Dear Grant
I enjoyed hearing your enthusiastic presentation of railway reform. I agree fully with the aims you have set for the new railway. It must indeed be passenger focussed, concentrating on the basics of punctuality, comfort, cleanliness and great service. I also agree that you need to harness more private capital and ideas, and allow more competitive challenge to ensure innovation and rising service standards.
Your example of extra cost and wasted effort concerning attribution of blame for delays was well made. 400 people in the train operating companies and Network Rail arguing over who had caused a delay and who should therefore compensate is not ideal. It also illustrates the need to remodel the railways under leadership who wish to reduce these kinds of costs. The danger will be that the train companies will still keep people ready to dispute their responsibility for delay, as presumably their new contracts to run the services will contain penalty clauses for poor punctuality, whilst Great British Railways may keep the transferred staff from Network Rail and still engage on the other side arguing that it was not their fault. Simpler contracts with more objective data to quantify risk and blame would obviously help but will not eliminate all disputes with contractors.
As Great British Railways take over responsibility for timetables, there is a need to ensure they wish to challenge past patterns in a pro passenger way. Various Councils and local communities will be lobbying for faster and more direct routes, and for more frequent services. There needs to be a fair way of evaluating these bids, assessing value for money and likely demand levels. There also needs to be a good review method to examine line capacity. Network Rail tended to a cautious approach on line capacity, with a reluctance to expand it to accommodate new services. There are various ways of increasing the capacity, including the faster roll out of digital signalling which allows more use of the lines safely, and more by pass track sections to allow more fast trains to dodge the stopping trains on the same line. Faced with demands for more and different services there may well need to be decisions taken to expand some line capacity to allow competitive challenge. How will such decisions be taken?
It will also be important at this time of massive change in work patterns and travel needs for the railway to adapt to the new trainĀ travel demands, not to defend out of date service provision geared to five day a week commuting. Budgets need to allow changes to services and timetables, to permit improved capacity where needed, but to avoid subsidy for little used services which once commanded a decent number of passengers.
As they take over responsibility for service standards there will need to be decisions about how companies are rewarded for service innovation and good quality. How much can they expect to make by way of return from innovation? When and how will good new developments be rolled out across the network through other companies? Will there be any innovation franchise payment or one off contribution to the development costs for the innovator?
As they take over responsibility for routes will there be easy methodsĀ by which communities and rival companies can offer to provide a more frequent or more direct or faster service to a named town or area than the current Railway offers? If so, how will this be assimilated and used? The Hull Trains service is a good example of a challenger company delivering a better service for Hull passengers, but it was all too rare under Network Rail when potential service providers often faced a variety of obstacles which defended incumbents.
One of the areas where Network Rail often blocked progress was in property. The large Rail estate is suitable for joint ventures and development attached to the rail lines. The large central City stations have now received attention with several undergoing extensive mixed use redevelopment, but the large bulk of stations, sidings and yards on the network have not. Worst still Network Rail can be a problem for others seeking developments on their land nearby, as in my constituency where Network Rail wanted a substantial paymentĀ from the Council for wanting to place a bridge across the railway line to cut risks at the level crossing and to allow more housebuilding in the area.
None of this is easy. It will require a good constitution and objectives for Great British Railways, the choice of flexible and imaginative leadership and strategic Ministerial supervision to carry it off.
Yours etc
May 22, 2021
Dear Grant,
I had to drive to West and East London last week and noticed that following your encouragement of councils to block roads used by vehicles in favour of cycle lanes and traffic free zones, there was gridlock along the South Circular, Commercial Road and the entry to the Blackwall tunnel and, according to my London neighbors, gridlock everywhere. What are you going to do about it?
May 22, 2021
Government created gridlock just great for extra CO2 production, job destruction, economic damage, annoying the voters and decreasing the UKās ability to compete in the world.
May 22, 2021
They couldn’t be trying to get us minions off the roads could they?
May 22, 2021
FuS
“They couldnāt be trying to get us minions off the roads could they?”
Whatever gave you that idea ?
Was it the forced battery power and the threat to make petrol / diesel unavailable?
Is it the blatent vehicle excise duty robbery?
Enshrining Euro regs into the MOT ?
Emissions bullshit?
Bus Lanes ?
May 22, 2021
don’t forget cycle lanes
May 23, 2021
+1
May 22, 2021
@LL; Indeed, but I suspect the SoS at DfT is merely following his orders; all this pillow talk is costing the country a fortune, if the whispering can not be stopped then Boris will have to go.
May 22, 2021
A similar gridlock was created by Grant Shapps where I live.
What concerns me is that councils were given this money to implement changes before local users were consulted: pedestrians, drivers of vehicles getting children to school, elderly shoppers who might need to go by car and park outside the small shops on the parade, vans delivering goods to small businesses, etc., etc.
The pavements on both sides of the road were widened and the parking bay was scrapped to make way for a cycle lane. Fortunately it became so obviously a hazard that the whole area had to be de-Shapps’ed. But it was the waste of our money that was so outrageous. Not just the cost of putting in these changes but (luckily in our case) removing them.
And many people will remember his impact on the village of Welwyn, Hertfordshire.
Mr. Shapps should not be allowed anywhere near railway reform.
May 22, 2021
Dear Stred,
Answer – nothing. Blame Kahn. Not interested in helping motorists who must be taxed out of their cars and no interest in banning the super killer ‘Smart Motorways’, just spending more money on them by installing computers and radar which never work and cutting the people who have to watch them and hoping for the best.
Best wishes,
Grant.
May 22, 2021
It looks like the rail companies will be employing even more people to argue about the timetables now as well as reasons for delays. Can’t you persuade Shapps to join the Greens where he would feel more at home?
May 22, 2021
@Stred; Well the Greens do have the answer to the problem you raise, get rid of the TOCs!
