Tag Archives: Politics

I don’t like Mondays…

02 Monday Sep 2019

Posted by in Brexit, Musings, Politics, West Yorkshire

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Well, ones like this where the weather’s been miserable, I’ve been stuck at home collating vast numbers of pictures for a client and I’m watching my country slowly implode both economically and politically. Apart from that it’s been just fine!

Exciting as life is as a photographer, the wading through loads of library images to upload onto a client’s website is the least glamorous side of the job – even if it’s crucial. It’s monotonous and takes time as well as commands attention to detail. I suppose I should be grateful that the weather’s been so iffy so I’ve not been tempted to venture forth with the camera. The seasons really do feel like they’re starting to change up here in West Yorkshire. The nights are noticeably drawing in and the autumn chill is starting to creep in on the tail of shorter days.

My distraction would normally be to have the radio on, but the news bulletins are so depressing as they report on our increasingly dysfunctional Government and its suicide mission to deliver a ‘no deal’ Brexit, thus crippling the economy and trashing our reputation with the rest of the world – who already think we’re mad. That so many of my fellow countrymen think that Johnson’s threat to leave the EU without a deal is actually a threat the EU take seriously says a lot about the state of the UK nowadays. If someone’s holding a gun to their own head and threatening to pull the trigger anyone with an ounce of common-sense knows that there’s only going to be one result. Sadly, common-sense left these shores in 2016 and it looks like it has no intention of returning.

Meanwhile, the rest of us are caught up in this absolute farce as the Tory party morphs into the Brexit party, minus that lying, slimy toad Farage. Instead, they have their other poster boy, Boris – a man who’s relationship with the truth is just as divorced as Farage’s. This is not going to end well…

My only hope is that enough members of all political parties remember where they’ve left their backbones and put country before party. In the meantime, we’re in for a very rocky ride.

Right now, I have other considerations. I’ve finished uploading a batch of pictures to the client’s website and now my attention’s drawn to the delicious smells emanating from the kitchen where Dawn’s busy baking biscuits to take into the ACoRP staff meeting tomorrow. I may be gone some time…

September already? Shit – where’s the year gone?

01 Sunday Sep 2019

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Here we are, the first day of September and only three weeks to go before autumn. Can I ask, who nicked the summer? We didn’t really get one up here in West Yorkshire. Sure, we had a few scattered, sunny days – but nothing that equates to those summers of memory (or even last year) where you know you could rely on the weather to be consistent. Here’s an example. Back in July, when I was judging the ACoRP awards we had a Friday where the trains were delayed by buckling rails because of the heat, yet the following Monday we were suffering problems because of torrential rain and flooding! August was much the same. The climate is changing, it’s becoming harder to predict and much more extreme. Of course, we’re going to get the usual right-wingers and conspiracy theorists tell you it’s all down to sun-spots or the fanciful bollocks that we’re actually entering a new ice-age and the planets actually cooling but none of them will address the fact that we constantly hit new temperature records.

This is the problem with living in a post-truth world where people can stand up with a straight face and tell you that they’re talking about ‘alternative facts’. Imagine, we live in a world where – thanks to those handy little smartphones most of us carry – we can check almost any fact and use our intellects and education to work out when we’re being lied to. Well, that’s how it’s supposed to work anyway.

The Brexitshambles is a classic example of this and also how the narrative can change and yet so many people never realise and blindly follow the new message like sheep. Back in 2016 the Brexiters swore that if we left the EU we would be going into a new ‘Golden age’. The EU was holding us back, but anyway, ‘Johnny Foreigner’ would soon fold when we showed them that we meant business. Here’s some of the bullshit people lapped up.

Can any Brexiter who insists that they knew what they were voting for explain how we’ve gone from this to the Tory Government now preparing to crash out of the EU without a deal with all the consequences that will bring? How have we gone from David Davis saying there’s only ‘upsides’ to Boris Johnson saying that at least we’ll still have Mars Bars and clean water?

At what point are Brexiters going to admit they’ve been conned? That this country is on a suicide course for no other reason than a bunch of media moguls, disaster capitalists, spivs with Belizean diplomatic passports and the head-banging wing of the Tory party have manipulated them? Name a single benefit of Brexit – and don’t you dare tell me it’s about democracy when you’re calling half of the country ‘traitors’ and suspending Parliament so that you crash us out of the EU without a deal.

