I think it's clear that one of the hardest things for boaters to accept in all of this is that they are a technical minority. While the canals are made for boats primarily, in terms of use and cost per capita, they are some of the most expensive for the least numbers of people, even after the boating license is taken into account. If you say there are 35k licensed boats, and about 1/3 (12k) are live aboard or continuous cruisers, that's not very many people. For a live aboard it would probably be fair to say an average of three people per boat (generous), and that means only about 36,000 people are CC/LA. Holiday/part time boats probably carry more than twice that figure (72k+). This, I believe, is a root of some of the conflict. A relatively small population of CC/LA boaters require a large amount of resources. They are also the ones most affected by changes to mooring times, facilities issues, etc, so they always feel the changes first and hardest. When he talks about the big picture, that then plays into this issue where boaters don't feel heard. This hits harder when issues that affect CC the most, like composting toilets, come up. As vast as the network is, and as expensive as it is, it cannot afford to cater to CCs, LAs, or even boaters in general. It has to get buy in from other stakeholders, and that means that by definition, boaters will not always get priority or even what's necessary for LA lifestyles. That's a legitimately hard pill to swallow, but a truth that needs to be understood.
The objective of a non-profit is to act as a coordinator for a non-profitable venture. (i.e. in this case a money suck whose value is perceived in heritage, lifestyle of boaters, walkers, etc.). The fact that it's a money suck means a huge portion of their resources are going to be determined by garnering support and funding. So while boaters may think a boat license "entitles them" in some way to a service (like a shop where profit is the objective), they are simply contributing to the money needed for an otherwise unprofitable venture where money is moving in one direction (out). Imagine a reservoir at the top of a hill where the water for the lock is low. If there isn't enough water coming in, it's not going to be able to supply the boaters who want to go up the staircase. So water needs to be pumped up, but energy to pump it needs to come from somewhere, as gravity/entropy works against you. The boating licenses are simply helping pay the electric to keep the pump operating.
Well done Sir. Ive heard from many journalists such as yourself, "Do your research" You instantly set this powerful gentleman at ease and got a truely good interview, You treated him with respect and knowledge, He gave you the interview of his life. Congrats Sir.
David I haven't seen you this on point in a long time! I love your jounalism here. I also have to say Richard is very quick on his feet and (granted I'm an American) but seems to know his canals, the politics involved with maintaining them and is doing his best to balance several different needs placed on the waterways.
@@peep5330 there's a major shift in nonprof senior compensation packages that started in the late 1990s. Nonprofs learned that if they wanted to retain talent they had to be almost competitive with the for profit world. People won't take positions witg the risk Richard's has without feeling they have both the top coverage from the board amd a feeling they are being treated fair when it comes to pay & benefits.
David this is brilliant. You really show your caliber as a journalist. Richard was very quick and on point. You did not softball difficult questions and you allow Richard to answer. Your follow up questions demonstrate a thoutful consideration of those you are presenting this video. I am really looking forward to part two. This really shines a light on why I love your videos whether you are faffing about rust or presenting a related topic. Thank you.
I am very impressed with the man in charge. I am very under impressed with some of the canal boaters selfish attitudes and demands. Canal boaters are not covering the cost of the canal network; not a problem on a shared facility. If you want to make demands and have all your complaints addressed then you have to pay for them; otherwise you can only fit into the group plan. The network is in a good part funded by the rest of the public, so as he says they need to be included in the CRT's priorities.
I guess it is under-funded in proportion to how many people use the waterways. They do however pay a license fee of >£1000. (which is a great deal more than we pay for our road fund license). Unfortunately, if canal boaters were expected to cover the cost of the network independently we would end up with this being a lifestyle/pasttime that only the very rich and elite of society could afford. It's a difficult one.
I'm not going to comment on Richard's competence as I know nothing about it. As you stated at the beginning, he went into this somewhat blind, yet answered every question with a good, thoughtful answer. I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't a grey hair on his head before taking on his position, and he is correct about salaries needing to be at a certain level to attract top people for certain positions. Great interview.
Excellent interview, David. Thank you so much for doing this outstanding and professional discussion of the issues, problems and competing factions that make up the CRT. What seems lost to me a lot of times when I listen to RUclips Narrowboat vlog authors is that they seem to forget that the canal they are on is part of a system of environmental resources that must be shared and balanced across more users than just themselves. Naturally boaters, especially live-a boards can begin to think of the canals as their own domain since they are experiencing the canal from their own home, their narrowboat. Yes they pay license and yes they expect certain services to be available to them for that license. But the canal system is also used by rowers, walkers, bicyclists, fisher-people, wildlife, tourists, etc. It is a valuable asset for villages, cafés and restaurants, green space enjoyment, water management and becomes an attractive and historically important feature across the broad landscapes of rural and urban life. I highly doubt that any of those users of the canal system pay into its maintenance in any sort of way. As a result the CRT is providing a tremendous amount of value across a very large array of needs not just for boaters who use the waterways. It is a massively complex infrastructure and the fact that it is basically run by a charity is a stellar achievement in this modern era. Perhaps those boaters who want to complain about the poor service they are receiving could take some time and do volunteer work to help the CRT and thus they might begin to appreciate more what does get done.
In this episode, David "I'm not a reporter" Brown brings the heat to the CEO of CRT. Great episode, and that man has a TOUGH job. Even if he had all the money he needed, it would be a tough job.
What a brave person, to take on the C&RT - A case of where no one is going to be happy with you. I must complement you David, in this was not a simple love-fest for the CRT, but a very pointed and honest conversation about the whole network!
To be honest, before even watching the video, I have the absolute outmost respect for this guy for turning up to be interviewed by, someone, honestly, is fairly small in the sphere of youtube (but I would say big in the cruising/living sphere). I hope only positive things will come out of this, and that people will maybe even stop thinking the CRT as this evil overlord, and I wish him all the best.
Good interview David and I think the CRT fellow was pretty well briefed and was not ducking answers. Some of his answers might seem formulaic as he probably has to deal with funders that use that language all day every day. He appeared to have some or a lot of knowledge of the majority of subjects you addressed - and, by the way, your editing and production values are top quality.
As an American who plans to do a boat holiday this year, I won't be involved in ongoing matters, But, I think Richard is a sincere and intelligent guy. I certainly hope he will not bend to monopoly, as is so easily done here in my state. Let's hope for a balance, and not neglect as the final decision. Hoping for the best, and thank you so much, David, for this interview! Well Done.
Very good interview. The bottom line is that the canals are hugely expensive to maintain and the C&RT get nowhere near enough money to do this in the way everyone would like. It's the same in every area of British society.
I like this Guy He answered every question with a straight answer. He is right Canals are for everyone not just boaters so he cant please everyone all of the time. Not many head s of a charity or company would agree to an interview without prier knowledge of the questions. Hats off to him
He was also correct in that the more those who live along or near the canals feel an 'ownership' the more they will support increased or maintained government support when the question comes up for renewal.
Agreed. I thought he came across brilliantly, giving answers which - though they might not be what particular interest groups want to hear - were honest & fulsome.