BR was running trains, creating integrated timetables, they also innovated (when govt paymasters allowed), bought or leased locomotives and rolling stock from the private sector, long before the advent of the TOCs and music moguls or bus operators etc. who thought they could run a railway…
Not that a return to British Rail is the only answer, I have often put the case for fully integrated, autonomous, (truly) private regional railway companies based on geography, like there was between 1923 and 1948.
May 22, 2021
1940 to 1948 – speed limit on tracks due to zero maintenance prior to and during WW2. All rail companies running (more like walking) at enormous losses. Steam operation recognised to be due to being phased out. Oil import cost delayed steam replacement. Operating companies bought out by State to form BR. Gradual decline meant heavy losses borne by Government, so Marples (having an ‘interest’ in road haulage) greased the role of Dr Beeching to take a wrecking ball to BR, while encouraging road building – motorways. Then when the profits materialised buggered off out of the country. Perhaps HS2 and declaring the end of petrol, diesel and domestic gas is following history.
May 22, 2021
@Fred.H; “Oil import cost delayed steam replacement. “
That makes no sense, yet at the same time cheap oil imports was enabling a motor car and road haulage revolution! In fact oil was so cheap, in the late 1940s, there was a govt backed scheme to convert steam locomotives from coal to oil burning, because coal was scarce and expensive, but oil used in this way wasn’t a success for technical issues. There were many reason why there was a delay in replacing the steam engine with either diesel or electric locomotives here in the UK, much of it to do with uniquely British design issues (due to our restricted loading gauge) and of course the finance to buy or build them. Steam finished here in the UK in August 1968, West Germany and France were still using steam locomotives into the early to mid 1970s by comparison.
Speed restrictions of the sort you claim did not exists before the beginning of WW2, quite the opposite, the late 1930s were a period of streamlined speeds trails, speed records (most noteworthy between the two north-south railway companies, the LNER and LMS), with faster services, innovation and modernisation, especially south of the Thames. Of course maintenance suffered during WW2, there were other priorities, yet a Railway Executive govt ‘quango’ ran railway system helped win WW2.
Railway nationalisation was almost inevitable post war for various reasons [1], regardless which party was elected in 1945, had the Conservatives won they might not have called it nationalisation but the operational effects would have been much the same, the big four would have carried on being TOCs in effect with oversight being in the hands of the same Railway Executive that had taken overall control on the 1st Sept 1939. When the Conservatives again entered govt in 1951 it would have been relativity easy to have denationalised the railways, one has to ask why they did not do so.
As for Ernest Marples, indeed history has not been kind, and all self inflicted…
[1] such as massive unpaid govt war debts for work done my the private railway companies, modernisation was in effet that debt to the industry paid back
May 23, 2021
Apologies, again, the above comment (from @re wro) was from me, a miss hit Tab key changed the entry box focus!
May 22, 2021
I wish you luck with your letterās aims. Alas Grant Shapps with his HND from Manchester Poly in Business & Finance even thinks electric cars are āzero emissionā and that HS2 is a good āinvestmentā. What hope is there with such a foolish, deluded and scientifically ignorant dope as the current Transport Secretary ?
I see there are very serious plans to force people to switch to very expensive and largely pointless (even just in CO2 terms) heat pumps. Even to perhaps prevent any property sales before they have done so (theft of private assets in effect). Also to slowly force people to buy rather impractical and very expensive electric cars (that do not even save anu net CO2 anyway). This, one assume, to push up UK effective inflation hugely and vastly decrease peopleās living standards for no valid reason or benefit to the environment nor the climate.
Has the Right Hon. Member for Henley taken leave of his senses? It would seem so.
May 22, 2021
Biden seems to have the same insane greenwash agenda. Bidenās international policies are surely largely to blame for the appalling recent events in Israel Palestine.
Reply I am not a Biden supporter but he did press for a ceasefire.
May 22, 2021
LL, our approach to changing climate should be to mitigate it’s effect and to enjoy it’s benefits. For instance, deal with flooding where it might occur but enjoy Yorkshire produced wine.
The environment, a mostly man made problem, can be rectified largely within man’s engineering and scientific knowledge today. Biodegradable packaging and emmission control for instance. The pluses are less asthama, heart disease and a better health outlook in general once the obesity scurge of manufactured food is dealt with. Lot of vested interest lobby activity in this area so don’t expect too much dramatic action.
It would seem that Shell and BP have realised the inadequacies of electric cars and are exploring the possjbility of cheap hydrogen production. All is not lost even if government is. The market will decide.
May 22, 2021
It would seem that Shell and BP have decided they don’t want to be the next Kodak and have adapted their business model to future proof it. Let the market decide.
May 22, 2021
Kodak demise was due to customer choice, competition, technology and market freedom
The demise of the petrol car is due to government ban, EV subsidies and market restrictions
One view is capitalist and the other communist
May 22, 2021
Not really. Government restricts and limits all sorts of things which are bad for people and the planet.
May 23, 2021
Well the alternative to Kodak film worked and was much better and cheaper. Electric car batteries still have many issues and EV cars are worse and far more expensive. Oh and they do not even save any significant CO2 all considered and are not zero emission either.
May 22, 2021
@agricola; You are sweetly, and obediently, naive if you think “Climate Change” has anything what so ever to do with the changing climate!
May 22, 2021
So perhaps you could elucidate.
May 23, 2021
agricola
Very unusually the 30 posts a day Jerry has not responded.
May 22, 2021
We should indeed adapt as needed as when and if the climate changes in whatever direction. The idea that atmospheric C02 is some kind of world thermostat is moronic. It is just one of millions of factors affecting it. Most are not even knowable or predictable.
