´óÏó´«Ã½

The Glass Box for Tuesday

Comments

1. At 05:06 PM on 24 Jul 2007, Michael Dalton wrote:

   I don't think railway travellers would mind, quite so much, investing in the railways via higher than inflation increases, if...
   They were given a date when ticket prices would actually stop being increased or fall (shock horror) as the investment would be paid for.
   It's the idea of an open ended ticket to increased prices that galls...

   great program Eddy (and all the support team)

   regards

   Michael

2. At 05:36 PM on 24 Jul 2007, wrote:

   Did I mis- hear the clip you just played of David Cameron?

   Did he really imply that foreign affairs are just as important as home concerns? especially at a time when his own constituents are experiencing a crisis!

   Well I don't think I'll ever be voting for him.

3. At 05:50 PM on 24 Jul 2007, Chris Ghoti wrote:

   Oh dear, am I becoming a writer for Lord Gnome's august organ or did I really hear "Balls" and "a rather prominent member of the cabinet" in the same sentence?

   Who goes to the naughty step, me or the reporter?

   Interesting programme so far. I wish I hadn't had to answer the telephone and missed the start of the report about the nurses in Libya, because it wasn't made clear at the end what had happened to cause there to be a report. An idea, therefore: Eddie, perhaps at the end of each special report, as well as giving us the name of the person who's just been interviewed (as you've just done for the Equal Opportunities lady) you might give a single-sentence "commenting on the [whatever it was that s/he was commenting on]" summary, so we know what we missed if we weren't in the room at the time?

4. At 05:52 PM on 24 Jul 2007, Kevin wrote:

   Eddie,
   Most upset. No witty aside about big bustards? Not what we expect. I still giggle at the 'You wouldn't want wasps on your plums, would you?' line...

5. At 07:05 PM on 24 Jul 2007, Big Sister wrote:

   Some good features tonight (though I didn't catch it all), and you were very restrained about the bustards. Saw pictures of them on local tv last night. They are such odd birds!

   I think the quadlatte did the trick. You sounded a lot perkier tonight than you did when you were debating with Jeremy. I just hope you don't have a heart condition .....

6. At 09:52 PM on 24 Jul 2007, john c wrote:

   April 2007 was the warmest and sunniest April on record, with remarkable clear skies day after day, July 2006 was the warmest month on record and also the sunniest month on record. (source Met office records)
   
   Sunshine and Temperature in UK are at record unprecedented levels, and the upward trend for both is matching
   
   Sunshine amounts (hours of sunshine recorded) have gone up remarkably, up to 40% for some regions, since 1961.
   
   Nobody comments on the cause of this extra sunshine ?
   
   As sunshine falling on the oceans is the main driver of the climate system, surely if we get a bit more sunshine we get a bit more climate, and this could explain recent extreme events.
   
   

7. At 11:04 PM on 24 Jul 2007, phil wrote:

   
   Does David Cameroon (sic) really do his own publicity, you could never tell. ( re jonnie's comments )

   The man goes from one extreme to the other, in his case very wet to very hot, Oxfoedshire to Ruanda and i guess really that seems the man up nicely.

   Some days he seems Hot but others just Wet.

   
   
   
   
   
   

8. At 01:21 AM on 25 Jul 2007, mac wrote:

   This post is looking for ......well, the equivalent of a home for the little black bug come all the way from Texas just looking for one as the late great Eddie sang.

   Re: Cameron

   I fully support middle and upper class lineages doing manual work in Africa but why Rwanda?

   Surely they would be better deployed repaying their intergenerational debt by working in Zimbabwe or Kenya or Nigeria or South Africa.
   And not just for a few weeks, a few generations more like. With the rest of their ilk doing the unpleasant manual work here.
   How else could we choose who should do the world's worst but necessary jobs. Its one world with one labour force. Time the first were made last and the bougoisie realised it is the New Labour force.

   As for that open markets stuff, pay your debts in manual work and capital first. (You can call the latter 'aid' if you feel you need a fig leaf). Then lets look at the consequent exogenously determined growth of trade patterns (pace Balls).

   And stop thinking that token manual efforts and endless cries for justice discharge the obligations of those lineages that owe. We've got just too many wordsmiths spouting socialism who in reality should be hewing wood and drawing water along with Cameron and his toff cronies. If we all behaved like Peter Hain or Germane Greer we'd have to get Poles to do our plumbing and Chinese to make our manufactures for us.

   
   To lighter stuff. Little Mervyn King who at the level of professional personal relations has, in my experience, all the subtlety and sureness of touch of a blind Cyclops has got something right.
   On the World Service (in a news programme) he pronounced himself pro majority voting.

   So when his 7 person committee split 3 for a half point rise (A) and 4 for a quarter point rise (B) and no one for no change (C) for him it should be a quarter point hike.

   
   These days those seeking to corrupt majority voting (to stop the wretched of the earth getting back what is rightfully theirs) argue that the half point case should count double. It makes voting just that little bit more like America's 'One dollar, one vote' 'democracy'.
   So One Cheer for Mervyn. (I'm holding back one for personal reasons)

9. At 09:05 AM on 25 Jul 2007, wrote:

   jonnie (2)

   You almost* have to feel sorry for Cameron, don't you? He's criticised for going to Rwanda, and he'd have been criticised if he didn't go, as if one man with a mop and a bucket could have held back the floods.

   Lord Kalms says Cameron needs "to reassure us that he has policies that are satisfactory to the Conservative party, the traditional Conservative party, and to the electorate in general" - and that, surely, is where the problem lies. Those policies which appeal to traditional Tories (hang 'em, flog 'em, send 'em back where they came from) don't appeal to the rest of us, who just want decent public services which allow us to get on with our lives.

   Sid

   *but not quite ...
   

10. At 11:44 AM on 25 Jul 2007, wrote:

    Re Sid Cumberland (9)

    Sid, If you were in Ming Campbells shoes as leader of the Lib dems and I lived in Rayleigh - and Rayleigh was being flooded - I'd have expected you to get back and help coordinate and support the locality. Not say " there is no home and foreign policy anymore" - to his critics.

    These floods are directly related to home policy.

    Yes there is more rainfall but the Government was warned in 2000 that hotspots on the National Grid were under threat from flooding and nothing was done.

    Planning applications on flood plains in Britain have been going up every year for the last five years. Over five million people are now living or working in flood risk areas in England and Wales.

    Finally Yvette Cooper has said :-

    The Department does not collect centrally the number of houses planned for construction on flood plains, which depends on a large number of local decisions. It is a matter that regions and local planning authorities should consider in preparing regional spatial strategies and local development documents, and in taking decisions on individual planning applications.

    Government's aim is to avoid inappropriate development in areas of high flood risk. The new Planning Policy Statement No. 25 directs development away from these areas through a sequential, risk-based approach. More vulnerable development, such as housing, should not be permitted in those areas unless it can be clearly demonstrated that the development will be safe, without increasing flood risk elsewhere and provides wider sustainability benefits that outweigh the flood risk.

11. At 03:35 PM on 25 Jul 2007, Aperitif wrote:

    Fishers (3) Hahahahahaha!

    For the first part, that is :-)