In addition to the obvious reasons, like the Labour government's generally poor performance for the past nine months, and the huge cost over-run on the Olympic stadium, I suspect that one of the factors which lost Ken Livingstone the election for Mayor of London is that people resent the fact that the Routemasters were replaced by these bendybuses. These are a daily misery not just for the people who have to use them, but for other road users who now have to take extra care to make sure they do not get in the way.
Labour had promised to keep the Routemasters and a substantial amount was spent on giving them a thorough overhaul before they were suddenly withdrawn in 2005.
It is still possible to travel on a Routemaster in London but only on sightseeing services. This one is in service in Helsinki.
I wrote to my MP on two entirely separate issues recently. The first was to do with the replacement for the Inter City 125 train, which at £2.6 million per vehicle, is twice as expensive as it ought to be. The second concerned the benefits of a switch from business rate and Council Tax to a tax based on site values. In both cases, the replies were full of spurious, unsubstantiated assertions and completely flawed arguments. This is typical. You will not get an iota of sense from the government on any area of public policy at all - finance, economics, trade and employment, agriculture, housing, health, transport, energy. All junk. If you write to your MP you will invariably receive answers that are an insult to your intelligence, no matter what subject you are writing about. Of course they cannot understand statistics. They are innumerate. Whitehall is staffed with idiots with a high IQ. Look at their IT projects. And mind your purse, they will have that too.
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