The London live aboard issue to me is not the CRT's problem. If there is no room or inadequate facilities, look elsewhere to live or to work instead of overloading the area. The issue is a very small part of the network with seemingly over expectations of services they want provided for free
A strong, challenging but fair interview … (mainstream media need to be reminded of what they are not doing in our world of rubbish 24hr news) the questions where logical and relevant … in turn and considering the questions where “fresh” i thought that was as open and honest as you will get from a chief exec. Already from part1 i have learned lot. Thank you both
What a fantastic interview and thank you for putting forwards all the questions that we were all dying to know the answers to …. You did an amazing job and Richard answered them all thoroughly and came across very genuine. Well done and thank you David 😃
Hi David, I am looking forward to the next part, very good hard hitting and well constructed questions. Just shows how respected you are to get this level of interview,
Congratulations David, and to Richard. You asked searching questions of Richard and, in my humble opinion, he did a great job answering them. His is a challenging job and to borrow a phrase from elsewhere, progress, not perfection is a realistic, indeed desirable goal. Thank you both for these informative videos.
David, as someone who is looking in from the outside, but interested in becoming a boater, I think you did a very good job of holding the director of the C&RT’s feet to the fire to get answers to boaters questions about the canals, decisions that are made, etc. There are other questions of course that boaters have and would like to see answered regarding funding past the 7 years I believe the director alluded to. Bravo for taking on this challenging query of what is going on with the canals that directly impacts boaters.
This interview was wonderful, and of course David is a professional so that's what I would expect. Thanks to The Big Cheese for being willing to sit for this interview especially when there were quite a lot of challenging questions. Thanks to you both.
David this has been a most excellent interview ,your questions were certainly incisive and to the point and you conducted it very professionally .Richard's answers were very very well presented ,he answered to the point and didn't try to talk around the questions you asked.He spoke very knowledgably on all questions and aspects and backgrounds of the topics.discussed .As I said prior to you seeking questions a lot of the questions could be answered by reading the CRT's Annual Report. All in all I feel the CRT under Richard is doing the best it can under the circumstances it faces. Well done David thank you I'm looking forward to Episode 2. Cheers from Canada
Great interview David. I thought Richard came across well, yes, he gave some 'stock' answers but overall they were thoughtful responses. I understand the challenge of the CRT to maintain the waterways for boaters but also widen the attraction to ensure future government funding. I think he explained this challenge well. Thank you for putting this together and for your amiable but challenging interview technique.
David: it’s amazing to see how far you’ve taken this project, CrushingTheCut. It’s become something I really look forward to. I’ve watched them all and may wind up going back to do it all over again. It’s been an absolute joy👍
On the charities and usage of money topic, I used to work for a charity that was swimming in money, and 70% of the staff could not give a damn where the money went; for example there website hosting bill with support was £6K p/a when I said i could reduce the cost to £600, which no drop is service and better support, they were not interested? their mind set was 'that's effort I cannot be bothered' where it should have been ' wow £5400 extra per year that we use to support someone, awesome!' .
@@keithtomey5046 In the UK the question you need to ask of any charity is "Do you pay your management?" If the answer is yes, then they're just another big business hiding behind charitable exemptions. When they're created by government to get rid of unprofitable agencies (as was the case with the CRT being created out of those bits of British Waterways which couldn't be sold off) then it takes the biscuit. I'm half expecting Network Rail to be converted by government to a charity when it becomes "Great British Railways" in a few years time. :-/
Maintaining a vast network like the CRT have under their control is a huge job. It's amazing the canals are operational at all. Regarding London, liveaboards in the city cannot expect to live there cheaply. Buy a house or apartment overlooking the canals is going to be VERY expensive. I can see that space in the city will be limited and I can't see that living on a boat in our capital should be any less expensive than living beside the canal. Boaters can't expect it to be any different for them.
The gist of what I got is that narrowboaters don't really want to know what their fees should be to completely cover the cost of everything that is on their wishlist. Has anyone ever calculated what the licensing fees should be if all funding came from just the boaters to accomplish what they want to see done?
Hey there, I don't know if you'll see this comment. So if the 218 million that the CRT spent on the network in 2021 was purely place on the boaters, the average license would cost £6228 (there are 35000 boaters).
I wouldn't trust the interviewee as far as I could throw him, and I don't even live on a boat, so I've no skin in this game. David did very well though, I'll grant you that. Such a pity he's selling his boat to move back to dry land (although he will keep vlogging and reporting), because I can see Liveaboards needing all the powerful advocates they can get...
I'll give Mr Parry credit for consenting to an interview with no conditions regarding what kind of questions could be asked, or knowledge of the specific questions in advance. That said, I found him to be fairly typical of a certain type of CEO. Articulate, well-meaning, intelligent and able to think on his feet and appear reasonable, but at the same time a man with an answer to everything and a solution for nothing. Nonetheless, really excellent viewing and kudos to both you David and as I said, to Mr Parry.
The funding question is interesting. You have to balance between what funders want and what people using the canal want. This seems to be a contentious issue for so many organisations in almost every field at the moment (before we even mention the canals). The only way around it is make it cost effective and I think to do that there needs to be a little more innovation.
Agree wholeheartedly. This happens when we move from public funded sources to private sources. Happening everywhere, even in public higher education in US.
@@sharisummers2812 - Many for profit higher education firms in the USA have gone out of business recently. Many of these failures could not handle the virus pandemic.
Good to see a video where the interviewee gets more talk time than the interviewer. :) Also, can't be an easy job to manage, besides for the issues talked about, there has got to be a ton of different conflicting interests along all those miles of canals.
Oh my gosh! And not prompting for an answer... My least favorite thing in an interview where the interviewer just feeds them the response they'd like. That's not news folks, that's just plain' ol' entertainment. So nice not to have that here.
So delighted you asked my question 'does he have a boat', what a shame we couldn't then ask what type of toilet he has. Clearly (with respect) he is very detached from live aboard boat life imho. David your interview was very professional well done.
Boat ownership would not necessarily make him feel beholden to constant cruisers or to live-aboarders or any other part of the community. Watching CRUISING THE CUT will give him all the vicarious 'hands-on' information he needs. All WITHOUT opening himself to inevitable claims of conflict of interest in favor of 'his' style of boat use.
One thing that does always impress me is the speed with which the CRT reacts when there's an embankment collapse such as not long ago on the Middlewich.
I think he responded well to the questions. In a position where your going to not make everyone happy you do have to have a certain caliber to deliver the needs of the community.
All those years at ITV, on a subject that is close to his heart, perfect person to do this interview. I hope he does a follow up in a years time or so.
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant! You are truly the gold standard for these narrowboat channels. There are so many others (Robbie, foxes and a few others) but this one is the only one that is just brilliant and informative. It’s like watching a documentary on Netflix or something , your skills show through presenting and challenging him. Brilliant, Truly I mean it. Take a bow, son!
I look after Pensioner housing complexes and networks. I have watched all of David's Cut videos. It struck me very quickly that they seem the same - people sitting and stewing in their little domiciles. I did wonder how that dynamic played out, and this video confirms that. Eventually people in those situations become fixated. Its inevitable.
Great interview, well presented and thanks to Richard for sparing his time. Unfortunately I'm not a boater despite holding a helmsman's ticket but I think the waterways are in good hands, Richard has one of those jobs where you are damned if you do and damned if you don't sort of scenarios and it can't be easy satisfying all parties and he addressed your questions head on so nice to hear his responses.
