Fort Granny to defy Heathrow bulldozers

Today's Times details the story of Lynne Davis, a resident of Sipson, whose house is set to be destroyed:

“I will consider anything and everything,” she said last week. “I’m willing to break the law if necessary, which is completely out of character for me. But I’m not having someone coming into my village and evicting me. I’ve lived here in Sipson for 50 years. We built this house. My sister lives next door. I’m absolutely not moving.”

It makes sad reading - the government is forcing law-abiding citizens to take this position, in order to protect their own homes from demolition:

• Fort Granny to defy Heathrow bulldozers (The Times)

Still, there is some good news too:

• Planning application cannot be lodged before general election, meaning Tories could scrap scheme (The Guardian)
  

Firm which gave third runway a clean bill of health has links to BAA

According to the Evening Standard, a company which the Government hired to help make the case for the third runway previously had BAA as one of its clients.

Surprise you? Naaaah...

• Firm which gave third runway a clean bill of health has links to BAA (Evening Standard)
  

Wheels fall off BA plane

A British Airways flight from Amsterdam lost its front wheels during a "hard landing" at London City Airport last night. Luckily none of the 71 people onboard were seriously hurt.

• The BBC has more information and some video footage

Video conferencing to replace 2.1 million airline seats per year by 2012, losing the travel industry $3.5 billion annually

Gartner, one of the world's leading information technology research companies, has published a report predicting that innovative new technologies are set to replace 2.1 million unnecessary business flights by 2012.

The report focuses on a technology known as Telepresence - essentially high resolution video and audio conferencing, which allows "a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance that they were present, or to have an effect, at a location other than their true location" (Wikipedia).

• Have a look at telepresence in action on Youtube

Clearly, the key use for this technology is face-to-face business meetings - users get a very real feeling of "being there" without the need to hop on a plane.

Gartner goes on to explain that...

"...not every meeting needs to be face to face and there is no doubt that telepresence and other approaches to virtual collaboration such as Immersive Workspace, which is built on top of Second Life, or yet to be released solutions will provide a real alternative for many businesses"

One of the arguments given for the third runway is "increased competitiveness" and the growing demand for business flights in and out of London. Even if you ignore the environmental impact of unnecessary air travel and the dropping demand for flights, there are a number of other clear benefits to using this technology:

• Cost savings on travel
  
• Executives can stay at home with their families
• Less man hours wasted through travel and therefore productivity gains
  
• Health aspects - no jet lag (maybe a few late evenings in the office!)

Although global travel in a job may sound quite glamorous and attractive, I'm sure many executives can tell you how tiring and inconvenient it becomes over time. You rarely get a chance to see the cities you visit and you spend much of your time holed up in your hotel.

Through innovation in communications and IT, global business travel is now becoming less of a necessity for business and will continue to do so as technology improves.

Isn't it time Gordon Brown focused more of his efforts into fostering science and technological innovation in the UK than folly such as the the third runway at Heathrow?

More details here:

• Gartner Predicts Video Telepresence Will Replace 2.1 Million Airline Seats Per Year by 2012, Losing the Travel Industry $3.5 billion annually
  

Plane slips at Heathrow taxiway

For the last 24 hours in the UK, it's been snowing heavily and much of London is covered in a very thick blanket of snow.

Despite ample warnings about the arctic conditions about to hit Heathrow, it seems that BAA were unable to ensure planes couldn't slide onto the grass.

• Plane slips at Heathrow taxiway (BBC News)
  

A BAA spokesperson explained,

"the snow keeps falling every time that we try and clear it."

More contradictions from the government

Currently, a number of wildcat strikes are planned or underway in the UK.

Last week, about 700 workers went on strike at Total's oil refinery at Killingholme and another 3,000 walked out in sympathy at other refineries and power stations across the country. The workers are protesting at the use of 400 Italian and Portuguese workers on a £200m construction project at the site, in north Lincolnshire - The BBC provides more details.

Of course, Gordon Brown has stepped in to give everyone his opinion on things. According to Sky News,

"he recognised people were 'worried' about jobs being taken by workers from other countries, but stressed that the UK was part of a 'single Europe'"

Can you see a contradiction here? The government's been using the 'international competitiveness' argument for a while, stating that Heathrow needs the new runway to compete with Schipol and Paris Charles de Gaulle. Even though this argument is based on dodgy economics, when considered in isolation it does seem a fairly reasonable one.

However, based on Brown's statement above, where does the UK stand? Are we agressively competing against the other countries in the EU or are we all in this together as part of the 'single Europe' he talks about?

The ironic twist to the story would be if BAA's owners, Grupo Ferrovial, decided to draft in their own Spanish workers to build its new runway. As a large multinational construction company, this is not beyond the realms of possibility....

