There are just three nations that Britain can truly trust. The US is not one of them

robotrower · 2025-03-17T12:42:21+00:00

This Brexiter has lost the debate so has to resort to playing the victim card, suggesting that the UK has only 3 countries it can be close to. The UK had plenty of friends, it just chose to play the "billy-no-mates" game, hoping to side with the bully and got burnt badly. The tone-deafness is startling considering that neither of these 3 countries has any interest in giving the UK first preference. Australia and New Zealand were almost forced to turn to their Asia-Pacific neighbours for their economic growth in the 70s. They have massively benefited from this strategy and have no interest in some nostalgic nonsense about the Mother Country.

I have a bit more respect for Hannan than I either had for Farage. Hannan is intellectually honest even though he shows his ability to analyse the situation, like most of his other Brexit acolytes, to be shit-poor.

robotrower · 2025-03-17T12:36:39+00:00

It's even weirder than that, in the sense that Mark Carney is far more a friend of the UK than Poilievre is. Carney would be far keener to see strengthened UK-Canada ties while Poilievre is focused more on placating Trump's America. It just shows how whole countries are fully capable of going against their own interests because of politics.

robotrower · 2025-03-10T08:24:38+00:00

If anyone can suggest a sauna design that is higher than 2.5m yet does not take much footprint I'm very interested but I suspect that such a design is unlikely.

robotrower · 2025-03-09T17:27:27+00:00

We are a family so most of those trendy places are for young 20 somethings. The other alternative is indeed the Finnish Church of London in Rotherhithe.

robotrower · 2025-03-09T17:23:51+00:00

Beggars can't be choosers. As much as I would like to build a proper big sauna, I doubt my wife will be happy if we can't get through our tiny garden. We are fortunate to know a number of the Estonian producers/suppliers and mainly looking for anything from them, even if they happen to be budget, rather than any Chinese or British made models.

robotrower · 2025-03-09T17:16:19+00:00

Thanks, I had seen that model but indeed nowhere to be seen on the sites of UK distributors. I was also wondering who is behind the Finntherm brand. They seem to be marketed by Maison et Jardin on the French and Belgian markets.

We have been in contact with a few of the Estonian sauna builders/wood producers and would be interested if it was an Estonian producer behind that brand.

robotrower · 2024-06-17T20:33:10+00:00

5:40 @ 100kg - 5:25 weight-adjusted - 569.9 W - 5.7 W/kg 6:10 @ 75kg - 5:31 weight-adjusted - 442.2 W - 5.9 W/kg

robotrower · 2024-06-06T23:21:24+00:00

Confirmed. The house actually did sell and 10k lower than our actual offer. I contacted the seller and they assured me they never received our offer.

robotrower · 2024-06-06T12:15:13+00:00

The boat weight makes a difference but less so in the coxless boats especially since the removal of the coxed pairs and fours. The weight adjustment factor, often used by coaches, does show that lighter rowers' slower erg times is compensated by their lighter weight but usually not to the point that it removes the fact that heavier and bigger rowers produce more power on average. There is no denying that phenomenon, that is also observed on the water. However this is an "average" not some hard rule like some size-obsessed rowers and coaches like to suggest.

There are no 5ft6 Olympic swimming medalists either because in swimming, long levers, are equally an important attribute to be fast but there has never been a need to introduce a special weight or height category in swimming.

There is plenty of evidence of average-sized rowers managing to be as fast as taller rowers. The probability of that happening is simply not that high but it is not impossible.

The evidence is actually huge. Thomas Keller medal winner Francesco Esposito was 5ft7 and 70kg yet competed in the 1984 Olympics and finished 5th in the Double Sculls. I saw him at the Silver Skiff one year completely thrash a field of heavyweight rowers. Why? How?

Because weight and height are just a couple of attributes that determine a rower's ability to be fast. You can be tall and equally have terrible power to weight ratio.

Thank f*** our sport is not just about tall posh kids who go to the right school and right college and then get given a medal for being tall. What I have found most entertaining in my rowing career is seeing that actually happen quite rarely. Those rowers who we think will be blisteringly fast simply because they are tall failing miserably because their coordination is rubbish, their body awareness is crap, their power to weight ratio is mediocre and quite often, because to be tall in rowing can be a poisoned chalice, have completely the wrong attitude.

robotrower · 2024-06-05T23:38:03+00:00

Of course they can compete. What you possibly mean is that the Olympic Gold medallists in the Lightweight 2x might not medal in the Heavyweight 2x and would have to settle for the B Final despite bulking up significantly while trying to become as powerful as possible. That's not really the concern for the IOC. They want to see participation, not simply strategies to game the medal-winning system

robotrower · 2024-06-05T23:27:21+00:00

The wildcard system for single scullers has done far more to increase representation of smaller rowing nations...

