History, Politics And Current Affairs

NW UK, gentle rain over-night and this morning.
Probably not enough to mitigate 'Fire Triangle'...
But, windy enough to perhaps aggravate rather than suppress heath-fires etc etc...

Paul Nuttall wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2026 7:39 pm

Bernard Woolley wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2026 8:57 pm Has absolutely pelted it down here for quite a bit of the day. Way things are going, we might have some spare water to send to our English cousins!

Doesn't the SNP periodically say that is what is happening.....the English are stealing our water....despite there being no actual links....unlike the links from Wales to England.

You expect the SNP to have to be able to provide factual proof of their nonsensical claims?! That sir is heresy of the Highest Order and St Nicola, Queen of True Scots is frowning down upon you from her celestial throne!

Davion Highlander wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 7:27 pm

Paul Nuttall wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2026 7:39 pm

Bernard Woolley wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2026 8:57 pm Has absolutely pelted it down here for quite a bit of the day. Way things are going, we might have some spare water to send to our English cousins!

Doesn't the SNP periodically say that is what is happening.....the English are stealing our water....despite there being no actual links....unlike the links from Wales to England.

You expect the SNP to have to be able to provide factual proof of their nonsensical claims?! That sir is heresy of the Highest Order and St Nicola, Queen of True Scots is frowning down upon you from her celestial throne!

Sorry...my bad.....

Well it was actually cool in the morning today and by 9am the outside temperature was about 17 degrees C.
So about 4 degrees difference from previous days.
A much more comfortable day all round.

Not too bad here in Virginia, temps ranging from the mid-upper 80s to the mid upper 90s with humidity to match creating "feels like temps" in the lower 100s. Saw an article from the Smithsonian talking about lower levels in the Danube endangering a Romanian nuclear power plant, revealing wrecked ships from WW II and a mammoth fossil.




Christian Thorsberg | Daily Correspondent
August 4, 2026
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Nazi-era ships
German warships dating to World War II are visible again in the Danube River, as they were in 2024 as pictured here. Anadolu / Getty Images

As successive heatwaves and drought stalk much of Europe this summer, water levels on the Danube—the continent’s second-longest river, which flows through 10 countries—have fallen to record lows in multiple places along its 1,770-mile route.

The consequences have been dramatic. Barges in Serbia can carry only a fraction of their normal cargo of imported fuel. Nuclear power plants in Hungary and Romania are at risk of having to shut down without sufficient water needed to cool their reactors, raising concerns of sweeping energy shortages. And a cruise ship in Bulgaria ran aground, prompting officials to evacuate passengers.

Meanwhile, residents and researchers are taking the opportunity to interact with the Danube in a different way: by studying—and in some cases, removing—the remnants from the past that have resurfaced in the parched riverbed.
Austrian ships
Ships sit aground in Austria as some tributaries of the Danube River run dry. Roland Schlager / APA / AFP via Getty Images

Near Prahovo, Serbia, a graveyard of decades-old shipwrecks is seeing the light of day. Some of the remains of World War II-era Nazi warships and roughly 200 boats are visible above the Danube’s falling water line. They are relics from fall 1944, when the advancing Soviet Red Army forced Hitler’s forces to retreat. Rather than risk their vessels and supplies falling into enemy hands, the Nazis strategically arranged vessels in the Danube and then scuttled them, creating a blockade to hinder Soviet movement.

More than 80 years later, these abandoned shipwrecks remain a significant obstacle for modern ships traveling along the Danube, especially when water levels drop, costing Serbia roughly $5.75 million in losses from disrupted trade and transport each year, Popular Science’s Andrew Paul reports.

In 2024, Serbia and the European Investment Bank launched an initiative to remove 21 ships. Crews needed to work carefully, as sudden movements or exposure to the atmosphere could trigger leftover ammunition to explode. At least two ships were instead buried into the river bottom.

“In the past, organizing such an undertaking was quite challenging, but with modern technology and techniques, it has become much more feasible,” Aleksandar Banjac, Serbia’s assistant minister of construction, transport and infrastructure, said in a statement in 2024. “Now is the right time, as river traffic and goods transport on the Danube are increasing significantly. The river is a crucial artery for Europe, and this particular section is of great interest to shippers.”

As water levels fall to historic lows, this summer may present another opportunity for crews to pull remaining boats from the river.

Fun fact: A river anthem
Johann Strauss Jr. composed the famous “Blue Danube” waltz in 1867 when the Vienna Men’s Choral Society commissioned a new choral work. It has become a sort of anthem for Austria’s capital city.

In the eastern Croatian village of Opatovac, a ship that sank, possibly in 1937, was similarly exposed. “History has literally emerged from the Danube,” Lea Vidić, the head of the nearby municipality of Lovas, tells TVP World’s Ammar Anwer.

Amateur treasure hunters and magnet-fishers are also taking advantage of low water levels. Zsolt Horváth says he enjoys pulling artifacts like an old radio amplifier and bullet casings from the world wars from the river, Fortune’s Justin Spike reports.

“Having so little water in the Danube is a blessing for this kind of activity. Otherwise, it’s a curse,” Horváth tells the outlet.

To that point, officials in Budapest had to close a bridge after a remnant bomb from World War II was exposed in the riverbed.

Meanwhile, in Bulgaria, residents living along the Danube discovered some of the oldest items yet: the remains of a woolly mammoth. Experts called to the site identified a lower jaw, two tusks, a shoulder blade and what could be a rib.

