Two more British railway companies were transferred into public ownership last weekend.
The nationalisation marks the halfway point in the establishment of Great British Railways, with half of all future railway journeys now operating under public control.
Marvellous, won’t be long before all UK trains have the Great British Railways logo, ending the wretched Tory privatisation putting money into the pockets of directors and shareholders rather than used for the improvement of railways.
Wouldn’t it be great – I know railway buffs will agree – if Britain went the whole hog and reintroduced occasional steam engines on some train routes. I bet many more Brits and visitors would return to rail travel if Great British Railways turned the clock back.
It takes me back to when I was a boy and loved to go with mates to play in the marshalling yard (while there was no shunting of course) going onto the railway bridge as the magnificent steam engine powered its way underneath and hang onto the level crossing gates as the man in the signal box wound the gates open or closed. Those were the days!
Wasn’t life wonderful for us kids? Much better for us than what kids have today – endless hours on their smart phones.
Climate Change: Now in Extended Play
What a difference a year makes – last year Spain was in a drought and farmers were distraught. This year it’s rain, rain and more rain. If you think it’s bad in Spain, it’s just as bad in the UK and it’s colder.
As an amateur weather buff I’m interested in the weather and climate change and I can say I have never known a weather pattern to last as long as this one has – with the jet stream stuck to the south of the UK, often over Spain feeding in weather systems, one after another.
What is now so obvious is that countries have to modify the infrastructure to cope with ever warmer summers and winters with more rainfall and unpredictability.
The good thing is that Met offices around the world have far more technology at their disposal to give far more accurate and reliable forecasting
There’s no doubt that weather patterns are changing. All through this winter there has been far less ice build up in the Arctic until now when there has been a dramatic increase. As for the summer – heat waves on the way? Probably!
Benefits: Britain’s Fastest-Growing Career
More than six million workers in Britain would be better off on benefits than by working.
This is the claim by the Centre for Social Justice – and it paints a very dreadful picture for the UK and it’s ability to gain any realistic economic growth.
The Centre for Social Justice’s research has triggered warnings that Britain is in danger of becoming a “welfare state with a bankrupt country attached”.
Britons on modest wages would receive more from welfare than their post-tax salary if they could persuade doctors to sign them off and claim a combination of out-of-work and health benefits, so it is little wonder that there has been a surge in claims.
The UK’s problem is either that people at the lowest point on the salary ladder are receiving pay that is simply too low, or that benefits are just too high and too easy to get, or a combination of both.
The CSJ think-tank is launching an investigation into how to tackle the “benefits crisis” by restoring incentives to work. The CSJ claims that in 2025-26 an “economically inactive claimant on universal credit for ill-health with the average housing benefit and personal independence payment (PIP) would receive an income of around £25,200 – the equivalent to a pre-tax salary of £30,100”.
This totally dwarfs what the Brits get in State pensions, of roughly £12,000 – far lower than what pensioners get in many EU countries.
* And while Britain is economically floundering with practically no growth, Spain is booming.
It’s celebrating 2.8% growth last year, according to preliminary figures from National Statistics Institute.
Economists say the boom is due to a “strong influx of immigrants filling labour gaps, a robust tourism recovery, significant EU fund deployment, rising minimum wages boosting consumer spending, and targeted government support, leading to growth faster than many EU peers, particularly in services, construction, and green energy.”
Food for thought Britain!
