Our Revered Leader Perry de Havilland has been telling us in conversation that our postings here are better than they were in the early days of this blog. I’m sure I hope so, and I believe that something similar may also apply to David Farrer over at Freedom and Whisky.
His latest posting is a particularly choice item, based on an equally choice story in the Sunday Herald, about a potential collision between ramblers in Scotland and trains in Scotland, caused by an actual collision between “Right to Roam” legislation and the decision to bring charges of Corporate Manslaughter against six of Britain’s railway ex-bosses for an earlier prang.
The railway infrastructure has been taken out of the hands of shareholders and into the safekeeping of selfless (sic) public servants. Surely this kind of mix-up shouldn’t occur. Don’t tell me that there’s something wrong with socialism! In the meantime the local council is forcing open the gates over the tracks and Network Rail is locking them up again.
The folk at Network Rail are – wisely – looking out for number one:
“If people are serious about crossing live railways, the safest way is by underpass or bridge and somebody has to fund that – and it’s not going to be the railway because it’s not our responsibility. The responsibility must either rest with councils or central government.”
Dave Fordwych, the Sunday Herald man, thinks both policies are foolishness, but David has the answer to the problem:
I think that a solution may be found if the Secretary of State for Transport, Alistair Darling, has a quiet word with the Secretary of State for Scotland who is, er, Alistair Darling.
And I thought that Rod Liddle, in his recent Spectator piece about the Kelly Affair had been joking about …
… the day that Tony Blair announced his embarrassing and botched Cabinet reshuffle, the one where people suddenly found out that they were simultaneously Secretary of State for Transport and Scotland.
David adds a personal recollection to the effect that Darling seems inclined already towards talking to himself.
Funnily enough, the only time I have ever seen Mr Darling, my own MP, was on an aeroplane flying from London to Edinburgh and, yes, he was talking to himself.
“Joined up government” is what David calls his posting. You can’t get much more joined up than this. But, it doesn’t seem to be working very well.
This horror doesn’t need the the intervention of the “right to roam” (whether samizdatniks think it is a natural right or not).
Occupiers have been liable to trespassers for years, since the old British Rail ended up paying compensation to kids who climbed through its fences to play on its property. And as we know from (yawn) the Tony Martin case, someone being wrongfully on your land won’t save you from criminal charges should something nasty happen to them.
Coming next: the HSE requires companies to provide free health and safety training to would-be trespassers and burglars… the DRC insists that fences and barred windows have wheelchair ramps and hand-grips… insurance companies refuse cover unless you can prove both (a) your property is secure against forced entry, (b) you’ve taken all reasonable steps to ensure such security measures are procedurally fair and non-discriminatory.
There’s nothing wrong, per se, with talking to ones self. After all, where else are you to fing an intellectual peer for a conversation on short notice.
The problem with the minister is that we know good and well he’s not going to listen.
Even if a minister were to listen, it might not do much good. Ministers are temporary and get worn out; departments and pressure groups are permanent and constantly renewed.
Of course, as First Lord of the Treasury, I could propose a special vote that would cover all expenses, if it were not that, as leader of the Opposition, it would be my duty to resist it tooth and nail. Or, as Paymaster-General, I could so cook the accounts that, as Lord High Auditor, I should never discover the fraud. But then, as Archbishop of Titipu, it would be my duty to denounce my own dishonesty and give myself into my own custody, as First Commissioner of Police.
Very interesting