Scrapped: Government cancels bidding for Southeastern rail franchise as fresh search for operator begins August 7, 2019 The government has faced accusations of running Britain’s railways “on the hoof” after it scrapped the bidding process for the Southeastern rail franchise, making it the latest botched procurement by the Department for Transport (DfT). Officials will now have until 1 April 2020 to choose the next franchise operator. Go-Ahead Group, which currently operates the [...]
Heavy rain causes travel chaos for Southern and Thameslink commuters June 11, 2019 Heavy rain across England is causing chaos for passengers in the south east, especially on the routes run by Southern and Thameslink. There are major delays across the Southern network, which operates between London and the south of England, including Brighton, and on Thameslink, which runs from Bedford via central London to Kent. Read more: [...]
Kick off the decade with a plan for ending the misery of the daily commute January 7, 2020 It’s the start of the year, and you may have already had to suffer through a cancelled train, a packed carriage, or a traffic jam that’s cost you a meeting. Not the best way to kick off a new decade. Among those returning to their offices today are the newly appointed members of the government, [...]
Commuters set for 27 days of misery as South Western Railway strikes start December 2, 2019 Workers on South Western Railway (SWR) have today begun a 27-day strike after talks between the RMT union and the train operator came to nothing. Commuters are set for extensive disruption throughout the Christmas period due to the action, which is the result of a long-running dispute about the role of guards on trains. Read [...]
Tube delays: Severe delays hit commuters on two Tube lines June 26, 2019 Commuters faced a morning of disruption today as Tube delays struck two key Underground lines. Read more: Tube delays strike Northern Line amid rail flooding cancellations Severe delays hit the Circle Line clockwise route after a faulty train at Latimer Road earlier this morning. The Circle Line is running a good service anti-clockwise, however, But [...]
General Election 2019: Labour figures meet to finalise manifesto November 16, 2019 Labour officials will meet later today to finalise the party’s manifesto ahead of December’s general election. The party has already unveiled a number of policies and on Thursday announced it would part-nationalise telecomms giant BT in a bid to provide free full-fibre broadband for all. However, there are some areas in which Labour is yet [...]
RMT union to launch three-day strike on South Western Railway from Friday August 29, 2018 A three-day strike will hit the embattled South Western Railway (SWR) this weekend, as the RMT union's industrial action over the role of guards continues into September. The strike will begin on Friday from midnight and end at midnight on Sunday this weekend. Strikes will also take place at the same times on Saturday 8 [...]
South Western Railway workers start four-day strike in weekend of travel chaos August 30, 2019 Commuters hoping to take the train to work across the south of England face potential chaos this morning as strikes resume on South Western Railway (SWR) over a long-running conflict over train guards. SWR, which runs trains out of London Waterloo to Reading, Bristol and Exeter, has cancelled 800 trains a day until the end [...]
Today’s apologists for socialism still won’t acknowledge the lessons of the Berlin Wall November 13, 2019 The media has been awash over the past week with stories about the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. My favourite vignette concerns a couple living in East Berlin who were delighted to have a telephone installed in their apartment only weeks before the Wall came down. They had been on the [...]
Today’s Labour party has no excuse for its anti-business agenda November 22, 2019 Labour’s election manifesto, launched yesterday by Jeremy Corbyn, has been labelled the most left-wing since the Michael Foot era, when the party also doubled down on high taxes, nationalisation of industry, and more state interference in the economy. Personally, I don’t think the comparison holds up — it’s not generous enough to Michael Foot. While [...]