the mini budget up-date

[j.sabourn]

#70 People’s personal dislikes about appearances and mannerisms don’t come into the equation when it comes to politics , and only actions speak louder than words those bigots who dislike a person because of appearance etc. do more harm than worth. I didn’t like the appearance and mannerisms of Boris , thought he was a clown , but if had been in the UK would have voted for him regardless. As he took the UK out of Europe where it shouldn’t have been in the first place and what I saw as an outsider he was committed to staying outside , so his good side surpassed his bad side as far as I was concerned if I had been living in England, which I wasn’t I would have voted for him. England is nowhere where Australians should vote , we left there years ago. And if the majority at the next election, which is getting larger and larger will not even be in the Commonwealth. The majority of citizens soon to be living here does not call blighty home. The fifth in line for the throne did the UK no favours and carries on doing more damage almost daily by his behaviour not a very good example to follow. Which the media as usual distort and make it worse . No politics are for the people who live there that’s the trouble with the world today too many people poking their nose in where it is not wanted. JS

[vic mcclymont]

67 look up the shipbuilding databases. Because you are wrong.

[Jim R Christie]

#70 People’s personal dislikes about appearances and mannerisms don’t come into the equation when it comes to politics , and only actions speak louder than words those bigots who dislike a person because of appearance etc. do more harm than worth. I didn’t like the appearance and mannerisms of Boris , thought he was a clown , but if had been in the UK would have voted for him regardless. As he took the UK out of Europe where it shouldn’t have been in the first place and what I saw as an outsider he was committed to staying outside , so his good side surpassed his bad side as far as I was concerned if I had been living in England, which I wasn’t I would have voted for him. England is nowhere where Australians should vote , we left there years ago. And if the majority at the next election, which is getting larger and larger will not even be in the Commonwealth. The majority of citizens soon to be living here does not call blighty home. The fifth in line for the throne did the UK no favours and carries on doing more damage almost daily by his behaviour not a very good example to follow. Which the media as usual distort and make it worse . No politics are for the people who live there that’s the trouble with the world today too many people poking their nose in where it is not wanted. JS

John,
The major point about Boris is that he wasn't committed to anything beyond his own self preservation and advancement.
As politicians go he was about as shameless an opportunist as it's possible to be - his own views on Europe being a case in point.

[Tony Taylor]

When UK joined the EU a number of countries such as Oz, NZ and South Africa lost out, UK could no longer trade with them.
But now a free trade agreement between Oz and UK is on as well as one being negotiated between NZ and UK.
All the named countries are now fre to trade where they wish, the EU may be good in some form but not when it came to trading with some other countries.

What is the latest betting on Truss being there at years end?
One report said if a mild winter and interest increases ease she may well see this through!!!!

Same went for India john, Belgium did more business with India than the UK.

[Jim R Christie]

Jim if you were an "S" boat man you will remember the famous **** in the eye valve , on full away and changing over to the economiser. I used to dread trying to flash the boiler on the Skill it was a night mare. The main engines to be fair were configured to BP specifications. The engine timing was such that liner wear and the piston "o" rings were a constant problem. I did two trips on the Skill 10 years apart. I walked off her in Japan as I had already done 6 months on a 4 month contract. UMS was a joke I joined as 3rd and ended up 2nd as a sweetner. !
10 years later in dry dock we adjusted the timing and cylinder oil lubrication by 17 degrees she ran like a swiss watch for the next 3 months and she was sold. I think they went as storage vessel as they were sinlge hulled. Nice accommodation. Not a great crowd on her both times , a heavy drinking ship.

Knew about it but thankfully had very little to do with it - I was one of the blokes up top phoning down to complain you were doing a passable impression of a coal burner, especially when blowing tubes!
Breaking down every other day it seemed at times, max speed maybe 12.5 and a cargo system which was an abortion of design.
I remember hearing the Success and Strength were converted to FPSO/FSO (I forget which), the other two went straight to scrap unsurprisingly. The former two both went to Indonesia. Strength had a bad fire and was scrapped but rather unbelievably the Success is still extant, laid up now I think. Can only begin to imagine what state she's in now - although I remember her as the better of the two Belfast ships and possibly the best of the four.

