This morning I boarded the train at Leagrave - a little further North than Luton but not as far North as the arctic wastes of Bedford. Door to door when I travelled to 25 The North Colonnade from Bedford it was 61.1 miles..........now door to door, having moved to Luton, it is 40 miles exactly (courtesy of AA Route finder!).
Occasionally I stay over in London with friends in North London - then it takes me exactly the same time to get to work despite being 34 miles closer! Now, courtesy of AA Route finder, I discover that if my journey took me to Westminster instead of Canary Wharf, it would be 5 miles less - a mere 35 miles! The fast train from Luton is only 23 minutes, even faster on a good day when it is the right kind of leaves and snow........on such a good day it is possible for me to get door to door in 1 hour and 8 minutes - that means an hour was I to be heading for Westminster.
Now, I am well aware that our hardpressed MPs do occasionally find themselves sitting late in Westminster. I do sympathise, I occasionally find myself sitting late in Westminster, (usually in a local hostelry after FPC ;-)) but unless ridiculously late, I manage to jump on a late night train back to Luton and hop into a cab. Sometimes I have been known to arrive home at 2.30 and leave to return 5 hours later..........But, I agree, not a good idea. And if I am working I am well within my rights to expect my employer to pay for me to stay over in a hotel. As Kelvin Hopkins apparently does, as his fellow Luton MP clearly does not.
So....hat tip to Duncan Borrowman for picking this story up. Having stood against Kelvin Hopkins in the 2005 elections, I know him to be a man of integrity. I may not agree with him on everything, but as I said to the people of Luton North on the night of the elections, they may not have elected a Lib Dem, but they got the next best thing given his record of joining us in the lobbies! Margaret Moran, it appears, is a totally different kettle of fish. She is now my MP and I have already discovered how reluctant she is to engage with us unwashed masses of Luton South. She appears to be universally despised - even my apolitical mum hasn't a good word to say for her. I experienced for myself her obsession with the photo opportunity. Arriving late for the photo call with Operation Black Vote in the last election she was furious that the filming/photos had taken place without her. Clearly her interest was in image and spin, no evidence of any commitment whatsoever to listening to the concerns of the BME community.
So, I was not surprised to hear that she was unable to manage the short train journey from Luton to Westminster - perhaps that is because she spends so little time in Luton, who knows. Some time in the next 15 months we will have an opportunity to show erstwhile Blair babe Ms Moran what the people of Luton South make of her cavalier and self serving attitude.
Occasionally I stay over in London with friends in North London - then it takes me exactly the same time to get to work despite being 34 miles closer! Now, courtesy of AA Route finder, I discover that if my journey took me to Westminster instead of Canary Wharf, it would be 5 miles less - a mere 35 miles! The fast train from Luton is only 23 minutes, even faster on a good day when it is the right kind of leaves and snow........on such a good day it is possible for me to get door to door in 1 hour and 8 minutes - that means an hour was I to be heading for Westminster.
Now, I am well aware that our hardpressed MPs do occasionally find themselves sitting late in Westminster. I do sympathise, I occasionally find myself sitting late in Westminster, (usually in a local hostelry after FPC ;-)) but unless ridiculously late, I manage to jump on a late night train back to Luton and hop into a cab. Sometimes I have been known to arrive home at 2.30 and leave to return 5 hours later..........But, I agree, not a good idea. And if I am working I am well within my rights to expect my employer to pay for me to stay over in a hotel. As Kelvin Hopkins apparently does, as his fellow Luton MP clearly does not.
So....hat tip to Duncan Borrowman for picking this story up. Having stood against Kelvin Hopkins in the 2005 elections, I know him to be a man of integrity. I may not agree with him on everything, but as I said to the people of Luton North on the night of the elections, they may not have elected a Lib Dem, but they got the next best thing given his record of joining us in the lobbies! Margaret Moran, it appears, is a totally different kettle of fish. She is now my MP and I have already discovered how reluctant she is to engage with us unwashed masses of Luton South. She appears to be universally despised - even my apolitical mum hasn't a good word to say for her. I experienced for myself her obsession with the photo opportunity. Arriving late for the photo call with Operation Black Vote in the last election she was furious that the filming/photos had taken place without her. Clearly her interest was in image and spin, no evidence of any commitment whatsoever to listening to the concerns of the BME community.
So, I was not surprised to hear that she was unable to manage the short train journey from Luton to Westminster - perhaps that is because she spends so little time in Luton, who knows. Some time in the next 15 months we will have an opportunity to show erstwhile Blair babe Ms Moran what the people of Luton South make of her cavalier and self serving attitude.
1 comment:
Very well put. A real "nose in the trough" whiff about this.
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