So many comments about canals these days seem to relate to house prices. It is NOT the role of the C&RT to solve the housing crisis of this country. Especially in London.
That was very good David, its great to have an interviewer that doesn't just try to get a rise out of the interviewee. That guy clearly has a lot of conflicting interests and I don't envy him at all, its a reasonably high pressure job, in contrast to the many boaters that take to the canals to avoid just that. Just an observation. I did note the comparison of my own village on the Isle Of Skye, where property prices are rising, holiday lets abound ect, a similar case in London, where, it would be nice to have "affordable moorings", like affordable homes, for the locals and their descendants. Oh, I did not see, there is a part 2, roll up the sleeves.... here we go again.
It is sad that there are a lot of villages here in Scotland, and probably England and Wales too where the property prices are getting such that the people who were born there can't afford to buy houses to stay there. The worst bit is the houses bought as holiday homes that are empty most of the time, that deprives people of being able to live in these areas.
Excellent interview. However, with someone who has no skin in the game (I live overseas), and as someone with corporate experience, I am sensitive to the words people use in answering difficult questions. I can quickly pick "weasel words" such as "we are committed to," "on balance," "it goes without saying," "we have to take all sides into consideration," "we continue to reach out to," "it is our intention to", and so many more I could list. Many of these type of replies are used as (1) excuses, (2) avoidance tactics, or (3) a cover for lack of action. Both your CRT CEO and most politicians are extremely well versed in ducking questions and giving ambiguous answers! However, your journalistic skills and passion for the cut shone through and halted some of the "wriggle room" responses. Well done.
I wonder how many of boaters are volunteers to maintain/develop the canal system. As a home owner I am responsible to maintain not only our home but also the grounds on which it sits. I volunteer for organisations that I have little prospects of making full use of! The old saying of physician heal thy self comes to mind.
This is key right here. Few people are willing to invest their time in something. So many people want to just spend their money and assume that entitles them to a tailored and perfect experience. What could be a lot of money to them is barely a drop in the bucket that needs to be filled, but because it was a lot of money for them they feel it's a lot of money in the grand scheme of things and holds importance.
Excellent piece of journalism and very well challenged and questioned. I think you helped him give a very positive impression. Thank you so much David, your mini documentaries are a reference. Congratulation.
A big “well done” to you (and to the CEO) for a great interview. Right amount of “awkward” questions and skilful pauses to get the best out of the opportunity. As a 6 months a year boater, I was encouraged by his answers. Off to listen to part 2.
David is such a professional, this is such good content,always impressive, always fantastic, its almost like David knows what he is doing.....almost.... :P.. And srsly guys, he releases this for free on RUclips,i dunno how the algorithm works, don't care, just hope hes making a living being a vlogger, cos his content is top notch. also i think Thomas Shelby in the background of your intro.
Good interview on both accounts, I think. Not a likely prospect that all parties are ever completely satisfied: always better service to be had and to give, and greater improvements desireable. A useful conversation about real questions with always the possibliity for positive outcomes up the line. Thanks for your professionalism, David, and Richard as well.
Great job David. We enjoyed you getting your message across and we applaud the candid answers your guest provided. Fair and honest dialogue from both sides. Well done.
Fascinating interview. Essentially he confirmed what boaters have suspected all along that they matter less than towpath users. But to give him credit he volunteered to do this interview so well done to him.
I think the fact that there IS a Canal and River Trust actively caring for the canal system is brilliant! In the States there is no such thing and it shows.
We don't have but a few canals. England has a massive canal system dating back to the industrial revolution. We have a massive river and lake network narrow boats can't survive on.
A USA canal system would be incredible. Imagine Maine to Florida to Texas to California in a canal boat & being built from scratch it could be made large enough for X-Large narrow boats for luxury cruising. It would create 10's of 1000's of permanent jobs.
The canals can not only be for the boaters. If the general public and the population is not involved in that valuable heritage and leisure infrastructure it will not be sustainable. Every lover and user of the canals and their surroundings count and are equally important. Shortsighted tribalry is counterproductiv. Very interesting conversation, David.
David David... Expect some exhausting exceptional inspections coming to your beloved narrowboat soon.. Questioning the reason for the boss's salary... Huuuuuu... Very nicely done, daring, thoughtful interview, thanks for this!
Lovely video, very British interview, honestly, I lack your school of journalism these days David. As a member of Board support team in a big company, I know the struggles Richard has to face, I couldn't hold an office like that, I would end up in a fisticuffs with someone by the end of my first week.
The british Canals are a UK national treasure, if you arent competitive (salary wise) enough to have the right (competent) people taking care of them, those persons will leave and join other companies where they will be better paid. and in consequence of that, incompetents will take charge and the canal network wont be well taken care of, leading to more spending in the future... so looking at the numbers and the vast extent of the network they are taking care of, i dont think that their salary is a scandal at all... Brilliant interview, as always, thank you so much, David, hope you are doing well.
The problem is that across the UK senior management have become an expensive merry-go-round where competence is irrelevant. A CEO in banking today could be a CEO in public transport tomorrow, in manufacturing next week and for the CRT next year; the whole "paying the competitive salary" thing is a blatant lie by people who are justifying their own inflated costs. Interestingly the executives justifying inflated "competitive" salaries to senior managers all seem to run businesses which rely on minimum-wage part-time staff so they can get round the costs of employing full-time staff who are themselves paid attractive salaries. It never ceases to amaze me how many people are hoodwinked by this sort of bull.
Once again Brilliant content, informative issues, the process is constantly moving, like the canal facing the realities of nature. Thanks David... well done.
Sounded like a very well done and professional interview! Not that i expected anything other than a quality product from you Davide, but i also believe having an intelligent and caring person on the other side certainly helped!! Nicely done sir!
Just doing the math here, based on this interview: The canal system costs about £200M, and there are about 35,000 boats. Bottom line is that the system costs about £6000 per boat, per year. Be thankful for the help you're getting from the government! (and yes, I'm a narrow boat lover, and go as often as I can)
that's also ~14 usd per foot (10 gbp), assuming they 2700 mile length from Wikipedia. You'd have a hard time building much for that price these days. Not saying there aren't issues, but it's not an easy task these folks have.
This is why you're the No1 Narrowboat Channel. You're not chasing views, like some I could mention, but trying to educate those new to narrowboating and be informative to those who have been on the cut for years. I thought you did really well and challenged Mr Parry when it was required. I do not agree with his answer regarding the auctioning of mooring spots. Whilst I understand they have to secure good value, as you quite rightly pointed out, it will always come down to the richest being able to secure those spots. Sadly, we will eventually see certain areas become gentrified and no-go areas for the regular boater as they will have nowhere to moor. Keep up the great work
Kiddos for the questions and especially the answers. Not an easy job that guy has. I’m sure he has never gotten a call saying “everything went fine today, thank you”.
I am not a narrowboat cruiser, and have only watched Part 1 so far. The impression I got was that Richard would make a typical politician. IE, answer in a way that you are left no further forward for the asking. You almost had him speechless a couple of times David.
