Telegrammed by Our Man at 222 Marylebone Road
That Bourbon moment...
Theresa Villiers: on 22 July. "The hon. Gentleman's views on the railways are well known, although I am afraid that I do not share them. It would have been impossible for there to have been the significant growth in passenger numbers that we have seen since privatisation without the benefits that private sector innovation and enterprise have brought. Reversing things and renationalising the *railways* would be a retrograde step."
Oh bliss, John Major lives!! Talk dirty to us, Theresa
But why did you miss out 'entrepreneurial flair'.
And where was the obligatory side swipe at 'deeply inefficient British Rail'?
The key to good retro lies in the detail. So, sadly, only 7 out of 10.
But thanks for trying.
UPDATE: This from Leo Pink...
Surely the bulk of the growth came after the Strategic Rail Authority was subsumed into DfT and the state took control of timetabling, rolling stock policy, franchise service specification.
UPDATE: This from Captain Deltic...
Isn't "rolling stock policy" an oxymoron?
UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...
So how does Theresa explain the growth on state owned London Underground over the same period which was equal to, if not greater than, that experienced on the privatised BR network?
