Labour Responds To Tories’ Promise Of High Speed Hastings Trains
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the Hastings Observer.
This is a paragraph.
The Tories would have to spend a vast amount of money, upwards of £20 billion, to create a faster rail service between Hastings and London, Labour said.
This is based on the cast per mile of HS2, but the only work would be some new track and electrification, so that electric trains with batteries could go between Ashford and Hastings.
I doubt it would cost more then fifty to hundred million pounds in total.
A Use For John McDonnell
Of all of today’s crop of politicians with crackpot policies, the one I like least is John McDonnell!
Today, though, he appeared on the BBC, as I was prevaricating about going to get my newspaper and some other shopping.
I left with all the speed of a rat up a drainpipe.
Thinking about it, I do rather look down on people who treat mathematics as fiction.
More Expensive Promises From The New Monster Raving Loony Party
Every day we get more expensive promises from Corbyn and his loony friends.
Are they intending to get over a message that they will bankrupt the country?
But we’ve not seen the last big money promise from Corbyn’s Department of Silly Ideas.
It is so sad, that Screaming Lord Sutch has passed on, because he would be having fun at Corbyn’s expense to our delight! Now he did believe in silly policies.
- Lowering of the voting age.
- Abolition of dog licences
- Passports for pets.
- Longer pub opening hours.
This election is being fought by one party with a promise of Get Brexit Done and the other with a promise of Spend Spend Spend.
Unfortunately, the Labour Party might find government in the real world more difficult, than in their silly fantasies.
Evereybody should prepare themselves for Ed Milliband’s mansion tax and a wealth tax.
I Live In An Election Poster-Free Area
I gaven’t seen a poster for the election yet.
Although, I did see one St. George’s Cross, but England were playing that night.
Thoughts On The Liberal Democrats Manifesto
This article on the BBC is entitled Liberal Democrats Manifesto: 12 Key Policies Explained.
I feel that there is some scientifically incorrect thinking on both the part of the Liberal Democrats and the BBC.
Here are my thoughts.
Note that the numbers are those in the BBC article.
4. Generate 80% Of Electricity From Renewables By 2030
The BBC article says this about this proposal.
We are already on a path of rapid decarbonisation – with 40% of our electricity produced by wind, solar and biomass in the third quarter of this year.
And recent government projections suggest that contribution is set to rise to just under 50% over the next decade.
So the Liberal Democrats’ plan for 80% would mean the extremely rapid construction of many more solar farms and wind turbines on land and out at sea.
I think that the BBC are underestimating the City of London and especially, the big pension providers and insurance companies like Aviva, Aberdeen Standard, L & G and lots of others.
These companies need safe long-term investments and offshore wind, soplar farms and energy storage, fit the bill extremely well. In World’s Largest Wind Farm Attracts Huge Backing From Insurance Giant, I discuss how Aviva are backing renewable energy.
If the Government doesn’t annoy the City, it may well be possible to persuade companies to invest in renewable energy projects.
5. Tax Frequent Flyers
This will have various effects.
- A family, who fly regularly to their weekend house in Bordeaux would take the train. This is beneficial.
- More people will use their cars on short trips to the Continent. This is not beneficial.
- Long haul passengers might find it cheaper to fly to say Australia, by taking a train to Paris or Schipol airports. This is not beneficial and already happens in Europe, where people drive to Schipol.
I am all for discouraging people not to fly, but I do feel that it fight be better to plant trees to offset the carbon.
7. Legalise Cannabis
Cannabis is a difficult problem.
- I believe that we don’t know enough about the long term effects of taking cannabis.
- I also think we don’t know enough about itsw theraupeutic uses.
- I wouldn’t take it now, but if I was dying a painful death, I might try anything.
I also feel that my son was coeliac like me and his heavy use of cannabis and gluten ruined his immune system, which meant his body didn’t fight the early stages of the pancreatic cancer, that killed him.
8. Freeze Train Fares
This is one of those policies, that looks good on paper and goes down well with voters.
But look what happened on the North London Line, when new trains and more frequent services were introduced nearly ten years ago.
Passenger numbers increased dramatically and since then, the number of trains has been increased to match.
On many routes, a fare freeze would create a similar rise in passengers, so make sure the numbers are correct and the necessary new trains are ordered, refurbished or sourced.
Conclusion
Politicians never think out their policies fully!
Will Business Trust Ultra-Marxist Labour?
This is a paragraph from an article in today’s copy of the Times, which is entitled Labour’s Big Call Has BT Hanging By A Wire.
