24 OCTOBER 2016

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Article from BTNews 24 OCTOBER 2016

COMMENT: This lady is for turning

Or so we are led to believe.

To say that the latest government ducking and diving over the vexed question of airport capacity beggars belief is putting it mildly. The word dither is back on everyone's lips, or at least the lips of those who believe we need action, not words.

Obfuscation has apparently become the order of the day and there is no better way to see a political reputation go down in flames than to allow vacillation. From BTN’s perspective, there is no argument that UK plc needs not only to take a decision but to be seen to take it. Whatever it is, some people will approve and some will not. Welcome to the real world.

Meanwhile, the country is left floundering and the world wonders if we have a serious prime minister. R3 is a minor problem compared with Brexit.

In his 10 years, David Cameron did nothing when it came to a decision over another runway for the south east. He procrastinated. At this stage, it is beginning to look like his successor is of the same mould. The much-discredited Edward Heath 40 years ago pressed the button for Maplin, only for Harold Wilson to get cold feet. It must not happen again.

Rumour and propaganda seem to have taken over and we have a situation where, even if a decision is announced tomorrow, it might not be a decision, because everyone will have a year to think about it before the conclusion everyone expected in the first place is confirmed. Confused? You bet. The cynical might say it is a device to give certain people another year to think of some more reasons for delay.

Among her titles (she is also First Lord of the Treasury) Mrs May is also Minister for the Civil Service. Please ma’am, don’t take the Sir Humphrey route. Make a final decision and stand by it.

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OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum


PAUL VALON, Mexico City

It seems our leaders do not have the capability of making decisions. They always have an excuse for deliberating. Same problem for the Sydney -Canberra - Melbourne High Speed Train ( also been on the back burner for about 30 years ) and now in Mexico the new Mexico City airport and the High Speed train link between Mexico City and Queretaro. Would it not be a breath of fresh air to have a leader and party that actually make decisions and make significant improvements, in particular in this case to Infrastructure.


David Bentley, Manchester/UK

The British political class is spineless. I've had enough of it; I'm off, before Putin decides to send his next batch of warships up the Thames.


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