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Well to be fair they did suggest that Education Standards Inspectors might have been asked to take on the responsibility for looking at how the building was constructed. I can just imagine the scene.
"Well, Rector, having spent the day in the school looking at the standard of the Latin teaching and pupil attainment, I can say that I am very satisfied with what I see. Your pupils have a good grasp of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. "I'm rather concerned though, that when I crawled around your basement I was unable to see any trace of the ties that are supposed to join outer and inner walls together. Of course, my degree is in Classics and whilst I can claim to have a good handle on the use of the subjunctive mood in Latin, I'm afraid that I had no idea what I was supposed to be looking for down there, so maybe you'd like to get a second opinion, but I fear that, interea, I have no choice but to condemn your building and order you to evacuate it immediately." Ba heids! ********** Mr Coburn is a corker. He apparently wants to get people first or indeed second preferences. "I think we are getting a lot of second preferences from not only Labour voters but also SNP and disgruntled Conservatives that are opposed to the European Union." |
Could someone, somewhere please let Mr Coburn know what system of voting we have in Scotland, and explain that it has no first and second preferences.
Ba heid.
**********
Ex opere operato...
ReplyDeleteTerribilis est locus iste!
Certe est
DeleteAcclinis falsis animus meliora recusat
ReplyDeleteHoratius si illud verum est
DeleteAs a bricklayer, I'm wondering who the hell did they have building these schools.
ReplyDeleteEvery brickie knows the spacing of ties in cavity walls.
600mm horizontally (it used to be 900).
450mm or 6 courses vertically, except at door and window openings it's 225mm or 3 courses. The last row of ties to be placed 225mm from the wall head.
It's standard practice and every first year apprentice would know this.
It may be the ties used were the wrong specification, too light for the load, or the mortar was too strong, as in too high a cement content; which would lead to failure of the interface between mortar bed and steel tie. Or the mortar was reworked, as in water added and remixed, after the cement began to hydrate and set, leading to a weakened mortar. Or the buildings were built during frosty weather, mortar should not be used until the outside temperature is 3°c and rising, otherwise ice crystals form within it, resulting in a weakened mortar.
Maybe they cut corners to make a fast buck--just saying--
DeleteJimminy and all nats
DeleteSo wot you are suggesting is Scottish builders used
dangerous techniques which put Scottish children in
danger....that right...well i am shocked as all extremist
nats know a Scot a true Scot could never ever do anything
to harm another Scot especially children??????
ps
ta for the construction lesson
pps
or did some English/polish bricklayers do the dastardly
deed probably Labour voting ones.
I don't think there was any deliberate, and orchestrated, attempt to build dangerous structures. More likely a series of small inconsequential, at the time, events; like those I mentioned earlier. Which lead to the collapse, of the non-loadbearing outer leaf of brickwork.
DeleteI'd be surprised if many more such defects are found, even though the same company was involved; it is unlikely the same brickies worked on every school, though not impossible.
The funding of the construction on the other hand, a unmistakable omnishambles; which should never have been used.
Niko, As far as Labours involvement in this fiasco is concerned, you are just repeating what literally hordes of your Red Tory buddies have been saying on f/b--"A big boy did it and ran away". Unfortunately for Labour, not in this case. The ball is firmly in their court on this one and if they haven't the balls to stand up and admit it they don't deserve to be even near the seat of Government.
DeleteNothing wrong with Polish or English brickies, I know a few Scottish ones I wouldn't let build plaque on their own teeth, never mind a wall; buts that's my opinion, as I'm a professional and I take pride in my work.
DeleteThanks Jim. I too doubt that they set out to build dangerous schools (or hospitals: ERI). As you say any bricklayer apprentice would know the facts you set out for us. It's impossible to believe that the management intended building dangerous schools. If for no other reason that on the site there would have been people with kids (or without) who would have dobbed them in.
DeleteOpinion does seem to be though, that they did the cheapest possible job.
Time will tell, I guess.
Facts remain. Schools built 150 years ago are still standing and schools built 10 years ago are not. Something needs to be done.
Funnily, when I was telling my Hungarian friend about it tonight he said "welcome to Eastern Europe". I've not had that much experience of Hungarian workmanship, but as far as it goes Polish workmanship seems to be pretty damned good to me.
Don't tell Cockburn ANYTHING!
ReplyDeleteHe wouldn't believe you anyway :)
I don't think he's the kind of guy that would listen Morag.
DeleteTheir whole campaign is a bit of a shambles, and he's organising it.
The walls of these buildings should have been better together but Labour policies put paid to that.
