29/09/2009 by admin.

I’m a big fan of Sarah Brown. I follow her on twitter.

But I groaned when she walked on stage for the second year running. I thought, though, that she was even better this year, brief, sincere, more confident, and a lot less sugary than last year.

Why, though, couldn’t he just get up and make a speech. If it takes two videos and his wife to get him going, it looks a bit like he hasn’t turned up on time.

He really does need to sort out his smile, though. And “Securing Britain’s Economic Recovery” was certainly not the catchiest of mottos to stick on the plaque in front of him.

A long list of Labour achievements, even if you are unimpressed by some of them, was the right way to start and went down well.

And his early jokes were good, too. “I would say Alistair Darling was the best chancellor we’ve ever had…but the press would report it as ‘Brown subs Brown’ was masterful.

It was a long time before he mentioned the Tories and that’s good.

“The economic call of the century” was a good description of the credit crunch. He’s doing well. He has laboured (sorry) the ‘Tories would do nothing’ line at PMQs this year but this time, it sounds quite fresh.

“Markets need morals” is a superb line and he’s done right to concentrate early on what we all think he’s good at – the economy.

I think the jury’s out on the distinction between a general election for a fourth Labour term and a general election for “the first Labour government of this global age”.

“Getting the deficit down while maintaining and improving front line services” would be a good trick but is it possible?

Restoring the earnings link for all pensioners will go down well…but it doesn’t necessarily mean that much, does it?

Raising the minimum wage and free child care? I’m getting dizzy now. And tackling teenage pregnancies sounds good, too. Now we are into anti-social behaviour with a vengeance. Family intervention projects to get a grip on 50,000 of “the most chaotic families” sounds good.

But punishing parents for broken ASBOs could end up in a mess. What are you going to do, lock them up and put the kids into care?

Giving councils the power to ban 24 hour drinking – even though it doesn’t really exist – sounds a splendid idea. And banning drunks from drinking is a superb line.

So, no compulsory ID cards in the next parliament. What about the one after that?

He’s relaxed and self-assured now. Seems even to be enjoying himself. It’s a round of applause for every sentence, almost.

The NHS stuff is boring but free personal care for the elderly is an impressive promise. And giving constituents the right to recall their MPs is what we all want to hear. Though judging by the reaction in the hall, abolishing hereditary peers is more important to the party faithful.

Gordon Brown finished? Not yet, by any means.

Posted in Politics, Uncategorized | Print | 1 Comment »

28/09/2009 by admin.

Continuing my growing love affair with the Settle Carlisle line, I called into Settle on Friday on the way to the Lakes.

There I watched Northern Rail director Heidi Mottram unveil a plaque to the refurbished station.

The Settle Carlisle Development Company has been working since last November with money from Northern, North Yorkshire County Council, the Railway Heritage Trust, and others to fit bio-mass boilers, lag the loft, fit new windows, and renovate the waiting rooms. It looks like toytown but it is a working station and I actually met a commuter.

In fact, she was more than just a commuter. She was a parish councillor who dropped into the conversation that she and her fellow passengers did Tai Chi while waiting for the 07.35 to Leeds. She didn’t realise what a good story that was and refused to adopt a Tai Chi position on the platform for a picture so I had to get just “waiting for a train”.

Settle won Small Station of the Year at the National Rail Awards last week – such a surprise that Northern didn’t invite the station master to the ceremony.

I’ve offered the whole package to the Yorkshire Post for its Country Week Saturday magazine but I’m still waiting to hear….

Posted in Outdoors, Travels, Journalism, Transport | Print | No Comments »

23/09/2009 by admin.

Covered a transport conference in Manchester today…and a valuable exchange of information it was. Meanwhile, in the real world, the continuing cattle truck scandal continues.

I went in to Manchester and returned in the rush hour by train for the first time in many years. What a pathetic excuse for public transport it was. I really do wish I had driven.

The 7.45am from Littleborough was, unusually, full when it arrived from Leeds. It began leaving people behind at Rochdale.

I dashed across town from the Bridgewater Hall to catch the 5pm train home…and wish I hadn’t bothered. The class 144 is unfit for human habitation when there is plenty of room. This one – two cars instead of the usual three – was completely full. I managed to force my way on the middle door, followed a few minutes later by the driver who went into the toilet, telling someone who asked him to tell other passengers to move down the train to “see the guard” at the other end of the platform. At each stop, people had to fight their way off…and yet the train never felt any emptier. People were wondering if the overcrowding was a health and safety issue….and what is going to happen when the Oldham loop line closes for conversion to Metrolink next month. “They don’t care as long as they keep making a profit,” said one.

At the conference, Graham Stringer MP called for Crossrail to be scrapped and the money used to improve our lot up here. He will not be listened to, of course, but Londoners feel they are suffering even more.

That’s rubbish. I have travelled into London by train in the rush hour. Very pleasant it was on new stock. We have suffered enough up here.

Posted in Transport | Print | 1 Comment »

21/09/2009 by admin.

I got this text from 07765 165359 at 7.32pm:

Our records indicate you may be entitled to 3750 pounds for the Accident (sic) you had.To claim for free reply with YES to this msg. To opt out text STOP.

Remember the Accident Group which fired its entire staff by text? (In fact they didn’t…I saw the actual message and it simply warned against trying to draw wages. But newsdesks across the country wanted the more dramatic version so it became a fact)

These spammers know that out of every 100 random texts they send, at least 30 people will think they’ve had an accident. And even if you text STOP, you are simply confirming that your phone is active.

