Saturday 20 July 2013

Omnibus

Free bus travel for children, as for the old or at least the older, is only the start of the journey.

We need a national network of public transport free at the point of use, including the reversal of bus route and rail line closures going back to the 1950s.

And we need to be able to get on a train, or a tram, or a bus in the centre of one village, town or city, in order to be able to get off it in the centre of another.

Only public ownership can deliver this. Public ownership is of course British ownership, and thus a safeguard of national sovereignty.

It is also a safeguard of the Union in that it creates communities of interest across the several parts of the United Kingdom. Publicly owned concerns often even had, and should have again, the word "British" in their names.

What a pity that it was only ever "British Rail", rather than "Royal British Rail". One for the Platinum Jubilee in 2022. In Thatcher's own words about the Royal Mail, "We can't privatise that, it's Royal."

Let the same apply here, linking every city and town, with the hinterland served by its central amenities, not only to each other, but also directly to the monarchy, itself thus the safeguard of our public transport service, as of our public postal service.

3 comments:

  1. Gimmicks that involve bribing voters with their own money, so they can be kept away from the important issues.

    Don't you worry your pretty little head about national independence, crime, the comprehensive school system or the assault on our constitutional civil liberties.

    Here's a free bus pass for you, and (in President Obama's case) some free contraception.

    Take your little doggy-treats, and just forget about everything else.

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  2. The voice of UKIP, all right. No wonder that you never see Farage on the telly anymore. Like the Coalition, you aspire to the eventual abolition of public transport altogether.

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  3. "The voice of common sense" will do nicely.

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