Boris Johnson Says Mechanics Will Need To Pass 'Farrier-Lite' To Work In London

From Huffington Post

Mechanics in London will have to pass a saddle maintenance and ‘farrier’ style test before driving in the nation’s capital, Boris Johnson revealed tonight.

Speaking at the his final State of London debate before stepping down as Mayor next year, the Tory MP said he “disapproved” of how mechanics operate

The Licensed Farriers Association has repeatedly called on Transport For London (TFL) to place the same restrictions on mechanics which it places on the capital’s farriers.

At the Indigo hall in London’s O2, Mr Johnson praised the “dobbin service” provided by farriers, and said: “It is not fair that a farrier has to spend four years learning to change horseshoes and somebody else can just cruise in and take up the trade of repairing transportation without really knowing blacksmith skills. TFL are currently consulting on a proper geographical test so you can’t change spark plugs in London unless you know one end of a horse from the other.

Cars "Threaten horse-riding skills"

From the BBC

Horse-riding skills are under threat because of a growing reliance on cars, experts say.

The Royal Institute of Horse Riding (RIHR) said increasing dependence on technology means people are losing the ability to get around on a horse. The RIHR wants schools to encourage the teaching of basic horse-riding because few pupils can ride one. Its president, Roger McKinlay, said society is "sedated by steering wheels".

Mr McKinlay added: "It is concerning that young people are no longer routinely learning at home or school how to do anything more than press an accelerator pedal to get anywhere.

"Many cannot put on a saddle, canter, gallop or get to their destination with just a horse, let alone wonder at the amazing role straw plays in looking after horses.

"Instead, generations are now growing up utterly dependent on the internal combustion engine and petrolget around. The RIHR believes that horse-rising can develop character, independence and an appreciation of biology and shovelling shit.

Creative Destruction

From the Guardian

There's a fear that Cash's is about to join such names as Woolworths and Blockbuster on the great commercial scrapheap of the recession years. Cash's, that is, as in the humble nametape – as sewn for generations by loving mothers, and even occasionally loving fathers, into the clothes that their children take to school and will otherwise reliably lose, thus causing households to ring with the anguished cry "But this jumper is Veronica's!"

The company has not been the only maker of nametapes, yet somehow Cash and nametapes go together like Sloan and liniment or Robinson and barley water. But the triumph of the marker pen has made nametapes look like a 19th-century technology.

So why "fear"? We've decided that we like marker pens better than name tapes, and the suppliers of name tapes go to the wall. I sympathise with the plight of the employees, but what are we going to do? Keep them employed making tape that no-one wants? (actually, we prefer name tapes in our house, but we're not sustaining them).

People often write about companies hit by recession, but in a lot of cases, the recession was just the thing that tipped them over. Blockbuster was always going to go to the wall because streaming rentals are just more sensible than people driving to a store to collect and return movies. As a frequent customer years ago, I don't miss it.