Trains not planes, growth pains and why eating the same makes sense
Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.
Rachel Reeves' transport plans: smart rail investments but a Heathrow disaster
There was good and bad in the announcements by chancellor Rachel Reeves (Metro, Thu).
To start with the bad – approving airport expansion is a serious mistake, especially Heathrow. By 2035 – let alone 2050, which is how long some people say it will take – Heathrow will be either underwater or, if humanity has seen sense by then, underused. The only realistic way to reduce aviation’s greenhouse gas output is to reduce aviation itself.
On a more positive note, developing the Cambridge-Oxford corridor makes more sense, but the East West Rail project must be part of it and should ideally be completed faster.
The Bletchley-Bicester section was originally due to be open before now, and is now due to open late this year.
Two other major towns either side of the corridor, Luton and Northampton, should also be taken into account, with a link near Millbrook to approve access to Luton from the Oxford direction.
Finally, links from other towns to their nearest big city should also be reopened, especially where they are already open for freight.
We had Ashington (connected to Newcastle) last month, and Portishead (Bristol) is due in a few years but there are good cases for many more. I can myself name Thornbury (Bristol again), Ashby/Coalville/Swadlincote (Leicester and Derby), and Fawley (Southampton) off the top of my head. Charles EL Gilman, Mitcham
Heathrow expansion will make the climate crisis worse, not the economy better
‘It will help neither our economy nor people to remain in denial’
It is outrageous for Rachel Reeves to blame a slow planning system for expansions at Heathrow and other airports not having gone ahead already.
Independent aviation experts, including the government’s official climate advisors, are clear that until measures such as a tax on frequent flyers are limiting growth in flight numbers, airport expansions should not happen.
It will help neither our economy nor people to remain in denial about the need to limit the growing damage from extreme weather events. Chris Broome, Sheffield
What about the affects on our quality of life?
‘More pollution, noise and the loss of green space’
After tanking the economy with a disastrous budget, Rachel Reeves has decided to emulate Liz Truss’s madcap ideas by allowing developers to have free rein in the name of ‘growth’.
This means unfettered development of roads, houses, airports etc causing more pollution, noise and loss of countryside.
What happened to minimising pollution? What about quality of life?
More pollution, noise and loss of green space will mean more physical and mental illness for an NHS already on its knees.
This desperate ideological search for short-term growth ignores the long lasting impact on our fast disappearing countryside. Anthony, Lancashire
Labour hasn’t learned: ‘Boom and Bust’ economics never works
‘Older readers may remember…’
Thursday’s headline ‘It’s boom or bust’ for the chancellor’s plan for rapid growth surely cannot be? Older readers may remember that Gordon Brown – a Labour chancellor with a decade’s worth of experience – announced 20 years ago that he’d abolished boom and bust! Of course we didn’t believe him – the reality was different and Labour were soon voted out. Steve Milner, Guildford
‘I stopped shopping in Croydon because of unchecked shoplifting’
‘Before I stopped, I would see shoplifting every time I shopped’
Your headline on Friday that we are ‘a nation of shoplifters’ – you’re not kidding. I live in Croydon and now won’t shop in our town centre. Why?
Simply put, before I stopped, I would see shoplifting every time I shopped without fail – and it would go mostly unchallenged. It got too disheartening. And every time I reported it I got the usual response of shrugged shoulders.
Is it any wonder more and more choose shoplifting?
I now shop in Kingston. At least there I see shoplifters challenged and caught. Geoff Hall, Croydon
Why eating the same meals every week works for me
‘There are many advantages to this’
Your Poll Position on Thursday tells us that more than half of us – myself included – stick to the same meals every week. There are many advantages to this, such as reducing the need for planning, making shopping easier and quicker, keeping control of stock levels and best before and use-by dates, so reducing waste plus, of course, keeping control of budgeting – especially in these financially difficult times. Bill Martin, Norwich
Would you say something to someone spreading germs on a bus?
‘She was constantly sneezing and coughing’
I got the No.263 bus on Thursday and there was a lady full of cold/flu. She was constantly sneezing and coughing and making little effort to contain either.
The bus was packed with schoolchildren and commuters.
There is all this talk of A&Es and hospitals being under pressure yet no one, including myself, said a word to her. P Goodmead, Finchley
Mocking EV drivers? Petrol cars rely on electricity too
‘How would he have filled up his car at the fuel pumps?’
I had to laugh at the mail from Otto Inglis (MetroTalk, Thu). He seemed to find it amusing that a power failure at a motorway services resulted in a fellow traveller in an EV not being able to recharge to continue their journey.
Agreed, the driver was unwise to allow the battery to drop to such a low level it would not take them to an alternative charging point – but that’s a simple human mistake to make.
However, if Mr Inglis had made the same mistake, continuing to run his diesel car long after the fuel warning light had come on, how would he have filled up his car when the fuel pumps are not able to pump fuel without electricity? Graham Tapper, Camberley
Billionaires are bad for the economy – here’s why
‘It would be better to have had 1,000 millionaires than one billionaire’
The reason our economy is suffering so much is because we now have too many billionaires and not enough millionaires.
It would be better to have had 1,000 millionaires than one billionaire, who would not purchase the extra 999 houses, cars and other associated goods 1,000 millionaires would. All the billionaire would do is purchase a super yacht or a football club, which does very little for our economy. Carlos, Lancashire