet already, educated men like ballet dancers as we are intelligent, pretty and have deferred gratification. Today I possibly have more males friends than female because I have a lot in common and I am used to talking to them on their level. I am not so good at talking to women of my age as I find a lot are rather silly. They just do not do science and find scientific reasoning impossible. It is hard to know where they come from and I expect men find the same. If a woman wants to meet men really nice men then she has to like what they like and go somewhere where she is likely to meet them on their ground. Try the local philately club, out of the 100 members in my club at least 90% were male. My husband at first was not a philatilist although he became one he never came to the club so I did meet a lot of very intelligent very nice men who liked stamps while he was alive. They liked a woman who could appreciate and talk about Full Face Queens. Croquet clubs are quite good too. Admiring a four ball break is always acceptable and one has to sit out for hours with a partner. Joining an Association Croquet Club is a last resort because on the field the players change into demons but in the clubhouse they are charming. I met Peter Goodwin at a bookbinding club. He also loved stamps and these men helped me through when Miles died as I was ill. My men friends are chums not potential partners and sometimes I am not invited into to their club but that is OK. Occasionally I am and then I become an honary man for the morning. I am useful, great computer skills and decorative on occasions like that special dinner when an unmarried man needs a partner. On one occasion I was a bought woman. I refused to go unless I was given his spare rounding hammer which are impossible to buy these days. I mean I knew what a rounding hammer was and its value in the scheme of things. Most women of my age were not brought up like this. They would not have clue what a rounding hammer was.They were taught their place, mostly a love of Belief Systems, to look after things, and certainly no science. Not a lot in common with the average intelligent male. However a woman who appreciates the beauty and value of a set of Full Face Queens is attractive at any age. Some of my lady friends have not been out with a man alone even for a coffee since their husbands died and yes that must be sad. Hopefully today as most children are raised equally the loneliness of single women will go away or will it? Many highly educated young women are still alone reaching their 30s and 40s without a partner because they cannot find one of their equal. Men in my day never had this problem because on the whole women did not get the education they did so they were always superior. The had to make to with wives of inferior education but they got looked after. Maybe today's highly educated women should do the same and shack up with a nice, handsome but a bit thick male because what most highly intelligent women need is a Wife to look after them as wives do!
List of UK Companies that have been transferred to other countries using EU grants. Anyone who thinks the EU is good for British industry or any other business simply hasn't paid attention to what has been systematically asset-stripped from the UK.
I would like to repost the following by Richard Matthews (I'm shocked).
"OK.. here's a short list of financial and industrial FUBARs from the EU...
Cadbury moved factory to Poland 2011 with EU grant.
Ford Transit moved to Turkey 2013 with EU grant.
Jaguar Land Rover has recently agreed to build a new plant in Slovakia with EU grant, owned by Tata, the same company who have trashed our steel works and emptied the workers pension funds.
Peugeot closed its Ryton (was Rootes Group) plant and moved production to Slovakia with EU grant.
British Army's new Ajax fighting vehicles to be built in SPAIN using SWEDISH steel at the request of the EU to support jobs in Spain with EU grant, rather than Wales.
Dyson gone to Malaysia, with an EU loan.
Crown Closures, Bournemouth (Was METAL BOX), gone to Poland with EU grant, once employed 1,200.
M&S manufacturing gone to far east with EU loan.
Hornby models gone. In fact all toys and models now gone from UK along with the patents all with with EU grants.
Gillette gone to eastern Europe with EU grant.
Texas Instruments Greenock gone to Germany with EU grant.
Indesit at Bodelwyddan Wales gone with EU grant.
Sekisui Alveo said production at its Merthyr Tydfil Industrial Park foam plant will relocate production to Roermond in the Netherlands, with EU funding.
Hoover Merthyr factory moved out of UK to Czech Republic and the Far East by Italian company Candy with EU backing.
ICI integration into Holland’s AkzoNobel with EU bank loan and within days of the merger, several factories in the UK, were closed, eliminating 3,500 jobs.
Boots sold to Italians Stefano Pessina who have based their HQ in Switzerland to avoid tax to the tune of £80 million a year, using an EU loan for the purchase.
JDS Uniphase run by two Dutch men, brought up companies in the UK with £20 million in EU 'regeneration' grants, created a pollution nightmare and just closed it all down leaving 1,200 out of work and an environmental clean-up paid for by the UK tax-payer. They also raided the pension fund and drained it dry.
UK airports are owned by a Spanish company.
Scottish Power is owned by a Spanish company.
