www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33183738
Looks like it's going to be megabucks, not great surprise. I know someone who was involved in helping in the report. The place is, as the reports suggests, falling apart. you can see why after the expenses, they don't want to advertise the massive cost.
|
|
Something has to be done. Least bad option would be move them all out while they do the work imo. Different layout might make parliament work better for a while too.
|
|
There must be an unused office block on a run down industrial estate that they can use while their current cosy club is done up.
|
|
3 -5 BILLION to rebuild what is basically on office block? They're havin' a giraffe - at our expense. Flatten it and build a modern energy efficient building - 500 million perhaps? Even the god awful Scottish Parliament building with all its individual bits and pieces only cost about that.
|
|
and take the opportunity to knock down the House of Lords and not rebuild it........
|
Why on earth would you want to knock it down?
Not only is it full of tradition and beauty, it has a most wonderful feeling to it. I don't know which bits the public can get to, but if you haven't beem then you should definitely go.
Working there, which i have on occasion, is a real pinch yourself moment.
I'd feel the same about Scottish culture, or anybody else's for that matter.
|
Have you seriously got no sense of pride in our history? What sort of country would flatten one of the most iconic buildings in the world.
You are joking aren't you?
|
>> 3 -5 BILLION to rebuild what is basically on office block? They're havin' a giraffe
>> - at our expense. Flatten it and build a modern energy efficient building - 500
>> million perhaps? Even the god awful Scottish Parliament building with all its individual bits and
>> pieces only cost about that.
>>
Err... It's a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Even ISIS might think twice about levelling it...
|
|
Funnily enough levelling it was thought of if even half jokingly. The place is a nightmare to scope out the work needed. I've not read the report but it's unlikely to have made it in there. One of those that wrote the report said any other building and it would have been knocked down such are the issues. Lack of plans are the big one, many of the problems are unknown until they start the work. This was for the electrical part the rest is the same.
|
|
Because of the extent of the restoration work it would be a good opportunity for the Westminster village to experience life in the real world. Relocation outside the south east would be eye opener for many of the professional politicians. As they will have a say in where they move to it will probably be somewhere well within their comfort zone.
|
|
I think there is sometimes a bit of mischief when people want to disrupt the Westminster bubble. But i think there could be some merit in moving out of London. Especially in the current climate of wanting devolved government.
|
It seems to me that here is a golden opportunity to move our central government to somewhere, well - more central in the country.
Surely the seat of government and its associated administration bears a lot of the blame; if blame it is, of the London & the S.E. bias in the country.
I dare say it has a knock-on effect on the absurdly high price of housing in the area, too.
How about a Parliament in, say, Birmingham (the NEC springs to mind!) or further north? Jobs, prosperity and a reduction in the resentment felt in parts of the country, that everything is centred in a privileged enclave whose inhabitants have no conception what the rest of the country feels or experiences.
Old Navy beat me to it!
Last edited by: Roger. on Fri 19 Jun 15 at 08:24
|
|
Presumably if the MPs were all moved to, say, Birmingham, major parts of the civil service would also have to move with them for the duration
|
>> Presumably if the MPs were all moved to, say, Birmingham, major parts of the civil
>> service would also have to move with them for the duration
Ministers would find it difficult to discharge their responsibilities if at least their Private Office and immediate advisers were not moved with them. Furthermore there's a whole army of MP's staffers - the people running their offices, sorting their appointments etc. They're not Civil Servants but are employed directly by the MP.
|
>> How about a Parliament in, say, Birmingham (the NEC springs to mind!) or further north?
Do people really hate MP's so much that they think that they should be forced to spend a large part of their lives in the Midlands or even worse oop north ?
|
>> Something has to be done.
We are missing a trick here and we should be looking to europe. No not strasburg for a european parliament, but Berlin. Or maybe New Zealand who have made a good job of expanding their parliament building.
