EnterName

There's that "coercion" I was talking about, though reading the Clean Technica article, it seems Ethiopia has been a bit of a dumping ground for knackered cars from Europeans countries, so the ban might not be as anti-ICE as it seems.

For me, home charging is a massive benefit of EVs. The prospect of not having to use public charging points would be a big incentive for me. Concerns over EV longevity is a real concern for people like me, who keep their cars for a relatively long time. Several times I've read of people gushing praise over their new car, only to replace it a couple of years later. I realise there are a variety of reasons for changing a car, but if I have a decent car, I hang onto it, so I find it odd for people to gush praise over a car they only plan to keep 2-3 years. The prospect of only having 80% of the range it used to have after a few years ownership does not appeal to me.

It must be very difficult for car manufacturers to plan manufacturing, when on one hand the people who buy cars are hesitant about buying EVs, but governments are increasingly insistent that they do. For some time, vehicle manufacturers bought into the various governments' agendas, and invested heavily in EV production. As we have seen in the UK, it doesn't really matter what the general public want, as, extremists aside, they just do what they are told by the Government, whatever it is, once a critical mass consensus has been established. (Organic or artificial, a consensus is a consensus, if it's the only opinion allowed.) I am trying to understand what is happening with EVs now, as some vehicle manufacturers scale back commitment to EV production. Are they responding to the market cooling on EVs, in defiance of government diktats? Do they anticipate regime changes in their various markets, and are pausing commitments while they see how such changes play out? Is the slow-down really all about cost? Personally, buying costs seem reasonable, but living with an EV demands more compromises than I am prepared to put up with at this time. Or maybe it's a combination of factors? Taxes on EV use are starting to trickle in, and free charging is starting to disappear for many EV users, so apart from the affluent idealists with their solar panels and battery storage etc., running costs are going to rise for the average EV user, not least of which will be insurance, as insurance companies realise that even fairly humdrum collisions can write-off an EV. It seems that now all the early adopters have got their EVs, as well as most of guests late to the EV party, so those who remain without EVs seem to be a hardcore of stubborn people who like ICE vehicles, and are going to have to be forced out of them into EVs. (Perhaps like drug addicts, they'll be weaned-off ICE vehicles via hybrids. 😄) But if everyone who wants an EV has one, and if coercion is the only way to get most people to choose an EV over ICE, then there may be some political fallout for the governments doing the coercion. https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-delays-ev-manufacturing-investment-cars-too-expensive-2023-10?r=US&IR=T https://archive.ph/GHRip

I'd have to see the figures before I can comment on that claim. Also what is "pledged" for set-aside and what is actually paid to farmers may not correlate 100%.

"Ultra-nationalist"? Is that how people on the left describe the "far/ultra/hyper-right" when they don't want to sound particularly negative about them? It's not just Poland. Farmers all over Europe have been kicking off, starting in the Netherlands IIRC.

Now its reported to be a "punch to the heart". https://archive.ph/FobSN

Oh well, let's run with the "evidence" you provided. Link 1: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-mob-organized-crime-213910/ If you want to get your building built, you'd better cooperate or else. So Trump cooperated on got his building built, at increased cost but it was built. Being rolled by the mob does not make you a mobster, any more than meekly handing over your wallet to the man with the gun pointed at you makes you a robber. Link 2: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/08/donald-trump-rico-indictment-georgia-mafia-ties/ Again, the accusation are much the same as in the first link. Trump was obliged, like the rest of New York businessmen, to navigate demands from the Mafia or suffer the consequences. Link 3: https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a33350476/fear-city-new-york-mafia-donald-trump-tower-mob-ties-explained/ Ditto 1 & 2 but with added Netflix. Reminder: Trump left power on Jan 21st 2021, The Russia Ukraine conflict started just over a year later in Feb 2022, while Joe Biden was President of the USA. I'll ask people to scroll back up to see who brought up Trump on this thread. Even Farage has been dragged into the thread, and while I haven't yet seen Brexit blamed for Russia entering Ukraine, it can only be a matter of time. 😄 As I said, never a word about Biden, it's like the current President of the USA doesn't exist. His absence from this thread is at least remarkable, if not suspicious.

