Please click this link AND SIGN TO SAVE THE QE2

[christopher marshall]

Please guys help save the queen elizebeth from been sold and sign this

Thank you


http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/SaveTheQE2/

 

[Dave Gittins]

Here we go again! Another pointless campaign to save the unsavable at massive expense.

Here is what the British government is asked to do.

"We call on the Prime Minister to stop this sale to Dubai, and place the QE2 in UK waters so that she may enjoy her retirement, and reveal her majestic wonders to the worlds tourists who visit the UK."

British ship lovers can count themselves lucky that QE2 is not headed for the beach at Alang, nor is she to rot away in San Diego. Things could be worse!

 

[Michael H. Standart]

So why even bother signing an e-petition when even written ones which can be legally validated don't have the influance that anybody thinks they do?

For the reality, see http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/internet.asp

 

[Scott R. Andrews]

As far as saving to QE2 from the torch, and granting her any sort of successful "afterlife" as a hotel/convention center/museum, money -- and AN ENDLESS SUPPLY OF IT -- is the only thing that can guarantee the survival of such an enterprise. I don't see how the governments of most free nations could possibly justify such an expenditure to the tax payers, nor can I see any private enterprise taking this on without somebody first devising a business plan that will guarantee a self-sustaining "attraction" that will also turn a profit. When looking at the price of a barrel of crude these days, it's quite obvious that it is only nations like Saudi Arabia or one of the member states of the UAE can afford to finance an enterprise of this sort with little regard as to whether or not it is profitable. (Hell, given the price of crude these days, I'm surprised that the plan isn't to make the QE2 a private yacht for the Crown Prince!)

Regards,
Scott Andrews

 

[John Clifford]

I clicked the first link: noted that we are supposed to have until June 25th, to get the signatures.

What then, may I ask?

I presume that if a purportedly valid number of signatures is not collected, then the petition will be withdrawn. There is no listing of how many signatures are being sought.
Further, I personally doubt that Prime Minister Gordon Brown will act on it, as Cunard is not owned or run by the British Government.

At this point, one should note that so-called Internet Petitions are not going to create any urgent actions.
Besides, with the number of persons these petitions are forwarded to, one can only wonder how long it is supposed to take from them to obtain the planned number of signees, then be forwarded to the intended recipients.

I, twice, received, at work, the Prayer-In-Public-Schools petition email; both times I deleted it (I figure kids pray enough, by themselves, before tests and assignments, that it is unnecessary).
That was about five years ago, and no word if "W" has received the final email with "Signature #10,000", especially if White House emails are filtered out, by anti-span programs.

The QE2 is going to be 40 years old, so as wonderful as it might be for her to sail for 100 years, I can't see that happening, due to the continued maintenance needed, especially with QUEEN MARY 2 and QUEEN VICTORIA now dwarfing her in size, though not speed, in QUEEN VICTORIA's case.

given the price of crude these days, I'm surprised that the plan isn't to make the QE2 a private yacht for the Crown Prince
I'd imagine it becoming a luxury excursion for the high-paying guests at Palm Jumerai.
Imagine the ship being renamed "PRIDE OF DUBAI" or "PRIDE OF UAE" and "See the sites of the Middle East".

Anyway, I think that the deal between the Palm Jumerai resort owners and Cunard is now done.
On November 27th, the QE2 will be formally retired, though I can see the QUEEN MARY 2 and QUEEN VICTORIA saluting her when their round-the-World excursions come to Dubai; same with the QUEEN ELIZABETH (3).

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>What then, may I ask? <<

Feel good about yourself even though nothing of any substance has actually been accomplished? I posted a link to the Snopes.com website about internet petitions in my first post in this thread. For anybody coming into this conversation late, take the time to click on it and thoroughly read it.

Dave, John, and Scott are savvy enough to know just how useless such e-petitions really are. Even the written ones seldom accomplish much. The e-petitions tend to get round filed unread. They know this and so do I.

Now if anybody wants to do something substantive, if you can scrounge up the mega-dollars/pounds/euros needed to make the dream of a museum happen, a business plan that a reasonable person might confuse for something that has a snowball's chance in hell of success, and convince the buyers in Dubai to sell the ship, I'll be happy to talk about it.

I'd love to see every worthy ship out there preserved for posterity to see and enjoy, unfortunately, I tend to be a hard nosed realist about such things. With so many failures, I don't have much of a choice.

 

[James Smith]

Not to get all political, but . . .

Seems to me that if the UK government took the action suggested in the petition, the result would be kind of scary. The implication is that if you build something, and everybody else likes it enough, they can run to the government and essentially use the government's strong-arm power to dictate what you can and can't do with your own creation.

At least in the US, I don't think that would fly.

--Jim

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>At least in the US, I don't think that would fly.<<

Don't be so sure. There are all sorts of things that governments can do using strong arm tactics, all of them pefectly legal, even in the Land Of The Free And The Home Of The Lawyers Brave.

Which doesn't mean they would bother. There are very few vessels preserved at government expence anywhere and in the USA, the only three I know of are all warships.

Before excercising strong arm tactics, the government usually makes a finding that there's something out there which a person with an IQ above freezing just might take for a practical purpose which serves the public interest or the "right" vested interests. Absent that, they could care less.

 

[Jerry Nuovo]

This petition has as much chance to save the QE2 for the U.K. as watching pigs fly or better seeing the S.S.United States back in service sailing again.And last but not least Government whether it is in the U.K. or U.S.A. should not have the right to tell Carnival Corp/Cunard what to do with one of its ships that it rightfully owns.

 

[Timothy Trower]

Frankly, every time that you buy a gallon of gas or a quart of oil, it could be said that you are indeed helping to preserve the QE2. Where do you think Dubai is getting the money to purchase the ship from?

As several others have pointed out, these online petitions are totally worthless. I am well connected politically speaking, and there is no substitute for a hand written letter to get a politician's notice. Otherwise, you are wasting your time.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>and there is no substitute for a hand written letter to get a politician's notice.<<

At least they know it came from a real person.

>>And last but not least Government whether it is in the U.K. or U.S.A. should not have the right to tell Carnival Corp/Cunard what to do with one of its ships that it rightfully owns.<<

That's a bit of a half truth there. Governments tell private owners what to do with their ships all the time, especially when environmental protection laws come into play. Beyond that, unless the government could justify exercising Imminant Domain, (extremely unlikely here) how a private concern deals with the disposition of it's own property, so long as it's not illegal in some respect, is it's own business.

Even if the government did excercise Imminant Domain, they would still have to pay the owner the fair market value of the property. Given the controversies which arise from what some would call Pork Barrel spending, I just don't see Her Majesty's government doing that.