UK bathing water ranks next from last in EU beach table

Alain Quay
Alain Quay Posts: 534
edited May 2017 in The cake stop
"UK bathing water ranks next from last in EU beach table
20 sites fail safe bathing criteria stoking fears UK will once more be ‘dirty man of Europe’ after Brexit"

"And with Brexit casting doubt on the future of EU regulations that staunched runaway coastal pollution in the 1970s, some influential Brussels figures are warning of retaliation if the UK lowers environmental standards to allow the export of dirty factories, practices, or waste across the Channel.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/23/uk-bathing-water-ranks-next-from-last-eu-beach-table

Strong and stable shite to swim in.

Comments

  • Matthewfalle
    Matthewfalle Posts: 17,380
    edited May 2017
    Britain - its not that great.
    Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am

    De Sisti wrote:
    This is one of the silliest threads I've come across. :lol:

    Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour :D
    smithy21 wrote:

    He's right you know.
  • surrey_commuter
    surrey_commuter Posts: 18,866
    Alain Quay wrote:
    "UK bathing water ranks next from last in EU beach table
    20 sites fail safe bathing criteria stoking fears UK will once more be ‘dirty man of Europe’ after Brexit"

    "And with Brexit casting doubt on the future of EU regulations that staunched runaway coastal pollution in the 1970s, some influential Brussels figures are warning of retaliation if the UK lowers environmental standards to allow the export of dirty factories, practices, or waste across the Channel.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/23/uk-bathing-water-ranks-next-from-last-eu-beach-table

    Strong and stable shite to swim in.

    UK bathing water ranks next from last in EU beach table

    we will solve that problem soon!!

    Maybe we can suggest an alternative headline from th efacts provided
    96.4% of British beaches were found safe to swim in last year

    IMHO - the Guardian really is a pile of sanctimonious, unreadable sh1te
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 26,132
    Read the last sentence - "The number of UK bathing waters deemed unfit for swimming fell from 31 to 20 in 2016, because of increased infrastructure spending and better weather conditions, the EEA said."
  • surrey_commuter
    surrey_commuter Posts: 18,866
    Read the last sentence - "The number of UK bathing waters deemed unfit for swimming fell from 31 to 20 in 2016, because of increased infrastructure spending and better weather conditions, the EEA said."

    I am sure that qualifies you for a prize but as nobody has previously reached the last sentence of a Guardian article I can not confirm this.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,596
    Old trick.
    Skip to the conclusions.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • tangled_metal
    tangled_metal Posts: 4,021
    Why does leaving eu mean worsening beach quality? Since health and safety legislation in the modern form originated in the UK does that mean that rEU will suddenly relax it's H&S regulation? Same thought behind it surely. So if one is true the other could me too.

    Or perhaps the elevation of standards overall has been something that would have happened with or without the eu across all aspects of the modern world.
  • fat daddy
    fat daddy Posts: 2,605
    has anyone seen this table ?

    sure we might be in second to last ... but some one always has to be second to last .... if the top 10 countries are all at 96.8% and we are at 96.4% .. then its no real biggie
  • Matthewfalle
    Matthewfalle Posts: 17,380
    fat daddy wrote:
    has anyone seen this table ?

    sure we might be in second to last ... but some one always has to be second to last .... if the top 10 countries are all at 96.8% and we are at 96.4% .. then its no real biggie


    Pride in mediocrity - that's the spirit.....
    Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am

    De Sisti wrote:
    This is one of the silliest threads I've come across. :lol:

    Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour :D
    smithy21 wrote:

    He's right you know.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 26,132
    Are we worse than Luxembourg?
  • cooldad
    cooldad Posts: 32,599
    Too bloody cold to get in the water anyway. Give me hot sun and lukewarm water.
    I don't do smileys.

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  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 20,511
    Links to an impartial paper "The green benefits of Britain's EU membership". Includes this
    EU membership has not been entirely positive for the UK environment. The common agricultural
    policy (CAP) and common fisheries policy (CFP) are environmentally destructive as well as economically
    wasteful.

    Personally, I think multi-national agreements are a good thing for the environment.
  • fat daddy
    fat daddy Posts: 2,605
    Pride in mediocrity - that's the spirit.....

