Adrian Hollister - Comments

Adrian Hollister: A34 mashed up again - who is going to fix it?

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:47:04 +0100

Speeding is such an emotive issue. So many people take it for granted and don't consider breaking the speed limit a problem. Of course in true nimby style, they don't want speeding near their house, but near your house is just fine.

Adrian Hollister: A34 mashed up again - who is going to fix it?

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:50:14 +0100

I've lived the whole A34 experience for years. Living along side it and around it. Short slip roads are a problem, poor marking and perhaps poor road surface. But all can be cured by lowering the speed.

I'm betting most of the problems are caused by the speed differential between the lorries crawling up the hills at 30mph and the speed freaks doing 80mph+. I have even been caught up between two lorries one doing about 30mph and the other overtaking doing about 33mph. Whilst the initial panic breaking may not cause an accident, around the bends and sweeps of the A34 visibility is limited and a combination of the ripple effect of panic breaking and speed usually catches someone out.

Not sure a week has gone by in the past year when there hasn't been an accident at or near East Ilsley.

Would be interesting to understand how you think speed is not a factor. Even the problem of the shorter slip roads would go away at a a lower speed.

Mark: A34 mashed up again - who is going to fix it?

nospam@example.com (Mark) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:43:55 +0100

The "notorious" A34 throughout Oxon and Berks has been assessed as "Low" risk (the safest category) by the EuroRAP programme. Some of the incidents resulting in traffic diversions were due to breakdowns or fires, and others involved HGVs which are already limited to 50mph on that road. So how do you arrive at the conclusion "I recon (sic) that 99% of all the accidents on that road will go away..."? How do you know that the "bmw classes" (whoever they are) are actually speeding - do you have calibrated measuring equipment? Perhaps the reason they might be speeding is the rash of inappropriate speed limits in the two counties on open roads with few hazards.

Have you considered - given that motorways and dual carriageways are generally the safest roads in the country - that there might be a specific problem with road design (like the dangerously short sliproads at the A34/A4 junction)? Unlike ill-considered speed limits, design improvements would actually improve safety instead of turning drivers into unthinking speedo-watchers.

Mint Cuisine: Review of Tea Pigs (www.teapigs.co.uk)

nospam@example.com (Mint Cuisine) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:41:17 +0100

Great to see you're a teapigs fan!

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To enter visit my blog linked below and find out more:

http://mintcuisine.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/february-teapigs-competitions/

Bill Riley: The Downgrading RAF Welford Security

nospam@example.com (Bill Riley) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:06:12 +0200

Whereas I agree that, with the exception of embassies and consulates, no foreign power currently ‘occupies’ US soil, it should be understood, as a person who grew up in the zenith of the Cold War, the ‘occupation’ of American military forces on British soil was then a matter of both necessity and plain logistics. Further, as the British and Americans have been allies for over a century, it should be known that our presence in the UK is at the expressed permission, and request, of the British government, conceding of course that the American government has had influence as to where its resources should be placed and how to best employ them (they do belong to us after all). The bases we ‘occupied’ were former Ministry of Defence installations, many dating back to WWII. Why don’t the British have bases in the US? Toward what end? We have Canada to the north, Mexico to the south, and oceans to either side of us. Why would you have the US on bases in the UK? Because, during the Cold War, the ‘bad guys’ were a day’s drive from your country. Thanks however to the efforts of both the British and Americans, that threat is now diminished.

Your writing implies that the Americans are/were some sort of ‘colonizing force’ within the UK and that, shamefully, your own government was unable to remove us as if we were ‘squatters.’ Having lived in the UK as an American military member first in 1981-1982 (RAF Greenham Common/Welford) and then at RAF Lakenheath from 1990-1992 (and then as a civilian in 1993 and 1994), it was my proud duty to support British military in their endeavors to act as a deterrent against the USSR whose best interests were the overthrow of Western Europe and then, the UK. Is it true that our presence in the UK may have prompted the Soviet Union to attack the UK? I don’t deny that it may have, but then, I speak from ignorance; not privy to what these Soviet men of power really thought. I do know the facts though: the presence of the American military, combined with the power of Her Majesty’s own military might certainly have made a big enough ‘stick’ that the Soviets, wisely I might add, did not continue their expansion game plan. As history has shown, ultimately, the NATO alliance of military power was a trump card pivotal in the down fall of the Soviet machine: they simply couldn’t keep up the arms race or, as we knew it, we (British and American alike) had ‘called their bluff’ and they didn’t have the money or cards to match the pot, so had to fold.