“I would not call it a sensation, but any discovery of such ancient remains is very important for science,” Nikolay Nenov, director of the nearby Regional History Museum, tells the Bulgarian News Agency, Reuters reports.

The Met office continues to publish claims of 'estimated excess deaths', eagerly repeated by the usual suspects. Oddly enough the bureaucrats actually count how many people die each week.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulation ... les/latest

Needless to say the charnel houses are filling at the same rate as in 2025.

Looks like today live up to broad expectations in temperature terms.

Ross-on-Wye is showing a maximum of 35.7 Celsius for today at the moment. That's believable because there are a significant number of 34 Celsius range readings on the general Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire area as well, so it's not a ridiculous outlier.

So that's now FOUR MONTHS IN A ROW over 35 Celsius in the UK.

Hell today in a tribunal suite I had to be moved room to the back of the building as the normal waiting room at the front with large windows was "like a sauna". So they put me in with the doctor and social worker... Buildings in the UK just aren't designed for these types of heats.

You can certainly design a house to be comfortable in 35 deg C heat, but it has to be deliberately designed that way. Overhanging eaves to block direct sun (or window shades) double glazing on all the main glass and insulation up the wazoo. We got by without a/c, just relied on ceiling fans, but succumbed one summer, and now in the depth of winter it is our main form of heating.

Paul Nuttall wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 7:49 pm

Davion Highlander wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 7:27 pm

Paul Nuttall wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2026 7:39 pm

Doesn't the SNP periodically say that is what is happening.....the English are stealing our water....despite there being no actual links....unlike the links from Wales to England.

You expect the SNP to have to be able to provide factual proof of their nonsensical claims?! That sir is heresy of the Highest Order and St Nicola, Queen of True Scots is frowning down upon you from her celestial throne!

Sorry...my bad.....

I have a better question. Why aren’t the English stealing Scottish water? What’s the point of conquering a place if you don’t exploit it? :p

Davion Highlander wrote: ↑Wed Aug 12, 2026 9:55 pm Hell today in a tribunal suite I had to be moved room to the back of the building as the normal waiting room at the front with large windows was "like a sauna". So they put me in with the doctor and social worker... Buildings in the UK just aren't designed for these types of heats.

You built them to maximize heating rather than to insulate the inside against the outside. Reasonable decision at the time, but you’re paying for it now.

Except we didn't conquer the place. Oh we tried and came very close on occasion but we never actually conquered the place.

What finally persuaded them into union was going broke when an attempt at a Scottish colonial empire backfired spectacularly.

Well 37 Celsius has comfortably been beaten today.

Two nearest weather stations to where I am are both showing 35.8 Celsius at the moment.

Johnnie Lyle wrote: ↑Thu Aug 13, 2026 2:02 amI have a better question. Why aren’t the English stealing Scottish water? What’s the point of conquering a place if you don’t exploit it? :p

We conquered them in 1603 when our King became theirs. Something we consolidated when after our colonial screw up, we took the dafties to the cleaners with a treaty of union that was far, far better than we deserved, given our financial condition.

Johnnie Lyle wrote: ↑Thu Aug 13, 2026 2:02 am

Paul Nuttall wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 7:49 pm

Davion Highlander wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 7:27 pm

You expect the SNP to have to be able to provide factual proof of their nonsensical claims?! That sir is heresy of the Highest Order and St Nicola, Queen of True Scots is frowning down upon you from her celestial throne!

Sorry...my bad.....

I have a better question. Why aren’t the English stealing Scottish water? What’s the point of conquering a place if you don’t exploit it? :p

A combination of reasons... One for most of the time period in question Scotland was too poor to pay for the level of occupation it would take to conquer - same reason the Roman's never managed it. Combined with the rather horrible terrain for occupation and then finally the fact that the Scots in whatever form were an absolute pain in the arse and tended to rebel again and again and again... We barely tolerated rule by our own people! Which made the first too points just that more difficult.

And David is 100% right that it was only when the Darien Scheme basically bankrupted the entire country and England offered to let us play in their colonies that we agreed to the Union. One source I read say we lost 25% of the entire wealth of the nation in that particular screw up. And even then there were riots in Scotland at the Act of Union. Which again shows just how stubborn we were.

And as Bernard said - the deal we got was frankly FANTASTIC given just how broke we were. I once pointed out to a Nationalist who was being a bit shouty about how Scotland would thrive during independence due to our "natural business sense" that the Darien scheme would beg to differ. He didn't get the reference and then denied it had happened.

Looks like 38.1 Celsius might be the top temperature today.

David Newton wrote: ↑Thu Aug 13, 2026 6:13 pm Looks like 38.1 Celsius might be the top temperature today.

You beat us today. We only made it to 37.78

NW UK
After a seriously sultry 'Sweaty Starfish' Thursday night, with scant relief due near-calm and, possibly, a 'temperature inversion', Friday morning has brought some relief.

There's a breeze of sorts, 'gusty puffs' displacing stagnant air the various desk-fans cannot shift.

Big air-mover doing its best to ventilate upstairs before temperature rises again.

Suffering from 'brain broil', glad I've several chapters in 'Fresno' edit buffer to cover muse outage...

I'd sulk if I had the energy.

It has come to this.

After 50 years without such a measure Wessex Water imposed a Hosepipe ban starting today.

41.11 here today