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[MostlyBonkers]

Good idea Erasmo, I'll add that suggestion to the list.

[MostlyBonkers]

I've had a response!

**********

Thank you for your email regarding the implementation of electric motorcycle grants. Anne has asked me to respond to your email so that you have a reply as quickly as possible.
 
Anne has asked me to let you know that further to your email, she has written to Anne Soubry MP, Minister of State for Business and Enterprise, regarding this matter. Specifically she has requested the timescale for this scheme to be brought into practise, and any further information regarding the implementation of this grant. We will, of course, let you know as soon as we receive a response.
 
Thank you once again for your email to Anne.

**********

Let's hope the minister is as responsive as my local MP, who happens to be a Tory by the way.

[GBEV]

I too have had the first ever response form our local Tory MP.

Unfortunately not worth posting as it is just a load of cut and pasted paragraphs about what her government want us to think they are actualy doing about green issues like local lack of charge points which I had already emailed her about.

Sadly there was not even a mention of the plug in motorcycle grant so I  replied and pointed out that omission was noted and I awaited a relevant reply to the actual subject in the header .

BTW I think it was the CC link to the Guardian political section which flushed her out

[MostlyBonkers]

There's talk that something might actually happen with this subsidy soon.

I wonder if this petition and a few of us writing to our local MP's had made a difference?

[Justin Andrews]

If there is going to be an announcement, then I suspect the most likely date is November 25th, which is the Autumn budget statement.

[MostlyBonkers]

Well blow me, I got a response from our Minister of State for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise!  It came in via my local MP.  I'm afraid it isn't the news we want, but it's certainly better than nothing.  In a nutshell:  It's being looked at in consideration under the current Spending Review.

Here's the response from my local MP:


*****************
As you are aware, further to previous correspondence, Anne wrote to the Government regarding the grants for low-emission motorcycles.

We have since received a response which I have attached to this email for your information. It appears that this is still under consideration and that we are still waiting to hear further information following the Spending Review.

Hopefully we will find out more information soon.

With best wishes,
*****************

With best wishes?  Not even a "Now get back in your little hole, you worthless peasant!"

I've attached a screenshot of the letter, which I've redacted to remove any details that would incriminate me...  ;-)

That has been my first ever foray into the world of politics, other than voting and marching against the Gulf War a number of years ago.  A million people marching in the streets of London didn't make a difference then so I must admit I'm pleasantly surprised! (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2765041.stm).

[MostlyBonkers]

Did anyone get any info on this from today's budget speech? I haven't looked into it yet.

[Justin Andrews]

No specifics in the speech, but there was this in the statement document.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spending-review-and-autumn-statement-2015-documents

11.10

The government will spend more than £600 million between 2015-16 and 2020-21 to support uptake and manufacturing of ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs) in the UK, maintaining the global leadership that has seen 1 in 4 of all European electric vehicles built here and keep the UK on track for all new cars to be effectively zero emission by 2040. This investment will save 65 million tonnes of carbon and help deliver the Long Term answer on urban air quality.

Take from that what you will.


I'm still getting over the rather stupid gaffe by the Shadow Chancellor myself... 

[MostlyBonkers]

Thanks Justin. Judging by that and the letter from the Minister, I'd say we have a few more months to wait for anything concrete.

[MostlyBonkers]

The petition wasn't very successful, unless it's presence was as important as the number of signatures. Maybe the letters to local MP's helped. Or maybe the timing was fortuitous with COP21 happening at around the same time. The net result is that Streetbike sound confident that there is some solid news around the corner. Also that it's worth hanging on for a few weeks as the subsidy is likely to go live in January. It feels like waiting for a miracle to happen!

In the meantime, please enjoy a look at another UK petition that has had considerably more success:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/114003

[Doug S]

As an American in (what I presume is) good standing, let me just go on the record as apologizing to the rest of the world for the donald's election antics. Please be assured that he's max'ed out at about 30% of the vote of the slightly smaller of our two political parties, or somewhat less than 15% of the total vote, and the rest of us are as incredulous as you are even at that. Those of us who belong to the other party are silently praying he DOES win the nomination, since that would essentially guarantee victory to our party's candidate.

Also please remember that we helped win WWII, we invented the transistor, television, computers and iPhones. Oh, and Tesla, not to mention Brammo and Zero motorcycles! On balance I'm still somewhat proud of being an American.

[MostlyBonkers]

I love it Doug! [emoji4]

I hadn't intended to make a sideways stab at American politics, just to illustrate how powerful a high profile media splash can get people to make the effort. Over 300,000 in a few days? It's amother demonstration of how powerful the media is. I guess a lot of it is fear. We all know that comments like his can't be taken seriously but we'll go to the effort of signing a petition just to be on the safe side.

As for Americans in general... Just the fact that Mr Trump thinks he can get up on stage and make statements like that says it all really. How far out of touch with reality is it possible to be?

I respect you as an individual Doug. I think that a lot of things that America and Americans stand for are honourable. However, that is a seriously screwed up country you have there my friend! The American dream seems to have turned into the American delusion.

I have faith that good will prevail. It isn't all bad. We have a lot of work to do over here in the UK too.

I do hope I'm not offending anyone here. Politics eh? It really seems to quash our efforts towards the environment and the simple things in life like the freedom of the road and the rush of the wind. I need a holiday...

[Doug S]

Nah, of course I was joking, I couldn't be prouder to be an American, and especially a Californian. Sure, politically we have our share of morons (perhaps a bit more than our share), and in reality Trump isn't the worst of the lot (look up Rafael [Ted] Cruz and Darrell Issa, for two). But both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are dynamic, progressive, affirmative choices, and it's pretty clear that one of them will win. My personal first choice, Elizabeth Warren, chose not to even run this time, but she's waiting in the wings. Our House and Senate are just a pendulum swing away from normalcy -- they swing back and forth regularly. More and more states are adopting independent commissions to draw their districts, so the specter of gerrymandering will soon join slavery in our long list of bad memories.

But who cares about politics anyhow? Everything I said was true -- we invent ALL the cool stuff. Extreme creativity is encouraged, fostered and funded, diversity is celebrated (except for the above-mentioned morons) and life is generally very, very good. I can't imagine moving out of California.

I was going to apologize for hijacking the thread, but it's your thread, so hijack away!

[MostlyBonkers]

I spend far too much time commuting and sitting inside because it's cold and wet outside. It's easy to feel a bit jealous of people living it up in sunny California. Pointing my finger makes me feel a bit better about life here in the gloom occasionally! We have pubs. All those smartphones run on chips designed in Cambridge. We  have cool stuff too! [emoji4]

[Justin Andrews]

invented the ... television, computers

Very very Debatable

The first mechanical computer was built in antiquity.
Certainly the first programming language and programs were developed by Lady Lovelace back in the 19 Century.
The first Turing complete mechanical mathematical computer was designed (and partly built) by Babbage and Lovelace.
Alan Turing develops the ideas that underpin all modern computers.
The Germans with the work of Zuse probably got to the electro-mechanical computer first with the Z1
The first fully electronic vacuum tube computer was the American ABC machine
The first digital programmable computer was built in Britain (Colossus)
The first Turing complete computer is built in the US (ENIAC)

So who invented the computer?
Take your pick. :p


Oh, and don't bandy the television one around certain parts of Scotland if you want to leave with all your body parts in the same place you arrived...

Annnyway, I digress too.