Everybody has to earn a living but this is pretty low…

Posted in technology, Business, Society | Print | 1 Comment »

17/09/2009 by admin.

“Sadiq Khan has been appointed as the Minister of State for Transport on 8 June 2009.”

I have just come across this sentence on the DfT web site. Forgive me for being pedantic but it is not English. Either he was appointed on or he has been appointed. You can’t combine the two tenses.

Who cares, you might say. I do. If the government can’t even get its grammar right, what hope is there for the trains to run on time???

Posted in Journalism, Transport | Print | 1 Comment »

17/09/2009 by admin.

Continuing the rural idyll, we went to two shows…very different in nature. To be honest the Westmorland Show at Crooklands was too busy and because we didn’t realise how early it started, we were caught in the most horrendous traffic jam. The sun shone and the crowds broke all records. It took us two hours to get there from Staveley, no more than half a dozen miles away – and ten minutes to get back.

When we enquired at the terrier ring about Lakelands, one winner looked at Roxy and said, with all the snobbery and contempt of a working dog owner: “Oh, the way she’s cut, you want the Kennel Club Show over there by the pylon.”

Over there by the pylon turned out to be in a separate field altogether and I wondered why the two events were kept so separate. It was a small affair and by the time we got there, it was winding up. There wasn’t a Lakeland Terrier in sight.

The highlight was a travelling sheep show introduced by a New Zealander living in Dereham, Norfolk…and awfully long way from the Lake District.

He introduced several different breeds, cracked a few jokes, and then sheered a sheep. Brilliant.

The International Sheep Dog Trial at Lowther Park, near Penrith was an altogether quieter affair. We watched one or two of the competitors, getting a free commentary from an old retired farmer from North Yorkshire who knew everyone and how good they were.

Watch a demonstration at the show by a chap from Cheshire at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElVt-RwNRNc

Posted in Sport, Outdoors, Travels, Society, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

14/09/2009 by admin.

I took a walk up Whernside, forgetting what happens there on a Wednesday.

Of course, as soon as I saw the crowds, I realised what they were waiting for – because I had been on it a few weeks earlier – so we decided to hang around for the arrival of Leander on its way across the Settle Carlisle line.

It was only when I found myself boasting to a chap from the south that not only had I been on the train but I had walked across the viaduct recently that I realised that I have been infected with this strange disease.

My excuse is that I do it for a living!

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09/09/2009 by admin.

Blackley MP Graham Stringer’s interest in transport is legendary…and so is his allegiance to the Labour Party.

So eyebrows were raised when it emerged that he was not only to attend an important meeting at the TORY party conference in Manchester next month but was actually to be the chairman.

Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce alerted its members to the lunch-time fringe meeting in the town hall on Monday, October 5, on the subject: “Making the best of our rail network - what is the future for tram/train?”.

The former city council leader would need all his debating skills to keep shadow transport minister Stephen Hammond, Salford Conservative councillor Ian Macdonald, vice chairman of Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority, Andrew Coombes of Network Rail and Richard Montagu from Alstom.

Politics apart, Mr Stringer, a senior member of the Commons Transport Select Committee, would be the perfect choice to lead the discussion. After all, Greater Manchester narrowly missed out on a government trial of running trams of train lines last year. Local transport leaders put forward the Marple to Piccadilly line but just lost out to Penistone to Sheffield.

And he takes an active interest in the Commons all-party light rail committee which is chaired by his fellow Greater Manchester MP Paul Rowen – a Liberal Democrat.

Mr Stringer was in no mood to celebrate his all-party credentials when contacted by me. As usual, he didn’t answer his mobile. I left a message and within minutes, I got a text: “It’s a mistake,” it said. “I’m not an never was.”

But he did see the funny side. “It would be interesting, if true,” a second text message added.

Investigations with Conservative Party Central Office have unravelled the mystery. The chairman of the meeting will be, in fact, Altrincham MP Graham Brady, one-time parliamentary private secretary to Tory leader David Cameron.

Posted in Politics, Transport, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

06/09/2009 by admin.

Ever thought of hiking as a creative activitity?

Today we “invented” a new circular walk direct from our caravan near Staveley in the Lake District up onto Cunswick Scar and  back. Only about 6 or 7 miles but along paths which are clearer on the map than they are on the ground at this time of year. It is an immensely satisfying thing to do as you take ownership of a route…even though others probably “invented” it years ago.

And the pheasants?

Remarkably, as soon as the summer holidays are over, the pheasant hens - missing since the Spring - have returned in huge numbers. So we are set for lots of pheasant politics from now until Christmas as they get courted and sorted…

Posted in Outdoors | Print | No Comments »

04/09/2009 by admin.

I will not be the only one disturbed by the difficulties of  National Express…so much an icon that they wrote pop songs about it. I tried to interview Richard Bowker before he fled to Dubai but he ignored my emails.

But the reason I write now is that Chorlton Street Bus Station, Manchester, has just been on Coronation Street. It reminds me of my Manchester Evening News campaign to sort out the old brothel that was “Chorlton Street Bus Station”.

I used to meet my late Mother there when she used to visit from Middlesbrough and it really was a dive!

Anyway, National Express cleverly involved us in their refurbishment, even inviting our reader to suggest a new name…though they reserved the right to choose the winner.

We ran the story and there were some stonking suggestions. Peterloo springs to mind. But guess what National Express chose? Manchester Central. …which I guess is the name they had chosen in the first place!

Posted in public relations, Transport | Print | No Comments »