CBE for Boss of Network Rail

[1959_60]

This decision is mindblowingly stupid.

After the events of the last few days then his honour should have been binned or postponed at least.

And if the bloke (Mark Carne) had anything about him he should have refused it. instead he looks like a jumped up prick, which he probably is.

If honours are going to be doled out for overseeing failure then it's about time we scrapped the whole thing.

[Supersub6]

This decision is mindblowingly stupid.

After the events of the last few days then his honour should have been binned or postponed at least.

And if the bloke (Mark Carne) had anything about him he should have refused it. instead he looks like a jumped up prick, which he probably is.

If honours are going to be doled out for overseeing failure then it's about time we scrapped the whole thing.

Plus ca change! He is leaving at the end of the year anyway so it will some other guy who has to try to make sense of things.

It never ceases to amaze me that people who are in charge of government departments, large companies etc., etc. fail in their job and then end up getting a big pay off to get rid of them.
Failure is rewarded these days because in this PC world we are not allowed to say that people/scholars or whatever have failed.
The whole thing is pathetic and, although I am ex-Forces, I totally disagree with the whole Honours System.

[alfinyalcabo]

Nothing amazes me anymore.. The old pals school still lives on ..

[sinkov]

Anyone been watching those programmes on Jeremy Thorpe. a criminal politician kept out of jail by the Establishment. Nothing much has changed.

[oldcolner]

This decision is mindblowingly stupid.

After the events of the last few days then his honour should have been binned or postponed at least.

And if the bloke (Mark Carne) had anything about him he should have refused it. instead he looks like a jumped up prick, which he probably is.

If honours are going to be doled out for overseeing failure then it's about time we scrapped the whole thing.

59-60 I agree this is incredibly badly timed and the announcement should have been delayed. We’ve debated the honours system before, but many countries have them even Russia. The principle is good, the application is not perfect, that doesn’t mean it should be scrapped.

Here’s the official line
51. The honours system derives from the simple and laudable wish to recognise exceptional service and achievement and to show gratitude publicly. Unlike other awards systems in the UK, it provides distinctive recognition by the State – in our constitution, by the Sovereign, as Head of State. As will be seen in the section on foreign systems below, there are very few countries indeed that do not have some form of state honours system. Although some argue for abolition of the honours system, there is no general pressure for this. Indeed, the high rate of acceptance of the honours themselves (around 98%) suggests that they are highly valued. The value is not only highly prized by the recipients themselves but by their families and friends and sometimes whole communities, who feel vicarious pleasure at the award of an honour or by the fact that their walk of life or part of the country has been recognised. We know this from letters and recorded reactions following the award of honours. Certainly, some argument surrounds the form that the honours system should take but there is general agreement that some form of national honours system should exist so that the country can give a public thank you to those who have demonstrated achievement and exceptional service.

Carne presided over the switch of Network Rail from private to public ownership ( isn’t that what many on here want).
Mark Carne remains a popular figure within the industry. He has overseen some of the most ambitious and complicated upgrades to infrastructure anywhere in the world, championed safety on the railways and overseen a large investment programme, including the rebuilding of London Bridge and Birmingham New Street stations and the upgrading of signalling systems, as well as the Crossrail and Thameslink projects.

As he retires soon he won’t get a second chance as the rules say awards should not be made after retirement.

https://assets.publishing.service.go...ew___2004_.pdf

[oldcolner]

Anyone been watching those programmes on Jeremy Thorpe. a criminal politician kept out of jail by the Establishment. Nothing much has changed.

Sinkov that’s over 50 years ago and nothing to do with honours or railways?

[Norder]

It never ceases to amaze me that people who are in charge of government departments, large companies etc., etc. fail in their job and then end up getting a big pay off to get rid of them.
Failure is rewarded these days

the misinterpretation is - that these folk are put there to make it all easier....but no - they'll get a straight piece of rope to put a tangle in it, and then a knot....then another and another - occasionally they'll even undo one for the applause....but in the end will make a complete mess of it - being it was all so very problematic you see, but its generally agreed - things do need to change.....and so it begins, all over again - and the more muddled they make it Seem - the more they have our attention - and the more folk believe that even if they do keep screwing it up - at least they're genuinely attempting to do something to help.... .

is that the Joker ?

[The Bedlington Terrier]

"Carne presided over the switch of Network Rail from private to public ownership ( isn’t that what many on here want).
Mark Carne remains a popular figure within the industry. He has overseen some of the most ambitious and complicated upgrades to infrastructure anywhere in the world, championed safety on the railways and overseen a large investment programme, including the rebuilding of London Bridge and Birmingham New Street stations and the upgrading of signalling systems, as well as the Crossrail and Thameslink projects."


You will notice OC I am sure, that almost all of this investment is in London.


The Northern Powerhouse gets "rewarded" with no investment, Thameslink's old rolling stock, less trains, greater fares and a rail service that is simply beyond appalling.


People around here are in despair. Go to any local railway station and a line of buses is in place to ferry passengers who have paid for a train ticket.

I really cannot find any reason from a Lancashire perspective to honour anyone who thinks that the Northern Powerhouse are a pop group.

[oldcolner]

BT it looks and sounds horrendous but isn’t much of it due to the franchisee Northern Rail?

I don’t suppose many would be interested in hearing about Scottish Rail developments, but there are loads. Here’s a few
Glasgow Queen St is being rebuilt the place is still running, but it’s a bomb site.
Work won’t finish till 2020.
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/feeds/...et-passengers/

New routes have opened,
The Borders railway from Galashiels to Edinburgh closed by Beeching has reopened.
Suburban Glasgow underground train lines have been extended and several new stations built on a new route to Edinburgh so you can now travel from Helensburgh direct to Edinburgh without having to change at Queen St.
The route from Glasgow Central to Edinburgh has been improved to allow for faster trains via West Calder.
Electrification of routes has required the lowering of lines in several tunnels including the one that all trains to Queen St and the Forth Bridge have to pass.

I’m sure there is a lot going on in the North too but it doesn’t make the news. Like the above. Their website talks of Crewe and Liverpool station improvements and HS2

The traffic on railways has doubled in the last 20 years, but when was the last train crash. The man has done a lot right in his time I suggest.

[sinkov]

Sinkov that’s over 50 years ago and nothing to do with honours or railways?

It's extremely relevant OC, most people have no objection to ordinary, worthy people who have contributed to society being honoured and recognised by the State. Where the system falls into disrepute, as Supersub, Alfie and 59/60 have alluded to earlier, is when rich and powerful people are rewarded, for what often appears to be no good reason, except that they are members of the Establishment, being rewarded by other members of the Establishment. With the current shambles on the railways it seems perverse to be rewarding anyone involved in that industry, but they go ahead and do it anyway.

And why would they not, these people live in a world of their own, from which we are excluded, and they don't give a monkey's what we think. Look at their largely successful attempts to overthrow the EU Referendum result and keep us in the EU, an utter contempt on the part of the Establishment for the wishes and aspirations of ordinary people. It's the same with the Honours system, look at the House of Lords, stuffed with Cameron's, Brown and Blair's cronies, all on £300 a day expenses which we pay for.

The Thorpe case was an example from 50 years ago of the Establishment perverting the course of justice to look after one of their own, and to destroy an ordinary, working class member of the public. The truth remained hidden for all this time and has only just seen the light of day, although every journalist knew the truth and the BBC actually made a documentary at the time revealing the true story, it was all kept under lock and key until recently, just to protect one of the elite.

The Honours system, the Thorpe case, two sides of the same coin OC, Us and Them.