I can imagine that, as a British civilian at this time in life, a future life filled with the thought of nuclear war and conflict must have been a terrifying thing to live with especially within a country as close to the Soviet Union as Great Britain is. The point is, ‘hardball diplomacy’ was played and ultimately, the Soviets lost. Upon succeeding, true to its word, the US pulled out a great many of its troops and closed numerous military installations across both Europe and the UK. It is arguable as to whether there should be complete withdrawal: by doing so, what fills the vacuum? I should think, as a British citizen, you would rather have a supportive ally in your backyard than an unknown subversive. Like many British citizens of the time, I was a ‘front line’ soldier who was as terrified of global nuclear war as anyone else was. Fortunately, through the wise decision-making of your government, this was averted. (On a side note, I heard an interesting ‘conspiracy theory’ the other day: the economic problems plaguing Europe and the UK at the moment are the indirect result of the US leaving Europe upon the close of the Cold War. The loss of monies to these economies is now why their infrastructures are collapsing. Damned, arrogant Yanks! At it again! Mind you, I have nothing evidentiary to support or defend this theory. I just felt a person such as you would be interested in this information.)

As a final observation towards your belief that the UK is what it is now (“monitored, censored, and controlled”), and attributing this to American presence (probably around 20% of what it was during the Cold War), I should point out that we ‘Yanks’ have nothing to do with how your ‘honourable MPs’ legislate. The UK has become, in my opinion, a ‘nanny state’ in very small part because the American presence is not what it once was. Remember the vacuum I spoke of earlier? Someone has to deter terrorist activity and actions in your country. Who better than your own government? With a lack of resources and intelligence as a result of American withdrawal, the money and resources now must come from your own government. That American support (and dollar and resources and personnel and intelligence) just doesn’t exist to the level it once did because the Americans have been asked to scale back our presence there. As a result, your tax dollars (pardon me, pounds) are being siphoned from other projects so that your country can police itself. And what was one of the biggest bangs for the buck to accomplish this end? Carpet coverage of your territory with cameras and microphones so that all aspects of British society may be monitored for subversive, criminal, or terrorist activity.

As we say in America: if you don’t like the people in politics, change them by getting into the system yourself or, vote the bastards out of office. But if you don’t like it, don’t complain: the majority (and the rhetoric of the candidate) put them into office.

It seems Mister Hollister, with the beliefs you hold, that you are a victim of rhetoric. I’m sure that’s been caught on tape somewhere though…

Bill Riley (Cold War Veteran who made it possible for people like you to be able to speak your mind, no matter how much of it is based upon ignorance)

Ben Martin: A new daughter to add to my litter

nospam@example.com (Ben Martin) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:34:27 +0200

Adrian, you must be over the moon. Congratulations. On the naming front; Emily or Samantha or Melanie?

Will Wilcox: Time for a completely secular BBC - rant

nospam@example.com (Will Wilcox) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:47:55 +0200

I agree totally. No religious or political bias of any kind... same should go for all terrestrial broadcasters.

doof: Landrover Discovery 300TDI running on 100% SVO (straight veggie oil)

nospam@example.com (doof) — Tue, 17 May 2011 00:18:27 +0200

I have been running a 300 tdi on SVO for about 2 years. I go for circa 75% SVO except for the winter months when I go back to diesel.
Engine runs fine no problems at all, £1 per litre for Tesco and pour it straight in with no conversion.

Adrian Hollister: Landrover Discovery 300TDI running on 100% SVO (straight veggie oil)

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Mon, 09 May 2011 00:15:04 +0200

If I was to spend the money again then I would throw away the stuff I looked at back in 2006/7 and go for a simple (but much more expensive) induction kit for the steel fuel lines (just before the injectors).

I still have the block thing, but these days I mostly run without it and just ensure that it's warmer weather when I'm running higher levels of Veggie Oil.

