Outstanding national and personal role models

Dear Tony

For us all, it must be about self-examination, self-criticism, giving credit where credit is due, making friends instead of enemies, walking in the other person's shoes and setting a fine example in our personal behaviour.  And exemplary behaviour at work, especially for the politicians and civil servants in the FCO and the MOD.  More people like Katharine Gun and Clive Ponting.

Above all, trying more successfully to achieve, especially in our foreign policy, that the ends never justify the means and trying for much, much less hypocrisy.  We need many more honourable people like Robin Cook, Lord Hunt and John Denham in 2003.  And, the "122 Labour backbenchers, all of whom voted for a motion saying the case for war on Iraq was "not proven." " (Guardian)  Plus the two civil servants, years apart, who resigned on principle (the woman over Iraq) - Clive Ponting and Katharine Gun.

Gun was the British intelligence whistleblower in 2003 who revealed how the US/UK were planning to use underhand methods to ensure that the UN Security Council voted for the attack on Iraq.

Ponting sent a document to Labour MP, Tam Dalyell

The Nolan Principles and the Sermon on the Mount are also good starting points for a more professional and competent foreign policy!​

 How the Nolan Principles are applied by the WMCA

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Tim

to Tony Whitehouse

I don't want to annoy anyone, let alone your good self.  I always want to be corrected when I am wrong.  I was wrong over buses not being able to use the Five Ways underpass and I'm delighted that I was!  However, no one at TfWM/WMCA corrected me.  Not even yourself, Tony.

The points I am constantly making is that with the long running climate crisis and now with the economic, cost of living, energy, inflation crises on top of climate we are definitely wrong and very foolish to persist with HS2, Metro, Sprint, X1 and X2, especially when they over benefit Brum and we, in the Black Country get left out yet again.

Over the decades we've had six of Dudley's railway lines destroyed and the seventh is the Dudley Tram running on the railway "of national strategic significance" - the 120 Kms Black Country Mainline Railway.  Two of the Black Country's mainline railways are now lost for good.  Although the second, we have been told since September 2000, is not lost forever but has to have trams on it in order to get the trains back, the authorities tell us!

In a letter to me, dated 18.9.2000, from Tom Magrath, Passenger Services Director:

"light rail investment provides the basis for restoring heavy rail services at the appropriate time."​

 Magrath quote, MM history and costs

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The four Black Country boroughs are very much the poor relation to Big Beautiful Brum.  Even Coventry is getting so much more than us. Coventry is the UK's electric bus city and is also getting VLR and ULR, too!

But enough from me.  See you on Thursday.