The Road Ahead 2013 HK Conference

The A14 at Cambridge, UK

This is the Blog Post for TRA 2013 (The Road Ahead 2013) HK Conference  to be held on xx May 2013 (TBC) at the Sheraton Hotel,  Kowloon, Hong Kong. Follow this link to  access the conference website: www.loadngoltd.co.uk.



The CTS(Conference Theme Song) is by the late but still great JC. 

The purpose of the conference is to give decision makers at SMEs  (Small and Medium Enterprises) and Owner-Drivers in the Road Transport Industry the opportunity to see what Real Engineers can offer in terms of low cost software/hardware to make their organisations more competitive and secure in the 21st century.

Daf

The number of attendees at each session of 3 hours is about 100 (depending on demand) and there will be two sessions per day (9.00 am-12.00 pm and 1.00 pm - 4.00 pm) over xx days (TBC) on a first come basis. The conference may prove to be too controversial for many SMEs in the Road Transport Industries  but we believe that tackling the issues head-on is the way forward. Although TRA 2013 is based on UK experience of the Road Transport Industry we believe our solution to be generic.

MAN

This is a closed conference for Road Transport Industry Professionals therefore you will have to bring some form of identification and proof of the transport company that you represent, such as a business card plus company letterhead, in order to get a ticket. Free tickets will be available in the Sheraton Hotel, Kowloon, Hong Kong,  Reception Area on each day of the conference, if I can get a sponsor, otherwise there may be a charge. If I do have to make a charge I will guarantee that you will have a great time and value-for-money..

Load 'n' Go's sister company, DentCorp Ltd , is in the planning stages of MER 2013(Military Equipment Recycling 2013) which may be concatenated with TRA 2013 at the same venue(s). There is some commonality between the two conferences in terms of logistics.

Mercedes

1200 GMT+1 20/04/2013 Update: If I can get a sponsor, then they will be a Karaoke in the evening after each day of the TRA 2013 HK Conference from 1900 until 2100 followed by a Disco at 2200 to 2400. The kind of music that will be similar to the music available  via my Retro Music Video Juke Box on my Blogs, but you can bring your own Karaoke DVD. Ideally there will be two Karaoke Machines, so that one is "getting set" while the other is playing, with up to 4 microphones available for each Karaoke System. The Disco will effortlessly switch from Karaoke to DM(Dance Music) available from up to 5 laptops (bring your own laptop) "pumping it out" into the same AVS(Audio Visual System) that was used for the conference. The Karaoke and the Disco will have state-of-the art, low-cost lighting effects and the idea is to demonstrate the latest and cheapest Karaoke and Disco technology that anyone can set up for any celebration party. Real Engineers like to have fun too. The Karaoke and Disco will be free to TRA 2013 HK Conference Attendees but other will have to buy tickets from the Sheraton Hotel Reception, HK at a very reasonable price.

Renault

1245 GMT+1 20/04/2013 Update: Whilst doing some HSLPs(High Speed Low Pass) over the lawn with my GCM(Grass Cutting Machine) when  I realised that my AVS will support any modern music/video player that can connect to my system. If you do not know how to do it then I will "hook you up" as they say at NASA. I can even play from any USB mass storage device all with Full HD video that will "blow your mind" and audio that will "rock you in the head" (eat your heart out, Glastonbury, you can only dream about it). You will be able to judge for yourself if Real Engineers know what they are talking about when it comes to technology with a AVS that is fully scalable from living room to football stadium  all at a cost that anyone at each level can easily afford. Real Engineers can do the Albert Hall without the phase shift (ask your techy friends). This is what we in the trade call a TD(Technology Demonstrator).

Scania

The bottom line is that if you want a solution that is both effective  and economic then you have to ask Real Engineers because  the SSs(Socialist Simpleton) were too busy partyin', smokin', dopin' and humpin' to get to grips with the latest technology.This AVS technology is called SFHDAVS(Scaleable Full  High Definition Audio Visual System) and its implementation is the Copyrighted IP of DentCorp Ltd. If Poldark, who claims he also understands Einstein's Equations - I must have missed that class) or the Socialist Spy or anyone else thinks they can break any of my Copyrighted IP on any on my Websites, Blogs  or even my  LHD(Laptop Hard Drive) then come to HK and see what you are up against. Otherwise you will be given just one chance.