Most London buses are run by Spanish and German companies.
The Hinkley Point C nuclear power station to be built by French company EDF, part owned by the French government, using cheap Chinese steel that has catastrophically failed in other nuclear installations. Now EDF say the costs will be double or more and it will be very late even if it does come online.
Swindon was once our producer of rail locomotives and rolling stock. Not any more, it's Bombardier in Derby and due to their losses in the aviation market, that could see the end of the British railways manufacturing altogether even though Bombardier had EU grants to keep Derby going which they diverted to their loss-making aviation side in Canada.
39% of British invention patents have been passed to foreign companies, many of them in the EU.
The Mini cars that Cameron stood in front of as an example of British engineering, are built by BMW mostly in Holland and Austria. His campaign bus was made in Germany even though we have Plaxton, Optare, Bluebird, Dennis etc., in the UK. The bicycle for the Greens was made in the far east, not by Raleigh UK but then they are probably going to move to the Netherlands too as they have said recently.
Name one major technology company still running in the UK, I used to contract out to many, then the work just dried up as they were sold off to companies from France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, etc., and now we don't even teach electronic technology for technicians any more, due to EU regulations.
I haven't detailed our non-existent fishing industry the EU paid to destroy, nor the farmers being paid NOT to produce food they could sell for more than they get paid to do nothing, don't even go there.
I haven't mentioned what it costs us to be asset-stripped like this, nor have I mentioned immigration, nor the risk to our security if control of our armed forces is passed to Brussels or Germany.
Find something that's gone the other way, I've looked and I just can't. If you think the EU is a good idea.
1/ You haven't read the party manifesto of The European Peoples' Party.
2/ You haven't had to deal with EU petty bureaucracy tearing your business down.
3/ You don't care.
Brexit means the dissembling stops and Westminster is held to account for the good and the bad on every decision. As it should be. No wonder the Camerons and Blairs are terrified at the prospect..."
For many years I have been a devoted reader of the UK Guardian. It was a liberal newspaper and I enjoyed its articles which were educated, intelligent and well balanced but just lately I have noticed an extreme change and it relates to the UK Guardian and the EU Referendum. On this topic the Guardian editors have decided that the EU is a good thing and only articles in favour will be allowed and it seems anyone pointing out that there is another point of view must be silenced.
Actually I can hardly believe it. I have enjoyed commenting on the Guardian for many years. Yes, I can put forward an unpopular point of view but I try to do so in a respectful way and in fact anyone reading my comments would be hard pushed to find any that would be classed in this manner but it seems something I wrote had annoyed the Guardian Moderators on this occasion and it seems that my offence may have been pointing out that the Guardian does not like anyone who disagrees with its EU policy!
This is really censorship of the worst kind and is unworthy of this great newspaper. A free press is essential to a democracy and also the freedom to comment. I think the problem may lie that when I was at last able to comment, I pointed this out and suggested that readers watch Brexit the Movie as an antidote to all the pro articles the Guardian had published.
I now see the following warning shown above every time I try to comment and my comments are not published.
How can one trust a newspaper that behaves like this. Obviously one cannot, Well not on this topic it appears. This is the comment which appears to have caused the problem:
BREXIT THE MOVIE _ YOUTUBEThis explains the EU rather well too! At last one is able to make a comment on this subject.
Having watched this well made film it is easy to see why the fat cats of the Establishment just love the undemocratic EU. Everlasting well paid jobs for the elite and no voters to worry about.
UK would be crazy to remain in. Why not discuss it Guardian?
Can you see anything disrespectful in that? Well the film does put the case for leaving the EU rather well, possibly a bit too well for the Guardian at the moment. I was of two minds about the exit but after watching this I now know Brexit is possibly the only way for UK to maintain its own identity.
So sadly I must leave the Guardian as I can no longer trust it but such is life.
UPDATE 13 JUNE 2016 ANSWER FROM UK GUARDIAN
As you can see I wrote to ask why I had been moderated and after a bit of a wait where my comments were simply "What can I say?" I received this reply which is worth documenting and here too is my answer.
Hello Janette,
Looking at your user history, I can see that your comments linking to the Brexit: The Movie video were blocked by a moderator because they didn't engage with the articles under which they appeared. As a result, they were considered off-topic under the terms of our community standards: 8. Keep it relevant. We know that some conversations can be wide-ranging, but if you post something which is unrelated to the original topic ("off-topic") then it may be removed, in order to keep the thread on track. This also applies to queries or comments about moderation, which should not be posted as comments.