The work that was done on the Reichstag was magnificent. We have that large mostly useless square in front of it (useless in that its marooned as an island and just attracts the idiots and the noisy) where a new modern parliament can be grafted onto the old and existing.
|
Demolish and don't replace it. It's not been there that long in the grand scheme of things, Like Buckingham Palace it's not as old/traditional as many make out.
Sell the land for luxury apartments/Tescos and maybe build a new UK parliament near Mansfield on a closed mine site. Nice new HS2 station on the Leeds branch.
Perhaps leave the tower with the big bell/clock in it, that's what the tourists like to gawp at.
Either that or just use the nice big Parliament in Strasbourg.
|
The other issue with relocation is access for constituents and others wanting/needing to visit their MP and for the Members themselves.
As anybody who has tried to organise a national conference outside of the capital will tell you there are, excepting Birmingham, very few locations that have anything like London's fast and easy access from/to the whole of the UK.
|
> As anybody who has tried to organise a national conference outside of the capital will
>> tell you there are, excepting Birmingham, very few locations that have anything like London's fast
>> and easy access from/to the whole of the UK.
>>
Chicken and egg problem that though.
|
|
Easily solved by my Mansfield/HS2 plan. Sorted.
|
It's not been there that long in the grand scheme of things, Like Buckingham Palace it's not as old/traditional as many make out.
Whilst most of the building we associate with the Houses of Parliament are Victorian in the Gothic revival style and were build after the old building burnt down Westminster Hall dates back to 1097. It was the site of the trial of King Charles I that led to his execution and and for that reason alone I would have thought that such a staunch Republican as you would have wanted to preserve it.
|
|
Never been there myself, nor really want to, but I think it should be preserved. Turned into posh flats with the original fabric, sold at great expense to some developer, and Parliament moved to a new more efficient building somewhere? Midlands somewhere?
|
>> Never been there myself, nor really want to, but I think it should be preserved.
>> Turned into posh flats with the original fabric, sold at great expense to some developer,
>> and Parliament moved to a new more efficient building somewhere? Midlands somewhere?
Excepting those that have built 'new' capitals like Brasilia or Abuja is there any precedent for a state moving it's seat of government?
|
While we're at it - build some reasonably priced self catering apartments for MPs, wherever is closish to the meeting house.
Charge them a reasonable standard rent depending on the number of bedrooms.
That would sort out the second home scam.
|
>>Charge them a reasonable standard rent depending on the number of bedrooms
Easier than that. Limit their accommodations expenses to the amount it would cost to stay at The Strand Palace just up the road. Make it a per diem to spend as they wish.
Why on earth should we fund a second house?
|
>> Easier than that. Limit their accommodations expenses to the amount it would cost to stay
>> at The Strand Palace just up the road. Make it a per diem to spend
>> as they wish.
At one time that would have been a useful yardstick. These days though the cost of a London hotel room is like the length of a piece of string.
Got together in London yesterday with colleagues from my last job, one of whom travelled from Edinburgh. Left sorting his room a bit late and paid £150 for a room in a Travelodge...
|
>These days though the cost of a London hotel room is like the length of a piece of string.
Not if you are talking a level of usage.
We were guaranteed a particular rate given our level of usage since our head office was just along the road.
But still, I am sure you take the point that they should be given a per diem relative to actual expenses of staying in London, not for a second home.
|
Excepting those that have built 'new' capitals like Brasilia or Abuja is there any precedent
>> for a state moving it's seat of government?
>>
>>
I think the Americans have had three capitals.
|
>> Excepting those that have built 'new' capitals like Brasilia or Abuja is there any
>> precedent for a state moving it's seat of government?
Burma, about 10 years ago?
|
snipquote
>> Excepting those that have built 'new' capitals like Brasilia or Abuja is there any precedent
>> for a state moving it's seat of government?
>>
Ours will be, perforce, Brussels & Strasbourg if the referendum goes to the "Stay in" vote!
