I think Andrea Leadsom at DEFRA is a great appointment, given she taught Old McDonald everything he knew.
"Theresa may have foreign affairs, taxes, public spending, but I have cows"
I am most uncharitable to Mrs Leadsom in my weekend piece.
I don't know why everyone on here hates Andrea L. She just seems like a nice (if rather naive and inexperienced) lady. Can't people just wish her well instead of being nasty.
The right wing frothers have taken against her GIN.
Will May instruct him to prioritise the northern HS3 instead of the London orientated HS2?
Grayling's first job should be stripping Southern and Southeastern of their rail franchises.
Are you sure that's the end-game the government want?
Why not just nationalise all commuter rail to TfL with Sadiq ultimately responsible as mayor? Has worked very well where done so far (WAGN, Romford line etc). Makes no sense fragmenting a commuter network. Clear lines of responsibility etc etc.
Er, we had something of that kind with BR: Inter-City Network South-East All other provincial lines.
If I use a train, I'm paying my fare to a nationalised railway. Deutsche Bahn owns Arriva Trains Wales and at least one other franchise.
By returning expired franchises to an integrated government-owned body, the system could slowly be reunified and any profits could go to the Treasury, not the German govt.(!)
But then we take away the drive to improve that the private sector has brought to the process. If the railways had stayed nationalised would they have expanded like they have in the last 20 years? What needs to happen is a clear plan of how to at least bring the current system under control, if this requires more state control then I am happy but I don't think governmental control is a panacea.
Just saying, as PB's most avid trainspotter and route-basher extraordinaire (my Baker Atlas has been defaced with tons of ink in the last two years!), I don't really mind who runs the railways as long as they are run well.
I don't know why everyone on here hates Andrea L. She just seems like a nice (if rather naive and inexperienced) lady. Can't people just wish her well instead of being nasty.
Yes, I'm sure the lies and the backbiting were all sheer illusion, and butter really wouldn't melt in her sweet little mouth.
Anyhow, I only hope she doesn't have to deal with another outbreak of Mad Cow Disease ...
If she's going to go for Heathrow, she needs to do it very soon whilst she's still got the political momentum and any opposition is still reeling from the firm smack of her kitten heels - and whilst Boris' ego is still being smoothed by measuring the thickness of the carpet pile at the Foreign Office.
This is becoming interminable now, I just wish they'd get on with it. I'm approaching Corbyn reshuffle levels of boredom now. Actually had to do some real work today instead.
If she's going to go for Heathrow, she needs to do it very soon whilst she's still got the political momentum and any opposition is still reeling from the firm smack of her kitten heels - and whilst Boris' ego is still being smoothed by measuring the thickness of the carpet pile at the Foreign Office.
Yes, announce it tomorrow and get the JCBs digging everything up.
This is becoming interminable now, I just wish they'd get on with it. I'm approaching Corbyn reshuffle levels of boredom now. Actually had to do some real work today instead.
"I'm approaching Corbyn reshuffle levels of boredom now"
Will May instruct him to prioritise the northern HS3 instead of the London orientated HS2?
Grayling's first job should be stripping Southern and Southeastern of their rail franchises.
Are you sure that's the end-game the government want?
Why not just nationalise all commuter rail to TfL with Sadiq ultimately responsible as mayor? Has worked very well where done so far (WAGN, Romford line etc). Makes no sense fragmenting a commuter network. Clear lines of responsibility etc etc.
Er, we had something of that kind with BR: Inter-City Network South-East All other provincial lines.
If I use a train, I'm paying my fare to a nationalised railway. Deutsche Bahn owns Arriva Trains Wales and at least one other franchise.
By returning expired franchises to an integrated government-owned body, the system could slowly be reunified and any profits could go to the Treasury, not the German govt.(!)
But then we take away the drive to improve that the private sector has brought to the process. If the railways had stayed nationalised would they have expanded like they have in the last 20 years? What needs to happen is a clear plan of how to at least bring the current system under control, if this requires more state control then I am happy but I don't think governmental control is a panacea.
There was less day to day control under BR. The Board was to some extent given a commercial objective and left to get on with it. Private Eye Signal Failures sets out ad nauseam how DfT civil servants now micromanage the running of the railways. But scrapping the franchises would be politically embarrassing so doesn't get onto the agenda.
This is pre-Brexit thinking. There's going to be less economic activity, fewer people, less money. You just don't need as much infrastructure as you would have.
That said, how are people in Britain getting their internet of they don't have fibre? It's not still going over1890s-standard copper wire is it?
