An Alternative to Toll Roads
A report today, says that toll roads are not the answer to Britain’s crowded roads.
But is an alternative here already?
The A14 is one of the UK’s most crowded roads. A lot of the traffic is trucks carrying containers to and from the docks in the Haven Ports (Felixstowe, Harwich and Ipswich).
Over the next two years, Network Rail are upgrading the railway from Felixstowe to the East and West Coast Main Lines, so that large amounts of this traffic can go by rail. Network Rail are also upgrading the rail network to Southampton and other places to put the heavy freight where it belongs and the traffic figures are now showing that rail is carrying more freight traffic of this type than a few years ago.
The problem is that rail needs depots to transfer the containers for the final collection or delivery and planning permission for these is often difficult to get, due to local opposition from those same people, who will benefit from less freight traffic on the roads.
We may not have space in this country for a new motorway, but there is often space to fit in another rail track or two alongside an existing line.
Boxing Clever
Boxing Clever is the title of two articles in September’s edition of Modern Railways magazine. They detail the works being done to upgrade the major freight lines of Felixstowe to Nuneaton and Southampton to Birmingham, so that they can take the larger 9 ft 6 in high containers (boxes) from the ports to and from industrial centres. In times of austerity and climate change, it is interesting to see how these projects which will cut out hundreds of thousands of lorry journeys are being carried out and managed using some very innovative solutions. So much so,m that it appears that the second project might be £10m under its £70.7m budget.
It is an example of very good project management and shows how by spending money wisely to remove freight bottle-necks is to the good of us all. You could argue for instance that Felixstowe to Nuneaton enhancement might be the equivalent of adding extra capacity to the A14, which is a road, that really can’t be widened too easily, as the Orwell bridge was only built for two lanes each way.
I particularly liked the way that the 1847 Southampton Tunnel was made larger. Rather than use the traditional approach and closing the tunnel for two to three months, as they did when they upgraded Ipswich Tunnel, they did it a track at a time closing for only three weekends and over Christmas 2009, saving a year on the project.
It is my belief that we can save a lot of money on infrastructure projects, like roads, railways, hospitals ands schools by thinking things through with a great deal more innovation, enterprise and by borrowing good and proven ideas and methods from other countries and industries.
The Madam On the Train
Taking the train up to Ipswich today reminded me of a chance meeting going the other way.
I was going up to London on business and as my company was paying, I decided to have a full breakfast in First Class. C always used to have kippers! It’s sad to think that you can’t do that now!
I was sitting opposite a well-dressed lady in a formal blouse and dark skirt suit in perhaps her late forties or early fifties. You’d have thought she was a high-powered lawyer or accountant or perhaps the secretary to the chairman of a company like Shell or Lloyds Bank.
As we ate, she constantly questioned me about my business, but gave little away about what she did! I told her how we sold project management systems all over the world, how we did a lot of business in the Middle East and how we had become one of the fastest growing companies in the United States.
She then asked a surprising question. Did we ever need special services for overseas clients? I said that I didn’t know and she replied that all her girls were attractive, clean and many were public-school educated. We then chatted in a more general way about business and how you made it flow smoothly.
As we left the train, she wished me good luck and left me a card! I never used it!
Have Intel Bought a Pup?
I notice that the chip-maker Intel has just bought the anti-virus software company McAfee.
Now I have nothing against Intel and have used PCs powered by their chips for a long time. In fact except for the odd one powered by an AMD processor, I suspect it’s almost an exclusive relationship. I used to have the same relationship with McAfee, partly because I was an indirect investor in the company through a venture capital firm, but mainly because I knew I could trust their products. But recently they have tried and in some cases forced me to buy and/or install software that I have no need for, such as Site Advisor. So when my subscription to McAfee ran out, I searched for other software that was free to install and use. I now use ClamWin and I’m very happy with it.
There is other software too, that can do the same or a better job at a lower price than McAfee.
I hope Intel took note of these facts, when they worked out what they should pay for McAfee!
Here Come the Nimbys
They are going to announce the compensation scheme for the High-Speed Line to the North (HS2) today, so what does the BBC do? They get a stupid Nimby on the BBC Breakfast counch. Looking at her, she looks like a typical Home Counties woman, who thinks much more for herself, than the general population. I was uncertain about HS2, until I read an article in Modern Railways, which convinced me that the planned route, via the Chilterns was correct.
