What happened in the past really doesn't matter if people have short memories and you can re-write the narrative according to how you would wish things to have been, rather than as they actually were.

It is no surprise that Winston Smith, Orwell's hero in 1984, was charged with re-writing the London Times, to ensure the "facts" matched the prevailing narrative. Personally, I don't think it was an accident that he was named Winston, after the great wartime leader – a man who was also not ill-disposed to re-writing his own part in history. But that is another story.

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You're being unkind. Any working Spaniard is a success story at the mo, poor bggrs.

I would suspect even advanced composites may be a problem in military applications.

I haven't actually checked but I would think that unlike alloys of aluminium or titanium, there would be integrity problems after the kite gets a little "shot up".

Excellent post Richard...when I saw they were using one of your hobby horses, the Airbus, as an example I did wince thinking of you turning purple at the thought ...what was the Guardian thinking of?

Airbus are shit or bust committed to 'advanced composites'. Any safety concerns over the materials would ground the A380. Would Airbus hide issues until an aircraft fell from the sky? Or would there be evidence it was a terrorist bomb within hours of Airbus investigators arriving??

I have few doubts about composites in normal civilian usage.

Take an F1 car, probably the pinnacle of composite usage. Incredibly strong but when the wrong part gets damaged, they can go disastrously wrong. Quite a few drivers have been saved by that central tub in these circumstances.

As a glider pilot I trust myself to composites regularly (ish).
However an airliner on a trans-polar flight to Honolulu can be < -70C over the pole coming into land at 35C+ with a tropical thunderstorm for good measure.
That's an awfully large ask for bonded materials over a reliable service life.

It is not only the characteristics of the composites (or even) - it is the problems of repair in a primitive environment.

I have no problem with range of temperatures.

Problems with all materials can occur according to the rate of change of temperature.

The SR81 for instance was loosely riveted because of expansion in flight due to frictional heating.

Of course they have to make it up.....where are the success stories...they don't exist. The EU is one long saga of never ending failure.

Back in the real world, I had a long conversation with a very successful Australian businessman tdy, he was very worried about the damage the Zero crisis could do and is doing to his business!!!!!!! Not content with wrecking the EU economy, they've now gone Global.

The EU is an unmitigated disaster to everything it touches, an anti or reverse Midas.

Many people seem to misunderstand the Midas touch.

The Midas touch is actually a curse.

Talk about rewriting history.

My son is making a big deal about the cap on benefits.

He seems to think there was something between council tenants and private. A sort of them and us.

This is beyond my experience as until I was about 21, I lived in private accommodation with most of my friends being in council.

Is this a case of TPTB creating another artificial divide?

You must separate the engineering from the politics here. Look at the issues Boeing has had with the 787 Dream Liner. Those who have a deeper interest in Aviation will remember similar issue with the first composite fighters such as the F15, albeit the primary structure still contained alloys. Airbuses issues with the A400M are likely to result from unrealistic political directives, overruling down to earth military needs. But over time composites which can often contain metals are both lighter and stronger, and don't corrode the way metals do.

Well, we don't know where the EU is going but we do know where the money goes.
Another 74 million for Palestinian Refugees because the EU wants to show it's commitment.
With the compliments of Ashton.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340 ... 99,00.html

In general I agree.

My problem is mainly in the way composites gain their strength which is basically the underlying fibre. If that is compromised I don't know what will happen.