Yes it is! Fibre broadband infrastructure is mainly rolled out by private monopoly BT Openreach. In practice it means things like this - my estate was built from 2005 and is 700 mainly middle-class style homes. Openreach did their Broadband survey in 2004. According to them - and I asked them - we don't exist on their map which is why they won't upgrade our cabinet despite having done the ones on either side.
Supposedly private industry removes idiotic state monolith thinking. With BT it got worse. But despite the huge economic benefits of superfast - people can work from home more and travel less - its getting rolled out at snails pace.
My entire town is still waiting for fibre. And it's only 60 miles outside London, hardly a remote corner of England.
I live in a house built in 2013 in a major city. We get 1.5 to 5 meg through BT. The developers didn't bother working with any other providers to enable cable services, so we are stuck with BT. BT won't upgrade the cabinets. I live 1.5 miles from the city centre.
I live miles outside London, in a run down house from the 1850s. My broadband works fine
A lot of suburban properties in towns seem to get very good broadband, but in the centre the speed drops off.
May ought to have demanded assurances from Boris and Greening that they would support whatever decision is made over Heathrow/Gatwick. Maybe the decision will be determined by a majority vote in the cabinet?
I think Andrea Leadsom at DEFRA is a great appointment, given she taught Old McDonald everything he knew.
"Theresa may have foreign affairs, taxes, public spending, but I have cows"
I am most uncharitable to Mrs Leadsom in my weekend piece.
I don't know why everyone on here hates Andrea L. She just seems like a nice (if rather naive and inexperienced) lady. Can't people just wish her well instead of being nasty.
The right wing frothers have taken against her GIN.
Will May instruct him to prioritise the northern HS3 instead of the London orientated HS2?
Grayling's first job should be stripping Southern and Southeastern of their rail franchises.
Are you sure that's the end-game the government want?
Why not just nationalise all commuter rail to TfL with Sadiq ultimately responsible as mayor? Has worked very well where done so far (WAGN, Romford line etc). Makes no sense fragmenting a commuter network. Clear lines of responsibility etc etc.
Er, we had something of that kind with BR: Inter-City Network South-East All other provincial lines.
If I use a train, I'm paying my fare to a nationalised railway. Deutsche Bahn owns Arriva Trains Wales and at least one other franchise.
By returning expired franchises to an integrated government-owned body, the system could slowly be reunified and any profits could go to the Treasury, not the German govt.(!)
Urrrm, you do realise that Southern is one of the many operators who actually return money to the treasury for operating trains? (Table 1.7 of (1))
Last year train operators returned a net ~800 million to the government. I don't care who runs them as long as they continue doing so profitably.
@MrHarryCole: The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Karen Bradley MP as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
Who is she?
Her Majesty is the Queen of Great Britain and NI, and a load of Commonwealth stuff.
Very funny.
Seriously, I know nearly absolutely nothing about Karen Bradley. It used to be absolutely nothing until Vicky Young stated a few minutes ago that she worked with Thersea May in the Home Office (alongside James Brokenshire).
Will May instruct him to prioritise the northern HS3 instead of the London orientated HS2?
Grayling's first job should be stripping Southern and Southeastern of their rail franchises.
Are you sure that's the end-game the government want?
Why not just nationalise all commuter rail to TfL with Sadiq ultimately responsible as mayor? Has worked very well where done so far (WAGN, Romford line etc). Makes no sense fragmenting a commuter network. Clear lines of responsibility etc etc.
Er, we had something of that kind with BR: Inter-City Network South-East All other provincial lines.
If I use a train, I'm paying my fare to a nationalised railway. Deutsche Bahn owns Arriva Trains Wales and at least one other franchise.
By returning expired franchises to an integrated government-owned body, the system could slowly be reunified and any profits could go to the Treasury, not the German govt.(!)
Deutsche Bahn also own Great Central, Chiltern and I believe Northern Rail....
Will May instruct him to prioritise the northern HS3 instead of the London orientated HS2?
Grayling's first job should be stripping Southern and Southeastern of their rail franchises.
Are you sure that's the end-game the government want?
Why not just nationalise all commuter rail to TfL with Sadiq ultimately responsible as mayor? Has worked very well where done so far (WAGN, Romford line etc). Makes no sense fragmenting a commuter network. Clear lines of responsibility etc etc.
Er, we had something of that kind with BR: Inter-City Network South-East All other provincial lines.
If I use a train, I'm paying my fare to a nationalised railway. Deutsche Bahn owns Arriva Trains Wales and at least one other franchise.
