Cameron's First Term: Part 2

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Message 1288058 - Posted: 26 Sep 2012, 14:35:53 UTC - in response to Message 1288054.  


Dismissing him leaves a question mark over Cameron's judgement in appointing him in the first place, he's in a lose/lose situation.



Not so, that has already been established by this.....

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Message 1288074 - Posted: 26 Sep 2012, 15:08:40 UTC - in response to Message 1288067.  

Totally agree, so how about shifting Justine Greening to the Chief Whip? Bet she can scare the bejasus out of them!
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Message 1288273 - Posted: 27 Sep 2012, 2:07:07 UTC

Mr A "Pleb" Mitchell should be sacked or this guy reinstated. One can't have their bread buttered on both sides.....

Tory Councillor sacked over PC Deaths joke
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Message 1288386 - Posted: 27 Sep 2012, 11:00:39 UTC - in response to Message 1287833.  

What's Eastenders?

I ee Boris got this one right again.

Boris Johnson: Nick Clegg's mansion tax plans are crazy

There are currently 809,000 Band G homes in England and 132,000 Band H homes, according to the last estimate from the Valuation Office Agency.

Any tax could only be introduced by a general revaluation – the last one was in 1991 – which estimates suggest would cost in the region of £260million and take three years to implement fully.

The first bills could even be sent out in April 2015, a month before the likely date of the next general election, in May 2015.


And I know at least five homes that Clegg might think are in that bracket, but keep getting the band lowered because they are on a private road, which includes a bridge which is a "grade 2 listed building", the only utilities they get are electricity and basic phone line, too far from exchange or cabinet to get broadband.
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Message 1288458 - Posted: 27 Sep 2012, 15:42:57 UTC - in response to Message 1288413.  
Last modified: 27 Sep 2012, 15:54:39 UTC

Good post. But one that cannot be clearly answered. However, I'll give it a try.

Modernisation, especially of the transport industry is long overdue. Unfortunately, those with the purse strings have been going about it in the wrong way.

Total automation on trains is inadvisable. The Victoria Line is the classic example - when first introduced, it worked seemlessly (after ironing out niggling little bugs). However after a few years of operation, the sensors that made the whole line work kept failing & the motormen had to take control & operate the trains.

Why did the sensors fail? Answer - simply time! London Underground tunnels are not clean & healthy enviroments for man or equipment.

Also, for those currently living in London...have you ever seen areas around tube stations where renovation is taking place? A good one to take note of is Tottenham Court Road.

It all looks grand, fresh clean updated stations, but think of a damp ridden house - rather than attack the problem, one just wipes it clean & apply a coat of paint... That's the London Underground stations!

Then there's the safety factor, which frankly, scares the hell out of me. While attending an Instructor class, we had to provide a course of instruction & act as if it was a real course with it being videoed for later assessment. I chose safety(during this time period, the IRA were very active in Britain).

Some time later, the class had to sit through all the videos & pass comments on what we each did right & wrong. Throughout my course, I was attacked for un-neccessary scaremongering & this showed on the video. The chief instructor stated that i had done well with the presentation but lingered too long on the matter of bombings - at the time, fair points were raised which I later took on board. I passed the course.

My greatest fear even though I throughly loved working on the trains? Bombs. We had several actually go off on several lines, but fortunately, they were on trains that were running on the surface with no casualties.

Edit: However, even though there were no casulities on these, on one bombing, the driver broke 2 "Golden Rules" that London Underground drives into all driver's head constantly - You do not leave a running train. You take care of yourself at all times, thereby guaranteeing the safety of your passengers. He left the train to chase the bomber - bomber turned, shot him dead & also shot a police officer. That night (was working nights) my crewmate requested a change & refused to talk to me for days as well as causing other issues - why? He was that driver's brother & I'm Irish.

However, at the back of my mind was "Tunnels" Should a bomb go off in a Tube tunnel with a scant 2 inches either side of the train......

For all that castigation I took, one thing I did not do is gloat in July 2005, i just felt hurt with enormous pain for days afterwards.

