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Post by principled on Dec 19, 2010 21:01:01 GMT 1
I think I know what put the "Great" in Great Britain, but I wonder whether the two stories below are an indication that we've no longer got what it takes to be "Great"? Today I switched on Spanish TV to see the inauguration of the Madrid to Valencia high speed link. This whisks passenger the 350km (220mls) in 95 minutes. This link brings the total built to 2600km. I then reflected on the country that invented the train as a mode of transport. What do I see? A rail system that's creaking at the seams, overcrowded, old and with just one proposal for a single new high speed rail link - London to Birmingham (160km), which is opposed by so many that I doubt it will be built in my lifetime. Then my heart skips a beat as I see that one enterprising skip business has invested in an electrical generation plant that it feeds with the non-recyclable contents of its skips, which it then sells to Green Energy UK as 100% renewable energy. Diverting 48000 tonnes of its rubbish away from landfill. I then reflect that just 3 months ago, two councils decided not to go ahead with their own waste to power generating station and to continue sending their rubbish to landfill. Confusion, lack of direction, indecision, perhaps that is the secret of decline. P
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