Monthly Archives: September 2018

Stop Hs2? I had to laugh!…

12 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by in Anti Hs2 mob, Hs2, StopHs2, Uncategorized

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This morning there was a Parliamentary debate on Hs2 which had been organised by Bill Cash, the MP for Stone (on the Hs2 route in Staffs). Cash is, how shall we say – not entirely connected with the real world. Not only is he an ardent Brexit supporter (and we all know just how well that’s going), he’s also been rather creative in the past with his expenses.

Still, the debate he secured this morning kicked off promptly. It was meant to help ‘revitalise’ the campaign against Hs2 as it followed on from another opinion poll commissioned by the Daily Express that showed a ‘majority’ of people oppose Hs2.

There was only one problem

The anti Hs2 ‘campaign’ (and I use that word loosely) is so short of political support that hardly any MPs turned up to the debate! I counted 5 that actually spoke to criticise Hs2. Cash delivered a long ramble which was nothing new, it was just Cash rehashed. You might as well have played one of his old speeches on a monitor and saved the old boy the bother. The usual suspects followed, the most prominent of which was the MP for Chesham and Amersham, Cheryl Gillan. Embarrassment followed embarrassment when it became clear that the anti MPs were matched and indeed surpassed by MPs who’d turned up to speak in Favour of HS2. These included Sir Robert Symes MP, the former Chair of the phase 1 Hybrid Bill Cttee, Graham Stringer MP (former leader of Manchester City Council), and of course the under secretary of state for transport, Nusrat Ghani MP, who wound up the whole sorry shambles by pointing out the political arithmetic by highlighting the overwhelming numbers of MPs and Lords who supported HS2 compared to those who opposed. In short, it was a humiliation.

Here’s a couple of pictures of the ‘packed’ meeting room. You’ll notice that the gallery outnumbers the MPs

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So, what of the Daily Express poll? Well, it’s a gauge of the number of people who’ll grumble about Government spending, but apart from that it’s worthless. If you inserted a multiple choice question that said “OK, so what are you actually going to do about HS2” you know what the answer would be: nothing – as we’ve seen from hard evidence over the years in local and general elections (much to UKIP’s chagrin). It’s just not an issue that will make people change who they vote for.

Thin gruel…

11 Tuesday Sep 2018

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There’s not much of a blog tonight folks, just a few observations and musings. I’ve been working from home again, trying to catch up with writing, picture editing and all those household bits and bobs that I need to before I’m back on the road again in a few days time.

I’ve added more than two hundred rail and travel pictures from around the UK to my Zenfolio website – which you can find by following this link to the latest updated galleries. One of my favourites is this moody view of Inchkeith, seen from the footbridge of Kinghorn station, Fife.

DG308136. Inchkeith seen from Kinghorn. Fife. Scotland. 9.9.18

Much as it’s nice having this time at home, I can’t wondering if our cat (Jet) hasn’t taken out a life insurance policy on the pair of us as he’s started to lie here…

JET

Meanwhile, in Alice in Wonderland, the Brexit shambles limps on. The group of fanatical Brexit supporters in Parliament known as the ERG (European Research Group) have launched their report on the ‘benefits’ of Brexit. As expected, it’s batshit crazy and has already been torn apart by real economists and lampooned by others. Here’s my personal favourite – it’s a picture from the launch by Dan Kitwood of Getty Images in a tweet from Otto English.

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And on that note – goodnight!

Time to get my breath back – if only for a moment.

10 Monday Sep 2018

Posted by in Musings, Railways, Scotland, Travel

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Phew! After 8 days continuous travel around the UK by train it felt rather odd to be sleeping in our own bed and not having to head off anywhere this morning. Instead, the furthest I’ve had to travel has been from the bedroom to the kitchen and then my office at the back of the house. I’ve spent the day writing the first of the trilogy from my trip, plus editing the pictures and catching up on all the bits of life I couldn’t whilst out on the rails. It’s also great to be eating home-cooked food again, rather than living off sandwiches and supermarket meals.

I’ll be trying to get back to blogging again ASAP. It’s not that I’ve nothing to talk about or pictures to show – anything but as yesterday was a fascinating trip down the Fife coast after leaving Perth. Here’s a couple of shots to whet your appetites.

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Harvest time in the kingdom of Fife.

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Crossing the River Tay on the railway bridge

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A lovely poem on display at Kirkcaldy railway station

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The original Burntisland railway station. Opened in 1847 it was the site of the worlds first train ferry until it was made redundant by the opening of the Forth Rail bridge in 1890. Derelict for many years, it now houses artist studios and community groups. 

The difficulty (as always) is time. I’ve got the next two days at home, then Dawn and I are off to the National Rail Awards in London as VIP guests. After working there since 2003 as the event photographer, that’s going to feel very different. On Friday we’ll return home for some time with friends back in Halifax, but I’ll be on the road again later on Saturday as I’m off to Innotrans, the massive rail trade show in Germany from Sunday – Friday. Expect a few blogs from there!

In the meantime, I’ll be finishing my RAIL articles, doing my best to add all the recent pictures to my Zenfolio website – and also have some down time – somewhere (somehow).

Casual in Carlisle…

07 Friday Sep 2018

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Casual because I’m relaxing in my hotel room and away from the mayhem that tends to be a feature of Friday and Saturday nights here. Carlisle is one of those places that relies on everyone from the surrounding villages and towns to descend upon its pubs and bars in search of a good time. It’s not unique, I could list a whole host of such places that I’ve passed through over the years. Chances are every village for miles will be having a night off from its resident idiot as they’ll all be drawn here like moths to a flame.

