Government should be recalled
 

http://news.sky.com/story/1187037/ch...-for-thousands

With thousands of people being without power, hit by floods and some will not be back to normal by the weekend.

Why hasn't Government been recalled to help with aid to the stricken people.

This government has been quick enough to come to the quick aid for other countries, and yet this government remain quiet on its own people and stayed on holiday.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

I don't as each can claim £3000 IIRC

Re: Government should be recalled
 

IIRC the government send aid to other countries when the lives of people are at direct risk.

This current power outage although serious has not claimed any lives that I'm aware of.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Also this country has infrastructure in place to deal with these emergencies with minimal loss of life

Re: Government should be recalled
 

What would recalling them actually achieve?

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Nothing apart from allowing Arthur to moan about the government using tax money while people are flooded out of their homes

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Spoil their Christmas like all those people effected, we're all in this together after all!

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Yes, they may be without power, but about if any lives are lost due to flooding, and to my knowledge, if you look at the map of the UK, most of it was red, the last time l looked.

At Government officials could call out the Army to help in these situations.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Do you not think the emergency services are doing a good enough job at the moment?

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Really?
You could always jump on your bike and go offer assistance Arthur!

---------- Post added at 19:48 ---------- Previous post was at 19:47 ----------

Obviously not, what I think Arthur means is that the recalled parliament can go to stricken areas and muck in....

Re: Government should be recalled
 

In all seriousness Arthur I think you should have a look at this.

http://theindependentmp.org.uk/how_to_become_an_mp.html

As you clearly are under the impression you can do better - so why not put your money where your mouth is and do it! :tu:

Re: Government should be recalled
 

I think that the government can put more resources into the are. The emergency services are doing a fantastic job - BUT, the government could put more resouces into the effort.

I am not having a dig, but so far we have NOT heard from any leading MP make a comment on it.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Re: Government should be recalled
 

But why if the emergency services are doing a good enough job?

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Local councils will know what is required in their area.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Oh for f.....another bloody rant by Arthur and a post yet again mentioning the "government""...

Why should they be recalled Arthur? Is David Cameron a qualified electrician? Is Ed Balls capable of using a chainsaw to cut up fallen trees?

Come on - I'm sure the power companies are working flat out to re-connect people.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

No need at all. The emergency services and the electricity companies have everything under control.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Arthur, can you tell me what good recalling the government will do? The major part of the problem (as I understand it) is getting the machinery and personnel in to an area through flooding, fallen trees etc. We had a 60 ft connifer fall in our garden on Monday night. Managed (luckily as while our shed was holding the tree away from our house, the shed was not going to last forever) to get a company in to fell the tree. In the hour they were there chopping the tree into little bits, the guy in charge had 17 calls. They were the one company (after a *lot* of phone calls) that I could find that was able to look at the tree before christmas.

So, for one thing, there is probably a shortage of qualified people to fell trees. For another, most utility companies aren't really equipped to handle damage to large parts of their network quickly. Even assuming the power companies had enough staff qualified to repair the network, they probably don't have enough equipment like cranes for the power cables. That's not to mention that they probably don't have enough staff with the right qualifications to do it.

Fixing any of the problems I have listed takes time, even if the government came in and gave the utility companies infinite resources to get more people and equipment in, it would still take time to find (and maybe train) those people, and the equipment needed would probably need to be built. The equipment the power companies use is not exactly off the shelf, so it would take time to build it.

Recalling the government won't actually fix the problems any quicker.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

IIRC the last time Parliament got recalled was in August when Syria had the chemical weapons situation. That's the sort of level of seriousness that a recall would warrant.

The fact that recall 'worthy' incidents only seem to occur in other countries (which I think is the crux of Arthur's gripe) should be seen as an indication that UK society is fortunately enough never to have been in that much of a messy situation.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Yep, at least he has not blamed the Tories directly in this one.

Arthur your are so stupid. You go on and on about the amount of expenses that our MP's are getting and then you want them to be recalled so they are able to claim even more. All they will do is pocket the money and make a bull crap statement very similar to the one you have posted here. If you think they will do anything else then you are truly as delusional as we have come to expect.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Don't worry Arthur the MPs are all dry, warm and fed... we do not want to disturb them just yet.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Exactly. A few thousand without power for 48 / 72 hours is inconvenient.

Death by sarin poisoning is bit more inconvenient and a bit more permanent.


I see Arthur has done the usual "post it and run" exercise. Come on Arthur come back and discuss your original post.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

I struggle to understand what a recall might achieve apart from a lot of hot air waffle and hand wringing. Would it actually get any more resources onto the ground?

