Your Opinions: Ivan Rogers' Brexit successor – and the Southern trains crisis
A space for our readers to talk about articles of the day in the Opinion section
Welcome to our space – open every Wednesday from 10am-2pm – for discussing Opinion articles. We’re starting to start today with two articles.
First is Jonathan Lis on Ivan Rogers, the UK’s former ambassador to the EU, who has just resigned. He says the government must get it right when appointing Rogers’ successor or a Brexit disaster could follow. Lis writes:
The greatest risk, both to the government and the negotiations, is that Rogers is replaced by a yes-man (or woman), afraid to speak truthfully or plainly for fear of upsetting the bosses. Brexit can be achieved, but only if the challenges are explicitly exposed, analysed and interrogated at every turn. We can rest assured that on the other side, the commission’s negotiator, Michel Barnier, will be up to the task.
Britain’s railways do not suffer from a shortage of state involvement but from the lack of accountability. There is no quick mechanism by which passengers’ experience of bad service becomes an incentive for providers to raise their game. The old state monopoly was no better. We took what we were given then too. If the public is receptive to renationalisation – and opinion polls suggest the idea can be popular – it is because the status quo is miserable enough for any radical-sounding alternative to acquire some allure, not because the proposed remedy fixes the problem. And if the policy gains wider support it will be in spite of trade union enthusiasm, not because of it.
Source: Guardian Transport
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