A circular walk from Cotehele Quay

A post-Boxing Day walk to blow away the cobwebs and work off some of the mild excesses of the Festive Season.

Our route started and ended on the quay at Cotehele. 4.5 miles and a pretty strenuous 4.5 miles at that. The first two miles were uphill and the rest down. Lots to see on the way around and interesting in its way: but it's not one we'll do again as the vistas are not expansive. Actually, we might do it again when the bluebells are in full bloom.

Just a Robin and, judging by the way it was acting, I'd say it was a very frisky Robin. Spring is already in the air, or so it would appear.

Looking into the sun and the viaduct at Calstock. It's a view I never tire of.

Danescombe Sawmill was opened in 1878 and used a 43 foot waterwheel to drive the sawing machinery. Power from the waterwheel was also used to haul carts up the tramway, which is now the track. These were loaded with timber grown on Cotehele Estate land that was landed on the quay at the bottom of the track. Using just the power from the waterwheel, the mill could saw 2000ft of timber in an hour. Even the sharpening of the saw was mechanised using water power. Despite its efficiency, the mill was relatively short-lived; by 1905 it was disused and had lost its iron roof, which was presumably sold as scrap. Its demise is thought to have been brought about by the closure of the nearby mines as much of the sawn timber was used in the mines.

Mispickel - the old name for arsenopyrite and also the name of the nearby property. Originally two cottages associated with the nearby mines, it is probably unique in that it comes with its own adit to a silver mine and a family of gnomes.

A damp woodland path, slowly working its way up the Danescombe Valley. Quiet now but, in days gone by, a bustling place with mills and mines along its length.

Trees are gradually encroaching on the ruins of the 18th-century paper mill at the top of the Danescombe Valley. It was powered by an overshot water-wheel. It made coarse brown paper and millboard (cardboard), used for wrapping and packing produce from the Tamar Valley’s then extensive apple and cherry orchards and soft fruit gardens; documented in 1788, when it was insured for £600, the mill was still working in 1851 “with one vat and a beating engine”, though production ceased in 1857. Rags and hemp would have been transported upriver from Plymouth on sailing barges. These materials, supplemented with local wood shavings and reeds, were then unloaded into horse-drawn carts, and hauled the final mile along the lane inland towards the mill. After soaking in the vat and pounding by the stamps, resultant mashed-up pulp was spread on to frames, pressed and dried into sheets.

All of these men are also mentioned, with more details, on the Calstock War Memorial in Albaston (http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Cornwall/Albaston.html). Given the location of the plaque, I've assumed that they had connections with the chapel. Six lives lost from such a small community.

A plaque on the outside wall of the Methodist Church/Chapel in the hamlet of Lower Metherell. It was built around 1820 and has been converted into a dwelling relatively recently. Back to the plaque: the congregation obviously thought highly of Henry P White. I particularly liked the fact that he was 'leader of singing'. A term rather more inclusive than 'choirmaster'.

The weir on the Morden Strean where the water that drives the overshot wheel at Cotehele Mill is taken off - to the left. The late afternoon temperatures were dropping and a haze was forming over the water.

Almost back at the quay and walking into the haze, ethereal and mystical, forming over the Tamar. Luckily it was not dense enough to prevent us making our way to the quayside café for tea and fruit scones.

Yo ho ho

Brian Adcock. The Guardian. 24th December 2018

I'll keep this one short and to the point for the sake of the Xmas season and peace on earth.

Stupidgate aside, the sum total of the end of year business in Westminster was the alienation and disenfranchisement of a massive demographic within the UK - those who didn't vote for Brexit. This currently is what Westminster parliament is reduced to. The populations of these islands are hanging off a cliff edge and the two (allegedly) most senior placed politicians in the land have a playground spat and the media (you know, the supposed watchdogs of our democracy) are, with very rare exceptions, absent without leave. Oh, and we discovered that Ohhhhhh Jeremy Corbyn isn’t really capable of walking on water after all. In fact, his feet are well and truly rooted in clay.

The explanation for the past two weeks of party self harm? Labour apparently are waiting for the exact right moment to pounce. We’re literally a hop and skip away from what looks increasingly like a ‘no deal’ Brexit and Labour’s explanation for their inaction is that it’s all part of a cunning plan. It couldn’t possibly be that, as the official party of opposition in what is still a binary system of politics (but possibly for not much longer if the SNP continues to impress), they’ve remained as split and confused as the Tories. The same ideological divisions, yet with less of a sense of purpose, direction or identity than their mates across the chamber. And the leader? Many would say he has some explaining to do to his membership around now. Regardless, Labour won’t be rescuing anyone from any kind of Brexit and the events of the past fortnight make that abundantly clear.

