London could be about to endure the embarrassing and possibly tragic fate of electing its own version of the Hartlepool monkey as mayor. Boris may be a bit of a laugh and quite a nice chap really, but behind the buffonery there is a right wing mindset that will do untold damage to the capital.
First, [...]
Archive of April, 2008
Apr
30
Spare us from Boris
Bring out the bunting and organise the street parties. The railways are booming, with, again, record numbers of passengers, and seeming never ending growth. The train operators are happy that their inflated bids have not got them into trouble and the government is relieved that the franchisees have not put out the begging bowl.
So all [...]
Apr
22
Deaths of doughty fighters
As ever, have been a bit busy to blog but the coincidence of the deaths of two very significant, if totally different, transport campaigners has made me put finger to laptop. I just learnt of the death of John Tyme, who fought a series of campaigns against roadbuilding in the 1970s and 1980s, most notably [...]
Early last year, I wrote a column expressing doubts about the value of building a new north south high speed line (Rail 556). I argued that the case was by no means proven because the environmental benefits, which will increasingly dictate government policy, were marginal in relation to the cost.
At the time the idea of [...]
A few weeks ago, my partner Deborah had to drive at short notice from London to the hospital in Bangor to see her mother who had suffered a stroke. When, back in the early 2000s, her father was ill there, parking had not been problem but now the situation had changed with ticket barriers barring [...]
Despite delays, weekend closures and overcrowding, Britons love affair with the railways seems to grow stronger every year. Passenger numbers have risen by 50 per cent since the mid 1990s and, so far, the rate of increase shows no sign of abating.
The reasons for the boom are fairly straightforward. Railways have always done well at [...]