Christian Wolmar

It sounded like good news when Network Rail announced that it had made an operating profit of £460m for 2003/4, compared with a loss of £601m the previous year. In most boardrooms that managed such a stunning turnaround, there would be a deserved popping of champagne corks. Network Rail’s directors certainly thought so: they paid themselves their full bonuses - about £1 million last year. But this is the crazy ...

The reappointment of Alistair Darling as Transport Secretary proves the Prime Minister is putting a ‘safe pair of hands’ before a long-term vision for the railway, maintains CHRISTIAN WOLMAR. Well, we knew we would have four more years of Blair, but few people expected another four of Darling. In truth, of course, there is strong whiff of ‘muddling through’ about Tony Blair’s new Cabinet, and Darling seems to have been left ...

The transport-shy general election campaign may be over, but attempts by ministers to cut rail costs by reducing services are only just beginning, warns CHRISTIAN WOLMAR. With the election safely out of the way and, as predicted, nary a mention of transport or rail on the hustings, ministers can now turn to the question of how to cut the huge rail budget. Rather than tackling the structural flaws which have caused ...

The new franchise contract for GNER on the East Coast Main Line, announced in April, marks a radical departure from existing arrangements and suggests that the government is seeking to reduce sharply the current subsidy of nearly £2bn to train operators. GNER’s won because it such high commitments over the level of premium it was prepared to pay the government that it completely blew away the competition the other bidders. Overall, ...

Richard Webster, The secret of Bryn Estyn, the making of a modern witch hunt, The Orwell Press, 722 pp, £25 Allegations of abuse, particularly sexual abuse which has taken place a long time ago, pose particular problems for those investigating them. There are rarely any independent witnesses, and forensic evidence has obviously long disappeared. Therefore, when allegations began to be made about abuse in care homes in North Wales, the police developed ...