Various government ministers already have the ability to authorise contingency funds to be spent. It's actually local government, environment agency and the like who deal with flood issues, and for them it's a case of knowing they can recover their extra expenditure when their staff are out on overtime etc.

If you watched some of the BBC news reports yesterday afternoon you will have observed senior government ministers were on the ground and being interviewed whilst standing in a sea of floodwater in Byfleet, explaining just that.

Flooding is one problem, and the difficulties of homes and businesses who are affected by that will go on for months as it can take a long while to dry out buildings before any repairs. But as the various reports have made clear, this is also quite a small scale and flooding is this time affecting people are in known river floodplains in a winter time when a flood risk will always exist. Indeed certainly in the Byfleet / Weybridge area many of the properties affected today will have been at risk over the winters of 2000 and 2003/4, when some similar issues occurred.

The much wider problem is the continued loss of power to many properties. As the news reports are also explaining the difficulties here is primarily one of access. With sodden ground the machinery needed to access areas, such as cherry pickers, simply can't get there. It's no good saying use the army (I won't set people off about whether they even have any manpower to spare due to defence funding changes), electric infrastructure is a specialist task, even you average house electrician wouldn't be suited to this.

But one does need to, long term, look at the resilience of some of our infrastructure. As Climate change continues, more vicious weather is possible at increased frequency. Overground wires may be cheap but easily brought down, but would buried wires be at risk from damage by trees roots, etc? Flooding precautions are great, but do you simply channel and move water more quickly further downstream so they have a greater issue?

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Yes and in one of the worst effected areas, nothing was required seemingly

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25524378

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Not really much the local councils can do about the power infrastructure....

Re: Government should be recalled
 

That's the problem. Do you spend billions and cause disruption to (potentially) millions of people so you can bury all the overhead power cables in the area? Bear in mind it would take months to do, and may only really offer any benefit for a few days a year.

It's the same with the Railways in the South East. Every winter (recently), we've had problems where the entire rail network has shut down when it's been snowing or icy because ice has formed on the top of the power rail so the trains can no longer get the traction current required.

However, while it is possible to adapt the track and trains so this is not a problem, it would apparently cost a lot of money to do so.. So, should the train companies spend the money, bearing in mind they will get little back (bit of a hard sell to get customers to pay for increased fares so the train companies can offer a service customers think they should be offering *anyway*)?

Having said that, personally, I think the government in that case should fund any changes as a part of routine maintenance because I don't think it's a good idea to essentially have large chunks of the economy stopping for a few days..

Re: Government should be recalled
 

So they do need help then, gulp perhaps Arthur was right then

Re: Government should be recalled
 

A lot of people are not happy (quite rightly so).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/we...ood-visit.html

Re: Government should be recalled
 

And who, besides the power network companies who are already doing all they can, would supply this help with the power infrastructure?

Re: Government should be recalled
 

That was one residents gripe, other residents complained that they didn't have any food or sandbags and who other than the council is responsible for that.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

David Cameron COULD have done more to help, he could have authoised more help from the Army, to help out these people.

People are forgetting that as soon as there is a flood problem in other countries, David Cameron is the first to help to them.

BUT, we are talking about the UK here, everyone in the UK was effected by the flooding, residents were given the usual crap about we are doing what we can.

Mr Cameron went to one village and was confronted by angry residents, but this is NOT good enough.

We are talking about the UK here, not some bloody country overseas, If it was we would had the Army and Navy, and RAF flying stuff out to aid them. The UK, nothing apart from the local guys, who could not cope, some residents are still without power and still flodded. Is this an Arthur rant, yes, the government are simply not doing enough to help.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

But exactly what sort of help are you suggesting? Telling the water to recede?

Re: Government should be recalled
 

What are you on about, I nor anyone I know was affected by the flooding, so why do you say everyone in the UK was affected by the flooding?

You say that Cameron went to one village and that's not good enough, once you have seen flooding you have seen flooding, what did you expect him to do?

Re: Government should be recalled
 

So what you're saying is that we should have full disaster relief for some flooded houses and blown down power lines .It's a bit of an overreaction don't you think ? and what this has to do with Cameron is beyond me ,i b
et you didn't go off on one when Blair/Brown where in power and there was much more severe flooding

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Sorry Arthur but what? that is 100% not true.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Arthur, you appear to be comparing apples and hand-grenades.

In the recent bad weather in the UK, hundreds of thousands of people had short-term inconvenience, and a handful of people died due to the weather (which is bad enough).

In the recent typhoon in the Philippines, millions were affected and over 6,000 killed, and in the Syrian conflict, there have been 6 million displaced and over 100,000 killed.

