Sailing by...

This from Robert Wright of the FT...

As many of you will already be aware and as others will be delighted and relieved to learn, I'm starting a new job.

Instead of covering transport in general for the FT in future, I've been appointed to a new job focusing on shipping and logistics.

My replacement, whom some of you will already have met or spoken to, is Mark Odell.

For those of you who have been helpful to me over the last eight years, I'm very grateful. Please continue to give Mark the same assistance.

For the rest of you, please help Mark in all the ways you didn't help me.

My new job will keep me involved in covering freight transport issues and consequently I will still be covering the freight or logistics arms of some of your operations. Mark will cover all forms of passenger transport all over the world, except aviation.

I will continue to write my Rail Professional column, which may keep me in touch with some of you occasionally. I'm also still open to chairing conferences and so on (within the FT's rules on these matters).

To those of you with whom I'll no longer be in regular contact, it's been mostly a pleasure and farewell.

So farewell to Robert from the railway, unless you are a freighty of course, and welcome to Mark.

Meanwhile, in happier news perhaps we can also wave goodbye to the preposterous soi disant 'veteran observer', Brennan-Brown, whose words of wisdom (sic) regularly peppered FT articles in the past?

Eye firmly hopes so!

UPDATE: This from a Mr Brennan-Brown...

Please stop referring to me as the "soi disant veteran observer"!

I have emailed you repeatedly about this, pointing out that it is neither funny nor... (sadly, owing to pressure of space, Eye is unable to publish the rest of this email from the soi disant 'veteran observer'. Ed).

UPDATE: This from John...

Your comment that, with the departure of Robert Wright from the FT, Rupert BB may also disappear, seems to be unfounded.

Not 24 hours later an article appeared from newcomer Mark Odell quoting one "Rupert Brennan-Brown, a long-time industry observer".

So its business as usual at the FT!