Mixed future for UK riders… and Sceptics slammed as ‘The Science’ says Reindeer & Sleighs can fly in….. Santa Biker Shocker!

As 201o draws to a close the prospects for those who ride or might choose to ride a motorcycle or scooter in Britain are mixed, so it is impossible to say for sure if things will get better or worse in 2011. But there is a growing consensus in the scientific community that should stop so called ‘Santa Sceptics’ or  ‘Reindeer can fly Deniers’ in their tracks.

First, after issuing a politically correct health warning that a picture at the bottom of my blog may be sexist, I’ll share a two view snapshot of the future for riders and could be riders. On the one hand, as money gets tighter for most people next year in Britain there is an ever greater need for our policy makers to enable those with the skill and courage to ride, to do so as safely and freely as possible. On the other hand, a handful of greedy Burghers in Westminster City Council are hellbent on defending their pay-by-phone bike parking tax on the grounds that it is quite reasonable to use new fees for on-street bike parking to try and put people off riding in the centre of London. And, of course, if they can get away with using Traffic Management Act powers to impose a new source of road user revenue, other councils with far less cash than WCC are sure to be tempted to use their cunning and highly profitable scheme…

But there may be more important things for all riders to consider during Yuletide. One of these is a growing consensus in the world’s scientific community that the so called ‘Santa Sceptics’ or  ‘Reindeer can fly Deniers’ have failed to see or accept an ‘Inconvenient Truth’. ‘The Science’ of such things clearly shows that claims by sceptics and deniers about the Global Warmth that Santa spreads throughout the world at this time of year are wrong. ‘The Science’ now clearly shows how claims that Santa and his Reindeer can’t really fly can not only damage comforting beliefs for innocent children and their parents, but these claims are irresponsibly wrong and create terrible confusion about what can happen to us if we’re naughty not good.

Dr. Larry Silverberg, Professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University has been leading pioneering research at the North Pole which confirms the inconvenient truth about Santa flight. “Santa is using technologies that we are not yet able to recreate in our own labs,” and he goes on to explain how Santa’s sleigh is “far more advanced” than any modern form of air transportation.

“The truss of the sleigh, including the runners, are made of a honeycombed titanium alloy that is very lightweight and 10 to 20 times stronger than anything we can make today,” Silverberg says. The truss can also morph, thereby altering its shape  to improve its aerodynamics which allows it to “cut through the air more efficiently”. The runners on the sleigh have ‘flexure’ allows them to ‘tuck in’ and be more aerodynamic during flight, and then spread out to provide stability for landing on various surfaces such as steeply pitched roofs.” Says the world leading scientists.

However, in my ceaseless quest for balance in my bloggings I have to point out that this particular Prof and his disciples may be talking and believing bollocks. Oh Dear! And to offer an alternative theory, in the name of balance again, there are some who reckon that Santa is not transported by reindeer at all – but actually gets round the world on a bike.

Some say he rides in a gang of Santas on turbocharged Honda 90s. Some say he works alone on a supercharged scooter. Some even say that he is a she – and she uses a chopper with super-human aplomb.

As ever, I will leave it to you to decide what you choose to believe. I also hope y’all  have a Cool Yule and Great New Year with those who are happy to ride with you…

Climategate: Leaked Emails Scandal – what scandal?

On return from bike show at the NEC, which I will talk about in due course, I discover this morning that an inquiry looms for climate change science and there are some, even at The Times who think this will reveal a potentially epic scandal. And the Telegraph opinion says is the ‘Worst Scientific Scandal of Our Generation‘. This set me pondering a number of things as the rain stopped outside and the sun shone through the window which keeps me remarkably dry when I’m here indoors. Not least of these ponderrings is this. Will this latest episode of brouhaha/potential scandal knock the wheels off the global warmers wagon – or be just another brick in the wall to divide believers and sceptics?…

…Whatever you think about man-made climate change and worldwide plans to cut personal mobility and spend trillions on addressing the global warming ‘problem’, there is no doubt that we are reaching a critical and potentially dangerous turning point. The point is this. After some resistance an inquiry is now looming to investigate a momentous leak of emails that cast doubt on the motives of climate change scientists. These communications are between key people at the University of East Anglia’s UEA Climatic Research Unit CRU – which is at the vanguard of climate change ‘science’.  And these folk are the source of claims that world leaders and their publics base many passionately held beliefs on, including the assertion that man-made global warming is real and is set to create insurmountable catastrophe and doom for us all.

And in case you didn’t know, this latest development follows a big leak of emails that throws new light on the validity & reliability of ‘evidence’ from pro global warming scientists. But that has prompted more news carrying worms to crawl out of the woodwork of various skeleton cupboards. It now transpires that a BBC bod with a blog ‘decided’ not to bother reporting the leak as soon as he knew about this undeniably momentous and newsworthy event.

So, it is now clearly crucial that we have an inquiry into this ‘theft’ of private email correspondence between key figures whose ‘scientific’ research and government advisory work is paid for with public funds. But there is far bigger and potentially more dangerous issue at stake here for us all in our age of mega spun ‘news’ and politicised science.

The future direction of government thinking about climate change thought the developed world could be changed in the aftermath of this inquiry – or not. And, what happens next may depend on one thing above all. Is it possible or likely that this investigation will o be a truly independent examination that will reveal as much truth as there is to be found between the lines of these communications? The Economist shares my concerns and view that ‘political orthodoxy must not silence scientific argument‘.

At this point I would love to say that the answer to that question is the same as it is on TV talent shows, namely, you the public decided. But sadly we can’t always get what you want you know, but maybe if we try hard some times we just might find that we what get what we need…