AndyRobertsPhotos
Pod on a Barge at Greenwich.
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I posted to flickr.com
Pod on a Barge
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/7176778328/
May 11 2012, 10:11am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
http distributedresearch net blog 2012 05 11 london…
http://distributedresearch.net/news/http-distributedresearch-net-blog-2012-05-11-london/
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2012/05/11/london-cable-cars-crossing-the-thames London Cable Cars Crossing The Thames
May 11 2012, 4:10am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Canary Wharf http www flickr com photos aroberts…
http://distributedresearch.net/news/canary-wharf-http-www-flickr-com-photos-aroberts/
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May 11 2012, 4:09am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Thames Barrier
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/7171941726/
AndyRobertsPhotos
Thames Barrier, London
May 10 2012, 12:45pm | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Thames Ferry to Ease London 2012 Olympics Travel…
http://distributedresearch.net/status/thames-ferry-to-ease-london-2012-olympics-travel/
Thames Ferry to Ease London 2012 Olympics Travel Overload http://ferrytime.co.uk/blog/thames-ferry-to-ease-london-2012-olympics-travel-overload/
March 17 2012, 9:49am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Seasonal water metering is seen as a con by consumers, study finds
Public anger grows over proposed seasonal water tariffs, as utility companies look for ways to save the UK’s supply
This article titled “Seasonal water metering is seen as a con by consumers, study finds” was written by Jamie Doward and Mario Ledwith, for The Observer on Saturday 23rd April 2011 23.06 UTC The race to provide Britain with a sustainable water supply is already generating the first of what is likely to be a long list of controversies. As the UK basks in temperatures that put Athens in the shade and with rivers already running low, utility companies are under increasing pressure to preserve water. But the most comprehensive study of its kind suggests the leading option for ensuring the UK enjoys a sustainable water supply – metering – is hitting the poorest hardest and is viewed with suspicion by consumers who believe it is a ruse by utility companies to increase their profits. The study by Wessex Water, which supplies water to more than one million households in the west country, found the introduction of meters reduced customer demand by 17%, higher than previous estimates. The reduction was even greater if the meters were tied to a tariff system that saw the price of water rise in the summer, an increasingly popular option being considered by the utility companies, but one which has caused widespread anger among consumers. The Wessex study, the largest since metering was introduced 20 years ago, found 15% of customers saw their annual bills rise by more than £100 after flat-rate metered systems were installed. A quarter of the poorest customers saw their bills increase by more than £50. Phil Wickens, tariffs manager at Wessex Water, acknowledged his company had one of the highest water rates in the UK, but said that it was vital the industry introduced a new charging system if the UK was to have a sustainable supply. “We want a charging system that gives us the ability to meet future challenges in the long term,” Wickens said. “Climate change and population growth are going to place pressure on the need for increased investment. In order for us to secure that investment we really need all of our customers to be willing and able to pay their bills. There is a commercial incentive for raising these issues now.” Household water bills have increased by more than 50% in real terms since 1989, partly due to investment costs. But the financial burden on customers is becoming a key issue, with an increasing number refusing to pay their bills. Wessex estimates its underlying bad debt has doubled over the past decade, with the figure expected to rise further given economic conditions. It is estimated that the average customer now pays an extra £12 a year to cover unpaid water bills. Experts suggest establishing a fair charging system is vital if more schemes, such as the new £270m Thames Water desalination plant that filters salt from water in the Thames estuary, are to get the go-ahead. A failure to address water sustainability could have serious repercussions for the UK. The current spell of hot weather has already triggered warnings that farmers in some regions will have to limit their use of water. Several rivers in England and Wales are reportedly at “exceptionally low” levels, raising fears there will be a need for hosepipe bans. The Environment Agency said two months of unusually dry weather has left 11 rivers at extremely low levels of the kind seen only once every 20 years. The government is currently consulting on water sustainability, and environment minister Caroline Spelman is reportedly in favour of metering as a key part of its response. All new homes built since 1989 have had to be fitted with water meters, and an increasing number of people opt for them. Just under half of all UK customers now have a water meter, and it is predicted that all households will have one fitted in the future. But the shift to metering has prompted concern among charities. The Fairness on Tap (FoT) coalition – made up of 12 leading environmental organisations, including the WWF and the National Trust – is calling for a national switch to water metering. The coalition claims the current system of water charging is outdated, unfair and encourages wastage, with many households paying a flat “all you can use” charge, giving them no incentive to be water-efficient. However, the previous