I do not know what you're talking about, mainly as you're taking great care to insinuate much while saying little.

Evidence?

I'd love to get into this, but it really is too far off topic for this thread. 😊

Is this a theory that Trump was in league with the mafia? 😄 As for "might have", there's no "might" about it. In case you've forgotten, Trump did have enemies killed, as did Obama before him. These two are prominent, well-reported examples Soleimani. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/02/middleeast/baghdad-airport-rockets/index.html Fazlullah https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/06/trump-takes-out-top-taliban-leader-in-drone-strike/ I expect he had a few quietly despatched as well. (Assuming you accept the USA has the ability to quietly despatch enemies without media reporting on anything more than the death itself, possibly as some sort of regrettable accident. "Oh no! We accidentally bombed a wedding? Oh wow, well do WE feel silly now! Don't worry, lessons will be learned so as not to repeat such a terrible mistake in the future.🤞") Given the amount of dirt-digging on Trump that has been done, when compared to the disgusting corruption of the rest of politicians in the US (of all flavours), the tiny amount of dirt that has managed to be dug up on him seems to indicate to me he's one of the "cleaner" politicians. Fining him over $300m for taking out and repaying a loan to a happy lender is a spectacular example of lawfare, yet it is used as an example of Trump's corruption. Please!🙄 We'll have to wait until Biden leaves power until the media is let off the leash to expose his corruption, but when that happens, I am sure it will make anything Trump has done look utterly insignificant by comparison. I suspect a fair few people already know this, which is likely why the usual suspects on Briskoda never offer opinion on Biden, though they have plenty to say about Trump. I suspect Trump would have nipped the Ukraine / Russia conflict in the bud, and I very much doubt he would be spraying the Rat King Zelenskyy with cash in the way the Biden regime has.

Politics is a complicated and messy business, with much of the machinations of the people running countries being hidden from the people. In the West, it can be difficult to know exactly who is running the show, but there are long running suspicions that politicians are not the people who are in control of things. (If those suspicions are correct, it would explain why politicians of all flavours in the UK ignore the wishes of their constituents, and all seem to do much the same thing on certain issues.) Ironically, in less democratic countries, it's usually obvious who is in power. Example: Nobody thought anyone was pulling Saddam Hussain's strings from behind a curtain. But few are naive enough to believe that Joe Biden is actually driving US policy at this time. (Spoiler, it's not Kamala Harris, either.) Russia is a funny case, in that as I see it, it is an almost an inversion of Western politics. As all the shrieking about "Putler!" clearly shows, nobody is in doubt that Putin is running Russia. However working out who the opposition to Putin in Russia, is substantially more difficult, as Russian leadership has long followed the maxim that the best way to deal with opposition is to lead it itself. We get a lesser degree of this in the West, commonly known as "Astroturfed" movements, so called as they are controlled movements intended to look like grassroots movements. There are a fair-few example of this, and there isn't on source of astroturfed movements, but they all have the same goal: Generate a noisy narrative a get people to believe the narrative is the voice of the people, and encourage them to join in. You can usually spot an astroturfed movement as it goes from nowhere to everywhere is a very short period of time, with full media support, only to suddenly disappear again. For the record, it seems to me that Putin had Navalney killed. But that said, if Navalney had been covertly killed by any external agency, doubtless it would still look like Putin had instigated Navalney's death. (It wasn't that long ago that people on here were accusing Russia of blowing up their own gas pipeline, despite the US saying they were going to shut it down one way or another. There's a thread on that here.) The sad truth is, that in developed countries, there are no completely good guys to unreservedly support, or completely bad guys to unreservedly condemn.

For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk. We learned to listen. Speech has allowed a communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible. Mankind's greatest achievements have come about by talking. And its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn't have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do, is make sure we keep talking. Wise words to live by.