Running the heat exchanger for B100 biodiesel also helps in the winter months, making starting easier. Biodiesel is a lot easier to get than WVO and the 300TDI just seems to love the stuff.

sean ridgewell: Landrover Discovery 300TDI running on 100% SVO (straight veggie oil)

nospam@example.com (sean ridgewell) — Sun, 08 May 2011 14:14:38 +0200

Adrian,its shocker from landyzone here.....interested that you mention a heater element around your fuel filter : I have been looking at various options including the glow-plug&water-block thing but also some filter electric heaters.What did you use and from where mate?If you dont mind spilling the (soy) beans.....

Keith: Review of Tea Pigs (www.teapigs.co.uk)

nospam@example.com (Keith) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:52:17 +0200

Well, I came across Teapigs breakfast tea at a cafe in Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight where I live. A cup of tea is almost £2 and may seem quite expensive to most of us who drink stuff like Tetley etc. After well over sixty years of tea drinking (I like mine served like mud by the way) I have started drinking my tea without milk. I have never taken tea with sugar either, so now I drink the raw product only. I can only say that once you have tasted this tea without any additives in it at all, you will agree that it is an enormously satisfying brew. You just won't want to drink anything else. My problem is that I drink a lot of tea during the course of a day, and the cost of this stuff will easily put me at a disadvantage with my bank manager I'm afraid. I will get some for those special moments though, but first I must buy a lockable tea caddy.

Brian Jones: Improving the carbon footprint of your multifuel stove

nospam@example.com (Brian Jones) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 21:00:31 +0200

Data centres are major power users with considerable carbon footprints. Such huge clusters of servers not only require power to run but also power to be cooled. It’s estimated that data centres, which house Internet, business and telecommunications systems and store the bulk of our data, consume close to 4 percent of the worlds power supply. see http://www.datacentredesign.co
The current volume estimate of all electronic information is roughly 1.2 zettabytes, the amount of data that would be generated by everyone in the world posting messages on Twitter continuously for a century. More stunning: 75 percent of the information is duplicative. By 2020, experts estimate that the volume will be 40 times greater than it was in 2010.

Adrian Hollister : Charnwood Multifuel stove - broken door glass

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister ) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 12:21:53 +0200

I just went through my screw collection until I found one, but you could take one out and ask at your local hardware store.

Treadmill Traci: "Free event at Thatcham's Nature Discovery Centre will feature activities, displays and ideas on being green" - Newbury Weekly News

nospam@example.com (Treadmill Traci) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:15:47 +0200

its great to see worthwhile events free to the public. I love to see it more convenient for everyone to participate instead of just a select few.

Colin Bannon: Charnwood Multifuel stove - broken door glass

nospam@example.com (Colin Bannon) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 18:36:09 +0100

I had the same problem a few weeks back, glass broke had to replace it. Just about managed to get the screws out but somehow lost one! I've looked on the charnwood website and can't see a replacement for it, do you have any ideas? The boiler went just this weekend too, lucky enough had a spare to hand (it had a slight drip on one side for two years now!)

Boiler Repairs: Improving the carbon footprint of your multifuel stove

nospam@example.com (Boiler Repairs) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 15:05:49 +0100

The problem with burning wood is that unseasoned timber can produce a lot of cresols and smoke. Modern burners rely on using low moisture timber and a reburner system to help eleiminate smoke

Andy: Incinerator heading for Chieveley & Curridge near Newbury

nospam@example.com (Andy) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 14:13:39 +0100

The wording on this article is highly misleading. The words "heading for Chieveley & Curridge! in the title imply that this development is approved as do the words "The planned incinerator" in the first paragraph.

Please reword your article to reflect the fact that the incinerator is "proposed" by Grundon and is not "heading for..." or "planned" in any way.

Adrian Hollister: Landrover Discovery 300TDI running on 100% SVO (straight veggie oil)

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:12:27 +0100

It's ok, but getting hold of waste veggie oil is near on impossible now, and if you can get hold of it, it's often akin to the cost of standard veggie oil (once the cost of additives and other things have been added).

Big problem with the kit I have is that you can't turn it off. Running 100% diesel things get quite warm and performance / fuel economy suffers. So I leave it out of the loop when I'm on pure diesel and switch back to it when blending.

Nick Williams: Landrover Discovery 300TDI running on 100% SVO (straight veggie oil)

nospam@example.com (Nick Williams) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 15:43:01 +0100

How are you getting on with this kit some 3 and a bit years later? I'm looking at doing a similar conversion on my 300TDi.

