Dear Grant,
I am glad the railway has considered the issue of season tickets and discounts in a new era of flexible working where many full time employees will become part time in the office . I raised this early in the pandemic with Ministers and the industry.
The response of a 15% discount for eight tickets a month is disappointing and inflexible. It is in the railwayâs interest to encourage more use of the excessive  capacity it currently provides. No one can be sure they want just eight returns a month.
The model to adopt should be a rising discount model. The more you travel your chosen route the cheaper the extra journey should become. The accumulating discount could be a quarterly system, or a longer or shorter period. The first time you went to the office it would be full fare. The second time there would be a small discount, with a progressively higher discount. Frequent  users would end up paying  perhaps just a 20% fare for an additional journey.
This would give most of the advantages of the season ticket which allows additional journeys over the basic five returns a week free, whilst always giving the railway marginal revenue from more travel. It also incentivises  travellers to go more often. If a traveller choose off peak the fare would be an off peak one. The railway will need to see if the peak changes and be ready to change peak  period pricing  to reflect travel reality.
June 23, 2021
Perhaps the railways do not yet understand that what they have to compete against is not alternative means of transport rather prospective travellers staying in the comfort and security of their own homes, thereby avoiding the stress and hassle and expense of commuting.
June 23, 2021
Most of the Tories’ voters are retired anyway, so they perhaps don’t care.
Incidentally, rather than to privatise it, perhaps they should just have have recognised, that if they didn’t keep telling lies about Channel Four then maybe it would not have told the truth about them?
June 23, 2021
Retired people are not selfish, they care about their children’s lives & where their taxes go.
June 23, 2021
Oh, so why did they blight their young’s lives by voting Leave, then?
June 23, 2021
They rightly thought it was best for the young not to be a mere region of the anti-democratic EU.
June 23, 2021
They didn’t. Wages are going up now we are out of the EU. People like you have been screaming for ‘living wages’ for years. Rejoice. You are going to get them.
June 23, 2021
What on earth has your post got to do with the subject at hand? Nothing. You really have become a Brexit bore.
June 24, 2021
@S_W; Stop being a hypocrite, MiC has as much right to go off on a tangent to what our host posts about as either Lifelogic or Dom do, I don’t see you complaining about those two…
June 24, 2021
No because they don’t agree with them Jerry.
Robust debate…isn’t that what you keep asking for?
Yet when there is such robust debate you respond with abuse.
Hypocrite…..?
June 23, 2021
Well some are and some are not just as with working people. But in general I do find older people rather less selfish, you cannot take your money with you at the end after all and most care deeply about their children and grandchildren.
June 23, 2021
I am incredibly selfish. I only provided the deposit and stamp duty when my lads bought their first homes and I have started moving money into their name so they won’t be stung by inheritance tax.
June 23, 2021
Channel 4 was tedious left wing, remainer, climate alarmist drivel from beginning to end even worse than the BBC. John Snow and Dorothy Byrne for goodness sake were appallingly biased.
So some Actor in Primrose Hill has had five luxury cars stolen within a year (do not buy luxury cars perhaps mate), meanwhile huge increases in catalytic converter thefts and digital bank theft frauds. We seem to have almost zero deterrents now to such crimes, the police seem to have virtually given up in my experience beyond a victim of crime letter and a crime no. for the insurance claim.
June 23, 2021
I am looking forward to the sale of the Channel 4 Filth. If Oliver Dowden has any sense, he’ll REMOVE any obligation on the new owner to maintain its biased news output.
June 23, 2021
MiC what on earth are you suggesting here ‘Most of the Toriesâ voters are retired anyway, so they perhaps donât care.’ It implies that retired Tories don’t care about their own children and grandchildren – this couldn’t be further from the truth for all the retirees I know – look at your own prejudices here Martin perhaps this is why you lefties don’t win their vote.
June 23, 2021
Correct a-tracey.
The left have gone from hating old people and anyone who might vote Conservative and anyone who voted leave to also now hating the working classes.
It doesn’t leave them with enough voters to get elected.
June 23, 2021
@MiC; I do not see any lies being told about Ch4 by the govt, and quite frankly any sale of Ch4 is not the real issue here [1], what is more worrying is any funding & regulatory changes across the sector the govt might make affecting both broadcast and streaming services. Might I suggest the govt/DCMS look at how Germany regulates and funds their PSB sector.
[1] it might shock a few of those who post anti BBC comment here, in response to my general support for the BBC, but it would not worry me if a majority proportion of the BBC was either sold off or shut down.
June 23, 2021
Jerry, the problem is having to pay for something you are not buying.
June 24, 2021
@John Hatfield; So you agree that all individual BSkyB and BT channels, if not programmes, should be paid for on a per channel or per view bases, not via package deals where people have to subscribe to 500 channels they do not want first before being allowed to subscribe to another 50 channels, of which they only want to watch one?
You also appear to be totally ignorant about what PSB is, how it works and why it is important, just because you do not want to watch such content today, even next year, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist, one day you might find that clue and PSB will be there for you, not as dead as the Dodo…
June 24, 2021
John
You will have Jerry coming back at you all aggressive.
Calling you “totally ignorant”
Only Jerry is right on these issues.
All of us must know our place.
June 23, 2021
Train operating companies do not really have to compete. They run a franchise on behalf of government who offer them generous subsidies.
Fares are not that big a deal over the life of the franchise. If this model fails the companies will simply up sticks and move on.
So discounted season tickets is really just a gimmick that the government wish to promote, but unfortunately they do not have a solid basis on which to promote it. They donât have a joined up national rail system. Hence the poor offers quoted.
June 23, 2021
Indeed good luck with that. Alas Grant Shapps is so daft he even thinks electric cars are âzero emissionâ and that they save CO2. They usually increase CO2 emissions after manufacture and electric charging is considered. They are more emissions elsewhere cars.