Volvo

1600 GMT+1 20/04/2013 Update: Just dusting down the old SSG(Stump Speech Generator) in time for the Primary Season." Be prepared" as the Boy Scouts always say. It is marvellous how easy it is to compose a hard-hitting speech when you have a generic template. The template is the same no matter what is the issue and with a couple of hours research you can "adapt your game" to the latest opposition manoeuvre and hit them back good and hard within 4 hours with a stunning video on the Internet just minutes behind. We have the technology, Bros, its called FF(Factual and Funny) and makes full use of the DentCorp Ltd Copyrighted IP called the CC(Caricature Generator).


1640 GMT+1 21/04/2013 Update: This is what I call a History Lesson and here is the competition from the other side of the world.

0700 GMT+1 22/04/2013 Update: The BBC almost make it too easy to make the case for selling off their "Crap TV" to the highest bidder. Their latest contribution to the debate on the future direction of Agriculture in the UK and elsewhere was last night's episode of that "Yuppy Soap" disguised as Country File. It is painful to watch "Bimbo Presenters" in designer clothes, who are as "cold as Beyoncé's butt at the Presidential Inauguration", parading around Howarth pretending that they have  read Emily Brontë's masterpiece. As someone who has actually read Wuthering Heights and seen all of those appalling film interpretations of the "Yorkshire Dialect" I know that some "Bimbo Presenter" from the city, whose talents are more of a horizontal nature, could not possible begin to understand the dialect  The book which some have described as "The Greatest Romantic Novel Ever Written" and, although I make no claims to be an expert, it is certainly the most emotionally charged novel that I have ever read. Those many film characterisations of Heathcliff do not even come close.

According to Country File we are going to "Feed the World" by growing organic vegetables on the village green and in our tiny back gardens. While it may be very therapeutic and you may be able to grow part of a meal, it shows that SSs(Socialist Simpleton) cannot grasp the scale the worldwide problem which is being exacerbated  by changing weather patterns. Prince Faux Rolex de Thaix and Zak the Shack have both squandered a fortune on "Organic Farming" only to find out, millions of pounds later, that it was totally uneconomic which any farmer in the country could have told them before they started. Being "nice but dim" does not pay the rent as the say in Halifax. Only an idiot would have thrown away such a vast fortune on a venture whose outcome was so predictable but if it is OPM(Other Peoples Money) then who cares. These SSs then proceed to recommend their own economic disaster to the rest of the farming community. Unfortunately, I am an engineer who uses logic and convoluted thinking is not my style. Perhaps they were all educated at the same school as the City Trader(s) who lost a large US bank about $9.0 billion dollars in a deal that nobody in the whole world can understand. As they say down Harlem way, "those guys must be smokin' somthin', man".

Adam's, of Adam's Farm Fame which is in itself is a joke,  vain attempt at "symbolism" was pathetic and I was reminded of that Americanism "same s**t, different day" only in this case it was "same sheep, different era". Adam is,  after all, a CNS(Chipping Norton Set) farmer and that probably explains why his OSR did not grow. He doesn't seem to know his "OSR from his elbow" or, as they say down the pub, he is simply FU. Alternatively,  it was the old "Fallow Field Scam" and his OSR was actually that nicely drilled field nearby. You've got to do better than that to "con" a guy who has "done a bit".

I am thinking of adding Agriculture to my TRA 2013 HK Conference to give the farmers out there a few tips on growing OSR without Adam's FU or otherwise.

0800 GMT+1 22/04/2013 Update: Sleepless in the Sticks here again. Just a few further points on last night's "Country File"  from the BBC:

1. A bee-keeper who does not know why his bees should not be within 5 miles of an OSR crop should not be keeping bees.
2. A chemist who cannot prove that an insecticide applied only to the roots of the OSR causes dis-orientation and/or death of bees and who does not consider that there may be another chemical or agent  at work near the top of the plant should not be a chemist.
3. A farmer who does not know why his encapsulated OSR seed can kill birds and how to prevent it should not be a farmer.
4. A farmer who does not know how to minimise pest infestations of various crops, including OSR,  by improved land management techniques should not be a farmer. The problem in this case is that all the information is available from different branches of Science but it needs interpretation for the farmer to implement in practical terms. Scientists are not necessarily the best at explaining to lay people how to implement their research because of their lack of "hands-on" experience of farming.
5. However, I do have some sympathy with the sheep farmer on Snowdonia, because marginal agricultural  land has just been made more marginal by changing weather patterns. But people Eastern Europe and beyond, farm in similar conditions and it is just a matter of adapting their techniques to Snowdonia and other marginal farming areas.  That is, if these farmers still wish to continue farming in such a harsh and marginal environment. I am afraid some tough decisions will have to be made but you need all the alternative strategies on the table before these difficult decisions can be made.
6. Someone who owns full, but disused reservoirs, in the Yorkshire dales and does not know what to do with them should not be in the water business. The high altitude reservoir in the dales is something that I, as an engineer, have dreams about. Now wtf are my Caterpillars, JCBs and Komatsus, "Get me these CEO's on the "dog" and get me somebody else while I am waiting" (if you know your Chevy Chase). I going to do the job myself.!!! Sorry girls, but with engineers work comes first.You cannot beat having a "good head"  as ol' Bill used to say.