The only real opposition to the UK government and the Brexit narrative has come, and continues to come, from the SNP and that should shame the House of Commons and the population it supposedly represents. A party, by the way, that neither the Tories or Labour even wanted to see there, mainly because it upsets their dominance and shakes their complacency. After all, we can’t have those northern peasants who don’t know their place lecturing folk on democracy, representation or on how to govern the plebs.

Basically around half the populations of these islands have no voice, no representation and no rights as things stand between the UK government and their honourable (?) opposition. How do either of those parties fondly think that’s going to play out in the future? When you alienate and disenfranchise half your population, do you think they’ll just shrug, forgive and forget what’s been denied them or is being done to them? There's a growing view that UK politics isn’t merely broken at this point. It’s seismically fractured. The populations of these islands are facing constitutional crisis. Economic crisis. Societal breakdown and political chaos. All of which has been brought about mainly by the Conservative practice of politics, but, sadly, aided and abetted by an inept opposition. The outcomes of these ignorant and arrogant practices are almost inevitable, some might say.

And those two are still mucking about with party politics, as if sitting in the big chair matters a damn when the ship goes down. At this time of year especially, you’d think that putting childish games aside for the good of ALL of those in your care might have been an idea? Apparently not. The duty of any government, any leader, isn’t just a serving suggestion. Your job is the care of ALL of your population without fear or favour. When you ignore near half of that population? You shame your government, your parliament, your democracy and yourself.

Despite the above, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers, wherever you are and no matter what your political views, ALL the very best for the festive season and a grand new year when it comes. Hopefully, 2019 will see more than a few Christmas wishes granted. Mine are simple: a competent government and a competent opposition. Also, if you can spare anything for local food banks or clothing charities where you live, I'm pretty certain that’ll be more than appreciated by the recipients.

It's pantomime season in the Houses of Parliament



Steve Bell in The Guardian, 20th December 2018

Our wonderful caring government unveiled its new immigration policy this week and, as we’ve come to expect from them, it’s petty, restrictive and nasty. EU citizens will, in the future, have to earn over £30,000 a year in order to apply for residency in the UK. What the government didn’t say was that UK citizens who wish to reside in the EU will doubtless be subject to similar restrictions in future. Reciprocity rules OK. What it means for all those UK citizens who currently reside in EU countries, I've no idea.
 

Mrs May is obsessed with immigration and she panders to the xenophobes who infest the comments sections of the press. Here's an example of what I mean. I've just read a story in an on-line edition of a newspaper about a businessman in Scotland who is originally from Bangladesh. He has been refused permanent right to remain in the UK despite having lived here legally for 15 years and owning a successful business employing five people, people who now seem set to lose their jobs. The story is one thing but the comments below the article are another. Here the usual British nationalist trolls are at their small minded worse.  Empathy is a foreign quality to them. Compassion is a curse to them. These are the nasty little people that Theresa May has in mind when she frames her immigration policy. This is British nationalism in action. It’s not pretty. It’s not dignified. And I think it stinks.

Hopefully it won't be too long before the real opposition, which isn’t the Labour Party unfortunately, will bring forward a No Confidence motion in the government. Labour will probably abstain. Of course, they will. To support it would be to do something positive.  This will be the first time in decades that a government has been subject to a No Confidence motion, yet it’s lost in the shouting, the infantile behaviour and the insult to the intelligence of the public which passes for parliamentary debate.

But none of this gets properly aired in parliament or the press. Instead of holding the government to account, we get a pantomime. And that’s quite literally what we witnessed a couple of days ago during Prime Minister’s Questions. It was a childish and stupid display of crowing and question avoiding of the sort we’ve come to expect from a government which has absolutely no intention of explaining itself, never mind being held to account by the Opposition. Mrs May played the pantomime dame, urged on by her hysterical supporters. This playground behaviour was later dismissed by the Leader of the House, Andrea Leadsom, as "parliamentary banter". What have we come to?

