Crossrail Delays or Why Politicians should be excluded from projects

[Ed P]

As this report makes clear, IF the early delays had not been swept under the carpet, then the overall cost/delay probably would have been less.

An interesting object lesson in always demanding the truth when managing projects.

link

[Bob Williams]

And there is still HS2 to come, unless Brexit bankruptcy forces the government’s hand in stopping it. Meanwhile, in Lincolnshire we struggle on with insufficient, slow public transport, disintegrating road surfaces, too many single lane carriageways and insufficient, outmoded infrastructure. Something shared with the rest of the country outside London and the South East I believe. Look at the nation with the eyes of those from outside these areas and realise that our impressions are that London & SE England gets the Lion’s share of the national budget. Which would be viewed with less critical eyes, if that budget was not wasted in so many ways.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Ed P]

Much as I moan about Greyling’s transport legacy, I can see logic in London getting a disproportionate share of funding as it remains the largest generator of national wealth, and will become more important as Brexit destroys our remaining industries.

[Dave Rice]

But before a project finishes in London they’re teeing up the next one.

We finally get electrification and it’s cancelled, but not to Cardiff, they darent. Bristol is a net contributor to the UK economy too and an IT incubator but here the argument does not apply. So its still rules based on politics not logic. Bristol votes Labour so grayling loses nothing, but he can’t stand up to the Welsh assembly.

[Bob Williams]

Ed does that mean single generator of Wealth? Then you do not take into account contributions such as farming and food production, without which the nation could never import enough to feed us. Lincolnshire alone produces 25% of vegetable production, 21% of ornamental crops, 19% of sugar beet, 17% of meat chickens, 18% of duck and 21% of turkey production. and that does not include the rest of East Anglia and other food growing areas of the UK.

https://tinyurl.com/y2sy3wv4

You also ignore the value of UK Tourism, which is growing exponentially:

https://tinyurl.com/yaebajyq

Even my own county now has a tourism value to the UK of 1.37 billion over 5 years to 2016. And that is also rising exponentially:

https://tinyurl.com/y6rg84pf

How long can the UK continue to rely on the finance industry (centred upon a small area of the capital) before Brexit takes at least some international finance and investment away from the country? This is a precarious industry which relies upon international confidence to prosper. My point is still correct: a disproportionate amount of the national budget goes to London. Infrastructure in the rest of the UK suffers from lack of investment. These are facts.

 

 

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

Dear Bob 😁

The UK is a MASSIVE island with skills spread all over. We need to develop ALL of them but we can’t do it if the EU says NO.

[Ed P]

Wheels-Of-Fire wrote:

Dear Bob The UK is a MASSIVE island with skills spread all over. We need to develop ALL of them but we can’t do it if the EU says NO.

OK, you have the platform. Please DETAIL exactly which skills and in what manner, the EU curtails them. CAP and fish are the only two areas which I know have limits placed on them for sound reasons.

I hope we do not need to argue about the need for conservation of fish stocks as the French could weigh in about Cornish fishermen raping their scallop beds!

[Dave Rice]

It’s just part of the conspiracy theory Ed. Our own incompetent Government passes the buck on and people chose to believe it.

It’s actually the EU improving things for the likes of Cornwall.

[Bob Williams]

I do not have much to add to the last two posts in answer to yours Graham. Except to say, no, the UK is NOT a massive island. It is a relatively small and overcrowded place. Many of the skills you speak of, are either being eroded by skilled workers leaving, or being made redundant thanks to the effect of Brexit. Only today one of the largest car retail businesses, based in my birth county of Nottinghamshire, plans a “restructure” and 1,300 redundancies. These events will continue and it is due to this government’s non-existent Brexit ‘plans’ causing loss of sales and loss of business investment confidence. You can stick your head in the sand and tell us everything will be OK, right up to the point of economic collapse.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

Oops I let the Brexit thing leak to here. I am truly sorry 😀

But we really are a Massive island packed with creative potential. We need to stop listening to those who would do us down.

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

Back to cross rail. They put in a bloke to manage bond street as his first ever major project and then cut him off from any direction. Guess what, he floundered.

[Ed P]

Graham, what holds us back is lack of investment. Paradoxically perhaps, economists point to low UK wages as being a main contributory factor when comparing our relatively poor productivity performance in comparison with our main EU competitors.

We do not encourage innovation with investment, and previous Government measures to encourage it through tax breaks have just turned that area into yet another tax shelter for fat cats.

Brexiteers say they want the UK to become a ‘Singapore’, having lived there long enough to get PR (Permanent Residence), I can say that we have neither the technically educated Government or Civil Service who are able to identify trends and quickly move to take advantage of them.

We also do not have the anti-corruption laws of that country with their swingeing impact on those (and their family) who squirrel undeclared money away off-shore, or take bribes. Rot starts at the top and that is where the UK is rotten in comparison to that island.

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

What hold us back is a lack of vision from the top Ed. But can we put this back in the Brexit box please, or better yet a new thread ?

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

I have a good name for a new thread and it is “How I would run the Country” 😀

[Bob Williams]

Apply that to BoJo, but insert an “i” between ‘u’ and ‘n’.

On second thoughts. apply it to most of the feckwits in Westminster.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

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