Whatever happens the UK is fractured. The ‘united’ kingdom was always an uneasy alliance. Now it’s looking like it won’t survive English exceptionalism and their contempt for foreigners – which includes long-standing issues with the other elements of the Union: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It seems that anything can be thrown under the wheels of the Brexit bus as long as they keep turning.

The Oakervee Hs2 review panel’s announced. Here’s a look and some thoughts

21 Wednesday Aug 2019

Posted by in Hs2, Politics, Railways

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On 21st August the Transport Minister, Grant Shapps MP announced the composition of the Oakervee Hs2 review panel. The deputy chair will be Lord Berkeley whilst the panel will consist of Michele Dix, Stephen Glaister, Patrick Harley, Sir Peter Hendy, Andrew Sentance, Andy Street, John Cridland and Tony Travers.

The members are both pro and anti Hs2, politicians, rail leaders and academics who’ll examine all the claims and counter claims made. It’s a well-balanced panel as academia will be tempered by real world experience and those who understand the issues and need to deliver results on the ground.

Progress will have to be rapid as their report is expected in the Autumn. I expect to see off some of the wilder claims and ‘alternatives’ and focus on why we’re building Hs2 in the first place. I also expect the claims that HS2 can be terminated at Old Oak Common seen off once and for all. I believe that making Lord Berkeley, a man who’s been a constant critic of HS2 whilst proposing a number of impractical ‘alternatives’ himself as Deputy Chair to be a clever move as he’s going to have to sign up to the report’s conclusions.

Let’s have a look at the panel in greater detail.

Doug Oakervee

Oakervee has decades of experience in delivering major civil engineering projects. A former President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, he was the Executive Chairman at Crossrail from  Dec 2005 to May 2009 and non-Exec Chairman of Hs2 Ltd from March 2012 until December 2013.

Michèle Dix

A Chartered Civil Engineer and former board member of construction company Halcrow, Michele joined Transport for London in 2000 where she had responsibility for the congestion charge. In 2007 she became Managing Director of Planning. She was responsible for leading the planning strategy on the future transport needs of London. In February 2015 Michèle left Planning to become the Managing Director of Crossrail 2 and is now responsible for developing Crossrail 2 and gaining funding and powers for it. Her depth of understanding of the impact of Hs2 in London and its transport network will be extremely valuable.

Professor Stephen Glaister

Glaister is Professor of Transport and Infrastructure in the Centre for Transport Studies at Imperial College London. He’s a long-standing advisor to government on transport issues and economics and contributed to the Eddingtom report. He’s a ‘soft’ critic of HS2 who tends to see both sides of an argument without reaching any firm conclusion. He was interviewed by Halligan for his ‘Dispatches’ hatchet job on Hs2. Halligan asked him “is it (Hs2) good value”? Glaister replied “nobody knows”! I expect Glaister will offer the same non-committal advice to this committee.

Councillor Patrick Harley

Harley is a Conservative Cabinet Member at Dudley MBC and former Council Leader as well as a member of the West Midlands Combined Authority. He’s been a backer of transport initiatives in the West Midlands, including Hs2, which is very important to the area. Harley’s a strong supporter of Midland Metro and has highlighted links it will provide to HS2

Sir Peter Hendy CBE

Hendy needs little introduction. Currently the very active Chair of Network Rail he’s a former bus man, having started his career in the public transport industry in 1975. He was appointed to the position of Managing Director of Surface Transport for Transport for London in 2001. In 2006 he was appointed Commissioner of Transport for London before moving to Network Rail in 2015. Peter has enormous experience of running the sharp end of public transport and understands the need for a strategic vision for both London and the UK.

Andrew Sentence

Sentence is a business economist. Formerly Senior Economic Advisor to PWC from 2011 to 2018, previously he was an external member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee from 2006 -2011. He’s also a former head of economic policy and director of economic affairs at the CBI who has an interest in the low carbon economy. Amongst other things he’s a former member of the Commission for Integrated Transport (2006–10). I suspect he’ll bring a balanced look at the economics and Hs2’s potential to tackle carbon emissions.

Andy Street

Andy’s a former MD of John Lewis who’s currently the Conservative Mayor of the West Midlands and a strong pro Hs2 voice in the Tory party. He’s an unabashed ambassador for the West Midlands and the positive economic benefits better transport links like HS2 bring to the area.