P.S. I think they were all heavy drinking ships, was the only way the blokes got through the day. As I remember the beer store on the upper deck was absolutely enormous and was accessible with a pallet truck, which was handy seeing as that's precisely what was in there: pallet after pallet of usually Aussie beer!

[James Curry]

So are you telling me that the likes of Ocean Fleets & OCL, ACT, Shell tankers , BP tankers kept coming back to British Builders. Esso had 4 VLCC built in the early 70's 2 in Swans & 2 in H&W. A member here Captain Kong said the Esso Northumbria was a poorly built ship. The next 2 Esso tankers were built by Kockums in Sweden.
Companies building ships in the UK were being subsidised by the UK Government. The quality of work by the look of it has not improved it would seem. Ask the RN looking at recent problems and ongoing problems with HMS Prince of Wales those two aircraft carriers are a national embarrassment.

[vic mcclymont]

Obviously, you have a very poor opinion of British Industry
Up until the sixties, the following companies had ong associations with UK shipyards
Ben Line
UCL
Blue Funnel
Scindia Steam Navigation Company.
BP
Shell
Brocklebank.
Denholm
Lyles
This is a sample of owners doing business with their favoured yard.
Now obviously these companies would not have gone back to the yards for further orders if the quality was rubbish as you imply.
In the sixties the UK Government offered reduced mortgage rates for shipowners to purchase a ship from UK yards, they could not compete with Japan on prices etc.
If you owned a car and laid it up for five years (time to build the carriers) would you expect it run smoothly?

[James Curry]

You keep on about British ship owners and favoured yards. Ocean fleets had a Class of ships referred to as the Super P's 8 in total. 6 built in UK yards 1966/67 and 2 built in Japan the last one scrapped was 1995. 3 were scrapped in 1984 one of which was Japanese built but she was scrapped because of fire damage. 2 scrapped in 1985 due to war damage Iraq/Iran war and 2 scrapped in 1986.
If I was paying nearly £7 billion for my car yes I would expect it to work.
The 2 carriers for the RN do you think if they had been built in Korea or Japan they would have been better or worse? Seriously Given the recent history of both this White Elephants would you feel confident taking them into a war zone. A commercial ship is floated out and completed these days in less than a year. They do sea trials and any defects are either sorted out at the yard or noted and resolved while the ship is in service or at the guaranteed dry docking. How long were these ships on trials for? over 12 months. They had an issue with HMS Elizabeth stern tube seals leaking and seawater entering the enginge room. The Wales has got a knackered propeller shaft. None of these two vessel have even been in combat yet , a joke but certainly not for those poor crews that may be at the sharp end if Russia or China up the anti anymore.


All six of the Royal Navy’s state-of-the-art Type 45 destroyers are currently docked in port, at a time of heightened tensions with Russia.

The guided-missile destroyers have been plagued by engine issues since they were launched, with ships in the class now undergoing a Power Improvement Project (PIP).

I think someone in the Admirality or BAE systems need a rocket up the chuff.
Like hello these type 45's are nearly approaching 10 years into there service life and still they are not sorted out.
Thank god for the USA Navy at least it would appear there ships work.

[vic mcclymont]

You are a typical socialist, decry anything to do with the UK.
The damaged propellor was due to it hitting an obstacle on th seabed, can't hold the builders responsible for that.
The engines on the D Class was the choice of Geff Hoon, Labour's Minister for the MOD. The yards wanted tried and tested engine system, Hoon overrode them and insisted that the system of his choice was installed.
Ended up wasting billions and inferior choice due to an MP's choice.

[j.sabourn]

Just think of all the sweeteners and backhanders he got Vic.he wouldn’t of been retired and looking after his own well being JS