Noah's Ark

[magpie]

has anybody noticed the difference in speed that the thames valley floods have had relief so much quicker than in the west country? cameron and his cronies go onto the media and the house, and bluster, nothing seems to be done. they alienate their trad voters so bye-bye in 2015.

[factor-fiction]

I think there is an issue of governments being London-centric but of course floods in the Thames Valley can potentially affect around 100 times as many people as those affected in the West Country.

[ludwig]

// has anybody noticed the difference in speed that the thames valley floods have had relief so much quicker than in the west country? //

Think about it. The West country had the floods first. There was some delay in realising the extent of the problem and getting the relief efforts under way, but it started to happen about the same time as problems hit the Thames valley. They didn't just decide to do something because Eton looked threatened. I like a good conspiracy story about evil government toffs as much as the next person, but let's be sensible eh?

[tamborine]

Coz its the Labour govs fault for allowing the Jubilee river to divert the Thames.

[Old_Jim]

The Severn Valley flood plain floods every year (it's in the name). Because of exceptional weather conditions, the floods have been far more extensive than usual. The government therefore brought in Dutch engineers with their specialist knowledge and equipment to speed up drainage. The Thames Valley rarely floods and has a population of around ten times that of the Severn Valley and more urgent attention was required. Of course none of this should place any form of restriction on Britain's national sport of moaning about the government.

[Prudie]

Old Jim is spot on.

[jno]

it's possible that people might stop moaning about the government if the government did their job properly; but it's clear they were very slow in the response to the West Country. For those who say "But it rains every winter!" the reply ought to be "Well, we ought to be prepared for it every winter, then." And it's been obvious for years that the weather has been getting more extreme and we should be preparing for worse events than the gentle breezes and light drizzle of our childhood.

[LazyGun]

What Ludwig said. You can blame the government for a lot of things regarding the speed and scale of their response to the flooding, and the contrast between TV soundbite promises and the reality of aid on the ground, but I do not think you can reasonably conclude some kind of London-centric conspiracy here.