UK Government Performance 2019-2024

[CapitalOne]

What a joke but admittedly it's one of my pet peeves, so much hand holding in the sheer amount of repeated announcements. When I visited New York, the driver just mumbled something and that was it. Over here, there's something about spotting something suspicious, doors closing early, having your tickets ready, destinations, there's a delay but no reason given etc. What's even more annoying is how the important text information on buses and trains just disappears in the evening (destinations) on London transportation. Is this considered red meat (offal)? And the quality of the announcements vastly differs - can't make it out a number of times.

See It. Say It. Sorted

 

[efish]

What a joke but admittedly it's one of my pet peeves, so much hand holding in the sheer amount of repeated announcements. When I visited New York, the driver just mumbled something and that was it. Over here, there's something about spotting something suspicious, doors closing early, having your tickets ready, destinations, there's a delay but no reason given etc. What's even more annoying is how the important text information on buses and trains just disappears in the evening (destinations) on London transportation. Is this considered red meat (offal)? And the quality of the announcements vastly differs - can't make it out a number of times.

I think the joke is the way London's local difficulties get blown up and if you are not in London sort of ? what is that about?

Mrs Wiggins cat has been successfully rescued from a tree by fire services and peace now rules over all the land. Left scratching you're head wondering what on earth this has to do with anything.

 

[loftie]

What a joke but admittedly it's one of my pet peeves, so much hand holding in the sheer amount of repeated announcements. When I visited New York, the driver just mumbled something and that was it. Over here, there's something about spotting something suspicious, doors closing early, having your tickets ready, destinations, there's a delay but no reason given etc. What's even more annoying is how the important text information on buses and trains just disappears in the evening (destinations) on London transportation. Is this considered red meat (offal)? And the quality of the announcements vastly differs - can't make it out a number of times.

So there are too many and too few bits of information? (i'm teasing )

Of the 5 bits of too much information, only really the tickets bit isn't needed, unless there's someone on the train at that point actually checking tickets. Then it could help speed things up. The spotting something suspicious, I can't remember the exact message (it's been a while since I've been on any TFL), but if it provides information on how to report said things (I think it used to mention the round intercom things on platforms) then it is useful as while a commuter might not need that information a tourist won't know it. People with poor sight will be helped by the doors closing early info (admitedly I've never heard this, unless you mean the doors closing followed by the beeping). Everyone will be helped by destinations and delays, though it'd be helpful if the time scale of the delay was reported.
It once took me over an hour to go from oakwood to arnos grove (2 stops) and back again, with the majority being the oakwood->arnos grove because they didn't give any time scale, and normally when they list severe delays at oakwood, it's not longer than 20/30 minutes. They should have just stopped the trains and told people to seek alternative transport.

 

[doodah]

Yeah basically - too much audio (loud repetitive noises push my buttons for some reason) information in the day (most of it repeated) and I'd love to know why the digital displays just show nothing on buses and trains in the evening - what purpose does this serve? As for London-centric (bubble) problems, I can only really comment on this as I have lived here for over 10 years but appreciate transport links are all over the place in other parts of the country. The less optimal route here is going from SW to SE (or back the other way), having to come back into central and then back out. For some journeys it doesn't make sense but might be the only train route, or whatever bus route is available is slow. Don't get me wrong, I'm a massive fan and user of public transport as I don't drive. And the old man moaning about announcements is partly related to it interrupting whatever I'm listening to , the noise cancelling on my old headphones became a bit crap as the headphone arch expanded too much over the years. Since the pandemic though, my habits have changed a lot - only using local buses, the odd train and cycling. Compared to using trains/buses/underground usually every working day beforehand. Back to my sitting chair........hehe

 

[loftie]

Yeah basically - too much audio (loud repetitive noises push my buttons for some reason) information in the day (most of it repeated) and I'd love to know why the digital displays just show nothing on buses and trains in the evening - what purpose does this serve?

