There’s a really interesting article in The Independent which my mum emailed to me (Thanks Mum). It is a list of 80 possible ways that the government could save money. They have come from a wide variety of people including government staff and members of the public.
I thought you might like to have a read through them (linked above) and maybe suggest a few that you like.
I thought some of them were brilliant, well thought out and totally practical; some others are good ideas but would be impossible to put into operation; some would cost more money to administer th
an they would save; some would save such little money that it’s not worth it... one or two are plain mad!
Of course you may have some ideas yourself... other things we could do to save more money. We are a bit wasteful after all...
Anyway, among the ones I likes were.........
• Taking our basis out of Germany. The cold war is over and has been for 20 years. Most of the Warsaw Pact countries are in the EU. In any case these days I doubt bases in Germany would stop the “Soviets” now if they decided they wa
nted Paris!
• Withdraw from Afghanistan!
• MPs should use hostels when parliament is sitting
• Teachers should do their training during their very long holidays
• Civil servants bonuses should stop
• Get rid of the vast numbers of managers in the NHS (and other public bodies)
• Only plant perennials in public gardens
• Give councils the rights to triple taxes on derelict buildings
• Abandon the concept of Away-Days
• Have fewer councillors (and indeed MPs)
• Scrap trident
I thought that the idea of selling Cornwall was pretty silly.... unless the buyer takes the daft duke and duchess along with it.
Oh.. and I want to add two that aren't there surprisingly.... scrap the House of Lords and all honours that change people’s names. We are all equal and having titles like 'Sir' and 'Lord' make us unequal in a way that should disappeared 100 years ago. Continue with honours that give you letters after your name, but it’s the 21st century for goodness sake.... and close down or share diplomatic services with other EU countries.
I thought you might like to have a read through them (linked above) and maybe suggest a few that you like.
I thought some of them were brilliant, well thought out and totally practical; some others are good ideas but would be impossible to put into operation; some would cost more money to administer th
an they would save; some would save such little money that it’s not worth it... one or two are plain mad!Of course you may have some ideas yourself... other things we could do to save more money. We are a bit wasteful after all...
Anyway, among the ones I likes were.........
• Taking our basis out of Germany. The cold war is over and has been for 20 years. Most of the Warsaw Pact countries are in the EU. In any case these days I doubt bases in Germany would stop the “Soviets” now if they decided they wa
nted Paris!• Withdraw from Afghanistan!
• MPs should use hostels when parliament is sitting
• Teachers should do their training during their very long holidays
• Civil servants bonuses should stop
• Get rid of the vast numbers of managers in the NHS (and other public bodies)
• Only plant perennials in public gardens
• Give councils the rights to triple taxes on derelict buildings
• Abandon the concept of Away-Days
• Have fewer councillors (and indeed MPs)
• Scrap trident
I thought that the idea of selling Cornwall was pretty silly.... unless the buyer takes the daft duke and duchess along with it.
Oh.. and I want to add two that aren't there surprisingly.... scrap the House of Lords and all honours that change people’s names. We are all equal and having titles like 'Sir' and 'Lord' make us unequal in a way that should disappeared 100 years ago. Continue with honours that give you letters after your name, but it’s the 21st century for goodness sake.... and close down or share diplomatic services with other EU countries.
I would cap ALL public service pay to a maximum £150 thou as not one can justify that sort of income.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with scrapping high speed rail as there is no economic or social benefit.
Yep CH, I agree with your first, but I think that the railway will create jobs and prepare the country for coming properly out of recession. The UK is so far behind the rest of Western Europe when it comes to communications and infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteIt's only England for the moment but it's a start.
:)
The HS from London to Birmingham is going to save a maximum of 5mins because of all the infrastructure around London a total nonsense.
ReplyDeleteWhat should of happened was from the tunnel it heads direct north up the spine of the country and that will never happen now.
The train is the most efficient way of transporting freight not people.
Well Mrs Thatcher promised that we woud be able to get on the train in Scotland and go straight to Paris or Brussels and I wish that that had happened.
ReplyDeleteCertainly the current proposals are that peoplen orth of Edinburgh should get the train to Edinburgh, change for London: in London they have to "alight" and find a "tube" (it's the world's worst nightmare, and cross London to St P where things go uphill and the train to paris is a joy.
I'm inclined to think that the High speed connection for Scotland should come out of SP or Kings Cross, which are in any case next door to one another and could be accessed by a moving walkway.
I take your point on freight, but surely the hs line would be able to take the long distance weight off the existing lines, which during a recession should be being upgraded in any case, signals repaired, bankings reinforced, etc. That would at least leave more room for freight.
Poeple would, I reckon) use the train if it were not so inefficient and so expensive (on average twice the price of French trains for half the service).
That might clear up the roads, which are alos in a dire condition compared with germany for example.
It's a point of interest, but frankly I don't see it happening and certainly, unless it is just a start, the Birmingham one is really, as you suggest, no big deal.
Without labouring the point on HS anything there will be a formulae showing the relationship of how increasing speed on some services will eventually result in an equal slowing down on others. There are limits to most things and politicians don't understand that.
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess we may ahve to agree to disagree here...
ReplyDeleteI think we should have a HS link. I think that there should be dedicated lines for it, as there are in France, and I think that it shuld ahve the facility to carry freight... fast.
That might slow it down I suppose....
I don't know. But I do know that it is considered a huge economic benefit in France and elsewhere on the continent.