John Cridland

John’s a former Director of the CBI (an organisation that supports HS2). He’s currently Chair of Transport for the North (TfN) and well placed to know the real issues. TfN have made it clear that HS2 phase 2 is essential to delivering Northern Powerhouse Rail.

Professor Tony Travers

Tony’s another academic. He’s currently Visiting Professor in LSE Department of Government and Director of of the London School of Economics who’s advised the Government on a number of occasions. A critic of HS2 but someone who focusses on costs of the project rather than the practicalities of it. Hardly surprising, as that’s the beauty of academia, you can ‘umm and ahh’ safe in the knowledge that it’s not your neck on the line.

The review’s remit

Importantly, each member will focus on a specific area, feeding into and being consulted on the report’s conclusions, without having a right of veto. I expect the academics to do what academics do – and the politicians and business leaders to draw up the conclusion. After all, it’s the elected politicians whose necks will be on the line, and there’s plenty of experienced people on the panel to pose the question, “if not Hs2, what’s your plan B, and you’d better come up with it PDQ!”

I would be surprised if the review delivers a major policy change on HS2. The phase 1 project is too far down the line to be sent back to the drawing board as that would result in chaos on the railways at huge additional cost. On the (potential) eve of Brexit it would also deliver entirely the wrong political message. Don’t expect Hs2 to be cut back to Old Oak Common either, the technical problems with such an idea are huge.

What could be possible is for elements of phase 2 to be changed. Imagine if some of the funding for the sections around Leeds and Manchester was diverted to Transport for the North to deliver (at an earlier date) the elements of Hs2 that would be integral to Northern Powerhouse Rail? This budget reallocation wouldn’t stop Hs2, but it would address some of the cost issues and politically, it would show a real commitment to the North that the Prime Minister has already stated. Then, when Hs2 phase 2 is built it can simply link up with existing NPR infrastructure. Of course, all this is entirely speculative. We’ll have to wait until the autumn to see what the review decides.

Not a (real) train in sight…

26 Friday Jul 2019

Posted by in Architecture, Brexit, History, Politics, Railways, Travel, Worcester

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After the past few days gallivanting around the country today’s been a time for consolidation at home. I even treated myself to a lie-in and didn’t switch on the computer until 07:30! Mind you, it had been a hot and humid night – hardly the best for getting a good night’s sleep. The really hot weather had departed by the morning, leaving us with an assorted bag of cloud cover and the occasional bit of sunshine to help dry out the effects of the overnight showers. Much of the day has been spent editing pictures of railways rather than travelling on them, but that will change again tomorrow. I’ve added over 100 pictures to my Zenfolio website, which you can find if you follow this link to the ‘recent’ section of the website as it’ll show you which galleries they’ve been added to. Here’s a couple of samples just to whet your appetite.

These are the beautifully restored station waiting rooms at Worcester Shrub Hill. They’re unique and are constructed out of cast iron and tiles, having been built around 1864 by local companies.

DG329521. Restored waiting rooms. Worcester Foregate St. 25.7.19.crop

A plaque nearby lists the details of these extraordinary structures.

DG329525. Restored waiting rooms. Worcester Foregate St. 25.7.19.cropWorcester Shrub Hill is an anachronism in several ways. Not only does it have these waiting rooms, it also has some of the finest surviving examples of Great Western Railway lower-quadrant semaphore signals. The fact these control the very latest generation of high-speed trains built by Hitachi is quite something, as you can see from this picture. In the foreground is a two car Class 172 which has recently been transferred from the Gospel Oak-Barking line in London to become part of the West Midlands Train fleet. In the background is 800322, a 9-car Hitachi built Class 800 operated by GWR. The variety of GWR signals is evident.