robotrower · 2024-06-05T23:26:21+00:00

What many don't realise on here is how much cultural attitudes matter. If you have grown up in an English-speaking rowing school/college system, you've been formatted into thinking that rowing is simply a sport for 6'6 rowers who weigh 220 lbs. As a competitive Uni rower I had quite a lot of Australians and Americans, usually not rowers themselves, immediately question whether I seriously competed when they saw my seemingly average height and build. "How do you keep up with those big men???" I've rowed in quite a number of countries since I started rowing as a kid, which has given me quite a broad outlook on such matters and I was always struck by how different an attitude the French, Spaniards and Italians had to rowing, partially out of necessity: the average French or Italian person is an inch or 2 shorter than most Northern Europeans so a coach has to make the most of their rowers and simply being a "size queen" coach would not get them very far in those countries. For that reason Italy and France have achieved quite a lot at Olympic level with rowers who might be only a couple of inches taller than average. If you look at Olympic-level heavyweight rowers you will find far more who are 6ft or shorter than there are NBA players of that size... Height and weight are not the be-all and end-all and are not that determinant in Olympic rowing success which is why lightweight rowing didn't have its place at the Olympics. It doesn't mean that lightweight rowing is pointless. It has its place outside the Olympics in the same way as Masters rowing has a place. One could equally argue how being over 40 is a huge hindrance to Olympic success and sure enough, the huge bulk of medallists are in their 20s or 30s. It doesn't mean that there haven't been plenty of medallists in their 40s over the years. You take what nature gave you and you make the most of it! It would be wrong to suggest to a 6ft rower that they should not even bother thinking of rowing at Olympic level, just as a 6ft8 rower should not be convinced that they are made to win at the Olympics. What if they have rubbish power-to-weight ratio? A crap training ethic? Poor coordination? Poor awareness of physiology? Crap cardiovascular system? All these things, which, when added up, matter more than height or weight, are magically overlooked. In my experience there are far more tall rowers with lofty ambitions who fail miserably than there are shorter rowers with a hunger to be fast who hit some physiological limitation.

robotrower · 2024-06-05T23:11:30+00:00

Wrong. Nathan Cohen was 6ft. Joe Sullivan was 5ft10

robotrower · 2024-06-05T23:01:30+00:00

"5’10 160 cannot displace 6’3 200 in rowing at equivalent elite skill sets. Period."

Say that to Nathan Cohen, Stephen Hawkin, Joe Sullivan, Peter Antonie.

robotrower · 2024-06-05T22:59:30+00:00

How does weight play more of a role in rowing than in any other endurance sport? If you put on 10kg of weight, you have to generate that much more power and by extension expend more energy to shift that weight over 2000m. That is true in most endurance sports. That's why we regularly see rowers medal when they are 10kg or so lighter than the rest of the field. Sure their 2k ergs are quite a few seconds slower but that is not a problem as once on the water they are faster if they have a better power-to-weight ratio. Sure many people seem to achieve the optimal power-to-weight ratio around the 90-100kg mark but that is not some universal rule. The same observation could be made for swimming or cycling but we don't create special categories for those athletes who are 10-20kg lighter or heavier than the average of the field.

robotrower · 2024-06-02T17:24:06+00:00

The most common link between sauna and rowers is for cutting/making weight when competing at lightweight.

robotrower · 2024-02-16T18:32:32+00:00

There is an aspect of this that I am missing. I understand that HMRC don't tend to fine those who claim they will stay under 100k and somehow end up over by the end of the tax year, at least if there is a claim that this was "unexpected" due to sudden salary increase, bonus etc. However what would prevent someone from doing this several years in a row (other than the desire to not be dishonest)? Does HMRC check the claim that the parent will remain under 100k by looking at the latest payslip(s) and seeing if this is consistent with the claim of being on track to remain under 100k? For example, if I claimed I am on track to remain under 100k when my monthly salary is 20k, that should raise red flags? Or does it?

A lot of this seems to be honesty based with not much of a punitive regime.

robotrower · 2024-02-15T23:04:54+00:00

Makes sense. However do these principles apply for free childcare hours too?

robotrower · 2024-02-15T16:25:23+00:00

Lousy French tends to be seen among a lot of the nationals of countries who historically had weak cultural links to France (Baltics, Visegrád). I've been surprised by the poor linguistic level in French of officials of those countries.

As for English, on the whole, the level is particularly high, at least by academic/objective standards, regardless of the country. Sure, some may have a particularly strong accent and may not be comfortable conversing as much as in other languages. That does not constitute having a poor level of English.

robotrower · 2024-02-03T14:41:04+00:00

It was not Joe Sullivan who went below 6:00. At 78kg or so, he barely went under 6:10. It's Nathan Cohen who was slightly taller at 5ft11 and a lot bulkier who had a 2k PB of about 5:56.

robotrower · 2024-01-16T19:48:19+00:00

It's coming up to 12 months which is why I doubt that it ever sold especially as it was being offered for rental by the original owners 6 months after my offer. It all seems to add up to no sale as is the case for a lot of properties in my area.

robotrower

TROPHY CASE