Churchill AVRE. Well, I don't know what you really call the bits of thread. It was crying out to be motorised so that the bridge raises and lowers, but that was probably a mistake.
I've done a model of a Spurn Head railway sail trolley, which has rigging :-)
"Arthur Figgis" wrote
Who knows?
John.
Why single out Thatcher? Exactly the same applies to Tory B Liar and his cronies. Now we have a totally unelected PM.
MBQ
Indeed :~(
This country badly needs some version of PR.
Ask a few New Zealanders about that.
MBQ
Why, this is not New Zealand... Yes, PR has it's faults but it does give the electorate a better voice, but the main thing it would do in this country is to break the two party system - something that needs to be done as they are now both signing from the same hymn-sheet, the only difference is the tempo the conductor (PM) is choosing to use...
wrote
Same wherever PR exists - excellent for non-government.
John.
Governments don't like it because they need to have consensus government rather than "Do as I say, not as I do" movement - which is the norm in any FPTP electoral system.
The court, presumably...
That's was the point I was trying to make about Scargill.
Chris
We have never been able to elect a PM. We elect our local MP and it is the majority party which decides which of their MPs will be PM.
Alan
Road and air traffic is well down on last year with 24 airlines going bust since last year and Ryanair grounding 19 aircraft whilst at the same time the railway is running more trains and carrying more passengers.
Its just as complicated as BR. If you want to go really cheap like £1 London to Portsmouth (Megabus) it is more complicated.
The lack of investment in BR was NOT party political but down to the Civil Service, BR generally done as badly under Labour as Conservative governments. For the record the 1980's were best years for spending since the modernisation plan. Think of ECML electrification, EA electrification, Sprinters, horrible Pacers and Networkers for starters.
Chris
BR had loads of advance purchase tickets specific to trains (Super Saver, Apex, Super Apex, Network away break are some that I can immediately remember there were lots more) and sectors and if you look back in history pre-nationalisation had the same preliforation of ticket types. Railways have always been commercial enterprises, most of our railways were NOT built by the government but ruined by them.
When has the British PM ever been elected by the populace? The populace elect members of parliament and these MPs choose their leader. In the party system that operates in the UK, the PM is normally the leader of the political party in power and there are no rules that say that a party leader cannot be changed during a parliament.
Jim.
Indeed and IIRC the PM doesn't even need to sit in the House of Commons, nor does the PM have to be a party leader - convention says that both are normally the case though.
With the recent changes to tickets railcard holders get discounts on the cheap book ahead tickets which they never could with BR. Recent example father in law Taunton to Norwich £13.85 single with railcard, £21 to no railcard users.
Chris
wrote
Indeed and it has happened on a number of occasions during my life, both where the party has been in power or in opposition.
John.
"Jerry" wrote
What you mean to say is PR means government by compromise - and that's not always in the best interests of the country.
John.
That was never true the sectors had there own fare structures and before them the regions and before that.....
Chris
But was he left dazed and confused by this horror, unable to do anything except post semi-literate rants to Usenet...?
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