I know Carlisle of old. I’ve often stayed here for work – such as the round Britain trip I’m doing now for RAIL magazine. In fact I’m back in the same IBIS hotel on Botchergate I’ve stayed in several time before. Botchergate is the main street when you come out of the station and swing Right. It has so many pubs the street’s actually blocked off to traffic at weekend evenings. My hotel room overlooks it.

I’ve travelled up here from Cardiff where I stayed last night. In some ways Cardiff’s not that different to Carlisle, it’s just bigger and the village idiots have a different accent. Oh, and it has an international stadium! Last night Ninian Park hosted a match between Ireland and Wales. To be fair, the supporters (in my experience of them anyway) were pretty good natured – although the town centre was a mess. Here’s a picture of one of the main streets before the match.

Towns like Carlisle have always had their fair share of pubs you wouldn’t want to walk into because of the people who frequent them. If you did it was a bit like walking into a wild-west saloon as everybody turned to look. Now you don’t have to as the smoking ban of 2006 means most of the real miscreants will be stood outside having a fag or vaping so you can gauge a pub without having to set foot over the threshold!

Residing in Reading

06 Thursday Sep 2018

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I’ve time for a quick blog this morning. Not because I’ve loads of spare time, but because the breakfast service in the place I’m staying is so slow!

I’ve stayed at “Great Expectations” here in Reading several times and found it OK. It’s a Dickens themed pub downstairs and hotel upstairs in a lovely old building on the edge of the town centre.

The rooms are comfortable and well maintained, which is why I keep coming back.

Sadly, The breakfast service this morning is decidedly Dickensian! There’s one young English lad who seems to be trying to do everything. I was waiting 10 minutes for anyone to take my order so wandered up to the kitchen where I saw said lad cooking breakfast. He later appeared and served three breakfasts before he could take any orders. Now, 15 mins later I’m still waiting for my food but two more members of staff have put in an appearence. One of them’s even managed to clear a couple of tables!

So much for my planned early get-away…

As part of my round Britain trip I’m staying in a series of hotels in Cardiff, Carlisle and Perth in the next few days. I hope the service is better there!

Oh, someone’s appeared with food – and served breakfast to two people who ordered after me! I had to ‘have words’ with a (new) indifferent young man before this arrived 20 mins after I’d ordered it…

To be fair, it wasn’t a bad breakfast and it was certainly freshly cooked. A full English is something of a treat for me as I only ever eat them when I’m away (and not all the time even then).

As more staff emerged I got the distinct impression this group of young men take partying more seriously than their jobs!

I’d probably stay here again unless I get a better offer. I’ll just make sure I’m in no rush for breakfast…

A blogging hiatus.

03 Monday Sep 2018

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There’s going to be a bit of a gap in my blogging activity for the next week, this is because I’ve embarked in my biennial round Britain commission for RAIL magazine.

Every two years RAIL sends me off around the country to experience a week in the life of the nation’s railways, then publishes my adventures in a three-part series totalling 12,000 words and my own pictures. Needless to say, this takes priority over my personal musings.

If I can – and I have time and get sufficiently incensed that I need to let off steam over the utter shambles that is Brexit (Which is most days, to be honest), I may pen a few words…

I’ll be back in the next week otherwise. Thanks for keeping dropping in…

Sowerby Bridge rushbearing festival 2018.

01 Saturday Sep 2018

Posted by in Sowerby Bridge, Tourism, Travel, West Yorkshire

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My day’s been taken up by enjoying a local tradition here in Sowerby Bridge: rush bearing. It’s an event that goes back years, to when church floors were covered in rushes which were changed at this time of year. Like many traditions, it died for a time. But it was resurrected in Sowerby Bridge back in 1977. I’m not going to get into a long explanation about this as I can provide links to websites that already explain it – such as this one. What I will do is add some pictures from today’s event and say – if you’re at a loose end tomorrow, why not come along? And if you can’t do that, remember that rush bearing happens at the first weekend in September every year. Here’s a few pictures from today. I’ll add many more to my Zenfolio website later. In the meantime, here’s the gallery from previous years.

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Crunching the Stophs2 August social media numbers

01 Saturday Sep 2018

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I’d mentioned that I was going to do this previously, so here they are – the social media numbers for sole remaining anti Hs2 ‘group’ (and I use that word loosely).

First, a bit of background. There are over 6.5 million people living in the 63 Parliamentary constituencies that HS2 will pass through. So, of the country really is ‘up in arms’ about HS2, you’d expect that the last group that’s still standing to oppose the project would have massive support – especially on social media as that’s the easiest way to join in a campaign from your armchair without having to actually do anything!

Unfortunately for Stop Hs2, that’s where real numbers expose hyperbole. I’ve crunched the August numbers on their Twitter and Facebook accounts and they make interesting reading. Well, not for them as the numbers are a complete embarrassment because they show how little support they really have.

Here’s the bottom lines. Stophs2’s Twitter numbers are up and down like a brides nightie as they seem to attract a lot of bots. That said, they’ve never moved much above 6100 for quite a while. Whilst that’s a ridiculously poor number, the amount of retweets and likes is even worse. What it suggests it that many of their Twitter followers are dead accounts.

Here’s the numbers. I’ve looked at every Tweet StopHs2 have in August. There’s very few so it’s not difficult. I’ve taken snapshots through August so that you can see how things progress – or not!

stophs2 twitter

The latest total for their ‘followers’ is 6142. Not exactly active, are they? The only day they’ve managed to get over 100 is the day they tweeted a Private Eye article and included the Eye’s Twitter address.

Here’s Facebook.

fb

Pathetic, isn’t it?

This is meant to be a ‘grassroots’ campaign. Clearly, someone’s poured weed killer on it.