The Annual Wild Fires in Canada & US Getting Earlier. The usual start is July But in 2022 it was June 2023 in May (worst ever) 2024, severe 2025, severe & 2nd worst ever. 2026 an April start but expected less severe But US denies climate change, blames Canadian management & threatens more tariffs!

Are we still all at sea? In 2024 a study in 'Nature' showed seaborne activities are grossly understated 'Global Fishing Watch' used AI analysis of satelite data & found ¾ of large fishing boats & ¼ of transport ships are unrecorded, most in Asia. We need better info about the Baltic & North Seas!

A recent runway problem at Bristol Airport problem led to all takeoffs & landings being suddenly cancelled for nearly 24 hrs. We are sorry that people were unexpectedly delayed. However many were just flying to other UK towns. In most countries internal air travel has long been replaced by rail.

GB News, Express, Telegraph & Mail pour out stories of accidents, mistakes or anything negative about UK. They feed US myths that "Britain" (especially its defence, NHS or border force) is "broken", "bankrupt" or "failing". So it needs a MAGA style US-friendly ruler. But it ain't necessarily so...

Clarity for Independent Freight Operators on UK railways. New legislation now empowers Great British Rail (GBR) to decide the best use of the network, rather than the Regulator. And GBR is now committed specifically to railfreight growth, instead of the Regulator just having "have regard to" it.

UK's 2013 Climate Targets for net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050. 1. Power grid decarb by 2035 - well on target! 2. CO2 capture and storage - fundamentally impractical! 3. Green steel - still futuristic! 4. Heat Pumps - strong rollout started! 5. Electric Cars - well on target! Patchy - must do better!

UK populists lost no time trying to link the strange Cueta incident to the very different UK small boat problem - which continues to improve. In July 2026 there were 2,316 arrivals, many from Eritrea & Afghanistan. That's the lowest July figure since 2020. Thanks to France, UK is now getting a grip.

Did Andy Burnham crumble at the first call from Trump? Google AI based on a source in LinkedIn tells us, "On average, it takes ~ 15 years from the first discovery of an oil field to commercial production, (data from Global Energy Monitor) - 3x longer than 1960 - 1980, when projects averaged ~ 5 yrs.

UK DOESN'T have the worst problem! Persons reaching UK in small boats in Jan-June 2026 is 15% less than in 2024 & 42% less than in 2025. Asylum applications made to UK are ONLY 7% of the Europe total [EU+EEA+UK+Switzerland+Montenegro]. For applications per head of populatn UK is only in 20th place.

Fossil Fuel Cars are strictly for the Flintstones! Go EV, everyone!

The Internal Combustion Engine Haiku 2 Oil gulping, Blood dripping, Burning our planet Square mile upon Square mile. (pic Unsplash)

Our latitude is 52 deg N. Last November (2025) we took our solar panels from 9 to 14. I started daily monitoring on 23/02/26. We've now passed a milestone. We have generated 1MWh of electricity - saving £600 in a full year. This covers 45% of our needs (a 5 bed house + 1 EV) (not our house in pic)

We all regret greatly the killing of Anne Widdecombe, a well respected former politician - but political speculation and comment is inappropriate right now. However the historical rate of homicide in the UK is ca 9 per million (<1 per 100,000), similar to W Europe. (the US rate is ca 6 per 100,000)

I guess when Trump hears people speaking Spanish he thinks they're just ranch hands, or domestic servants or stable boys - not people a wealthy property owner need take seriously. He can't grasp that he's dealing with members of the government of a large and ancient country, diplomats or advisors.

Today at 1235 UK electricity generation came 46% from renewables - only 23% from gas. Nuclear + Biomass produced 14% Imports 21% Meanwhile 2.4% was being used to recharge the pumped storage schemes. We're getting closer to Net Zero all the time!

Now there's fine weather & more sun for PV panels, the oil & gas lobby is making misleading claims about loss of efficiency when it's hot. The loss is very small. PV panels lose ca. 0.4% efficiency for every deg above 25 deg C So at 35 deg C they lose just 4%, but make FAR MORE from the extra light!

If "AI" requires "hyper data centres" that require huge amounts of electricity and cooling water then it seems to me (at least) that there is something fundamentally flawed either with the concept or with its implementation or with the efficiency of the process... or with any two or all three.

On trips to see Auntie in Melton Mowbray the train line between Buxton & Matlock was a scenic delight - but it closed in 1968. A railway study now shows only 11½ miles needs re-instating to give a 50 mile profitable cross-Pennine route and cut car traffic in the National Park. Let's hope it's done!

UK's Rail Safety & Standards Board has agreed that track-side signal post telephones can be phased out. They are now rarely used & mobile phones in the cab are safer. This will save £22.5 million a year in maintenance. Just as well, 'cos the signals are going as an in-cab coms system is brought in.

A Major Project was completed in NE England to restore local rail transport to communities on the Northumberland Line from Newcastle to Ashington on March 29th, 2026. It includes a new station at a difficult location in Bedlington. But an extension north of Ashington to Newbiggen already is planned.

In 2002 UK set up Carbon Pricing & an Emissions Trading Scheme - later extended across the EU. After Brexit UK & Switzerland ran a small joint ETS, but it failed to provide enough stability or liquidity. A link is now in hand which will cut UK Carbon Prices & save UK £800m in border costs by 2030.

For me the biggest news (of the week if not the century) was that on monday the BBC at last found the courage to say the weather forecast was for hot weather within a "changed climate"! 50 yrs too late! We discussed this in school science in 1956 - postulated by the Swede, Svante Arrhenius, in 1896

Freight Traffic through the Channel Tunnel is very disappointing. LeShuttle - where 1¼ million lorries p.a. go through on flat bed wagons - is OK. But only 5 container trains go through each day - a gross underuse for railfreight. So a £15 million development at Barking Eurohub aims to revive this.

With multiple electricity generation from a mix of technologies, increased grid storage & a more robust supply is ever more important. Yesterday the UK regulator Ofgem (Office of Gas & Electricity Markets) announced 16 projets out of 73 which it was minded to promote, with a capacity of 7.6 GW.

In 1824 Sadi Carnot, a French Army Captain, set out the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics in 1824. This limits heat engine efficiency in ratio to the temperatures of input & output gases. For gas/diesel cars the limit is ca. 35% & power stations ca. 45%. But no such limit to electric motors, solar or wind.

Thanks to Prof Rosenow for this illuminating comparison

Sustainable transport is not new. Cornish china clay is a valuable material with a global demand. It's been moved by rail since 1820, first with horses, then in 1869 with steam. Now diesel locomotives ship it to potteries in Stoke and to the port of Fowey for export by sea. Electrification next!

More improvement of the UK rail wagon fleet as 72 new powder tank vehicles ordered for Breedon Cement in Hope Valley, Derbyshire. Being bogie mounted they reduce noise & track wear, improve efficiency & safety with the iWagon tele-monitoring system & are also suitable for alumina powder. pic Breedon

Introduced in 2000 for Freightliner 'Heavy Haul' in UK, these massive 100-tonne gross weight rail cars were 20 metres long, built to carry coal to power stations. Now redundant since coal is no longer used, 76 have been converted to box wagons for construction & other bulk materials. pic Porterbrook

I asked AI if hubs are noisy. "Yes, data centers & hubs are very noisy - 55 to 85 db & up to 110 db during backup generator testing. Constant LF Hum: Fans, compressors & cooling systems run 24/7 audible up to 2 miles away. Infrasound: Ultra-LF 'rumbles' can cause anxiety & sleep disruption nearby."