Today's Auto Express carried a snippet that the BPC was in negotiations with JC over a new car show. They need him. He needs the exposure. So they have to be able to do a deal. Welcome back to the big man.

HJ Read more

Ho hum,

This car lobby Vs government/green business is starting to sound like some paranoid anti-semitic conspiracy theory. It seems sad that if you like driving cars then you have to view the green movement and the government as evil arch-nemeses, and similarly the blinkered view that anyone who has an interest in the environment wants to curtail the freedom of the individual etc...

Environmental/Greenhouse 'con' threads have come up on a regularly frequent basis and l find they contain near 100% agreement (a rarity amongst forum topics), notable only by a conspicuous absence of dissenters or some of the regulars who l guess don't want to get involved.

From these threads l get the impression from some of the resentment manifesting, that the efforts of green interests is perilously close to alienating some of you from the natural environment entirely. i.e. Go for a drive, deliberately crushing flora and fauna under the wheels without so much as a twitch, maybe get out and stamp on the head of a particularly endangered specimen - that'll show them pesky greenies etc.. l digress.

I really don't want to get into an arguement about the truth of the greenhouse theory other than to state the following fact (oh go on then): Global temperatures and CO2 (and other gg) levels have historically gone hand in hand. Therefore we can empirically surmise that a future rise in CO2 will cause a ~proportional rise in future global temperatures (On AVERAGE, some areas could well get colder as ocean current and atmosphere flow patterns alter. One excellent example of this is the possibility that the UK will endure Moscow winters should the Gulf stream move south.)

I am assuming that much of this rankling is to do with just how quick or how much the temperatures will alter. Who knows, the environment cannot be modelled accurately using reductionist science. But consider this: Ecological systems tend to have buffers which can absorb a great deal before collapsing causing sudden shifts to new equilibriums and showing few signs prior.

Whatever happened to precaution (as in the Precautionary Principle) ? In short, we don't know/understand the consequence of our actions, therefore we act prudently, not 'blow yer' load and worry about pregnancy when the hangover wears off' if you'll excuse the expression.

Quick footnote on the definition of pollution: Another thing that comes up is "how can CO2 be a pollutant if we produce it/it naturally occurs" etc.. This line of logic normally ends with it being another green/gov conspiracy.

Pollution is truly defined as a concentration of a substance(s) in a location where it is not normally/naturally found OR in a higher concentration than normally/naturally found where it HAS the ability to affect other functions of that system.
For example, Oxygen can be a pollutant and is terminally toxic at high concentrations, but at normal levels it is essential for aerobic life. Similarly CO2 is essential for life on this planet. Without it temperatures would be sub-zero, no liquid water, no life end of story (apart from suplhur metabolising bacteria blah blah...)
CO2 is our friend but not in ever increasing concentrations, check out a bit of planetologyif you want to see how CO2 levels affect the atmospheric characteristics of a planet.

Thanks for reading, cheersbye.
dan Read more

Wow, I thought, did own (and still have, luckily) a 1992 Scorpio Cosworth.
Got a great deal on Friday, a 1996 Omega 2.5CDX Auto for just over a grand. £1400 to be precise.. The car was owned by the Northern Ireland Office, and unfortunately had been armour plated at one stage. It has been used to transport Civil Servants about.
With 102k, knocking bushings, a loss on power at low revs, loosing coolant through the water pump, warped brake discs.
What Have I done Read more

The alarm on my Citroen '95 ZX Volcane TD goes off for no obvious reason.
Before I get lynched by the neighbours, can anyone tell me how to disable the
alarm (who needs 'em?) while retaining the use of the remote. Read more

I think its about time that all new cars were fitted with the new generation of auto box with manual overide, as fitted to most new exec cars nowadays. You have the convenience of auto for town/traffic and manual for the open road.

I think the thing that keeps people choosing manuals over autos is a reluctance to change. In my opinion 2mpg less and half a second on the 0-60 time is a small price to pay for a much less stressful drive. Read more