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Ellie Abraham
Jan 21, 2022
A new government transport policy is almost literally straight out of The ...
A new government policy about rail announcements has been ridiculed for being almost exactly like something out of comedy The Thick of It.
In a tweet, Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps made an announcement that he will be getting rid of unnecessary train announcements as part of the “Williams-Shapps” plan.
Shapps himself featured in a clip announcing the news, acting as a passenger on the train obscured by a newspaper.
He revealed himself and announced: “We’ve reviewed messages that are played on the tannoy system and where they add nothing but noise and irritation, we’re removing them.”
'...put unwanted newspapers in the bin...'\n\nThis is one example of the announcements that we're getting rid of, making the passenger experience better and delivering on the Williams-Shapps #PlanForRail. \n \nRead more on announcements we\u2019re removing \n\nhttps://www.gov.uk/government/news/unnecessary-train-announcements-binned-in-bonfire-of-the-banalities\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/xvp09Op4m9— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP) 1642752900
Unfortunately for the transport secretary, it didn’t take Twitter users long to draw comparisons between the announcement and a real scene from the British government sitcom The Thick of It.
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Chief Westminster Correspondent for Byline Times, Adam Bienkov, helpfully pointed it out in a tweet by posting a video of the scene.
Bienkov wrote: “OMG. They've actually just done The Thick of It.”
OMG. They've actually just done The Thick of It. https://twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1484439371369484289\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/72ABvKlU2Y— Adam Bienkov (@Adam Bienkov) 1642763898
In the scene, a fictional political adviser tells a minister he needs a policy in his back pocket “just in case”.
Remarkably similar to Shapps’s new proposal, he suggests that the policy is “tripling the number of quit carriages on intercity trains”.
The UK Train Drivers' Union, ASLEF, responded to Schapps’s tweet, writing: “Tbh we'd rather see you get rid of the announcements where you cancel investment and infrastructure projects.”
Tbh we'd rather see you get rid of the announcements where you cancel investment and infrastructure projectshttps://twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1484439371369484289\u00a0\u2026— ASLEF (@ASLEF) 1642769123
Someone else wrote: “Absolutely pathetic announcing this as some sort of game changing policy.”
Absolutely pathetic announcing this as some sort of game changing policy https://twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1484439371369484289\u00a0\u2026— Matt Hodgetts (@Matt Hodgetts) 1642766533
Another person said it’s “gold leaf salt bae of government policy”.
Prime cut red meat. Absolute gold leaf salt bae of government policy.https://twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1484439371369484289\u00a0\u2026— Laura Silver (@Laura Silver) 1642764683
One Twitter user mused: “I dread to think how much money they wasted on this Partridge-esque shite.”
I dread to think how much money they wasted on this Partridge-esque shite.https://twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1484439371369484289\u00a0\u2026— Jenny Sutcliffe (@Jenny Sutcliffe) 1642764563
Someone else commented: “Imagine rising to the top of politics and having such little imagination that this is one of your policies.”
Imagine rising to the top of politics and having such little imagination that this is one of your policieshttps://twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1484439371369484289\u00a0\u2026— Andrew Hedges (@Andrew Hedges) 1642766149
Another, joked: “I love these parody accounts.”
I love these parody accountshttps://twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1484439371369484289\u00a0\u2026— Bob Hudson (@Bob Hudson) 1642766798
That's Grant Shapps well and truly told.