For answers to these questions and many others contact DentCorp Ltd who are an "overnight success after a 67 years in the business" ( learning curve) to paraphrase the late Eric Morecambe.

By the way, Adam need not feel too bad about being FU because the Water Companies are FU also as I indicated in my Environmental Blog for the first time last Spring.

1030 GMT+1 22/04/2013 Update: The BBC Country File topic reminds me of an old adage that there are three ways to lose money:

1. Women are the most pleasant - Dogsville being the perfect example;
2. Gambling is the quickest - which is exemplified by the activities of the City Traders over recent years;
3. Farming is the most certain - if you do not know what you are doing, e.g. Prince Faux Rolex de Thaix and Zak the Shack.

In the modern era we should perhaps add a fourth way to lose money, namely "Drugs, Drink and Rock & Roll". In this case you end up with a face like a ploughed field, a brain that no longer works correctly, negative charisma (if you had any in the first place) and/or "pot-less". The end result is that you have to buy gigs at Glastonbury to maintain your illusionary status in "pop culture" (Check out Heather Small at Glastonbury by way of a contrast (way-to-go M-People)) . Two minutes after you die nobody will even remember your name except for some former(?) "acid heads" at the BBC. Thus your legacy to music is minus zero.

1230 GMT+1 22/04/2013 Update:  In Engineering, Fundamental Principles very rarely change; it is only the technology that changes. That is why a good grounding in the "Basics" will keep you abreast of rapidly changing technology. This is the part of the my studies in Engineering that I enjoyed the most because by applying "Fundamental Principles" to "Top-Down Design" it makes "System Design" effortless no matter what the technology. But you have to be a bit of a cross-discipline engineer to actually implement the System Design. That is why 67 years of multi-discipline learning and experience "gets the job done".

1900 GMT+1 22/04/2013 Update: All those LAs(Local Authorities) out there who want street lighting that uses about 15% of you current lights and is a down-lighter i.e. no light been wasted in the vertical direction then DentCorp Ltd can help you source DIR(Drop-In Replacements). These DIR lights would have to be made to order therefore if  LAs collaborated to maximise the order volume then that would minimise the price. These SLELs)Super Low Energy Light) have a lifetime of at least 10 times your existing lights. We would have to build and test prototypes of each type of light but they will be able to use your existing timer or light sensor with very little modification to your existing street lamp set-up.

0215 GMT+1 23/04/2013 Update: I feel another legal clarification coming on. If some SS(Socialist Simpleton) out there thought he/she would make money by writing a Smartphone App to simply download my Blogs and Websites to the dummies at the the other end who cannot use the Internet correctly then "Have I Got News for You". All my material is clearly marked as Copyrighted IP and is free for an individual reader on the Internet. You cannot resell (which is effective what the Smartphone App is doing) or insert adverts in  my Copyrighted IP without my consent and you cannot charge a Smartphone user for material that is free to the Internet unless that Smartphone user gives his/her consent to be charged. If consent to charges has been given then in that case any money that you have received  from the Smartphone App users belongs to me, the sole owner of the Copyrighted IP, plus punitive damages for all the stress you have caused to all concerned. I will allow you to keep $5.00 for writing the Smartphone App. I have even made the Copyright statement easier for all of you to see because you obviously did not read the small print the first time around. Just like all the others, the Smartphone App Developer(s) will be given just one chance to "hand over the cash" to me or he/she will get a visit from the WRU(Wealth Redistribution Unit) followed by a long spell of "resting"  in a CC(Correction Centre).. If Google did not include the Copyrighted IP statement in their Smartphone download then they are legally responsible for any breach of my Copyrighted IP by some unsuspecting Smartphone user. This is the sort of illegal activity that has led to the demise of so many City Traders such as RR, particularly at Barclays. Remember that you can "run but you cannot hide" from the WRU. Have a Good Day!!!

