Not quoted, the Moggladyte is rarely seen or heard of, increasingly marginalised on the outer reaches of society.
There's this to https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...-london-to-be-made-car-free-as-lockdown-eased. Must be a conspiracy. ****** petrohead deniers invoking the mantra of St Clarkson of Barking.
So have we moved from the government advice of, maybe car sharing, to shutting roads to prevent it? Surely that will just force more people onto public transport? At the moment we have good weather, yet buses and tubes are still overcrowded, so what hope of people walking or cycling when it is wet? Whatever decisions are being made, I can only see one thing driving the decisions - herd immunity strategy.
Herd immunity not a Sadiq Khan policy there's a case for it being that of government. This is not being implemented overnight. "Work on the road closures will begin immediately and officials say it should be completed within six weeks" Unlike Johnson's Sunday night Monday morning oh then Wednesday strategy, little warning no forethought. Read more in the article of the rationale behind the strategy. One thing struck me watching question time last night. Mick Cash many times mentioned Johnson jumping the gun as a planned staged increase in public transport had been discussed between all parties. To soon this reopening and all credit for Sadiq Khan for wanting to improve air quality and quality of life in London. How much of Southampton could benefit from a similar approach?
I don’t deny the need to maintain the gains made, in cleaning the air in London, but I believe that this is the wrong time to stop safe travel in cars. By closing the roads, he is forcing people on to public transport not away from it. I have walked across Westminster Bridge, in bad weather, and it’s no fun, so a tube from Waterloo, under the river, would be my first choice. This is why I think he needs to hold fire, or he will inadvertently cause more infections and then the right wing media will crucify him in the press, and hold him up as proof that the crisis wouldn’t have been handled any better under Labour. You can already see the headlines. The government told people to drive to work, and stay off public transport. The Labour, Lord Mayor of London, closed the roads.
As I said it's to early to have a blanket go back to work policy especially when Johnson jumps the gun ahead of agreed transport increases. Road closures or not the tubes and buses will be full during rush hours. The Khan vs Johnson regime clashes along with other Mayors (e.g. Andy Burnham in Manchester) across the country is going to be an ongoing battle. No easy answer time to get on yer bike.
Buses and tubes aren’t overcrowded, don’t believe what you hear on the news. I spent yesterday morning counting people on and off trains in a busy North London station - numbers are still very low. But as at the beginning of the lockdown, the media send photographers and film crews out to find some hotspots at the busiest times, and angle their cameras in such a way as to create a totally false impression. Anything to create a drama, because that’s what consumers of news want - drama. As for the RMT, their legitimate concern is the health and safety of their members as passenger numbers begin to increase. If there is a planned implementation of services increasing in line with passenger numbers, there shouldn’t be a problem, but this week service providers were caught on the hop by Boris’ “go back to work” message on Sunday, a message he expressed without consulting anyone at all (not even his own cabinet). The huge hole in TfL’s budget caused by lockdown has forced Sadiq Khan to go cap in hand to central government for a bailout. The government has made this conditional on two things - fare increases, and less autonomy for London. Increasing the congestion charge is a means of partially mitigating fare increases. The last thing London needs is armies of people coming in by car and choking the streets again. The one thing Tfl and central government agree on, is that the best way to get around central London is on foot or by bike.
If Sunak did become PM, I wonder which of the Gove/Hancock/Patel/Mogg etc slime brigade would find a job in his cabinet ?
In reverse order, Mogg is only playing at bring a politician, I doubt he has much ambition beyond personal enrichment, which he can better achieve through his various offshore investments. He certainly isn’t interested in public service. Patel and Hancock are clearly completely useless and promoted way beyond their respective abilities. Gove has surely left too many knives in too many backs to be trusted by anyone, ever again. Actually, this has been true of Boris for some time, but Gove lacks Boris’ supposed charm. In fact Gove even lacks Patel’s charm, and she has none at all.
Gove does have a single advantage over the rest, he's clever. Reading Alistair Campbell ( OK I know not everyone's cuppa) in The European he says, and I agree, that even when you didn't like The Tories their cabinet level people were a least intelligent. This lot make two short planks look like potential Mensa candidates.
Don’t be fooled by Rishi’s Hollywood good looks and flashing smile. He’s as hard-line a Brexiter as they come. Politics-wise, the only difference between him and Johnson and co. is that he’s an Old Wykehamist and not an Old Etonian.
They need to spend a **** load of money on the public transport systems to be honest. The tube is disgusting, I always drive now. Carrying tools in a hot stinky sweat box is horrible
They'll be the first to do it as a permanent thing. Finland have trialled it among a limited number of people
Finland did I believe. As part of a broader experiment with their benefits system https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-47169549
It is interesting to note that three of the four worse performing countries in terms of containing the virus have populist leaders. Men who had people voting for them because they liked them not because they were in any way competent. In life you get what you deserve.
