Where did it all go wrong?
Back to work after a few days off and as it happens, just as the modicum of snow that fell on Saturday night is melting. I don’t know why it is, but the trains just don’t seem to be able to cope with the improvement in the weather and there were cancellations, delays and points failures again today.
I mention this only because I saw (but didn’t read) a report in the Metro that told us that the UK’s railways are the most expensive, least reliable, least efficient, most uncomfortable and in poorer condition than any other network system in Western Europe (and probably beyond). I don’t know why this is news, I really don’t, but I guess there is a vague hope that if the blindingly obvious is stated often enough and with conviction, something will happen to improve matters. As it is, Dave and his happy band of Bullington Clubbers have called upon Network Rail to scrap a £20 million bonus scheme for senior rail executives.
I have no philosophical objection to members of the government calling for bonus restraint in these times of assumed austerity, but part of me thinks it feels like playing to the crowd rather than arranging for anything, anything at all, to improve.
There seems to be a lot of this going on in one form or another. Last week it was Fred the Shred losing his knighthood. Surprising even myself, I have come to the conclusion that I think it is wrong that he has lost his knighthood. I don’t want to get into a debate over whether or not such things should exist, or whether or not the whole Honours System is an anachronism; the fact is the system and the awards exist.
That being so, it seems odd to me that having been awarded something, and within the terms of the award, having been deemed to have earned it for services rendered to that time, it does not seem right to take it away again for later mistakes. There are other ways of making the point, I should have thought. But the point is, incompetence is not illegal and he broke no laws. Whilst not defending the man, I do feel that rather more people were instrumental in damaging the banking system and undermining the economy that Fred the Shred. Most of those will have retained their OBEs, knighthoods and bonuses. Those who have lost their bonuses will, I am certain, be recompensed at some point, safe in the knowledge that Fred the Shred was sacrificed for their sins as well as his own.
Moving along to the world of sport, I see that the on-going racism row involving Chelsea defender John Terry has reached new heights of soap opera. The FA has stripped him of the England Captaincy. Hmm… okay, we all agree, I think, that no-one wants racism in sport any more than we do in any other area of life, but I thought we operated a system in this country whereby a person was deemed to be innocent until proven guilty? Naïve, I know, but there you are.
Whatever the facts of the case transpire to be, at then moment they are only allegations and the investigation is continuing, presumably ending with the enrichment of some members of the legal profession at some point. The FA have prejudged the case and punished a legally innocent man. Not satisfied with this, the farce continues when it is revealed that the Head Coach, Fabio Cappello the man ostensibly responsible for appointing the captaincy reveals that he disagrees with the decision to which he was not a party, for the same reasons I have outlined above. The FA’s response? They suggest that he has broken the terms of his contract for daring to disagree with them in public after they have wilfully undermined his authority.
The world is just mucking fad.
I mention this only because I saw (but didn’t read) a report in the Metro that told us that the UK’s railways are the most expensive, least reliable, least efficient, most uncomfortable and in poorer condition than any other network system in Western Europe (and probably beyond). I don’t know why this is news, I really don’t, but I guess there is a vague hope that if the blindingly obvious is stated often enough and with conviction, something will happen to improve matters. As it is, Dave and his happy band of Bullington Clubbers have called upon Network Rail to scrap a £20 million bonus scheme for senior rail executives.
I have no philosophical objection to members of the government calling for bonus restraint in these times of assumed austerity, but part of me thinks it feels like playing to the crowd rather than arranging for anything, anything at all, to improve.
There seems to be a lot of this going on in one form or another. Last week it was Fred the Shred losing his knighthood. Surprising even myself, I have come to the conclusion that I think it is wrong that he has lost his knighthood. I don’t want to get into a debate over whether or not such things should exist, or whether or not the whole Honours System is an anachronism; the fact is the system and the awards exist.
That being so, it seems odd to me that having been awarded something, and within the terms of the award, having been deemed to have earned it for services rendered to that time, it does not seem right to take it away again for later mistakes. There are other ways of making the point, I should have thought. But the point is, incompetence is not illegal and he broke no laws. Whilst not defending the man, I do feel that rather more people were instrumental in damaging the banking system and undermining the economy that Fred the Shred. Most of those will have retained their OBEs, knighthoods and bonuses. Those who have lost their bonuses will, I am certain, be recompensed at some point, safe in the knowledge that Fred the Shred was sacrificed for their sins as well as his own.
Moving along to the world of sport, I see that the on-going racism row involving Chelsea defender John Terry has reached new heights of soap opera. The FA has stripped him of the England Captaincy. Hmm… okay, we all agree, I think, that no-one wants racism in sport any more than we do in any other area of life, but I thought we operated a system in this country whereby a person was deemed to be innocent until proven guilty? Naïve, I know, but there you are.
Whatever the facts of the case transpire to be, at then moment they are only allegations and the investigation is continuing, presumably ending with the enrichment of some members of the legal profession at some point. The FA have prejudged the case and punished a legally innocent man. Not satisfied with this, the farce continues when it is revealed that the Head Coach, Fabio Cappello the man ostensibly responsible for appointing the captaincy reveals that he disagrees with the decision to which he was not a party, for the same reasons I have outlined above. The FA’s response? They suggest that he has broken the terms of his contract for daring to disagree with them in public after they have wilfully undermined his authority.
The world is just mucking fad.