Government Watch

Really?

Sigh ?

thatbags it was 'campaigners' who made that claim. I suppose the Telegraph just took them at their word...

durhamjen The report in The Guardian does not surprise me. This is another disaster waiting to happen, if it goes ahead. Is it another way of putting money into the pockets of a raft of cash strapped, inefficient and badly managed businesses, through taxpayer subsidies?

The more contractors, sub-contractors and sub-subcontractors are employed, the harder it is for HMRC to track them down to recover taxes.

Of course, you could always group separate companies together, under an umbrella organisation set up in say Ireland, or the Netherlands, or the Isle of Man, and these separate companies would be unable to make a UK profit, because of the cost of using their new Railco branding and resources.

Do you have any idea where I can find the statistics about the "thousands of premature deaths and illnesses" each year, please, eloethan. That statement is a bit too vague as it stands. I wonder what the Telegraph's source of the information was?

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/31/labour-warns-return-dark-days-railtrack-privatisation

Hope this doesn't happen. Railways are bad enough as it is without splitting things further.

Ana This was in the Telegraph on 8 January:

"Air pollution limits for the whole year have already been breached in London, figures show.

"European Union limits demand that maximum hourly nitrogen dioxide concentrations are not exceeded for more than 18 hours a year.

"But Putney High Street monitoring site has recorded its 19th hour breaching the limits in the morning's rush hour, the London Air Quality Network said.

"London is the European capital most polluted by nitrogen dioxide

"At Oxford Street, where legal limits for nitrogen dioxide for the whole of 2015 were breached in just two days, the monitoring equipment is currently broken.

"And other roads are expected to breach the maximum hours a year early in 2016.

"The news that the limits had been busted just a week into the New Year prompted an angry response from campaigners, who say the Government must do more to tackle the air pollution which causes thousands of premature deaths and illness each year."

And this is not just central London. Where I live in East London pollution levels double the permitted level have been recorded.

People with no underlying health problems may well not notice, or be significantly damaged by the pollution (at least not in the short term), but young children, elderly people and people with asthma and other chronic illnesses can be seriously affected by it, as many reputable in-depth studies have shown.

Many of them do. They haven't noticed any decline in air quality, nor do any of them suffer from asthma.

"We will continue to do even more to tackle air pollution
and clean up our rivers and waterways, including
supporting the Thames Tideway Tunnel.

We have
spent over £3 billion on improving flood defences, and
capped the cost of flood insurance. We will now go
further, building 1,400 new flood defence schemes, to
protect 300,000 homes."

Tory party manifesto. Another promise they have not delivered on that the population voted on.

www.gov.uk/government/news/improving-air-quality-in-cities

This is from a month ago because they have breached EU rules on air quality.
I do not suppose you live in a city, Ana. Hope none of your family do, either.

I think it's a problem for the growing number of people who suffer from asthma Ana. If we ignore it, we may end up like India and China where people in the cities try to protect themselves by wearing masks.

Blimey, I think air pollution is the least of this country's problems...

Greenest government ever has halved the money given to councils for air pollution.

voxpoliticalonline.com/2016/01/29/they-dont-care-about-climate-change-tories-halve-councils-cash-to-fight-air-pollution-in-england/

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35422778

The Lords has overturned another of the government's plans, to cut ESA by £30.

Well done, Wales. They voted down the union bill.

www.thecanary.co/2016/01/27/wales-just-delivered-blistering-defeat-david-cameron-hes-trying-pretend-didnt-happen/

www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/26/mps-question-appointment-of-former-bankers-lobbyist-in-senior-tax-role

Another top job for a Tory.

Is this real?
Just had an email saying that the government want ideas for the next budget.
Anyone else had one?

www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jan/24/labour-peers-aim-to-retain-income-related-child-poverty-targets

Hopefully the Lords will win on this one too, today. It has cross-party support to keep income and poverty targets related.

How else do we measure how the government is managing poverty?

He wants to strip the lords of voting rights, he really is a dictator not a PM

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tories-suffer-crushing-lords-defeat-7214579

tompride.wordpress.com/2016/01/22/the-hypocrisy-of-cameron-pro-putin-russian-oligarchs-give-millions-to-tory-party/

Rich Russians bankrolling the Tory party.
At least the unions which pay into the Labour party are British.

Three posts above, my "on here" refers to the forums in general, not just this thread.

Closing down computer now, before my eyes go on strike.

I found another ( different kind of ) nugget while I was searching "Last year enough wind energy was produced to power 97% of Scottish homes. In six out of the twelve months there was enough power to supply more than 100% of Scottish household needs." So those breezes do have a use!

Ah! found it! on Thu 17-Sep-15 09:44:19 I posted "I am also reminded of a saying that once an argument starts to drag in a comparison to Nazis, that debate has lost its way."

^"Certainly we need to look out for everyone, but seeing Hitler or Goebbels under every bed is not helpful."

It was after a post by rosesarered saying that the "first they came for me" poem was overused "(Usually on the subject of politics ( because "the Conservatives are Nazi's!")"

Was that mention of Nazis a radical view? It looked to me exceeding like an ironic or sarcastic reference to the bracketing of Tories and Nazis that has occurred on here by our more radical posters.

What did I say, and about what subject did I have radical views? I don't remember, and this is a long thread to read back over when I am about to close down the computer for the evening. Just give me a day and time and I can flip back to it.

As opposed to your own radical views, you mean?