 I don't know why but a picture of the "Chiswick Flyover" springs to mind. I think I must remind you all again that I am not Mr Nice Guy but a real bada** techy who will get around to you soon. The WRU can make grown men cry in their sleep. If you do not believe me then try me, as they say in down town Chicago. Even "dipsticks" like RR can be made to see the light.

"This is the "Silver Surfer"; that is a Negatory "Red Rider" on the IP rights, C'mon................Ugh, this is the "Red Rider"; Putting the Hammer Down, Over and Out" !!!!!!!! --------- Good or what?

0600 GMT+1 24/04/2013 Update: Sleepless in the Study here. I was just remembering that the former Prime Minister Harold Wilson once boasted, when he wanted bailing out by the IMF(International Monetary Fund) , that the UK "was built on coal and surrounded by oil". The "interesting" thing is that he could never figure out why the UK was always broke. After a respite from SSs(Socialist Simpleton) in the 1980's and early 1990's, we resumed the "onwards and downwards" economic trajectory under the guidance of that IG(Intellectual Giant) and expert on IL(International Law) TB(Tony Blair), whose bravery in battle is legendary, especially if he could direct the battles from the "Street of a Thousand Fools". The depressing thing about the TB era is the number of people who thought he knew what he was doing and are now reflecting on his reign in abject poverty. I cannot help but see parallels today as the current UK Prime Minister admires both TB and the "President across the Pond". It make one almost want to give up drink!

As a "coffin dodger" I should not worry because I have nearly enough money to put two gallons of diesel in "Old Reliable" with enough left over for half a pint of beer. LG(Life's Good) if you can adapt to the new, cutting-edge, life-in-the-fast-lane, wealth creating pathway set by our  leaders of society who have guided us all to this new SU(Socialist Utopia) of grinding poverty. It will soon be all over for me as I sit in the chair, dribbling down my shirt and waiting to die so why worry. If you worry , you die and if you don't worry, you still die, so why worry. Death is the only is the only certainty in life!

Then, suddenly, I thought what about Jake ( a 2 year old Smartphone user that I know)? I decided in that instant that I will Blog and Innovate  my way out of this "mucking fuddle"  and back to prosperity if it is the last thing I do on this planet. After a frenzied  outburst of expletives that ended in the word Socialists, I booted up the old laptop and decided to show YU Inc  (the former spin-off from Acme Consultants previously  known as Young and Useless) what your Grandfather's "could cook-up and still can". Therefore, YU Inc, you can "smell my dust and eat my rubber" because I am putting the "pedal to the metal" and we will see who can Hack-IT. You can "slipstream" me, if you can keep up, because I am no "Sideways-Scheckter" who will put you in the ditch at Silverstone, much to the delight of all the "Hurrah Henrys and their Dogs". Well done chaps, very well done! I have always preferred  the Brands Hatch group of circuits because you always get a better class of loser at their events,  to which I have delivered many "Racing Jaguars" in my time.

Good ol' Merle reminds us of where it "all went wrong" all those years ago. I am amazed how his powerful political message resonates on both sides of the Atlantic today in a way that it spectacularly failed to do so at the time. Perhaps all  the Socialists were already "smokin' somethin',  as they say in New Orleans, even in those days.


0915 GMT+1 24/04/2013 Update: How is a start-up such as Real Engineers going to achieve all this I hear you say? We simply partner with like-minded companies/organisations, large and small, to implement our Copyrighted IP for a fee and go 50-50 on any resultant Patents. Real Engineers then act as SDLs(System Design Consultant) and PMs(Programme Manager) to co-ordinate the various entities and individual projects within, what can only be described as, VLIPs(Very Large Infrastructure Project) with an environmentally-friendly outcome. Because Real Engineers very rarely gamble on unknown technology the downside risk is less than 10% of the risk in a BSP(Blue Skies Project).

Put more simply, if you understand the terminology/jargon, Real Engineers  will sit at the top of a TDDP(Top-Down Design Process) offering CA(Consultancy Advice) at every level but with the detailed design in the hands of our PCs(Partner Company). Therefore a small team of Real Engineers can guide VLIPs can quite easily. By the way, TDDP make full use of the AD(Art of Delegation)  that PRR(President Ronald Reagan) showed us all how to do by "setting the policy" and employing able people to "implement the policy" which ensured that PRR never suffered from what I call the JCS(Jimmy Carter Syndrome) and did  not "flame-out".

