British National Disgrace?
To be honest - this is the bit I just don't get.
What bit of any of this made anyone think that Great Britian would deliver a world class terminal on time - to budget and without problems.
The staff that turned up for work on the first day were NOTHING to do with the problems. The problems are an endemic and systemic failure of project management - communication and oversight. These factors combined to make the mess BAA and BA are in today but it's a mess with global dimensions that reflect really where we are in the world today.
Moreover - it's like just about everything else that is undertaken on any scale in the UK today. Olympics in 2012 - if people are laughing now what will they be doing in 2012?
What have the government done? What price any remaining but rapidly diminishing semblance of national reputation we may have left? Come to Britain to spend your money and locate your companies the government cries - well if you were the CEO of a large multi-national - what the hell would you think?
I'd be setting up my plant in China frankly.
Tn5 is an analogy for New Labour and the Great Britain that they created in their image.