Great job David! This was a polite but sharp interview. These are all big issues and will probably become sharper in the years to come. More people end up living on the canals due to housing costs. Others want to use the canals for recreation. As the numbers increased, there will be moments of conflict.
Firstly, commendable investigative journalism David. Some tough questions, well put . I’m Not going to do a number on the man , however, it has to be said; This chap is a typical politician, using platitudes and body swerving questions with aplomb. He mentions sustainability in one breath and then casually waves away the London over crowding issues, as well as justifying the auction question; and please , let’s not start on the compost/dry toilet debacle. You are simply exacerbating underlining and extenuating the actual problems by not urgently facing them head on . A Very passive approach. The CRT have had years to study these issues. “Let me make it clear” he says, without, miraculously, making anything actually clear. His reticence to respond to some of your questions and his body language speaks volumes. I’m all for the CRT and am a proud supporter of the guys on ground who work hard to maintain the canals, however, it seems as always, there are too many chiefs attempting To pacify the cash cows at money raising events, and until it is solved with a genuine nuts and bolts approach then then it is nothing more than lip service I’m afraid ; I do feel this chap, and his board, are painfully estranged from those who actually use, live on ,and love, the canal and the challenges all that brings. A problem must always be met with genuine a solution, and I didn’t hear a single solution in here other than “we are trying our best” .. Very Boris-esque if you ask me.
The most important job Richard has is securing further government funding for the canals in 2027, hopefully more than the current amount, but no less than that at the very least. If he doesn't, the canals are dead and they will fall into disrepair and be unusable within a few short years, lost forever. So thank your lucky stars he's a gifted politician, because it's politicians he'll have to persuade to keep the money flowing, not a handful of vagabond boaters, masses of uninterested canal neighbors or anyone else.
So Great! David bringing his game face and really prying into some thickets. And so much credit to Richard here for stepping into the firing line with our man to answer what he had to know would be tough questions. He deserves a tremendous amount of credit for going through with an interview which he had to know wouldn't be all softballs. All that said, if I may be permitted to put on my schoolboy face and smirk a bit because half-way through I realized this guy sounded a bit too much like Stuart Pearson (portrayed by Vincent Franklin) from the Thick of It. There is just something about their demeanor that struck me as ... well, they could be brothers? I just couldn't stop chuckling whenever his smooth, dulcet tones reminded me, "we see our strategy falling into two key elements: the first one, that sustainable future for the waterways ... secondly, making sure they contribute to the quality of life, today." ... "We need that big groundswell of support..." I'm sure he is a lovely bloke but be sure to runaway if he ever invites you to a retreat that forbids mobile phones. Too rich.
worthwhile interview educational plus informative .People need to be aware and focus on sustainability for future ,High price but defintly worth it, thanks again.
Crocodile Smiles. Brilliant! These two vlogs should be made into a TV documentary. Maybe chanel 4 would be interested? Many many questions answered here and very well done.
WOW! Cutting the interviewees long winded, circuitous reply to bring him back on target is rarely seen here in the States. Excellent interviewing skills sir. Though polite, you seem to have little patience for unneeded verbosity , perhaps why you have mostly left that world.
You might have noticed that they were both polite to each other, in the face of David's enthusiasm and bluntness, the answers were full of the most information that could be had. A good example of this is 19:05 which could have been argumentative but was taken as a way to clear up a point. If that's not what you expect of interviews, then maybe it's what you're seeing of interviews in your home ground is the thing
I think I’ve watch every video you have ever posted and they are all great. Not only do you have a passion for narrow boating but I think it’s great that you’ve let that passion take you in a new direction with your videos Hats off to you I look forward to every new video. If I ever make it to England I’d be more than happy to help you with your DIY projects those were my favorite videos. Again JOB WELL DONE!!!
Thank you David for arranging this very interesting and thought provoking interview. You manage to mix up the interesting long term plans for the CRT with some of the closer to home burning questions that affect boaters and other users of the canal system. Once again thank you for arranging this interview with an extremely busy man. Bravo.
My father was one of those who saved the canals if I recall he spoke of being a signatury to handing them.over to the CRT..Im hoping the waterways are kept
Thanks for organising this David, and trying to get the point across, that in spite of all the replies, no real acknowledgement was made about the appalling boaters facilities. Lack, and removal of water points, regular and frequent rubbish collection spots, long term broken maintenance at some toilet facilities! But thanks for trying 👍👏🌟. Joan
Well done David. Interesting listening to the responses given by head honcho. Market force's..... salaries against market comparables...... interesting to hear people are in place for money not the passion of providing the service. (Yes I'm very aware you can't pay bills with passion alone) if lots of people gauged wages on risk they wouldn't accept the wages for the responsibility their jobs have.
Really good questions, great interview The best way to stay a non-profit is to pay your employees more I did find him a bit "hard to pin down", not unlike a politician
Also, just to add, this is one of the most British interviews ive ever seen, and i frequently watch the house of commons. Davids "Resting bitch face" is priceless.
Wow David I was impressed with the content I've heard from above. Although I live in the US and would LOVE to come to the UK and see the canals, but watching RUclips canalboat videos, I feel a part of their lives in a way. Great questions and looking forward to seeing PART 2 in a second.
This, because of Cruising the Cut, has become a world wide event. People from all over the world will donate to this cause.
I think it's clear that one of the hardest things for boaters to accept in all of this is that they are a technical minority. While the canals are made for boats primarily, in terms of use and cost per capita, they are some of the most expensive for the least numbers of people, even after the boating license is taken into account.
If you say there are 35k licensed boats, and about 1/3 (12k) are live aboard or continuous cruisers, that's not very many people. For a live aboard it would probably be fair to say an average of three people per boat (generous), and that means only about 36,000 people are CC/LA. Holiday/part time boats probably carry more than twice that figure (72k+).
This, I believe, is a root of some of the conflict. A relatively small population of CC/LA boaters require a large amount of resources. They are also the ones most affected by changes to mooring times, facilities issues, etc, so they always feel the changes first and hardest.
When he talks about the big picture, that then plays into this issue where boaters don't feel heard. This hits harder when issues that affect CC the most, like composting toilets, come up. As vast as the network is, and as expensive as it is, it cannot afford to cater to CCs, LAs, or even boaters in general. It has to get buy in from other stakeholders, and that means that by definition, boaters will not always get priority or even what's necessary for LA lifestyles. That's a legitimately hard pill to swallow, but a truth that needs to be understood.
The objective of a non-profit is to act as a coordinator for a non-profitable venture. (i.e. in this case a money suck whose value is perceived in heritage, lifestyle of boaters, walkers, etc.). The fact that it's a money suck means a huge portion of their resources are going to be determined by garnering support and funding. So while boaters may think a boat license "entitles them" in some way to a service (like a shop where profit is the objective), they are simply contributing to the money needed for an otherwise unprofitable venture where money is moving in one direction (out).
Imagine a reservoir at the top of a hill where the water for the lock is low. If there isn't enough water coming in, it's not going to be able to supply the boaters who want to go up the staircase. So water needs to be pumped up, but energy to pump it needs to come from somewhere, as gravity/entropy works against you. The boating licenses are simply helping pay the electric to keep the pump operating.