2100 GMT+1 24/04/2013 Update: In case you are wondering if Real Engineers have "Gone Green" or "Turned Pacifist" or just "Lost the Plot" then I can assure you we are "on the case" and it is all just Engineering to us. We do not moralise or censor others point of view, we simply make brilliant innovations that will improve any existing product. We do not make any distinction between military and civilian projects/products because we employ politicians to decide whether to use them or not. We will try to re-cycle and make environmentally friendly products that help to clean up the planet and its surrounding atmosphere and space because it makes good economic sense in the longer term. We acknowledge that the weather patterns have changed significantly in recent years and in everything we do we will reverse the trend without the return to a Middle Ages type of lifestyle.

Real Engineers believe unemployment and poverty is the real curse of the 21st century and we intend to innovate our way back to prosperity which will give us the financial strength to address the deep-seated social problems in the UK and probably else-way.  We believe a return to full employment will make many of the social problems disappear and those that are left will be much more manageable.

Real Engineers are neutral on Europe because 50% of UK trade is within the EU(European Union) and 50% outside. We have sympathy with those people who cannot see any benefit from being in the EU because there are no big infrastructure projects in the UK which are financed by the EU unlike many other countries.There are hidden benefits from being in the EU such as increased political influence on the world stage, the EU Human Rights Law, and some large companies in the UK such as the car maker, Honda, trade solely within the EU. I think the UK public's perception of the EU would change quickly to the positive if they could see some physical evidence of member ship of the EU in the form "Hi-Viz" infrastructure projects that would create jobs both in the short term and in the longer term. I lean towards EU membership because of the advantages described earlier but I am fearful of political integration into some kind of SU(Socialist Utopia) or being dominated by a single economically powerful nation. This is why restoring the UK's own prosperity is such a priority.

0345 GMT+1 26/04/2013 Update: Yet another legal clarification. If two or more individuals, groups, organisations, companies  or governments "act in concert" to commit a crime then it becomes a CCC(Conspiracy to Commit the Crime). Interestingly, if you can pin "Conspiracy" on  the transgressors then you simply double the sentence. I am "on the case," collecting the data and "I believe I can Fly" or in this case "bang 'em up for life" as they say in The Hague. As I sit hear alone in my study without any direct connection to anyone I am beginning to feel LG(Life's Good).

0830 GMT+1 12/05/2013 Update: In a further FLS(Forward Looking Statement)  Real Engineers announced that they have developed a generic solution to make AVs(Aerial Vehicles) ATA(All-Terrain & Amphibious) by the application of  known technologies from several different industries other than Aerospace. The solution can be easily retro-fitted to any AV that meets the criteria of a worthwhile recycling target. In its simplest form the ATA solution can be applied to helicopters including HLH(Heavy Lift Helicopters) in a matter of hours. The added benefits of the Real Engineer's ATA solution is that it increases the AV's safety margin  and the operating range of suitable AVs. The downside of the ATA solution is that it increases drag to the equivalent of flying with the undercarriage down and reduces the payload by about 10%. However the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. The solution for fixed wing AVs is more complicated in that the undercarriage needs to be stowed but although the total ATA solution for fixed-wing AVs is more difficult and expensive the advantages for LRD(Long Range Deployment), particularly over the open ocean, are enormous. Also, if a fixed wing AV meets the requirement for recycling then it it will also be a candidate for the ATA modification. UAV(Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) are just as simple to modify with ATA capability as helicopters so that they can be deployed from  land, carrier or sea without the need for expensive infrastructure. The ATA modification also means that UAVs can "land-out" safely in an emergency for later retrieval by HLH thus drastically reducing the attrition rate and making "out-of-range" missions feasible.