Only two weeks ago Mr Jansen, 52, had dismissed the threat of Labour nationalisation, saying that BT was “not on the list” and taking comfort from comments from John McDonnell over the summer and made personally. Labour’s shadow chancellor had said in an interview in July that there were “no tricks up my sleeve” and that the “limit of our ambition” was taking the power networks, Royal Mail, rail and water companies into state ownership.
It appears John MacDonnell has either changed his mind, or was doing something rather devious.
Will business at any level from the smallest corner shop to the largest FTSE 500 company ever trust what this ultra-Marxist Labour party says?
Boris Johnson Vows New Life For High Streets And Axed Rail Lines
The title of this post is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Boris Johnson is promising to revitalise “left behind” high streets through tax cuts for pubs and shops and reversing some of the Beeching rail cuts to branch lines.
The article gives a map of the lines and here is a list of them.
- Newcastle and Ashington/Blyth.
- Bristol and Portishead
- Camp Hill Line
- Willenhall and Darlaston
- Thornton-Cleveleys and Fleetwood
- Okehampton and Exeter
- March and Wisbech
- Uckfield and Lewes
- A new station he building of a station at Skelmersdale.
I will suggest other possibilities and add them here.
- West Hampstead and Hounslow – Part of the West London Orbital Railway
- Brent Cross and Kew – Part of the West London Orbital Railway
- Cirencester – See Could Cirencester Be Reconnected To The Rail Network?
There could be several!
The Technology Is With Us!
Anyone who follows railway technology, as I do, knows that technology coming on stream will ease the creation of these routes.
- Modern digital in-cab signalling, as already used on Thameslink.
- Battery-electric trains.
- Innovative charging for battery-electric trains.
- Hydrogen-powered trains.
- Tram-trains
- Automatic train control
- Remote services in simple depots.
- Better bridge-raising and other construction techniques.
Many of these new routes will be able to use a standard train.
Nationalised British Broadband
Labour’s plans to nationalise broadband and provide it free to homes and small business is a cracker!
Advantages For Labour
It would have one big advantage for Labour!
It’s a great way of listening in to all their political opponents. They only have to ask the Chinese how to do it!
How for instance, would another political party, with a radical agenda organise?
But!
Consider these points.
- Mobile phone traffic uses the same Internet backbone as broadband.
- Internet tech giants like Amazon, Facebook and Google wouldn’t pay up without a fight
- Everybody’s pension fund would suffer, as BT is often there and shares would be replaced by junk bonds.
- Virgin Media and other broadband suppliers would be nationalised as well or could become worthless.
- A lot of American Internet companies would go running to the US President and just as Trump has applied tariffs willy-nilly in his trade war with China, a future President wouldn’t take it lying down.
- The high-tech industry has already said they don’t like it.
The biggest problem is that Internet usage will grow exponentially with 5G broadband and all the connected devices, like
- Driverless cars.
- Automated warehouses and delivery systems.
- Connected smart household and other appliances.
- Connected massive screens, which every business, school or home will have.
- Every child watching content on mobile devices.
- Collectinbg operating data from cars, trucks and trains to make them more reliable.
- Automated care assistance for the ill, frail and elderly.
Can any government afford the cost of continual upgrading of capacity, which will not be like anything seen before?
It certainly, is a cracker!
And if it is implemented, it will blow up in the ultra-Marxists’ faces.
Labour’s Four-Day Week ‘To Cost Taxpayers £27bn’
The title of this post, is the same as that as an article of the front page of The Times.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Jeremy Corbyn’s aim to introduce a four-day working week would cost the taxpayer at least £17 billion a year because of the impact on the public sector wage bill, a new analysis has shown.
Surely, if we go from a five to a four-day week , to do the same amount of work, you will need 25% more workers.
- This would raise the wage bill by 25 %
- It would also need more workers, so where will they come from?
- The only place to get extra workers is through immigration, as in this country most who want to work are already employed.
As I edit this, I’m just hearing another giveaway policy from Labour on the television.
Let’s hope the good British public rumble Labour and realise that their promises don’t add up.
Remember, that my specialism was writing scheduling algorithms to build projects in the most efficient manner possible, using a limited pool of resources.
- Labour’s promises will need so much money, that international lenders will probably not be conned to lend it.
- Corbyn’s friends; the Russians and the Iranians might help.
- Labour’s promises will need lots more workers, which would need large amounts of immigration.
Just look at the arithmetic.
The Anonymous Widower 