As for Honest John – he also quoted Churchill who apparently said something along the lines of ” Taxing a nation into prosperity is like standing in a bucket and trying to lift yourself up by the handles”

“The worse the state, the more laws it has”, Cornelius Tacitus cAD55-116

There is probably too much for just one repealing measure. I suggest three – the Repeal of Knee-Jerk Reactions Act, the Repeal of Unnecessary Panic Act and the Repeal of Destructive Regulations Act.

It is true that public planning takes a very long time in this country but the quality of the planning decision is far more important than the time it takes to reach that decision. It should not be forgotten that despite the high population density this is still an attractive country compared to others that face similar development pressures. Our towns and cities do not degenerate into the depressing urban sprawls that one sees in America or France. Who would prefer the legoland of Tokyo to the character and heritage of London or the allotment-like look of the Japanese “countryside” to our green and pleasant countryside? So yes, let’s come to the right public planning decisions as efficiently as possible, but let’s not forget that the hidden cost of quick-fire planning approvals is likely to be a long-term legacy of ugly public spaces and dysfunctional infrastructure that would a few decades to appear but centuries to get rid of.

If they were not so deeply confused and/or dishonest they would not be socialists.

The sooner they are handed their P45s the better.

That’s not to say there isn’t some ideology behind their obsession – go and read Foucault or some other idiotic relativist if you’ve got several days to waste. But they don’t actually believe anything.

They’re contemptible beyond belief!

I have been checking with colleagues in the energy business today. The consensus is that Brown’s wind turbine vision is a joke. The two principle builders of five and six megawatt offshore machines, have order books full till 2013. Finding a barge crane, big enough to construct the things is even worse. Brown will need to plant at least one of these machines every day between now and 2020.

Connecting the things to the 400KV supergrid, is going to give the new planning super-quango an ink supply problem for its rubber stamp. Be prepared for a electricity sub-station on your local beach. Brown’s announcement is already moving prices up in the heavy engineering sector – what a pratt.

Not the subject of this particular blog, but why oh why is the Tory party agreeing with the Labour Governments latest attack on democracy…their equality white paper?

How can positive discrimination be correct?
Why play into the hands of the BNP?
Try and drive some sense into the senior echelons of the party. They are looking foolish. More to the point they will lose a lot of votes.

You are also right about the way to stop floods being to get out the JCBs. Well paid people holding meetings & writing reports is certainly a more comfortable way of solving the problem but less successful. The amount to which our construction industry is restrained by bureaucrats is beyond belief. Recently Richard Rogers said (late night BB2 so nobody was loking) that he had been warned not to say that of the £690 million spent on building the Dome only £46 million was spent on construction. Equally the new Forth Bridge is costed at £4.2 billion when the previous one cost £19.5 million (£314 M in today’s money). Thus suggests that 12/13ths of the cost of most public projects are paperwork.

http://lettersfromatory.wordpress.com

Squealer consoles the animals, saying, “Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure. On the contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibility. No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?”

The sooner the pig’s are removed from running my life the better. As a start up business, I can’t escape the red tape that has delayed me from getting on with earning money, instead of spending it….