Interesting to hear Steve Baker on Politics Live saying roughly that people are wasting their time pointing out that the Climate Emergency is exaggerated B/S (as it clearly is) and should concentrate on pointing out how bonkers, vastly expensive, ineffective (even in CO2 terms) and impractical the governmentâs and the CCCâs mad proposed solutions clearly are. They will be far worse than the pole tax politically too, that is for sure one people work this out. They must be abandoned.
It is I agree rather like trying to argue about religion using logic and reason with some devout religious believers. The less they know or understand about engineering, energy, chaotic systems, energy economics, electronics, transport, entropy⊠they more they believe the climate emergency B/S – witness Theatre Studies Grad. Carrie Johnson.
June 23, 2021
âpollâ tax rather.
June 23, 2021
Referendum victory 5 years ago today. Still no âfreedomâ bank holiday to celebrate it and it is usually one of nicest and longest days of the year too. What a prolonged mess the appalling Appeaser May and the dire remoaner MPs made of it all.
June 23, 2021
We do not even have holidays to celebrate the end of terrible wars for goodness’ sake.
So why have one to mark self-inflicted harm and the losing of all our best friends then?
June 23, 2021
Armistice Day is a far more reverent and serious acknowledgement of the end of terrible wars than a Public Holiday would ever be.
June 23, 2021
best friends ….gave me a brilliant belly-laugh. Much needed after reading Andy’s ‘hit repeat ‘ hate messages.
June 23, 2021
The Brexitists donât have any friends – let alone a best one. Well, Putin maybe.
June 23, 2021
To celebrate the restoration of self rule and some real democracy.
June 23, 2021
@MiCk
They inflicted the harm by deciding they were a supra-government. As for losing our ‘best friends’ – hmmm. Notwithstanding the childish nature of that comment, the old expression ‘with friends like that …’ leaps to mind.
June 23, 2021
Please stay on topic.
đ
It may be the fifth anniversary of the vote but that is no reason for talking about it …
June 23, 2021
Smart charging means that the vast, vast majority of the electrical charge used by EVs will come from the wasted nightime generation of still churning turbines. So I would argue Schapps is largely right on that.
June 23, 2021
Well wind turbines need loads of fossil fuel to build, install and maintain plus fossil fuel back up needed too. Many electric cars use more energy to build the car and battery than they ever will use over their lifetimes. The expensive batteries deteriorate rapidly, plus the charging infrastructure needs building too again producing much co2.
June 23, 2021
I was disappointed that Steve Baker MP on Politics Live agreed with the panel and BBC presenter that the question of ‘climate change’ had been settled…..what conceit and arrogance
June 23, 2021
By “settled” I suppose they mean they don’t want to debate it any more, and we know why.
June 23, 2021
Steve Baker MP said he is now focused on how to achieve the government policy â heâs no longer interested on the âifâ climate change is man-made not, or âwhyâ we should be doing so much while china/india do nothingâŠ.his focus is the âhowâ
June 23, 2021
He did not quite say that. I suspect he knows full well that the Climate Emergency is no such thing and is hugely exaggerated at the very least. Politically he thinks it as a waste of time now to argue this point. Better to point out that their proposed âsolutionsâ are politically insane, vastly expensive, rather impractical and do not even work in engineering or CO2 terms. Otiose was the word he used.
I do not agree we should argue that a little more CO2 is on balance a good thing (as it certainly is) and that anyway the solutions do not work cost wise, politically or even in C02 terms and finallyvthat world cooperation is needed too and will surely not be forthcoming. So three reasons the net zero agenda is complete insanity.
June 23, 2021
He said âsettledâ and the presenter Jo Coburn agreed with himâŠ.I was so incensed I wrote my comment
June 23, 2021
+1
June 23, 2021
This is something I am never likely to be involved in. I thought we had separate independant rail operators. Should it not be up to them to decide frequency of service and fare levels to suit what they judge to be their market. What has it got to do with government ministers.
June 23, 2021
Under the franchising model there was an obligation on each independent rail operator to participate in a national ticketing system and to honour all tickets from any station to any station, whether in their part of the network or outside it.
The intention was laudable, I suppose, in seeking to maintain a single integrated rail network rather than allowing the new operators to optimize their part of the network for their own customers at the expense of others. But it had the effect of making innovation in pricing and product almost impossible to do on the railways because the operators had a de facto veto on each others projects.
June 23, 2021
@agricola
In a civilised society, public transport is seen as a public good and you cannot rely on the private sector to provide what may well be, by definition, loss making services.
June 23, 2021
All is political.
I thought John would by now have realised this simple truth after so many years in politics. All policy decisions relating to public provision are first filtered through a political prism rather than a prism of utility, fiscality or basic common sense
The decision to nationalise the rail system is a political decision and pricing of tickets also has a political dimension.
Higher ticket prices discourage commuting forcing employees to isolate at home and remain digital and online. That is political.
Your party in government has become pernicious but if you’re a PM taking advice from a trained Marxist then don’t be surprised when public policy takes on a sinister tone
I’ve been watching politics from afar now for decades and I can know when the wind changes and I am telling you this country is heading in the wrong direction. The pricing of season tickers may seem an insignificant issue but it is further evidence of what I believe is the Socialist State’s attempt to atomise and digitalise our existence. Freedom to travel is essential to freedom itself. That is being slowly being targeted
You are an MP of a party that has sold its soul to the devil and in doing so is exposing the people of this nation to real harm
June 23, 2021
Demand for rail travel has decreased hugely, in a normal competitive market prices should have fallen substantially too. But railways are not in a normal market as you have to use the routes from where you live to where you work in general & we have lots of government interference. Banks too are clearly not in a competitive marked or they could never get away paying 0.1% on deposits and have on size for all 40% OD rates thanks to the FCA it seems.
They charge far less at their overseas branches than they do in the rip off UK.
June 23, 2021
You read the ruins well; the path this government has taken in social engineering is indeed sinister and marxist
June 23, 2021
+1
June 23, 2021
How, I wonder could one have predicted a new era of âflexible workingâ⊠âearly in the pandemicâ?
Those old goat entrails again?
Although I believe that the definition has been changed to suit⊠âpandemicâ does not necessarily refer to severity but to spread.