Yea I agree tbh. I think they're just as loud as they are because of the general noise on the underground and they need to make themselves heard over that noise. And they won't fiddle with volume when the train has stopped moving. I used to use in ear headphones that sealed fairly well, so it cut out the noise enough for me to care - though the volume of what I was listening to was probably louder than it should have been! The only digital displays I can think of are the scrolling bus timer/destination things at some bus stops. I know roughly what you mean, I've had it show there's a bus coming literally as it's arriving and yet other times they've got the info well in advance!

Switching gears back to the thread, I thought this interview was pretty good/interesting (couldn't see it posted)

Stewart: UK is an 'elective dictatorship' - Sky News (12min)

Short embedded version (2min)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1484305993987067908

Edit:Embedded full video from the sky link

 

[doodah]

Forgot to mention Rory Stewart earlier, so refreshing to hear a Tory that lives in our reality and isn't a complete headbanger. Spot on with his points about Johnson. For the little I know of him, he seems a good person (off to check his prior voting record).

 

[Ali195]

Rory, Philip and a load of others, actual for business Cons kicked out of the party for speaking out on the cancer it was becoming: "**** business", Brexit headbanger, ERG nut jobs, at any cost...

 

[platypus]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1484439735326105602

Oh my goodness. I didn't realise it was that stupid.

 

[Robbo]

I'm a big fan of Rory Stewart, he would make a great leader. Very interesting character too...

 

[RampantMark]

Well, kinda... Yes and no

Yes comparing a countries economy to a household is foolish, like you say it ignores the vastly increased control the country has over it's finances.

However your post implies that countries can just do whatever the hell they want financially, which is not the case.

That isn't the implication I was making, and I even referenced Forbes' article to demonstrate my multiple points. That link communicates better than my first year university Economics would be able to on here... But the main point being that it was a *deliberate* sparple by the Tory PR machine to misconstrue and hook the ignorant populace onto a known lie. That's what truly makes me feel sick.

 

[doodah]

Oh my goodness. I didn't realise it was that stupid.

I've watched The Thick of It several times now, but apparently there's a storyline in it very similar to his announcement (don't remember myself). Off to Twitter....

 

[RampantMark]

Yes. They've gone very quiet now, and when they do emerge it's to insist the reasons they voted for Brexit are completely new reasons utterly different to those they stated in and before 2016.


I'm not sure how interested in the matter you are - a lot of people seem eager to receive whatever narrative most quickly allows them to dismiss any doubts they have about whether or not they did the right thing (eg voting for Brexit and our Brexit Govt) but in case you've a bit more intellectual curiosity...

• Boris Johnson was "found clear of it" by Lord Geidt, who was appointed by Boris Johnson...
• The current focus is on messages Johnson said he overlooked due to replacing a phone (do you wonder what other messages he similarly missed and whether any of those were important to running the country?) There is no independent corroborating evidence to confirm Johnson's version of events on this.
• Lord Geidt has said (in a published letter to Johnson) that had he known about the messages Johnson conveniently overlooked he would have found him guilty.

It's not quite the exoneration you seem to think it is.

I'll add a fourth bullet point:

Geidt would have kept schtum about those messages had the messages not been picked up by media investigators and been broadcast...


...which completely blows apart any credibility of his report - and diminishes the credibility of Sue Gray even before she started her interviews

 

[RampantMark]

Payrises are set by an independent body; hasn't stopped MPs getting grief everytime.

ALL Public sector on pay freeze. As per the Terms of Reference set out by Govt.

MPs payrise, *as per the Terms of Reference set out by Govt*.


Please do not be hoodwinked by anyone saying that it's the independent body's "fault". The ToRs are set by Govt and the independent body decides based on what they are asked to do.

In the case of the Public Sector, I would assume that the TORs stated "In the backdrop of the Pandemic, the Treasury cannot afford to provide a payrise to the Public Sector except for those on the very lowest pay bands. Investigate where this cutoff lies and recommend a graded rise not above 1%" or words of that ilk.

In the case of MPs, I would strongly suggest that the TORs stated "In the backdrop of the prospect of rising inflation, recommend a rise commensurate with inflationary pressure up to a cap of x% across all pay bands" or words of that ilk.

