Going through my father’s papers, we discovered a poem – ‘The Crypto Linguist – pre doughnut days’ – written only last November about and for him by James Crowden. It so perfectly encapsulates all that my father was. James very kindly read it at yesterday’s funeral service.
(The “doughnut” of the title is the new GCHQ building at Cheltenham to which they moved after my father retired.)
He offers me red wine and an olive on a stick.
His narrow terraced house
Beneath the old viaduct and opposite the chapel
Nicely tucked away where no one will ever find him.
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Tags:Bletchley Park·crypto linguist·GCHQ·Ian Walkington·James Crowden
In 2008 Nick Clegg came to the Sopwell House Hotel in St Albans to make one of his first speeches as newly elected Liberal Democrat leader. The occasion was the annual Guardian Public Services Summit.
He chose to concentrate on the inadequacies of service provision for the mentally ill. It was not an obvious crowd-puller for a new leader and therefore provided an interesting perspective on Nick as a rather unusual politician. I had to meet him at the station and drive him to the venue – no ministerial cars then.
The audience were struck by his passion on this issue and that he should have chosen such a relatively unsexy subject. Their reception was warm, but doubtless they thought that this was yet another set of noble aspiration from a third party leader who would never have the opportunity to deliver on them.
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Tags:mental health·Nick Clegg·Sopwell House Hotel·St Albans·time to change
The planned HS2 route does not go through St Albans constituency, although two other main line railways do – the West Coast mainline and the Midland mainline. So I am not being nimby in the expressing doubts about the merits of the HS2 proposal.
I don’t think that ultra high speed rail makes much sense in a crowded island. We are not France with its huge empty swathes of agricultural land.
And with increasingly good broadband access on the move, one of the main arguments for HS2 that it helps business people also feels suspect. Many business people appreciate train journey time as a chance to catch up on e-mail and reading, using increasingly sophisticated mobile handheld devices.
This is not to say that we do not need more rail capacity. The Chilterns may not excape unscathed.
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I am quoted in a story published today on the BBC News website investigating which is the most expensive rail journey in the UK – see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16390608. I have always argued that St Albans must be up there at the top based on comparisons with other commuter stations at a similar distance from their London terminal – and indeed other cities with rail commuter links in the UK. (For example Burntisland is a similar distance from Edinburgh as St Albans is from London, but the Fife commuters pay 40 percent less).
The figures quoted in today’s BBC story seem to bear out my claim with St Albans annual season tickets coming in at 31 pence per mile travelled.
Of course there are the oddities – the absurdly expensive Heathrow Express and the infamous tube journey from Covent Garden to Leicester Square which was always supposed to be more expensive per distance covered than Concorde. My concern is for standard commuter journeys which people have to use every day.
As I told the BBC, we are paying Rolls Royce prices but not getting the Rolls Royce. I welcome any thoughts on the appropriate car model which best describes the Thameslink experience!
PS I blogged before Christmas about my meeting with rail minister Norman Baker, where I put on the table a dossier compiled by two local commuters on their recent daily experiences of First Capital Connect. Norman promised to pass it to Tim O’Toole, chief executive of First Group, the parent company of FCC. This has resulted in a five page letter of explanation from Mr O’Toole which Norman Baker forwarded to me today. When I have digested its contents, I will report on them here.
Tags:FCC·First Capital Connect·rail fares·Sandy Walkington·St Albans·Thameslink·Tim O'Toole
Welcome to 2012 – strangely uncold, nastily damp. The economic forecast is as glum as the weather. And since “it’s the economy, stupid”, we had better buckle up for a bumpy ride.
We certainly should not seek to talk – or write – ourselves into a new great depression. But the world is facing profound economic challenges, and it is increasingly apparent that those in charge of the international financial system, however much they are trying to do their best, are flying pretty blind.
[Who was it who said that if every cloud has a silver lining, pilots should be very worried?]
We are also living in “interesting” global political times as the next stages of the arab spring work through. There are new and unusual stirrings of unrest in Russia. The global balance of power continues to shift away from Western Europe and North America, with Brazil now the latest country to surpass the UK in the size of its economy.