In addition, we've also been dealing with an organised campaign to flood EU discussions with links to this video, which also violates the community standards: 7. We will remove any posts that are obviously commercial or otherwise spam-like. Our aim is that this site should provide a space for people to interact with our content and each other, and we actively discourage commercial entities passing themselves off as individuals, in order to post advertising material or links. This may also apply to people or organisations who frequently post propaganda or external links without adding substantively to the quality of the discussion on the Guardian website.
From your account history I can see that you have a long record of constructive contributions to discussions at The Guardian, and that you aren't posting from one of the new accounts created simply to propagate this link. Accordingly, I'd be happy to remove the premoderation sanction from your account provided that you're happy to return to making comments relevant to the articles under which they appear.
Regards
Craig
Community Moderator
MY REPLY
Kiaora Craig
Thank you fro you email regarding my red exclamation mark and thank you for offering to remove it which I should be extremely grateful. It sort of reminds me of my convent school when any form of revolt was quickly nipped in the bud.
I was born in Windsor but I have lived in NZ since 1974 when the UK dumped NZ in a very cruel way in favour of the EU so perhaps I have a very different view on the current situation. At the time it seemed a disaster for NZ and it was but now NZ has survived and makes its own deals and maintains its own culture. It is different to UK as it is egalitarian which I and my GP husband liked. Virtually no class system. NZ was good to me and I was voted Auckland Woman of the Year m1982 by the women of Auckland for taking on the Council over the Arts! I doubt I would have got any opportunities in UK to do this.
I have been alarmed at the number of pro-remain articles which go unchallenged. They mostly all are at the moment so it is not surprising that the Guardian will get swamped by Brexiters. I did it quite independently. I even went off topic because of the few opportunities to put forward a view that is not catered for by the Guardian. It is a form of censorship that I think is unworthy of this great paper.
It might have been easier to acknowledge this video. Yes,Brexit the Movieis pretty convincing but th Guardian's pro-job is to show why it is incorrect not shy away from it. I know this is difficult. The bit that hit home with me, who lived through the tail end of the war and the 11 years of rationing, was to find out that in Germany after a short initial period of rationing there was no rationing! However UK did get the NHS and social welfare and this could have been pointed out. It explained why controlled planning can hinder creativity and progress.
However your response was gratifying. I promise that I will not comment off topic again unless I am forced to do so. I shall say three Hail Marys and make a firm purpose of amendment.
I look forward to being red exclamation mark- less!
Sincerely
One should not have to do this to protect democracy in this day and age in a civilised society but the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
The UK Guardian had an excellent article on the excessive taking of photos explaining that taking photos is not living but taking your own obituary
As you point your phone at everything from Notre Dame to a slice of chocolate cake, remember these images will take on significance only after you have gone - by Rana Dasgupta
There is a lot to be said for not taking photos but doing this does have a downside. My husband, who I loved dearly, hated taking photos. He said one should retain the moment in the memory, that this was far more valuable than having a photograph. He was extremely persuasive in his argument. Consequently we never took a camera with us all through our 30 years of a very happy marriage.
Then suddenly he died well before his time. It was that moment and really for ever after that I discovered he was wrong. I have very few visual memories of our time together or with the time we spent with our daughter when she was growing up.
Fortunately he relented, once, and I was allowed to take three rolls of Kodak slides on my box camera when we went to Greece. My parents took a few including a couple of out of focus on our wedding day. Only one video and on that occasion it was a song of which my husband did not approve so he started to lampoon it and make faces, very funny at the time but not now. In fact it is grotesque but it is his only visual memorial. He had the most wonderful voice and that too is missing. If only I had a recording of him saying "I love you darling" or "Hello, darling" as he did whenever I opened the front door. I could have done this if he had let me. I produce TV.
However we did sing every day for 30 years and right at the end of his life we decided to record a Schubert Song Cycle, Die Winterreise for our daughter to have something to remember us by. We recorded the first 12 songs but then before we were ready to do the second 12 he got his death sentence. With great courage he played and I sang the last 12 and this is really the only thing I have to remember him by as you can see in the video I have a few seconds of him playing the piano on video and I had to slow motion that to get enough and one small photo that shows how happy we were. Mark you what a way to go!
Yes, I have a few photos of him left, from his youth, our Greek Trip and photos others have taken but not enough, not mine and few together. So the lesson is everything in moderation. Personally I'd go for it because you are a long time dead and I do miss him, funny faces or not.
