ragwert

21 hours ago, megilleland said:

Nice work if you know the right people:

Boris Johnson REFUSES to apologise for £18 billion 'cash for cronies' scandal and says No10 moved 'heaven and earth' to snap up PPE - as fury mounts over government's 'jobs for pals'

* National Audit Office said officials signed contracts for thousands of face masks that were actually useless

* NAO looked at 8,600 contracts awarded by Government from January to July amid claims some were flawed

* Boris Johnson told virtual PMQs: 'We shifted heaven and earth to get £32 billion items of PPE into this country'

* Alok Sharma refuses to apologise for trying to get PPE for NHS during first wave blaming 'huge pressure'

* Spanish middleman was paid £21 million of taxpayers' cash to set up PPE deal with US jewellery designer

* Suppliers with political contacts were given there own 'high-priority' lane and were ten times more likely to get Government contracts

* Companies with 'no relevant experience' pocketed £12 billion in shambolic scramble for PPE described as the 'wild west'. More than 1,300 contracts worth £10.5 billion were awarded by the Government with no competition whatsoever – increasing the chance of money being wasted

* US jewellery designer Michael Saiger was handed 'a number of lucrative contracts' worth £200 million after he started providing gloves and gowns to NHS staff. Young entrepreneur Sabia Mokeddem, 23, was handed a contract worth £880,000

* Lord Feldman's PR firm is helping a Covid testing firm given £28million contract after meeting where former Former Tory chairman was in the room advising Matt Hancock .

 

You could find friends relatives and mates anywhere if you dig deep enough. My Cousin is distantly related to the Queen whilst I'm related to Fred & Rose West so you could say the Queen is related to him .

Nice to see quite a few shops being filled

After a few e-mail exchanges with John Harrington way back last year I saw quite a few positive comments from him especially regarding the Asda lights and possible various traffic light removal.
Unfortunately every single one of those positive comments has come to nothing.
By the time they actually do something we won't have to look at a greener,clean way of travelling because we will all be running around in electric vehicles.

On 12/11/2020 at 15:03, Alex said:

River boat is a stupid idea. Turning the traffic lights off or making them part time will help

We need a positive & serious look at easing traffic problems in this City.Unfortunately our Council is run by a bunch of clueless clowns.

If the Eastern by-pass is the option they choose then the SLR needs to be built too.
And a river boat..Makes my angry that as serious as the problems with our roads and traffic are, we have a deluded Councillor that thinks this is an acceptable idea.
Give me a day with John Harrington and I could point out at least a dozen problem areas in the City that if changed would go a long way to easing congestion in this City

Absolute nightmare for my elderly mother.
We moved her into her flat on 6th Oct and I was in the middle of installing a new kitchen when we had a phone call from Estate agents on the10th Oct telling us to stop what we were doing and to get out of flat and hand keys back as their had been a huge error in the buying process by our solicitor.
I was thinking. Ok,a few days and we would be back in flat.......It's now 5th November,lockdown,she is still homeless and 'sofa surfing' between families.
She is on medication because she cannot sleep and has just been put on anti depressents by her Dr.
She has been treated apallingly by certain solicitors and has been left homless though no fault of her own.
We now have lockdown and she has a medical condition & is elderly which meams she needs to self isolate which she cannot do.
Everyone involved in this process is saying they know what my mothers predicament is and they are trying to end this nightmare as quickly as possible but me and my family dont see this.When it comes to solicitors there is no care and compassion at all.

An ambulance has caught fire on Dinmore Hill this afternoon badly damaging the front cab.
There were no patients on board at the time and two crew members managed to remove vital equipment from the back of the ambulance before fire crews arrived.
 

Photos courtesy of Angel Carpenter

Lockdown from Thursday until 1st December

Herefordshire Council are to send a letter to every houshold in Herefordshire warning that a move to tier two restrictions is imminent after the latest figures show that the infection level over the past seven days has risen to 84.5 infections per 100,000.

Image courtesy of SkyNews

When levels pass 100 infections tier two restrictions will be bought in and are as follows ..

All businesses and venues can continue to operate, in a Covid-secure manner, other than those that remain closed in law, such as nightclubs and adult entertainment venues

Certain businesses selling food or drink on their premises are required to close between 10pm and 5am. Businesses and venues selling food for consumption off the premises can continue to do so after 10pm as long as this is through delivery service, click-and-collect or drive-thru

Schools, universities and places of worship remain open

Weddings and funerals can go ahead with restrictions on the number of attendees

Exercise classes and organised sport can continue to take place outdoors. They will only be permitted indoors if it is possible for people to avoid mixing with people they do not live with or share a support bubble with, or for youth or disability sport

The “Rule of Six” will continue to apply outdoors and in private gardens

People must not meet with anybody outside their household or support bubble in any indoor setting, whether at home or in a public place

People should aim to reduce the number of journeys they make where possible. If they need to travel, they should walk or cycle where possible, or to plan ahead and avoid busy times and routes on public transport

Somebody been watching Back to the future way too much

Just another absured and archaic part of our history that needs to be abolished.

