Navy is now down to five ships.

[Keith at Tregenna]

A few years ago I was both invited to and attended the Royal Mail event: Celebrate the Work of the Merchant Navy: Looked after by John Sail and Tim Brant MNA. I was representing the Merchant Navy Association (Wales) Barry branch and in the company of Joe Earl: Lord Prescott was the guest speaker aboard the President on the Thames and for all said about the man, he certainly spoke up well for the MN, had a drink with him afterwards and he then also came over as an intelligent and nice chap.

Keith.

[Lewis McColl]

Like a lot of folk in the public eye it is always easy to pick faults. But to go from ships steward to deputy PM he certainly must have had a wise head on his shoulders. Certainly a lot more upstairs than some of his detractors.

[j.sabourn]

His lack of knowledge may have been his attraction to any PM looking over his shoulder. Keep your enemies close by is always a good idea of any leader of any party. JWS

[robpage]

As a casual Observer in 1966 I don't think but the Seaman strike was a resounding victory and I always felt looking at it from the outside but it was totally politically motivated and lead poorly . There are a few scheme said lord John has been involved with crazy scheme involved in housing and I don't think he did the fire brigade any favours when he tried to reduce the number of Fire Brigade call centres but as a man of his time he fitted in well with Tony Blair's government obviously needed him

[j.sabourn]

The strike was a farce Rob well organized to show the Unions in a bad light and was the beginning of the end for the British M.N. Very astutely carried out by Harold Wilson at the time and probably in connivance with both sides of the House. The average seaman was no better off financially, it may have looked that way on paper, but cash in hand otherwise. The first instruction I got was to stop all overtime except essential to working the ship. De manning started from that day, when small rules were changed to suit. e.g. From 3 men on a watch went down to 2. Today if had 2 men on a watch you would think of it as luxury. How people adjust when they don't know any better. Today you have vessels in high density shipping lanes with 1 on the bridge and no one down below. Some of the foreign ships I brought down on the coast here was quite normal for the one watchkeeper on the bridge to have a button he had to press at frequent intervals , if he didn't an alarm would go off in the Masters cabin to show he may have fallen asleep. As to the post on him being a good speaker wasn’t his silver spoon tongue due to him having been a silver waiter. That’s all a politician needs is to be able to talk , however actions speak louder than words , so he was probably. In the best role of his life span being a politician of any kind. JWS.

[robpage]

After seeing Lord John's antics over the last fifty years fail to impress me , look at his Pathfinder housing scheme to start

[happy daze john in oz]

Lewis, in a sausage factory, Pork maybe as he was a bit of a pig.

But the demise of the MN, like so may other industries and events, was no doubt a political move.
But not the only one, closing the coal mines now in favor of clean energy?

A classic example was the smart meter.
My understanding developed in UK but no one wanted it.

Guy comes out to Oz with it and convinces a state Labor gov that it will make the collection of energy use easier.
Gov goes for it, but the public do not realize that with this system your usage is monitored every 30 minutes with higher rates at peak time.
Suddenly the UK gov wants it and now you have them.

But here in Oz the 30 minute split is to be reduced to 5 minutes.

A smart water meter is being developed along with one for gas.

As scientists develop ne systems they need to sell them, so off to the gov with this new whizz bang idea that they want to make money out of and the gov also sees money in it for them.

[cappy]

Disappointing, this was a good thread and it has been reduced to talking about Lord Prescott and a sausage factory.

##a bit like punch and judy lewis ....then along came the crocodile and ate all the sausages......

[Lewis McColl]

Well Doc I suppose this thread has run it's course seeing as the wise man from the east decided to make it political #98 or is it okay just as long as it is Labour politicians are being slagged off.

[Doc Vernon]

As I had said Lewis

This thread has for most been going well,and I have no complaints as yet so I ask that we just keep as such and also Non Personal please!
Thanks to ALL.
Just trying to keep something going ,I know there is a wee bit of Politics but am hoping that it will not get out of hand otherwise I will have to CLOSE SHOP!
Thank You