Well done Sir.
Ive heard from many journalists such as yourself, "Do your research" You instantly set this powerful gentleman at ease and got a truely good interview, You treated him with respect and knowledge, He gave you the interview of his life.
Congrats Sir.
David I haven't seen you this on point in a long time! I love your jounalism here. I also have to say Richard is very quick on his feet and (granted I'm an American) but seems to know his canals, the politics involved with maintaining them and is doing his best to balance several different needs placed on the waterways.
I was disappointed that there was no mention of 43,000 people needing to donate £5 to the trust just to cover Richard’s salary
Richard's salary was discussed along with that of his exec team.
@@peep5330 there's a major shift in nonprof senior compensation packages that started in the late 1990s. Nonprofs learned that if they wanted to retain talent they had to be almost competitive with the for profit world. People won't take positions witg the risk Richard's has without feeling they have both the top coverage from the board amd a feeling they are being treated fair when it comes to pay & benefits.
David this is brilliant. You really show your caliber as a journalist. Richard was very quick and on point. You did not softball difficult questions and you allow Richard to answer. Your follow up questions demonstrate a thoutful consideration of those you are presenting this video. I am really looking forward to part two. This really shines a light on why I love your videos whether you are faffing about rust or presenting a related topic. Thank you.
Thank you
I am very impressed with the man in charge. I am very under impressed with some of the canal boaters selfish attitudes and demands. Canal boaters are not covering the cost of the canal network; not a problem on a shared facility. If you want to make demands and have all your complaints addressed then you have to pay for them; otherwise you can only fit into the group plan. The network is in a good part funded by the rest of the public, so as he says they need to be included in the CRT's priorities.
I guess it is under-funded in proportion to how many people use the waterways. They do however pay a license fee of >£1000. (which is a great deal more than we pay for our road fund license). Unfortunately, if canal boaters were expected to cover the cost of the network independently we would end up with this being a lifestyle/pasttime that only the very rich and elite of society could afford. It's a difficult one.
Well Done David to get this interview organized. Respect and thanks to the CEO for making himself available for this interview.
Not a boater but enjoyed this, very well done David and respect to Mr CEO for taking it on and being generous with his time.
I'm not going to comment on Richard's competence as I know nothing about it. As you stated at the beginning, he went into this somewhat blind, yet answered every question with a good, thoughtful answer. I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't a grey hair on his head before taking on his position, and he is correct about salaries needing to be at a certain level to attract top people for certain positions. Great interview.
Excellent interview, David. Thank you so much for doing this outstanding and professional discussion of the issues, problems and competing factions that make up the CRT. What seems lost to me a lot of times when I listen to RUclips Narrowboat vlog authors is that they seem to forget that the canal they are on is part of a system of environmental resources that must be shared and balanced across more users than just themselves. Naturally boaters, especially live-a boards can begin to think of the canals as their own domain since they are experiencing the canal from their own home, their narrowboat. Yes they pay license and yes they expect certain services to be available to them for that license. But the canal system is also used by rowers, walkers, bicyclists, fisher-people, wildlife, tourists, etc. It is a valuable asset for villages, cafés and restaurants, green space enjoyment, water management and becomes an attractive and historically important feature across the broad landscapes of rural and urban life. I highly doubt that any of those users of the canal system pay into its maintenance in any sort of way. As a result the CRT is providing a tremendous amount of value across a very large array of needs not just for boaters who use the waterways. It is a massively complex infrastructure and the fact that it is basically run by a charity is a stellar achievement in this modern era. Perhaps those boaters who want to complain about the poor service they are receiving could take some time and do volunteer work to help the CRT and thus they might begin to appreciate more what does get done.
Spot on. Very well articulated and balanced view. As always the minority are only interested in what goes on, on their own doorstep.
In this episode, David "I'm not a reporter" Brown brings the heat to the CEO of CRT.
Great episode, and that man has a TOUGH job. Even if he had all the money he needed, it would be a tough job.
David, you put him on the hotseat and to his credit he had some actual answers and not just endless platitudes. Brilliant.
What a brave person, to take on the C&RT - A case of where no one is going to be happy with you. I must complement you David, in this was not a simple love-fest for the CRT, but a very pointed and honest conversation about the whole network!
To be honest, before even watching the video, I have the absolute outmost respect for this guy for turning up to be interviewed by, someone, honestly, is fairly small in the sphere of youtube (but I would say big in the cruising/living sphere).
I hope only positive things will come out of this, and that people will maybe even stop thinking the CRT as this evil overlord, and I wish him all the best.
Good interview David and I think the CRT fellow was pretty well briefed and was not ducking answers. Some of his answers might seem formulaic as he probably has to deal with funders that use that language all day every day. He appeared to have some or a lot of knowledge of the majority of subjects you addressed - and, by the way, your editing and production values are top quality.
As an American who plans to do a boat holiday this year, I won't be involved in ongoing matters, But, I think Richard is a sincere and intelligent guy. I certainly hope he will not bend to monopoly, as is so easily done here in my state. Let's hope for a balance, and not neglect as the final decision. Hoping for the best, and thank you so much, David, for this interview! Well Done.
He sounds just like every British politician you might hear on local television/radio. 😉
Cheers
@@lefroy1 And also just like every British CEO, because that's what he is. Why expect anything different?
When the big cheese meets the cheese sandwich, great interview, I admire the candor, no prep and not throwing softballs 😎
Very good interview. The bottom line is that the canals are hugely expensive to maintain and the C&RT get nowhere near enough money to do this in the way everyone would like. It's the same in every area of British society.
I like this Guy He answered every question with a straight answer. He is right Canals are for everyone not just boaters so he cant please everyone all of the time. Not many head s of a charity or company would agree to an interview without prier knowledge of the questions. Hats off to him
He was also correct in that the more those who live along or near the canals feel an 'ownership' the more they will support increased or maintained government support when the question comes up for renewal.
Agreed. I thought he came across brilliantly, giving answers which - though they might not be what particular interest groups want to hear - were honest & fulsome.
The London live aboard issue to me is not the CRT's problem. If there is no room or inadequate facilities, look elsewhere to live or to work instead of overloading the area. The issue is a very small part of the network with seemingly over expectations of services they want provided for free
A strong, challenging but fair interview … (mainstream media need to be reminded of what they are not doing in our world of rubbish 24hr news) the questions where logical and relevant … in turn and considering the questions where “fresh” i thought that was as open and honest as you will get from a chief exec. Already from part1 i have learned lot. Thank you both
What a fantastic interview and thank you for putting forwards all the questions that we were all dying to know the answers to …. You did an amazing job and Richard answered them all thoroughly and came across very genuine. Well done and thank you David 😃
Hi David,
I am looking forward to the next part, very good hard hitting and well constructed questions. Just shows how respected you are to get this level of interview,
Congratulations David, and to Richard. You asked searching questions of Richard and, in my humble opinion, he did a great job answering them. His is a challenging job and to borrow a phrase from elsewhere, progress, not perfection is a realistic, indeed desirable goal. Thank you both for these informative videos.
