… but there seems to have been a severe outbreak of gobshitery across the water. Here is a Reuter’s article on HMG’s world-beating handling of the coronavirus .
Don’t overlook the short article “The game changer that wasn’t” at the bottom of the page.
Posted in Foreign parts, Modern matters, Politics
Tagged boris johnston, coronavirus, covid, gobshite, UK
Brian Lucey suggests that we should consider [note: not that we should definitely decide on] sealing the border with Northern Ireland. That would mean running a wall down the middle of the Woodford River section of the Shannon–Erne Waterway and would put paid to this business idea. We could of course cover it with solar panels, but I hope Prof Brian isn’t suggesting the Mexicans should pay for it.
Posted in Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Historical matters, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Non-waterway, Operations, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Shannon, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged border, brexit, Erne, Northern Ireland, SEW, Shannon–Erne Waterway, UK
I mentioned earlier that Waterways Ireland intends to promote the collection, archiving and use of waterways oral history. Across the water, I gather that the Canal & River Trust is setting up a Canal Research Network:
Canal & River Trust is the charity entrusted with the care of 2,000 miles of waterways in England and Wales. Our canals are home to over 2,700 listed structures, 50 scheduled ancient monuments and five UNESCO world heritage sites. The National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port is home to the Waterways Archive, an internationally significant collection of historic records relating to Britain’s waterways and the people who built, used, and lived on and near them both within Britain and as connections to the sea and the world beyond.
We are keen to establish a scholarly research network for academics and researchers in other organisations to connect with the Canal & River Trust and with each other, sharing their research and finding opportunities for collaboration. The reach of our organisation and the quality of resources available means that there is real scope to develop meaningful, impactful projects together.
We would very much like to invite you to the inaugural meeting of the Canal Research Network at the Rolt Conference Centre at the National Waterways Museum on Wednesday 22nd July from 11am – 2pm. There will be an opportunity to hear about future plans for the museum and archive — including a proposed collaborative doctoral award between Canal & River Trust and the University of Huddersfield. We are unable to cover travel
costs, but lunch will be provided.RSVP john.benson@canalrivertrust.org.uk by Monday 13 July. Full details of the programme will be sent in due course.
Please feel free to pass this invitation on to colleagues in your organisation or elsewhere who may be interested in coming — please ask them to RSVP to the email above. And if you would like to be part of the network but cannot make that date, let us know and we will add you to the mailing list for future events.
With all best wishes
John Benson
Archivist
The Waterways Archive
National Waterways Museum
South Pier Road
Ellesmere Port
Cheshire
CH65 4FW
Tel: 0151 373 4378 […]
That reached me on the same day as the Railway & Canal Historical Society’s Journal Number 223, July 2015, which contains an article by Joseph Boughey “Waterways history research: progress, prospects, problems and limits”, in which he says
What is now needed, I submit, is a Waterways Study Centre (WSC), or rather two, one in physical form, one provided and accessed by electronic means. […] I would envisage that [the WSC] would need to be located in, or close to, an established archive of documents and other artefacts. (Given this, only one or two current locations seem appropriate, but ideally existing facilities could be expanded!)
The European Commission is taking the UK government to court because it
… does not require fuel distributors to have two separate fuel tanks to distinguish between the lower tax marked fuel and the fuel subject to the standard rate.
As a result, owners of pleasure craft sometimes (poor dears) find themselves with no choice but to buy red diesel and they may not pay the right amount of tax, which is no doubt a cause of great sadness to them.
As I (and the Irish Examiner) reported some time ago, the Commission is also coming after Ireland’s ludicrous arrangement. Ireland was to respond to the Reasoned Opinion by 16 June 2014; the Revenue Commissioners have not told me how (or indeed whether) they responded.
Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Sea, Sources, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged boats, European Commission, green diesel, Ireland, marked gas oil, mineral oil tax, Operations, red diesel, UK, waterways
New development in UK to fight leaks from canals. Full story here.
Posted in Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Operations, Waterways management
Tagged Pennine Waterways, UK
Irish waterways history 