DG329539. 172003. 800311. Worcester Shrub Hill. 25.7.19.crop

Having loaded up the pictures the rest of the day’s been spent catching up on less exciting matters – paperwork. My desk seems to be awash with ACoRP marking forms receipts and bits and bobs. So much for the ‘paperless office’! At least it’s not like the old days when it would’ve been piled high in slides, negatives and prints too…

Finally, late in the day I managed to get out for a stroll and get some exercise away from a screen. As the weather has cooled down I didn’t need to head straight for a shower either, which was a relief. This evening will probably consist of much of the same as we’re off to Liverpool for a weekend in the city with some friends. If I’m lucky I might be able to do some scribbling whilst I’m there. One thing I will be doing is taking a break from watching the unfolding political disaster that’s Boris Johnson’s new Government. It’s truly depressing to see the people he’s actively courting. It’s the most right-wing and dangerous bunch of any Tory Government I can remember. There’s a toxic mix of former Leave campaign members, the right wing-press and lobby groups like the Taxpayers Alliance. My one hope is that there’s so many big egos there with dodgy pasts and flexible morals that it can’t be long before the whole thing starts to fall apart when it become painfully obvious they can’t deliver on the lies they’ve told over the years. But what damage will they do in the meantime?

 

Forget the USA, the UK now has its own ‘clown prince’…

23 Tuesday Jul 2019

Posted by in Boris Johnson MP, Brexit, Politics

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Today, it happened. The Tory party faithful elected serial liar Boris Johnson as their new Leader and next Prime Minister. Teresa May stands down tomorrow and Johnson takes over. Britain’s 3 year journey into farce continues. Yet again, we’ve proved to the rest of the world just how insular and inward we’re becoming, as well as how irrelevant. Having humiliated the UK in front of the world as a feckless Foreign Secretary, Johnson’s been handed a bigger stage for his incompetence and room for his ego. It will not go well.

His acceptance speech was classic Johnson. It was a lesson in banality and vacuous soundbites. One where we were told Britain will thrive under him and Brexit if we just “believe”. He’s like a backwoods preacher selling the afterlife to the credulous. But then Brexit is akin to a religion to some. Logic and facts are nothing when you have faith.

It’ll all unravel of course. The EU’s already pissed on his chips by immediately announcing that there will be no renegotiation of the deal stuck between them and Teresa May. So whose head is he going to hold a gun to, other than his own? It’s like that surreal moment from Mel Brooks classic film ‘Blazing Saddles’

Meanwhile, various Tories are giving up their portfolios and making it very clear they won’t serve in a Johnson Government. Other Tories are fawning on Twitter, praising Johnson for his ‘achievements’ and ability to “get things done” in the hope of a junior job. On Thursday we’ll start to see what appointments he makes. It’s unlikely to be a pretty sight. No doubt swivel-eyed loons will feature highly as nobody else will be dumb enough to take the poisoned chalice. His cabinet will be more MFI than Chippendale. I doubt it’ll take long before it starts to fall apart…

I wonder how long it’ll take for the Brexit fanatics to twig that Johnson is no more capable of delivering Brexit than anyone else? Parliament is likely to be a pretty rancorous and raucous place over the next few months as different groups of MPs try to block any no deal Brexit. Johnson will be thrust into the national spotlight in a way he’s never been before and his bombast and bluster won’t save him now.

Let’s remember something. Johnson didn’t get into politics through ANY notion of public service. Throughout his life and career he’s proved he only cares about one thing. His overwhelming sense of entitlement and ambition. Then look at what his employers & co-workers say about him. Lazy, disorganised, no attention to detail and no loyalty to anyone other than himself. This character is now our Prime Minister.

I predict that this is going to get messy…

The political chaos gathers momentum…

22 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by in Boris Johnson MP, Brexit, Democracy, Musings, Politics

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In a move that will surprise few, Alan Duncan MP has resigned from the Foreign Office. Having suffered the incompetence of Boris Johnson as Foreign Minister it’s clear he’s no intention of serving under him as Prime Minister!

To say this comes at an awkward time is an understatement. The FO still hasn’t recovered from the damage Johnson caused and already has one Minister suspended. Just what we need with the Iranian’s saber-rattling in the Gulf!

Of course Duncan is merely the first one out of the traps and at least he’s stayed in the party. Who’ll be next? Chancellor Philip Hammond has already announced he’ll resign on Wednesday if Johnson wins tomorrow. Plus, there’s newspaper reports that up to six Tory MPs are in discussions with the Liberal Democrats about joining the party.

This really could prove interesting as it would leave Johnson without any majority in Parliament and facing some politically savvy opposition from his own back-benches. Johnson’s not a clever politician. Devious and blustering, yes, but not clever. The cracks are already starting to show and he’s not even taken office yet! The chances of a serious split in the Tory party are becoming more likely, especially if Johnson surrounds himself with ideological Brexit headbangers in his Cabinet. You wouldn’t trust most of them to run a whelk stall, never mind a country.

