Dutch Experts

[brionon]

In the UK. to advise on flood prevention ? What will UKIP make of that ??

[tamaris]

a disgrace I'd imagine

[shaneystar2]

The Dutch have a good track record where flooding is concerned and I daresay the people of Somerset would be extremely grateful for any input they may have .
What UKIP thinks is neither here nor there .

[Gromit]

A bunch of dykes?

[DrFilth]

don't know about the ukip but the locals will not notice the windmills after being in the coffee shop for an hour

[berniecuddles]

lol @Drfilth

[Spoonboy]

lol Gromit :))

[Spoonboy]

If I was a flood victim, I'd rather plump for a rescuer, and neighbours and neighbouring villages showing their community spirit than anyone else.

[ChillDoubt]

Slightly off-topic but flood related, I am yet to fathom why this poor chap and 7 colleagues thought it might be a good idea to take to the water.
These are extreme conditions and no one can tell what hazards lie beneath the water in the shape of trees, fences etc and other debris.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-26110031

[ToraToraTora]

They consulted some experts how is that relevant to any political party?

[humbersloop]

Frankly, brionon, I don't really care what UKIP make of it, just as I don't really care who Pickles wants to scapegoat either. I'm sick of recent political point scoring over this issue and waiting for a response that puts a national interest above that. And I'm not holding my breath.

I live in an area where fifty per cent of the houses were taken out by flooding in early December and not a single national agency has been any more use than a chocolate fire guard since.

The Dutch have run a first world, developed economy in a country mostly below sea level for several hundred years. They may just have something useful to say.

[FredPuli43]

I do wonder, if the Dutch experts' plans were followed in every particular, just how much that would cost. From what was being said by one on TV recently, the Dutch divide the country into areas for flood prevention and each area bears its own costs, out of local taxation. And that money goes only to maintaining existing defences. There is no capital cost of building new ones, because they are already there. Just how much would it cost to build complete, up to date, defences in areas here now affected?

[seadogg]

With a marked increase in the effects of climate change the Dutch are going to have problems of their own in the not too distant future.

[Old_Jim]

Their working-class arm, the BNP, seemed quite keen on inviting a Dutch expert a few months ago. I grant you that his area of expertise was on racial violence, but the principle holds good.

[paddywak]

It's nothing new having Dutch engineers working in the levels,after all they did the original work back in the early 1600's and it worked perfectly well until some arse hole decided that the system of dredging the various rivers and drains wasn't really required and that they could allow everything to fill in and it wouldn't matter because they didn't live there.

[DaisyNonna]

Gromit, nearly sprayed my keyboard with a mouthful of Scotch when I read your post.
Would Dutch Caps be preventative?

[shaneystar2]

Very funny ha ha .I hope you've never had the misfortune to be flooded Daisy .I have and it's no joke seeing water coming into your home .

[DaisyNonna]

I know that. Horrendous memories of Kings Lynn.

[anotheoldgit]

Some are soon to drag UKIP into anything in their quest to get over their political point, one even goes to the untruthful point that the BNP is their working class arm, how ridiculous is that?

Glad to see the Dutch are helping out though, something that i suggested some days ago, perhaps now Cameron should also take UKIPs advise and withdraw all foreign aid and spend it on this problem here at homer?

[FredPuli43]

Ridiculous, AOG? Well, UKIP could be termed xenophobic and anxious to preserve what they perceive as a British identity in the United Kingdom. The same can be said of the BNP. That UKIP's membership is middle class and belongs in the local golf club; ideally one that is men only; whilst the BNP seems resolutely working class, doesn't alter that.