The Conservative Party

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

I was thinking it was some suggestion about how to kling on to power.

They’re certainly not helping people to Live Long and Prosper..

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

The arguments on here around austerity are a little hypocritical and illogical.

This is a genuine question - if we do not impose austerity and instead increase spending then what will happen to the markets and the £? We could fill the black hole with taxes but why would the markets react positively to increases in tax that would inevitably fall on the markets?

The pain coming is unfortunately inevitable because it's the long price we must all pay for COVID and not even a Labour government would be able to escape it.

Of course they would.

 

[Bluewonder]

Tories getting a lot of blame for the impact of lockdowns.

SAGE more culpable than any other group.

 

[Grassland Blue]

In more shock news, the Northern Powerhouse rail upgrade has been scrapped. Shapps talking absolute bollox as usual

Mr Shapps said: “Across the Pennines, connecting places like Manchester to Leeds and bringing that journey down to half an hour – which is what we said we would do in that manifesto – is in fact happening already,” he said.

“The line itself can deliver a 33-minute journey from Manchester to Leeds, nearly quadruple the capacity of that line and do so without having to wait an extra 20 years beyond the delivery of what the upgrade can do.

33 minutes???

Nigel Harris, editor in chief of Rail magazine, called Mr Shapps a “world class communicator of utter claptrap”.

Clearly a man who is familiar with the geography of the route and the limitations of the traction....

 

[Grassland Blue]

47 mins now possible non-stop Victoria to Leeds, and quicker if they electrify, but 33 mins on the present line is nonsense. You can't quadruple the capacity without quadrupling the line, but that would mean (wait for it) tunnelling through the Pennines. Where it used to be four-track, they've slewed the remaining tracks to reduce the curve radius (and the old freight line at Stalybridge has been built on). In short, it's bullshit.

Electrifying the line would make only a marginal difference in journey times.
I doubt the reduction would be more than 2 minutes.
Is it worth all the expense to electrify it?
47 mins non stop. How long does it take when station stops at Stalybridge, Huddersfield and Dewsbury are taken into account?

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

Electrifying the line would make only a marginal difference in journey times.
I doubt the reduction would be more than 2 minutes.
Is it worth all the expense to electrify it?
47 mins non stop. How long does it take when station stops at Stalybridge, Huddersfield and Dewsbury are taken into account?

36 minutes with 2 stops if it follows LNER times. Likely just over 30 minutes non stop so not insignificant.

 

[mat]

I think bringing Star Trek characters into it might give the government even more distraction ideas!

You're Riker there!

 

[mat]

The arguments on here around austerity are a little hypocritical and illogical.

This is a genuine question - if we do not impose austerity and instead increase spending then what will happen to the markets and the £? We could fill the black hole with taxes but why would the markets react positively to increases in tax that would inevitably fall on the markets?

The pain coming is unfortunately inevitable because it's the long price we must all pay for COVID and not even a Labour government would be able to escape it.

We aren't all paying for it though.

It's working class and middle classes picking up the tab whilst corporate profiting increases.

 

[hcblue95]

What a horrible last 3 years it's been

12 years mate.

 

[Kompany Car]

47 mins now possible non-stop Victoria to Leeds, and quicker if they electrify, but 33 mins on the present line is nonsense. You can't quadruple the capacity without quadrupling the line, but that would mean (wait for it) tunnelling through the Pennines. Where it used to be four-track, they've slewed the remaining tracks to reduce the curve radius (and the old freight line at Stalybridge has been built on). In short, it's bullshit.

I agree that you can’t quadruple it, but you can reduce the headway by rolling out level 2 or level 3 ERTMS which should significantly increase capacity. The problem will be where do you get your extra trains from ?