BS: Portillo's Perambulations

Subject: Portillo's Perambulations
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 20 Jan 12 - 04:26 PM

Something a bit nauseating about Michael Portillo going round Wales on the telly tonite. Lamanting the end of the steel insustry and coal industry. Telling us that wonderful communities and their cultures had been destroyed. No railway links to small towns.

Has this man total amnesia about tory policy for the last half century?

More than weird for the BBC not to recognise certain ironies in the situation.

Subject: RE: Portillo's Perambulations
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 20 Jan 12 - 04:27 PM

sorry should be in BS

Subject: RE: BS: Portillo's Perambulations
From: GUEST,pizel
Date: 20 Jan 12 - 06:13 PM

It would stick in his craw to mention that his heroine Thatcher presided over the demise of our industrial base,using up the oil revenues from the North Sea in the process.
Their actions have come back to haunt them as we can see today. There is even talk that deep mining will be required, miners from overseas will then be required when this is undertaken.

Subject: RE: BS: Portillo's Perambulations
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 20 Jan 12 - 07:05 PM

One of the papers in a preview last week said 'The rehabilitation of Michael Portillo continues'. I suspect that Portillo's espousal of Thatcherite Toryism had something to do with his relationship with his father, who fought against Franco. Personally, I don't think it's nauseating - I just think it's sad that he wasn't doing this before he entered politics and found out what was really happening rather than having seen everything through blue tinted spectacles.

Subject: RE: BS: Portillo's Perambulations
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 02:04 AM

"miners from overseas will then be required when this is undertaken."

Not just miners, mining equipment too. We used to have a healthy engineering industry manufacturing, inter alia, machinery and equipment for underground and surface operations in the mining industry - which was virtually destroyed as a result of the wholesale mine-closures of the '80s. Presumably, any deep-mining in the future will involve imported machinery, as we are probably no longer able (and probably don't have the expertise anyway) to manufacture it in the UK.

Subject: RE: BS: Portillo's Perambulations
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 02:10 AM

But I do very much enjoy Portillo's 'Great British Railway Journeys' programmes and, despite the follies of his youth, his involvement with Thatcherism, et al he comes across as a jolly nice chap.

I sat opposite him on Eurostar last September. He behaved like one would expect a normal, civilised person to behave, very pleasant to the Eurostar staff, otherwise kept himself to himself. Just a man on a train. Mmmmmmm, I feel a song coming on...............

Subject: RE: BS: Portillo's Perambulations
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 04:54 AM

Nasty fascistic hypocritical twat.

Subject: RE: BS: Portillo's Perambulations
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 04:55 AM

(PS, to be clear, I'm talking about Portillo)

Subject: RE: BS: Portillo's Perambulations
From: Silas
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 05:16 AM

One of my fondest memories was his election defeat - the look on his face was priceless. I had always considered him to be a typical upperclass wealthy tory twat with his eye to the main chance.

However.

He later admitted to flirting with homosexuality at his school, he also washed his hands of the single mother witch hunt. He then went on to do a TV programme where he had to live as a benefit claiment which he did with great integrity. His railway journeys are a delight.

So, I have mellowed in my opionions of they guy, he can't help being a product of an upper class familiy, but I do have some respect for him.

Subject: RE: BS: Portillo's Perambulations
From: billybob
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 05:46 AM

As someone who never talks politics and had a Welsh working class socialist grandfather,am I the only one who worries that the people who hold such hate for Maggie tend to be middleclass ,well educated lawyers and such like. Please get over it and move on before I change the habit of a lifetime and rant about Tony Blair!

Subject: RE: BS: Portillo's Perambulations
From: billybob
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 05:49 AM

Sorry, forgot to say I love the programme , the train journey in the West of Scotland looks magnificent and made me want to go there.

Subject: RE: BS: Portillo's Perambulations
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 06:06 AM

Who'd have thought Miguel would have turned out to be such an all-round decent chap?

I found myself sitting opposite him and film crew on a local train at Chelmsford recently - when I told my friends I found that virtually everyone I knew had seen him on a train somewhere in East Anglia. He must cover some miles......