US-style mega-dairy plans are withdrawn

On the 16th Februrary 2010 there was some great and welcome news, plans for the US-style megadairy in Nocton, 10 km south of Lincoln in Lincolnshire, had been withdrawn.  The animal rights and environmental campaign groups have done a great job, and so has everyone who supported the campaign against this mega-dairy.  However, I believe it is not over yet, as the corporation behind the proposed factory farm still owns the land.  The root cause of the problems facing UK dairy farmers, especially small and family farmers not paid a fair price at the farm gate, also needs to be addressed.

Signage improvements: Diversion and advisory routes

This article suggests changes (and new signage) to modify and improve diversion and advisory route signage, by making them wholly symbolic and language independent as well as metric, which can benefit safety by making the signs easier to read at a glance.  Of course the bare minimum is to leave the designs as is and just metricate. 

I believe however that we can do better, and make the signage more symbolic at the same time, where applicable.  As with all the previous articles in the "Signage improvements" series, examples are given in this article as well. Also stated in this article is where changes are not required, for example recommended lorry routes, many diversion signs, and many signs showing routes avoiding restrictions (such as no left turn), do not require change.

Poll Result: When will the UK be prepared for snow?

poll by twiigs.com

The state of football

This article has been written to share with everyone my disillusionment with football (or soccer to those from the United States) in general, especially the football in England, and to look at suggestions to improve the game, in particular the suggestions in the Guardian series Blueprint for a better football.

Metrication is not because of EU membership

Even though this topic has been done a lot already it is worth re-iterating. Many people in the UK believe that metrication in the UK is a result of UK membership of the European Union (EU), and believe this often repeated lie unquestioningly. The truth is that the UK began its metrication programme in 1965, long before the UK joined the predecessor of the EU, the European Economic Community (EEC), in 1973.  Furthermore, the EU itself was not even created until 1992.