Have cake and eat

The increasingly potty Office of Rail Regulation has handed down yet another loopy pronouncement.

The Holborn Mafia announced today that Network Rail is 'turning journeys into marathons'.

It found that only 80% of scheduled weekend passenger services operate without being diverted, cancelled or replaced by buses.

The ORR partly blamed 'cost-cutting' measures.

The Fact Compiler wonders if this is the same ORR that wants NR to implement a whopping 21% 'cost-cutting' measure to reduce its CP4 budget by £3.3bn?

Surreal!

Trebles all round

The Fact Compiler has been coaxed out of his deck chair by the following extra-ordinary announcement:

'Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone is to advise Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on urban planning.'

No doubt our thirsty former mayor's decision to accept this role was unconnected with the cheap price of Venezuelan rum...