Shrink Proof

Presumably he's too scared to visit anywhere in Scotland...

Likewise, I remember hearing an interview with a transport economist (sorry, can't remember the name after all these years) on Dutch radio about 3 years after BR privatisation; the discussion was about railways in NL and their future economics. The guy said that the only thing to do whenever a decision had to be made about railway development was to always do the exact opposite of what the British had done and all would be well...

In general, services of any type in/out of London (i.e., radially) are light years better than cross-country services. Much of that is political; for example, promised trans-Pennine rail upgrades were shelved (just after the election, naturally...) but HS2 will be rammed through no matter what. As a resident of Yorkshire until recently, I would love to have commuted more by train rather than driving, but a viable rail alternative simply didn't exist. What trains there are are infrequent, slow and pitifully obsolete - the much-loathed Pacers (built 30 years ago) are still in service and due to be replaced by revamped cast-off London tube trains (built 40 years ago)...

Returning to the original theme of this thread (why does the Guardian hate Grayling?), they have another piece today. Grayling boasted that spending our taxes on a shipping company that has no ships was a great move (“I make no apologies for supporting a new British business”). The Guardian now reveals this outfit's Terms & Conditions, posted on its website, are actually nothing to do with shipping at all, but have been cut and pasted from a takeaway fast food website. Which hardly inspires confidence that the £13.8 million of our money that Grayling's paid out to them is money well spent - link. I have some serious disagreements with The Guardian, but they're right on the money with Grayling. He has been utterly, utterly useless in every political job he's been given.

ONLY if there is a "none of the above" option on the ballot paper. If you support freedom of speech, you should also support the freedom not to speak. Or maybe you like the idea of the police knocking on peoples' doors to arrest them a week or so after the poll?

HMV goes into administration for second time in six years

Another one for the collection, this time from sunny Scarborough. Started out at a (frankly delusional) £450,000 back in 2013/4. Didn't sell despite sitting on the market for a year and being reduced over that time to £360,000. Long pause, then back on the market at the start of this year, reduced to £340,000. Today down to £300,000. So the asking price has slid by a third in 4 years.... Link.

Still going down...

Come on, be fair. You can't let a little thing like a national crisis get in the way when the future of the Conservative party and its great and diligent MPs is at stake, can you?

Strong and stable...bleep...Strong and stable...bleep...Strong and stable...bleep...Strong and stable...bleep...Strong and stable...bleep...Strong and stable...bleep...

Seems that Paul Nuttall has left UKIP too. No great loss for him though - he could always rejoin the NASA Mars mission or get The Beatles back together again.

They simply don't make bargepoles long enough...

Yes, but for that very same £60,000 you could buy a hotel in Scarborough. Well, OK, not an entire hotel, just one room... (Edit - a bigger room would set you back £75,000)

"The angry resident, who believes it looks like something from Doctor Who, said neighbours were not informed this would happen." The Turdis....

Even allowing for the comparatively small sample sizes, that's impressive.