David, as someone who is looking in from the outside, but interested in becoming a boater, I think you did a very good job of holding the director of the C&RT’s feet to the fire to get answers to boaters questions about the canals, decisions that are made, etc. There are other questions of course that boaters have and would like to see answered regarding funding past the 7 years I believe the director alluded to. Bravo for taking on this challenging query of what is going on with the canals that directly impacts boaters.
Thank you
This interview was wonderful, and of course David is a professional so that's what I would expect. Thanks to The Big Cheese for being willing to sit for this interview especially when there were quite a lot of challenging questions. Thanks to you both.
David this has been a most excellent interview ,your questions were certainly incisive and to the point and you conducted it very professionally .Richard's answers were very very well presented ,he answered to the point and didn't try to talk around the questions you asked.He spoke very knowledgably on all questions and aspects and backgrounds of the topics.discussed .As I said prior to you seeking questions a lot of the questions could be answered by reading the CRT's Annual Report. All in all I feel the CRT under Richard is doing the best it can under the circumstances it faces.
Well done David thank you I'm looking forward to Episode 2.
Cheers from Canada
Great interview David.
I thought Richard came across well, yes, he gave some 'stock' answers but overall they were thoughtful responses.
I understand the challenge of the CRT to maintain the waterways for boaters but also widen the attraction to ensure future government funding. I think he explained this challenge well.
Thank you for putting this together and for your amiable but challenging interview technique.
David: it’s amazing to see how far you’ve taken this project, CrushingTheCut. It’s become something I really look forward to. I’ve watched them all and may wind up going back to do it all over again. It’s been an absolute joy👍
Thank you so much!
hear hear
On the charities and usage of money topic, I used to work for a charity that was swimming in money, and 70% of the staff could not give a damn where the money went; for example there website hosting bill with support was £6K p/a when I said i could reduce the cost to £600, which no drop is service and better support, they were not interested? their mind set was 'that's effort I cannot be bothered' where it should have been ' wow £5400 extra per year that we use to support someone, awesome!' .
"Charities" are capitalist businesses...
@@keithtomey5046 In the UK the question you need to ask of any charity is "Do you pay your management?" If the answer is yes, then they're just another big business hiding behind charitable exemptions. When they're created by government to get rid of unprofitable agencies (as was the case with the CRT being created out of those bits of British Waterways which couldn't be sold off) then it takes the biscuit.
I'm half expecting Network Rail to be converted by government to a charity when it becomes "Great British Railways" in a few years time. :-/
Maintaining a vast network like the CRT have under their control is a huge job. It's amazing the canals are operational at all.
Regarding London, liveaboards in the city cannot expect to live there cheaply. Buy a house or apartment overlooking the canals is going to be VERY expensive. I can see that space in the city will be limited and I can't see that living on a boat in our capital should be any less expensive than living beside the canal. Boaters can't expect it to be any different for them.
The gist of what I got is that narrowboaters don't really want to know what their fees should be to completely cover the cost of everything that is on their wishlist. Has anyone ever calculated what the licensing fees should be if all funding came from just the boaters to accomplish what they want to see done?
Hey there, I don't know if you'll see this comment. So if the 218 million that the CRT spent on the network in 2021 was purely place on the boaters, the average license would cost £6228 (there are 35000 boaters).
Both interviewer and interviewee were very good.
I wouldn't trust the interviewee as far as I could throw him, and I don't even live on a boat, so I've no skin in this game.
David did very well though, I'll grant you that. Such a pity he's selling his boat to move back to dry land (although he will keep vlogging and reporting), because I can see Liveaboards needing all the powerful advocates they can get...
I'll give Mr Parry credit for consenting to an interview with no conditions regarding what kind of questions could be asked, or knowledge of the specific questions in advance. That said, I found him to be fairly typical of a certain type of CEO. Articulate, well-meaning, intelligent and able to think on his feet and appear reasonable, but at the same time a man with an answer to everything and a solution for nothing.
Nonetheless, really excellent viewing and kudos to both you David and as I said, to Mr Parry.
tbf as wirh pretty much any public sector CEO he has the fundamental issue of not enough funding to provide proper solution for anything
The funding question is interesting. You have to balance between what funders want and what people using the canal want. This seems to be a contentious issue for so many organisations in almost every field at the moment (before we even mention the canals). The only way around it is make it cost effective and I think to do that there needs to be a little more innovation.
Agree wholeheartedly. This happens when we move from public funded sources to private sources. Happening everywhere, even in public higher education in US.
@@sharisummers2812 - Many for profit higher education firms in the USA have gone out of business recently. Many of these failures could not handle the virus pandemic.
Excellent, thorough and on-point journalism. A piece I might add that you have no doubt produced yourself, in every aspect.
Good to see a video where the interviewee gets more talk time than the interviewer. :) Also, can't be an easy job to manage, besides for the issues talked about, there has got to be a ton of different conflicting interests along all those miles of canals.
Oh my gosh! And not prompting for an answer... My least favorite thing in an interview where the interviewer just feeds them the response they'd like. That's not news folks, that's just plain' ol' entertainment. So nice not to have that here.
So delighted you asked my question 'does he have a boat', what a shame we couldn't then ask what type of toilet he has. Clearly (with respect) he is very detached from live aboard boat life imho. David your interview was very professional well done.
Yes- that made him stumble around a bit even though he was prepared for the questions!
Hi, he wasn't prepared except for anything he'd read in the comments on the "any questions?" video I'd had up very briefly.
Boat ownership would not necessarily make him feel beholden to constant cruisers or to live-aboarders or any other part of the community. Watching CRUISING THE CUT will give him all the vicarious 'hands-on' information he needs. All WITHOUT opening himself to inevitable claims of conflict of interest in favor of 'his' style of boat use.
@@CruisingTheCut Thanks- good to know!
One thing that does always impress me is the speed with which the CRT reacts when there's an embankment collapse such as not long ago on the Middlewich.
Some great tough questions - but he did well to try and explain the challenges of the CRT - great interview, really insightful
I think he responded well to the questions. In a position where your going to not make everyone happy you do have to have a certain caliber to deliver the needs of the community.
Thank you David for your excellent interview technique.
All those years at ITV, on a subject that is close to his heart, perfect person to do this interview. I hope he does a follow up in a years time or so.
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant! You are truly the gold standard for these narrowboat channels. There are so many others (Robbie, foxes and a few others) but this one is the only one that is just brilliant and informative. It’s like watching a documentary on Netflix or something , your skills show through presenting and challenging him. Brilliant, Truly I mean it. Take a bow, son!
David and Richard both, so well done and informative.
Kudos to this man, for fielding questions 'off the cuff'.
Good informative vid, David - thank you.
I look after Pensioner housing complexes and networks. I have watched all of David's Cut videos. It struck me very quickly that they seem the same - people sitting and stewing in their little domiciles.
I did wonder how that dynamic played out, and this video confirms that. Eventually people in those situations become fixated. Its inevitable.
Great interview, well presented and thanks to Richard for sparing his time. Unfortunately I'm not a boater despite holding a helmsman's ticket but I think the waterways are in good hands, Richard has one of those jobs where you are damned if you do and damned if you don't sort of scenarios and it can't be easy satisfying all parties and he addressed your questions head on so nice to hear his responses.
