Of Bankers, Flying and the Mini.

Where’s my bonus then?
I’m sorry but this just won’t do. I’ve spent the past 16 months working out of an office in the middle of a major energy facility in the Middle East, with nothing but 20,000, workers and a few camels for company. Yet, when the word “bonus” is mentioned all I get is an eerie silence. Well come on perlease, if I was a banker, that’s Banker, I’d be here now sipping champers and waving a big fat cheque around. Regardless of the fact that along with my mate Gordon Bruin and his Darling, I‘ve run the UK into the financial quicksand.

But no! Alas and alak, I’m an honest expat (make your own minds up then) who sends his hard earned money back to Lloyds Group (sorry that should be Bank of NuLabour) every month, in order to finance the lifestyles of a bunch of bankers! You can make your own mind up about my spelling there too.

Flying Visits
Old BoJo got it about right when he suggested that the new runway at Heathrow was just about the worst thing Gordon and his mates could do. Well he meant “as far as the country is concerned.” Because clearly in an effort to de-populate a non labour constituency Gordon is quite happy to make this runway happen – for the Government.

However let’s consider the alternatives:

Heathrow is ideally placed for those of us who live to the West, South or North West of London. Gatwick is ideal for those on the South and South East. How about moving flights from one to the other and linking the whole with a monorail? Good Idea methinks because we already have a corridor (the M25 Car Park) and thus a right of way, whereby we could run our monorail service above the commuters in the car park below and therefore reduce the emphasis on Heathrow. Good stuff really and certainly a challenge. It would probably take a lot less time than building an entirely new airport.

But what about this proposal from BoJo concerning the Thames Estuary?
In Japan there is Kansai, an airport that was built on a man made Island near Osaka. This was done for two main reasons, the first being the need to cut down noise in a built up area and the second because Osaka needed to expand. Can you see where this is going?

The UK has a long tradition of engineering excellence and no matter what the naysayers will argue; it is still a major player in that arena. Take the Waterloo Chunnel Terminal. The general public doesn’t know the half of that particular story but I can tell you from personal experience, it was a major feat of construction engineering, not least that superstructure design, which in itself is impressive.
So, BoJo’s idea is to utilise our engineering expertise and build a man made island in the Thames Estuary and that, my friends, is where Terminal 5 and all the other terminals, passenger airbridges etc. may be relocated. We could then use the Waterloo Eurotunnel Terminal (well all that stuff has moved to St Pancras now) for checking in, and then travel by rail to our offshore departure point. Heathrow could be developed into the home of British Motorsport and be given the British GP! Hooray!

I commend this kind of thinking (Boris' that is) because even though it may well take a further fifteeen years to come to fruition, it certainly won’t matter because let’s face it; nobody can afford to fly anymore due to NuLabour’s moneygrabbing!

Cowley

I read that the unions are suggesting that the government should encourage people to buy cars so that the workers at Cowley can keep their jobs.

I rather enjoyed this quote from the Electronic Telegraph, “A Mini spokesperson confirmed that the company had held discussions with Unite union representatives over changes to shift patterns at the plant.” I’m trying to imagine if there is an anti height discrimination policy at BMW.

However as much as I am genuinely saddened by the plight of the workforce, who undoubtedly have worked hard and earned BMW substantial sums on car sales, they along with the rest of us, have been placed into an uncertain future by NuLabour and the seeds of this were sown in 1999. If things are only just happening now then we’ve been pretty bloody lucky.

But, who says these workers are more deserving of support than the construction workers or the truck drivers or anyone, who sadly will also suffer due to the wanton destruction of the British economy?