Member Info for mick-b

Is Leiden worth visiting?
Situated in the province of South Holland, Leiden is practically a hidden gem. Known for its centuries-old architecture and home to the oldest university in the Netherlands, it's definitely worth a visit!
Rembrandt, was born and educated in Leiden.

EVIKING
Cheers....an amazing topical speech nowadays.
Black tulips....now that was a huge financial scam in the city way back in the 1700's

It was JOHN MAJOR
https://johnmajorarchive.org.uk/1994/09/07/mr-majors-speech-in-leiden-7-september-1994-2/

Famous UNIVERSITY city is Leiden.
One of our PM made a famous speech from Leiden...was it Maggie or Major.
Didn't know Albert Einstein was a regular

EVIKING
A car full of my mates made yearly visits to Amsterdam many times....just for drinking and eating
Also Maastricht ·one year.
Visited Leiden just like Amsterdam but without tourists....nice...but students on bicycles had to be avoided as were everywhere
But we mainly went to Belgium most years

Belgium beer is best imo
Leffe Brown is an authentic abbey beer. Both its deep, dark brown colour and its full, slightly sweet flavour can be ascribed to the use of darkly roasted malt,

People's Energy was formed in 2017 by East Lothian couple David Pike and Karin Sode following a crowdfunding campaign.
The firm promised to return profits to its customers in a transparent, ethical way of working.
In August last year, it announced plans to create 100 new jobs with an expansion into the Borders.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-58557434

EVIKING
A useful guide from the BEEB on the energy suppliers
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58610561

EVIKING
BEEB says....
2 have gone bust with another 4 likely to go bust next week
Some experts say it will get worst with maybe only 10 left from the 80 suppliers now

EVIKING
I've just switched from EON to a small supplier and my switch starts on Tuesday, so too late to cancel switch now.
I also got "lucky" by switching to the very first energy Co to go bust GB ENERGY, a few yrs ago

Looks like we will have to Import CO2....

China is the second highest producer of carbon dioxide after North America. Market players in the country have high production capacity supported by advanced equipment for production. Europe is also one of the prominent producers of carbon dioxide. Key players such as Linde Group and Air Liquide have a good presence in the region.
https://www.factmr.com/report/2222/carbon-dioxide-market

BREXIT BRILLANCE
GLOBAL BRITAIN edging closing to nuclear war

FIVE EYES reduced to THREE
Canada and NZ left out

JONATHAN - subsequently.......

The French respond with a counter offer to disarm the ships themselves but it arrives too late and the British ships open fire severely damaging a battle cruiser, two battleships and a destroyer and killing 1,300 French seamen. A few French ships escaped to Toulon.
Three days later the French ship in Alexandria the French agreed to British terms of semi surrender. That left the battleships Richelieu and Jean Bart in Dakar and Casablanca. British torpedo boats attacked both of them putting them out of commission for many months. When the Germans later tried to seize French ships in Toulon the French scuttled them.
The Richelieu and other ships eventually sailed to the US to be repaired and joined the Allied efforts agains the Germans

The French fleet was removed to the French colony of Algiers in the Med.
Well away from the German forces FOR NOW! (which was the problem)
POOR COMMUNICATION WAS THE KILLER
EXTRACT
The lack of communication between the British and French was to have dire consequences. As early as June 20th, Darlan had sent a coded order to the captains of the warships based in French African ports – do not surrender your ships intact to the Germans. On June 24th, he repeated this order with specific instructions to make preparations to scuttle the ships if it seemed likely that they would be captured. The British were unaware of this instruction and on June 27th the British government took the decision that the French ships could not be allowed to fall into the hands of the Germans and that the Royal Navy would ensure that this would not happen.

You've RIGHT - Force H was used..
Force H was ‘HMS Hood’; the battleships ‘Resolution’ and ‘Valiant’ and the carrier ‘Ark Royal’ with eleven destroyers made up this force.

A few weeks later the newly built BISMARCK sunk the old WW1 HOOD
A week later we sunk the BISMARCK
Such is WAR!!!

The great damage done was to French/British relations. In late May 1940, the French and British navies had been comrades-in-arms during Dunkirk. Just weeks later, over 1000 of the French sailors who had served at Dunkirk were dead – killed during Operation Catapult. Many in France found this hard to take or accept and it has been argued that it encouraged some French people to collaborate with the Germans, though the evidence for this is hard to gather. The internment of sailors who had sailed to Britian at the request of the British government was another source of great anger. To others, it showed that the British would be resolute and heartless in its attempt to stop the German military steamrolling over all of Western Europe and that ‘Operation Catapult’ was just one part of this resolute approach.

https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-two/world-war-two-in-western-europe/operation-catapult/

TROAJAN
Different time zones m8.

BOER WAR 11 October 1899 – 31 May 1902
United States War of Independence or American Revolutionary War 1775 –1783

TROAJAN
George Washington defeated the Brits and gained independence largely helped by French.forces on land and sea.
France were competing for North America too
That's why the province of QUEBEC, nearly one-sixth of Canada’s total land area, is still mainly French speaking

EXTRACT...
The boundaries of Quebec were altered many times following the establishment of New France in the early 17th century, when the French colonial empire in North America spread all the way to the Gulf of Mexico and west of the Mississippi River. At that time James Bay, Hudson Bay, and the Ungava region belonged to the British Hudson’s Bay Company.

The French Embassy in Washington canceled in protest a reception it was hosting on Friday to mark the 240th anniversary of the Battle of the Chesapeake, which commemorates a French naval victory over a British fleet during the American Revolution.”

Military requested by NI & Scotland to help cope with COVID overloadING their NHS
UK Lockdown soon?

France is recalling its ambassador to the US and to Australia over submarine deal and AUKUS agreement.
For such close allies, this is an extraordinary step