REPORT FOR WEST END WARD – WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 7 MAY 2018
South Union Street/South Marketgait at Dundee Railway Station – northbound nearside lane closure from 9.30am for one week for footway works.
Perth Road (at West Park Road) – temporary traffic lights until mid week for gas main repair.
Lochee Road (at Tullideph Road) – temporary traffic lights until Monday 7 May for Scottish Water mains repair.
Blackness Road (at Bellfield Street) – off-peak temporary traffic lights on Friday 11 May for BT cabling works.
Riverside Drive (at Tesco) – eastbound convoy system on Sunday 13 May for Scottish Water manhole repair.
Weekly Road Report – West End Ward #dundeewestend
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL – WEEKLY ROAD REPORT
REPORT FOR WEST END WARD – WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 7 MAY 2018
South Union Street/South Marketgait at Dundee Railway Station – northbound nearside lane closure from 9.30am for one week for footway works.
Perth Road (at West Park Road) – temporary traffic lights until mid week for gas main repair.
Lochee Road (at Tullideph Road) – temporary traffic lights until Monday 7 May for Scottish Water mains repair.
Blackness Road (at Bellfield Street) – off-peak temporary traffic lights on Friday 11 May for BT cabling works.
Riverside Drive (at Tesco) – eastbound convoy system on Sunday 13 May for Scottish Water manhole repair.
Germany and China celebrate Marx’s 200th birthday
Germany accepted the gift of a large statue to Marx from China to commemorate 200 years since Marx’s birth. Their were very mixed views in Germany we read about accepting this gift, and even more mixed views of the legacy of the political philosopher.
There is no doubt of his influence. Some of the teachers and lecturers I heard were heavily influenced by what they thought Marx had said, though most of them also thought you could adapt Marxism to a social democrat framework. They were not normally willing to defend Marxism as practised in the USSR at the time. I read some of Marx’s works to find out how a long dead intellectual could cast such a shadow over societies that we ended up with the tyrannies of Marxist states. They were all much poorer than the west, and so obviously lacked the personal freedoms we took for granted.
One of my earlier political publications was a rebuttal of the Communist party Manifesto. That slim document was far more influential than Das Capital, as it was so much more accessible, with a strong ten point political programme which informed the ultra socialist agendas of Marxist revolutionaries and tyrants around the world. The irony of the document was that its central attack on inequality and privilege led directly to a worse kind of privilege, the privilege that accrued to the political leaders of communist states and to communist party members which was then enforced with violence against anyone who questioned their rule.
So I wrote the Popular Capitalist Manifesto. It proposed doing the opposite in nine of the ten policies recommended by Marx. The one I agreed with was universal free education with no child factory labour..
To remind you what Marx proposed:
The abolition of all private property
A heavy progressive income tax
The abolition of all inheritance rights
Confiscation of all property of rebels and emigrants
A monopoly state bank
Centralisation of all transport and communications in state hands
Wholesale nationalisation of means of production and state planned farming
Establishment of industrial armies with equal requirement of all to labour
Shift of people into towns with erosion of distinction between town and country
Free education for all with abolition of child factory labour
In a future post I will set out my alternative to this Manifesto.
The local election results
After all the hype Labour failed to break through in the local elections. It continues to suffer outside London from its ambivalent stance towards Brexit. In London it did get a further small swing and is well in the lead in votes, Councillors and Councils. There its trimming away from its pro Brexit stance in the 2017 election probably helped a little, particularly with the EU nationals who vote in local but not in national elections. Much of the UKIP vote went Conservative.
Overall Conservatives won control of four Councils and lost control of six, whilst Labour lost control of 2 and gained control of 3. Both main parties got 35% of the vote on the national projections , with Lib Dems rising from their 10% at the General election to 16% in the locals.
The message for the government is clear. People want them to get on with it and see Brexit through quickly and cleanly. That means taking back control of our borders, our money, our laws, our fish and our trade policy. There is little sympathy for the Remain led cries from the Lords and even from within government to delay, to recreate much of the EU we are leaving, to seek such a comprehensive partnership that we are left paying them money and accepting their laws. A majority of the public does not believe Project Fear and does not think trade will be damaged if we do not accept the EU’s terms for a deal.