Then there was Moorgate in February 1975...I was entering the station upstairs on a Metrolitan Circle line train.

Modernisation, yes I'm all for it - crewless trains ? A definite NO
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Message 1288468 - Posted: 27 Sep 2012, 16:05:54 UTC

Anyone know what the Magna Carta means in English?

Fast forward to 16 mins in.......

Eton Ignoramus on Letterman
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Message 1288570 - Posted: 27 Sep 2012, 21:33:29 UTC

Well this article say that drivers on the Victoria, Central and Jubilee lines just open the doors.

http://www.railway-technology.com/features/featuredriverless-train-technology/
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Message 1288630 - Posted: 28 Sep 2012, 1:04:33 UTC - in response to Message 1288468.  

Anyone know what the Magna Carta means in English?

Fast forward to 16 mins in.......

Eton Ignoramus on Letterman

I agree, that is a bit unfair. He certainly handled it better than i think his predecessor would have managed.
Admittedly i did know what Magna Carta means, but then i studied Latin for seven years. But saying Cameron must be an idiot because he didn't know that, or who wrote Rule Britannia (which i didn't know either), is rather making a mountain out of a molehill.

As for inconsequential, next to Ed Milliband, really?

And the less said about Clegg the better. (He lied to us! *shakes fist*)

I wouldn't say i liked any of the current three leaders, but of them, Cameron is the one i dislike least.

Boris for PM!
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Message 1288649 - Posted: 28 Sep 2012, 2:19:18 UTC - in response to Message 1288569.  

Anyone know what the Magna Carta means in English?

I understood it as meaning "large document" but it actually means "Great Charter".

Eton Ignoramus on Letterman

That is unfair. But Cameron and his advisors should have known better than to let him go on to an American chat show of that ilk, where the smug presenter was obviously going to try to catch him out for the amusement of his audience. I would have said Elgar as well, and yes I did know it was Runnymede, I have been there. So much rubbish was talked about an island on the Thames and 1214-1/2 by that inconsequential actor.

They, and many of the moderates not in overt rebellion, forced King John to agree to a document later known as the 'Articles of the Barons', to which his Great Seal was attached in the meadow at Runnymede on 15 June 1215. In return, the barons renewed their oaths of fealty to King John on 19 June 1215, which is when the document Magna Carta was created

Letterman is a pratt and Cameron fell for it ..... sadly.


I don't watch the Letterman Show on a regular basis, though to call the presenter smug and a pratt is absurd. If anyone appeared smug on that show it was David "you caught me out" Cameron. I can't think of any other British PM (or, indeed, leader of the opposition) that would have not known the translation of Magna Carta.

I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ...

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Message 1288651 - Posted: 28 Sep 2012, 2:28:56 UTC - in response to Message 1288413.  

Chris, since you assert "If tube trains become completely fully automated then the drivers won't have a job. If the drivers don't have a job then they won't need a trade union. If there is no need for a trade union then Bob Crow won't have a job.", which may be well true, then what do we do with the displaced?
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Message 1288665 - Posted: 28 Sep 2012, 3:41:49 UTC - in response to Message 1288570.  

Well this article say that drivers on the Victoria, Central and Jubilee lines just open the doors.

http://www.railway-technology.com/features/featuredriverless-train-technology/


That's always been the case since automation was introduced. That doesn't say it works perfectly.

@Chris

It's not a case of better sensors or improved technology. It's the environment. It's not easy to explain, suffice to say that if you could spend 5 minutes in a tube tunnel, you'll get the picture.

As for Cameron, Even I have to admit he handled himself well. My point was that an ignorant fool like myself knew what Magna Carta meant & also happened to know that Elgar certainly didn't compose Rule Brittainia.....Just what are they taught at Eton?

How to get rich quick & mess up the country at the same time maybe?
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Message 1288690 - Posted: 28 Sep 2012, 5:41:47 UTC

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Message 1288730 - Posted: 28 Sep 2012, 8:20:41 UTC - in response to Message 1288665.  