What has happened to UK residents in the last week has not been nice, but to think it is comparable to some overseas disasters where we have provided aid is, at best, disingenuous.

Most people have now got their power back, but when over 100,000 homes were without power, it takes time to fix these things - the same with flooding; there are over 50 flood warnings still in force - we, as a country, can't fix everything immediately.

The problem is that the news focuses on the outliers - those people who haven't had a resolution to their problem, and not on the vast majority that have.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Why is it that members are taking out of all proportion again. I am saying that ALL over the UK we were hit by the big storms.

Everyone was effected by damage to there buildings, effected by flooding and power lines were badly hit, and still people are effected today.

I am saying that the local authorities were sitting on there backsides doing nought, severl members of a village today aon Sky News were saying that NO one came to there aid, even todat they are getting the same reply ' we are doing what we can' or Cameron saying ' conact your local council' this is to me is not good enough.

Yes, it was the festive season, and yes people deserve to have a holday, but its only yesterday Cameron went out to survey several villages and thats when someone had a go.

This government should have intervened quicker to offer help.

In America, they would have ordered out the National Guard to help. What has Cameron said 'contact your local council'

Cameron and Co should have done more to help.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

The Government can't do too much now, everything is already well underway. I think they do need to look at what can be done long term to prepare for what are increasingly common weather events. Looking at coastal defence, rivers, and any high-risk infrastructure that can be protected from damage. We used to say that there was no point in copying what other nations have done as we have relatively mild winters in comparison but this is no longer the case, it happens frequently, and it will probably get worse.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Arthur why are you not listening to what other people are saying.

Not EVERYONE was effected by the storms/flooding. Over all it was a small percentage of the UK.

There is NO need for the government or the Army to get involved. In the USA the National Guard don't get called out for every little storm. Just extreme natural disasters like really bad earthquakes or severe hurricanes like Katrina.

There is nothing the councils would really be able to do about the electricity. Only the Electricity companies can fix that, and they ARE working round the clock to get power back. No point trying to get people to help when they wouldn't be able to do anything at all.

Same with the flooding. If it keeps on raining there is nothing anyone can realistically do.

Once the flooding subsides then it will be down to the Insurance companies to help people.

Nothing for the councils really.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

No Arthur, my buildings had no damage and I was not affected by the storms unless you count my wheely-bin being blown over.

That was one council. Have you any information on all the other councils?


Such as what? Telling the water to recede?

Re: Government should be recalled
 

I think it you that is getting things out of proportion Arthur

We weren't ,we had a brief moment of panic when a cardboard box was blown down the street and the cat got a bit wet though.

Maybe they are doing what they can ,but as has been said there isn't a lot that they can do ,and just because some old biddy moaned at Cameron doesn't mean that nothing is being done .

No they should not .

Not necessarily ,it took a few weeks for the federal government to mobilise any help at all for the victims of Catrina .

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Good news Arthur, I have just heard that people in Africa are doing their version of Band Aid's "Do They Know its Christmas?" with all the profits going to flood relief in England!

Re: Government should be recalled
 

<removed>

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Although that was considered one of the bigger failures of the Bush Presidency.

Again though the real question should be how long before we should expect to be better prepared for storms and freak weather conditions?

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Maybe he could part the water a la Moses? That would certainly help those engineers trying to repair the national grid.

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Or he could fill a sand bag or two for them, either or really

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Re: Government should be recalled
 

http://news.sky.com/story/1188094/fr...m-heads-for-uk

should keep Arthur happy

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Only if it meets or exceeds the amount we normally give to "other countries".

Re: Government should be recalled
 

No, we were not.
Asside from it being a bit more windy, we barely noticed it around here (just normal rain).

Wrong, wrong & wrong.
We have no damage, no flooding and no power loss.
As I pointed out above, it was a bit more windy than normal rain, but other than that, the so called storm completely bypassed us.

Like what exactly ?


You really need to get back into the real world and stop believing the tales of doom and gloom you see on TV. Yes, a few areas in the country got affected, and I have much sympathy for them, but you are blowing it way out of proportion. There was no national disaster.


(I do not agree with all the money we throw at other countries either, but you picking the wrong battle here as far as that goes).

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Won't keep a lot of the experts here happy though, they've been saying it's unnecessary

---------- Post added at 15:38 ---------- Previous post was at 15:36 ----------

And what exactly do you think Dave attempting to part waters like someone biblical will look like

Re: Government should be recalled
 

Apart from it being quite windy and wet it certainly wasn't badly affected where I live.