So many comments about canals these days seem to relate to house prices. It is NOT the role of the C&RT to solve the housing crisis of this country. Especially in London.
That was very good David, its great to have an interviewer that doesn't just try to get a rise out of the interviewee. That guy clearly has a lot of conflicting interests and I don't envy him at all, its a reasonably high pressure job, in contrast to the many boaters that take to the canals to avoid just that. Just an observation. I did note the comparison of my own village on the Isle Of Skye, where property prices are rising, holiday lets abound ect, a similar case in London, where, it would be nice to have "affordable moorings", like affordable homes, for the locals and their descendants.
Oh, I did not see, there is a part 2, roll up the sleeves.... here we go again.
It is sad that there are a lot of villages here in Scotland, and probably England and Wales too where the property prices are getting such that the people who were born there can't afford to buy houses to stay there. The worst bit is the houses bought as holiday homes that are empty most of the time, that deprives people of being able to live in these areas.
Excellent interview. However, with someone who has no skin in the game (I live overseas), and as someone with corporate experience, I am sensitive to the words people use in answering difficult questions. I can quickly pick "weasel words" such as "we are committed to," "on balance," "it goes without saying," "we have to take all sides into consideration," "we continue to reach out to," "it is our intention to", and so many more I could list. Many of these type of replies are used as (1) excuses, (2) avoidance tactics, or (3) a cover for lack of action. Both your CRT CEO and most politicians are extremely well versed in ducking questions and giving ambiguous answers! However, your journalistic skills and passion for the cut shone through and halted some of the "wriggle room" responses. Well done.
Well said!
I wonder how many of boaters are volunteers to maintain/develop the canal system. As a home owner I am responsible to maintain not only our home but also the grounds on which it sits. I volunteer for organisations that I have little prospects of making full use of! The old saying of physician heal thy self comes to mind.
This is key right here. Few people are willing to invest their time in something. So many people want to just spend their money and assume that entitles them to a tailored and perfect experience. What could be a lot of money to them is barely a drop in the bucket that needs to be filled, but because it was a lot of money for them they feel it's a lot of money in the grand scheme of things and holds importance.
Excellent piece of journalism and very well challenged and questioned. I think you helped him give a very positive impression. Thank you so much David, your mini documentaries are a reference. Congratulation.
A big “well done” to you (and to the CEO) for a great interview. Right amount of “awkward” questions and skilful pauses to get the best out of the opportunity. As a 6 months a year boater, I was encouraged by his answers. Off to listen to part 2.
David is such a professional, this is such good content,always impressive, always fantastic, its almost like David knows what he is doing.....almost.... :P.. And srsly guys, he releases this for free on RUclips,i dunno how the algorithm works, don't care, just hope hes making a living being a vlogger, cos his content is top notch.
also i think Thomas Shelby in the background of your intro.
Good interview on both accounts, I think. Not a likely prospect that all parties are ever completely satisfied: always better service to be had and to give, and greater improvements desireable. A useful conversation about real questions with always the possibliity for positive outcomes up the line. Thanks for your professionalism, David, and Richard as well.
Great job David. We enjoyed you getting your message across and we applaud the candid answers your guest provided. Fair and honest dialogue from both sides. Well done.
Two videos in a row - yes.
Fascinating interview. Essentially he confirmed what boaters have suspected all along that they matter less than towpath users. But to give him credit he volunteered to do this interview so well done to him.
well, 9 million pissed off towpath users is a sizable political force, eh?
@@Krieghandt especially if they all took to the towpath at the same time. Frightening.
I think the fact that there IS a Canal and River Trust actively caring for the canal system is brilliant!
In the States there is no such thing and it shows.
Wouldn’t it be cool if in 100 years or so someone in the states restores Route 66 and operates it in the same way the CRT is operated ?
We don't have but a few canals. England has a massive canal system dating back to the industrial revolution. We have a massive river and lake network narrow boats can't survive on.
A USA canal system would be incredible. Imagine Maine to Florida to Texas to California in a canal boat & being built from scratch it could be made large enough for X-Large narrow boats for luxury cruising. It would create 10's of 1000's of permanent jobs.
Our infrastructure as a whole, is $hit.
@@Random-rt5ec you can actually do that route. They call it the great circle. Only a small part of it is on canals though.
The canals can not only be for the boaters. If the general public and the population is not involved in that valuable heritage and leisure infrastructure it will not be sustainable. Every lover and user of the canals and their surroundings count and are equally important. Shortsighted tribalry is counterproductiv. Very interesting conversation, David.
David David...
Expect some exhausting exceptional inspections coming to your beloved narrowboat soon..
Questioning the reason for the boss's salary...
Huuuuuu...
Very nicely done, daring, thoughtful interview, thanks for this!
Yikes 🤣
Very good interview, this. Your background in regional TV news really comes to the fore here, David. Absolute pro job(!).
Your experience shows, David! Thanks
Good proper journalism!
David, you do such excellent work; thoughtful, well informed, professional. Well done! 👍
BLIMEY DAVID... YOU PUT HIM ON THE ROPES..VERY NICELY DONE AND WELL DONE.. LOOOKING FOR PT2 RIGHT NOW.. TONE
Link to Part Two is in the video description 😀
Lovely video, very British interview, honestly, I lack your school of journalism these days David. As a member of Board support team in a big company, I know the struggles Richard has to face, I couldn't hold an office like that, I would end up in a fisticuffs with someone by the end of my first week.
The british Canals are a UK national treasure, if you arent competitive (salary wise) enough to have the right (competent) people taking care of them, those persons will leave and join other companies where they will be better paid. and in consequence of that, incompetents will take charge and the canal network wont be well taken care of, leading to more spending in the future... so looking at the numbers and the vast extent of the network they are taking care of, i dont think that their salary is a scandal at all...
Brilliant interview, as always, thank you so much, David, hope you are doing well.
Ugh, this old myth again. For every CEO job there are thousands of people who are competent to do it.
The problem is that across the UK senior management have become an expensive merry-go-round where competence is irrelevant. A CEO in banking today could be a CEO in public transport tomorrow, in manufacturing next week and for the CRT next year; the whole "paying the competitive salary" thing is a blatant lie by people who are justifying their own inflated costs.
Interestingly the executives justifying inflated "competitive" salaries to senior managers all seem to run businesses which rely on minimum-wage part-time staff so they can get round the costs of employing full-time staff who are themselves paid attractive salaries.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people are hoodwinked by this sort of bull.
Once again Brilliant content, informative issues, the process is constantly moving, like the canal facing the realities of nature. Thanks David... well done.
Tight interview. Canal was made for canal boats. So rowers can adapt to the situation instead of removing morings. Thanks for the interview. 👍🏻✌🏻🇨🇦
👍✌️🏴☠️ Liverpool;))
Only thing, in the instance cited, the rowers were on the river.
Good job David! You're an excellent journalist! I like that you are fair and are not out to sell drama but to facilitate communication. Well done!
Quality interview. Some shaky and "by the book" answers but glad for the time of the Big Cheese to open questions.
Cheers
Sounded like a very well done and professional interview! Not that i expected anything other than a quality product from you Davide, but i also believe having an intelligent and caring person on the other side certainly helped!! Nicely done sir!
