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It's a lovely day, you might enjoy it Sebrof, if you take your head out of your arse. I'm sure that you feel very special now that you have told us how good and or bad things are that have been created by others. To me, your post makes you sound like an arrogant twat with very little to do. Maybe you could try improving the internet instead of shitting on other people.

Lord Reith (I think it was him) declared that the duty of the BBC was to educate, to inform, and to entertain. Forums, surely, have the same role, and so does every member of them. Hence this thread, which falls mainly into the final category. I have, alas, no great hope that it will have educated anybody.

We convinced our two children that it was a special treat to be allowed down the weedhatch, and they'd only be allowed to do it if they were very good all day. They were at least 12 years old before they realised they'd been conned!

You'll find that if you also add a splash of conditioner after you've been, you can debunk the notion that "you can't polish a turd".

:::sigh::: The Troll is back.

Of course, any interest group will have a point beyond which its constituents will not join NWC, but if a constituency is 10 times the size of another, it becomes trivial for that constituency to gain control. Yes, it is speculative opinion. It is, however, not wild speculation. Government isn't going to hand over more money, and isn't going to spend money fixing NWC if it fails. I confidently predict that if the naysayers bring down NWC, we will be left with a rump organisation able to do little, and a system that is deteriorating by the week.

I presume you wouldn't extend that logic to say that someone with a £250,000 boat should have ten times more say than someone with a £25,000 boat. Personally, and this absolutely is only my opinion and not anyone or anything else's, I think a good set of charitable aims is more important than direct membership elections. I would like the charity to be beholden to the efficient running and sustainable future of the waterways, not to individual pressure groups who have stuffed the membership.

Well said, Cotswoldman. The other thing that we can do, is write to our MPs,and sign every petition going, to highlight concerns. It may not be much, but if you don't then it is evidence of apathy. Now is the crucial time when decisions are being made about funding, and those who shout loudest and make the best case will get it. Those interests who grumble privately or on forums without contacting the decision-makers won't. The canal system we have now is there partly as a result of many individuals lobbying individually, not just 'big events'. An easy way to contact MPs, councillors etc if writing actual paper letters is one of those tasks that gets put off is through one of the sites such as Writetothem.com - just stick in a postcode to get the link to the correct people. It'll take about as much time as composing a reply here!