Showing posts with label Civil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Civil. Show all posts

Saturday, 3 April 2021

Will Brexit Trigger The Nation鈥檚 Next Civil War?

Will Brexit Trigger The Nation鈥檚 Next Civil War?





Whereas Warwick and its surroundings are home to workers from the nearby Jaguar Land Rover plants and left-leaning, pro-European students and academics from Warwick University, Stratford relies on tourism, the hospitality industry and foreign workers to staff it. Warwick voted 59% to 41% in favor of remaining in the EU. Stratford voted 52% to 48% to Leave, bang in line with the country as a whole. Walking around Stratford, past the Tudor houses and boats on the river Avon, there is little outward evidence of tension. That鈥檚 no comfort to Sophie Clausen, an artist and author originally from Denmark who first came to Britain as an art student more than 20 years ago. For Clausen, that sense of indifference cannot be excused by any amount of Brexit fatigue, and is the most worrying aspect of all. 鈥淧eople switch off, they don鈥檛 care, and that鈥檚 really dangerous,鈥?she said.鈥淧eople say they just want Brexit over with, but I don鈥檛 think it will ever end,鈥?said Clausen. 鈥淏ecause if it doesn鈥檛 happen, the divisions will get even deeper and people who voted Leave will be even more angry,鈥?she said.





Once the Great Recession took hold in 2008, the auto industry went through a major overhaul in both structure and scope. After the infamous auto bailout, several brands traded hands while others disappeared to the great junkyard in the sky. What was once quite straightforward is now slightly more convoluted, so we鈥檝e compiled a comprehensive guide to help make sense of it all. We鈥檝e curated this list alphabetically for convenience and general sanity鈥檚 sake. Aston Martin used to be part of Ford, along with Volvo and Jaguar. Today, it鈥檚 an independent company with a long list of shareholders and investors that include Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler and a London-based investment firm named Investindustrial. The tie-up with Mercedes gave Aston Martin access to AMG engines for its latest sports cars. BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke) was founded in 1916 as an aircraft engine company, and expanded production to motorcycles and eventually cars.





An empty motorway carriageway is an uncanny sight. Where once there were four lanes of traffic hurtling along at 70mph, now there鈥檚 an expanse of concrete with countless vehicles held back, as if caged, by traffic cones and emergency vehicles. We鈥檙e out on patrol with Highways England Traffic Officers as they watch over their patch of the M25, and we鈥檒l return to this scene later on. Our day starts in the calmer environment of Highways England鈥檚 eastern regional control centre (RCC), tucked away behind South Mimms services on the M25. The control room is dominated by a screen that can display live footage from 24 cameras simultaneously, or be configured to show one camera鈥檚 feed, with individual displays forming a cinema-sized screen if the situation demands it. Operations manager Eddie Oag kicks things off by explaining the role Highways England plays. 鈥淥ur remit is to manage the major motorways. That was traditionally done by the police, but in 2005 we took some of their responsibilities. The thinking was: who is best placed to pull a brick or a tarpaulin from lane three?





Don't Think It Can't Happen To You! I just read a hub that brought back memories of being chased, memories of bad lands and worse people. Mom and Dad both had a two week vacation and, when they picked-up my two brothers and me from our grandparents. Dad drove straight south to Mobile, Alabama, where we went swimming in the gulf. There were all kinds of shells and creatures in the water. We headed west from Mobile, Alabama, stopping to eat and stretch our legs in or near New Orleans, Louisiana, than another couple of hours we arrived at a beautiful lake with a sandy beach, we were at Lake Charles, Louisiana. It was so hot and humid and, the car did not have air conditioning and was running hot. Dad let us go swimming in the crystal clear lake while the car cooled off; I had never seen anything like it. You could see the bottom even in four foot of water. In the town of Lake Charles, dad had the car check for a hose leak and we went inside the restaurant attached to the Garage.

Thursday, 1 April 2021

Will Brexit Trigger The Nation鈥檚 Next Civil War?

Will Brexit Trigger The Nation鈥檚 Next Civil War?