Just doing the math here, based on this interview: The canal system costs about £200M, and there are about 35,000 boats. Bottom line is that the system costs about £6000 per boat, per year. Be thankful for the help you're getting from the government! (and yes, I'm a narrow boat lover, and go as often as I can)
that's also ~14 usd per foot (10 gbp), assuming they 2700 mile length from Wikipedia. You'd have a hard time building much for that price these days. Not saying there aren't issues, but it's not an easy task these folks have.
This is why you're the No1 Narrowboat Channel. You're not chasing views, like some I could mention, but trying to educate those new to narrowboating and be informative to those who have been on the cut for years. I thought you did really well and challenged Mr Parry when it was required. I do not agree with his answer regarding the auctioning of mooring spots. Whilst I understand they have to secure good value, as you quite rightly pointed out, it will always come down to the richest being able to secure those spots. Sadly, we will eventually see certain areas become gentrified and no-go areas for the regular boater as they will have nowhere to moor. Keep up the great work
Excellent and very insightful interview. The broad thrust of one or two of my questions were covered so thank you David for that.
Kiddos for the questions and especially the answers. Not an easy job that guy has. I’m sure he has never gotten a call saying “everything went fine today, thank you”.
Wow. Good job David I've not watched it all yet but you're really pressing him on some things.
I am not a narrowboat cruiser, and have only watched Part 1 so far. The impression I got was that Richard would make a typical politician. IE, answer in a way that you are left no further forward for the asking. You almost had him speechless a couple of times David.
That's why he's CEO
Great job David! This was a polite but sharp interview. These are all big issues and will probably become sharper in the years to come. More people end up living on the canals due to housing costs. Others want to use the canals for recreation. As the numbers increased, there will be moments of conflict.
Firstly, commendable investigative journalism David. Some tough questions, well put .
I’m Not going to do a number on the man , however, it has to be said;
This chap is a typical politician, using platitudes and body swerving questions with aplomb. He mentions sustainability in one breath and then casually waves away the London over crowding issues, as well as justifying the auction question; and please , let’s not start on the compost/dry toilet debacle.
You are simply exacerbating underlining and extenuating the actual problems by not urgently facing them head on . A Very passive approach. The CRT have had years to study these issues.
“Let me make it clear” he says, without, miraculously, making anything actually clear.
His reticence to respond to some of your questions and his body language speaks volumes.
I’m all for the CRT and am a proud supporter of the guys on ground who work hard to maintain the canals, however, it seems as always, there are too many chiefs attempting To pacify the cash cows at money raising events, and until it is solved with a genuine nuts and bolts approach then then it is nothing more than lip service I’m afraid ;
I do feel this chap, and his board, are painfully estranged from those who actually use, live on ,and love, the canal and the challenges all that brings.
A problem must always be met with genuine a solution, and I didn’t hear a single solution in here other than “we are trying our best” ..
Very Boris-esque if you ask me.
The most important job Richard has is securing further government funding for the canals in 2027, hopefully more than the current amount, but no less than that at the very least. If he doesn't, the canals are dead and they will fall into disrepair and be unusable within a few short years, lost forever. So thank your lucky stars he's a gifted politician, because it's politicians he'll have to persuade to keep the money flowing, not a handful of vagabond boaters, masses of uninterested canal neighbors or anyone else.
So Great! David bringing his game face and really prying into some thickets.
And so much credit to Richard here for stepping into the firing line with our man to answer what he had to know would be tough questions. He deserves a tremendous amount of credit for going through with an interview which he had to know wouldn't be all softballs.
All that said, if I may be permitted to put on my schoolboy face and smirk a bit because half-way through I realized this guy sounded a bit too much like Stuart Pearson (portrayed by Vincent Franklin) from the Thick of It. There is just something about their demeanor that struck me as ... well, they could be brothers? I just couldn't stop chuckling whenever his smooth, dulcet tones reminded me, "we see our strategy falling into two key elements: the first one, that sustainable future for the waterways ... secondly, making sure they contribute to the quality of life, today." ... "We need that big groundswell of support..."
I'm sure he is a lovely bloke but be sure to runaway if he ever invites you to a retreat that forbids mobile phones. Too rich.
Thank you for asking
my question, 😉.
I've heard the answer many times.
I like your incisive interview style..nicely done!
worthwhile interview educational plus informative .People need to be aware and focus on sustainability for future ,High price but defintly worth it, thanks again.
Crocodile Smiles. Brilliant! These two vlogs should be made into a TV documentary. Maybe chanel 4 would be interested? Many many questions answered here and very well done.
WOW! Cutting the interviewees long winded, circuitous reply to bring him back on target is rarely seen here in the States. Excellent interviewing skills sir. Though polite, you seem to have little patience for unneeded verbosity , perhaps why you have mostly left that world.
You might have noticed that they were both polite to each other, in the face of David's enthusiasm and bluntness, the answers were full of the most information that could be had. A good example of this is 19:05 which could have been argumentative but was taken as a way to clear up a point. If that's not what you expect of interviews, then maybe it's what you're seeing of interviews in your home ground is the thing
I think I’ve watch every video you have ever posted and they are all great. Not only do you have a passion for narrow boating but I think it’s great that you’ve let that passion take you in a new direction with your videos Hats off to you I look forward to every new video. If I ever make it to England I’d be more than happy to help you with your DIY projects those were my favorite videos. Again JOB WELL DONE!!!
This guy will make a great politician, hedges around the questions
Thank you both for this wonderful dialogue, very impressive with you both, well done🙏✝️🕊🙏
Thank you David for arranging this very interesting and thought provoking interview. You manage to mix up the interesting long term plans for the CRT with some of the closer to home burning questions that affect boaters and other users of the canal system. Once again thank you for arranging this interview with an extremely busy man. Bravo.
My father was one of those who saved the canals if I recall he spoke of being a signatury to handing them.over to the CRT..Im hoping the waterways are kept
Thanks for organising this David, and trying to get the point across, that in spite of all the replies, no real acknowledgement was made about the appalling boaters facilities. Lack, and removal of water points, regular and frequent rubbish collection spots, long term broken maintenance at some toilet facilities! But thanks for trying 👍👏🌟. Joan
What I have learned is this guy has the most thankless job in the nation.
Well done David. Interesting listening to the responses given by head honcho. Market force's..... salaries against market comparables...... interesting to hear people are in place for money not the passion of providing the service. (Yes I'm very aware you can't pay bills with passion alone) if lots of people gauged wages on risk they wouldn't accept the wages for the responsibility their jobs have.
Really good questions, great interview
The best way to stay a non-profit is to pay your employees more
I did find him a bit "hard to pin down", not unlike a politician
Also, just to add, this is one of the most British interviews ive ever seen, and i frequently watch the house of commons.
Davids "Resting bitch face" is priceless.
That was a great interview----- well done to you
As an interested outsider from the states all I can say is "well done" to both of you. On to part 2 now.
Well done David. Questions spot on..., answers scaled all way round the cut!
Wow David I was impressed with the content I've heard from above. Although I live in the US and would LOVE to come to the UK and see the canals, but watching RUclips canalboat videos, I feel a part of their lives in a way. Great questions and looking forward to seeing PART 2 in a second.