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UK Transport
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As its title suggests UK Transport covers all aspects of transport in the UK. It is written from a libertarian perspective, in other words, that the less the State involves itself in the running, regulation or funding of roads, railways or anything else - the better.
 In association with the Libertarian Alliance Main Menu UK Transport Home UK Transport Extra Previous Posts Index Cuttings File Glossary Interesting Publications Links Briefing Notes The UK Railway A brief history of UK railways The Japanese System Why British Rail Privatisation failed Work in Progress A Libertarian Transport Manifesto Good Blogs Libertarian Samizdata Liberty Log Conservative Commentary Spangolink Public Interest UK Natalie Solent Freedom and Whisky Stephen Pollard A Libertarian Parent... Brian's Education Blog Lionel Mandrake Dodgeblog Edge of England's Sword Iain Dale Blogosophical Investigations Give War a Chance Airstrip One Random Jottings Why do they call me Mr Happy? Survival Arts Transport Friendly Blogs Kalyr.com Cold Spring Shops My Other Blogs CrozierVision Biased BBC Archives All correspondence is assumed to be publishable unless stated otherwise  
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Friday, June 21, 2002
The Index General Transport Can You Build A Railway (Or Road) Without Compulsory Purchase? Compulsory Purchase - an update Abolish the Ministry of Transport The dynamics of the relationship between the state and free enterprise - the bigger the state the worse it gets. That Transport Plan - MPs savage the Government's Transport "Plan" Abolish the Department of Transport Public and private transport (generally speaking) do not compete A Libertarian Transport Manifesto - not finished yet Now here's a challenge... - one person wonders what all the fuss is about Dublin metro - actually more about infrastructure and land values. Book Review: Don Riley Taken for a Ride Rail A brief history of UK railways A Short Note On The Structure Of The UK Railway Nationalisation is NOT the Answer - letter to the Evening Standard. It's not all Doom and Gloom Train Driver Shortage Fare Hike Threatened High Fares are Good for you - ultimately The Crisis at Connex Apologies Connex How much Money is Railtrack Getting from the Government? Rail Delays Just How Bad is a Monopoly? Book Review: Christian Wolmar Broken Rails Oh, to be proved wrong But Passenger Numbers Have Gone Up! The Sale of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link The Media: Accentuate the Negative, Disregard the Positive Graffiti and Vandalism The Central Railway Some More On Vertical Integration Some Meanderings on the Royal Train Anglia Railways in Financial Trouble Fight! - personal experience of violence on public transport What the Victorians did for us - a profile of Edward Watkin Bullshit Alert - a review of the sort of nonsense people come out with when there's a train crash Dutch Railways and the Nature of Private Enterprise - a letter to Christian Wolmar Wolmar Replies The IoD gets it right - and wrong Rail smash has buried bad news - Railtrack needs a lot more money. The Government has been operating a double standard. Rail Crash Update - and why it is unwise to jump to conclusions More thoughts on vertical integration Bad railways? Blame it on the 1950s - the Modernisation Plan UK railways reclassified as "weapons of mass destruction" - harsh and totally unfair humour. More (potential) double standards - how the State treats the state and private sectors differently. Is it the EU's fault? - that our railways are in a mess? Er, no. Not this time. It's all the EU's fault (again) - the debate continues The Taff Vale Judgement Long distance trains don't make sense Railways Abroad More Guardian Lunacy (on Amtrak) The Japanese System Japanese Railway Conference On Being Stunned By The Central Japan Railway Company Data Book 2001 The Royal Train - a follow up - how the Japanese royals get around. The Plane to Spain is faster than the Train - catch the last train to Mudville High-Speed Rail in Spain The Octupus Card - Hong Kong's newish non-ticket ticket system. Railway Safety On Corporate Manslaughter Corporate Manslaughter - An Addendum A Question of Safety Safety Costs Soar Safety is Dangerous More safety nonsense - or how the Government would like to destroy hundreds of perfectly good trains but can't. Road Pile-up on the ranting super-highway - private roads also have rules. Brian Micklethwait on Road Pricing in the UK Our nuthead safety fascists...anti-car stupidity is not confined to the UK. More on the rules of the private road - James Haney on how bad things are in Texas Utilities fight hole-in-road charges Road tolls seen as tax on business - why tolls are good for you. On helmets for cyclists The car share to nowhere - why they won't work and what the alternative is Congestion Charging in London My Views Andrew Oswald in the Times Ken's Cunning Car Plan Tim Evans on Road Pricing in the UK Air British Airways Goes Budget Flights to London to double Airport Landing Rights Air Traffic Control - delays across the UK Should we fear the EasyJet/Go Merger? Miscellaneous Prior Planning and Preparation Produces Piss-Poor Performance L'affaire Byers - or why I am not going to spend my time fretting about it L'affaire Sixsmith - or why spin no longer works Long distance trains don't make sense Excellent article in the Telegraph about long distance train travel. Not to put too fine a point on it: it doesn't make any sense - planes do the job faster and more cheaply. We would all be a lot better off if we let the French squander their money on high speed trains and built ourselves some more runways. Having said that I would put a rider on this. Although a Manchester to Paris train service could not compete with the equivalent air service that does not necessarily mean that it makes no sense. A hundred years ago there were two competing rail services to the main service running from Euston to Manchester. Although slower these services were profitable because they stopped in different places and thus served different markets. The train may have gone from Manchester to London but the passengers went from Manchester to Nottingham or Leicester to London. There could just about be a case for a high speed line from Manchester to Paris so long as it stopped in London. That is because although Manchester-Paris is uncompetitive Manchester-London and London-Paris most definitely are. In the news Vandals' bid to kill train driver Rail worker killed by train Eurostar's symbol of a distant dream suggests railways are on the wrong track Airport staff strike threat 'receding' after union talks Europe's troubled skies Jets miss by seconds as air traffic system fails Livingstone waits for results of Tube hearing Thursday, June 20, 2002
Back to the Anthem (with apologies to Brian) Robert Dammers writes: In most traditional hymn books the National Anthem is given with two verses, the second verse having a wartime version (the one you quote) and a peacetime version, which was the third verse in your source:I suppose these days the World Cup is about as near as we get to a World War - and for that we should be very grateful indeed. Unsatisfied Customer Over on Samizdata, Brian Micklethwait takes me to task for writing more about the World Cup than transport. I must admit I wasn't aware I was writing about transport at all right now but I am sure Brian is right. He fears that if this goes on for much longer then some big bad journalist will end up well and truly peeved and then there will be real trouble. I should be so lucky. Of course, Brian makes an entirely reasonable point. Long, self-indulgent articles about football matches played 32 years ago which have no conceivable connection to the UK transport scene have no place on a specialist blog such as this one. Quite right. Mea Culpa. I cracked. It's misrepresentation and I shouldn't have done it. Actually, this brings to a head a problem that has been simmering away for some time: I want to write about all sorts of things, not just transport. I could write in to Samizdata but that requires firing off an e-mail and then Perry complains that it is in the wrong format and there's the wait and sometimes it doesn't get through. And, I sort of feel odd writing in to Samizdata. It has excellent roster of writers right now. I feel like an interloper. It looks like the answer is to set up a blog of my own where I can post to my heart's content on any damn thing I like. Only one question: what should I call it? Having said all that, in his article Brian did ask what the problems are like when it comes to moving around large numbers of people. I can't speak for Korea, but for Japan I would say about zero. Take the Brazil-England game tomorrow. That is being played at Shizouka. The stadium there will have a capacity of about 51,000 people. Most spectators will be locals. The maximum number of England fans will be 20,000. (That really is a massive over-estimate). Let's assume that they all want to travel from Tokyo. JR Central operates 132 bullet trains from Tokyo to Shizuoka every day. It may not be the only railway operating a direct service. The smallest Shinkansen seats 1,323 people. That's 15 trains' worth. And as in the peak a Shinkansen leaves Tokyo every 5 minutes, JR Central could move the entire body of England supporters out of Tokyo in 1hr 10mins. You did ask. Brazil 1 England 0 The 1970 version that is, was broadcast in full by our very own BBC last night. Yes that's right the full 90 minutes of a game played 32 years ago, of which the result is well known was aired by the BBC just past the peak. I don't know how many of my compatriots joined me to watch it but it was marvellous. Now, I do not normally like complimenting a statist organisation that relies on theft for the lion's share of its income, but on this occasion the Beeb done good. It was fascinating on so many levels. It was fascinating to see what you knew: the save by Banks, that tackle by Moore, Jairzinho's goal, Astle's miss, Pele and Moore swapping shirts at the end. And it was fascinating to see what you didn't know. For instance, I had never realised what a good commentator David Coleman