Jeremy Corbyn reacted to this infantile display by muttering something. Then the news was dominated by the allegation that Jezza called Mother Theresa a stupid woman. Because apparently a perceived personal slur against Theresa May is the most important thing that’s happening just now.  To the allegations that Jeremy Corbyn is anti-semitic, we can now add the allegation that he’s sexist. And I will say that the phrase “stupid woman” is sexist in a way that “stupid man” is not. However Jezza insists that he didn’t mutter “stupid woman” after Theresa May’s display of childish stupidity which was accompanied by the jeering support of her braying backbench donkeys. He claims that what he said was “stupid people”. A well respected lip reader is quoted as saying: "It’s true that those two words can be difficult to distinguish when all you have to go on is lip reading. The words woman and people both consist of a series of labial consonants followed by a vowel and ending with a alveolar consonant. To pronounce both words you make two movements causing closure or partial closure of the lips followed by a tongue gesture towards the gum ridge, also known as the alveolar ridge. When a person is muttering, as Corbyn was, lip movements are not always fully and clearly articulated. Without any audio it’s impossible to tell which word he actually said during the exchange."

I’ve played the sequence over several times. It does look to me as though he did, in fact, say “stupid woman”, but I’m not a lipreader. He could just as easily have said “stupid people”, “stupid arseholes” or “stupid tossers”, all of which also consist of the labial-labial-alveolar sequence. Naturally the Tories are going to select the option that allows them to feel most outraged and which conveniently distracts from their actual stupidity. Because that's what it was - synthetic outrage designed to disguise their questionable policies. And the tactic worked - amongst those easily fooled by this bunch of clowns.

What looks bad is that right after the event Jeremy scuttled out of the chamber and didn’t make a formal statement to clarify his remark. If he’d got up immediately and stated that he’d actually said “stupid people” he could have killed off the matter. Instead the Tories are going to town on it, Corbyn looks evasive, and the government has got off the hook for its woeful performance on Brexit and its nasty immigration plans. It’s yet another own goal from the Labour leader. The greatest asset this woeful and pathetically inadequate government possesses is that it’s confronted by an equally woeful and pathetically inadequate official opposition. The point is that the Tories are by no means innocent wallflowers when it comes to insulting behaviour. They’re certainly not innocent when it comes to pandering to racists and bigots in how they frame government policy. You can judge for yourself which is worse.

However we’re now in a place where stupid people behaving stupidly believe it’s a greater insult to be called stupid than it’s insulting to everyone else for them to be dangerously and selfishly stupid. They’re wrecking all our futures, running roughshod over what passes for a British constitution, playing Brexit chicken in an effort to sideline parliament. But that’s nothing compared to a mumbled personal insult, if that’s indeed what it was. If that’s not proof all by itself of just how stupid the Tory party is, and more to the point just how stupid they think the rest of us are, I’m not really sure what is.



Martin Riddell in The Guardian, 21st December 2018

 

The garland at Cotehele

As many of you will know, Cotehele House is our nearest National Trust property and it is a delightful place at any time of the year. But Xmas is a bit special as every November gardeners and volunteers create a 60ft long Christmas garland using thousands of flowers grown on the estate. The giant swag – the longest made in any NT property apparently – hangs in the Great Hall throughout the festive season.

Preparations for the garland begin early in February when the flower seeds are sown. The first flowers are ready for picking from late April and are then dried in a loft on the estate over the summer and autumn before the garland is put together over two weeks in November. Each year the garland is different, depending on which of the flowers have done well. Typically, the garland includes ornamental grasses, everlasting sand flower, straw flower, paper daisy, paper rose, statice and garden thrift. In a good year, some 30,000 flowers are used, with the range being from 20,000 to 35,000 in an exceptional growing year. This year, following our hot summer, the number is a pretty amazing 42,000.

As it's the centenary of the First World War Armistice, Cotehele has been working with print-artist Dominique Coiffait to do something different. To complement the floral garland, Ms Coiffait has created a paper garland of seasonal flowers that winds around the walls of the Great Hall. The printed flowers, foliage and wildlife are interwoven with reproductions of some of the artefacts that have been on display in Cotehele's First World War exhibitions that have been on show over the last four years
 
We went earlier on this week and here are a few of the many images I took. We intend to return in the next couple of days.

