[Abernathy]

Couple of things there don’t ring true. Why on earth would a hospital paint the walls for Johnson? They don’t have to impress him. And even Johnson has given up shaking hands in hospitals - he does that fucking stupid elbow bump thing.

It mostly seems like it could be accurate, but I think you need a large pinch of salt.

[Crabcakes]

I find it slightly difficult to believe someone wouldn't really know who Johnson was but knew his dad from I'm a celebrity - where I suspect it was mentioned a few times who his son was...

[kreuzberger]

A few things here; we know that this doctor is not a reporter so we cannot expect to have double-sourced and corroborated each and every thing upon which she is commenting.

Clearly, she has an axe to grind and loathes and the prime minister. Sure, a few things do not ring entirely true but that does not make the whole piece lack credibility or, indeed, broad plausibility.

There again, if you want a fully unbiased and entirely professional report about a senior Tory politician visiting a hospital in northern England, you really need to go to the BBC for that – preferably, to the political editor herself.

[Tubby Isaacs]

And when the reason for those pre-Beeching, Beeching and post-Beeching closures once again becomes obvious? Cuts didn't just happen under Beeching, you know - most of the Midland and Great Northern Joint was closed in 1959.

Railways cost a bomb to reinstate as we've come a long way from wooden sleepers, jointed track and a manual signal box every couple of miles. Any "new" line should be built as electrified from the start, or at least have the piles sunk for the OHLE to be fitted with a minimum of disruption (Varsity Line 2.0, I'm looking at you). Never mind going for ERTMS, or the massive costs of rewriting software for adding these lines into the new ROCs.

Then let's factor in that a lot of people simply do not want to travel on what they see as "loser transport" with all the inconvenience of waiting for connections, changing modes of transport or even non-availability of public transport after certain times, but are utterly wedded to the personal door-to-door service their motor car offers. Their choice of environment, temperature and entertainment.

Yep. Beeching didn't close anything- Harold Wilson did, when he saw the numbers.

People don't get rail capacity at all. As far as they can see, if there's a line on a map, then it's all ok. If there isn't a line, then you've got to construct one.

In terms of getting people out of cars, you do that not by having a two carriage train trundling up and down every hour through a bunch of villages, but by having decent sized trains going fast and frequently between large towns.

[Boiler]

HS2 Eastern link now officially brown bread.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59292120

Fenton has a take on this which is reasonable.

Apparently The Ham Scarecrow™ has been holding a Covid press conference;

David Hughes, from the PA news agency, asks about the prime minister being pictured not wearing a face covering on a hospital visit - and whether this sends the wrong message to the public.

Boris Johnson says he wears a mask "wherever the rules say I should" - and urges others to do the same.

He adds that he's been wearing one "quite a bit more regularly recently as I've seen the numbers ticking up in the UK".

Where to start with that - other than he should be exterminated with extreme violence for using the phrase "ticking up" when we have the perfectly sensible word "increasing" available to us...

(goes back to tidying up crap by bedroom door I have to step over)

[Tubby Isaacs]

Looks like the spin will be "only an extra 20 minutes".

How does that work with capacity? And how does that work with getting fast trains off 3 lines (ECML, MML, CC)?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Yep. Some Simon Jenkins bollocks about signalling, most likely.

[Boiler]

Looks like the spin will be "only an extra 20 minutes".

How does that work with capacity? And how does that work with getting fast trains off 3 lines (ECML, MML, CC)?

Not sure if you meant "slow/stopping" trains there, but the ECML now has the fully upgraded Lincoln Loop between Doncaster and Peterborough for goods, and the now active Werrington Dive-under has eliminated the bottleneck of the crossing on the flat leaving now the reinstatement of the fourth track from Woodwalton to Huntingdon.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I meant fast trains. The clever thing about HS2 was that it relieved all those lines (of course it'll still relieve the West Coast Mainline, as that's being built) not just by adding capacity, but in terms of the journey times being competitive despite it going from London to Leeds, East Midlands, Sheffield by a longer route via Birmingham.

If you take out a 30 mile or so chunk of fast track, does that still apply?

[Tubby Isaacs]

[Boiler]

Bring back Woodhead.

[Tubby Isaacs]

[Tubby Isaacs]

Boiler, this is what I was getting at earlier.

[Boiler]

Now I was led to believe that the biggest capacity issue was with the WCML?

There are two insurmountable bottlenecks on the southern bit of the ECML though; the two tracks across Stilton Fen and the Mimram/Welwyn Viaduct.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I think the WCML has the biggest issues, relieved by HS2 W being built in full. But you'd also create a lot more on the ECML and MML (and Cross Country, though he doesn't mention that). In terms of existing services, those lines probably aren't too bad, if we're talking about increasing freight on there a lot, and eg sticking in new stations on the line, or reopening branch lines which can actually run on to places people want to go, rather than hitting the mainline and having to stop, then it looks like a pretty serious loss of potential capacity.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I regret Simon Jenkins is talking rubbish on the internet.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... licy-chaos

[Tubby Isaacs]

Well done, chaps. chopped off HS2 London-Leeds slower than the existing route.

[Boiler]

Why would you choose to travel from Euston to get to Leeds when the obvious choice is the Cross?

Nonsensical tweet IMO.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The KX-Leeds fast trains are supposed to come on to the new line to create capacity on the ECML.

So either people stay with what they do now- no extra capacity on the ECML. Or they have to get a slower train than now, after we have spent not far short of that the much faster full HS2 would have cost.

[Andy McDandy]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/li ... st-updates

Johnson sets out his proposals, timed to coincide with a Labour press conference. Funnily enough, he proposes pretty much what Labour were angling for. Starmer says "Well, that's tomorrow's vote won".

Lefty Twitter calling this an own goal by Starmer. Everyone else saying that Johnson just can't seem to bury this issue and it's a gift to the opposition. Also, is Christopher Chope a deep cover mole?