Thread 29 Sunak: Borders, Barges and Bacteria

[DuncinToffee]

Thanks pointythings

previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4853484-thread-28-sunak-lords-ladies-and-lame-ducks?page=1

I like this one too @Roussette

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/ng-interactive/2023/aug/25/its-back-to-parliament-time-the-stephen-collins-cartoon

@Cornettoninja

Hahaha love that one, just sent it to DCs and put it on a Politics WA group of their friends!

We don’t know they haven’t yet.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/hs2-scrapped-sunak-hunt-euston-b2412736.html

It seems we’re stopping HS2 6 miles out of London this week. Which may save money but is a huge waste of the money already spent.

Rail to nowhere (no offence to Old Oak Common dwellers).
I still don't understand why it's not going beyond Birmingham.

HS2 has been a money pit from day 1. A vanity project.

The Huw Edwards story was huge because he was Mr respectable, Russell Brand wouldn't have that impact. If the story is as big as being described it has to be either politics, royalty (not Andrew or further away from the throne than him), or football.

Anyone else and it's not a story of the year.

A thread for transport needs or indeed anyone who wants to use public transport -

Is Britain getting a bad deal? @BenAHopkinson and I looked at 242 infrastructure projects across 14 different countries.

Our conclusion? It costs more to build new tram systems, railways, and roads in Britain than almost anywhere else in the world. 🧵

Phase 1 of High Speed 2 (🇬🇧) will cost £396m per mile of track.

🇮🇹Naples-Bari Line: £74m per mile
🇫🇷Tours-Bordeaux: £46m per mile
🇯🇵Hokkiado Shinkansan: £51m per mile

x.com/sam_dumitriu/status/1694990887439233239?s=46&t=Uw4lJNwxFZFnX0Xs3doHYg

Electrification of 76 miles of railway between Leeds and Manchester was supposed to cost £289m and finish in 2019. It will instead cost £11 BILLION and hasn't been done yet. WTF!

x.com/s8mb/status/1695008955703935438?s=46&t=Uw4lJNwxFZFnX0Xs3doHYg

Love it 🤣

I can't claim to have been following this in any detail, but wasn't the point of HS2 to speed up travel to Brum? And isn't that totally negated if travellers have to make their way to a terminus outside London?

Legend has it that HS2 would bridge the north and the south.

I’m frankly surprised that, looking back, we ever managed to build a tunnel under the fucking sea and connect to another country.

Ah, I thought the original intention was high speeds from Euston to Manchester AND to improve east west links in the north of England.

A few in my old office commuted from Brum to Euston and whilst the service could certainly have been faster it was workable (20 years ago).

Still, nothing like having to get out of a high speed train and hop over to the Bakerloo at Willesden to perk up your morning.

There is no way this would be done now, is there? Incredible really.

I am so cross about HS2.
London has quite fast lines to most of the UK already. The real benefit was meant to be connecting Birmingham/manchester/Leeds to enable other journeys to be quicker.

They've eroded the plan so much that surely it would be better to just scrap the whole thing now.
Bunch of wazzocks

It was supposed to speed up London to Manchester but if Sunak has his way it won’t be going to London or Manchester. It also has the advantage of increasing capacity meaning fewer freight journeys need to be made by lorry.

How the fuck we have managed to make this so difficult and so expensive is a mystery.

Wasn’t it Boris that cut the northern powerhouse rail bit? Just illustrating what a cluster fuck having a rotating door of PMs is.

Sunak: No trains, no drains, no point

I like it! 👌

I read that as no trains, no brains...

That's even better, call it a team effort.

Sunak: No Trains, No Brains, No Point

Polls show Labour and Tories neck and neck in mid Beds. Survation poll does not included undecideds though. It looks awfully like LD and Lab will split the protest voters.

That’s going to be a very interesting result.

Part of me is thinking that if the Tories do get back in because the vote was split, Labour and the Lib Dems may learn the lesson for the next GE. It feels as if they need their noses rubbing in it.

I agree @pointythings.

I get that it’s preferable for a party to stand as an individual entity and joining forces could be interpreted as a weakness but I don’t think I’m alone in perceiving this current government as a substantial threat to our society. I’d like to see cross party support in recognising that this is currently the most important aim of the next GE.

We can iron out individual party aims and values once the current threat is moved safely away from power.

'Why didn't they go to the police'

https://x.com/Gabriel_Pogrund/status/1703302706859831401?s=20

EXCL: Andrew Rosindell remains under investigation for sexual offences — including indecent assault and abuse of a position of trust.

Now the Conservative MP has had his bail extended until February 2024.

He’s still never informed his constituents.

Scotland Yard says: “An extension to his bail was sought at magistrates court.”

“This was granted and he now returns on a date in mid-February 2024.”

Read about it in today’s print edition of the Sunday Times.

Is that the first time he’s been named in a national newspaper?