May 22, 2021
@Agricola, Shell were researching fuel cells in the late 60’s, I built one of their designs in 72-3.
Far from realising inadequacies these companies have realised there are business opportunites – BP operates the largest public charging network in the UK and Shell are building out their own network.
We’ll have to see if Hydrogen develops as a viable fuel for private ground transport but there is a long way to go on that route.
May 22, 2021
The Change of president and policy surely encouraged to initial attacks. He has rolled back a little but rather too late.
May 22, 2021
LL, undoubtedly, Donald Trump brought peace, reflection, realignment, and reassessment, whereas Biden has brought the (predicted) mayhem, death, and destruction, and, (prediction) more is to come.
May 22, 2021
Trump brought about the attempted overthrow of a democratically-elected legislature and – if their boasts are to be believed – the attempted murder of some of its persons by right wing fanatics.
Cut out the self-evident rubbish, please.
May 22, 2021
Reply to reply
Yes after it had mostly all happened and now he says it needs a two state solution. Genius! Politicians have been saying this for decades but nothing changes. Just keep doing the same and hoping for a different result – Insanity.
May 22, 2021
Correct ā it still is and will remain a single state until that single state concedes land and sovereignty of that land to create a new stateā¦.everyone talks two state, and some believe itās the current reality, but it isnāt, not until a newly formed sovereign state has been created and formally recognised by the UN and the other countries of the world.
Another solution might include a neighbouring third country conceding land to create a new stateā¦..but no country in the middle east would ever concede land therefore the dispute will continue forever
May 22, 2021
I am not sure about the name Great British Railways. An organisation that feels the need to claim it is āGreatā rarely is, just as an organisation that feels the need to claim it is āindependentā never is.
The totally deluded and hugely damaging āindependentā CCC for example:-
Climate Change Committee (CCC) is an independent, statutory body established under the Climate Change Act 2008. … Provide independent advice on setting and meeting carbon budgets and preparing for climate change. Monitor progress in reducing emissions and achieving carbon budgets and targets.
May 22, 2021
How can ‘setting and meeting carbon budgets and preparing for climate change, reducing emissions and achieving carbon budgets and targets’ be considered ‘independent advice’ when no other point of view is heard or tolerated?
May 22, 2021
Exactly!
May 22, 2021
Lifelogic,
Five out of ten posts for you today – 50% hit rate.
Mention of academic degree and institution attended ? Yes.
Mention of āGreenā? Yes.
May 22, 2021
Not sure I count HND at Manchester Poly as very academic. Other than “academic” in the sense of ‘of no import’. I mention green because I know that current mad agenda the government have is insane, will cost billions and achieve nothing. Even if some people do (quite wrongly) think C02 is some kind of world thermostat.
May 22, 2021
Is it very pro passenger to cut a service down to the basic legal requirement?
At a time when passengers are trying to reorganise their lives re GPS, dentists, opticians appointments etc etc it is suddenly more difficult than ever to actually get anywhere.
How helpful is that?
May 22, 2021
Sorry…that was not meant to be there!
May 22, 2021
Crass and cringeworthy as ever.
They probably alighted on āGreatā to steal a little kudos from Great Western ( which actually was Great!).
āBritishā reminds us of the multi culti hell hole they have created and celebrate at any possible juncture.
āRailwaysāwill, no doubt whatsoever, be highly debatable.
Unless of course this is to be wholly executive…for the rich only?
May 22, 2021
I thought the name Great Britain Railways (GBR) was due to NI being sold off to the EU ā otherwise it would have been called United Kingdom Railways (UKR)
May 22, 2021
Sold? Surrendered is more the case. ‘Boris’ likes appeasement – an always successful policy he thinks.
May 22, 2021
Iām sure you are correct!
I was being facetious.
May 22, 2021
LL
“I see there are very serious plans to force people to switch to very expensive and largely pointless (even just in CO2 terms) heat pumps. ”
……..Burn coal, then burn smokeless coal, then burn logs, then burn waste wood e.g pallettes etc.
It’s nothing to do with Co2, it’s all about enslaving the masses into debt. Don’t play their game, vote them out at the next GE before they can pull off the biggest scam in history.
“Has the Right Hon. Member for Henley taken leave of his senses?”
……depends what you define as senses, but a profesional psychoanalysis would reveal he’s no different than when he was a kid who wanted to be king of everyone. The only difference now is that he’s sold his soul to big money globalists to achieve his childhood dreams.
May 22, 2021
The first thing I would wish to evaluate is post covid demand in the short term and then the long term as the market settles. Call it know your customer.
You make no mention of freight. We know they can do bulk but what about using all that land they have to create freight distribution centres. Effectively getting freight off our roads Newcastle to Birmingham but running a white van operation at each end. The private sector does it well using planes and vans, railways have not woken to the opportunity since WW2.
How about a Ro Ro service to car owners wishing to go Birmingham to Newcastle in stress free comfort. The car drivers specific needs are answered because he has his car or motorbike at each end. It has to be no more expensive than the motoring cost. If beds and meals are needed in transit then no more expensive than a Travel Lodge or a Harvester.
All the above handled with the expertise of a DHL or Amazon could completely transform our railways, but I am not holding my breath, such that we will get that flexible vision and execution in the future.
May 22, 2021
agricola
Brilliant ideas.
Pity we have not enough committed politicians who like you can think outside the box.
Oooh I forgot. They are not in the box in the first place
May 22, 2021
Can you imagine the cost of it. A ticket to Newcastle would probably be as much as the car is worth. Freight on the railways is a 19th. solution to a 21st century problem and cannot work or be competitive in a small country like this. Might as well open up the canals.
May 22, 2021
19th century solution
May 22, 2021
Sorry Graham, that has to be complete nonsense.