You are now automatically snapped when you arrive and leave in Morrisons so I'd wait 14 days to see if you get an invoice.
 

Nice n bright

There has also been an attack with a liquid substance being thrown at a pedestrian from a passing car.

The drive by shootings that have caused damage to various premises in Hereford has sudenly taken a more serious turn with the gunman now shooting at people.
Ian Jebb,a keen photographer was shot at last night whilst taking photos of the Old Wye bridge.
An air rifel pellet missed Ian but hit his tripod carrier and thrown over his sholder.
Ian has reported the incident to the Police.

5 hours ago, H.Wilson said:

This is because they stereotype  people and put all the druggies and people claiming benefits in one area

Well I've lived in them all except Hinton and they all have big problems with drugs.
Drug dealing every day around the corner from me on the College Est.Police don't want to know

On 30/09/2020 at 10:34, NastyNick said:

Just had a look on: https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/roads-1/roadworks

Its saying that the B4224 is going to be closed until the end of December, now! Seriously!?

I think its time an inquiry was started to look at what the hell is taking so long and why is it costing so much. If it was going to cost £2.65m to open in September, how much more are they going to rape the public coffers to open in December!?

Well its a Balfor Beatty job.If its anything like the line painting gang down Widemarsh Street yesterday then no wonder its taking an eternity to finish the work.

One guy painting the lines while four others watched him painting.
 

Released on bail 

I think the only way we are going to have a decent bloody Christmas is to kill the Turkey and have 30 people over for its funeral

We need to get on top of the 80% of people who are told to self isolate for 14 days and ignore it.

A face only a mother could love

Horahh.
I would of said finally some common sense but this was implemented by people with an extreamly high level of incompetence.

22 hours ago, DataHoldsTheAnswers said:

Well, the debate rages on! Personally I think the changes are much overdue and certainly needed. Yes I can see the frustration of being stuck in traffic, but as the original poster pointed out, everyone is in their cars during the school rush, and that's why the traffic is so BAD. It certainly isn't the cyclists' fault!  They hardly take up any road space at all.

I reckon COVID and the resulting change in working practices means that routinely coming to work 15 mins later because of a cycled school run won't actually be a problem for 99% of bosses and employees.

Many people have been hoodwinked by the Tory roadbuilding lobby (Chair of Jesse Norman's constituency association runs a road building consultancy!!) but the truth is that only 7% of Hereford's traffic, which is currently through traffic on the A49, would actually use the bypass. 93% of journeys in Hereford start and/or terminate in Hereford centre itself. Such as school run trips (as a good example). The only way to reduce the congestion with that pattern of vehicle and road use is to either

(1) build more and wider roads in central Hereford to accommodate all the mothers in SUVs. However, there isn't space for that!

OR

(2) Get those in cars, who could use an alternative mode of transport, to use that alternative mode. Yes, that means walking to school, cycling to work, taking the bus to the shops, etc.

What so many drivers seem to forget at they sit fuming about the traffic is that THEY ARE THE TRAFFIC! Or perhaps, like the police, it's one rule for them, and a different rule for everyone else? Who knows?

What is for sure though, is that a bypass, costing at least quarter of a billion taxpayers' quids and taking at least 10 years to plan, consult endlessly on and then build, won't actually solve the problem. It will only divert a tiny fraction of that traffic from Hereford, ie, the through traffic (7%) and those lucky enough to have a commute from, say, Belmont to Holmer, which can't be that many in the grand scheme of things.

At least with the cycle lanes they can be built quickly, don't cost much (I think in round 1 of Gov't funded improvements the Council only managed to bid for a paltry 40k), and at the end of the day, if they really don't work, can be removed pretty easily too. Unlike a hulking great dual carriageway across Grade 1 agricultural land.

We need to think what the future will look like with more CO2 in the atmosphere and more extreme flooding and climatic events happening. I hope for my children's sake that there are lots of bicycles and bike lanes included in the future vision!

7% is only through traffic .....lol
Are you sure that's not the HGV count about 3 years ago that showed we had near 1,500 going through the City every single day?
 

Big Mac 

I'd like to see this 2 million Hfd Council are going to get from Govt  used to install proper cycle lanes & not this facical attempt at doing so by painting silly white lines.
Apart from the dangerous lane dividing and 20ft long bus lane on the other side of Commercial Road the pic below to me is an attempt to have as many cyclists as possible hit and maimed by oncoming vehicles.