[canucklad]

Charles-P , I’d rather not thanks. IMO Dubai is a bubble that is going to burst as soon as people realize what it really is. To continue the analogy, the Sheiks chewing on his own ego flavoured bubble gum and when it splats there’s going to be quite a few of us finding ourselves in a sticky position.

Britain has many faults and it can be infuriating but I’ll share another couple of quotes that might explain my feelings

“Politicians are like children; you can’t just give them what they want – it only encourages them.”

In other words allowing politicians free reign to express their ego could be just as damaging as them pandering to Joey barton having an aircraft free zone BBQ in his luxurious Kew Garden !
——————————————————————————————————————–
And the following excerpt from the show will explain it better than me…….

Sir Humphrey Appleby: What’s the matter, Bernard?
Bernard Woolley: Oh nothing really, Sir Humphrey.

Sir Humphrey Appleby: You look unhappy.
Bernard Woolley: Well, I was just wondering if the minister was right, actually.

Sir Humphrey Appleby: Very unlikely. What about?
Bernard Woolley: About ends and means. I mean, will I end up as a moral vacuum too?

Sir Humphrey Appleby: Oh, I hope so, Bernard. If you work hard enough.
Bernard Woolley: I actually feel rather downcast. If it’s our job to carry out government policies, shouldn’t we believe in them?

Sir Humphrey Appleby: Huh, what an extraordinary idea.
Bernard Woolley: Why?

Sir Humphrey Appleby: Bernard, I have served eleven governments in the past thirty years. If I had believed in all their policies, I would have been passionately committed to keeping out of the Common Market, and passionately committed to going into it. I would have been utterly convinced of the rightness of nationalising steel. And of denationalising it and renationalising it. On capital punishment, I’d have been a fervent retentionist and an ardent abolishionist. I would’ve been a Keynesian and a Friedmanite, a grammar school preserver and destroyer, a nationalisation freak and a privatisation maniac; but above all, I would have been a stark, staring, raving schizophrenic.
—————————————————————————————————
So I’m a firm believer in democracy, and making sure there are checks and balances in place, that allows progress that benefits us all and not just the few. And at the same time stops individuals from deciding what’s best for us all just because it’s the flavour of the month !

[AnthonyDunn]

@ Charles-P – 30/05/2014 09:50 GMT

EDITED after first posting:

Ah, so you would prefer to live in a country run by an unelected absolute monarch with your civic, human and economic rights determined by one man (strictly NO females!) and in accordance with Islamic Sharia law principles? I beg to differ.

If we don’t like our politicians (whether local, national or at a European level), then there is always the option to throw your own hat into the ring. Personally, I go one further and that is to say that I will not criticise others for doing something that I am unprepared to do myself. Call it “setting an example from in front rather than from behind” if you like. Which is why my name has been on ballot papers in the past and why I have held elected office in the past and was able to demonstrate my own failings as a local politico.

It’s a messy business this thing called “democracy” and, in the words of a far greater man than you or I, “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” Winston Spencer Churchill.

For myself, I will take my chances with a bunch of UK politicians who try to balance longer-term UK economic interests, the country’s climate change commitments, the concerns of local residents and doing what is necessary to get re-elected.

[Charles-P]

OK, I admit I was being a little provocative in suggesting the absolute ruler of an Islamic state 🙂 The point though I think is still valid, does democracy (or what we call democracy in the ‘West’ ) really aid the development of mankind. Would another model be better ?

Maybe a Plutocracy to eliminate the Hello reading classes from important decision making is required ?

[travelworld2]

Er..and the relevance to business travel of the last few posts is…?

[Charles-P]

It links in with the subject of airport developments varying across different countries and cultures. For example the new Al Makthoum International Airport would almost certainly never have been built in Northern Europe without years of delays and consultations (Third Runway – Heathrow)

Hope that explains things

Charles.

[AnthonyDunn]

@ Charles-P – 02/06/2014 15:02 GMT

Personally, I have always been an adherent of the university seat concept – with dual, triple votes and so on. That might go some way to addressing the “Allo” tendency….

Of course, there is also the Functional Constituency concept as championed by Sir Chris Patten in Honkers pre-Handover, It is something that even those supreme democrats (NOT) in the Chinese Communist Party could live with…

As for the relevance to bizz travel? The OP is about inter alia the difficulty (and why) the UK has in making serious transport infrastructure decision-making. The “problem” of a functioning democracy is at the heart of this.

[Charles-P]

AnthonyDunn – 02/06/2014 15:12 GMT

Interesting idea. I am told Aristotle proposed a voting concept based around a ‘contribution to society’ weighting. I am more inclined toward individuals having to show a simple understanding of the reasons why they are voting and what are the major issues of the country. In the same way that people must first pass a test to drive a car on the road, or fly an aircraft in the sky to demonstrate competency why not the same thing before being allowed to take a role in the democratic process.

The recent elections illustrate what happens when only the stupid bother to vote.

[Charles-P]

Interesting graphic here from Janes Group detailing the possible options for London including the costs and possible benefits.

I’ll declare my interest here, I have recently signed a commercial contract meaning I have a financial interest in a new runway at Heathrow but I wonder what others think. Is Boris island really viable, would Gatwick expansion make better sense ?

http://www.ihsairport360.com/images/assets/264/4264/1521453_London_airport_expansion.pdf

[transtraxman]

The better connected airport to the rest of the UK, linked to the MML and with a possibility of connecting to the ECML, is Luton. Everybody writes it off or just ignores it so it is not even mentioned.

Can´t we have an objective look at it? Terrain problems have been mentioned in the past but if anybody is promoting an estuary airport then I would consider Luton´s terrain problems to be small in comparison.

[SimonS1]

I would agree if Luton really was ‘connected’. However for me having to lug bags on to a shuttle bus and pay £1.50 for a mile journey from station to airport makes it a bit of a no-no.

[transtraxman]

If Luton were designated as an airport for development then the logical thing would be to build a rail link from the MML to the airport and then on to the ECML at Stevenage. This could then provide rapid connections along two routes into London and for passengers going further north.

[BigDog.]

Not that it will have much of an impact, however Liberal Conference just handed Nick Clegg an embarrassing defeat today by continuing a policy of “no more runways”.

Realistic or Opportunistic?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29515800

[Charles-P]

I doubt very much if anything the Liberal Democrats decide has any influence on transport policy in the next few years. Many of the polls seem to indicate they will be wiped out in the next election.

[KRIyengar]

You’re misinformed: During the current summer 2014 timetable period, total slot usage at Gatwick is 90%; it is 100% during the 6 am – 9 am morning “rush hour”, Gatwick’s busiest period, eith the effect that many airlines that have tried to get into Gatwick during that period, needing access to commonly timed daily slot pairs to attract premium travellers, have failed to do so.

[AnthonyDunn]

@ Charles-P – 07/10/2014 12:27 GMT

If I had had a quid for every such instance of Tory/LabLiar wishful thinking I have been subjected to over the past few years, I would be able to fly CX business class all the time. You could do with reading Lord Ashcroft’s polling reports on LibDem constituencies….

Nobody knows for sure just how things are going to pan out next May. All we can be clear of is that whatever happens, we can look forward to further doses of kicking hard decisions into the long grass – be that regarding transport infrastructure, nuclear power generation or any number of other “difficult” issues.

[Author]

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