If only we had an opposition party and Leader worth the name. At this rate, it looks like the Lib-Dems will assume that role. Since I wrote this it’s been announced that Jo Swinson MP has been voted in as the new Lib-Dem leader, making the Labour party the only one of the triumvirate (Labour, Tory & Lib-Dem) to never have elected a woman.

The lull before the (political) storm…

21 Sunday Jul 2019

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It’s been a quiet Sunday for the pair of us, although we did pop out for lunch with Dawn’s parents and Jo Cullinane, the mother of Dawn’s late sister-in-law, Joanne. We ate at 315 restaurant, just outside Huddersfield where we had an enjoyable Sunday lunch and a catch-up as we hadn’t seen Jo since the wedding.

I even indulged in something I only eat once in a blue moon, Cheese! I don’t have it at home as Dawn’s allergic to it.

In contrast, this evening’s been spent pottering around at home, whilst I’ve been pondering the coming political storm that will break next week.

Barring a miracle, it looks like serial liar Boris Johnson will be anointed the next Tory leader and Prime Minister. Before he takes office on Thursday there will be a series of Ministerial resignations, including the Chancellor, Philip Hammond. How many others is open to question. There’ll also be a series of high profile members announcing that they’re leaving the Tory Party.

Expect the pound to take a beating on the currency markets and don’t be in the least surprised if the stock market takes a hit too. This is just the start of a long decline in the country’s future, as well as the Tory party. Of course, some Brexiters will be cock-a-hoop at the idea one of theirs is now Prime Minister. But that’s where their problems start. Brexiters have long used the excuse that Brexit has never happened because there’s been a Remainer in charge. It was always a feeble excuse as May appointed Arch Brexiters David Davis and Liam Fox to her Cabinet – as well as Boris Johnson (amongst others). But with May replaced by Johnson, their excuse will have evaporated. So who are they going to blame now? Because it doesn’t matter who’s PM, they can’t make Unicorns real. The lies will remain lies. There is no Brexit alchemist who can turn lies into truth, especially that blond buffoon Johnson, who’s about to discover that you might be able to bullshit and bluster as a part-time Mayor of London but this is the big time now. To my mind, the only question is how long he can hang on to office before even the most die-hard Brexiter realises it’s not going to the (non-existent) plan, everything turns to ratshit and we end up with a general election.

Sadly for the country, there’s no dynamic Labour party waiting in the wings to stride in and right the mess the Tories are about to inflict on us as their civil war is re-ignited and taken to new levels. ‘Magic Grandad’ Jeremy Corbyn is too weak, too embroiled in anti-Semitism and too tied up in his own dogmatic refusal to oppose Brexit. We’re about to enter a shit-storm of potentially epic proportions. The journalist Jonathan Lis has summed up the situation in this excellent article.

The country is being failed by its two main political parties, neither of whom is fit to govern. meanwhile, the fascists are on the rise with their simplistic populism and list people to blame for the mess were in. Not on that list are the real culprits, themselves and the billionaires, media moguls and spivs who fund and back them. We are living in very dangerous times and next week will start to show just how dangerous it could get. meanwhile, the rest of us will suffer the consequences of a country whose economy is being ruined by dogma and whose friends abroad are looking on with growing incredulity, incomprehension and concern.

I’m afraid the old Chinese curse ‘may you live in interesting times’ has been invoked.

StopHs2 and ‘don’t mention the war’…

20 Saturday Jul 2019

Posted by in Anti Hs2 mob, Hs2, Politics

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You have to laugh! StopHs2, the only ‘group’ left opposing Hs2 have come up with a cunning wheeze to explain the fact that the Hs2 Phase 2a hybrid bill sailed through Parliament with a majority of 246 last week. Their plan? Don’t even mention that it ever took place – just ignore the fact! So, there’s no mention of it on their website, or their Facebook, or in tweets. It’s as if it never happened!

war

You can understand why it’s an embarrassment to them as it underlines their complete irrelevance nowadays and the fact that what little political support they had has collapsed. I blogged about the result here.

