Read it and weep.
This from the Beeb yesterday...
The minister overseeing
the HS2 rail project has issued an official correction after getting
muddled over the size of his department's budget.
Robert Goodwill suggested in the Commons last week that the
transport department's overall budget was £50bn. The actual figure is
less than £13bn.
Only £37bn out.
FFS!
Wednesday, 6 November 2013
Can you put a value on Goodwill?
Wednesday, 9 October 2013
Potato Bob: On Safety - Exciting New Eye Feature!
Time for an exciting new Eye feature!
Potato Bob speaks!
This from CommercialMotor.com...
Goodwill spent many years working on his family farm, which, at its
height, delivered and produced 1,000 tonnes of potatoes a year to the
McCain chip factory in Scarbrough. The family became involved in the
sulphuric acid desiccation of potatoes and, he admits, it was a bit of a
slog having to travel up to Teesside to get his Hazardous Chemicals
Certificates so he could drive the truck.
One of his more
excruciating journeys came on his way to Scarborough. While driving his
Volvo F10, the flexible exhaust pipe joining the main exhaust silencer
box to the engine ruptured, and the hot exhaust gases went on to the
clutch slave cylinder. Very soon, the clutch stopped working,
completely.
Goodwill says he was unsure how to deal with the
problem: "I thought OK, well I'll just keep going. So I drove all the
way to Scarbrough without a clutch, just using the engine speed.
Fortunately, I didn't have to stop because the lights were in my favour.
I decided that if I did have to stop, I'd start it again in a very low
gear. It was a 30-mile trip, though".
Good to see that Potato Bob, the minister charged with 'road safety and standards', has such a grip on his brief!
Ministerial responsibilities - the right Hammond finally gets rail!
Is there a worse website in the world than .gov.uk?
No matter.
Thank God for twitter!
With a bowler tip to @wmtucker, who pointed Eye to the pages giving the new ministerial transport team's responsibilities:
Baroness Kramer
Baroness Kramer was appointed Minister of State for Transport in October 2013.
The minister is responsible for:
- HS2 – Phase Two
- rail – funding and futures (including RIS, SOFA, ORR, stations policy)
- cities and urban renewal (including growth deals and Heseltine Review)
- localism and devolution
- local connectivity (including smart ticketing, buses, taxis, light rail and trams)
- accessibility and equalities
- future transport (including ULEV)
- natural environnent (including biofuels)
- SMEs
- international
Stephen Hammond was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport on 4 September 2012.
The minister is responsible for:
- rail – (including operational issues, major projects, fares and ticketing, Rail Delivery Group reform, franchising)
- London (including Crossrail)
- maritime
- Better Regulation
- corporate
Robert Goodwill was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport in October 2013
The minister is responsible for:
- aviation
- strategic roads and Highways Agency
- motoring agencies
- road safety and standards
- freight and logistics – including lorry road user charging
- local roads
- cycling
- HS2 Phase One
- Europe
UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...
I think there may be a stiff contender for the worst website in the world.
The website of Eye favourite, the Soi Disant Veteran Observer, continues to feature a twice failed candidate for London's Mayor and a still very much dead Madam Chair of the Transport Select Committee!
Perhaps the 'Soi Disant' played a role in designing the 'award winning' gov.uk portal?
