I will not divulge the names of the participants in this email conversation to protect the guilty. If they wish to out themselves in the comments, that is entirely up to them.
Someone very kindly emailed to say how much they had enjoyed my Lib Dem Lowdown for Newbies but asked why constitution geeks got a mention and not transport geeks. “That is so wrong.”
Actually, my correspondent had a point. Our erstwhile colleague, the lovely Helen Duffett, could tell you virtually anything you didn’t realise you wanted to know about the London underground system and our ranks have a fair share of people who know about transport systems of all types.
Then another party to our online conversation came out with the incendiary comment:
Constitution geeks are more interesting than train spotters.
Leaving aside the fact that transport is a much wider subject than trains, I thought that you might like to while away some time on this Sunday afternoon discussing who is right? Who is more interesting? Our constitutional experts who know everything about every electoral system known to man and could invent a few others or those experts who understand about transport?
I’m going to sit on the fence here and say that we need them both. We possibly at times need them to translate their geekery into human but we would be lost without people who could spot the power grabs in constitutional reforms at 50 paces and we desperately need people to give us a public transport system worthy of the 21st century.
Over to you…
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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4 Comments
Of course there are parts of The UK where a geekish knowledge of Local Transport is actually essential if you are going to get the most out of life. London is an example, someone moving here can probably manage with The Tube at first but then they need to bone up on the various Rail franchises, The Overground, The three types of buses &, in the far South, The Trams. Then you have to work out the interconnection between the various modes.
There are apps that claim to tell you the quickest or simplest way to get from A to B but they arent very reliable I have found.
Geekishnes can be very practical sometimes.
The two have much in common – after all, what is a system that does not set you free? While there’s no ideal constitution nor perfect mass transit network, it’s worth honing both to make them better. If I had to get off the fence though, I’d have to say that transport geeks are definitely the most witty, awesome and interesting at parties 😉
Constitution geeks are rarer than transport geeks both in the general population and the lib dems (although obvs there are many people that are both). I’d say constitution is mote interesting (I live with someone who has enough train hele for the entire local party), but trains are just as integral to lib demmery.
Norman Baker was on the Sunday Politics (southeast) recently. As a former Transport Minister he knows a lot about transport. Apparently he gave a view on BME2, which is a proposed rail line from Brighton, via Tunbridge Wells into London Victoria. There were also comments from his Tory successor as MP for Lewes. Unfortunately I missed it. Existing services are extremely overcrowded.