The changes to our lives are government made âŠnot a natural result of anything that has happened.
June 23, 2021
The government gave itself away so early last year in the âpandemic â, with stupid slogans such as new normal, build back better etc.
I remember wondering last spring what was expected if the govt thought there was going to be a need to rebuild, rebuild what? Were the govt expecting an invasion of bombing⊠now we know – not buildings, the whole of society. Not from a bomb but a deadly govt.
Despite more and more challenging of its actions, the government still persists with its irrational authoritarian nonsense and refusal to lift the restrictions.
Iâm done!
June 23, 2021
+1 Ditto
Since the writ large G7 hypocrisy, I’m Done too.
June 23, 2021
+1
Absolutely.
And obviously they were all in on itâŠeven the ones who pretended not to have been maybe? Posturing in parliament.
State of emergency extended to jab as many as possible.
DoneâŠme too Sharon!!
June 23, 2021
Yes, Everhopeful, the WHO changed the definition of a pandemic in 2009, to suit the Swine Flu ‘pandemic’ story. There’s a nice video online of progressive hero Jon Snow exposing in a Channel 4 news broadcast what was going on there.
June 23, 2021
+1
They didnât get away with that attempt did they?
So they had to get to work on censoring and controlling the media.
There was also a bird flu scare at some pointâŠwe put a load of lasagne up in the loft! đ
Then of course we realised what a load of scaremongering rubbish it all is.
Still got the lasagne.
June 23, 2021
So Sir Simon Stevens will step down from his role on 31 July 2021 to be appointed a Life Peer for his services during the coronavirus pandemic.
To summarise the NHS over the pandemic period:- They had appalling pre-pandemic planning with no provision for local supply of PPE or other equipment, thousands of untested covid patients were dumped into care homes to infect and kill thousands of the vulnerable and most people who died of Covid received little or no care and very few indeed got intensive care. Much of the NHS was shut down this killing many others from other serious conditions. Many patient died after going into hospital for other conditions through catching Covid there.
We now have 5 to 10 million on waiting lists or trying to get on waiting lists for procedures. Many cannot even get to see a GP. Also about 1000+ extra death due to blatant and idiotic gender discrimination in the vaccination priority order (surely even more gross negligence). Deaths per Covid infection in the UK were also very high indeed in international comparisons and this despite the very high testing levels in the UK.
This is surely rewards for abject failure, but to be fair to the man the communist NHS system as currently structured and funded can never work efficiently and he also has the excuse of being a PPE Oxon. graduate I suppose. But then he should have demanded a sensible structure, had better managers and paid people by results so as to actually serve patients rather than the senior staff and their interests.
The NHS in England faces paying out ÂŁ4.3bn in legal fees to settle outstanding claims of clinical negligence, the BBC has learned through a Freedom of Information request. This reported in Jan 2020 so what is it now? Heading for ÂŁ20bn perhaps? What is the cost of treating those now awaiting delayed operations, scans and other procedures – ÂŁ100bn perhaps.
June 23, 2021
Deaths per Covid infection UK 2.8% and Netherlands just 1%, had the NHS matched their hospitals performance we would have had about 82,000 fewer Covid deaths.
June 23, 2021
Gov. should be investigation to see why the NLâs healthcare system did so very much better than the NHS, this in what is a quite similar country in many ways. I know nothing about their system.
June 23, 2021
LL I won’t post a link but a quick Google should find this for you:
Very difficult to compare like for like…
June 23, 2021
A new era of even more chaos and uselessness. Job sharing on steroids. Maternity Leave on stilts.
âOh Sorreee ⊠not in the office today!â
June 23, 2021
Maternity leave. The process by which women who work – most of them nowadays – are allowed time off, much of it unpaid, to look after their babies.
Imagine how your brain will exploded when you learn there is also something called paternity leave – and decent companies embrace it.
June 23, 2021
Companies have no choice but to allow it, bonkers though paternity leave is. Just another way gov. lowers productivity.
June 23, 2021
+1
June 23, 2021
I do know thanks.
I just count it as maternity leave. (Actually donât the politically correct call it Parental Leave?).
Which is why I gave no gender in my comment.
On purpose!!
So someone is dealing with your problem/query and suddenly they are unobtainable.
Is there any such thing as a âdecent companyâ?
June 23, 2021
Parental leave is different from paternity leave which is different from maternity leave.
Itâs 2021 guys. Get with it.
June 23, 2021
well versed – still having kids are you?
June 23, 2021
Good grief!
You mean there really is a hand-out called that?
I thought Iâd made it up âŠtrying to poke fun at woke!
Well how very generous of the government.
Stupid idiots.
June 23, 2021
Actually, Andy, much of the Maternity leave is not unpaid.
Statutory Maternity Pay and Statutory Maternity Holiday pay covers 43 weeks. You can take a further 9 weeks if you’ve saved to cover your lost income to take a whole year off work or you work in the public sector/ex-public sector that kept the same benefits like Housing Associations, or if you can share leave with your husband if he works in the public sector. [More women work in the public sector compared with men; 35% of workers are men and 65% are women, whereas the private sector is made up of 58% men and 42% women.ons.gov.uk]
43 weeks is covered as such:
You get 90% of your usual pay for 6 weeks.
ÂŁ151.97 per week for the next 33 weeks. If your baby is born after July you also get your tax paid between April and July back in a rebate [so approx ÂŁ500 back if you earn ÂŁ20,000 pa].
4 weeks at full pay for Statutory Maternity Holidays if you usually get 28 days pa, more if you normally have more holiday.
June 23, 2021
Andy/2. also if you do take the extra 9 weeks with SMP you would be entitled to another 1.6 weeks 100% holiday pay, so you only have to cover 7.4 weeks.
June 23, 2021
Maternity leave is up to 52 weeks – of which 13 weeks is unpaid.
6 weeks is paid at 90% of salary, the rest at a maximum of ÂŁ152 per week.
For many families this is a significant pay cut at a time – having a baby – when costs rise hugely.