By returning expired franchises to an integrated government-owned body, the system could slowly be reunified and any profits could go to the Treasury, not the German govt.(!)
Deutsche Bahn also own Great Central, Chiltern and I believe Northern Rail....
By contrast, GoVia have a HUGE empire covering London Midland, Southern, Southeastern, Gatwick Express, Great Northern and Thameslink
Johnson is still privately educated; should add Hunt to the list.
Any news on your peerage, sir?
The phone has rung twice today, but alas nothing so far from Dave Mansions or Theresa Towers. If No 10 is looking in, I will happily reverse the charges....
Will May instruct him to prioritise the northern HS3 instead of the London orientated HS2?
Grayling's first job should be stripping Southern and Southeastern of their rail franchises.
Are you sure that's the end-game the government want?
Why not just nationalise all commuter rail to TfL with Sadiq ultimately responsible as mayor? Has worked very well where done so far (WAGN, Romford line etc). Makes no sense fragmenting a commuter network. Clear lines of responsibility etc etc.
Er, we had something of that kind with BR: Inter-City Network South-East All other provincial lines.
If I use a train, I'm paying my fare to a nationalised railway. Deutsche Bahn owns Arriva Trains Wales and at least one other franchise.
By returning expired franchises to an integrated government-owned body, the system could slowly be reunified and any profits could go to the Treasury, not the German govt.(!)
Urrrm, you do realise that Southern is one of the many operators who actually return money to the treasury for operating trains? (Table 1.7 of (1))
Last year train operators returned a net ~800 million to the government. I don't care who runs them as long as they continue doing so profitably.
Southern (like the rest of GTR) is now run on a management contract so no longer returns anything. In any case, the money the TOC returns to the Govenrment is effectively priced into the winning bidder's franchise premia.
Labour Facebook groups are increasingly silly. Some people shrieking about affronts to democracy and breech of contract over voting rights.
I've pointed out that they advocate letting someone join the party on day 1, vote on day 2 and quit on day 3 and the damage that could do. I'm not being well received....
Seconded - a contemporary of May at Oxford - got a raw deal under Cameron
He was my tutorial partner for Modern British Government (lol) with Gillian Peele who was the fun-loving politics don at LMH. OK, he's become a Secretary of State, but I was a Leader!
You studied with Gillian as well?
I had her alongside Vernon B [who kept interrupting my tutorials to redraft the Czech constitution], Liz Fraser, Chris Alsopp and Martin Ceadal
Will May instruct him to prioritise the northern HS3 instead of the London orientated HS2?
Grayling's first job should be stripping Southern and Southeastern of their rail franchises.
Are you sure that's the end-game the government want?
Why not just nationalise all commuter rail to TfL with Sadiq ultimately responsible as mayor? Has worked very well where done so far (WAGN, Romford line etc). Makes no sense fragmenting a commuter network. Clear lines of responsibility etc etc.
Er, we had something of that kind with BR: Inter-City Network South-East All other provincial lines.
If I use a train, I'm paying my fare to a nationalised railway. Deutsche Bahn owns Arriva Trains Wales and at least one other franchise.
By returning expired franchises to an integrated government-owned body, the system could slowly be reunified and any profits could go to the Treasury, not the German govt.(!)
Deutsche Bahn also own Great Central, Chiltern and I believe Northern Rail....
By contrast, GoVia have a HUGE empire covering London Midland, Southern, Southeastern, Gatwick Express, Great Northern and Thameslink
Alliance Rail Holdings Arriva TrainCare (formerly LNWR) Arriva Trains Wales Chiltern Railways CrossCountry Grand Central London Overground Rail Operations (50/50 joint venture with MTR Corporation) Northern Tyne & Wear Metro Arriva Rail London take full control of London Overground operations from November 2016.[4]
Will May instruct him to prioritise the northern HS3 instead of the London orientated HS2?
Grayling's first job should be stripping Southern and Southeastern of their rail franchises.
Are you sure that's the end-game the government want?
Why not just nationalise all commuter rail to TfL with Sadiq ultimately responsible as mayor? Has worked very well where done so far (WAGN, Romford line etc). Makes no sense fragmenting a commuter network. Clear lines of responsibility etc etc.
Er, we had something of that kind with BR: Inter-City Network South-East All other provincial lines.
If I use a train, I'm paying my fare to a nationalised railway. Deutsche Bahn owns Arriva Trains Wales and at least one other franchise.
By returning expired franchises to an integrated government-owned body, the system could slowly be reunified and any profits could go to the Treasury, not the German govt.(!)