Katy: Review of Tea Pigs (www.teapigs.co.uk)

nospam@example.com (Katy) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:32:35 +0100

Yum, lovely tea, except for the chai tea and the roobos tea, they are just not quite to my taste.

Anonymous: Pic's of my new (well very old) 1970's Series IIA Land Rover

nospam@example.com () — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 17:36:14 +0100

Dear Adrian,

I own a series 3 109 diesel,
and my car is fitted with a engine that looks exactly the same, I think have got a 2,5 N/A engine from a Daf 400 van fitted.

Basically it is the same engine as the land rover one(Daf bought the leyland group to which land rover belonged)exept a different air filter and slightly less water proof (no sealing).

Kind regards,

Gijs Verbraak (Netherlands)

jimkottar: Improving the carbon footprint of your multifuel stove

nospam@example.com (jimkottar) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 10:59:25 +0200

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment.
http://www.MULTIFUELSTOVEScentre.CO.uk
I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

John: Improving the carbon footprint of your multifuel stove

nospam@example.com (John) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 23:23:44 +0200

I found some articles about getting firewood for free from this multi fuel stoves blog - do you think it is actually possible and realistic?

Also is there other ways to get wood cheaper?

Richard Lawson: No plastic tea bags please

nospam@example.com (Richard Lawson) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 22:59:40 +0200

One day, some bacterium in the compost bin will invent a way of breaking down plastics. Then we'll be in trouble.

Adrian Hollister: Great Christian hustings events in Newbury

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Wed, 05 May 2010 10:32:48 +0200

Agreed - generally our agendas and ideals are on the whole the same. I don't believe that I should hide the differences but make them clear and open for debate. It annoys me that most politicians do their very best to hide everything these days - something that must change.

The whole money worshiping thing seems short sighted and will just leave people unfulfilled. I've seen many people go heavily into debt worshiping the out of town stores, forced it seems to keep purchasing stuff they don't really need. Mammon worship is the last thing we need and it is certainly not a replacement for real faith. We need to forget the 'selfish' Thatcher years and remember again our friends, family and community.

Dermot Yuille: Great Christian hustings events in Newbury

nospam@example.com (Dermot Yuille) — Wed, 05 May 2010 09:19:50 +0200

Adrian, refreshing to see your forthright acknowledgement that "There were also areas where Green Party policy is not compatible with the various Christian views". I don't think that's the whole story, though. There ought to be some common ground between most sorts of Christians and Greens that our culture's conviction that ever-increasing financial wealth is the, or even a, route to greater happiness, is wrong. Similarly, there would be a shared diagnosis of our society as too individualistic and time-pressured. While not everything on the Green agenda is compatible with Christianity, there is an element of irony if Christians instead turn to a party that is the natural home of Mammon worshippers!

Adrian Hollister: Adrian Hollister pledges support for the Woodland Trust

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:42:07 +0200

The key part of the pledge is to ensure that our existing woodland stock is preserved, restocked and maintained. In West Berkshire we have a couple of active tree crop areas and many well know examples of public woodlands - we should not overlook their importance of their ecosystems.

I don't see that woodland has to be blanket coverage.

I live near the Ridgeway in the north of West Berkshire and fully appreciate our grasslands, streams and the wonderful ecosystems - I walk them every day, experience them as they change through the seasons and I am amazed every year at the summer explosion of growth and renewal.

None of our ecosystems need to be taken lightly.

zeospike: Digital Economy Bill - let down by our MP's again

nospam@example.com (zeospike) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 22:31:19 +0200

Adrian,

I have to agree with you. I've been on the fence about Richard as in the email exchanges I've had with him he's always come across quite well. I decided to check his record on these topics and it appears to me that what he has said may not agree with his voting record.

To me though his stance on gay rights, and his failure to vote against the Digital Economy Bill are the tipping point. He's not getting my vote.

Graham Hawker: Adrian Hollister pledges support for the Woodland Trust

nospam@example.com (Graham Hawker) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 22:45:19 +0200

This is all well and good but it sounds a bit like tress mean wildlife. Planting new woodlands is not a great priority in West Berkshire. There are some good wooded areas and woodland is the least threatened habitat in the area. At present we only need new woods to connect up existing sites and as community projects.

The real priorities in the area are flower rich grasslands of which there are few, wetlands, heathland, veteran trees in parkland, maintaining the chalk rivers and managing for farmland birds. After that we can look at woodland planting. Perhaps the Greens, who I support, can't see the wildlife conservation for the trees.

