Putting The Cart Before The Horse
The Standard is reporting tonight, that Lord Mandelson has changed his mind over the building of HS2. Here’s a flavour.
In an extraordinary public U-turn, he confessed the costings were “almost entirely speculative” when Gordon Brown’s Cabinet backed the idea.
Ministers wanted a “bold commitment to modernisation” after the financial crash, he said, and ignored the potential risks of what now looked like “an expensive mistake”.
But then as Gordon Brown didn’t have the financial acumen to run a whelk stall, what do you expect?
I’ve always been slightly cynical about HS2 and feel if it ever gets built, it won’t be as is now envisaged.
But one thought struck me, as I read the article and it gave rise to the title of this post.
My background is in Project Management, which is all about getting things build the right way and in the correct order. Judging by all the arguments about how Heathrow Airport will link in to HS2, it struck me as strange that we are deciding the route of HS2 before we decide if we’re going to build a new airport for London.
Look at any option, with the possible exception of a third runway at Heathrow and we’ll have to revamp the railways around London, to create links to the North.
Strangely in a few years time, when the Midland Main Line is electrified, Sheffield will have the best links to a London airport, of any northern city. I suspect they’ll be running trains from Sheffield to Brighton, which of course will stop at Gatwick.
That just shows how well politicians plan transport networks.
They haven’t really done anything to solve the North-South problems we currently have and what will happen to construction methods in the near future.
HS2 is initially planned to go from London to Birmingham, but that route has one high speed 200 kph line and a convenient slower one. As I found last week, when I went to Birmingham, it’s a good service and a lot of the problems are on their way to being solved. I wonder what amount of traffic, an upgraded and electrified Chiltern Main Line could carry, thus delaying the need for HS2 to Birmingham!
But go North from Birmingham to Manchester, Liverpool and ultimately Scotland and there is a real lack of capacity. Admittedly, Virgin’s lengthened trains and a few new ones will help, but that line will probably be the first part of the West Coast Main Line to get totally overloaded.
So perhaps we should build it from North to South as some have proposed.
A very real problem is the cess-pit at the London end of the line; Euston. It was built on the cheap in the 1960s and needs a complete rebuild. Rebuilding Euston and building HS2 at the same time, would be a recipe for disaster.
And then there’s the problem of freight capacity, which is going to get worse, as some idiot decided to build the UK’s largest container port at London Gateway, in a place which is difficult to get to by rail,as most trains will have to fight their way through London. You could argue that the proposal to run freight trains on the old Grand Central Line by a company called Central Railway, should have been built as a freight spine first.
Building this line, would probably have taken a lot of the freight off the West Coast Main Line, so giving us the extra passenger capacity we need, at least as far as Manchester and Liverpool for a few years.
As with many things in Project Management, you don’t let politicians be involved in the design or choose the order you do something!
I always remember the building of the Lewisham Extension of the Docklands Light Railway. The contractors were told it had to link various holes in the ground and cost under a certain amount. The politicians then stood back and it was delivered on time at an acceptable price. Not like the Jubilee Line Extension, which was built at a similar time and suffered endless interference from politicians.
One of my laws of project management states that the more political or board level interference in a project, the later and more costly the project will be. If however those at the top lay down a feasible specification with rigid time and cost limits, the project will more likely be delivered successfully.
Can The Posh In Pimlico And Hampstead Count?
Tom Edwards on the BBC was reporting, that the Hackney 8 are now running without tail-gunners, as to have two different buses on the same route, might confuse the passengers. So they shut the rear door to make it simpler!
But here in Hackney, when it matters we can count to three and generally have a few fingers to spare. I was on a New Bus for London last night and everybody was behaving as they should and the driver was opening the rear door to ease passengers off and on the bus. I didn’t see any problems! So to the good people of Hackney a selection of buses, just adds to life’s rich pageant.
What we’d really like is a few more New Buses for London, preferably with some wannabee comedians as tail-gunners!
A Word Calls Up A Storm In Germany
My old German teacher; Frank Stabler, said that the German’s loved words and often joined them together to make long new ones.
But a new word imported into German from American English is causing a bit of a controversy.
The word is shitstorm and it was voted Anglicism of the Year in 2012 by German language experts, as is reported here.
It’s even been used by Angela Merkel, but I don’t think I’ve ever used it!
Is No News Good News For The New Bus For London?
I have a Google Alert for the New Bus for London.
I haven’t had a story; pro, anti or neutral for about two weeks now.
So is this good news for the New Bus for London?
As to the Hackney Eight, who are now running single-manned, they seem to be performing well without their tail-gunner. I’ve ridden one of them a few times since they changed to driver-only and everything seems to be working well, with the passengers using all three doors to enter and leave the bus.
There has been no reports at all on how they are now performing!
Just Sent A Text From My Landline
A guy rang me and a text was the best way to send him some info. So I used my BT6500 to send him a text.
The Incredible Lee-Duck Hee
On the tennis this afternoon, they were talking about a Korean junior tennis player, who played in the Boys Singles at Wimbledon. There is a report here.
Lee-Duck Hee is completely deaf.
I’m reminded of a story told me by a friend, who went to boarding school. His school had a good football team, but the one they never beat, was a school for the deaf.
Farage Won’t Use An Oyster Card
This article in the Standard shows a lot about how Nigel Farage thinks.
I have both an Oystercard and a Freedom Pass, both of which track me through London. The only reasons, I have the Oyster, is to use it on the cable car and the river boats and also to give to visiting friends, so they don’t have to queue up to buy a ticket.
So I can be tracked, but then so what? Perhaps Nigel has a few secrets that he doesn’t want revealed. Perhaps, he’s even having relations with someone from Uganda?
Roast Cod, New Potatoes And Peas
This is another Lindsey Bareham recipe from The Times. If you have a subscription as I do, it’s here.
I modified it slightly to be for two people, although in the end, I cooked a half quantity for just myself.
Roast Cod, New Potatoes And Peas
I used the following.
- 400g. cod fillet
- 2 tbsp of Carluccio’s olive oil with lemon.
- 200 g. cherry tomatoes.
- 100 g. of frozen peas.
- 100 g. gren beans.
- 200g. small new potatoes
- 3 anchovy fillets in olive oil.
- A few fresh mint leaves.
You just cook the fish with the oil and tomatoes in the oven at 200°C for 6-8 minutes with the olive oil and tomatoes.
Preparing To Cook The Fish
The vegetables are cooked in two saucepans and then everything is combined.
The Combined Vegetables
As the first picture shows, you just make a mound, put the fish on top and then garnish it with the tomatoes.
I Can’t Believe Kia Called A Car A Soul!
Just say Kia Soul and listen to yourself.
I wonder if Clarkson has picked it up!
Should We Ban Chinese Lanterns?
The enormous fire at Smethwick, which appears to have been caused by a Chinese lantern, is getting the authorities to change their attitude to these devices.
We never had any problems on the stud, with Chinese lanterns, but I have read of farmers, who have. And Tim Farron, MP is calling for action, as is reported here.
My worry is that hooligans being hooligans, that after this fire, others might decide what a great way to have a bit of fun!
Perhaps an outright ban would be a bit harsh, but surely, we could insist on some form of insurance, for those who launch them!
It will be interesting to see, if the owners of the Smethwick site, can trace the person, who launched the errant lantern, whether they attempt some form of legal redress.
The Anonymous Widower 