Articles by jtchivers

On 11 September, 2001, I was in an office room I shared with two others, when one of them, who happened to be on the phone to his then girlfriend, relayed what had just happened as each plane hit the WTC. By the time the second one hit, it was…

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UPDATE: This post was amended from the original which referenced GB as the country code, since the announcement that as from 28 September 2021, the UK is changing its International Vehicle Registration Code from GB to UK. I have correspondingly updated the advice in line with the guidance applicable from…

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This is great news. Ecotricity were the first to provide a national network of rapid chargers for electric vehicles in the UK, making national travel along primary routes using their “Electric Highway” viable, starting almost exactly a decade ago. But over the years, their chosen units became dated, suffered breakdowns,…

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I had that rare experience of a cordial disagreement with someone today: in this case over the COVID-19 vaccination. Essentially, a Facebook friend shared the below image, posted publicly by another Facebooker. The original Facebook post Having briefly surveyed the original image and accompanying post text “And that’s just in…

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In the 1950s, there were 102 widely recognised sovereign states. In 2020, there are 195. The number of nation states has almost doubled since World War 2, but the number of interstate conflicts has declined dramatically. The notion that the very existence of nation states inevitably leads to bellicose nationalism,…

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I binge-watched the first three episodes of Long Way Up last night as they premiered. The first episode is free, by the way, just to hook you in. Spoilers… Clearly Harley Davidson and Rivian were keen to help out McGregor and Boorman. We don’t get to hear their reasoning for…

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An article has appeared on the Auto Express website with the title “Traffic is not a key contributor to air pollution, study finds” And the summary…Researchers reveal a 65 per cent reduction in traffic on Scottish roads during lockdown had no significant impact on air pollution. Like many articles in…

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There has been much talk over the last couple of months as to how certain countries or political subdivisions (states, regions, etc.) have taken a better approach to dealing with the current pandemic. I can’t help noticing that many voices expressing admiration for varied approaches are people who favoured increased…

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