charging system, with water bills linked to the rateable values of homes, protected the poorest in society from excessively high bills. “The industry has been moving from a system based on rateable values that were set as part of local authority charging back in the late 80s,” Wickens said. “Lower income customers were paying less than higher income customers, but as we are gradually moving towards metered charging that social protection is winding out.” Creating a fairer charging system has seen some water companies experiment with higher charges in the summer. The option, being tested in more than 1,000 homes by Wessex, has resulted in a “step change” in consumer behaviour, says the company. Wickens said: “Higher income customers with bigger gardens end up paying a fairer chunk than lower income customers.” The new form of charging is likely to trigger animosity among households in the “squeezed middle”, who may fear they will be hit disproportionately. However, the Wessex study found almost all customers opposed to seasonal tariffs. “Customers are cynical about companies changing the way they are charged; they assume it’s about making money, like travel companies charging more on holidays, but in our case it isn’t,” Wickens said. “Even if we had a dry summer and generated more income, the regulator takes that money off us.”
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.
Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogSeasonal water metering is seen as a con by consumers, study finds
Related posts:‘Water poverty’ to rise in the UK as scarcity pushes up bills Superbug gene rife in Delhi water supply What the frack? US natural gas drilling method contaminates water
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April 26 2011, 11:01am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Millions will watch as Boat Race is re-branded as ‘world-class event’
The 157th Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race will be shown in more than 200 countries and it’s one of the top 10 annual events in London
This article titled “Millions will watch as Boat Race is re-branded as ‘world-class event’” was written by Barney Ronay, for The Guardian on Friday 25th March 2011 20.38 UTC In terms of sheer weight of numbers, the biggest attraction of a busy sporting Saturday takes place tomorrow afternoon, not in Cardiff or Colombo, but on a suburban stretch of the River Thames between Putney and Mortlake. The 157th Varsity Boat Race, an event competed for by amateurs at several rungs below world class level, will once again attract six million UK TV viewers, with 250,000 watching from the river bank and a further multitude tuning in via BBC website streaming and TV coverage in over 200 countries. At last week’s weigh-in at City Hall the London mayor Boris Johnson described the student race as “a world-class sporting event that is huge for London”. He seems to be at least half right. Part nostalgia pageant, part emerging talent showcase, the Boat Race has in the last two years made a visible effort to reposition itself as a high-end London heritage event. Selling it has been the lot of Boat Race Ltd, the company responsible for dragging this unique sporting “property” — an unavoidably class-bound two-horse race — into the modern world of high-end revenue raking. “It really is a part of London’s history,” says David Searle, the company’s executive director. “The mayor has been incredibly supportive. He’s there to promote London as a centre of all things and the Boat Race is considered one of the top 10 annual events in London.” Menaced by the loss of its ITV rights deal two years ago, the race has since promoted itself aggressively and is now brought to you by title sponsor Xchanging, plus a slew of commercial partners. Despite all of this Boat Race Ltd maintain the race is still financially under-geared. “Running it is very expensive,” Searle says. “We pay the clubs [Oxford and Cambridge] to turn up and row. That’s very expensive. There’s travel and coaching for teams. We don’t get any money at all from the colleges.” If the Boat Race has perhaps been more energetically sold, paradoxically today’s race is one of the more parochial of recent years. The race is often maligned as a sub-standard event. This is perhaps unfair: with the national squads yet to be formed, and thanks to the unusual intensity of Varsity race training, these are still currently the two finest eights in the country. On the other hand, with London 2012 now officially looming the pool of available talent is at a four yearly low. Currently the priority for potential Olympians is national competition. Hence the unusual absence of jobbing overseas rowers in today’s field; 13 out of the 18 competitors are British with just one American. On the plus side both of today’s eights are unusually well-stocked with young British talent, including six undergraduates whose chief rowing experience has come through their colleges. Cambridge are fancied by many to repeat last year’s triumph. They are the heavier eight, by 13 kilos, and also the more experienced, with four previous rowing Blues. But even in the light blue boat there is a fresh-faced tinge. Cambridge’s Dan Rix-Standing didn’t even try out for the race last year. There is also undergraduate colour: David Nelson, an Australian economics student, likes to hunt crocodiles in his spare time back home in Brisbane. In the Oxford boat the teenage old Etonian Constantine Louloudis is flagged up as one to watch. Dark Blue cox Simon Hislop, a 26-year-old testicular cancer survivor and a campaigner for awareness of the disease provides the most heartening story of a race that, true to its own branding as an annual rite of spring, seems set to take place on an unusually placid River Thames.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.
Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogMillions will watch as Boat Race is re-branded as ‘world-class event’
Related posts:November 1-3 Wikis and Nonprofits Online event ¦ NetSquared Golden rower Tom James forces his way back into Olympic reckoning Online Learning and Collaboration event
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March 25 2011, 4:46pm | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Will the Orbit become London’s Eiffel?
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/22/will-the-orbit-become-londons-eiffel
How does Anish Kapoor‘s design for the London Olympics Orbit Tower compare to Gustave Eiffel‘s Paris icon?
This article titled “Will the Orbit become London’s Eiffel?” was written by John Graham-Cumming, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 2nd April 2010 13.00 UTC At the unveiling of Anish Kapoor’s design for the Orbit tower it was compared to the Colossus of Rhodes and the Tower of Babel. But the history of those follies isn’t auspicious. The Colossus of Rhodes was destroyed by an earthquake after standing for only a few decades, and the Tower of Babel was, the book of Genesis tells us, constructed to glorify those that constructed it. I can’t help wondering to what extent the ArcelorMittal Orbit is being built for the glory of Boris Johnson, Kapoor and Lakshmi Mittal. And as details emerge of its Olympic corporate entertainment role, it looks less and less like a work of art. But setting the motivation of the creators aside, the worst comparison of all is with the Eiffel Tower. Gustave Eiffel’s iconic tower was not designed as a piece of public art, nor was it intended to remain in Paris more than 20 years. It was built as a grand entrance for the Exposition Universelle of 1889, and was designed to be easy to take apart. It became a work of art in the eyes of the world against the protestations of the Parisian art world. And it remained, in part, because of its utility. It was used for early radio experiments at the start of the 20th century and in 1910 the tower was used to detect cosmic rays. To this day its top bristles with antennae, and its bottom bustles with tourists. Another problem with comparing Kapoor’s structure with Eiffel’s is that what makes the Parisian tower so pleasing to the eye is that its shape was dictated by the forces of the wind, not by the foolishness of man. Eiffel is quoted as saying: “Now to what phenomenon did I have to give primary concern in designing the Tower? It was wind resistance. Well then! I hold that the curvature of the monument’s four outer edges, which is as mathematical calculation dictated it should be will give a great impression of strength and beauty, for it will reveal to the eyes of the observer the boldness of the design as a whole.” By following the forces of nature, Eiffel’s massive iron structure appears graceful and almost part of the natural environment. By comparison, Kapoor’s structure is a prime example of man demonstrating his mastery over nature. The sweeping shape is reminiscent of melted roller coaster ride, or as one Twitter user put it: “It looks like congealed intestines”. The horror of which was only replaced in my mind by the relief of recalling that Kapoor and not Damien Hirst had been awarded the design contract. But the worst part about comparing the Orbit with the Eiffel is the idea that London needs to rival Paris in the metal tower stakes. London already beat Paris to host the 2012 Olympics; now it seems Johnson wants to rub salt in French wounds. The copycat unoriginality of building London’s Eiffel verges on parody when one realises that the Orbit will be 100m shorter than the Parisian monument and 20m shorter than the diminutive Blackpool Tower. The true determinant of whether the Orbit deserves a place on London’s skyline should be how it is perceived by Londoners. It would be hard to find a Parisian today who hates the Eiffel Tower; Boris Johnson should set a 20-year time limit on Kapoor’s tower and let the public decide. If in 2032 it hasn’t endeared itself to the residents of Stratford and beyond it should be pulled down. Since the tower is to be made of steel it could be safely recycled. That standard has applied to at least one other London icon. The giant ferris wheel London Eye, after all, was initially a temporary attraction that married engineering prowess with a graceful form. It has stood the test of time and looks set to stay on the banks of the River Thames. In it London already has a worthy rival for Eiffel. And from it a panoramic view of London is already possible. Writing in the Times, the architecture critic Tom Dyckhoff described the tower as a “giant Mr Messy”. But initial reactions should be tempered by allowing time to pass; perhaps I’ll get over thinking it looks like a giant blood clot. Whether you love it or hate it, the last word should go to Johnson, who said of the Orbit: “It would have boggled Gustave Eiffel”. There’s no arguing with that.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.
Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogWill the Orbit become London’s Eiffel?
Related posts:Orbit Tower in progress The Orbit Tower, Olympic Park Stratford East London 2012 London Orbit Tower Rises at Olympic Park
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March 22 2011, 8:55am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Greenwich Tall Ship – 4 Masted Juan Sebastián de Elcano
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/16/greenwich-tall-ship-4-masted-juan-sebastian-de-elcano
Some interesting ships can be seen docked in the Thames, such as the Greenwich warship a couple of years ago. This weekend brought a Spanish Navy training ship, the four masted tall ship called Juan Sebastián de Elcano which is one of the largest and oldest tall ships still operational.
The video was taken from onboard one of the Hurricane Clipper river boat catamarans which provide a commuter service as well as sightseeing on the river Thames and now accept Oystercard onboard for payment as well as pre-paid tickets.
Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogGreenwich Tall Ship – 4 Masted Juan Sebastián de Elcano
Related posts:HMS Illustrious at Greenwich Greenwich Naval College – A fine Greenwich College who’s breaking the speed limit?
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March 16 2011, 3:33pm | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Arc Royal to extend London City Airport
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/02/22/arc-royal-to-extend-london-city-airport
An article in the Daily Mail Online reports that the decommissioned air craft carrier Arc Royal could be ‘saved’ and used as a helipad in London. The intended location turns out to be right next to London City Airport, in effect providing an instant additional runway to the controversial inner city airfield within the London borough of Newham. Ark Royal could be saved from the scrapheap under plans to turn it into a heliport.
The Royal Navy aircraft carrier, axed in last October’s defence cuts and due to be decommissioned next month, could be based on the Thames by May 2012. The 693ft vessel would be manned by around 150 former servicemen, for whom it would be both a home and a job, and would cater for City workers, police helicopters and London’s air ambulance. Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, the head of the Navy, said the move could safeguard the future of the carrier, and the Ministry of Defence confirmed it was considering the plan. Currently in Portsmouth, the ship would be moored in the Royal Docks near City Airport to comply with noise-pollution rules. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1358880/Ark-Royal-new-future–floating-helipad-Thames.html
Photo: HMS Illustrious at Greenwich Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogArc Royal to extend London City Airport
Related posts:Mercedes Marilyn and Ella at Theatre Royal Stratford To us, it’s an obscure shift of tax law. To the City, it’s the heist of the century
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February 22 2011, 3:22am | Comments »
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I posted to hubpages.com
Canal Boating Holidays
http://hubpages.com/hub/CanalBoatingHolidays
I'm interested in canal boats, barges and narrowboats on the UK canals and rivers or England Wales Scotland and N. Ireland, collectively known as the UK Inland Waterways. Canal boating holidays seem to be the...
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July 10 2010, 5:04am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Fastest Passenger Ferry on the Thames
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/3751836449/
Andyrob
July 24 2009, 10:36am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
IMG_3460
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/3751831489/
Andyrob
July 24 2009, 10:34am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Tate And Lyle
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/3751826285/
Andyrob
July 24 2009, 10:32am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Thames Flood Barrier
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/3751822095/
Andyrob
July 24 2009, 10:30am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Thames Flood Barrier
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/3752609920/
Andyrob
July 24 2009, 10:29am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Thames Flood Barrier
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/3752605628/
Andyrob
July 24 2009, 10:27am | Comments »