was. Mind you he got off to a shaky start. "And England are in complete control of this game" just before Carlos Alberto passed to Jairzinho, Jairzinho rounded Cooper, Jairzinho crossed to Pele, Pele made that header and Banks made that save. But beyond that he was superb. He quite correctly pointed out that Jairzinho and Paulo Cesar were making mincemeat of Cooper and Wright down the flanks. And he also worked out that England's best chance lay in putting high balls into the area. Talking of Jairzinho - what a player. Quick, skillful, strong. Not difficult to see how he managed to score in every game (a record still unmatched). To these untrained eyes he easily put Pele into the shade, though Pele did have his moments. And talking of that save. I can remember my father telling me about it. It was probably in response to some question like "What was the greatest save ever?" When you are that age you believe everything your parents tell you. As you get older you get more cynical. But it has interesting to note that as I have got older the more that save gets mentioned and the more orthodox it becomes that it was indeed the greatest save ever. There were all sorts of other little details to tell us how the world has changed: the fuzzy picture; the lack of camera angles (not all changes are for the better); there wasn't even a camera behind the goal; the amateurish advertising hoardings; the management teams sat on the bench unprotected from the elements; the sound cracking up; the lack of a score or a clock in the top left of the picture; no names on the backs of the shirts; no sports company logos on the shirts; commentators sticking to the facts rather than attempting to synthesize drama; referees in black; defenders being able to pass back to the goalie (some changes are for the better) That was one of the reasons I watched the whole 90 minutes. People talk a lot about the game and I missed it first time round. It was an opportunity to find out what people are talking about in a way that can't be done with mere highlights. To see the context. It was astonishing how slow the game was. Coleman described it as resembling a game of chess. Now, I know it was hot in Guadalajara that day but even so. Players are lot a fitter these days. People talk about how bad Brazilian goalkeepers are but Felix was in a class of his own. If he'd flapped any more he would have taken off. There were a whole load of incidents people don't talk about. Francis Lee had a couple of wonderful opportunities. And then he committed a shocking foul on the goalkeeper. And there's Coleman and his sidekick Revie saying "Well, it was a 50/50 ball he had to go for it." Banks losing his temper with his defenders. If there was one disappointment it was at half time. I was fascinated to know what they would do? Would they have a modern day panel of pundits? Would they have the pundits from the same day (unlikely seeing as I think only ITV had pundits at the time)? Would they show the news from that day in 1970? I was fascinated to know how the BBC did used to fill the time in those days. But alas I was not to find out: the half ended and they cut straight to the second half. Oh well, I suppose even with as wonderful a rerun as this you can't have it all. Wednesday, June 19, 2002
The National Anthem - the second verse Few can have failed to notice a rather odd tradition that has grown up in England over the past 3 weeks. Before the start of every England World Cup game the national anthem is played. We start off singing "God Save the Queen" and end up singing the final climactic "God Save the Queen". And then we cheer. That is all well and good and proper. But there's a twist. Before the cheers have so much as died away the anthem starts up again. It's the second verse. And nobody knows the words - why should they, it's never played? Queue utter confusion and bemusement. So lest you be caught short before the Brazil game here are the words to the second verse (ripped off from here) in all their glory: O Lord and God arise,Marvellous. So God, if you could just see your way to scattering the Brazilian defence, making Ronaldo fall and frustrating Rivaldo's knavish tricks, even I might start to believe in the existence of David Beckham. In the news Air travel hit by strike chaos Speed camera rules 'will cause deaths' Air controller's safety row with budget airlines Ryanair accused of putting pressure on pilots Complaint on safety is loony, says Ryanair Irish aviation authority satisfied with record of airline How Ryanair puts its passengers in their place BA slashes fares in low-cost battle Travellers' tales Cheap fare tips Cheapest tickets are a rare find MPs call for 20mph speed limit Rail services face disruption Women 'save the Tube' Tuesday, June 18, 2002
In the news Budget airlines pilots 'cut corners' Disruption as freight train derails 'Excessive' heat brings rail chaos M25 'needs tolls to stop jams' Railtrack tax deal to cost a further £150m Sunday, June 16, 2002
In the news Rail industry raps 10-year transport plan Drivers face new onslaught of road bumps and speed cameras Serious flying incidents over Britain have doubled |