There are a lot of unpopular developments we need like nuclear power stations and freight distribution depots. Done properly and sympathetically, they can be to everybody’s benefit.
We must not let the Nimbys win!
Would a Private Firm Ever Buy Anything with Something Like PFI?
It’s grim reading about the problems the NHS is facing over bloated PFI deals.
No-one with any sense would ever have locked themsaelves into such deals. I’m sure people like Tesco have probably used design, build and maintain for stores and depots, but they wouldn’t have ended up paying six times the cost of the building. They’d have also used standard designs to save building costs. I bet each hospital is very different.
The problem is not with PFI, but with the politicians, civil servants and administrators, who pushed these deal through. In a banana republic, I would be smelling the pungent smell of bungs, bribery and favours. But here it’s just bad economics and incompetence. And who was in charge of the country’s finance at the time? So add this to a list of his big mistakes, like pensions, banks, renewing Trident etc. Gordon Brown must rank as the worst Prime Minister any country in Europe has ever had. let lone the UK!
How To Motivate Athletes
I read in The Times today, that quite a few of our successful athletes in Barcelona have not been given funds to help their training from Lottery sources. One, Andy Turner won gold and two others, Mark Lewis Francis and Christian Malcolm won silver in the two sprints.
I always remember when I was at ICI, learning about motivators and demotivators on a course. I seem to remember that money wasn’t a particularly good motivator, but lack of money was a strong demotivator. On the other hand status was a strong motivator. So perhaps to succeed in a major championship is a very strong motivator and nothing is going to stop you doing it, even if you’re a bit short of the readies. Remember though, that as team members, they would have all the support they need in terms of physios and coaches. Is giving people the right support another motivator?Andthey also have the status of being in the team.
So perhaps someone has been working on the status thing and being more careful with the money. Has it got results? After all we’re ahead of the Germans in the medal table. And that can’t be bad!
Perhaps we should apply this set of rules to other areas as well, like business and politics. We tend to pay people a lot of money at the top and they don’t perform.
The real losers over BP and the Gulf Oil Spill
So BP has posted a large loss, over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. We can now see who the real losers are.
Those who live in the area of the spill are being fully compensated, but as BP is making a loss, they will not be paying any UK Corporation Tax. And as BP will not be paying a dividend, any pension fund or investor who holds their shares will not get any return.
In other words the British Government, pensioners and investors will be paying for the failure of an American blow-out protector made by Cameron Iron and dodgy drilling practices for which an American company, Transocean, were partly responsible. It could also be argued that American government policy, which promotes offshore drilling, rather than the much safer onshore is also to blame. Read this from Professor Mark Perry.
Hote that if you think onshore drilling is bad, search Google for Wytch Farm. This is the largest onshore oil field in Europe and it’s around Poole in Dorset in the middle of beautiful countryside. Many don’t even know it’s there!And who successfully manages the field? BP!
We are mugs in this country and total lap-dogs to the greedy Yanks, who won’t economise on fossil fuel. But should we pay for their profligacy, mistakes and arrogance?
Are Redundancies Responsible for a Surge in New Companies?
This was posed by Robert Watts in today’s Sunday Times, but I can’t find it on-line. Is this because The Times are restricting what they put on-line?
But it’s not even mentioned in othe web sites, that we are now having a real surge in new company registrations.
But this is understandable as recessions are one of the best times to start a business, as companies are trying to outsource goods and services, there is a good supply of quality people, machinery, premises and other things available. Often from companies that have gone bust! We started Metier in the depth of a recession and you can’t say, that that wasn’t a success!
The only problem with this recession, is the attitude of the banks, but then, it would appear that many are using redundancy money as seed capital for their businesses.
Another Tour Company Goes Bust
It has been announced this morning, that another tour company, Goldtrail, has gone bust. It does seem to happen at least twice a year.
What bannoys me is that a lot of people will not have travel insurance, so they will expect the CAA, i.e. all our taxes, to get them home.
Let’s have aaw which says that you can’t buy a holiday without either insurance or the means to get yourself home, if it all goes bust. I have insurance, but it didn’t cover my problems in Hong Kong, so I had to fund that myself.
But why should I have to fund people who make no provision? The CAA should publish how much they have had to pay out, over and above any bonds.
Especially, as most this time were to Turkey, which is somewhere I am very cautious of visiting as it is not very coeliac-friendly, unless you stay in five-star hotels.
The Anonymous Widower 