Boris Johnson's Irish Sea tunnel shows lack of imagination

Boris Johnson's problem isn't a lack of aspiration, it's a lack of vision. Yes, mooting never-been-done-before transit links is fairly visionary but it's not outré enough to truly plant Mr Johnson in the history books, where he belongs.

Likely the prime minister's Greek studies have lead him to be well aware of the Eupalinian aqueduct and perhaps he hopes his legacy to be infrastructure still discussed 2700 years from now. 

If so, he's going to have to work a little bit harder than grandiose bridges and unfeasible airport schemes. Less wasting of public money on gardens that fail to bloom might help in his favour too. 

This time last year, almost to the day, the re-pitching of the idea of building a road bridge from Stranraer to Larne was roundly mocked by those with no sense of ambition.

There was a bit of gum bumping about the need for pillars the height of the Eiffel Tower.

Complaints about WWII munitions dumps. Some grumbling about a bit of bad weather.  
John F Kennedy announced his presidency would see a man fly to the moon and back within a decade. And he was right.

There's very little practical reason to fly to the moon. At least a Scotland/Northern Ireland subsea transport link would have its uses.

There seems to be some suggestion that the tunnel would be a way of avoiding the Northern Ireland protocol.

This is another cunningly impressive move from the government, avoiding customs checks on goods entering the region by sneaking them in under the sea.

Alright, Boris Johnson might have form with failure.

Let us not dwell too long on his 2015 plans for building the longest road tunnel in the world.

The 15.5 mile tunnel would have cut traffic congestion, snaking its way east to west beneath London, and, with a second tunnel underneath the city, cost just £15 billion.  

Those plans were quietly dropped but if at first you don't succeed... try a garden bridge, a floating airport and a bridge over the Channel to connect Britain and France.

When those all fail, try a bridge over the Irish Sea and then switch to a tunnel underneath it. 

At some point the new Portpatrick to Larne tunnel idea has been dubbed "Boris's Burrow" and that nomenclature must end now. 

One does wonder why Boris is so obsessed with transport schemes that will never happen.

He just enjoys grand gestures and a bit of thrusting, doesn't he? A Freudian confusion of little boy obsessed with train sets and grown man obsessed with phallic notions of driving into tunnels. 

It's all very literal, particularly in the case of linking mainland Britain with North Ireland, as though physical links are more important than constitutional or economic ties. 

His idea for a new transport link to the continent would have been hypocrisy, had there ever been any suggestion that Johnson could cleave in any meaningful way to a line of thinking so as to then contradict it.

The man is an ass but he's not entirely stupid.

He must know that a majority of people would rather than local investment in local transport, potholes mended and the jobs market stimulated than mull over the idea of waiting 20 years to be trapped underground in the burrow that Boris built.

So if he's going to make a name for himself by mooting fanciful travel schemes then at least keep us entertained with interesting ideas.

You can, after all, be as boldly ambitious as you like when suggesting plans that won't happen. 

Post-Trump, it's time to repair the special relationship while cutting carbon emissions. I'd be up for a London to New York monorail. Not particularly scenic but what a thrill. 

Britain has so many canal and river routes not being used to their maximum potential.

Active travel focuses on walking and cycling. What about cleaning up the waterways for swimming commutes. Imagine floating to work on a lilo. 

I'd happily walk more if it didn't take so long - travelators, anyone? 

The problem with the Irish Sea tunnel isn't that it's fantasy - it's that it's just not fantastical enough.