Remind us how much of your state pension is unpaid or only paid at 90%? Ah, thatâs right. None.
June 24, 2021
I have not retired yet Andy my retirement age was put up seven years and I have another 12 years before I’m eligible if it is still there then if you lefties get in charge after stirring up all this bad feeling. I’ve explained in detail Andy that if you take 52 weeks off only 7.4 weeks are unpaid because the employer makes up your pay with 100% holiday pay for 28 days minimum (or 5.8 weeks if you prefer).
The full basic State Pension is ÂŁ137.60 per week [less than SMP]. Youâre eligible for the basic State Pension if you were born before: 6 April 1951 if youâre a man: 6 April 1953 if youâre a woman.
If you were born on or after these dates you must claim the new State Pension.
The full state pension is currently ÂŁ179.60 – DEPENDENT ON YOUR NATIONAL INSURANCE RECORD for a minimum of 30 years – most people that are currently retired worked over 45 years.
Do you understand what that means, the State pension is contributory. The SMP scheme is a lot more generous than it was years ago. A LOT MORE ask your mum.
June 23, 2021
Yes ! But only wimpy far left twit consider it, inky fingers!
The rest of us have proper jobs, needed all the time.
June 23, 2021
Ha, ha. Paternity leave? Funny how families managed for decades. In my experience dad’s often prefer to be at work with their mates. Not changing nappies and feeding with continual bawling in the background. Many, like my nephew are expected to take time off. They would rather get involved after the crap abd sick time is over.
June 23, 2021
When government finally allows our vaccinated population to travel by air, the airlines will decide what fares to offer to fill their aircraft. This should be the pattern for supposedly private rail operators. If not why not.
June 23, 2021
Quite simply, there is a choice of routes when choosing how to fly by air so competition is in built. There is only one railway line that goes from A to B and one train that goes at the time the commuter wishes to travel. The competition element of pricing does not exist and must therefore be regulated.
June 23, 2021
Narrow shoulders,
Thatâs is not the full picture.
Often more than one train operating company covers a route with the same starting and destination stations. A ticket for one operator may not be valid on the other operatorâs trains. Then large cities sometimes have various rail options, for example Birmingham New Street and Birmingham Snow Hill or Gatwick airport via Thameslink, or Southern or the premium price Gatwick Express.
The issue is a fractured service and Train operating companies with no real need to worry about attractive pricing. They just run a service for an agreed number of years with a guaranteed income comprised fare income and government subsidy.
June 23, 2021
Rail routes are fixed by train tracks, planes only need a bit of tarmac at each end and so are far, far more flexible in responding to demand changes.
June 23, 2021
It seems to be a âfait accompliâ?
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the new tickets would offer “greater freedom and choice about how we travel, simpler ticketing and a fairer fare”.
( âfairer fareâ đ€ź). Did it come in yesterday?
How about calculating the cost of a journey and charging that amount to the passenger before his journey.
If the railway canât meet costs/make a profit whatever it needs to do then it is not viable is it? Remember what Mr Carney said.
Maybe jobs should be engineered/RESET to be more local?
Then workers could not be held hostage to a public service that has become increasingly unusable.
June 23, 2021
According to ORR at https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/1889/rail-industry-finance-uk-statistical-release-2019-20.pdf :-
“Total rail industry income in 2019-20 was ÂŁ20.1bn, a 5.3% increase from 2018-19. This consisted of ÂŁ11.6bn from passengers (ÂŁ10.4bn of fares and ÂŁ1.2bn of other train operator income), ÂŁ6.5bn from government funding and ÂŁ2.0bn from other sources. In addition to the ÂŁ6.5bn of support for the operational railway, government provided ÂŁ1.8bn in funding for enhancements to the existing network and ÂŁ2.5bn towards the High Speed 2 project.
Total expenditure in 2019-20 was ÂŁ20.2bn, a 4.0% increase from 2018- 19. This consisted of ÂŁ10.6bn of franchised train operator expenditure, ÂŁ8.4bn of Network Rail expenditure and ÂŁ1.1bn of expenditure by other parts of the rail industry.”
It would not be that difficult to work out an average operating cost per train mile, this data is available. Plus the operating cost of the station a passenger journey is started from and the one where it finishes. The latter could have a time of day pricing structure if desired. The aim should be for gross income of the GB network covers its costs by a formula that allows the one return train a day line from the back of beyond, to just cover its costs.
In the old days this would be considered as universal pricing of an essential part of the countries socio-economic infrastructure. Sadly, no such concept exists in the current populist, nationalist, political thinking.
June 23, 2021
+1
Spot on!
June 23, 2021
I know a fellow ex-sea warrior working in the Defence industry. He, and the rest of his team, has just been told to clear his desk and WFH permanently. His current project? A classified system. Think of the security implications. The government’s mixed-messaging on WFH needs to end. The vaccinated need to get back to offices that are safer than a packed Wembley stadium. And they do need to do so quickly.
June 23, 2021
Why? You might be unproductive at home but that is a problem with you. Plenty of people have been even more productive WFH than they are in the office.
In any case this is not a decision for those of you who have retired. We do not care what you think. We do not care what Iain Duncan Smith and the other right wing whingers thinks. We will WFH if it works for us and our businesses.
And if you donât like it – tough. It has nothing to do with you.
June 23, 2021
Do you actually WFH, or spend your day writing this elderly-hate bile?
June 23, 2021
That is his job, apparently. He’s very conscientious. He’s clearly a paid troll, told to break up logical debate with spiteful comments.
June 23, 2021
Your ignorance on what classified work entails and the security implications for everyone (not just for those who work) from someone who claims to be a mature successful businessman is astounding.
June 23, 2021
Listen, guys, get used to this attack from the left’s attack dogs like Andy and MiC it is going to get louder. They’ve worked out the majority of older age groups vote Tory even if they are retired in the low-income categories (so you’re now an easy target). They are trying to whip up anti-aged bad feelings and set young against the retired/soon to be retiring. They’ve moved people’s retirement ages up (7 years for women) but that is not enough, they also want to means-test the pension any PAYE worker has been contributing 25.8% of their pay over ÂŁ9500 pa, many for 51 years, it was a national insurance contract even though they want to change the rules now yet again because it was Ponzi set up.
