MANCHESTER 1

[Shed-on-a-Pole]

Skipness - At this point, I think the board may benefit all round if we concentrate our minds on more constructive grounds for discussion. May I invite you to put this unfortunate Delta JFK misstep behind you and instead concentrate your mind on the question I put to you in the final paragraph of post #1552.

Time for something a little lighter for our bank holiday musings. So permit me to run a special Easter Sunday parable by you. Afew years ago you recall visiting Manchester and feeling hungry. You remember buying a great sandwich with all the trimmings for £1.72. Your friends at the bank tell you that the same sandwich bought there today today would cost you £2.53.

Now you find yourself in London, and this time you're even hungrier than you were back in Manchester. That sandwich would be the perfect remedy. But there is a problem. The shop in London tells you that the same sandwich there will cost you around £200.00, although that price-tag seems to increase by the week. And even worse, the sandwich can only be sold on a supporting foil tray. 'Trays for London' tell you that they reckon this will cost you another £200.00.

Fortunately, those nice guys at the council tell you that they'll get their ratepayers to stump up £100.00 towards the cost of the tray. They will divert the funds from the more deprived peripheral areas of the borough which everyone seems to have forgotten about. So the cost to you will be £300.00 and the council will stump up £100.00 for a total of £400.00. But you are really hungry. And that sandwich would really satisfy a pressing need. And all your mates in Europe are getting nice sandwiches already.

You are told there is a chippy midway between London and Brighton. They'd do you a pack of chips for just £80.00. But you think their chips are greasy and wouldn't satisfy your hunger the same. It's all so frustrating. Your friend in Istanbul is buying an entire banquet for £80.00.

You know that sandwich is the one you really, really want. You've had two of them there already and they're yummy. The greasy chips near Brighton are alot cheaper (though still relatively expensive). And you don't fancy them anyway.

So what do you do? Do you buy the £400.00 sandwich? Or the £80.00 greasy chips? Or do you say: "Hang on a minute. None of this is even close to being worth the money! Let's keep the money and spend it on something much, much better for the same price."

So ... back to reality. Manchester's 23L/05R was delivered for £172M, or £253M in today's money. LHR R3, we are told, is facing costs of upto £40,000M if the latest TfL estimates are taken into account. So I ask you: what is the price-point at which you say: "LHR R3 is operationally desirable, but at this price I just have to face reality and say NO WAY!"

I'll accept an answer to the nearest Billion! ;-)