Cross-channel Link Research Articles

Price determination and discovery in a ‘de-regulated’ milk market: perspectives on the price of UK milk

The de-regulation of the UK milk market, in November 1994, saw the end of sixty years of monopoly control by the Milk Marketing Boards, yet milk prices are currently higher than at any time in the history of the MMB. This paper examines the factors which are likely to determine the price of UK milk in the longer term, both at the aggregate market level and for specific transactions. In the future, all milk users in the UK will have an incentive to increase their capacity utilization and add value to raw milk, to justify a higher milk price. The option of importing liquid milk from the continent will become increasingly attractive as cross-channel links improve and transfer costs fall. The price-fixing mechanism adopted by Milk Marque has resulted in a short-term increase in UK milk prices. In the long run, prices will fluctuate within a band, with intervention prices for butter and skimmed milk powder determining the floor and the cost of transfering milk from the continent determining the ceiling.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF DRESSEL 1 AMPHORAE IN NORTHWEST EUROPE

SummaryThe dating and distribution of the trade in Italian wine to northwest Europe in the last two centuries BC is discussed. The previously recorded Atlantic emphasis is shown to be a product of differential research; many new finds in north‐eastern France, the Benelux countries, Germany and Switzerland are documented but finds are absent from ‘Germanic’ areas. The trade may start in the later second century BC, and around the middle of the first century BC there appears to be an increase in the availability of wine in non‐maritime Gaul and eastern England, possibly at the expense of the Atlantic routes. The debut of the trade in Spanish wine to north‐west Europe is discussed. Attention is briefly drawn to the importance of the revised distribution both to cross‐Channel links between Belgic Gaul and Britain and to the difference between ‘Celts’ and ‘germans’ and the idea of a ‘Nordwestblock’.

HV DC convertor valves for the new cross-Channel link

The new cross-Channel link between Folkestone and Sangatte is due to commence operation in late 1985. This article describes the convertor valves especially designed for the British convertor station

Power engineering for the new cross-Channel link

Many unusual and often unique engineering problems are being tackled in the development and installation of the 2000 MW DC cross-Channel link between Folkestone and Sangette

Cross-channel links

Cross-channel links

Development of automatic digital control of a power system from the laboratory to a field installation

Progress of automatic power-system control in the CEGB is outlined briefly from its consideration before the d.c. cross-Channel link with Electricite de France to the present, when it has been applied experimentally to part of the CEGB system. The predictive nature of the automatic-control scheme tested is discussed, together with the objectives of this scheme. An experiment in the laboratory, using a model power system controlled by a digital computer, and the subsequent application of the control techniques and their development for field use are described.