Rail should always be more efficient than road transport and it certainly used to be. The (private) railways built their own transport infrastructure (at no cost to the public) and offered very well organised freight distribution to both commercial and private users. They found themselves competing with road freight services that used a publicly funded infrastructure (e.g. roads and motorways) where the freight carriers paid a single road tax without any regard to the miles covered (or cost of maintenance). We now have also allowed European carriers free access to that ‘free’ road infrastructure, thereby further crowding our roads and creating even more real pollution (diesel particulates) – rather than any imaginary ones.
We don’t see thousands of small ships sailing into our ports every hour delivering cargo, we see massive container ships. A freight train takes dozens of lorries off the road and uses much less (rolling) energy per ton moved. We don’t need huge trucks making multi-drop deliveries all around the country – we need regional and local distribution keeping these huge, heavy vehicles off urban roads where they cause damage and slow traffic flows.
May 22, 2021
I agree with your comments about rail freight especially when you consider we will replace heavy haulage road transport when diesel fuel has gone. Battery powered light goods vehicles will cope with door to door stuff (they already do) but not with trunking routes for 44 tonne LGVs.
May 22, 2021
“Rail should always be more efficient than road transport” how do you come to that conclusion? You can also to consider the connections at each end, track maintenance, staff … When 500 people what to go from A to B at the same time each day perhaps a train is good but this is not the real world.
We have 500 wanting to go from B to D, X to R, P to S etc. and all at different times of the day & some with family, some wand to drop in at Tesco on route or drop off the kids at school, carry a wardrobe, tools, a lawn mower or a washing machine! Try doing this all on the train!
May 22, 2021
It’s all about friction LL – essentially physics.
The power required to move (for instance) a ton load on rail is lower than the power required to move the same load on a road surface. Simples!
May 22, 2021
Sorry, you are completely wrong. I was involved in making a report on the railways carrying freight (some years ago I admit) for a multi national company and the figures do not stand up, neither does the speed, especially where ‘just in time’ is used. When the railways were more efficient, it still took days for goods in transit, the roads were poor (before motorways) and where trucks were probably 6 wheelers at 16 tons as against modern trucks of 40 tons which can go from one end of the country to the other in hours and cost less. You also have to factor in delivery to a rail head, offloading and re-loading to a train (RH&D), same the other end. We do not send small vehicles around the country with small loads on except for the last miles. You think supermarkets don’t want 40 tonners delivering to a precise time but want to collect from a rail head? Most manufacturers do not want 100’s of tons shipped at one time, nor do they have a rail head. You may dream of taking trucks off the road, but ask yourself why it has not been done since 1968 and its not because the roads are subsidised – we pay far more in tax for the roads than are ever spent on them and rail subsidy runs into billions, in fact far more than British Rail used to get. It is just not practical. Our roads are a disgrace because of government decisions. I have much chapter and verse on this subject but here is not the place.
May 22, 2021
Just as a matter of interest, a 40 ton truck with 6 axles does far less damage to the roads per ton carried than a smaller truck with only 4. It is physics.
May 22, 2021
“You are wrong”, says the A625.
May 23, 2021
Do you use the A625 a lot from Wales Martin?
May 23, 2021
Martin, The landslide is due to weak shales underlying sandstones, a common phenomenon all around the Dark Peak, notably at Alport Castles, Longdendale, Glossop and Canyards Hills, Sheffield.
Nothing to do with 4 or 6 axles.
May 23, 2021
Yes but you need to take account of the end journeys for a train and you need a full load of people going to and from the same places at the same times. Empty trains are very inefficient indeed. Low friction or not.
May 22, 2021
Even if they got freight onto the railway, unions threatening industrial action would frighten away the customers.
May 22, 2021
@graham1946 – “19th century solution” that is why the Government is committing old tech to the situation rather than dragging it into the 21st century with modern solutions. But as always and with all successive Governments no one accepts responsibility, as by the time any project comes to fruition they will be enjoying their pension.
May 22, 2021
+1
May 22, 2021
āThe danger will be that the train companies will still keep people ready to dispute their responsibility for delay….ā
So it is still not really a single unified rail system then, just a new brand name.
Same old, same old.
May 22, 2021
Any delay over the permitted period should be automatically repaid to the customer by the operating companies with those operating companies then having to argue the toss with GBR over who is responsible.
It should not be for the customer to haggle over service levels but the provider(s)
May 22, 2021
@Peter. That’s the point, the person in charge and that gets all the accolades when things are going well, is not responsible, not accountable when it all goes pear shaped.
May 22, 2021
HS2 has never been more irrelevant.
May 22, 2021
+1 but worse than irrelevant it is hugely damaging in the short and long terms and will not even be finished for years. It renders everyone poorer and damages the UK’s competitive offering.
May 22, 2021
Correct
May 22, 2021
Yes, Wokingham needs more housebuilding. There are still a few blades of grass left.
May 22, 2021
err…..where?
May 22, 2021
Why don’t you simply look at the quite numerous countries, where the people are satisfied with their very good train services and copy what the most applicable to this country might be?
Then you could look at industrial relations approaches, occupational pension provision, voting systems and much else on te same basis, couldn’t you?
That really would stand your philosophy on its head, wouldn’t it?
May 22, 2021
MiC
“Why donāt you simply look at the quite numerous countries, where the people are satisfied with their very good train services and copy what the most applicable to this country might be?”
In that case put Japan in charge of our railways.
…….or cheat as the French do by using massive state subsidy.
May 22, 2021
Whoād have thought. Countries which invest in their railways have better railways. Staggering.
May 22, 2021
In what way is giving the people that for which they voted “cheating”, please?