Adrian Hollister: The great mouse hunt begins

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:49:09 +0100

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7YvzrwpQxA

katy hollister: Great Buzzin Brass event today at Trinity School Newbury

nospam@example.com (katy hollister) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:44:05 +0100

i loved the buzzing brass it was fun and we got sweets and had biscuits and the juice was soo nice!

katy: Great Buzzin Brass event today at Trinity School Newbury

nospam@example.com (katy) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:52:41 +0100

very good and cooo,l

John James Harris: Re-instate the old local snow ploughs please

nospam@example.com (John James Harris) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:18:05 +0100

I almost needed a snow plough ( the day 4th January ) to get to your house to join the Green Party - REMEMBER ?
The postman has not delivered my membership so far .... Good news on this subject would be most welcome.
Regards Please Please HELP.

Adrian Hollister: Great salting out there but perhaps a winter driving test would help?

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:11:36 +0100

I agree, pavement clearing has been terrible with the focus on the motorist (but not from the car parks to the town centres for example). As the cold snap has continued, the clearing of roads, especially in the rural areas, has been terrible - with next to nothing done most of the time.

I've seen some comical things too - clearing of driveways to old folks homes etc, but not the road or pavements outside of their complex. So even if people would have wanted to get out they would only get as far as their nearest road. Madness.

Adrian Hollister: Kitchen Worktops - rubberwood?

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:01:54 +0100

It's from the Para rubber tree. Usually the tree's are burnt down after their useful life (making latex I think) - but now the wood is being re-used.

bruce rolfe: Great salting out there but perhaps a winter driving test would help?

nospam@example.com (bruce rolfe) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:33:11 +0100

After day,s of struggling to keep on my feet like most other people in the area I was amazed , when walking my dogs around Henwick playing fields to see 10 men with shovels in hi.viz jacket,s clearing snow and ice .:No not the roads and pavements ,but the hockey pitch, Well it just goes to show where our priorities lie. This happened on Thurs. 15th and Fri.16 . When rang W.B.C asking who had authorized this work and who was financing it ,I was more or less told my enquiry was not urgent so I would,nt be getting a answer soon if at all. Seeing I pay my community charge I think I have a legitmate right to know who was behind this bit of nonsence.I expect the two days pay for 10 men plus their vehicle would be well in access £2000. and I would expect them to be there again tomorrow judging their progress up to now. Can any one please explain to me when clearing hockey pitches was more important than clearing paths.pavements. so that people were able to walk without the fear of falling.

Alex: Kitchen Worktops - rubberwood?

nospam@example.com (Alex) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:30:30 +0100

am intrigued, what's rubberwood?

darren: Cracks in my 300TDI Cylinder Head

nospam@example.com (darren) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:13:59 +0100

The cracks you see are quite normal for this but I fear there is a cracks between the ports this will pump air into the coolent have it pressure tested cost about £30 but I reckon you will need a new head cost about £250

Adrian Hollister: The Downgrading RAF Welford Security

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 00:35:38 +0200

Thanks for the comment 'Simo'. I note that you wrote the article from the US Air Forces base at RAF Fairford (another one of the controversial American occupation bases in the UK). I will confirm with the base's PR team if this is an official statement or just yet another 'american empire' statement from one of the brain washed. Yea yea we get it - you rule the world (do you? your world seems awfully fragile to me).

I note with interest that my own personal home, family and community security and well being is, according to you, none of my concern. Utter madness.

Would you mind if I put a British base in the middle of America - next to your home? I wonder what I could get up to if I had a base there. I wonder if I had enough of them - would you notice your country being occupied?

I wonder also if I had enough of them if I could influence the politics of your country, the economy of your country, the stability of your country, and I wonder if I could commit acts that you would then be associated with.

I do wonder. The question in my mind is - do you?

Simo: The Downgrading RAF Welford Security

nospam@example.com (Simo) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 10:42:35 +0200

The key word in the above paragraph is "seems". I have absolutely no doubt that the world "seems" a very bad place to a paranoid civilian white feather like yourself. You are obviously somewhat short on even the most basic understanding of current affairs, and to top it all off, you fill your spare time taking in worthless gossip about things that you have no idea about, let alone even remotely concern you. My advice? Get another hobby, and leave real life to the grown ups.