June 23, 2021
You really need to learn how to make a point without being rude.
June 23, 2021
The hotel industry has for many years employed software to work out optimum charges so as to maximise revenue per available room. Surely the rail industry can use something similar.
If it were entirely in private hand I am sure a better solution would be found.
June 23, 2021
I wonder if unelected bureaucrat David Frost uses the train to get to his office? If he does then his train journey was probably the most successful part of his day yesterday. The evidence he gave to MPs about his Brexit mess was perhaps the most pathetic I have ever heard in Parliament. The man is completely and utterly clueless.
The damage he has done to our country is immense. He negotiated a border down the Irish Sea. He negotiated masses of new paperwork. He negotiated fewer rights for Britons. He negotiated a worse deal for our businesses – screwing over a vast number of sectors. He negotiated for us all to be poorer. Which gutter did you drag this clown up from? He seems oblivious to the vast amounts of damage he has done.
Still we can celebrate Brexit five years on knowing the clown Frost is definitely going to prison one day for the criminally negligent way has treated his country. Wikipedia says heâs 56. That probably gives us a good 25 years to put him in a cell. Plenty of time.
June 23, 2021
Not one of your better efforts, Andy. The bile was a bit routine. Keep at it, though. You make my day.
June 23, 2021
OFF TOPIC.
With a week to go until the deadline for EU nationals living in the UK to apply for settled status, it is clear that far more EU citizens have been living in the country than previous estimates suggested.
As of 31 May, the government had received 5.6 million applications for the post-Brexit scheme that allows EU nationals to continue living and working in the UK after the end of this month. That is far higher than the official estimate when the scheme was fully opened in March 2019 that there were 3.7 million (non-Irish) EU nationals in the country.
About five million settlement applications came from England, just over quarter of a million from Scotland and about 92,000 each from Wales and Northern Ireland.
June 23, 2021
Think, just for once in your life.
Most people settling here do so as families, young and fit, or so as to start them.
Many have had children here.
They need to apply for settled status for all those children too.
June 23, 2021
yes, cross the channel, find benefits, possibly work, bring the parents/grandparents – free medicare all round. Start a family – free medicare, free education, language tution for the young. Whats not to like?
June 23, 2021
Just one of the figures hiding the true number of people in the UK.
Supermarkets nearly 20 years ago were saying consumption showed a population of nearer 80 million. Politicians response, too much food is being wasted! Yeah right.
IMO there are probably about 100 million people in the UK and I dare any politician to prove me wrong. They can’t, because they have no idea how many unregistered migrants are here.
June 23, 2021
20 years ago we had the Census 2001 giving a population of 58.8 m.
But based on some highly scientific âmoist finger in the airâ you say it was in fact 80 m. May I dare you to prove it?
I guess you might have some difficulties because the actual opening of the EU to Eastern Europe only happened in May 2004 and these Eastern Europeans only started to come to the UK after their countries had accessed the EU (and after the UK Government had declared the previous November 2013 that contrary to other EU countries it would not put any restrictions on the citizens of the new EU countries to come to the UK).
Census 2011âs last figures were published in December 2012 with a 63.2 m population. Interestingly a number of people might not have filled the census form because of the type of detailed questions asked (in particular related to religion or sexuality), which some conservative groups characterised as infringing on privacy.
As interesting is the fact that similar groups still are the most vocal at refusing any form of ID cards.
Which is to show that some people are not afraid of contradictions âŠ
June 23, 2021
Really good thing that we did not let EU citizens vote on Leaving the EU.
Notable that South Ruislip and Uxbridge constituency has over 80% more applications forthcoming than official estimates expected
June 23, 2021
Well – Uxbridge includes Hayes so not very surprising.
June 24, 2021
“No taxation without representation” didn’t some people once demand?
The Tories didn’t seem to hear, did they?
They deserved to lose the US.
June 23, 2021
We have an employee who wants to get out of the house but has found it is cheaper to pay for a desk in an office share than to commute irregularly.
The train operating companies evidently feel that fleecing those who have to travel is a better way to raise revenue than increasing demand by reducing the fares. I suspect that those who might travel to the office voluntarily have their decision not to made for them by the cost.
The operating companies can not pack the trains like they did before due to distancing measures and travellers’ fears (they wouldn’t get on the train if it was packed) so need margin more than volume.
I think they would be better offering loss leaders to get people travelling again and offer half price tickets all the time. The staged pricing option suggested above still involves a full price payment to start travelling once more and it seems that employee power is rife at present with employees reluctant to return to offices so the initial cost will stop commuters in the first instance.
I now travel off peak in empty carriages, it is marvellous
June 23, 2021
from BBC website.
Niall McGregor, from Norwich, commutes to Canary Wharf to work in a bank. Before Covid he commuted twice a week and worked from home on the other days.
“When you look at the price per journey, the numbers don’t make it sufficiently attractive,” he explains. His annual season ticket costs ÂŁ8,884 for unlimited travel, whereas the Greater Anglia flexi ticket from Norwich to London would cost ÂŁ682.30 – ÂŁ8,187 a year – for only eight tickets a month.
“It doesn’t feel like a massive saving for what you’re giving up in terms of travel days,” he says, because it means he would swap 20 days a month travel for eight days a month travel to save ÂŁ697 a year.
“The maths of the new flexible season ticket just don’t make much sense,” he adds.
June 23, 2021
You don’t understand the economics of all this.
Prior to CV-19 huge investment has taken place in the railways which still has to be paid for. They have had 15 months of total losses.
Huge cuts and price rises are on their way whatever happens.
The costs of lockdown are only just starting to come in.
June 23, 2021
Understand the debt clawback attempt, but point out the Government suggestion of a very helpful cost reduction is a load of hokum.