Nelson must be turning his grave

 

In an interview with Channel 4 News today, Brexit Minister Chris Heaton-Harris (who he?) was talking about the planning for a possible No Deal Brexit. He said "We have no plans to use the Army in any of our contingencies. In 'no deal' planning, we have absolutely no plans for that." And then he went to say "You’d expect any responsible government to take these steps." Responsible government? I'll tell you what I’d expect a responsible government to do, matey.

I’d expect them to have prepared for a No vote before the referendum. What kind of idiots would have failed to consider that they could lose? Oh yeah, the over-privileged Eton Boy, David Cameron. Say no more.

 

I’d have expected them, having lost and not having done any preparatory work, to not trigger Article 50 until they had a collegiate response to the situation. You know, something like a realistic plan that they could, perhaps, put forward to Europe

I’d have expected a responsible government to not have a General Election (breaking the Fixed Term Parliament Act) and then go on to lose their majority.

I’d have expected them not to bribe, of all parties, the bloody DUP, with £2 billion of our money to get them to keep our hapless prime minister’s incompetent backside in Downing Street. Lord knows, she was useless enough before she tied herself to that bunch of extremists.

I’d certainly not have expected them to still be fighting like cats and dogs amongst themselves, never mind any of the opposition parties, and never mind the EU negotiators, with fewer than 100 days to go before we drop out by default, over the edge of a cliff.

I’d expect them not to take a Christmas holiday while this crisis was happening. If they have to sit in parliament on Christmas Day, so be it. Countless others have to work.

I’d expect them not to wait until the middle of January to bring back the delayed proposals, (which were definitely going to be voted on last week, you’ll remember) to parliament.  You know, once they’ve returned from skiing in the Alps or sunbathing in the Maldives, and finished blackmailing their own MPs to either vote for them or crash out into oblivion.

I’d have expected a responsible government to have behaved like a responsible government. But I’d have expected that with realistically very little hope. They told us that no deal was better than a bad deal, and the bad deal they have negotiated is now better than no deal. Only in Toryland does this make sense. They really are taking the p**s.

Now, far too late, they are facing up to the fact that they may be about to bankrupt us all and split their party. And given Mrs May's authoritarian tendencies, it comes as no surprise that they have started thinking of taking emergency power to themselves. Although, frankly, the thought of morons like them having any kind of emergency powers and what they might do with them, scares the s**t out of me. It should you, as well. 

In the meantime, Jezza sits on the fence. And that does meet my expectations.
 

Is this what we really deserve?



Despite the fact that it is clear to everyone that there is no support for Theresa May’s Brexit deal in Parliament, she blindly and stubbornly refuses to countenance any alternatives. We have a Prime Minister who heads a government which has, at every turn, attempted to block the MPs, the people have returned to this supposedly sovereign Parliament, from having their say. She only allowed them to express their opinions for three paltry days then pulled the rug from underneath Parliament and refuses to have a vote because those MPs will give her an answer not to her liking. Her government was found in contempt of Parliament but instead of apologising and seeking reconciliation, she has merely redoubled her efforts to continue along the same path. 
 
Mrs May is immune to criticism, deaf to advice (except, apparently from her discredited predecessor), blind to danger, uncaring that time is running out, hell bent on pursuit of control and power for the sake of power, and bugger the consequences for anyone else. She’s playing chicken with Parliament and with the lives and jobs of everyone in the UK. Everything can be risked, everything can be destroyed, just in order to save the Prime Minister’s reputation. It was noticeable that this icy politician, totally lacking in empathy, warmth, or emotion, only became animated and displayed her emotions when she thought that the EU’s Jean-Claude Juncker had insulted her personally. 
 
This is a Prime Minister who came to power in the wake of a narrow vote to leave the EU and decided that she would ignore that 48% of the population which voted to remain, and pander to the Brexit extremists in her own party. She ignored those who voted to remain, and she has ignored those nations in her precious union which voted to remain. She has instead decided to use Brexit as an excuse to further centralise the UK.
 
All the while she claims that she’s doing so in order to respect the result of the referendum. A referendum fought on the basis of a lie, a referendum where the winning side cheated and deceived. But none of that appears to matter.
After claiming that the central goal of Brexit was to restore sovereignty to the British Parliament, the Prime Minister is now stalling, using every tactic imaginable, in order to avoid a vote in the Commons. The goal of this appears to be to use up as much time as possible in order to rule out the possibility of a second referendum so that, when a vote finally becomes unavoidable, MPs will be forced to choose between her inadequate deal or no deal at all. Acting consciously and deliberately in order to restrict the freedom of movement of a supposedly sovereign parliament is the open contempt of democracy.
When a government is found in contempt of parliament and the reaction of the government is simply to shrug its shoulders and no one resigns, we’ve passed from contempt into the open dismissal of democratic norms. Yet that is exactly what happened this month. It’s not just that no one in the government resigned over this appalling attack on the integrity of parliament, it’s that no one expected anyone would resign. That’s how low our expectations have fallen. 
 