Don't blame the workers for doing what they are told.

 

[Tony Edwards]

Am I right in saying that someone has said that if these claims of blackmail are true that would be a criminal act? Yet several Tory MPs have said they have secret recordings of this crime taking place yet will only release it if Boris doesnt step down. Now I dont hold much faith in any Tory especially the MPs but arent they withholding evidence of a criminal act? Which I would have thought should get them kicked out.

 

[Dj_Jestar]

And blackmailing the PM to resign, to boot.

 

[doodah]

And then Johnson says no investigation as there is no evidence, which you think an investigation might gather or determine. Labour's infighting is one thing, but the Tories are a whole another level.

 

[Murphy]

At least if we go to war with Russia we've got a PM that got Brexit done.

 

[RampantMark]

I do not recall that being used last time tbh, but you are correct on that Scotland is a lost cause due to the utter buffoonery of Westminster over the past 30 years. The sooner they f off and leave the better tbh and we can update boundaries again (possibly) that is for another thread though.

I've just had the epiphany of my weekend.
During the IndyRef, I just could not understand why English and other Westminster MPs campaigned so hard to keep the Union. It boggled my mind. The English tend to believe that Scotland is simply a sinkhole of money with nothing tangible in return. I always wondered what it was the Scotland possessed that meant so very much to Westminster. I mean, there's the fresh water and the oil tax revenue (despite Westminster basically stealing a swathe of North Sea off Scotland) and the Nuclear bases and many other resources, but I couldn't see for the life of me what is so valuable to Westminster that they wanted to keep control of Scotland. I always thought that the time was ripe for Westminster to let go at the time of IndyRef. I mean that the long, long, long and continuous years of Scottish tax revenue contributing more to Westminster than was handed back to Scotland (even through Barnett Formula) are truly over now. So just what is it that is so important that Westminster wants to keep hold of Scotland.

Which takes me to my epiphany, and thanks to SPG for sparking the thought with the above quote.

My epiphany is that Westminster wants the vote map. Both Labour and Tory Parties simply want to keep the voter map. Both of them for their own beliefs of the time...

Tory Westminster want to keep Scotland for this reason: They have seen that, despite the knowledge that Scotland will never truly be a Conservative Nation (Scots, largely, are too invested in "Society" to be Tory. Small pockets are not enough) Westminster Tory Party have assessed that SNP will remain a majority in Scotland and continue take votes away from Labour, which assists them massively in the overall Westminster seat arrangement.

Westminster Labour, on the other hand, believe that they can keep winning votes in Scotland, far more votes than Tory could ever command north of the border, and so in their assessment, which is possibly erroneous, now, they want to keep Scotland as part of Westminster seat arrangement.

It finally makes sense to my why Party Politic in Westminster desperately want to keep hold of the Union. It is solely to fight in Westminster. Only then does the continued acceptance of the Barnett Formula make sense.

 

[do_ron_ron]

I think it has more to do with ego and the Empire mentality some still have. If Scotland returns to being a seperate nation, Ireland will not be too far behind them. The UK will be left with England and Wales.
England is approx 50K sq miles, Wales is ~8k sq miles, NI is 5.3k sq miles and Scotland is 30.4k sq miles. Remove Scotland and NI. A much diminished country in size.

The Tories got more votes than Labour in the last Scottish election(2021), ~59,000 more. In the 2019 UK election Cons got 180,000 more votes, in 2017 UK election Cons got 41,000 more votes. You have to go back to 2015 when Labour got more than the Cons.

I agree Scots care more about 'Society'.

 

[StriderX]

I think Boris has entered a similar stage to where Trump got near the end of his term where he could no longer trust anyone beyond a very slim circle of allies (a frankly ludicrous risk for the country), honestly wouldn't be shocked if he actually suspected his wife of trying to sabotage him, but I suppose it's possible they could be acting mutually though I could imagine her being rather transactional considering his inclinations.