June 23, 2021
You read it here first – I mentioned this in a rare off topic comment – what a complete waste if time the whole thing is.
As a small Company we are running into problems recruiting and training; especially training. We have to get back to the office in some shape or form although we have grown so much this year we would no longer fit in it .We need flexible travel to make this work and the new ticket system is worse than useless when considerable sums are involved ( especially for junior staff )- We are thinking about month blocks of work in and out, now but the fact that yet again our lives are made as difficult as possible …just irritates you.
Can they get nothing right .not one thing ever ?!!
June 23, 2021
The railways cannot survive masks, social distancing nor working from home.
Very simple economics.
The railway you once took for granted is now over. Huge cuts are on their way and ticket prices will still have to go up because of all the investment over the past few years for passenger growth which has been slammed into reverse.
Pick Mondays and Fridays (possibly weekends too) to come in as Tues, Weds and Thurs are going to be in high demand.
June 23, 2021
AT LAST! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57570377
The way that this drug has been prohibited and ignored is nothing short of a scandal.
June 23, 2021
Bryan Harris
+ 100
But, of course, itâs not profitable for the big pharmaceutical companies and Doctors donât prescribe medication for the benefit of their patients but to increase the profits of big pharmaceutical companies!
June 23, 2021
Are you suggesting GPs get ‘persuaded’ to prescribe certain drugs rather than others?
Over and above the average NHS payment for each patient of ÂŁ155 per year.
June 23, 2021
It is an interesting one this. perhaps Trump was in favour of it & that’s why it didn’t get approved before
June 23, 2021
A misconceived dislike of Trump was probably a factor, but it was shown to be effective even before the vaccines were approved for EMERGENCY use.
How long is an emergency supposed to last?
June 23, 2021
Looks like yet another complicated fare structure in the offing.
Surely the simple solution is:
purchase 10 tickets get a 10% discount on all of them
Purchase 20 tickets get a 20% discount on all of them
Purchase 30 tickets get a 30% discount on all of them
Tickets can be used at any time of the day during the next 12 months.
Simples, you take your choice and pay accordingly.
Of course the problem with this is that no one knows the actual real price of the ticket in the first place, which always was the problem. !
June 23, 2021
Sir Humphrey does NOT like simple solutions, because if adopted, the plebs might think they could manage the country rather better than (insert your own bete noire here please).
June 23, 2021
Good luck with expecting a 20% cut in monthly travel, formerly would have been an annual season.
Try going into a supermarket and saying ‘Oh by the way I want 20% off whatever I buy.
June 23, 2021
Discount tickets sold in booklet form for use on the Paris Metro, usually in books of 10.
So simple to understand and use, at least that use4de to be the case last time I was there.
June 23, 2021
Off Topic
From the MsM and to paraphrase. To mark the 5th anniversary of the UK voting to leave the EU, the EU’s single market commissioner, Thierry Breton has noted that the UK has not managed to take back control.
I think most of the UK electorate has been pointing this as the primary failure of the Conservative Government – to much ‘Grand Standing’ and deflection going on – rather than achieving anything of substance
June 23, 2021
Grant Shapps why am I not surprised we havenât got a grown up business solution instead of a civil service know nothing one.
And in other news Boris celebrates 5 years since Brexit saying we have taken back control of borders, our seas, subsidy, regulation etc.
We havenât, of course more flag waving dissembling from him thinking that will cover up the reality as he does so often.
Ask the Northern Irish,
June 23, 2021
Nig1, There is something not quite right about the reporting of Northern Ireland problems, for months we’ve been told that they will have empty supermarket shelves because the UK can’t send them sausages and chilled meat. Then today the Guardian usefully writes an article about the amount of farming in Northern Ireland, with 80% of the products exported to the UK (which has no delays or problems). More than enough homegrown meat to feed themselves with sausages and chilled meat.
The Northern and Southern Irish want their Irish passports which allow them free entry to the EU, they don’t want an internal land border. This was the deal. John Redwood tried to warn them but he was reassured with a provision in the WA to protect the integrity of the UK trade.
The UK governments decided not to punish Southern Ireland when they went independent from the UK. They have turned on the UK and caused problems yet we still allow a common travel area, not just within Ireland or for the Northern Irish that is still part of the UK but for all. We need to start levelling the field in our treatment and get off our knees.
Farmers are being interviewed saying Brexit has harmed them. How exactly? Why do news reporters never ask for the facts and figures.
June 23, 2021
A good model would be the way Ski Resorts sell Lift Passes in discounted bundles.
June 23, 2021
There is a basic level of funding below which a regional rail network simply cannot operate and Working from Home, masks, social distancing and proposed part-time working have put the kybosh on rail travel.
Part-time commuters are in for a bit of a shock when they return. Line speeds have become lower and lower as there isn’t the money for maintenance of high speed routes, the gargantuan debts for brand new hubs, stations and fleets of trains which were predicated on never ending passenger growth are still there and must be paid for so the ticket prices will go up regardless of how many cuts are made.
My own long distance route now takes 20 minutes longer to get to the capital and I expect it’s the same everywhere which makes HS2 even more of an insult.
Huge staff and rolling stock cuts are on their way and doubtless the part-time commuters will want to come in on Tues, Weds and Thurs so as to leave long weekends free and this will bring huge overcrowding on much reduced services – not to say lack of capacity on race and festival days…. not that there are going to be any since Boris cancelled Freedom Day.
Rail cannot survive masks, social distancing nor Working from Home (WFH) and those WFH had better fear for their jobs – only the most talented and qualified will keep their jobs because of outsourcing.
Such a pity as few will be able to afford electric cars either and we’ll need public transport more than ever in the future.
——
I saw a recent advert for an electric car which said “You can charge our car up in the time it takes to go and have a coffee.” which sounds convivial…. the last time I filled up there were three cars waiting for the same pump. Road Rage is going to go through the roof. Has boris increased custody cells and A&E capacity for all this yet ?
June 23, 2021
No queue at Doubletree Hotel, Winnersh. 20 charging bays but I’ve never seen more than 3 being used.