Urrrm, you do realise that Southern is one of the many operators who actually return money to the treasury for operating trains? (Table 1.7 of (1))
Last year train operators returned a net ~800 million to the government. I don't care who runs them as long as they continue doing so profitably.
Southern (like the rest of GTR) is now run on a management contract so no longer returns anything. In any case, the money the TOC returns to the Govenrment is effectively priced into the winning bidder's franchise premia.
Well, yes, because the unions are being stupid IMO. And what's the point of your second sentence? They still return the money.
Miss Plato, only if the 0.7% is dropped, otherwise this'll harm Patel's leadership prospects enormously..
Not going to happen, 0.7% is the law and there won't be a majority to reverse it.
Rolling peace keeping and a load of other stuff into the top line figure is the key. I've been horrified by the spend-for-the-sake-of-it projects DfiD has funded.
This is pre-Brexit thinking. There's going to be less economic activity, fewer people, less money. You just don't need as much infrastructure as you would have.
That said, how are people in Britain getting their internet of they don't have fibre? It's not still going over1890s-standard copper wire is it?
Yes it is! Fibre broadband infrastructure is mainly rolled out by private monopoly BT Openreach. In practice it means things like this - my estate was built from 2005 and is 700 mainly middle-class style homes. Openreach did their Broadband survey in 2004. According to them - and I asked them - we don't exist on their map which is why they won't upgrade our cabinet despite having done the ones on either side.
Supposedly private industry removes idiotic state monolith thinking. With BT it got worse. But despite the huge economic benefits of superfast - people can work from home more and travel less - its getting rolled out at snails pace.
My entire town is still waiting for fibre. And it's only 60 miles outside London, hardly a remote corner of England.
I live in a house built in 2013 in a major city. We get 1.5 to 5 meg through BT. The developers didn't bother working with any other providers to enable cable services, so we are stuck with BT. BT won't upgrade the cabinets. I live 1.5 miles from the city centre.
I live miles outside London, in a run down house from the 1850s. My broadband works fine
Stourhead ?
NW8...
[Stourhead's Palladian not Victorian, you philistine!]
This is pre-Brexit thinking. There's going to be less economic activity, fewer people, less money. You just don't need as much infrastructure as you would have.
That said, how are people in Britain getting their internet of they don't have fibre? It's not still going over1890s-standard copper wire is it?
Yes it is! Fibre broadband infrastructure is mainly rolled out by private monopoly BT Openreach. In practice it means things like this - my estate was built from 2005 and is 700 mainly middle-class style homes. Openreach did their Broadband survey in 2004. According to them - and I asked them - we don't exist on their map which is why they won't upgrade our cabinet despite having done the ones on either side.
Supposedly private industry removes idiotic state monolith thinking. With BT it got worse. But despite the huge economic benefits of superfast - people can work from home more and travel less - its getting rolled out at snails pace.
My entire town is still waiting for fibre. And it's only 60 miles outside London, hardly a remote corner of England.
I live in a house built in 2013 in a major city. We get 1.5 to 5 meg through BT. The developers didn't bother working with any other providers to enable cable services, so we are stuck with BT. BT won't upgrade the cabinets. I live 1.5 miles from the city centre.
I live miles outside London, in a run down house from the 1850s. My broadband works fine
A lot of suburban properties in towns seem to get very good broadband, but in the centre the speed drops off.
Not sure why. Congestion? Age of wiring?
Age of wiring can be an issue. Some places use a copper - aluminium mix for their wires which seriously limits speed
Froome was going to win the tour de France today with that beast mode move.
Result will probably be taken from timings at the moment of the crash but he would likely have extebpnded that. Maybe now they'll do something about idiotic spectators.
Will May instruct him to prioritise the northern HS3 instead of the London orientated HS2?
Grayling's first job should be stripping Southern and Southeastern of their rail franchises.
Are you sure that's the end-game the government want?
Why not just nationalise all commuter rail to TfL with Sadiq ultimately responsible as mayor? Has worked very well where done so far (WAGN, Romford line etc). Makes no sense fragmenting a commuter network. Clear lines of responsibility etc etc.
Er, we had something of that kind with BR: Inter-City Network South-East All other provincial lines.
If I use a train, I'm paying my fare to a nationalised railway. Deutsche Bahn owns Arriva Trains Wales and at least one other franchise.
By returning expired franchises to an integrated government-owned body, the system could slowly be reunified and any profits could go to the Treasury, not the German govt.(!)
Deutsche Bahn also own Great Central, Chiltern and I believe Northern Rail....