The Virtually Wealthy

I was trawling the Blogesphere the other day when I came across an interesting comment from a fellow Geek. The Blog was discussing the fact that many so-called wealthy people had borrowed vast amounts of money far in excess of their assets. He/she commented that these people were not wealthy in the normal sense of the word and he/she suggested that they are "Virtually Wealthy" in that they have the use of a great deal of credit but could not settle their debts if asked to do so. In the UK, the working class people refer to this phenomenon as "Doing a Maxwell" in memory of Robert Maxwell, the newspaper tycoon, who borrowed millions of pounds irresponsibly with no tangible assets of his own and when his creditors demanded repayment he committed suicide by jumping into the sea off his luxury yacht. Many of the previously rich people in the UK are now in the situation of being "Virtually Wealthy" especially since the value of their assets  has deteriorated by up to 50% since the start of the recession in August 2007. Even many ordinary home-owners are in negative equity as their mortgages exceed the current market value of their houses particularly those who bought at the top of the housing boom in 2004-2006. The "Virtually Wealthy" at the top end of the borrowing scale pose a significant threat to the UK economy because they are being kept in the style to which the have been accustomed by their "friends" in the banking sector who themselves are technically insolvent in a similar way to their favoured "Virtually Wealthy" customers. This situation is unsustainable in the longer term because as the recession grinds on and on the banks are also running out of credit and at some point in the not too distant future they will have to demand their money back from the "Virtually Wealthy" who will be unable to cover their debts by the sale of their non-existent assets and will have no alternative but to declare themselves bankrupt.

The story only starts with the "Virtually Wealthy" but it continues in a more frightening vein with the concept of "Zombie Companies" or the "Financially Un-dead Companies" reported by that reputable accountancy company Ernst &Young. "Zombie Companies" are uncompetitive or badly managed companies who are again technically insolvent and, guess what; they are being kept in business by loans authorised by their "friends" at the banks. There is no prospect of these "Zombie Companies" surviving an extended recession therefore these loans by the banks will be a total loss eventually as the "Zombie Companies" inevitably fail. It is estimated that at least 30% of UK companies can be defined as "Zombie Companies" who are simply depriving other efficient, well managed companies of vital market share but far more importantly they are consuming all the credit that could be made available to new, enthusiastic entrepreneurs who could offer the prospect of leading the UK out of recession with new ideas and inventions. Many in the high technology industries say we should "innovate" our way out of recession but this cannot happen if all the available money required for vital Research and Development into new products is being devoured by "Zombie Companies" who simply owe their very existence to the generosity of their "friends" at the banks.

It gets worse! The concept of "Zombie Companies" can be applied to at least 50% of the UK banking industry who are being kept alive by government (I should say taxpayer's) bailouts. These banks are nationalised in  all but name. The bailouts have made no difference the these bank's solvency as they continue to report astronomical losses and there is no prospect of the government (i.e. the taxpayer) getting their money back in the foreseeable future.  I firmly believe it would have been far better for capitalism take its course and let those "Zombie Banks" fail instead of engaging in socialist inspired bailouts which have wasted so much of taxpayers money around the world. According to some financial analysts most banks have huge losses that are not being reported on their balance sheets because of recent changes to banking accounting regulations. These losses are probably due to the banks realising that the money they have loaned to the "Zombie Companies" will probably never be recovered.  In addition, we have Quantative Easing (QE) which is supposed to kick-start the economy but if Ernst & Young are correct then the banks simply throw away the benefits of QE by propping up their "friends" in "Zombie Companies" and this is why QE has no impact on the economy. QE is provided to the banks by the Bank of England "printing money" but this money only exists in Cyberspace as billions of pounds is being transferred between the banks electronically. It is "Virtual Money" that is not supported by assets it is merely a promise that the government will redeem the face value of this "Virtual Money". The days when the UK currency was backed by substantial gold reserves is long gone and in fact Gordon Brown, when he was Chancellor, sold 60% of the UK gold reserves at rock bottom prices and used the money to buy Euros. This does not seem a very clever move today but remember Gordon Brown once boasted in the House of Commons that he had ended "Boom and Bust". Need I say any more!