That and the fact it is flooding area – great for an electric charging location.
June 23, 2021
Steel wheels on a steel track, viz railways and trams, is an out-of-date technology which is very expensive to build, maintain and run, which is why it has always required enormous amounts of subsidy.
It only makes sense for mass transportation into densely populated areas but even here it has now also shown to be totally useless in a pandemic, the current Covid-19 one likely being just the first of more to come.
With WFH becoming more widespread the way ahead is for small, individual self-drive rubber wheeled EV vehicles on a tarmac track for most of our transport.
The government should have used the Covid-19 pandemic to scrap the HS2 project and instead used the land purchased to build instead a tarmac motorway, with regular junctions so it can be used by people living along its route, dedicated to EV/self-drive private vehicles.
June 23, 2021
Off topic, here is a somewhat tongue in cheek letter that the Times has chosen to ignore.
“It is good of Leo Varadkar to offer Dublin’s help in finding fixes to the Northern Ireland protocol.
A useful starting point could be for his government to share whatever information it has on the degree to which a black market in British sausages has developed across the Irish Republic over the past six months.
After all during that “grace period” sausages made in Great Britain have been free to enter Northern Ireland, under certain conditions laid down by the EU, and the land border with the Republic has remained completely open with no checks on the goods being carried across, so has there been any significant smuggling of those British sausages to the south?
Have Irish trading standards officers found that sausages labelled “Not be sold outside Northern Ireland” are being flogged under the counter, have they exposed any large scale criminal operations to disguise the forbidden origin of these sausages, are spivs accosting passers-by in city streets and quietly asking whether they would like some British bangers?
If there is no significant evidence of any such assaults on the integrity of the precious EU Single Market in the Irish Republic, would it not be reasonable to suppose that the present temporary “grace period” for sausages could be made permanent, possibly paving the way for a more general solution, restored international amity, and peace and prosperity?”
While this letter was written in a light tone there is the serious point that the third recital in the preamble to the revised protocol, here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/840230/Revised_Protocol_to_the_Withdrawal_Agreement.pdf
runs:
“RECOGNISING that it is necessary to address the unique circumstances on the island of Ireland through a unique solution in order to ensure the orderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union”
and it is clear that the EU is not prepared to do that, instead it prefers to carry on treating a molehill on the Irish land border as though it is a high mountain which we can only cross once we have surrendered.
June 23, 2021
There is something very smelly going on with reports of chilled meats and sausages, if John allows read this link to the Guardian. N Ireland are more than self-sufficient in meat to make their own chilled meats and sausages! They now need to get best practice on what to do with the excrement, I wonder what they do in Denmark in their mega farms.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/23/poo-overload-northern-ireland-could-be-forced-to-export-a-third-of-its-animal-waste
June 23, 2021
Correct and any other types of chilled meats they need can be go very easily from the south of ireland.. don’t know what all of the fuss is about
June 24, 2021
Of course you don’t.
June 24, 2021
But Northern Ireland’s potential self-sufficiency in chilled meat products is not at all the point, is it. We routinely make a product somewhere in one part of the country and sell it in the other parts, but the EU will not allow that to continue for chilled meat products such as sausages being sent from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Thanks to Boris Johnson movement of those and other products within two parts of our own country has now become an issue to be determined by the EU.
https://www.rte.ie/news/brexit/2021/0623/1230839-brexit/
“… the issue of food consignments leaving Great Britain for Northern Ireland … “
June 24, 2021
From what I can make of it the protectionist EU don’t want the competition from the UK whilst protecting their own sausage and chilled meat exports into the UK. Boris extended their paperwork deadline so there is no level playing field to barter with. I read the EU are worried we will import meat and chilled meat from the RoW and forward it to N Ireland, surely providence is not to difficult to prove. The UK packaging should say for sale in the UK only when exporting to N Ireland, then if any appears in Southern Ireland checks and fines could easily be administered to NI Exporters breaking the EU rules.
But why isn’t the documentation on chilled meat and sausages made from British meat easy to obtain for British manufacturers to export to the whole of the EU?
The Island of Ireland want their Irish and UK passports and their ability to export their products from Northern Ireland into the EU without all these paperwork checks don’t they, there is a cost to that in their relations with the UK, Scotland need to think about that if they choose to go Independent.
June 24, 2021
The UK agreed not to do it.
June 24, 2021
Nothing so specific in the Protocol MiC
Prove me wrong
Come on.
June 26, 2021
When, who, what agreement, do you have any evidence of your statement that the UK agreed to all of these restrictions on internal UK exports Martin?
June 23, 2021
No. The idea you put forward is far too complicated.
The standard fare to start from is far too high so the discounts themselves are just marketing tricks and intended to tie travellers to fixed arrangements and take their money before they travel.
You state that the idea of eight days is just a guess. So is ten, fifteen and so on.
If flexibilty and freedom is wanted reduce the standard fare, and make it easy for people to journey on impulse. With so many millions of journeys hitherto on discount compared to standard fare it is clear the standard fare is fictitious in terms of required revenue.
June 23, 2021
privatise it. properly this time. maybe chuck in Channel 4 for free.
June 23, 2021
MAJOR NEWS INCIDENT.
A Russian patrol ship and fighter jet fired warning shots towards a British destroyer in the Black Sea, reports in Russia say. The Interfax news agency quoted the defence ministry as saying that HMS Defender entered Russian territorial waters near Crimea.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has not yet commented.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 but this has not been recognised internationally.
HMS Defender changed course after the warning shots, Moscow said. It said the incident happened near Cape Fiolent in the south of Crimea. A patrol ship fired twice and the Su24-M jet dropped four bombs in its path.
The British embassy’s defence attachĂ© has been summoned to the Russian defence ministry, Interfax quoted the ministry as saying.
HMS Defender is a Type 45 destroyer that is part of the UK’s Carrier Strike Group. It is carrying out missions in the Black Sea, according to the Royal Navy’s website.
Are we ready to fire missiles at a fighter jet threatening our warships in International waters?
