There is much discussion in the media on Johnson's proposed bridge to Ireland. The focus is on whether it's affordable. Or feasible. Or will achieve any economic objectives. And on how it might only unite two parts of the UK that are likely to leave it.
All of these issues are important. They need to be debated. But I suggest that this is not why Johnson is so keen on the bridge. Last year I published an extract from a report on the Finance Curse by John Christensen and Nick Shaxson. In it they had a chart showing how a Scottish police academy was funded. And what that showed was that this apparently local facility was, as a result of the funding arrangements, guaranteed to suck money out of the Scottish economy and towards the City of London and its tax haven branch offices. That is because of the ownership and financing structure, which looked like this:
Of course the bridge financing will be different.
But not that different.
And you can be sure that the City of London will have a bonanza at Scotland's expense.
Which is the best reason for not building this bridge.
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I was going to ask you a while ago if you had seen documentaries exposing the PPP/PFI scandal in North Ayrshire, I’ll just link again to John’s blog
https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/01/30/what-role-did-the-first-ministers-permanent-secretary-play-in-the-ppp-pfi-scandal/
The videos of the documentaries are in the comments sections, if you get a chance to watch them they are very interesting. I was looking into some background information – a timeline, the institutions involved, and positions of the people involved – but it turned out to be very difficult and time consuming – the internet doesn’t always satisfy our curiosity! – so I have not much information that still needs to be sorted through. I think the fact that the media doesn’t report on the scandal, and the difficulty on finding clear basic information online,,, well, it’s not a good look.
I hadn’t
I will try to find time
This will be the mega PFI contract of all times. The Skye bridge but 3 orders of magnitude bigger. With cost escalation to dwarf Holyrood.
And as you say, a nice little earner for the City.
Apart from the fact that the crossing of shortest distance is over the deepest sea trench which is filled with dumped amunitions and containers of nerve gas and the support pillars driven in to that would be the longest undersea supports in the World.
They UK Gov will impose it on Scotland, charge them for their folly and declare Scotland to be more bankrupt.
More incentive for Scotland to go its own way, if this can be communicated.
A more sensible route for the benefit of Scotland would probably be Gourock – Dunoon, then across Loch Fyne to Tarbert, down to Campbeltown and finally across to Antrim, for a combined road / rail crossing. This could be done in stages and solves other problems along the way (the Rest and be Thankful issue, poor connections in Argyle). It is a more direct route to the Central Belt and gives a much shorter sea crossing with a lot shallower water without all the bombs.
However, maybe before tackling that I would look at 1) completing bridges / casueways to give a connection from Barraigh to Steornabhagh, 2) Skye – na Hearadh, 3) Mainland – Jura – Islay, 4) intra-Orkney followed by Pentland Firth, 5) Mainland – Mull. Certainly as per the proposer writing in the National today Norway shows the way. I did part of the Atlantic Road last year near Kristiansund including the sea tunnel which goes down to about 400 feet.
Only an idiot would finance this on the never never via PFI / PPP, etc.
We have idiots in government who believe in the never-never still
The never-never for some represents permanent income for others, which is the point of the exercise.
As a resident of Scotland who lives near the proposed fantasy project, Bugger le Panda makes a rather crucial point not to be overlooked. We are talking about Beaufort’s Dyke
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort%27s_Dyke
a rather volatile stretch of water which the UK gov kindly filled with radioactive laboratory rubbish and masses of munitions up until 1972! It’s not the first time such a bridge has been spoken of and Paul Kavanagh wrote a piece for the National a couple of years ago – a piece that needs to read by anyone seriously suggesting that it could ever be a goer! It is not and never could be feasible.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/15891980.ireland-scotland-bridge-is-scuppered-by-the-mod/
I think there is no chance of this really happening
But it does distract from the real issues
The sooner it hits the long grass the better
“But it does distract from the real issues”.
That is precisely the point. It’s aimed at placating the obvious question from Scots and Irish asking “why do we have to pay for HS2 when there is no benefit for us”? So BoJo throws a meaningless metaphorical bone to the Jocks and Paddies knowing fine well it will never be built.
Transport is a devolved issue. The fact that the WMgov hasn’t even consulted the NI or Scots governments tells you all you need to know about the contempt Johnson and Cummings have for the Celtic nations.
Not only was ammunition and other stuff dumped there but it regularly explodes!
Explosions in the BGS Seismic Database in the Area of Beaufort’s Dyke, 1992-2007.
L. Ottemöller and G. Ford
Beaufort’s Dyke in the North Channel, and surrounding waters were used as a munitions disposal site during the 20th Century, with significant quantities after the two world wars and the last dumping in 1976.
The British Geological Survey (BGS) over the years has detected explosions in this area on their
seismograph network. Significant explosions were located and kept in the database. The BGS seismicity database also contained smaller explosions that possibly originated in this area between 2005 and 2007, but had not undergone analysis and were thus not given a location. This report describes work carried out to complete the catalogue of underwater explosions in the Beaufort’s Dyke area. Using detection on the nearby seismograph networks as the search criterion, a total of 476 explosions were considered in this study. Two of these were identified and located in the Beaufort’s Dyke area, increasing the total of explosions in this area recorded in the BGS database to 49. However, it is almost certain that the list of explosions is not complete, since due to previous routine practice, records of smaller explosions were discarded or not detected. In future, it will be possible to improve completeness by analysis of all events in this area based on the existing stations. Installation of additional seismograph stations would help to detect
smaller explosions.
Perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea to encourage the worst of any expected explosions to happen in the very near future. Could it be depth-charged? If there’s unstable stuff down there, let’s get it all detonated now before any building work’s commenced.
There is a lot of nuclear waste down there
And mustard gas
I am not sure you would really want that subject to violent release
Nobody who has read anything at all about the stuff dumped in Beaufort’s Dyke would seriously give credence to this latest BoJo scheme; it is totally unworkable on safety grounds.
I did like Timothy Rideout’s suggestion for better road/rail links to Argyll and perhaps a bridge from the Mull of Kintyre to Northern Ireland – that makes sense. However, I don’t see us getting this before Independence, and then, it would have to fight for a place in what I presume would be a huge programme of infrastructure work as we try to make up for those centuries of English benevolence.
I would like to think the oft-mentioned Solway Barrage, maybe with a link off the M6 towards Galloway, and the much-needed upgrade to the A75 and A77 roads might come up, also an extension of the rail line from Stranraer to Cairn Ryan.
I am enthusiastic about all the improvements we could make to Scotland, once we have stopped subsidising England in general and the City of London in particular.
A good thought there – using a Solway Barrage as the basis for an M6 extension towards Galloway and upgrading the roads there. It’s an area that must be affected by its current poor transport links both internally and to the rest of the country.
And do the people in the area want a bridge to NI ?
Do people in NI want a bridge ?
Who would use it and for what ?
How much goods traffic would there be and where would it come from ?
It’s a nonsense
There are not that many people going from Scotland to NI and back
Why not put the bridge in Liverpool where ships come in if it’s for goods