Blimey, Zed is back from the dead, and sounding madder than ever. Too much sun, perhaps.

Jul 1, 2018 at 7:18 PM | DaveS

One of Climate Science's top thinkers.

Jul 1, 2018 at 2:50 PM | Supertroll

Further to your comment......

Peat absorbs water, so peat which is burning will support fire, which will carry on spreading until it meets damp peat. By contrast, rubber tyres etc do not absorb water, so they remain able to burn at the bottom of a mound of recycling material, even if rain occurs, or Fireman Sam has had his hose out.

"Putting out" Moorland/heathland/scrub/forest fires, with aircraft water bombing etc involves aiming at the flames AND the stuff which is about to burn. Once a tree is burning, it can't be saved for any useful purpose, but its neighbour can. Fire breaks in forests are useless if they are overgrown with dried out tinder, which most are.

Blimey, Zed is back from the dead, and sounding madder than ever. Too much sun, perhaps.

Golfcharlie
Are you talking about the moorland fire? If so the peat could potentially smoulder for months until the autumn/winter rain. If not could you enlighten me?

Jul 1, 2018 at 2:17 PM | Uibhist a Tuath

Yes, including Saddleworth Moor. I agree, peat will smoulder away until the bulk is burned up, or until there is sufficient rain to extinguish it.

Controlled burning of heather, woodland, scrub, fields etc has been a part of landscape maintenance for hundreds/thousands of years in many parts of the world. Such fires will also occur naturally, without man's intervention.

Allowing vegetation and debris to accumulate just results in bigger fires, when they happen. Australia has suffered from BAD Ecology at the hands of Green Environmentalists with extensive fires because residents were banned from burning off scrub vegetation.

UK power stations burning US wood pellets is offensively stupid.

Shooting birds and other game has changed the UK landscape, particularly moorland. I have no idea whether this traditional use, or a change from it, or to it, has been a factor in this instance. Blood sports are not my thing, but as a Country Bumpkin, I get very annoyed with townies trying to dictate rural ways of life, so they can enjoy an annual picnic, watching fat fluffy bunnies eating away at a farmers income.

BTW "peat free" compost is rubbish.

UaT. It is my understanding that one good soaking, say from a single thunderstorm, will extinguish almost any moorland fire. Any fire at depth within a peat sequence doesn't need water to reach it in order for it to be extinguished. Any fire (even one that smolders), requires large quantities of oxygen to continue. A rain event will usually cut off oxygen (even if it doesn't reach the smoldering peat beneath the surface) and just as importantly will cool the peat to beneath its ignition temperature. Accordingly, most peat fires self extinguish.

Golfcharlie
Are you talking about the moorland fire? If so the peat could potentially smoulder for months until the autumn/winter rain. If not could you enlighten me?

Can we please leave Mr Robinson in the past.? He has been discussed at great length and I think it's safe to say that the common ground is limited.
Elon Musk's latest money making scheme in Kent is much more interesting.

Supertroll
Just trying to point out I don't count myself extreme anything politically. Nor do you appear at an extremity politically and definitely not to the right.

Radical Rodent

You are incorrect about the state of the case when TR was broadcasting. The judge completed his summing up that morning before the jury retied to start considering their verdicts - a process that took several days. Sentencing did not happen until 21/22 June. I have posted here links to the records of court activity. The jury was very much in attendance, and at risk of being knobbled until it delivered its verdicts and was discharged.

Radical Rodent, Tommy Robinson had been told not to do something. He did it. Transmitting live, just made evidence gathering easier and simpler, he provided it.

More importantly, why was he not arrested before, and imprisoned?

I don't think I am missing, or deliberately avoiding anything. The information is out there. Robinson could have broadcast from the International Space Station and HE would still have been Guilty as Charged. Was he singled out? Yes, because he had deliberately, provocatively and REPEATEDLY stuck two fingers up at the UK Justice system.

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2018/feb/06/police-assess-contempt-claims-over-tommy-robinson-videos
"Police are assessing claims that videos posted on social media accounts belonging to the former EDL leader Tommy Robinson risked collapsing the trial of the Finsbury Park terrorist, Darren Osborne.

Two live broadcasts appeared on Robinson’s Facebook page during the trial at Woolwich crown court, which heard Osborne had been an avid reader of material posted online by Robinson in the weeks before he attacked members of the Muslim community last June.

Should the matter be referred to the attorney general’s office and lead to a conviction, the publisher of the videos could face up to two years in prison for breaching contempt of court laws, which are designed to ensure fair trials.

The footage showed Robinson being interviewed by BBC and Sky News journalists. The discussions were recorded during the trial but were only to be broadcast if and when Osborne was convicted, in order to ensure his right to a fair trial was respected.

However, it is understood that the interviews were broadcast live on Robinson’s Facebook page without the journalists’ knowledge. The footage also appeared on other social media platforms afterwards."

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/29/edl-founder-tommy-robinson-jailed-13-months

What the Judge said.....
https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/crime/leeds-judge-to-tommy-robinson-freedom-of-speech-comes-with-responsibility-1-9184611

General summary
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Robinson_(activist)

If Robinson is to Appeal either sentence or verdict, the sentence could be increased.

How many opportunities has Robinson had to reflect on Legal advice, warnings and instructions?