At every turn, at every opportunity, the UK government has acted in the selfish interest of the Conservative party. There are two minority governments in Scotland. The British government and the Scottish government. This week the Scottish government is negotiating with other parties in order to pass its budget. With the exception of the foot stomping Lib Dems it’s a discussion between grown ups. It’s a discussion about give and take. Compare that with the British government, a minority government that has continued to act as though it has an absolute majority and doesn’t need to consult with, never mind offer concessions to, anyone else.

Meanwhile this same British government has elevated cruelty from an unfortunate side effect of policy to the policy itself. There is Mrs May's infamous “hostile environment” for those who live or who wish to live in the UK but who are not UK citizens. Families are divided. Children only see one of their parents in Skype conversations. People who have lived in the UK for decades fear the knock on the door and deportation to a country where they haven’t lived since childhood. 
 
Deliberate cruelty is a central design feature in the punitive and brutal benefits system. Sanctions are imposed for trivial reasons, leaving claimants without food and dependent on charity. We now live in a country where it is normal that people go hungry and where the biggest growth industry is food banks. You cannot walk down a street in a city centre without encountering young homeless people. Kindess is no longer a virtue in UK government policy, but a weakness. Compassion is no longer a consideration in UK government policy, but a failing. Empathy is no longer an asset in British politics, it’s been replaced by the vitriol of the right wing press.

The UK has become a cold and nasty place, defined by casual cruelty, prioritising scorn and disdain over care and understanding. It’s driven by xenophobia, scarred by hatred, inward looking and fearful, medicating itself with the dream of past glory like a homeless addict in a doorway lost in a spice-fuelled reverie of a better time. 
 
If you check a dictionary you will find that the definition of tyranny is the cruel, unreasonable, or arbitrary use of power or control. It is government by a ruler or small group of people who have unlimited power over the people in their country or state and use it unfairly and cruelly. Unfair votes, breaking rules, the centralisation of power, the avoidance of democratic accountability, cruelty as government policy.  Guess whose government ticks all the boxes.

Will it never end?

Martin Rowson from The Guardian 15th December 2018

The story could have been Labour’s to tell. Jezza could have stamped Labour’s mark on Brexit and alongside the SNP, the Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru, and the Greens, he could have brought forward a motion of no confidence in the government and shown that there is substantial and principled opposition within the UK to the selfish insanity of a Conservative Brexit. He might very well have lost that vote, but it would have been close, and Labour would have commanded the news agenda, demonstrating that sense and reason is possible in British politics. 
 
Instead he blew it.  He blew it for the exact same reason that Theresa May blew it. He lacked the courage to take it to a vote.  He lacked the understanding of symbolism in politics.  He lacked vision. Now no one is talking about how the Labour party can seize control of the Brexit narrative. Labour has been side-lined, yet again, by ineffectual leadership.

Today the fall-out from the Tory leadership contest is the only show in town and British politics has fallen into a black-hole of uncertainty. Yet again, the Conservative party has put its factional interests first and foremost. There’s only a few short months left to go before the Brexit clock ticks its sorry last, and a substantial section of the Conservative party thought that this was the ideal time for it to indulge itself in its internal battle. Theresa May won but winning the support of more than half of Conservative MPs isn’t necessarily enough by itself to ensure that an ailing leader remains in their job. Previous leaders have still felt the need to stand down out of a sense of principle if a substantial number of MPs voted against them. But then we’re talking about Mrs May here, a woman whose only principle is the inability to distinguish between being resolute and being stubbornly delusional. Conservatives don’t do resignations on points of principle any more. She will hang on repeating her soundbites about getting on with the job and nothing has changed.  She is the limpet of politics, clinging on to the rock despite the state of the tides. The mess, the confusion, the political stalemate, are only going to continue. Clinging on as leader doesn’t make it any more likely that she’ll get her deal through the Commons when she does decide, finally, to put it to the vote. Clinging on as leader doesn’t make it any more likely that she’ll be able to cobble together some proposal that will enjoy the support of a majority in the Commons.

