In 2006 14 people died because a Nimrod crashed in Afghanistan. The plane should not have been flying but safety concerns were secondary to financial targets. Obviously this is a tragedy of the highest order and to admit that finance is the root cause must be hard for everyone who was involved.
How many times do we say in our home that we will make do. Many domestic fires are caused by old electrical equipment. Do we know the age of the wiring in our house and the hidden dangers behind our walls?
There is a big difference between an old electric blanket and a business that knows of serious danger and continues to ask its employees to take a risk - especially when that employee has no choice but to follow orders. If an individual does not have the correct certificates for their domestic wiring then they can face legislation. I wonder which legislation is facing the government.
Change the world
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
New roads in Europe
Have you travelled through northern Spain? There is a new road that takes you across the country in a fraction of the time it took prior to this road. It is a feat of civil engineering spanning several estuaries. I understand that Ireland's infrastructure and economy have been transformed by new roads. People tell me that roads are transforming the whole of Europe and they also tell me that funding has come from Europe.
There is a trend to improve transport to benefit individuals, companies and the economy. A couple of days ago I wrote about the opposition to the Morecambe link road. While the rest of Europe celebrates its new roads we tend to complain. There are genuine reasons to complain as long as you are prepared for European money to go to the rest of Europe and not here, and as long as you are prepared for your economy to fall behind the rest of Europe.
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There is a trend to improve transport to benefit individuals, companies and the economy. A couple of days ago I wrote about the opposition to the Morecambe link road. While the rest of Europe celebrates its new roads we tend to complain. There are genuine reasons to complain as long as you are prepared for European money to go to the rest of Europe and not here, and as long as you are prepared for your economy to fall behind the rest of Europe.
Change the world
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Blame the side that obstructs arbitration
I live fairly close to the centre of Great Britain. If you count the islands then it is Dunsop Bridge and if you don't count them it is Whalley. So if I wanted to set up a private postal business then it may be good to start from this area. However you may find that most of your business comes from the cities and there is not so much to send to the islands. If I am asked to deliver a parcel to a Scottish island then it is going to cost me a lot more than sending one to Manchester. Now times are hard so I can either put the price up for Scotland or I can subsidise it. But times are very hard so I decide to confine my business to the cities.
A private postal service is bound to have an advantage over the Royal Mail. They will choose the profitable services and leave the letters that are sent up farm tracks. Royal Mail is on a loser and times have to change. There has to be modernisation. but it is the role of the union to look after its members and to get the best terms and conditions of employment. That's what management has to do and that's what the unions have to do.
Strikes are not an easy option but if there is a breakdown in communication and a strike is called then it isn't the fault of one side. There seems to be a lot of one-sided criticisms in this dispute. It should be easy to discover why ACAS are not involved so let's blame the side that are obstructing arbitration.
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A private postal service is bound to have an advantage over the Royal Mail. They will choose the profitable services and leave the letters that are sent up farm tracks. Royal Mail is on a loser and times have to change. There has to be modernisation. but it is the role of the union to look after its members and to get the best terms and conditions of employment. That's what management has to do and that's what the unions have to do.
Strikes are not an easy option but if there is a breakdown in communication and a strike is called then it isn't the fault of one side. There seems to be a lot of one-sided criticisms in this dispute. It should be easy to discover why ACAS are not involved so let's blame the side that are obstructing arbitration.
Change the world
Monday, 26 October 2009
Morecambe to the motorway and beyond
Is traffic a problem everywhere? I drove to the other side of Lancaster today (Sunday 25th October) and many routes were impassable. I was reminded of one person who told me that he thought the traffic between Morecambe and Lancaster was as bad as anywhere outside London. However since the congestion charge he reckoned our traffic was the worst anywhere. Today I was very lucky and the route that I took only added ten minutes to my journey. Others were stuck for a lot longer. This problem is not unusual here as it occurs every single day at rush hour and at many other less predictable times.
So how do you deal with this problem? It has been going on for years and Lancaster is in the fortunate position of being next in line for a link road from Morecambe to the M6. Unfortunately there are many objectors. The objections are also many. They include objections to the route as there is a NIMBY and an environmental factor and there are also people who still wish to argue that an alternative route to the M6 should be chosen even though this was rejected years ago. It is easy to counter a NIMBY argument. I would even argue against the environmental arguments because traffic jams aren't good for the environment.