I don't know how, Navalney died, and nor do you, as your careful disclaimer shows. Edit: Incidentally, I have no idea where Lee's alleged conspiracy theory came from. Has anyone seen it posted online, other than by Lee on Briskoda? If the President of the USA asked the head of the CIA "What would you say you do here?", the official narrative is that the head of the CIA would tell the President that the CIA "collects, evaluates, and disseminates vital information on economic, military, political, scientific, and other developments abroad to safeguard national security. " https://www.usa.gov/agencies/central-intelligence-agency If anyone genuinely believes that answer is the full scope of CIA activities, then that would add context to a lot of the disagreement on this forum. As a thought exercise for such an individual: Do you also believe that Russia has the ability to kill dissidents around the world by nefarious means, but America does not? Or do you believe that America has a similar (or more sophisticated) capability, but chooses not use it? I realise asking awkward questions that expose internal contradictions can be triggering for some people, but I think it's a risk worth taking.

I agree, and that thought is a great source of comfort in these dark times.

👋So long Steve!

No, I don't think it is. See my enhanced pic above.

I'm not sure what that's supposed to look like, but it looks wrong to me. I ran it through my CSI enhancer (😄) and to my untrained eye, that does not look like a healthy connection.

@nta16 already gave a load of great advice, and my unsolicited advice is as follows. (I'll admit, when I was your age, I am unlikely to have followed the advice, but I still think it's good advice. Some of it is unfortunately a bit late, but I'm usually late to threads.) As a first car, buy the cheapest car to run, ideally with low depreciation, and run it properly with good tyres, good fuel, and good maintenance. Insurance, fuel economy, VED rate, maintenance etc. are all part of running costs. IMO, do not mod it at all, focus your effort and resource on getting your maintenance absolutely perfect. None of those silly K&N filters, wheel spacers, loud exhausts, tints, wraps, bigger wheels, carbon-fibre bonnets, spoilers, lowering springs etc. etc. Yes they're all well and good, but IMO they're more trouble than they're worth and usually end up being a costly mistake. (Having made some of those mistakes, I speak from experience.) If you can't resist modding it, maybe splash out on a better ICE (in car entertainment) system if it needs it, without going mad. Installing a good dash camera is a sensible mod that may well reward you. (Watch out for it being used as evidence of speeding, though.) Maintain the car well, use good fuel and run on great tyres. (Great tyres are the best "mod" you'll ever make to a car.) View that first car as an investment in yourself. You're putting-up with a low powered car you don't find particularly desirable, to allow you get down to a sensible insurance cost on a car you do want. If you don't mod it and you look after it, with luck you'll get fair money back, and at the least it will be easier to sell than some boy-racer cast-off. The good news is, you'll find that there's an awful lot of fun to be had in a reliable, well-maintained but low-powered car that's running well on good tyres. (Dull & quiet cars seem to draw less attention from the cops, too.) Whatever you do, I'm sure you'll have a ball. But I expect you'll look back on having paid that £6700 insurance with astonishment in a few years. All that said, it's your money for you to spend as you see fit. Enjoy and good luck! 👍 ( Sorry to sound like a Dad, but I am a Dad, so that's just how I sound. 😄)

I live in a soft water area, and have upped my screenwash concentrate. Not sure I can stretch to filtered water, but it's worth considering, thanks. 👍

No. What did I say that makes you ask that?

I struggled for some time to find a suitable replacement for my Mk3 Mondeo, and my Mk3 Octavia has fitted the bill perfectly. It does everything well. The rear washer issue can be mitigated with regular use, though it's a nuisance having to do that, but that's pretty much it.

This has got me thinking, I really need to video my engine running. That way when I take it to the garage saying "My engine is making a funny noise." I'll be able to give them a normal baseline for comparison.

Thanks @varaderoguy, Is there also a time element to coil pack failure, or is purely a mileage/use issue?

Hello! I suggest you read out loud exactly what you have written, and then edit your post to ask the question(s) you thought you were asking.