Muddy Madam's Moment

Costly Cock Ups

By Muddy Mdam A.K.A. Karen Lee Turner

In case you haven't figured it out yet, Damian and I are born and bred Northerners, who have not deserted our roots to head for the gold-paved streets of the affluent South. Yeah, yeah, before you send a plethora of 'we are not all rich' emails, I know there is hardship all over, but you have to admit that the majority of government money ends up in the South (well mainly the Southeast), and this week, with the announcement of yet another hatchet job on HS2, it has yet again been proved, that if the North can get screwed, it will be.

Now I was never a fan of HS2, and always thought it was a stupid idea to spend a truly ridiculous amount of money just to be able to shave 45 minutes to an hour off a trip to London. It was never communicated to us up here, until I heard this week on Question Time, that any part of this scheme was to free up rail lines for freight transport - not a bad idea, and if I'd have known sooner I may have been a tad more agreeable about it. But it doesn't matter now, it is gone, and £38 billion is now going on 'super-fantastic transport upgrades and schemes'.

Don't worry, I haven't got a big ball of wool in front of my eyes, I know that most of that £38 billion will evaporate into thin air, especially as the schemes already mentioned, just in the 3 days since the HS2 scappage was announced, have been put forth not once, not twice, but 3 times before, as far back as 2006, and have still not come to fruition. I do not expect driving to get better here any time soon.

As for more governing body cock ups, I just found out that Greater Manchester spent £3 million putting up signs announcing where the Clean Air Charging Zone was going to be. This scheme was swiftly put into turnaround when there was a public revolt, after we all realised that the majority of us wouldn't be able to drive ANYWHERE without paying. Every single main road seemed to be included, and people just don't have the money to be able to swap out older cars for new, spangly, compliant ones. The wasted £3 million was bad enough, but to add insult to injury then came another Clean Air related bill - £186,000. Can you guess what that money bought?...Stickers. Yes you read that correctly, stickers, to put over the £3 million worth of now redundant signage.

So, instead of buying 42 mid-level MRI machines, or paying for 91,948 hours worth of wages for Registered Oncology Nurses, or simply giving £2K each to 1,593 of the neediest people to use to help buy a Clean Air compliant secondhand vehicle, they p**sed a shed-load of money up the proverbial wall, and just like HS2, we have ended up with nothing to show for it.

HERE ENDETH MY RANT!