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I'm currently sat at my very ill mother's bedside at an NHS hospital. We do not want to have NHS staff of any nationality leaving the UK. The care and support they provide to patients and relatives is humbling. Our governments are not fit to speak the words Health Service or to associate...

I've flew off the west coast of Scotland for many years and you can get long periods of calm, even at heights between 1000 - 5000 ft AMSL.When there is no wind, there is no gradient. There is some beneficial gradient between sea level and 200 M when the wind is blowing, but it's a question of...

I know all that, but the rate at which we consume energy means that the storage facility would need hundreds of colossal storage sites for the times when the wind doesn't blow for days or weeks. I doubt we've got enough mountains to build storage lakes on top of anyway. This type of mechanical...

Wind is erratic and unpredictable. Mechanically storing the energy produced by wind in order to mitigate the erratic delivery profile is prohibitively expensive and I doubt that sufficient storage sites could be constructed to make wind a significant and stable energy contributor. At this point...

The two words, "on occasions" in the above betray the fact the wind is unpredictable. Therefore energy derived from the wind via turbines or harnessing waves is also erratic and unpredictable. The same can be said for solar energy. An erratic and unpredictable contribution to our energy...

Since graduating in Mechanical Engineering, joining the IMechE and becoming a chartered mechanical engineer and working in the aerospace industry, I do seem to recall having been in a few modern factories. I admit that since giving it up for a flying career, it's been a while. My comments in...

Clearly the rest of the world is deluded then. This great and proud nation of ours knows that all things good appear by magic in a shipping container from China. That's where the electric will come from to power our cars, China will send the electric here on a big boat. All we need to do is plan...

These "clever men" who invented things were dirty and some even wore overalls and had filthy hands. They weren't fit to join the professional classes and became extinct. Universities don't train as many of this underclass these days, the exams are unnecessarily difficult to obtain a degree, and...

This news regarding the banning of the ICE by 2040 stands no chance of happening. The national grid will melt at the end of rush hour when everyone begins recharging for the following day's commute. How will the millions of people who park on the street charge their cars? With millions of kerb...

....and what plans do they have in place to increase the electricity generating capacity to a level where it replaces the energy that we currently extract from petrol and diesel fuels? They probably think that they just need to order a grubby, overall wearing, adjustable spanner wanking...

My employer pays 11p / mile for using a bicycle to travel on company related business. There is a maximum mileage limit per journey, which I suppose is intended to prevent someone being out on their bicycle for all of the working day.

If only. I've still got my original 2008 Pro Connect although I don't ride it much these days. That's done well over 20000 miles, but it has had one new motor and a new battery. The original Panasonic battery, now 9 years old will do 4 or 5 miles. OK for nipping to the shops.

Funnily enough, I went to a Premier League football match a few months ago, the first one in about 25 years. I saw a group of scouts who were helping out with some disabled people, young & old, and thought what descent young people they were. However, I didn't see any examples of what you...

Something needs to be done to reduce the number of university places on offer, thus increasing competition. Over the past 20 years, there has been an explosion in the number of degree courses on offer and many of them equip the people who have invested their time and money for nothing useful...

I'm still not convinced that BREXIT is a mistake, but there is no shame in admitting to making errors.

I think you are correct about the UK seeing little benefit from the nuclear industry. My sister lives in Somerset not far from Hinckley point. She was telling me at the weekend how all of the construction workers live in "pop-up hotels" on or close to the site. The site has social amenities...

A couple of years ago, I remember an irate friend telling me that the independent pay review body had recommended a pay rise of above 1% for the police. May, as then Home Secretary, threatened to scrap the pay body. The Police Federation, which is a weak organisation due to it not being able to...

BREXIT may mean many things, but it won't un-invent the computer. With regard to doing calculations on the backs of envelopes, rumour has it that the reason this government passed legislation banning branding on fag packets was so they would have more space to work out their BREXIT plans.

I very much doubt that. It's may SEEM as complicated as landing on the moon to those idiots, but so would sharpening a pencil.

There is a wider realisation that BREXIT comes with costs attached. The price is unclear, but I think people are prepared to accept some additional expense. A lot will depend on how skilfully the BREXIT negotiating team get us out of the EU. Looking at the line-up, I'm not optimistic. There is...