I found on the doorsteps a refreshing interest in local issues and local concerns, with a good conversation about development, the state of the roads, and housing. Here the incumbents of both parties had to fight to persuade people they are doing a good enough job. Very few Councils changed hands, meaning the benefit of the doubt went to most Councils struggling with these difficult matters.
News story: Royal Navy gets first unmanned minesweeping system
Following a period of successful trials the demonstrator system could go on to be used by the Royal Navy in the future to defeat the threat of modern digital mines.
The system has been designed and manufactured by Atlas Elektronik UK in Dorset, under a £13 million contract with the Ministry of Defence which has sustained around 20 jobs and created 15 new jobs with the company.
Defence Minister Guto Bebb said:
This autonomous minesweeper takes us a step closer to taking our crews out of danger and allowing us to safely clear sea lanes of explosives, whether that’s supporting trade in global waters and around the British coastline, or protecting our ships and shores. Easily transported by road, sea and air, the high-tech design means a small team could put the system to use within hours of it arriving in theatre. We are investing millions in innovative technology now, to support our military of the future.
The system’s innovative and modernised technology has the ability to defeat today’s digital sea mines which can detect and target military ships passing overhead. The sweeper system, which features a “sense and avoid” capability, could also work together with other similar autonomous systems for the common goal of making our waters safer.
The project also aims to demonstrate the viability of an unmanned system that can safely and successfully clear mines and which is designed to be operated from a land or ship-based control station and can be deployed from a suitable ship or port.
Over the last four months, the system has been put through its paces by Atlas Elektronik and Defence Equipment and Support team members and the Royal Navy’s Maritime Autonomous Systems Trials Team (MASTT).
The system was tested against a number of performance requirements, for example, how well it cleared mines, whether the autonomous system could successfully avoid obstacles and the overall system performance.
Brigadier Jim Morris Royal Marines – Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff in Maritime Capability, and Senior Responsible Officer for the Mine Counter Measures and Hydrographic Capability (MHC) programme said:
The Mine Countermeasures and Hydrographic Capability Combined Influence Minesweeping system is the Royal Navy’s first fully autonomous capability demonstrator and paves the way for the introduction of this technology across the full range of maritime capabilities.
Combined Influence Minesweeping is a critical component of the Mine Countermeasures capability. This autonomous system will restore the Royal Navy’s sweep capability, enabling it to tackle modern digital mines that may not otherwise be discovered in challenging minehunting conditions.
This autonomous sweep system represents a fundamental step in the Navy’s transition to autonomous offboard systems to counter the threat posed to international shipping by the sea mine; we look forward to commencing demonstration of the associated minehunting system in 2019.
The handover of the system to the Royal Navy is a significant milestone for the Mine Countermeasures and Hydrographic Capability (MHC) programme, which aims to de-risk maritime autonomous systems and introduce these new technologies into the Royal Navy.
Director Ships Support Neal Lawson, of the MOD’s procurement organisation, Defence Equipment and Support, said:
The autonomous minesweeper offers a commander the ability to defeat mines that cannot be countered by current hunting techniques and significantly reduces the risk to crew members in pressured and time-constrained operations.
The system can offer greater flexibility and upgradability, allowing the Royal Navy to respond better to the sea-mine threat in the long-term and operate more effectively around the world and I’m therefore delighted to be back here at Bincleaves, where I started my MOD career 29 years ago, to mark the handover of this critical programme.
An autonomous minesweeper system that can safely clear sea lanes of mines has been handed over to the Royal Navy, Defence Minister Guto Bebb has announced. Crown copyright.
The system will now undergo a series of more detailed trials with the Royal Navy.
The Royal Navy has a proud history of minesweeping, dating from World War One when even the likes of fishing trawlers were converted for use, dragging a chain from the vessel to clear German mines. Today, with far more sophisticated equipment, the service is still called upon to clear the waters of ordnance and maintains a world-leading role in minehunting, training alongside allies in the Mediterranean and the Gulf.
The MOD has committed 1.2% of the £36bn defence budget, supported by a dedicated £800m Innovation Fund, to cutting-edge science and technology.
An autonomous minesweeper system that can safely clear sea lanes of mines has been handed over to the Royal Navy, Defence Minister Guto Bebb has announced. Crown copyright.
