Trains
Commuter says yes
My train journey to work is bliss
The great train robbery
Outside mathematics, the word ‘commute’ can mean two things. Mostly it refers to the act of making a daily journey…
Don’t tell me model railways aren’t art. My little engine is a thing of spirit and beauty
It’s a summer day at Llangenydd station, and the afternoon train is already late, not that anyone seems to mind.…
The financial logic behind HS2 is collapsing. It’s time to pull the plug
No one is in any doubt about the problem facing Britain’s railways. Over the past decade, rail fares have risen…
Markets are clever precisely because people are silly
A month ago I wanted to travel to Bath for a 60th birthday party. From Kent, this either involves a…
‘See it, Say it, Sort it’ makes me want to self-harm
‘How could you forget to get on the train?’ asked the keeper. ‘I can understand how you forgot to get…
Why I’m not on board with quiet carriages
Every now and then I try to invent a new scientific unit. I’ll never come up with anything as good…
Women used to forgive men their defects, but the quality of mercy is under strain
Poor Gordon Brown. He embodies the problem traditionally associated with being male, which is that our sex finds it difficult…
Trains in Spain
The first railway line in Spain, from Barcelona to Mataro a few miles up the coast towards the French border,…
How they tried (and failed) to make ‘La Marseillaise’ nicer
Friendly words England football fans sang ‘La Marseillaise’ in a friendly match at Wembley. The anthem has not always been…
Does HS2 pass the Butterfield test?
Despite my opposition to High Speed 2, I am quite a big fan of HS1, the line which runs from…
TalkTalk shows us the internet is only three clicks from anarchy
I’m not a customer of TalkTalk, the phone company which revealed last week that a hacker had potentially compromised the…
Barometer
Peers’ peers Forty-five new peers were created. Are we alone in having an upper house of parliament made up of…
Low life
I sprinted through Milan station, speed-read the departures monitor without stopping, and arrived gasping on platform 8 with two minutes…
Your problems solved
Q. Travelling on a train recently I happened to notice two former acquaintances, sitting together and very nearly opposite me,…
Restoration drama
Yes William Cook Rejoice! Rejoice! Fifty-four years after its destruction, Euston Arch has returned to Euston. Well, after a fashion.…
Cross rail
Conversations with a ticket inspector on the Norwich train
Barometer
A dangerous hobby Three men from Greater Manchester were arrested and held in the UAE after being seen writing down…
Barometer
Golden league Some MPs who earn Sir Malcolm Rifkind’s rate of £5,000 a day: — Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury): £3,333…
What the doctor ordered
Sky1’s new hospital drama Critical (Tuesday) can’t be accused of making a timid start. Within seconds, an urgent request had…
Dear Mary
Q. I was not brought up in England and don’t appear in Who’s Who. This means that there is no…
How HS2 blights lives
Whether the high-speed rail line is built or not, it is destroying the retirements of people like my parents
Have airport designers noticed that laptops exist?
It’s taken years to work this out, but there is a subtle art to designing an airport lounge. 1) Install…
Barometer
What’s special about Rochester What is special about Rochester and Strood? — Rochester has the second oldest cathedral and school…
Osborne’s northern ‘super-city’ looks like a cynical vote-grab – but I’m all for it
When John Prescott used to wax garrulous about a ‘superhighway’ from Hull to Liverpool, everyone assumed it was a wheeze…