Where do governments get their money from to fund their deficit budgets and the bailout of their "friends" in the banking sector? All western governments sell bonds that they promise to pay back when the bonds mature which allows them to borrow money from other governments and financial institutions around the world. If the government has a good credit rating then the interest it pays on these bonds is low and as the credit rating deteriorates the interest rate increases. An interest rate of about 7% is deemed unsustainable and at that point there has to be a bailout of the technically insolvent government. Many governments have borrowed  far in excess of their  annual GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and therefore we can apply them the term "Zombie Governments" who are technically insolvent but are merely being kept going by bailouts from other other governments, the IMF (International Monetary Fund) or in the case of Europe, the ECB (European Central Bank). Greece is a perfect example of a "Zombie Government". All this money is "Virtual Money" whirling about in Cyberspace and is not supported by any asset such as gold. Even the once mighty dollar is not backed by reserves that even covers a fraction of the $14.5 trillion dollars borrowed by the US government. The idea that you have to have assets that secure the money you are borrowing is a dead concept and the mere promise that you repay the loan at some unspecified time in the future seems to be adequate. However, this concept of unsecured loans on a vast international scale can only work while the world-wide economy is in a constant state of growth. When we have a recession with no end in sight then the "Zombie Governments" are  bound to default and could drag the world economy over the edge of the precipice. Former US President, Bill Clinton, famously said "It's the economy, stupid" when asked what was the most important aspect of policy to the electorate. He is the only President in recent times to present a balanced budget and, for all his faults, he does know about economic matters. He is on record as saying that it will take 10 years to get back to where we were before the recession which many believe started in about August 2007. I am firmly of the view that it will take a generation to get back to the kind of prosperity we had in the year 2000 and by this calculation I make it 2032 before we are back to prosperity and  full employment but Bill Clinton believes it can be done by 2017.  However, I am taking into account the burden to the taxpayer of paying back all this national debt plus interest that has been accumulated by governments of the left and the right on both sides of the Atlantic and its debilitating effect on their economies. Even if we started paying back UK government borrowing today down to manageable levels of 30-40% of GDP then it will be about 2032 before prosperity returns to "Joe Public".

It goes without saying that the "Virtually Wealthy" will be insulated from all this austerity for the present but for how long is this sustainable? The mere mention of a second bank bailout will be political suicide for any UK government and if the rumours in the Blogesphere are correct then the "Zombie Banks" cannot sustain the "Virtually Wealthy" or "Zombie Companies" much longer and the outcome of this catastrophic financial event cannot be predicted. All we can do is look back to the previous, once in 100 years, long term recession of the 1920s and 1930s as a guide and we will recall that financiers on Wall Street were jumping out of windows as they lost everything. Hence we have a discussion between left and right  politicians on both sides of the Atlantic about what will our grandchildren inherit. Do we give them a legacy of massive debt or do we leave them with an economy that has returned to prosperity? I am with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, on this issue in that we should set about repaying our borrowing and plan to leave our grandchildren debt-free. She has been vindicated by the German economy showing signs of emerging from the recession long before any other country in Europe or even the USA and with the bonus of German personal savings being at an  all-time high. Meanwhile the rest of Europe, including the UK, is still borrowing in an irresponsible manner which has all the hallmarks of socialism and its well known lack of respect for OPM  (Other People's Money).  I cannot predict  the economic future, no one can, but what I do know is that it will not be pretty with political turmoil following the financial meltdown such as we have witnessed in Greece last year. There is a "common thread" throughout this whole economic crisis as the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, so delicately explained last year and I will leave it the reader to work out what is the "common thread".

0430 17/03/2013 Update: The UK's AAA credit rating has been downgraded to AA1 and we are all told by Vince Cable  that the effect is largely cosmetic. But he is being "economical with the truth". As someone who has suffered at the hands of the credit rating agencies with their out of date databases I know exactly what a credit rating downgrade means. For the UK, every time its credit rating is downgraded then the cost of its borrowing interest rates increase. Doing the simple math, if you borrow billions then millions more will be due in higher interest charges. This is money that will not be spent by the government to reinvigorate the UK economy. Thus the the recession is prolonged and the UK economy continues its downward spiral. In a worst case scenario, the UK economy can never recover from the recession because of its out of control borrowing costs. However, we need not worry we have the towering intellect of Vince Cable at the helm guiding us through these stormy economic waters. But, I will concede, he has been  proved to be right on the money with his comments about Rupert Murdoch which cost him his role in News Corporation's attempt to buy the rest of BSkyB that it does not already own. The government role of Vince Cable in the BSkyB takeover was passed to Jeremy Hunt who was much more user-friendly towards the Murdoch Empire.

By the way, the total UK debt busted the £1 trillion barrier recently putting the UK in the company of all those much admired leaders who like to borrow big. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to ascertain "How many zeros in £1 trillion." I cannot even begin to imagine that enormous amount of money, sorry, borrowed money. I think you would  need several long trains to move it to Scotland for example.

If you needed any confirmation of Vince Cable's intellect and good judgement then look no further than his admiration for  Professor  Les Hebdon whom he believes to be a top academic. Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis. 

Interestingly, even Rupert Murdoch and all his family only own about 40% of News Corporation shares but they retain control through preference shares. This is an odd mode of  Corporate Governance for such a vast international media empire, but who am I to comment being just a "pleb".