May 22, 2021
Japan’s railways have a multiplicity of private operators almost exclusively carrying only passengers. There are many different models to choose from; the only one that doesn’t work is that adopted by John Major in conformity with EU rules but finessed successfully by more intelligent politicians to avoid the idiocy carried forward by Shapps of a legal separation of the train and track and then issuing licenses to make money by private companies from trains by subsiding the network.
May 23, 2021
Italy’s – for example – is in conformity with European Union rules too, and is cheap, effective, extensive, and swift.
It wasn’t that conformity which was the problem here. It was all the other stuff decided at a national level.
May 22, 2021
Tell us what countries you would want to copy MiC
May 22, 2021
Imaginative leadership …….
Well we certainly need some of that. Widely being reported that a French fishing boat pulled over in our waters had nearlty double his quota in his holds. 1500+ licences issued that relates to a hell of a lot of our fish. It’s been going on for years. This lack of accountable control runs through nearly everything the government gets involved with..So much for quangos.
Neither use or ornament and obscenely expensive. Will the new rail set up be anything different? Answers on a postage stamp..
May 22, 2021
What’s all this talk of Russia/Putin wanting to destroy our way of life when he has no need to act as our government is doing a fine job on its own.
May 22, 2021
I have 2 general observations:
A number of commentators suggest HS2 should be cancelled. However HS2 construction has started and a lot of money has already been spent.
Arguably itās too late to suddenly stop with now.
Whilst I accept the rail network is limited in terms of ādoor to doorā transport
I do hope the Gov and operators will give consideration and explore options/opportunities to try and get more freight on to the network
I sure we all have stories of heavy lorries on the motor way network and passing through towns etc.
āIFā there is a way to get more freight onto the rail network this would be beneficial. (I donāt have answers to this but may be those informed people in the industry do)
Itās not necessarily all about car volume on roads. Itās all vehicular volume on roads.
May 22, 2021
In the private sector, projects are stopped immediately the moment they become financially and commercially non viable, e.g. billion pound oil rigs stop drilling when the dollar hits a certain value ā the same should be true for HS2, if its non viableā¦.its non viable
May 22, 2021
A prediction, indirectly on topic.
If public transport does not cover areas that people need to travel to, it wonāt reduce car use. Logistics will remain an issue because an EV will not pull a 44 tonne truck very far.
If policy continues to be based on current climate and environment theory, car ownership and use will become very expensive. Of course, this will encourage more working from Home, But not all work can be completed at Home. Those in manufacturing and construction, for example, will find commuting more expensive, increasing the overheads in these industries.
House prices in current commuting areas will become depressed, therefore reducing spending based on borrowing against equity.
Qualty of life may improve but the effect on GDP will be negative.
We need to plan our future more carefully.
May 22, 2021
Worklife and social life will become localised and young people may find it less difficult buy a Home locally.
All prttey positive for localism.
May 22, 2021
Gosh NotA, I hope social life wonāt become localised there is NOTHING to do in my area. Weāve been promised improvements for over 30 years and things have actually got worse with the civic centre closed down that used to offer ballet – it is a lovely statement to make when you live in a big city but the reality for the suburbs is poverty of activities. There is no decent shopping, things have got much worse as supermarkets took over the town and killed off the local independents and family owned businesses – then they removed the choice and variance once the competition died, there is only one decent Indian restaurant and no others (I donāt count McDonalds on the outskirts as a restaurant – but it is always packed out) for over 30,000 people. Just getting to the Councilās āprimaryā town, which also doesnāt have many decent restaurants or evening entertainment, is a log-jammed nightmare with only one way in and out. Public transport links are terrible and take 45 minutes, most donāt operate late, taxis are expensive and things like Uber are not available. Instead of intelligent transport planning using smaller dial up vehicles they run empty double-decker buses usually from Wales (in England) if the signs on the buses are anything to go by spewing out dirty diesel fumes because theyāre always the old buses, Iād guess they give us the ones they canāt get subsidies for anymore.
Theyāre building 100ās and 100ās of new houses every year and weāre all expected to go to the nearest city by car (no public transport) to watch a second rate pantomime because there is nothing on, there are no theatres, shows, nightclubs. I really want to force Grant Shapps to come and live in my town without a car (at all) for a month and give him things to try to do. When we talk about levelling up it is not just about jobs and commercial amenities Iām also talking about social grant funded projects. Going to say a comedy night the costs are humongous because weād have to travel with overnight accommodation plus tickets and if they cancel weāre still stuffed with all our costs that is our weekend ruined.
May 22, 2021
Ps Grant Shapps if anyone wants to pass this on. Iāll happily give you a free room if you want to put my experiment to the test even for a week BUT no use of a car.
May 22, 2021
Our future has already been planned, globally, in fine detail.
It’s being rolled out now.
Some bits are good, some not so good.
May 22, 2021
Rather than have battery powered HGVs, scrap HS2 and divert the catenaries to motorways and trunk roads. The EV HGVs can then hook up trolleybus style and only have a small battery to go off the beaten track as well as skirting round broken down vehicles. Reintroduce trolleybuses into towns so the HGVs also have power there.
Better still, bin this zero emission target nonsense and accept diesel powered vehicles will be here for the long term.
May 22, 2021
I like your thinking and would support any party with the same
May 22, 2021
and the 44 tonne truck being the first mistake.
May 22, 2021
Why does Comrade Redwood and his party persist with this sock-puppetry? Admit you’ve embraced ideas and theories inspired by the poison of collectivism and the total power of the State to direct all areas of life including physical movement, speech, emotion and perception.
This rail restructuring nonsense is simply part of the strategy to assert State control over how we move from A to B and when. Simple. It’s got nothing to do with improving efficiencies, improving punctuality or any of the other nonsense referenced by Shapps and it is precisely this gross deceit that riles me
Again, an absence of reference by Comrade Redwood to Marxist Lynch at the RMT who is already gearing up for a national rail strike. No doubt Comrade Shapps will be on the ‘dog and bone’ to Lynch offering him reassurances and more of our money.