ReplyDeleteyeah the road to hell is paved with Labour polices....
DeleteLabour's own personal hell, perhaps; arriving May.
DeleteI think that governments should run things that governments are responsible for.
DeletePrivate companies and education, or health don't sit well with me whether or not Labour, the Tories or the SNP propose them.
Hilariously, I read earlier that the company that built them has some connection with Guernsey. Well, would you credit it!
conan
ReplyDeletepecuniam non ualentes resistere castrum
Circulus vitiosus...
DeleteYep, that's about it.
DeleteJust read one of my mates on Twitter in response to this:
Delete"Repeat after me, class: amo, amas, amat; bricks, mortar, ties."
Here was me enjoying what I thought was a good article ripping apart the yoonatics attempts to deny responsibility for PPI, when up pops ........COBURN!!! Bloody hell, I didn't think it could get scarier than Foulkes. Please could yourself or Munguin provide us with some warning?
ReplyDeleteOK, from now on when Coburn is in an article there will be a Coburn Alert label at the to. Now, I still expect you to read it, it's just that the alert will give you the opportunity to get a stiff brandy (for medicinal purposes) before you start reading.
DeleteI have to admit that in this case he was an afterthought.
I thought it worth mentioning he doesn't even know what voting system we use...although he's standing in the election. Sheeeeeesh!
Coburn not only doesn't understand what voting system we Scots have, he doesn't understand basic parliamentary procedures.
DeleteHe complained about EU legislation affecting the performance of his toaster. Only problem is that no directive from the EU has yet been issued as the details have not yet been agreed. Moreover it will not affect household appliances, only commercial ones.
I wonder if Mr Coburn doesn't know these things, or if he prefers to assume that WE don't know these things. The infinitely cleverer Boris Johnson also makes all sorts of accusations about what the EU does. nearly all of them wrong. Boris is too clever to be so stupid.
DeleteHe just thinks he's a large scruffy blond version of teh Daily Mail.
I'm told Coburn's interview with STV was a joy to behold last night.
I thought for one minute that I'd been transported to ancient Rome. Must say my Latin and Gaelic lessons in school have helped enormously in finding employment over the years!
ReplyDeleteSay what you will about Mr Coburn but at least his tie is on straight and his suit and shirt, although pretty hideous and miss-matched, are probably quite expensive. In saying that, are the shirt and suit better together? Who is he, anyway?
I wonder how many other PFI projects are flawed and I was always under the impression that firms were not only responsible for the erection of buildings but also for the maintenance of such buildings which would surely mean regular health and safety inspections?
Yes John, Sometimes Munguin's Republic does resemble the bloodbath that was ancient Rome. But I prefer to think that classical references and the occasional use of Latin or Greek reflects the learned inclinations of our readers.
DeleteI'm sure Mr Coburn sings a lusty God Save the Queen. Mrs Cameron may be tempted to adopt him. I've noticed his apparent lack of dress sense, checks, stripes and dots in one outfit. It leads me to consider the possibility that Mr Coburn, rather than Mrs Cameron, would profit from the services of a state employed personal dresser.
As to who David Coburn is, can I refer you to the interview he did with Brernard P on STV last night? I think you'll find that he's a bumbling idiot without an idea of where any of his figures/polcies came from. I only saw a small clip of the interview, but it looked like he was in a Johann Lamontesque car crash.
On a more serious note, my immediate concern was for ERI, which was also built under the scheme, in Edinburgh, and quite possibly by the same company, or another based in Guernsey for tax purposes.
Rebuilding schools will be expensive, but to have to rebuild ERI?
I'm not sure about the terms and conditions of the contracts, but if a building belongs to a private company, often day to day maintenance/cleanliness is the business of the tenant, but the structures would surely be the business of the landlord.
As Jim says it's unlikely that any builder would not know to put in ties. It's seriously unlikely that they'd have got away with that over 16 buildings all over Edinburgh, but there's clearly a fault in the buildings, and to my way of thinking the responsibility is with the builders, landlords and building inspectors.
I'm inclined to think that unless they fork out for repairs/replacements to the satisfaction of the government, all payments should stop, the building should be taken back into public ownership and no compensation should be paid.
I love the photo of Coburn doing his impression of an Elephant Seal.
ReplyDeleteNo no no Gus, that's a photograph of an Elephant Seal doing his impression of Mr Coburn....isn't it?
DeleteOh dear, now you mention it, I think you may be right. Well, let's just agree that it's one or the oher. Just as well I didn't put it in Soppy Sunday!