Quote: "I think most people can see that the 3rd runway at Heathrow is a done deal and probably has been for some time. We are now seeing the politics being slowly brought round to the inevitable conclusion. JG saying she is against it and then talking about a new railway to connect LHR from the west"
Exactly, Justine has mistakenly allied herself very strongly with the anti-LHR lobby and her position is untenable. Cameron must be aware that having such a biased transport secretary of state is unacceptable.
Have a feeling that there will be some "falling on swords" before too long.
Quote: "Do these people really believe we are all that stupid? How much money are they going to waste on bogus island airport schemes that were never going to get approved. At the same time they are constructing tunnels to the very airport that would need to close should these 'pie in the sky' projects get approved."
The trouble is that they do think we're all stupid, and they love wasting public money. The electorate is too often treated with contempt (by all the political parties).
Quote: "The third runway will be built and rightly so, but much, much later than it should have been due to these people being more concerned with keeping/gaining votes than with the good of the UK."
Agreed, but not convinced about keeping/gaining votes. It's a technical and very localised issue, irrelevant to much of the country. Even to most under the flightpath, there are other more important issues to determine voting intentions.
Quote: "The consultation has been postponed because it is too controversial. Isnt that why we need a consultation in the first place?"
The endless postponement of the "consultation" is probably Cameron's way of buying time while he decides how to execute another U-turn.
The difficulty with this particular U-turn is that it has much to do with coalition politics, where the Clegg tail is wagging the Cameron dog. The Libdems are against any new rwys in the southeast. By implication, that includes the estuary airport. Could the recent announcements on rail electrification be a way of "softening up" the Libdems?
The Conservatives made a major mistake when they reversed Labour's belated approval for LHR expansion, and they know it. They should have accepted it as a fait accompli.
Last edited by Fairdealfrank; 17th Jul 2012 at 16:36.