Popularity Pressures

Isn’t it heart-warming to know that the Cabinet will be in Birmingham today rather than London, in what may be an ongoing feature of their meetings. As well as holding the meeting itself, they’ll be meeting local people, councillors and doing the whole bit to bolster failing support in the government. In pursuit of popularity, however, they’ll create all sorts of other upheaval. Rather than meeting in 10 Downing Street, already secured to the Nth-degree and within a stone’s throw, no doubt, of each cabinet member’s London residence, this change will mean:

• An extra journey of about 150 miles by car, plane or helicopter for each and every cabinet member (and then doesn’t count the return journey!)
• Pressure on local Police (and no doubt the hush-hush security services) to monitor and protect the attendees and the event locations, taking away law enforcement for local duties; and
• Added pressure on the Birmingham transit system due to the control and diversion of traffic during the visit – and the system is, to be honest, already a tough one

I’m sure I’ll have missed something, but if they plan to make this a regular event, then the same pressures and costs will mount up. Thousands of miles extra travel and fuel consumption, while most of us struggle to keep our tanks full just to make it into work.

And this should improve Brown’s waning ratings? Yeah, right.

Relevant reading:

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