How long Stophs2 are going to maintain this pretence is a good question. It’s certainly made a mockery of their claim that they’re ‘the’ place to go to, to learn about Hs2! But it is very funny! I’s yet more signs of the irrelevance of Stophs2 nowadays. Unlike the Phase 1 petitions, they weren’t even involved in the Phase 2a process at any level. No-one invited them along, so they rarely mentioned it. But then they’ve always been a campaign (and I use that term in its loosest sense) that’s been firmly based on Phase 1 of Hs2. Mind you, as their Chair, Penny Gaines actually lives in Bournemouth nowadays (no, really!) they’re even more isolated. Of course, quite what Penny chairs is open to question, as Stophs2 is little more than her and Kenilworth based Joe Rukin!

Meanwhile, some lone soul has decided to arrange another anti Hs2 demonstration in London via Facebook and Twitter! If it ever happens (which is extremely doubtful) It’s meant to take place on the 7th September.

woolf

Unsurprisingly, Hemel Hempstead based Woolf is also a Brexit fanatic. Oh, I wouldn’t bother with his Facebook page either as there’s little of interest, unless you like looking at someone posting lots of ‘selfies’ all about bodybuilding! His attitude to people on Twitter (where he uses the appellation @drophs2) doesn’t exactly inspire much confidence in his rhetorical or intellectual capacities either…

Drop hs2

You have to wonder. There’s 6.5 million people living on the route of Hs2, yet there’s never been a credible anti Hs2 campaign. The best they came up with was the Hs2 Action Alliance – which at least had some educated people involved, even if they were only Chiltern Nimbys! Now it’s reduced to the likes of Rukin and Gaines, a couple of dozen ‘Walter Mitty’ types who still think ranting on Twitter will stop Hs2, few self publicists like young Woolf plus a handful of misguided Greens who can’t see further than the ends of their noses. Hardly what you’d call a ‘winning team’ is it? I popped in to have a look at the progress of StopHs2’s latest petition on the Government website this morning. It’s taken them 10 days to get another hundred signatures!

petition. 20 jul

The petition doesn’t stand a hope in hell as to be on target they should have had 58,000 by now. It now needs over 800 every single day until October! I see no-one in Camden has signed it for almost 6 weeks now, leaving it stuck on a miserable 247.

I suspect StopHs2 are in for even more disappointment when (as is looking increasingly likely) the blond buffoon Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister. The chances of Johnson cancelling HS2 are minimal (see link). They’ve previously been sold a pup by another Brexiter, Jacob Rees Mogg, who’s another one who says one thing and then does another. Having been quoted saying he’d cancel Hs2 he then goes and votes for it – several times in fact! You can read about that here. Their poster boys do have a habit of letting them down! I await Boris Johnson’s premiership with interest!

 

 

A wet Friday in West Yorkshire.

19 Friday Jul 2019

Posted by in Musings, Politics, Railways

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It’s been a good day to be stuck at home in the office, catching up on photo editing and paperwork as the weather’s been wet, wet, wet! On the bright side, it means I’ve not needed to water the garden, although the sunflowers have taken a bit of a battering and obviously need some bigger (heavier) pots.

Instead, I spent several hours getting a variety of pictures edited and uploaded to my Zenfolio website. If you follow this link you can find which galleries they’ve been added to. After that It was time to try and get on top of paperwork – a never ending task.

In between the showers I did manage prevent getting corns on my arse by venturing out for an afternoon constitutional, walking up through Scarr Woods and along the promenade in order to stretch my legs and get the blood pumping. That’s not hard around here as it doesn’t matter which direction you leave the house in – it ain’t flat!

Having got a load of work done I ended up spending a few hours working on our much overdue bathroom refurbishment. Talk about trying to keep lots of balls in the air. Finally, I nipped out to join some friends in our local pub to have a crack at the Friday quiz and – in the words of Hercule Poirot, exercise the ‘little grey cells’ suitably lubricated by a pint or two before returning home at a sensible time – hence me now penning this! Having a bit of time to spare I’ve updated yesterdays rolling blog with a few pictures of the stations we visited. As well as getting record shots to use in the judging I did have chance to grab a few more creative pictures, such as this one taken at Stoke-On-Trent station on Wednesday. I love playing around with shadows and light and this was an ideal opportunity as it’s such a big (and mostly blank), canvas

DG328841. Shadows and light. Stoke-On-Trent. 17.7.19.crop

Hopefully, over the next few weeks – and if the weather plays ball – I’ll be in a position to add a few more like this. I’ve certainly got a few in mind but the ACoRP judging schedule’s quite intense, and that’s without my other commissions to consider.