June 23, 2021
13:58 UK denies Russia fired shots at British warship.
So MT, keen on swallowing Russian propaganda, arenât you?
âMissiles at a fighter jet threatening our warships in international waters?â A bit hot under the collar, Dr Strangelove?
June 23, 2021
We must not be denied perfectly legal and forewarned passage. Locking-on is demonstrating the ability to shoot down, unlike Russia who have already done it. So go ahead big boy – lick his a**e. I’d tell him do that again and we fire – see it as an act of war.
June 23, 2021
At a minimum we should use missile radar to ‘lock on’ to approaching target.
Putin has got used to pushing countries around, it is about time we upped the ante.
June 23, 2021
It’s this type of jingoistic silly nonsense that started the Crimea war in the 1850s.. I do hope if things go wrong again you’ll put yourself up first in the front line so you can have a good look.. in any case please don’t bother the rest of us with call up or any if that nonsense.
June 23, 2021
It was a provocation sending that ship so close to Crimea;the Russians responded appropriately.
I wonder what the Chinese have planned when our floating bullseye eventually makes it to the South China Sea.
June 23, 2021
When Russian military aircraft and naval forces come near to our airspace or territorial limits we scramble RAF fighters etc to intercept so why should we be surprised if Russian forces fire warning shots at a UK naval ship that closes on territory the Russians regard as their own and in the Black Sea of all places – has our MoD nothing else to do or are we that stupid we have to send naval ships into an enclosed Black Sea and risk WW3 – I don’t see many other nations behaving this way – and please don’t quote me freedom of the seas or warships engaged in innocent sea passage as an excuse
June 23, 2021
International waters on a published trip. Putin just testing us again as we’ve proved to be chicken at every sort of confrontation.
June 23, 2021
Agreed, what on earth was the point of sailing to Crimea? It’s just preposterous willy-waving and the Russian response is completely understandable. The Royal Navy should concentrate on making the the North Atlantic a no-go zone to anyone who doesn’t ask politely to come in first.
June 24, 2021
Any relation to George Blake? I think we can guess where you would stand on all things Russian.
June 23, 2021
Yes, the greed of big businesses never seems to end, especially those with effective monopolies.
People will simply minimise their travel or they will drive – with quieter roads and car parks that may become viable. Or they may be able to move closer to work if the exodus from cities to rural living continues.
Also, 8 journeys a month = 2 per week. I would hope to be travelling to an office much less frequently than that. 8 a year would be to much.
June 23, 2021
I wonder if they have considered shared tickets between two named users. Family or colleagues could by a month by month pass and share the availability without being able to travel on this specific type of ticket on the same day/time.
June 23, 2021
The privatisation of the railways has been a giant leap backwards. There were problems with nationalisation associated with intransigent unions and politicians with zero administrative ability being put in charge.
There were also problems with the diesel/electric units supplied by the late unlamented GEC which broke down regularly throughout long journeys.
However, what we have now is not an integrated system but a dog’s breakfast as I discovered when trying to plan a rail journey for a friend and finding the price of travelling fluctuating wildly throughout the day as different operating company’s pricing systems tried to optimise their profits thereby rendering travelling to be totally inflexible time wise. It is noteworthy that the CEGB worked well because managing it was too complicated for politicians who were forced to rely on professional engineers. Whatever the problem, politicians are not the answer but nor is untrammelled capitalism which is now engaged in taking over the remainder of the indigenous listed businesses with control passing to international spivs who are signed up to zero carbon. Soon we will have literally nothing.
June 23, 2021
So when did the âcovid daily briefâ become a government âlovinâ presented by out and out sycophants
June 23, 2021
The U.K. must not agree to “temporarily” align with EU regulations in exchange for the EU extending the “grace period” to allow GB meat into Northern Ireland. That temporary would never end and we will have biNO. Better to call their bluff and unilaterally extend.
June 23, 2021
This is not a game of bluff thd EU crowd have far more important things to be doing than to spend time fencing with the UK. For a start summer recess is coming up and I’m quite sure they are all looking forward to their hols.
Could be in October they’ll agree to have all contentious cargoes exported from GB via Dublin and sent north in sealed containers. That way EU inspectors can carry out their checks in Dublin and there’ll be no need to bothef anyone in the ports of Belfast or Larne – problem solved
June 23, 2021
Today the Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey spoke about the implications of climate change on the Armed Forces at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)âŠ.he started off with ââIâm an enthusiastic âgreenââ
Why couldnât he have just said ââIâm an enthusiastic âToryââ
June 23, 2021
Nationalize ticketing and inter-operability with local inclusive onward transport connections if available.
PAYG Oyster system nationwide for all. For mass-public transit – no exceptions. Bus,coach,rail,train and allow more internal flights at peak times.
Bring in Airline expertise to match the empty seats to availability that prices to the market.
Consider efficiencies and downsizing of needless management and entitlements not available in the private sector.
Just waiting for the Public Sector inflation driven round of strikes etc. Why inflict a commuting hassle on yourself.?
June 23, 2021
Sir John
You apparently arenât keen on any criticism of the police, no matter if itâs well deserved?
Is there any point in postings in your diary?
You support a government which is becoming universally despised, we need honest MPs who will stand up for the electorate, I can assure you that Iâm never going to vote Tory again, Iâve been a lifetime Tory voter but hearing Johnson waffling away at the G7 about being more feminine has me making a precautionary visit to the bathroom, do you not realise how the electorate are feeling?
Reply I do not publish unsubstantiated allegations against the police or any named individual. I allow a lot of criticism of the government. You do not have to post here.
June 24, 2021
Perhaps this is just a simple to administer scheme to get the show on the road. The flexibility you want can come later.
It is interesting that you refer to excessive capacity on the railways. I went to London last Saturday afternoon. The trains were are about 30% full, as were the tube trains. The buses were about 50% full. This seems well down on pre-pandemic levels. What are other people’s experiences? And what are the overall occupancy rates, assuming that TfL record and publish them?
Reply I think it is just a mistake and do know some of the background to how it was arrived at.