Thetownend.com

Soon you will not be able to buy normal light bulbs. They are to be phased out in favor of eco bulbs which are shit they take a long time to light up and aren't as bright as normal ones plus they give me  a fucking headache!

Went to Tesco's last night and stocked up on lightbulbs the cashier thought I was nuts untill I told her why!

This is the result of an EU deal done 9th March 2007 by the EU Council.

All incandescent light bulbs are to be phased out by 2011, I believe 60w ones will be unavailable from next year. It's the reason I have a palette full of them in my garage.

I have dimmer switches and the low energy ones don't work. In fact the official advice I was given was, some do, some don't, so buy one (at £7 or £8) if that doesn't work buy another make.

We gotta fight for a right to light!

Not forgetting these, new ones are full of Mercury and not easy to dispose of in a manner that will satisfy the ecomaniacs.

I predict a rather healthy black market.

I disagee ironside, they are just as easy to chuck in the bin.

Aren't the new ones a different connection aswell. Does these mean I'll lose my screw in connection?!!

The low energy ones don't take that long to light up if you get the right ones.

I'd imagine only the bayonet light bulbs are being phased out. They better be as our living room and dining room take screw in spot lights.

You can get both bayonet and screw jobbies of the energy saving ones.

I've been using them for years. They used to be stupid expensive but you can pick one up for £1.50 these days in Wilkinsons and the likes. You can also get all different shapes, sizes, colours, brightness etc
The only downfall is that they last so long you forget to stock up on spares!

^^^

What she said.

who's been reading the Daily Mail then?

Well you have clearly, to know it was in there. But then of course these issues never appear in the Guardian do they?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/09/energyefficiency.health

quite clearly i have, yes. i read the cover in the newsagents this morning.

what scandalous headline did they lead with?

and what's the relevance of your old guardian link?

Of course ::)

The same relevance as mentioning the Daily Mail on a thread about light bulbs

There's always time to rip on the daily mail. It's a cancer on our country, worse than peados, asylum seekers and knife crime put together.

To be fair to OF he only asked who's been reading the Mail, as it was on their front page today.  I read it as my colleague buys it every day, I also read the Mirror every day as my other colleague buys that every day.

Everyone's getting pretty confrontational on here thesedays.

buy your own paper that u want to read u tight cunt :)

i blame the sudden influx of black people and asylum seekers.

I agree I should be fair to him, but my DNA sees the word Oxford and forces any rationality out the window.

Have there been any EU banning curvy banana stories recently? They were always good fun, if totally bollocks.

The EU lifted most of their food size regulations recently (or are about to) I think.

of course what?

i think i just found the daily mail headline:

"REVOLT! ROBBED OF THEIR RIGHT TO BUY TRAITIONAL LIGHT BULBS, MILLIONS ARE CLEARING SHELVES OF LAST SUPPLIES"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1107290/Revolt-Robbed-right-buy-traditional-light-bulbs-millions-clearing-shelves-supplies.html

this piece pretty much echoes my opinion on the breaking news:

http://justatheory.co.uk/2009/01/07/daily-mail-in-electrifying-light-bulb-shocker/

"Yes, losing the good old bulb feels like an old friend has passed on. Often, I would stare up into my lighting fixture until my retinas burnt, such was my devotion. Soon, this happy past-time will be no longer."

:)

so, the relevance of my daily mail reference is pretty clear now i hope. why did you post an unrelated guardian article from october?

I thought I'd done my fair share of posting crap on here recently, but a thread about lightbulbs?! Good lord, that takes it to another level.

Were they a boy band?

I thought most of them were myth to start with.

yeah most of them were. But they lifted the ones that weren't.

Unless I missed it, there seemed to be a lack of the annual "PC Brigade trying to ban christmas" headlines, with a story of some santa clause being banned from a shopping centre this year.

None of them were ever true either.

The new energy efficent bulbs are about £1.50 and last 20 times longer than the old bulb. Can't say I agree with you that they take ages to light up, I flick my switch and hey there's light! Also they give out the same amount of light as the old bulbs. I think its something like: New 7w= Old 60w bulb, New 11w = old 100w bulb. Not wanting to bore people with stats but i'm sure i read somewhere that if you changed all the bulbs in the average house you would save around £60-£70 a year alone on electric. Thats a night out on the slash!

i have loads of spares,energy comapanys just seem to send me them.i have the dimmer switch problem in my lounge though, so i use 100w normal bulbs.

I blame all these fucking poles stealing my lightbulbs! I read the upmarket version of the mail the daily express!

Not quite false,


http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/daniel_hannan/blog/2008/11/12/bent_bananas_not_a_euromyth_after_all

on the light bulb thing, i just moved into a new built house, which came with all energy saving bulbs in it.  they actually don't seem too bad, they come on fairly quick. However, one in the kids room is a bit bright so i wanted to replace it with a smaller one, which was fine as i still have one of the free british gas ones from the old place.

  I then find out that all the new bulbs in the house have not two but three bayonet lugs - sort of aranged in a T shape, but the top of the "T" bit isn't in exactly the same place as the two lugs on a normal bayonet - plus obviously all the light fittings only fit these bulbs.  I can't put any old bulb in (even if i try modifying one with some pliers....) and i have never seen these bulbs with three lugs anywhere before or in any shop since.  so short of replacing all the light fittings, not sure what to do.  I'm willing to blame euro madness gone mad.

Sounds more like the you should blame the people who built your house who probably have some sort of deal with the company who make weird shape bulbs.

Couldn't give a shit about the lightbulbs.

Although, if that were true...why did I write this?

Wicked, just got home and British gas have very kindly sent me a box of four of these new bulbs!

That's me sorted for the next decade then, I'll even take them with with me when I move.

I've got Energy saving ones in my house and they come on as soon as you flick the switch.

I don't think it was an outright ban, just a categorisation. Anyway, I think the original story was that they were trying to ban straight bananas when in fact it was the opposite. So I think it shows just how silly and muddled it all is :)