She presides over a party that’s divided and at war with itself.  A substantial number of her MPs have voted against her and they have no incentive to get behind her leadership. They’ll be sullen, uncooperative, and will continue to plot, conspire and put obstacles in her way. And even worse than that, we’ve still got a Prime Minister who has learned that sticking her fingers in her ears and going "la-la-la, I’m not listening" is a successful tactic. She says she'll change: any bets on this?

The UK is enmeshed in a cock-up with no clear means of untangling itself. Everyone outside the Conservative party is looking on with dismay. Everyone outside the UK is looking on incredulously and with increasing frustration. Remember when we were told by the Tories that we’d be able to punch above our weight? Well, it seems that all it meant was that we’d be able to punch ourselves in the balls as forcefully as we like.

Chris Riddell: Observer: 16th December 2018

A windy walk along the promenade from Penzance to Marazion

As is customary, one of the December outings of our U3A walking group is the 'Mince Pie Train'. Take the train, have a mince pie and walk and return. This year the train took us to Penzance, the mince pies appeared just after Truro and the walk was along the sea front across Mount's Bay to Marazion and return. Just the thing to blow away the Brexit Blues. And that will be the one and only time I mention the B word in this post.

The route was simple: leave Penzance station, turn left and walk along the prom until Marazion is reached. And then turn around and come back. We clocked up just under 8 miles, which was a surprise, and, as the elevation profile shows, the route was almost flat all the way. In fact, the blip at the end was due entirely to climbing the stairs in what passes for a shopping mall in Penzance. And the weather? Extremely, and I do mean extremely, windy on the way out and much better on the return, as it was on our backs. No rain but spray from the sea.

Looking across Mount's Bay to St Michael's Mount. The sea was rough and we were walking into the wind. Lots of sea spay coming up and, after a while, I noticed that the filter I had over the lens was coated in salt. Hence, some of the photographs ended looking more hazy than I would have liked.

Looking back towards Penzance. It's amazing how the light changes so quickly on days like this.

After lunch at the Godolphin Arms in Marazion (I can recommend the hummus flatbread), we headed back. By this time the weather had brightened up somewhat.

But it wasn't just about walking today. Mrs P and I had brought along our wind surfing boards and, undaunted by the lumpy waves and high winds, decided to brave the conditions. That's Mrs P in the front: I'm at the back hanging on for dear life.

Not too bad for people of a certain age, don't you think?

There's no stopping Mrs P once you get her into a wet suit. Go, nanny, go!

There she goes again. Puts me to shame as, at this point, I was wrapped up in a cosy blanket having a cup of hot chocolate and taking my medicaments.

An Oystercatcher. So what, it's not a rare seabird. Not particularly common but not rare. It's a bird that I always associate with the Hebrides or Orkney, where they are everywhere.

What I find frightening about this sign is that the genius who thought it up (Wish upon a Costa! Really? Utter drivel) might be living near me.  Surely thinking up slogans like these cannot be healthy?

 

Questions, questions, questions.

Perhaps those who think that having Jezza replace Tezza will bring about the end of the world, would like to answer the following questions about one of the richest nations in the world. Or so we are told. And don't blame Labour. Which party has been in power long enough to get things sorted?

1. Why do people have to sleep in shop doorways?

2. Why was there a rush of Tory MPs being photographed at food banks recently, making a donation and then tweeting it with a standardised message, presumably so we would all think how compassionate they are? And why has foodbank use increased so much?
3. Why, when clearly there are many problems to be sorted, do they insist on rolling out Universal Credit?

4. Why do they need volunteers for the NHS when we are about to get £350 million a week Brexit bonus?
5. Why is Crossrail overdue and over budget?
6. Why is HS2 late and over budget already?

7. Why are the roads such a mess of potholes?
8. Why are the trains the most expensive and among the least efficient in Europe?
9. Why are retirement pensions the worst in Europe and indeed the developed world?
10. Why, at least in England and Wales, is there a dire shortage of police?
11. Why are the Prisons in England in chaos?
12. Why is the probation service in England broken?
13. Why do some people have to wait so long to get an appointment with their GP?
14. Why are Tory councils in England going bankrupt?
15. Why are we spending billions on doing up the Houses of Parliament in London?
16. Who is responsible for the cock-up that is Brexit?