Re: Ready, Steady -Rishi!
Or is Ready, Steady -Go! ?
When Rishi Sunak announced the Govt's intentions to amend its Net Zero policy, it was hailed as a triumph by those for whom there is no science in Climate Change that can be translated into policy without costing consumers more money than they want to spend, the alleged reason why Labour did not win Boris Johnson's seat, where local residents are opposed to the Mayor of London imposing on them an Ultra Low Emissions Zone.
Now with the announcement of major delays to Horror Story 2, or HS2 as it is conveniently called, the entire policy of 'Levelling Up' (it even has a Secretary of State to do it) which aimed to boost the economy of 'The North' looks to be, if not in shreds, in chaos.
There is a colossal failure of policy making here, and it dates back to the origins of Horror Story 2 in the Blair government when the experts were told by the politicians that their proposals would be ignored.
Horror Story 1 to some is a success -the high speed rail link from London to Paris and Brussels known as Eurostar. This is the project that could have gone east from the coast Stratford in East London (in time for the London Olympics in that location) but was rejected in favour of a line via Ashford to, first Waterloo station pending its move to a re-vamped St Pancras Station, only these days the Eurostar doesn't stop at Ashford International and it has suffered revenue and passenger decline due mostly to the Covid Pandemic. Whether or not it has been value for money is debatable, and the link below not only gives an insight into the HS1 issues, but goes further to explain why Horror Story 2, the High Speed link to Birmingham -Phase 1- and 'The North' -phases 2-200 or whatever- has been a financial and planning flop of giant proportions. Imagine the Industrial Revolution and a railway project that began in 1834 and ended in 1904....
What the link does not explore is how Brexit has helped to sever the rationale, because HS2 was to be an extension of HS1 and thus integrate the UK's rail network to Europe -a commuter would board a train in Aberdeen and get off in Paris. Factor in the politics and the finances that were never able to agree on routes, or capacity, or where the rail line in the UK should even begin or end, and you have the situation today.
Thus Sunak, attempting to take hold of a positive agenda in advance of the next election -next year though he could hang on to January or February 2025, is currently in charge of a Govt as chaotic as, well, HS2.
Sunak is a clever man, and a rich man, tout confort his natural environment. He was a success at everything until he chose Politics, at which, so far, he can only be judged a failure.
But even if he goes, nobody knows what the fate of HS2 is going to be under the next Govt. If only they had consulted the people first and asked that devastating question: What do you want? Labour had been in power too long when it started this shambles, policy shaped by Hubris not Honesty. Spain built a high speed line, over 400 km from Madrid to Seville in 5 years and in budget. It is true that rather than push growth from Madrid to Seville, it was Madrid that benefited most, just as the idea economic spurs will branch out from London to 'The North' may in fact just maintain London's economic prominence. So really the whole project of a 21st, rather than a 19th century railway model needs smart thinking.
But that would need smart people. And when it comes to politics, Rishi just ain't smart.
Interesting read
What HS2 could have learned from HS1’s 30 years of success | New Civil Engineer
Cabinet split over Sunak’s HS2 ‘gross act of vandalism’ (yahoo.com)
Even HS2’s defenders are abandoning it. Rishi Sunak, it’s time to follow suit | Simon Jenkins | The Guardian
Re: Ready, Steady -Rishi!
After 13 Years of Misrule, Rishi Sunak is proposing a package of reforms as if he did not need to account for the mess the country is in, not Austerity, not Brexit, not the colossal fraud that cost the taxpayer £4 billion when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Now he is proposing to reform the exam system in Education, he has scrapped the northern leg of Horror Story 2, and proposes legislation to effectively ban young people from smoking.
Tories have 'reformed' education before, yet we have an Apartheid system that is designed for the Aristocrats and the Bourgeoisie, while the rest can just hope for the best, and probably not get it.
HS2 has been exposed for what it was when first proposed by Labour -an ill-conceived project nobody wanted. What we have now is what people did want then: a regional overhaul to improve East-West travel in the north, eg from Leeds through Manchester to Liverpool. Some people somewhere are still grinning from ear to ear at the money they made from HS2. But hey, what's £35 billion these days?
As for smoking, those Libertarians in the Conservative Party must be fuming -what business is it of the Govt to decide if people can or cannot smoke? It may be useful to stop young people smoking, but once they are 21 or whatever the age is (and Parliament must decide and approve the policy), they will be free to smoke themselves to death -isn't that their choice? They already think Sunak is Brexit-Wary, so all in all what Rishi thinks is a vote-winning package may not work with the public, and further divide his deeply divided party.
Fascinating, innit?
Sunak scraps Manchester HS2 leg, plans to stop children today ever legally smoking and says A-levels to be replaced – as it happened | Politics | The Guardian
Re: Ready, Steady -Rishi!
This year's Diwali lights are back on, and in a light-bulb moment, the UK's Prime Minister has sacked his provocative Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, given her job to James Cleverly [sic] who is being replaced as Foreign Secretary by former Prime Minister David Cameron, who will be given a Peerage so he can represent Govt policy on foreign affairs in the House of Lords.
David Cameron is the man whose record looks like this, albeit a selection of his Greatest Hits
1- the General Election of 2015 which gave the Conservative Party its first Common majority since 1993
2- the legalization of same-sex marriage, which took place during his time as PM of the Coalition Govt 2010-2015
3- Regime change in Libya
4- the Brexit Referendum, after which he resigned, rather than take responsibility for the legislation required to implement the result.
The legacy: chaos in politics; a divided country; a divided party that has had 4 leaders since Cameron left; political debate polarised, sectarian, bitter and functionally useless.
As for Israel and the Palestinians, this is what the new Foreign Secretary said in 2010
"Cameron's criticism of Tel Aviv came when he called for Israel to relax its restrictions on Gaza. "The situation in Gaza has to change," he said. "Humanitarian goods and people must flow in both directions. Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp."He strongly condemned Israel after the assault on the Gaza flotilla. "The Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla was completely unacceptable," he said. "I have told prime minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu we will expect the Israeli inquiry to be swift, transparent and rigorous. "Let me also be clear that the situation in Gaza has to change.""
David Cameron: Israeli blockade has turned Gaza Strip into a 'prison camp' | David Cameron | The Guardian
For the record
David Cameron gets award for introducing same-sex marriage | David Cameron | The Guardian
MPs attack Cameron over Libya 'collapse' - BBC News
Re: Ready, Steady -Rishi!
I thought his record looked more like: Austerity,Farage,Greensill?
Re: Ready, Steady -Rishi!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rodinuk
I thought his record looked more like: Austerity,Farage,Greensill?
That is a scary trio, even if one of them is now destined to eat scorpions in the jungle, and survive.
Meanwhile, Esther McVay has been appointed Minister Without Portfolio (I think this nonsense job was first created by Harold Wilson in the 1960s), which some have called either the Minister for Common Sense, or more worryingly, the 'Common Sense Tsar' -not sure which Tsar she is going to emulate -Ivan the Terrible, or Boris Godunov?
Counting the days to the next election!
From your Super, Soaraway Sun
Esther McVey appointed minister for 'common sense' by Rishi Sunak with brief to tackle scourge of wokery | The Sun
Re: Ready, Steady -Rishi!
I guess we really are at the fag end of a Conservative Govt, running out of ideas. Yes, the medical case against smoking is strong, but the statistics on what kills people is not that good for alcohol, or given their volume, motor vehicles -but to ban smoking?
Save the Planet -ban MEAT!
Puff, puff...and then they're gone.
Tory rightwingers criticise plans for gradual smoking ban in Commons debate – UK politics live (theguardian.com)