The Tories need to have the Thatcherite balls to admit you’ve rejected all that you once were and that you are now pure bred Labour Socialists because you know as well as I do that it is precisely what you have become
Maybe the new GB Channel will expose the rise of fascism in Scotland and the rise of the equally odious Socialism amongst all Tory and Labour MPs
May 22, 2021
It’s a Global Plan, There is no opt out.
May 22, 2021
Global Travel
“Itās a Global Plan, There is no opt out.”
Only because of corruption, lack of patriotism, and total lack of balls in high places.
May 22, 2021
I suppose that, since the tories 80 seat majority was only won by cloaking themselves in faux conservatism, they would be reluctant to come clean?
Never mind a brave new world…what I am seeing is terrifying.
May 22, 2021
It’s not terrifying. Induced fear is a means of control. Be serene and unafraid.
Rewatch the Prisoner series.
Above all always tell the truth
( whatever they have on you )
May 22, 2021
Yes.
+1
May 22, 2021
Everhoprful
“Never mind a brave new worldā¦what I am seeing is terrifying.”
….I predict a riot, a very big one.
May 22, 2021
+1
Several huge demos apparently already.
No report on MSM.
However, I read some years ago…this has been predicted/leaked for years,
that riots have been factored in.
And measures decided upon.
May 22, 2021
Why would there be a riot? People don’t think beyond themselves, their next trip to Spain/Portugal/Greece, their next cruise. There is no sense of self responsibility and everyone else must pay the taxes for roads and health service and education. Even on here you have so-called conservatives complaining about the degree of state control at the same time as demanding the government does something about X, Y and Z.
No-one will riot, they will demand everyone else does it for them.
May 22, 2021
Maybe someone can tell us mere taxpayers why Spain is shoving back thousands of those invading into Ceuta – while the UK just takes in anyone and puts them in hotels? Spain’s govt clearly is trying to do what it’s voters want – while ours is doing the best to make us pay etc ed.
May 22, 2021
Indeed. I wondered this myself. Too much hand wringing from our government who seem afraid to take actions.
May 22, 2021
Many good suggestions raised largely from the collected contributors here over the last several years.
However, which will become objectives, and how they might be achieved could become another can kicked down the road.
As an example of pricing issues a journey I take from Winnersh to Didcot. Going west- hardly busy!
leaving at 8.30 costs Ā£12, leaving at 9.02 costs Ā£8.50. Having a Senior railcard means if I leave at 8.30 it still costs Ā£12, but leaving at 9.02 costs Ā£5.60.
May 22, 2021
@Fred.H, its quicker, cheaper and more comfortable for most by car
May 22, 2021
It would be for me, but given petrol for 26 miles each way, plus the cheapest car park is Ā£5, I intended to return to using the trains after Covid, but now I’ll stick to driving, even though roadworks everywhere are a pain.
And a note to Sir John – the recent repairs to potholes and centre join tarmac damage along Lodge Road, Hurst either side of the Elephant & Castle, would be better if actually stuck down with bitumen or whatever and rammed down. Chucking bucketfuls of stones with nothing else simply means they are spreading everywhere and will damage car paintjobs and windscreens.
May 22, 2021
Fred.H
I absolutely agree, the standard of road repairs locally is simply a disgrace, I have posted on this before, however from what I see, other areas are almost as bad, someone is making a fortune charging Local Authorities for poor work, completed in a hurry, when completed at all.
Our roads are the worst that I have ever seen, in many cases its simply a patchwork of ruts !
May 23, 2021
@Fred H
The cynic in me would suggest – hinderance is used to deter all forms of travel. I guess even walking is removed as an option, Wokingham Council with the new Southern Distribution Road have turned down the safety objections to the pedestrian footpath being used by cyclists. The fact this brand new out of the box construction that has stacks of space to play, but not used, doesn’t need to be made safe for pedestrians they are a hinderance to society and need to be deterred.
May 22, 2021
And nobody can explain to me the concept of a public monopoly reduced pricing policy for early bookings when the on costs and variable costs arenāt a factor – i.e the breakeven cost of a seat on a train is the same today as it will be in three months
May 22, 2021
Is it very pro passenger to cut a service down to the basic legal requirement?
At a time when passengers are trying to reorganise their lives re GPS, dentists, opticians appointments etc etc it is suddenly more difficult than ever to actually get anywhere.
How helpful is that?
May 22, 2021
I note that the central body will control the timetable. Hopefully this will end the ridiculous situation at Newark, for example, where the Lincoln train leaves one minute before the arrival from Kings Cross. Austria has an integrated bus and rail network all timetabled to link up. Is that too much to ask? If you want people to use public transport instead of their private car, then the system has to be integrated and work!
May 22, 2021
J Mitchell, correct. I was waiting for a late running train at my local station in the car. It was over 10 minutes late and the only bus per hour into the centre of town left before the train arrived leaving everyone stranded. It didnāt come back for them either and several told me it was a regular occurence.
May 22, 2021
Off topic, why are UK farmers incensed by the idea of a zero tariff, zero quota trade deal with Australia:
https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/uk-farmers-launch-blistering-attack-on-government-over-australian-trade-deal-as-johnson-insists-its-not-a-threat
but happy to have one with the EU, with which we run chronic trade deficits on almost all types of food?
A sensible letter in the Times yesterday pointed out that “UK beef consumption is mainly supplied by farmers in the UK (about 65 per cent) and the EU (32 per cent)”, and there is no conclusive reason why our friends in Australia and elsewhere around the world should not take a large chunk of that 32% market share away from our unfriendly and unreliable EU neighbours without impinging on the 65% market share taken by domestic producers.
