On Sat, 4 Oct 2008 13:47:48 +0100, Steve Fitzgerald wrote


Perhaps, when (and if) the Tories get into office, they will find the
economy in such bad shape that we will get the swingeing cuts, but no
money for the high speed line(s).

That'll be the old 'it's worse than we ever imagined' excuse wheeled out
again then?

Which, given the way departing governments tend to behave, is probably not so
much of an excuse.

There was, some years ago, a proposal for there to be a 'shadowing' period
before an election during which each minister was shadowed by his - errr -
shadow, in order that the incoming government had some idea in advance of the
state of things. A suggested by-product of this was that it would encourage
outgoing ministers to behave more responsibly in the dying months of their
government.

This would, of course, require fixed election dates and fixed-term
governments.