Vocal Voices

December Power cuts: The winds were higher than expected and there were unpredicted floods; that's a classic recipe for things to go wrong. The combination is an event so rare that it cannot be practised for especially when it is not localised but is nationwide.

Now bring on the bandwagon-jumpers and the sound-bite supremos of Tim Yeo's Energy Select Committee with their 20:20 hindsight. How comfortable they must fell, how superior, as they sit in their well-heated well-lit chamber having a pop at the energy companies, and most importantly, their front line staff who worked damned hard and put their lives at risk.

Yes, people were cut off, yes, sometimes for days, but did the MPs not see the news? It was a national and natural disaster. The usual practice whereby one area could call on emergency help from other areas could not happen because so many of them were affected. Look at the stats:
Stormiest December since 1969
Maximum wind gust, 142mph - Aonach Mor in the Scottish Highlands
Sixth wettest December
Eighth warmest December on record.

I usually have no sympathy for the energy companies, but sometimes things happen out of their control.

I think that's absolutely fair comment. Same with the disruption on the railways; they did their best in the circumstances.

But two points:

Firstly, lack of manpower. In the days of the steam locomotives, for example, there were numerous gangers and linemen who would each patrol their "mile" of the permanent way and clear the tracks in short order to get the trains running again. That's nowhere near the case on today's railway. How far lack of trained lineworkers affected the energy companys' response to the black-outs, I don't know, but it certainly affected the railways' response ......

Secondly, it is a compensation-driven culture these days, so it is necessary that someone gets blamed, even for natural disasters. How many of the complainants are motivated by cash?

Mind you, blaming Cameron's gay marriage legislation for the disaster is perhaps a bit far-fetched. <Muses> Or perhaps not ....

TheOstrich wrote:
Mind you, blaming Cameron's gay marriage legislation for the disaster is perhaps a bit far-fetched. <Muses> Or perhaps not ....

Yes, I agree. To me it just shows the PM is a nutter.