Hats off to Kirklees over new free bus pass rules
Hillary Clinton, former US Secretary of State
Andrew Motion, former poet laureate, Cary Elwes, actor, Natalie Merchant, singer Steve Howey, former footballer, Ronnie Irani, former cricketer and commentator, Austin Healey, former rugby player I SEE from the Examiner that Kirklees Council are finally planning to cut wasteful expenditure.
We live 2.9 miles from the school attended by my three children and never got a free bus pass for any of them. Families just up the road did. Why on earth? It would be nice if all kids got free travel - but let’s not pretend that those who live 3.1 miles from school need a pass when they catch the bus at the same stop as their friends who have to pay.
Hats off to Kirklees - finally cutting the wasted expenditure. cabs can do that, also flouting law by not wearing a seat belt even when they are empty with no passengers. IMAGINE playing the TV show Deal or No Deal with your entire family.
Not in the stands, giving you “advice”, but there on stage with you. You all have to make the choices together.
For most families, it’d be a total disaster. Probably for years afterwards, too. That despite the purely probability-driven nature of the whole drama. Perhaps the lack of rational decision-making makes the emotional side stronger.
The Brexit negotiations seem to be following the same sort of dynamics. It isn’t surprising given the whole premise is false.
When it comes to Brexit, decisions and negotiations are based on emotive reasoning and perception, not a rational basis. It can’t be rational given everything from immigration figures to trade data was proven to be out of whack by proportions rendering them meaningless altogether.
More importantly, the simple truth is that both sides’ interests are perfectly aligned in a rational world.
But the following simple truths are completely lost in the Brexit negotiations, because with them the whole facade would fall.
Free trade is good for both parties, otherwise they wouldn’t trade. Any restriction on free trade makes the parties that would have traded worse off because they have to find the next best trading partner, or none at all.
People who own something should be able to sell it to whomever they want. Any restriction is a violation.
A free trade agreement between the UK and EU will really be an agreement restricting trade in a long list of ways.
The threat of a no-deal scenario is only real because the EU treats countries outside the EU like villains under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. The EU’s trade and other barriers are horrific.