Tony's Tweets

[Pat McMahon]

The single biggest reason for China's expansion is their system of government. 10 year presidency, no opposition to worry about, nor checks and balances, and a centralised planning approach. Need to move a million rural people to build a dam? Build them shiny new homes 200 miles from where they have lived for generations, give them 2 hours to pack and then send the bulldozers in. By the by, in big cities this is the dream of the poor: compulsory purchase of old, leaky houses with communal bathrooms and kitchens and ferried out to brand new estates on the edge of the city with hot water and windows that close.

I had meetings in Beijing with Party officials a few years back and they were very dismissive of Obama: "most powerful man in the world? Ha. He can't even control the 2 houses in the US, that is why he has to focus on foreign policy. He only has 3 years in power then a year campaigning for re-election. No time to achieve anything. No power: except missiles"

But the general can-do attitude in many Asian countries is exactly as Jimbo says. And much of it stems from the importance of education for all, classes. I can only comment specifically on China, but making money is a national obsession (via education, hard work and connections).

[Pat McMahon]

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Absolutely right. Not only that, but the Chinese are working on high-speed magnetic levitation railways. Our 'traditional' high-speed railway is already obsolete and it hasn't even been built yet.

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They have one for a decade from Shanghai Pudong airport to the outskirts of the city. 430 km/h. Seems a bit over engineered for a 40 km journey.

[andyh]

It’s all well and good but we do have Maglev and we’ve had if for years.

[Axl Rose]

The single biggest reason for China's expansion is their system of government. 10 year presidency, no opposition to worry about, nor checks and balances, and a centralised planning approach. Need to move a million rural people to build a dam? Build them shiny new homes 200 miles from where they have lived for generations, give them 2 hours to pack and then send the bulldozers in. By the by, in big cities this is the dream of the poor: compulsory purchase of old, leaky houses with communal bathrooms and kitchens and ferried out to brand new estates on the edge of the city with hot water and windows that close.

I had meetings in Beijing with Party officials a few years back and they were very dismissive of Obama: "most powerful man in the world? Ha. He can't even control the 2 houses in the US, that is why he has to focus on foreign policy. He only has 3 years in power then a year campaigning for re-election. No time to achieve anything. No power: except missiles"

But the general can-do attitude in many Asian countries is exactly as Jimbo says. And much of it stems from the importance of education for all, classes. I can only comment specifically on China, but making money is a national obsession (via education, hard work and connections).

You're making me nostalgic for China, mate! I'm taking Sonoko to Xinjiiang this Easter via Shanghai, hopefully. Any chance you'll be around Shanghai at that point?

[DB]

It’s all well and good but we do have Maglev and we’ve had if for years.

Like the old Merry Hill monorail???

[pauliewalnuts]

The single biggest reason for China's expansion is their system of government. 10 year presidency, no opposition to worry about, nor checks and balances, and a centralised planning approach. Need to move a million rural people to build a dam? Build them shiny new homes 200 miles from where they have lived for generations, give them 2 hours to pack and then send the bulldozers in. By the by, in big cities this is the dream of the poor: compulsory purchase of old, leaky houses with communal bathrooms and kitchens and ferried out to brand new estates on the edge of the city with hot water and windows that close.

That's exactly it, when you don't really have to worry about human rights at all, or property rights very much, things are much, much easier.

[ciggiesnbeer]

I am a wee bit uncomfortable linking giving up human rights to get the trains running on time.....

[pauliewalnuts]

I am a wee bit uncomfortable linking giving up human rights to get the trains running on time.....

I'm with you.

I know China could probably build a turbo-charged escalator to the moon in the time it will take us to finish HS2, but I'd rather live in a country where this stuff takes longer and we've got our freedoms and rights than in a totalitarian state like China.





Although obvs, this country is fast turning into a proto-fascist hell hole, right kids?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

The single biggest reason for China's expansion is their system of government. 10 year presidency, no opposition to worry about, nor checks and balances, and a centralised planning approach. Need to move a million rural people to build a dam? Build them shiny new homes 200 miles from where they have lived for generations, give them 2 hours to pack and then send the bulldozers in. By the by, in big cities this is the dream of the poor: compulsory purchase of old, leaky houses with communal bathrooms and kitchens and ferried out to brand new estates on the edge of the city with hot water and windows that close.

That's exactly it, when you don't really have to worry about human rights at all, or property rights very much, things are much, much easier.

Human rights that involve not starving close to 1.4 billion people or determining the human rights of less than 2 million of your nationals living outside the UK? I know which should be the much, much easier.

[Ad@m]

I am a wee bit uncomfortable linking giving up human rights to get the trains running on time.....

I'm with you.

I know China could probably build a turbo-charged escalator to the moon in the time it will take us to finish HS2, but I'd rather live in a country where this stuff takes longer and we've got our freedoms and rights than in a totalitarian state like China.





Although obvs, this country is fast turning into a proto-fascist hell hole, right kids?

You're missing the point. It's not about where you'd prefer to live, it's about the Chinese mentality of getting stuff done meaning they're already ahead of us in a lot of ways and accelerating away fast.

But there is more than a hint of hypocrisy about the vast majority of the population quite rightly agreeing that China's human rights record isn't good enough whilst being quite happy to buy £42bn of goods per year which result from that regime.

[brian green]

And if the peasants refuse to move China does have the highest capital punishment rates in the world.

The only hope for civilization I can see is that presently the Chinese all want to own a television set.  Once they have one they may want something worth watching.  Culture is like water.  You can't compress it.

[Ads]

You can run it over with a tank though.

[brian green]

Yes.  I had not thought of that.  Our next door neighbour is Chinese.  Next time I see him in his Man U shirt I shall tell him that.

[passitsideways]

As a Chinese person, I've been following the past couple of pages with a reasonable degree of interest. I'm also, um, still trying to figure out how this arose in the first place.

[Ads]

Its H&V, sticking on topic is for squares.

We have had train discussions
Chinese rural peasants
Human Rights
The M6
British planning/Chinese planning
Tienanmen Square references

None of this Tony's Tweets garbage for us.