The queues are building up again at Dover, where passengers are advised that there are continuing delays at French passport control. Meanwhile, those hoping to avoid travel chaos by taking the train have been delayed by the disruptions to Eurostar services in France.
Among the least helpful suggestions for addressing the problems is John Redwood’s — that travellers should avoid making for France. This would indeed help solve the problem, but people may take a dim view of cancelling France as a holiday destination.
Mr Redwood was a prominent supporter of Brexit but the idea that leaving the EU would entail fewer vacations in Europe was certainly never an argument made by Brexiteers in the past.
Certainly, Brexit does play a large part in the delays at Dover, because drivers are not now simply waved through if they show their passports; those passports must be checked and stamped, which takes longer. To this can be added the astonishing failure of the French authorities to staff border controls fully on their side. It is in their interests to encourage holiday travel, and the surge in post-pandemic holiday travel was wholly predictable.
If we add to this the continuing problems at airports, and the cancellation of flights, primarily because of airlines’ decisions to sack staff during the pandemic, it is evident there are few easy options. Norfolk, Wales and Northumbria, however, are attractive destinations. London too has its charms in the summer.
It would be good, though, to choose a holiday here in the UK as a positive option rather than a way of escaping the chaos at sea, rail and airports which should have been anticipated and avoided.
Tory hopefuls at war
Tonight’s TV debate between the prime ministerial hopefuls, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, will be a fascinating exercise because the candidates will be addressing two, if not three, audiences: the Tory members in the studio, Tory members in the country as a whole, and the rest of us, the public, who have no vote in this election but a keen interest in the outcome.
They must therefore face two ways — to the members who can make one of them prime minister, and the broader electorate. The two are not identical. Conservative members are more keenly interested in tax cuts, immigration and defence spending than the general electorate. But the commitments made by the candidates will have a direct effect on all of us.
The TV debates tonight and tomorrow, as well as the hustings subsequently, will be an opportunity for the candidates to be scrutinised closely on a broad range of subjects. Conservative Party members may have their say on the candidates in September, but it will be the country that will give the ultimate verdict in the next general election.
Busy Mr Musk
Elon MUSK, the world’s richest man, is hard to keep up with. In between running Tesla and disrupting the space industry, he has today denied a string of claims about his private life. However does he find the time for everything?
