Monday 7 September 2009

Just not cricket!

The Vulcan has been ruminating about the railways again.


Latest to feel his ire is London Underground for having the audacity to close St John's Wood station (and the entire Jubilee line) when the cricket is on.

Fortunately our alien friend has a solution to this problem:

Public transport is meant to serve us, not wind us up. Why can’t they do better? Why can’t we bust more of these monopolies, so the managers have to try a bit harder to keep their jobs?

Well John it's like this.

After your lot ballsed up the railways the current lot ballsed up the Underground.

So it was not London Underground that decided to spoil your enjoyment of the cricket but the private sector contractors (Tubelines & Bechtel) who required access to complete the upgrade of the Jubilee line.

The good news is that these paragons of private sector virtue have just demanded more Jubilee line closures so that they can show quite how fabulously efficient the private sector is (Is this right? Ed).

No matter.

At least there is one thing on which we can agree.

John is surely right to insist that managers should try harder to retain their jobs.

Perhaps something our political class might consider as well?

The disastrous privatisations of BR and the Underground have saddled the taxpayer with billions of pounds in additional costs each year.

And not one of the political geniuses behind these hare-brained schemes has paid for these costly failures with their careers.

Eh John, Shriti, Gordon, etc...?