Tonight:
4°c
With more people making it into work this morning, there is growing anger over the virtual collapse of London's transport system yesterday and its sluggish recovery today. Transport for London chief Peter Hendy tells this newspaper that his organisation could have done no better in dealing with the huge snowfalls. Yet the fact remains that the city's transport system buckled in a way it never has before, even in extreme weather. That demands a more thorough answer from TfL and councils.
Ken Livingstone, the former Mayor, has blamed the present Mayor, Boris Johnson, for the fact that council workers were not out in force on Sunday making roads safe. But Mr Johnson cannot send out men with shovels; it was for councils to act on the weather warnings, and few did so adequately. Some performed reasonably well. Others were ill-prepared and have been sluggish in gritting pavements since. Today there are Labour calls for an inquiry into the failure of councils' gritting operations.
But the fault also lies with TfL and the bus companies. Their underperformance is hard to excuse, given that it was possible for buses to run during worse snow in previous years, such as 1947, without the benefit of expensive Scandinavian-style equipment.
The failure appears to be a result of poor co-ordination between councils and bus operators to ensure that roads from depots were the first to be cleared, and caution on the part of risk-averse private operators. Today there are calls for compensation for public transport users; at the very least, the Mayor needs to impress on the operators the seriousness of this collapse in services. We have the right to expect better.
Jobs and London
THE CONCERNS about foreign workers getting preferential treatment over British labour in the allocation of jobs in some sectors has been given fresh force with the news that one in three workers employed at the Olympics site is from abroad, and 15 per cent are from outside the EU. As we report today, some highly paid jobs on the site are being advertised in Australia when it is by no means clear that every effort was exhausted to fill the vacancies in London.
It is right that huge publicly funded projects like the Olympics should be seen to bolster employment in the local community. It is also justifiable, as Frank Field MP says, to take a hard look at EU labour laws to ask whether they are equitable in practice. But for London, the debate about the need for foreign workers has an air of unreality.
The truth is that this city would cease to function properly without them, particularly those from Eastern Europe. The construction sector and the service industries in particular would not work in their absence. The real problem now is that so many of them are returning home because of the economic downturn and the fall in sterling, not that they are here at all. It would be wrong if hard-working individuals were to suffer prejudice on account of the way this latest, national, debate is conducted.
London does have a unique perspective on the consequences of the lax control of immigration over the past decade because so many immigrants make for the capital, but we should remember, too, what we owe the migrant workers who are here now.
Enjoy this
ALAN BENNETT'S play Enjoy was a flop in its first West End production in 1980. But, as our review by Nicholas de Jongh of its revival at the Gielgud makes clear, its time has come and its depiction of the fate of a lower-middle-class family under pressure has a new resonance in modern Britain. It is a reminder that Bennett is not just one of our wittiest dramatists but one of the most durable, too.
Reader views (5)
Boris has responsibility for Red routes so what was he doing to ensure these were clear for Monday. He also has responsiblity for TFL so what did he do to see depots and garages were able to get trains and buses out.
As for local councils well London is dominated by tory councils more interested in cutting taxes than ice!
It was also Tory Thatcher who forced councils to privatise their workforce and now we pay the penalty of not having road sweepers and grit containers on the streets ready when the big "W" strikes.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 06/02/2009 15:02
Report abuse
Nick you have totally missed the point the UK would cope brilliantly with snow if it were prepared to invest the same in snow clearing equipment as say for instance Sweden or the French Alpine resorts. However for a once in a while event, it just isn't worth the investment and Norman Baker can whinge his heart out, but to invest in snow ploughs would be a complete waste of the tax payers money and we're all against that!!! Therefore for the once in a while event that is snow in the UK, we have to accept that the UK will grind to a halt!! It just isn't worth the investment and soon people may figure that out, so that instead of whinging about the snow, they get outside and throw a few snowballs!
- Steph, France, 03/02/2009 21:11
Report abuse
Nick, give up your job and all its perks to someone from abroad. Go on, practice what you preach, well almost, the guys you are talking about didnt have the choice of a job to give up in the first place.
- Helen, norwich, 03/02/2009 14:50
Report abuse
I have just posted this on Nick Cohen's column but it is also appropriate to this article:
Nick your comments are pretty naive. If you had been in a position where you weren't even considered for jobs because you were British how would you feel then? Or you had to take a big drop in wages simply to find work.
This is exactly what has been happening to my partner who works in the construction industry in London and it's been happening for 10 years. He has encountered many many British firms which only employ Eastern European workers because they are cheaper than locals.
Mass immigration from Eastern Europe hasn't affected your job prospects or the middle class professions but I wonder just how different your attitude would be if it had.
- Lisa, London, 03/02/2009 13:05
Report abuse
I'm a bricklayer,I lived and worked in Germany for 14 years,obviously I learnt German.I never deprived anyone of a job as Germany was short of skilled construction workers.That isn't the case in this country,your statement implies that the building industry would grind to a halt without the Eastern Europeans is completely wrong,I can understand why they come here,in their position I would do the same!However we've made so many concessions for these people,in order to work on a building site we have to pass a Health and Safety test(CSCS),for some reason we allow the foreigners to take this test in their own language or use an interpreter,if not being able to understand the language isn't a safety issue,I don't know what is!Warning somebody of impending danger while they stare nonplussed,shortly before being hit by falling masonry is a distinct possibility.I've had many conversations with site management about this.I know that Polish bricklayers working at the same company as me are prepared to work for less money,when I was in Germany I earned higher wages than the locals. We have a large skilled workforce,many of my friends can't find work,the industry would function perfectly well without the Eastern Europeans.
- Peter, London, 03/02/2009 11:07
Report abuse