    I excel at mediocrity. .. NO ONE is more average than me !
  • surrey_commuter
    surrey_commuter Posts: 18,866
    Why does leaving eu mean worsening beach quality? Since health and safety legislation in the modern form originated in the UK does that mean that rEU will suddenly relax it's H&S regulation? Same thought behind it surely. So if one is true the other could me too.

    Or perhaps the elevation of standards overall has been something that would have happened with or without the eu across all aspects of the modern world.

    if it is a bad rule it comes from Brussels if not then it is a good British rule. The beauty of this is that two people can believe the opposite and both be equally unhappy
  • tangled_metal
    tangled_metal Posts: 4,021
    Basically if you can put EU into anything you get positive and negative views about it. Is that what you mean? Same old BS! Fit facts to your political viewpoint as you see fit.
  • surrey_commuter
    surrey_commuter Posts: 18,866
    Basically if you can put EU into anything you get positive and negative views about it. Is that what you mean? Same old BS! Fit facts to your political viewpoint as you see fit.

    sort of;
    some on here blame "elf and safety" some blame Brussels meddling

    Others think our beaches will be sewage farms without Brussels

    others (correctly) think it is because we stopped pumping sewage into the sea a hundred yards off the beach
  • bompington
    bompington Posts: 7,674
    others (correctly) think it is because we stopped pumping sewage into the sea a hundred yards off the beach
    This.

    Dundee has a lovely beach at Broughty Ferry, the mouth of the River Tay - but it's only 20 years or so since they built an actual sewage plant (for a city of 150,000).
    Before that, we used to say we were swimming, but really we were just going through the motions.
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 58,167
    Alain Quay wrote:
    "UK bathing water ranks next from last in EU beach table
    20 sites fail safe bathing criteria stoking fears UK will once more be ‘dirty man of Europe’ after Brexit"

    "And with Brexit casting doubt on the future of EU regulations that staunched runaway coastal pollution in the 1970s, some influential Brussels figures are warning of retaliation if the UK lowers environmental standards to allow the export of dirty factories, practices, or waste across the Channel.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/23/uk-bathing-water-ranks-next-from-last-eu-beach-table

    Strong and stable shite to swim in.
    But we haven't left the EU yet. Surely there is room to improve on what EU regs have clearly failed to do :wink:
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 14,498
    Lies, damn lies and statistics. The UK is the only island, other than Ireland, in Europe. Its also densely populated.

    So, it has a disproportionate number of cities on the coast. It is not a like-for-like comparison, unless of course you are smug, French, disgustingly over paid and happy to be anonymously quoted.
  • Matthewfalle
    Matthewfalle Posts: 17,380
    Lies, damn lies and statistics. The UK is the only island, other than Ireland, in Europe. Its also densely populated.

    So, it has a disproportionate number of cities on the coast. It is not a like-for-like comparison, unless of course you are smug, French, disgustingly over paid and happy to be anonymously quoted.


    What about the Channel Islands, Sicily, Sardinia, all the stuff around a Scotland and not forgetting the MIGHTY Isle of Wight? Aren't the islands in Europe as well?

    If I remember rightly, the Channel Islands have lovely beaches that aren't affected by the fetid miasma drifting off Britain.
    Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am

    De Sisti wrote:
    This is one of the silliest threads I've come across. :lol:

    Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour :D
    smithy21 wrote:

    He's right you know.
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 14,498
    Lies, damn lies and statistics. The UK is the only island, other than Ireland, in Europe. Its also densely populated.

    So, it has a disproportionate number of cities on the coast. It is not a like-for-like comparison, unless of course you are smug, French, disgustingly over paid and happy to be anonymously quoted.


    What about the Channel Islands, Sicily, Sardinia, all the stuff around a Scotland and not forgetting the MIGHTY Isle of Wight? Aren't the islands in Europe as well?

    If I remember rightly, the Channel Islands have lovely beaches that aren't affected by the fetid miasma drifting off Britain.
    The stats don't carve out the Mediterranean islands from their respective countries though. I suppose the UK's comparison to Italy as a whole should be relatively instructive.

    My limited kayaking experience off the west coast of Scotland suggests that the water there is pretty damn clean.