The Economic Disaster that is the A14

A14 North of Cambridge

I have wasted many an hour of my precious time stuck in traffic jams on the A14 when I worked on the Science Park at Cambridge between 2001 and 2008. A typical scenario would be for a truck driver to lose concentration,  fall asleep or tailgate and either run into the vehicle in front or in the worst case collide with the central barrier. Alternatively motorists who also lost concentration, for whatever reason, were involved in minor and major shunts. On a road as congested as the A14 even the most minor incident causes a huge tailback. The problem is worse around Cambridge due to increased local traffic because of the rapidly expanding industry and population. The A14 is the main trunk route connecting the vast container port of Felixistowe with the M1, the Midlands, the North and Scotland. The ratio of trucks to cars on the A14 is probably the highest in the UK and the economic importance of the A14 cannot be overestimated. Everyone agrees that the A14 needs upgrading to a least six lanes and preferably eight lanes but the problem is that the Government does not have the money because of the prolonged recession caused by the banking crisis.

DIRFT (Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal)

What is the answer to the A14 congestion problem that does not involve public money? It is really very simply to ban all container traffic bound to and from the M1 and the Port of Felixstowe from using the A14. This would force the hauliers coming from the Midlands, the North and Scotland to drop off their containers at DIRFT  (Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal) for onward shipment to Felixstowe by  a  Long Goods Train and vice versa from Felixstowe northwards. DIRFT is an excellent but under-utilised freight handling facility and any expansion here due to increased container traffic to Felixstowe would be happily undertaken by the private sector. There is also a substantial rail facility at Felixstowe which again is privately owned.  The first test run of the route was undertaken on 15th October 2011 by DRS (Direct Rail Services) in conjunction with Stobart Rail .The Malcolm  Group is another train operator providing rails services from Felixstowe to the Midlands, the North and Scotland therefore there is no lack of capability in this sector. In addition, British Rail is already upgrading the rail link from Felixstowe to Nuneaton, including DIRFT, in anticipation of the increased freight traffic. A case study of the viability of Rail Freight   in general has now been carried out.

Monster Long Goods  Train in the USA

I advocate the use of Long Trains for the transportation of containers such I have seen in the USA. Typically a Long Train can carry 100 to 150 containers pulled by 2/3 engines. These trains can easily average 60 mph which means the 150 miles from DIRFT to Felixstowe could be covered in 2.5 hours very economically. It would mean some modification of the container handling facilities at both DIRFT and Felixstowe but this only involves private sector money and could be implemented quite quickly. The Long Train is a way of at least doubling the capacity of the rail network with very little extra investment. Long Trains are proven in the USA, Europe and Russia and do not require any new technology to operate. They have the added advantage of substantially further reducing the carbon footprint of container freight even over the much shorter freight trains in use today..

A similar solution to congestion on the A12 could be implemented by making full use of the proposed Howbury Park Rail Freight Terminal a Slade Green near Bexley Kent and at Radlett Airfield Rail Freight Terminal, Park Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire both of which will probably get planning permission from the government despite local objections.. The Port of Tilbury has its own rail freight terminal and would benefit from the switch to rail for long distance container traffic originating in the South West, the Midlands, the North and Scotland. This would also benefit the M25 by reducing the long distance container traffic. In addition freight bound for the Continent could be transported by rail to the many large Rail Freight Terminals in Europe very close to the destination  for onward shipping by truck for local delivery.This, I believe, is what the Stobart Group is trying implement.

Stobart Train for Tesco - DIRFT to Grangemouth

I am not antagonistic to the RTI(Road Transport Industry) but in a congested country like the UK it is difficult justify freight journeys of more than 100 miles by road because of soaring fuel costs. Rail is  far more economic for deliveries of more than 100 miles and has the added benefit of reducing the carbon footprint of freight transport. It was anticipated by Dr Beeching's pruning of the railway system in the 1960s that the long distance freight would go by rail and road transport would deliver locally but no government since that time has had the courage to implement his logical plans for freight transport in the UK because of the strong political lobby of the RTI.  The major supermarkets are already switching to rail for long distance deliveries and the container industry should now follow suit as soon as possible. As someone with first hand experience of the RTI , I believe that in  many road accidents involving trucks one of the significant contributing factors is the lack of  concentration and/or sleep by the truck driver. By reducing the truck driver's round trip to about 200 miles or less it also drastically reduces the number of sleepless nights-out  spent by drivers in uncomfortable truck cabs thereby benefiting the safety of all road users.