By contrast, GoVia have a HUGE empire covering London Midland, Southern, Southeastern, Gatwick Express, Great Northern and Thameslink
Alliance Rail Holdings Arriva TrainCare (formerly LNWR) Arriva Trains Wales Chiltern Railways CrossCountry Grand Central London Overground Rail Operations (50/50 joint venture with MTR Corporation) Northern Tyne & Wear Metro Arriva Rail London take full control of London Overground operations from November 2016.[4]
Ooops, didn't know they were so big. And didn't know they were getting London Overground either.
This is pre-Brexit thinking. There's going to be less economic activity, fewer people, less money. You just don't need as much infrastructure as you would have.
That said, how are people in Britain getting their internet of they don't have fibre? It's not still going over1890s-standard copper wire is it?
Yes it is! Fibre broadband infrastructure is mainly rolled out by private monopoly BT Openreach. In practice it means things like this - my estate was built from 2005 and is 700 mainly middle-class style homes. Openreach did their Broadband survey in 2004. According to them - and I asked them - we don't exist on their map which is why they won't upgrade our cabinet despite having done the ones on either side.
Supposedly private industry removes idiotic state monolith thinking. With BT it got worse. But despite the huge economic benefits of superfast - people can work from home more and travel less - its getting rolled out at snails pace.
My entire town is still waiting for fibre. And it's only 60 miles outside London, hardly a remote corner of England.
I live in a house built in 2013 in a major city. We get 1.5 to 5 meg through BT. The developers didn't bother working with any other providers to enable cable services, so we are stuck with BT. BT won't upgrade the cabinets. I live 1.5 miles from the city centre.
I live miles outside London, in a run down house from the 1850s. My broadband works fine
Stourhead ?
NW8...
[Stourhead's Palladian not Victorian, you philistine!]
Will it be yours though, or are you a "younger" brother or some such ?
What is it about the Secretary of State for Health, that causes so many experienced journalists to swear live on TV? ttps://youtu.be/Pa70fCLZ4_A
It's probably use the name around the office, then say it without thinking.
Undoubtedly so. It is probably a hangover from his days at DCMS where he was unpopular with the media. OFCOM should really be handing out serious fines for it now, it's happened too often.
Comments
Chief Sec & Cabinet office to come, plus culture, wales and scotland
https://twitter.com/Sunil_P2/status/744654232469504001
Anyhow, I only hope she doesn't have to deal with another outbreak of Mad Cow Disease ...
Mr. O, cheers for that info. So it'll be a general vote of members?
Even if Corbyn loses the leadership, this could be rather bad for Labour.
Desperate stuff.
The Tour de France is on btw.
Fear not – you have that to come.
Quite possibly the most 'representative' cabinet in education terms ever! Another first for the Tories?
Ain't gonna happen. Unions (other than Unite) going cool on Corbyn and they won't want to visit yet more chaos on an already chaotic party.
A lot of suburban properties in towns seem to get very good broadband, but in the centre the speed drops off.
Not sure why. Congestion? Age of wiring?
Also, Priti has this incredibly smug smile on her face at all times.
Last year train operators returned a net ~800 million to the government. I don't care who runs them as long as they continue doing so profitably.
(1): http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/18842/rail-finance-statistical-release-2014-15.pdf
Seriously, I know nearly absolutely nothing about Karen Bradley. It used to be absolutely nothing until Vicky Young stated a few minutes ago that she worked with Thersea May in the Home Office (alongside James Brokenshire).
....We Grammar Schoolboys, Theresa, Damian and I have to stick together.
@Sunil_Prasannan Brady reminds me of Nicky Morgan for some reason.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Govia
I've pointed out that they advocate letting someone join the party on day 1, vote on day 2 and quit on day 3 and the damage that could do. I'm not being well received....
I had her alongside Vernon B [who kept interrupting my tutorials to redraft the Czech constitution], Liz Fraser, Chris Alsopp and Martin Ceadal
Alliance Rail Holdings
Arriva TrainCare (formerly LNWR)
Arriva Trains Wales
Chiltern Railways
CrossCountry
Grand Central
London Overground Rail Operations (50/50 joint venture with MTR Corporation)
Northern
Tyne & Wear Metro
Arriva Rail London take full control of London Overground operations from November 2016.[4]
https://youtu.be/Pa70fCLZ4_A
@GIN1138 Has there ever been a match up of two more unlikeable people?
@numbertwelve Yeah, IDS could go there. I doubt he'll be Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
[Stourhead's Palladian not Victorian, you philistine!]