Christian Wolmar

THE people of the Chilterns are unlikely rebels yet they are furious about the plan to build a high-speed rail line through their unspoilt bit of Britain, even though the scheme was devised by the Tory Party most of them support. Last weekend more than 500 protesters gathered to galvanise opposition against the proposal, which goes out to consultation this week. That’s just the start. Celebrities are being rounded up, huge ...

So farewell Wrexham & Shropshire.   It was a lovely idea, but in truth as doomed as Romeo’s efforts with Juliet, a brief love affair between rail nostalgics and the forces of modern capitalism. Not surprisingly, the latter proved to be as unromantic as a geriatric hippopotamus, especially once the Germans had taken on the line and it was bound to end in tears which, on the last day, were genuinely ...

I don't want to reopen all the wounds over the HS2 issue, but speaking at the StopH2 conference attended by 60-0 people in Warwickshire on saturday was a fascinating experience on Saturday. Sure, there were the Nimbys, interested only in their patch, and the eccentrics  like the first questioner after my speech who seemed to be espousing some sort of revolution and the lady who reckoned that it was all ...

A day spent on Southern and Southeastern trains filming with Richard Wilson for Despatches was instructive in showing how the railway system is still constrained by lack of investment. We took the train from Victoria to Hastings, and my god is that a slow service, not helped by a six minute stop at Eastbourne so the driver can get from one end of the train to another.  Two hours to ...

The word ‘consultation’ fills me with dread. Governments have a legal duty to ‘consult’ or otherwise they face a judicial review, but for the most part the whole process is a sham. People and organisations are asked for their views, which are promptly ignored. Ideological governments like the current one are particularly prone to ignore the responses to their ideas and proceed anyway. Remember the Poll Tax! This is certainly the ...

When I arrived in Coventry yesterday, there were no taxis to be had, but weirdly lots of black cabs parked in the way. Thanks to Twitter and the driver of a scab cab I eventually used rather shamefully - the bus was never going to arrive and I had a lecture to give - I found out what it was all about. Apparently, until the cabs were deregulated in the early ...