Indeed there was an article in the Irish Times yesterday headed “Farmers in Ireland as well as Britain should fear Australian trade deal”, and in my view farmers in Ireland should fear it a lot more if their government finally provokes British consumers into a boycott of Irish goods, especially their beef.
Also yesterday there was an article about the French and Irish once again forming an alliance against us, which of course was what precipitated the 1800 Act of Union which Boris Johnson has now broken.
Reply I tweeted along these linEs yestersdaY
May 22, 2021
The Australia deal should not worry many if us here however it turns out as after 15 + years!! we will be dead. Why 15 years to start – it seems absurd, 3 WW2s.
May 22, 2021
I agree that 15 years seems longer than really necessary, and maybe it will end up being a shorter transitional period. At least it would be a transitional period during which something would actually transition, unlike the oxymoronic “status quo” transition period with the EU during which nothing transitioned.
May 22, 2021
Because we know this government will cave in on standards. Australia will be able to send us loads of hormone injected tat -mass produced in giant factory farms – undercutting our farmers. There will be no saving of note for consumer.
But, worse, the Brexitists desperation to do any sort of trade deal with anyone means that we have literally given Australia everything with nothing worthwhile in return. They literally have not worked out what our trade policy should be – itās bonkers.
Worst of all by giving tiny Australia everything they have set a precedent. So bigger countries and trade groups like India, the US, Mercosur will demand the same.
The Brexitisist have signed the death warrants for countless British businesses. But the billionaires who back Brexit will be happy. Incidentally isnāt it nice to know that half the financial backers of GB News love Britain so much that they live in other countries.
May 22, 2021
As I have said – if you could be bothered to read it – in principle these alternative suppliers could take nearly a third of the UK beef market before they started to eat into the share presently enjoyed by UK producers. And I would quite like to help them to do that by applying tariffs and quotas to beef from EU countries, which in fact means the Irish Republic first and foremost. As for the quality and safety of Australian beef I note for a start that the Australians seem to thrive on it, maybe that’s because they are a hardy breed, but just to be sure why don’t you pop round to their embassy and inform them directly of your suspicions?
May 22, 2021
‘half the financial backers of GB News love Britain so much that they live in other countries.’
Well you want to, so why shouldn’t they?
May 22, 2021
Free trade brings prosperity Andy.
May 22, 2021
YOU caused it.
I’ve just watched Eurovision and GB came last yet again. Shit song writers. Nul points.
It matters.
So we left the EU.
Baaah.
May 23, 2021
So when brexit was being negotiated andy you wanted a free trade, frictionless deals with the EU
Now you dislike every similar non EU deal we negotiate.
Hilarious as usual.
May 22, 2021
Even if they do it, it will take 15 years to get down to zero tariffs. Farmers crying ‘wolf’ like all people do when confronted with change they don’t like the look of. Why can’t we consider the consumer who finds beef and lamb too dear to buy? Surely the answer is more production and sales, but then we have to deal with the minority veganites such as are blockading McDonalds warehouses today and give them far more credence than they deserve.
May 22, 2021
We could have a scheme to gradually increase tariffs on EU beef as we gradually cut them on non-EU beef.
May 24, 2021
Far too simple a solution Dennis.
May 22, 2021
Dear Sir John,
As you briefly alluded to in your introduction, one of the biggest problems is that of ‘turkey management’.
Turkey management is that which happens in many large corporates and governments during a re-organisation. The analogy is a panel truck full of turkeys all sitting on their perches. The driver gets out and bangs the side of the truck thus causing the turkeys to leave their perches and fly around for a bit landing on different perches. So while a re-organisation has taken place at the end you still have the same bunch of turkeys.
Simply rehiring people or companies to fill the positions or roles they’ve generally failed at before will not result in an serious improvement to the status quo. There needs to be new blood with an optimistic vision for the future.
May 22, 2021
In short – ‘the old boys network is alive and kicking’.
May 22, 2021
Great post Malcolm.
May 22, 2021
+1
May 22, 2021
Excellent John,
All needed saying…
So glad you never used the words tax payers money.
That debate is well and truly over
https://gimms.org.uk/2021/02/21/an-accounting-model-of-the-uk-exchequer/
Absolutely nothing wrong with the private sector providing the service. However, If you are going to replace the exchequer with the commercial banks and allow the banks to create their own credit to let investors buy these assets and run them.
Then something has to be put in place to stop them being run as as rent-extracting monopolies. 8/10 are privatised in a way that will generate profits for the new owners, along with interest for the bondholders and the banks that fund it; and also, management fees. Most of all, the privatised enterprises should generate capital gains for the stockholders so they jack up prices for what used to be public services.
The price we all end up paying for these services if they are privatised this way, end up a lot more than if they were funded by the exchequer. If they had to increase taxes a little bit to control inflation because we ran out of skills and real resources.
That’s been the problem for the last 30 years at least. Question has to be is build, back, better going to be any different?
May 22, 2021
@Derek Henry
If only, its all smoke and mirrors. If the feeling you perceive was correct HS2 would get built without interference of Government, so on and so on.
Private enterprise as contractors to the taxpayer with a minister held to account, is a good thing. The State gets to involved in the things it knows it will fail at
May 22, 2021
Hi Nota,
Hope you are having a great weekend.
No smoke and mirrors there That’s the actual accounting that takes place.
That’s why in some areas now up to 70% of household disposable income now goes to pay Monopoly rent seekers. All that does is make the UK uncompetitive. Small to medium size companies have to keep increasing wages So their workers can pay their bills. If they don’t then other workers end up as the working poor.
That 70% has to be reduced dramatically. Make it cheap as possible to do business so that disposable income can be used to buy goods and services and not pay for rent seeking opportunities.