Other people emphasise the fact that the link road will make little difference to the traffic through Lancaster. This is a good point. Traffic has been increasing over the years so maybe we don't need a crystal ball to see that it will continue to increase. Maybe in the long term we won't travel in cars at all and the link road will not be needed but in the short and medium term we will not be moving quickly from Morecambe to the motorway. Even this good point does not deal with the link road doing what it says on the tin and getting the people of Morecambe to the motorway so in fact this argument is misleading.
Let's have better public transport. Let's have park and ride schemes. Let's encourage the use of bikes. Let's have people work near where they live. Let's have lots of other things too which help our environment but if you live in Morecambe wouldn't it be nice to use a link road to actually link to the motorway.
The short and medium term alternatives for anyone from Morecambe or any Morecambe business that has to use the motorway is move away from Morecambe. This is not a good conclusion for Morecambe so I hope we get the link road asap. I wonder if the town council sees things the same way!
Change the world
So how do you deal with this problem? It has been going on for years and Lancaster is in the fortunate position of being next in line for a link road from Morecambe to the M6. Unfortunately there are many objectors. The objections are also many. They include objections to the route as there is a NIMBY and an environmental factor and there are also people who still wish to argue that an alternative route to the M6 should be chosen even though this was rejected years ago. It is easy to counter a NIMBY argument. I would even argue against the environmental arguments because traffic jams aren't good for the environment.
Other people emphasise the fact that the link road will make little difference to the traffic through Lancaster. This is a good point. Traffic has been increasing over the years so maybe we don't need a crystal ball to see that it will continue to increase. Maybe in the long term we won't travel in cars at all and the link road will not be needed but in the short and medium term we will not be moving quickly from Morecambe to the motorway. Even this good point does not deal with the link road doing what it says on the tin and getting the people of Morecambe to the motorway so in fact this argument is misleading.
Let's have better public transport. Let's have park and ride schemes. Let's encourage the use of bikes. Let's have people work near where they live. Let's have lots of other things too which help our environment but if you live in Morecambe wouldn't it be nice to use a link road to actually link to the motorway.
The short and medium term alternatives for anyone from Morecambe or any Morecambe business that has to use the motorway is move away from Morecambe. This is not a good conclusion for Morecambe so I hope we get the link road asap. I wonder if the town council sees things the same way!
Change the world
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Why do we change the clocks?
Today is a significant day in our calendar because the clocks go back and Greenwich mean time will soon be with us. I post blogs at five past midnight so it hasn't started yet but we all have to change our clocks and watches if we haven't done so already. So why do we change the hours?
British summer time is also known as daylight saving time and it is to give more time in the summer evenings for people to socialise. Winston Churchill was in favour of BST. He thought that it increases "the opportunities for the pursuit of health and happiness among the millions of people who live in this country". There are other reasons why we change the hours that include protecting our children because they go to school and get home in daylight hours.
Another reason that we change the hour is because the cows have to milked and daylight is much better for this. It is also said that the number of deaths on the road is decreased because of the change in the hour.
Well there must be a better answer. Nowadays the "pursuit of health and happiness" is not affected by the hour change. People go to gyms and sports stadia and they all have artificial lighting. The nation's greatest pastime, shopping is now all day and all night. Children soon come home in the dark and this obviously doesn't work in the depths of winter or even when we have exceptional bad weather. If we were really concerned about the safety of our children caused by the dangers of darkness then school hours should be seasonal.
I am not sure about the evidence for deaths on the road but it strikes me that the more obvious answer is to do with improving rush hours rather than change our clocks. As for the cows this must be the most ludicrous reason for change - they can't tell the time!
Change the world
British summer time is also known as daylight saving time and it is to give more time in the summer evenings for people to socialise. Winston Churchill was in favour of BST. He thought that it increases "the opportunities for the pursuit of health and happiness among the millions of people who live in this country". There are other reasons why we change the hours that include protecting our children because they go to school and get home in daylight hours.