Government wins third runway vote

Unsurprisingly, the government won it's third runway vote on Wednesday. However, their majority is now down to just 19 votes, which goes to show how controversial this decision has been.

In spite of the Government's desire to run roughshod over Londoners for the sake of short term profit and possible backhanders, it's encouraging that a number of Labour politicians displayed some scruples. Hats off to Virendra Sharma and Andrew Slaughter who even quit in protest.

BAA stooge to control the fate of British high-speed rail

If there's some government corruption going on, it's reassuring to know that Private Eye will be on the case. The most recent issue contains an article about the high-speed rail link announced by Geoff Hoon as part of the third runway "decision". I scanned in the article below, but if you don't have time to read it, here's the takeaway:

• No high speed link was officially announced, a company called High Speed Two has been established "to help consider the case".
  
• Any studies into big rail projects will now have to assume there'll be ample airline capacity on corridors such as London-Manchester, so spending billions on intercity railways will be hard to justify
• Oh, and David Rowlands, the guy who will chair High Speed Two and therefore control the fate of British high-speed rail, was offered a BAA directorship last year!
  

As Private Eye would say - "Just Fancy That!"

Heathrow hot air
(Private Eye - No. 1228, 23 Jan-5 Feb 2009, Page 10)

THE government's mention of high-speed rail in its decision to press ahead with Heathrow airport expansion was a clumsy fig leaf but it fooled some people, including BBC transport correspondent Tom Symonds, who reported: "The government also announced a new high-speed rail line will be built." The official Passenger Focus watchdog meekly "welcomed" the announcement.

What was actually announced was High Speed Two, a new company "to help consider the case" for a high-speed line (HSL). So we're no further ahead than when the Strategic Rail Authority commissioned a report in 2001 which concluded that "in economic, safety and accessibility terms. HSL performs better than the alternative interventions considered" and "has the potential to reduce some of the forecast growth in domestic air travel within the UK".

High Speed Two will be limited initially to developing a proposal for a new London-West Midlands line by the end of the year, after which the government will "assess the options". Labour's pals in the air lobby will be happy with that, as it's such a paltry distance for a highspeed railway that the economics may not look great; massive overheads, including design and purchase of 200mph trains, won't be balanced by the big revenue that would come from a longer new line.

More importantly for ministers, even if that line is built it won't harm aviation because London and Birmingham are too close together for flying between them to be worthwhile. Labour's objective is to ensure that lucrative London-Manchester and London-Scotland flights aren't undermined by fast trams (which have hammered continental air routes). Even Virgin's Pendolino service (top speed: 125mph) has done more than enough damage to Manchester flights.

The Department tor Transport (DafT) briefing acknowledged that most major countries had domestic high-speed lines, saying: "In [sic] would be perverse to ignore developments in Europe and the rest of the world." In the preceding paragraph, it noted that Japan started bullet trains in 1964. So that's 45 years of British perversion, and we're still at it

DafT ministers can't even decide to electrify more railways, a simple procedure carried out by most European countries long ago for its huge financial and environmental advantages. Transport secretary Geoff Hoon said: "We are well advanced in procuring replacement trains for the intercity routes, but before we finalise our plans we need to decide whether new parts of the network should be electrified." Only Britain could spend shedloads on procuring intercity trains (which would last 30 or 40 years) before deciding on the trains' power source.

The decision on Heathrow's third runway shows that DafT can be quick and decisive when it wants to be. It was crucial for Heathrow to jump the queue; any studies into big rail projects will now have to assume there'll be ample airline capacity on corridors such as London-Manchester, so spending billions on intercity railways will be even harder to justify.

PS: The government's choice of former civil servant David Rowlands as chairman for High Speed Two speaks volumes. While he was DafT permanent secretary, high-speed rail went nowhere as further Heathrow expansion was fast-tracked. Last year the Sunday Telegraph reported than Heathrow's owner, BAA, offered Rowlands directorship, which the government blocked. The air lobby must be delighted that Rowlands now controls the fate of British high-speed rail, one a its biggest potential rivals.

'Dr B Ching'

What’s a wealthy nation spend its money on?

• Trains, of course! (Reuters)
  

Boris Johnson debates the third runway in Hayes

Last night London Mayor, Boris Johnson held a "People's Question Time" event at the Beck Theatre in Hayes, not too far away from the proposed site of the the third runway and where I grew up.

I didn't attend, however some of my family made it along.  There was a very good turnout and the event was passionately debated. Most attendees were clearly against the development, however Lord Soley from the Future Heathrow group was there to represent the 'for' brigade.  A number of interesting points were raised, particularly with respect to alternative locations for the runway.

The Guardian has a good write-up, along with some Youtube videos....

• Boris Johnson debates Heathrow before a passionate audience in Hayes (The Guardian)