As for Cameron, Even I have to admit he handled himself well. My point was that an ignorant fool like myself knew what Magna Carta meant & also happened to know that Elgar certainly didn't compose Rule Brittainia.....Just what are they taught at Eton?

How to get rich quick & mess up the country at the same time maybe?

The country was already pretty stuffed by the time he took over.
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Message 1288748 - Posted: 28 Sep 2012, 9:50:46 UTC - in response to Message 1288739.  

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Message 1288788 - Posted: 28 Sep 2012, 12:33:03 UTC - in response to Message 1288651.  

Chris, since you assert "If tube trains become completely fully automated then the drivers won't have a job. If the drivers don't have a job then they won't need a trade union. If there is no need for a trade union then Bob Crow won't have a job.", which may be well true, then what do we do with the displaced?

It should be clear to most of us, that over time, advances in technology will
finally make the working man redundant in most if not all manual task operations.
Man will therefore progress hence find something else constructive to fill his
time. Replacing manual-man via the use of technology has been evolving since the
days the first windmills were ever first erected. Clearly, via technology, man's
way of life has vastly improved and will improve much further as time goes on.
It's for man to embrace these improvements, take advantage of them, hence look
to see how he can adapt to a potential new way of life in the coming future. A
way of life that may involve much less time spent working hence much more time
spent living. Planet Earth is no more than a spring-board out into the universe
for man. So man's future may well be in the area of space travel and planetary
colonisation....that should keep him and his misses busy for hundreds of years
but technology will be doing all the grafting work for him though....
....."Beam me-up Betreger, oh and ask E2D2 to put the kettle on and make a cup
of tea for us"





The Kite Fliers

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Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.
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Message 1288819 - Posted: 28 Sep 2012, 14:38:27 UTC - in response to Message 1288739.  


Afterthought - Could skilled Tube motormen be re-trained to drive overground trains? I don't know, Sirius probably will.


Can't see why not.

Cameron made me spill my drink though....

"Well we did interfere in your politics 200 years ago, when we sailed up the river & burnt down the White House"

He should have said, "Let us do it a 2nd time & it'll save you a lot of money come November"
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Message 1288847 - Posted: 28 Sep 2012, 15:30:24 UTC

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Message 1288889 - Posted: 28 Sep 2012, 16:30:56 UTC - in response to Message 1288816.  

Actually Nick it's R2-D2 but he is no good as a bar tender, best stick to tea.

Get me a beer

Errr, hit the wrong key...


The Kite Fliers

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Message 1289024 - Posted: 28 Sep 2012, 20:47:06 UTC - in response to Message 1288732.  

@Bobby - I have looked up Letterman and he is notorious for his irreverent style and courts controversy more often that not. When presenters interview famous people it is usually polite, in the UK at least, to give them or their advisors a brief idea of the areas you'll want to discuss. It doesn't do your show's prospects much good, if you embarrass someone so that others won't want appear in future either. It was obvious to me that Letterman deliberately asked questions that he thought Cameron might have difficulty in answering, which at the very least was discourteous.

I think Cameron handled himself very well, some politicians would have tried to squirm and bluff their way around it, but he was honest and said I don't know. But it was an error of judgement for him to have agreed to appear, and Letterman has done himself no favours either. It wouldn't surprise me that there wont be many senior foreign politicians wanting to appear on his show after this.

However you make a fair point about what I called him. I have picked up other people before for doing just that so I won't be a hypocrite. I will apologise for referring to him as a pratt, and withdraw it, as there was no cause for name calling. But I won't apologise for calling him smug, because he is.


From what I have seen, my guess would be that when the reports say "zany" or "irreverent", you should be thinking more "Terry Wogan" than "Alan Partridge".

I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ...

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Message 1289473 - Posted: 29 Sep 2012, 20:25:52 UTC

Finally, confirmation of what many thought..... just how many do we have currently in power?

Hubris & a pillock who thinks God is the only one to judge him
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Message boards : Politics : Cameron's First Term: Part 2


 
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