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 22 Jun 15 at 00:57
|
>> Never been there myself, nor really want to, but I think it should be preserved. Turned into posh flats with the original fabric, sold at great expense to some developer, and Parliament moved to a new more efficient building somewhere? Midlands somewhere?
Honestly legacy, such fanatical practicality, worthy of a fascist or communist sort of regime, seems to me unpatriotic and philistine. The palace of Westminster, so called, is magnificent (if you like that sort of thing) in itself and eminently still fit for purpose. I don't feel squeamish about Britain's imperial past. I think it should be celebrated. Well worth spending a couple of billion on the gingerbread and gilt seems to me. At least the money will go to honest artisans instead of just being filched.
|
>> fanatical practicality, worthy of a fascist or communist sort of regime
Not calling you names here you understand legacy. I don't suspect you of totalitarian leanings. I was just a bit clumsy and hurried.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Fri 19 Jun 15 at 17:10
|
All history is full of distortions and lies. It's hard to talk about heritage without sounding a bit of a prat. But there is history, the real thing, all you have to do is decipher it and make sense of it.
Good luck.
|
>> >> fanatical practicality,
There's a better term for what I mean here, but it's been eluding me all day. Driving me mad actually. It's on the tip of my brain but it won't emerge.
|
>> It's on the tip of my brain but it won't emerge.
Interrogated Herself who is s***-hot at this sort of thing as she does the crossword. She came up with a dozen words in the area, but not the one... damn damn damn.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Fri 19 Jun 15 at 18:13
|
Eureka! Goddit!
UTILITARIAN. Tsk.
|
Not having visited I don't know the layout. I would keep the chambers as a magnificent tourist attraction, but turn all the upstairs offices into flats. I'm sure people would still visit, and like St Pancras could be dual purpose.
Very simplistic I know.
Just over an hour till beer o'clock.....your probably ahead of me AC so better get back to my household chores
|
|
Second one just coming up. Sköl and so on...
|
Sierra Nevada IPA Hop Hunter @6.2% for me.
I sense an afternoon on the deck, or maybe hammock, reading Bennets 'Untold Stories' is on the cards, before Happy Hour at 4 down at The Independent. Worryingly, I've taken a liking to Ginger Smash cocktails!
|
>> Sierra Nevada IPA Hop Hunter @6.2% for me.
Not a big fan of american IPAs they can be a little too sharp for me. I prefer the darker mexican beers, something like a negra modelo. Very nice.
|
Did cross my mind that that might be the word you were struggling for. Melvyn Bragg's program last week was about Utilitarianism which is of course not quite the same thing.
|
|
N
Last edited by: No FM2R on Fri 19 Jun 15 at 20:17
|
Sorry Sooty
Bought a case of standard Modelo yesterday. Left the Negra, but I do prefer sharp hoppy beers.
Damn it's hot. Pushing 95 already. Glad I've finished my gardening duties until tomorrow.
|
|
I don't mind a hoppy beer but the US IPA is a little too sharp, like goose island ipa springs to mind and others similar ones from the east coast.
|
This thread makes me happy that I haven't sampled or even imagined most of these myriad beers and ales. Life's too short. You like it or you don't, no problemo. But who needs to become an expert? Bad for the stomach.
Tiresome I know.
|
>> This thread makes me happy that I haven't sampled or even imagined most of these
>> myriad beers and ales. Life's too short.
Life's never too short to try lots of different types of beer.
|
Moved on to Pacifico now. Sierra Nevada Torpedo next, then SN Summerfest.
My CA friends think I drink too much.....
|
|
Pacifico nice choice, again SN a little too much.
|
|
If London is going to be be underwater before its extended lifetime is out then they firstly need to decide where the capital is going to be moved to, and then dismantle the HP and re-erect stone by stone in New London.
|
>> then dismantle the HP and re-erect stone by stone in New London.
Transport will be an issue, Connecticut is a long way away.
|
|
Flatpacked it would fit in a couple of ships. :)
|
Restoration project - Alastairw