I’m surprised some people haven’t suggested the railways should be run like a charity. Like everything else you see on Countryfile on the BBC. They want everything to be run like charities today thinking the MONOPOLY issuer of the Ā£ has run out of Ā£’s.
Give your money to Pugsy bear to pay for the trains.
Allow banks to create loans to buy the assets
The Exchequer instructs the BOE to change numbers up in bank accounts.
All inflationary if we don’t have the skills and real resources available.
Brexit Britain train our own stop stealing cheap labour from abroad and get the job done. Give the competition and monopoly commission more teeth. Because you can’t vote the commercial banks and the rent seekers out of office. If the government does not deal with them then will be.
May 24, 2021
Fantasy economics DH
May 22, 2021
‘massive change in work patterns’. Imposed by your government working Labour’s allies across the unionised public sector.
This change has not been a natural, organic process but one created by party politicians and Marxist bureaucrats obsessed with microscopic control and a fascist plan of widespread digitalisation that then allows the State to monitor everything.
The death knell for freedom from State control will come with the abolition of cash and then our most private transactions will become State property.
Come on John, it would be a triumph for apolitical transparency if party politicians expressed their true thoughts on these seismic changes brutally imposed
I see Obama’s puppet in the Whitehouse have passed a so called ‘Covid Hate Crime’ law. Utterly repugnant and so sinister that I believe will trigger a kickback against this racially and gender infused, victim culture Marxism that has now infected all areas of life, even the British monarchy
The west and its most cherished freedoms and democratic institutions are being smashed into smithereens before our very eyes
May 22, 2021
Dom
Well said, +1
May 22, 2021
Civil war.
Governments against people.
They will give us no clues.
Just this kind of ….story at bedtime where we all live happily in our rebuilt paradise!
I didnāt ask for this, I didnāt vote for this and I was never officially even informed of this.
May 22, 2021
Surely the sole person responsible for Great British Railways is the Transport Minister.
It is the Transport Minister that hands out Contracts. If they don’t act instantly on inconstances it the Transport Minister that is not up to the job, not anyone down the chain
While we all have a more than reasonable gripe over the cost to use the system, it is still taxpayer funded with subsidies Again it is the Transport Minister that is put in place to ensure our taxpayer pound aren’t misplaced, as the taxpayers democratic representative.
With taxpayer money involved it is not just Ministerial Supervision that is required but Ministerial Responsibility. The State run side of our transport is massive, with massive amounts of staff and at massive cost to the taxpayer, all at the Transport Ministers beck and call. They (The Transport Minister) are running a business an industry with other peoples money. Just as with any business the person at the top keeps their position for their abilities and du-diligence.
We cant keep going on with the concept that the person in charge is not held accountable, held responsible(Nothing to do with me Gov, attitude) for how they spend the taxpayers money. From the PM down they cant keep saying ‘Government Money’ as a sleight of hand misplacement the truth, when all the time its taxpayer money that we trust them with.
Successive UK Governments have kept on running this great big massive enormous ‘Ponzi’ scheme to keep bribing us so they can win elections. They were elected to take responsibility otherwise why are they there?
May 22, 2021
NOTA
“They were elected to take responsibility otherwise why are they there?”
They are there, because we’re dumb enough to allow their presence.
Moreover they don’t see it that responsibility is theirs, as far as they’re concerned being elected means dispensation to do as the hell they like with impunty. Twas always thus.
May 22, 2021
Transport Ministers are never up to the job. It is one of the most important things in the country, as nothing and no-one moves without it, but it is bottom of the food chain as far as politicians are concerned, they being much more interested in the Home and Foreign Offices with all the attached baubles.
May 22, 2021
All well and good, but with all the concern over railways, I think people forget they are used only by a small minority for commuting to the workplace. Even in London it is a minority.
This country relies overwhelmingly on road transport. We seem to be throwing money at railways to knock a few minutes off journey times, for a few percent of the population, whilst spending more money impeding the majority and making their lives impossible.
May 22, 2021
+1
May 22, 2021
I use the onenetwork site (formerly roadworks.org) to check on roadwork activities around me and on routes further afield. It is handy to see if there are any signs of pothole repairs, as well as checking up on the slow progress of fibre installations, etc.
Question: why has this policy changed?
Time we got back to being able to check up on what they are doing.
May 22, 2021
SirJ many thanks for sending your letter to Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP Secretary of State for Transport ā However, like his commitment to an review of HS2 you are wasting your time, any response will be woolly to say the least and achieve nothing
May 22, 2021
Woolly. Yes, just like the responses from my MP. Unlike our host they have no vision and just repeat the party line.
May 22, 2021
A bit off topic but and a general observation – the more I read discord on here and elsewhere on the net, it is fair to say most people seem to be very dissatisfied with Boris Johnson and his government.
There doesn’t seem to be any aspect of Boris’ premiership which satisfies the masses.
Failure to remove EU law from English law.
Fishing betrayed.
NI betrayed.
Transport one almighty cock-up.
Appeasement of Scottish facsism.
Lacked the balls to close covid hotspot air routes.
Debt enslavement masquerading as green policy.
Threats to motoring freedom and forced EV’s.
Lacks the balls to decriminalise the BBC licence fee despite saying he would.
Perhaps if we wait long enough he’ll sell out the Falklands too.
It does’nt look good.
May 22, 2021
Spot On Steve
May 22, 2021
Steve, surely “Doesn’t look good” is an understatement?
May 22, 2021
can you write a letter to the government about their ban on gas boilers?
dont they realise people are going to rebel when they are forced to pay silly money?
May 22, 2021
Don’t worry. They have been fighting deflation for 21 years now, and they are still not out of the woods but they are loaded with assets to which you are picking up the bill for on your national cradit card.
May 24, 2021
Odd comment in tha the data shows inflation for the last 21 years