February 3rd, 2009, 07:16
I keep hearing about snow, now not just in Canada but in the UK as well. All this goes along with MY theory about "global warming". It must be quite miserable right now in the UK. I see that Gordon is under fire again.
But what about Thailand? I would say that this year this winter month of January has been noticeably hotter than the last few Januaries. I think Bangkok's on to a sudden year of unusually high temperatures, especially during the summer. Has anyone else seen the weather predictions I saw?
The day the snow came - and Britain stopped
тАв Roads, railways airports closed
тАв Heaviest snow in 18 years
тАв Storm likely to cost UK over ┬г1bn
The Guardian, Tuesday 3 February 2009
The heaviest snowfall for 18 years paralysed swaths of the country yesterday, bringing chaos to roads, railways and airports, closing thousands of schools and businesses, and costing the economy an estimated ┬г1.2bn in lost working hours.
Although the snow had been forecast since last week, much of Britain was overwhelmed, with conditions forcing one in five workers to stay at home, as many as 3,000 schools closed and many non-urgent hospital operations were postponed.
The south-east bore the brunt of the snow, which settled to a depth of 25cm (10in) in Kent and Surrey, and saw all flights cancelled at Heathrow and London City airports, leaving thousands stranded.
London's public transport system buckled under the stress, with all but a handful of bus routes cancelled yesterday morning and 10 of the 11 underground lines either completely or partly suspended.
Rail passengers trying to travel in and out of London found services disrupted or cancelled, while motorists were warned that they risked hypothermia if they failed to take reasonable precautions.
As the snowfall intensified yesterday afternoon, and forecasters warned the cold snap could last for the week, the government and the London mayor, Boris Johnson, were under pressure to explain why they had not been better prepared.
During a press conference with the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, Gordon Brown <yeah, Gordon> said every effort was being made to get the transport system moving again.
"We are doing everything in our power to ensure that the services - road, rail and airports - are open as quickly as possible and we are continuously monitoring this throughout the day," he said.
But the Conservatives said bad winter weather was not a wholly unexpected phenomenon and better provision should have been made. "Both our national and local transport infrastructure should have better contingency plans in place for extreme weather," said Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport secretary. Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrats' transport spokesman, said Britain had collapsed "into chaos at the first hint of snow".
Johnson defended his decision to suspend London's bus network, saying while everything possible had been done to clear the roads, the capital simply could not cope with heavy snow. He also argued that the rarity of heavy snow in the capital meant it would be uneconomical to buy the kind of snowploughs that clear New York's streets.
But Ken Livingstone, the former mayor, criticised Johnson, saying he had plenty of time to prepare for the storm, which was predicted late last week. "There has never been a day where the bus service has been cancelled for bad weather. Not in 100 years," Livingstone told the BBC.
Johnson told BBC Radio 4's The World at One that "unleashing a 12-tonne bus on to heavily packed snow or ice" would risk "turning it into a lethal weapon".
He announced a one-day suspension of the congestion charge and urged the city's inhabitants and workers to "pull together and pool resources to get London through this difficult situation". A spokesman for the mayor said yesterday there were no plans to waive the congestion charge today should the weather worsen, but the situation was being kept under close review and a "Herculean effort" was being made to get the city moving again.
Local authorities denied that their failure to grit roads in time had led to large numbers of workers staying home. The Local Government Association said it was the responsibility of Transport for London to keep arterial roads and red routes gritted. Paul Bettison, chairman of the LGA's environment board, said councils were being used as scapegoats for others' failure. "The claim that it is local authorities' fault that they cannot run services needs to be treated with a huge pinch of gritting salt," he said.
The London Ambulance Service said it was responding only to "life-threatening" emergency calls. It received more than 650 calls between midnight and 7am yesterday. Thames Valley police said yesterday a lorry driver, 59, died when his vehicle hit a car and then struck a central reservation. The truck and a BMW X5 were travelling towards Oxford on the A420 at Southmoor when the crash happened.
But what about Thailand? I would say that this year this winter month of January has been noticeably hotter than the last few Januaries. I think Bangkok's on to a sudden year of unusually high temperatures, especially during the summer. Has anyone else seen the weather predictions I saw?
The day the snow came - and Britain stopped
тАв Roads, railways airports closed
тАв Heaviest snow in 18 years
тАв Storm likely to cost UK over ┬г1bn
The Guardian, Tuesday 3 February 2009
The heaviest snowfall for 18 years paralysed swaths of the country yesterday, bringing chaos to roads, railways and airports, closing thousands of schools and businesses, and costing the economy an estimated ┬г1.2bn in lost working hours.
Although the snow had been forecast since last week, much of Britain was overwhelmed, with conditions forcing one in five workers to stay at home, as many as 3,000 schools closed and many non-urgent hospital operations were postponed.
The south-east bore the brunt of the snow, which settled to a depth of 25cm (10in) in Kent and Surrey, and saw all flights cancelled at Heathrow and London City airports, leaving thousands stranded.
London's public transport system buckled under the stress, with all but a handful of bus routes cancelled yesterday morning and 10 of the 11 underground lines either completely or partly suspended.
Rail passengers trying to travel in and out of London found services disrupted or cancelled, while motorists were warned that they risked hypothermia if they failed to take reasonable precautions.
As the snowfall intensified yesterday afternoon, and forecasters warned the cold snap could last for the week, the government and the London mayor, Boris Johnson, were under pressure to explain why they had not been better prepared.
During a press conference with the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, Gordon Brown <yeah, Gordon> said every effort was being made to get the transport system moving again.
"We are doing everything in our power to ensure that the services - road, rail and airports - are open as quickly as possible and we are continuously monitoring this throughout the day," he said.
But the Conservatives said bad winter weather was not a wholly unexpected phenomenon and better provision should have been made. "Both our national and local transport infrastructure should have better contingency plans in place for extreme weather," said Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport secretary. Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrats' transport spokesman, said Britain had collapsed "into chaos at the first hint of snow".
Johnson defended his decision to suspend London's bus network, saying while everything possible had been done to clear the roads, the capital simply could not cope with heavy snow. He also argued that the rarity of heavy snow in the capital meant it would be uneconomical to buy the kind of snowploughs that clear New York's streets.
But Ken Livingstone, the former mayor, criticised Johnson, saying he had plenty of time to prepare for the storm, which was predicted late last week. "There has never been a day where the bus service has been cancelled for bad weather. Not in 100 years," Livingstone told the BBC.
Johnson told BBC Radio 4's The World at One that "unleashing a 12-tonne bus on to heavily packed snow or ice" would risk "turning it into a lethal weapon".
He announced a one-day suspension of the congestion charge and urged the city's inhabitants and workers to "pull together and pool resources to get London through this difficult situation". A spokesman for the mayor said yesterday there were no plans to waive the congestion charge today should the weather worsen, but the situation was being kept under close review and a "Herculean effort" was being made to get the city moving again.
Local authorities denied that their failure to grit roads in time had led to large numbers of workers staying home. The Local Government Association said it was the responsibility of Transport for London to keep arterial roads and red routes gritted. Paul Bettison, chairman of the LGA's environment board, said councils were being used as scapegoats for others' failure. "The claim that it is local authorities' fault that they cannot run services needs to be treated with a huge pinch of gritting salt," he said.
The London Ambulance Service said it was responding only to "life-threatening" emergency calls. It received more than 650 calls between midnight and 7am yesterday. Thames Valley police said yesterday a lorry driver, 59, died when his vehicle hit a car and then struck a central reservation. The truck and a BMW X5 were travelling towards Oxford on the A420 at Southmoor when the crash happened.