Another reason that we change the hour is because the cows have to milked and daylight is much better for this. It is also said that the number of deaths on the road is decreased because of the change in the hour.
Well there must be a better answer. Nowadays the "pursuit of health and happiness" is not affected by the hour change. People go to gyms and sports stadia and they all have artificial lighting. The nation's greatest pastime, shopping is now all day and all night. Children soon come home in the dark and this obviously doesn't work in the depths of winter or even when we have exceptional bad weather. If we were really concerned about the safety of our children caused by the dangers of darkness then school hours should be seasonal.
I am not sure about the evidence for deaths on the road but it strikes me that the more obvious answer is to do with improving rush hours rather than change our clocks. As for the cows this must be the most ludicrous reason for change - they can't tell the time!
Change the world
Saturday, 24 October 2009
Exposing the BNP
"Nick Griffin was bullied. David Dimbleby was a disgrace. Members of the public have been persuaded by BNP policies". These were some of the views expressed on Radio 5 immediately after Question Time. The majority view was that Nick Griffin came off badly in the debate. He gave confused answers and his bigotry was exposed.
Other criticisms of the programme were that too much time was taken up with the BNP but compare this with criticisms that their policies were not discussed. I was interested to hear a little more on policy on the radio. The BNP councillor is a Leeds fan and felt the example of foreign footballers playing for Leeds was an extreme example of immigration policy. When pressed on the issue, because football is a business like any other, he was willing to concede that footballers could come over for five years as long as they went back. I'm not sure where five years comes from but can we now presume that five years applies to architects, doctors, entertainers and cleaners?
So did the BNP come off well or were they exposed as racists? I think that BNP supporters have a further vehicle to support their views. They'll claim that they must be a mainstream party because they have been on Question Time. However, the fact that discussion totally avoided pressing issues such as the economy, on which the BNP has nothing to say, shows how far from the mainstream the BNP actually is; and those who oppose the BNP have more ammunition to attack their non-mainstream racist policies. With all the exposure in the world there will still be racists around so they will vote for the party with racist policies.
Change the world
Other criticisms of the programme were that too much time was taken up with the BNP but compare this with criticisms that their policies were not discussed. I was interested to hear a little more on policy on the radio. The BNP councillor is a Leeds fan and felt the example of foreign footballers playing for Leeds was an extreme example of immigration policy. When pressed on the issue, because football is a business like any other, he was willing to concede that footballers could come over for five years as long as they went back. I'm not sure where five years comes from but can we now presume that five years applies to architects, doctors, entertainers and cleaners?
So did the BNP come off well or were they exposed as racists? I think that BNP supporters have a further vehicle to support their views. They'll claim that they must be a mainstream party because they have been on Question Time. However, the fact that discussion totally avoided pressing issues such as the economy, on which the BNP has nothing to say, shows how far from the mainstream the BNP actually is; and those who oppose the BNP have more ammunition to attack their non-mainstream racist policies. With all the exposure in the world there will still be racists around so they will vote for the party with racist policies.
Change the world
Friday, 23 October 2009
Wrong end of the stick
I saw the protest as Nick Griffin entered TV Centre. The organiser of the protest was possibly arrested but he was definitely taken away by the police. So the BBC interviewed a London Labour MP. I missed his first couple of sentences but then he said he wanted to keep the British way of life which is about tolerance, equality and freedom for all. I thought he wanted to support Nick Griffin but he was definitely protesting.
He said that these types of ideologies should not be encouraged or supported. I agree with that but the BBC's role is to represent the views of our democracy and not to drive people underground. If the BNP break the law then they should face the consequences. What right do the BBC have to suppress their views? The answer is obviously none and this undermines the Labour MPs argument. I am sure Nick Griffin will expose this bigotry. He is a very clever man but the main point should be whether his bigotry can be exposed.
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He said that these types of ideologies should not be encouraged or supported. I agree with that but the BBC's role is to represent the views of our democracy and not to drive people underground. If the BNP break the law then they should face the consequences. What right do the BBC have to suppress their views? The answer is obviously none and this undermines the Labour MPs argument. I am sure Nick Griffin will expose this bigotry. He is a very clever man but the main point should be whether his bigotry can be exposed.
Change the world
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