Paxboy
The expansion forces in this country that have driven demand for a proper hub are no longer there. In the next ten years, the economy of the country is going to stagnate as we haul ourselves through the recession - which will probably come to be seen as the Second Great Depression.
So ... there is no money to build an island and there will be shown to be no demand for such capacity. In the end, the lack of a 3rd at LHR is not a problem as the traffic goes elsewhere. Yes, some folks have lost out on jobs but most will not notice.
While I agree that the UK is stagnating and may go into recession, the Silver-Boris airport is supposed to be a World Hub rather than a regional airport. As such, its success will rest on the economic health of the rest of the world, rather than the UK's economy.
In the next 20 years, the Chinese will become the big tourists and businessmen, visiting the Third World nations of Britain, Italy and France, and pointing at all the poor people living and begging on the streets (as we used to do in China). But we are not going to be able to attract all these wealthy tourists to our poverty-stricken nation (and get their tourist Yuans), if we do not have a decent airport that connects with China (which Heathrow does not do).
And actually, while the UK is technically bankrupt, we may well need to create some more money (paradoxically) to inflate our way out of debt. All Merv King has to do is waive his magic financial wand, and he can conjour another £250 billion into existence (quantitively). And if we spent that money on infrastructure this time (instead of social engineering and banks), we may actually get something built for once.
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