At the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642, Warwick Castle was attacked by soldiers loyal to the king who tried without success to unseat the Parliamentarian forces that held it. While a minor skirmish, the outcome would foreshadow the broader struggle for the country. Today, the town of Warwick is under siege of another kind, one that may similarly decide where the divided nation is headed after an escalation in the political drama over Brexit. The U.K. is witnessing an historic period of upheaval that has invited comparisons with events almost 400 years ago. Parliament has been suspended - illegally, a court in Scotland ruled on Wednesday. The prime minister is threatening to flout the law to get his way while lawmakers on all sides are in open revolt and Ireland鈥檚 future, north and south, is at stake. Even the Queen has become embroiled in the standoff. And violence is brewing, with scuffles outside Parliament last week and a government document warning of public disorder from food and fuel shortages should the country crash out of the European Union without a deal.





There has been much written in the press about car companies struggling with the downturn and drastically cutting production. In the UK, some journalistic scribes have picked up on Tata (new owners of J/LR) wanting a soft loan for Jaguar and Land Rover to move their vehicles to a more eco-friendly position. Everyone is moving that way but it costs so much money and takes time. Many portray Jaguar/Land Rover as on their death beds. In point of fact, Jaguar isn't about to die. It's one of the leanest companies going around at the moment. It's production for November 2008 was over double that of November 2007. The XF is a runaway success. What Tata needs to do is get some partnerships going with other manufacturers to share future development costs. Jaguar doesn't have the volume to do it alone. If they quietly got on with doing that rather than seeking tax payer assistance, it wouldn't create scare mongering type articles such as one reads daily on the 鈥榥et. Jaguars are designed and built exclusively in the UK, giving much to the UK economy. That should not be overlooked.





From the dawn of the automobile era up to this day, vehicles have undergone much improvement. On of the more notable aspects of a car that has received much attention from car manufacturers is its safety. As a matter of fact, one car manufacturer stands out because of their safety features - Volvo. But car makers are not the only agencies making and doing their contributions to the advancement of safety in passenger vehicles. Other companies specialize in the different systems and they also do work with car makers so as to integrate their developed safety systems in the cars that are being sold in the market. Vehicle safety though does not only pertain to the safety of its occupants in cases of collisions. A vehicle is also considered safe if aside from keeping its occupants safe, it also does not possess serious threats to pedestrians and cyclists. This is the aim of Concept Mouldings in the development and production of active and passive pedestrian safety systems.





The Range Rover Evoque hit 858 sales, up 6 percent. The all-new Range Rover Velar, which was introduced in the U.S. New York Auto Show, goes on sale later this summer. The 2017 Land Rover model lineup features five models: The all-new Discovery, which replaces the LR4, features a radical new design language for the full-size, optional seven-passenger seating SUV and all-new levels of refinement, passenger technology, and driver assistance options. The Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque continue steadfast, both powered by 240-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter engines. The Range Rover and Range Rover Sport model lines expand for 2017 each with a new model. Replacing the limited edition HST model in the Range Rover Sport line-up, the Range Rover Sport HSE Dynamic features a 380-hp supercharged V6 engine, dynamic body trim appointments, and black trim finishes. Within the full-size Range Rover line-up, Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations has introduced the SVAutobiography Dynamic. Based off of the long wheelbase SVAutobiography, the SVAutobiography Dynamic offers a driver-focused experience through a standard wheelbase, suspension and chassis tuning and a lowered ride height.





My brother aways wanted a Range Rover even though his friend had a lot of troubles with the same (dealer had to take it back and return the money under the consumer protection laws). RR was simply sitting too much at the mechanic's to be a useful family car. Some relatively simple problems took half a year to fix. If you want quality and luxury get a Porsche Cayenne or Macan, if you want solid reliability get a Land Cruiser J200 or Prado J150. Those are always at the top of the reliability ratings, while RR is at the bottom. I have been driving my J150 for 8 years now and it still feels like a new car to me. Everybody in the family just loves it. Half a year to fix what? Was his mechanic making the parts himself? Land Rover parts don't take half a year to get.