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WHAT PRICE TRANSPORT?
Page 9
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Barry Proctor isn't surprised that transport fell off the election agenda, but suggests the public needs to be reminded who puts food on the table.
So, quelle surprise, Tony Blair is back in for another five years. You'd have thought the country would have had their fill of him, but apparently not. One thing that struck me about the election campaign was the absence of any discussion of transport issues. We had schools, we had the war in Iraq, we had school dinners, we had the health service, we had the war in Iraq, we had pensions and we had the war in Iraq (although quite why we had such a lengthy discussion on such a relatively minor conflict rather escapes me). Nowhere in that smorgasbord of topics did I see anything related to transport—not even the merest hint of a road building scheme or a fuel-duty cut.
Perhaps people assume transport just happens without government intervention? I appreciate that the road haulage industry is about as far from a glamorous vote-winning topic as you could get, short of discussing the provision of sewage treatment works, but couldn't the parties at least have focused on public transport to get the voters interested? It seems not.
Perhaps if we reminded the general public that it's fine to fight the corner for better school dinners, but if there's no road transport industry then the meals won't get to their little darlings in the first place, there would be more interest. Is it time that once again the industry reminded the general public, in the nicest way possible, who it is that puts the dinner on their table?
As an aside how about getting Jamie Oliver to champion some culinary quality for truck drivers?
Speaking of democracy, it was interesting to watch the government's reaction to the fuel protests. When there are tales of perfectly legitimate demonstrators being targeted by the police, Special Branch and M15 and warned that their livelihood could be at risk if they protest in the wrong way, then increasingly the words 'police' and 'state' spring to mind.
"Nowhere in that smorg of topics did I see anythin related to transport not the merest hint"