Tomorrow’s going to be another day where the weather forecast says “stay at home”, which we will be doing for most of it, although some of the gang from our local pub (the big 6) are on tour locally. We’re off to enjoy Thai tapas at an excellent restaurant in nearby West Vale called Café Thai.

No doubt I’ll be writing about the day as it unfolds, along with a blogging staple – food pictures! Oh, and at some point there’s going to be some serious spleen-venting as it’s looking increasingly likely we’re going to be electing a British version of Donald Trump. Well, when I say ‘we’, I meant that faction of Tory party members who’ve become part of a death cult. I can’t imagine that it will be long before Boris Johnson makes a complete balls-up of Brexit and Government and possibly (or probably) precipitates a general election. Not every member of the Tory party is a Brextremist, so expect a slew of resignations if Johnson does manage to become Prime Minister.

If only the Labour party would ditch ‘Magic Grandad’ and co…

 

 

 

Another awful day for the Stop Hs2 ‘campaign’.

16 Tuesday Jul 2019

Posted by in Anti Hs2 mob, Hs2, Politics, Railways, StopHs2

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Yesterday, the High Speed Rail (West Midlands – Crewe) Bill had its 3rd reading in Parliament after completing the petitioning process. In a surprise to absolutely no-one except a few die-hard anti Hs2 people, it sailed through with a majority of 263 to 17. The 17 who voted against it were the usual rag-bag of MPs who’ve always opposed Hs2. This included disgraced former Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins (who had the whip withdrawn in 2017 after allegations of sexual misconduct and who is still ‘under investigation’) and another of his Brexit supporting ‘chums’, mad Kate Hoey MP, plus Helen Jones, the MP for Warrington North and the other pro-Brexit Labour dinosaur – Dennis Skinner. Also on the list were two Plaid Cymru MPs and 11 Conservatives.  Yet again the Tory list featured the same old names. Bone, Fabricant, Cash, Gillan, Bridgen and McVey, plus 5 others. Completely outnumbering them were a cross party selection of 210 Tories, 45 Labour, 6 DUP and 2 Liberal Democrats.

To say it was a walkover would be an understatement! You can find the Hansard record of the debate here. Needless to say, the decision was welcomed by a wide range of political, business and transport groups up and down the country. But what of the anti Hs2 camp? Well, it’s a bit like saying “Don’t mention the war”! There’s been a news black-out from StopHS2, which has been hilarious! There’s no mention of the result on their website, Facebook page or Twitter account. Even more amusing, StopHS2 ‘Chair’, Penny Gaines was live tweeting all the way through the debate. In her usual style, Gaines tried to spin and hype anything negative said about Hs2 by the tiny number of detractors, whilst studiously ignoring anything said by its supporters. Producing over 100 Tweets in that time for her tiny band of 798 followers from her home in Bournemouth (yes, Bournemouth!) she kept up a stream of spin right up to the moment the vote was taken, as you can see here;

gaines

Then? Nothing. Absolutely nothing – complete radio silence in fact. She ran away and left people hanging. Well, she would have if there’d been many listening, the maximum she got was 10 retweets! As far as her Twitter thread goes it died just as soon as the result of vote was announced! It’s hilarious! Talk about denial!

So, that’s it folks, the Hs2 Phase 2a bill has passed with a massive majority and now goes on to the Lords, where it’ll also pass with a huge majority as there’s no more opposition to Hs2 there than there is in the Commons! In the meantime, the future of some of the MPs who voted against the bill is ‘interesting’ to say the least! Hoey has announced she’s standing down at the next election – jumping before her solidly Remain constituency deselect her. Hopkins future looks in doubt too. Plus a few of the other Brexit fundamentalists like Gillan & Fabricant could be in for a rough ride if/when Brexit blows up in the faces because of the impossibility of making Unicorns real. The same for Skinner when his constituents wake up to the real damage Brexit will cause. In fact, the correlation between opposition to Hs2 and support for Brexit is unmistakeable, although some prominent Brexiters – including one who previously pulled the wool over Hs2 antis eyes before – Jacob Rees-Mogg, who voted FOR the bill!

It’s only a question of time now before StopHS2 join all the other defunct anti Hs2 groups as historical footnotes – and failures.