Facing up to these challenges won’t be easy, but we are far more likely to come through unscathed if we seek international co-operation, apply principles of solidarity at home and abroad, and promote a green agenda for the long term.
Happy New Year.
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I am indebted to the informative regular newsletter from the local branch of the Association of Passenger Transport Users for alerting me that the Department for Transport has formally asked for expressions of interest in running the new Thameslink rail franchise from 2013.
What this means is that they have issued an “OJEU Notice” – ie it has been advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union, as is mandatory for all public procurement.
This minimum seven-year franchise will:
- include all services that are currently operated by the First Capital Connect (FCC) franchise from September 2013;
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Tags:Abellio·APTU·Association of Passenger Transport Users·FCC·First Capital Connect·Thameslink franchise
We rattled across a lot of country on tonight’s BBC Three Counties Drivetime with Roberto Perrone. My fellow panellists were Tom Shaw, a longstanding Labour councillor in Luton, and Darren Isted, editor of the Comet newspapers in North Herts.
The first question was about former Labour minister Lord West’s call to send “a submarine to stick it up ‘em” in response to the decision by a group of Latin American countries to ban ships flying the Falklands flag from their ports.
It is odd how warmongering the modern Labour Party has become ever since Tony Blair got a taste for it. Fellow panellist Cllr Shaw was gung-ho for defending the Falklands, without the faintest idea of how we would do it. The recent Conservative defence cuts mean that mounting an armada similar to the one launched by Mrs Thatcher is frankly fanciful.
Nor is it likely that we would get the same covert assistance from a post-Pinochet Chile or from a United States led by Barack Obama.
This is one case where Churchill’s dictum that jaw-jaw is better than war-war is wholly correct. We cannot single-handedly guarantee the integrity of the Falklands indefinitely. Only the international community can do that and they will expect to see some sensible negotiations on ways forward between ourselves and Argentina.
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Tags:BBC Three Counties Radio·Roberto Perrone
The interior of St Saviour’s Church in Sandpit Lane is one of the glorious surprises of St Albans at any time of year. But it’s particularly spectacular this week with its Christmas Tree Festival of 93 trees decorated by local families and voluntary groups. The festival only happens once every three years, so see it up to Christmas Eve or wait until Christmas 2014!
It is very difficult to highlight individual trees – they are all so cleverly and creatively designed – but ones which particularly struck me were:
- Christmas with Grandma – a tree by Mount Carmel Kindergarten decorated with photos of the childrens’ grandmas
- Young People’s Lives – a tree ethereally decorated with clumps of cotton wool by The Base Youth Project
- Our Promise – the Brownies’ promise on a long banner warapped through the branches by 17th St Albans Brownies
- Tiggi Harding’s ‘Twas the night before Christmas with little home-made stuffed mice
- A celestial celebaration for Hope and Justice – golden cherubs and silver birds by Hope for Justice
- Nations of the World – ethnic dolls from St Mary’s Church, Marshalswick
- Festive Fun and Jingle Bells by Bernards Heath Infant School
- Sewing Mends the Soul by St Saviour’s Sewing B
- Festive Hoppiness and Poppiness by Robin and Teresa Dodds, decorated with beer and coke cans discarded in the street and hedgerows
- Forever Blue and Yellow - Saints City Trust of course promoting St Albans FC
But every tree tells a story and as I wrote above, there are 93 of them. The overall result is spectacular.
We were doubly privileged to see it at night, while brilliantly talented performers from OVO sang from their recent Maltings production of Food of Love at Christmas – see the picture.
There is another piece of musical drama coming up this Thursday evening – a musical nativity called “Now I, Joseph, was walking”, directed by Imogen de la Bere – that OVO influence again.
I’m told it’s a simple musical setting of the Nativity narrative taken from the ancient Gospel of St James – the earliest Gospel not to make it into the New Testament – and it has its own delightful take on the story, including one of the most moving accounts of the birth of Christ ever written, set to lovely music. Tickets are £5 or £4 with children under 16 free.
Tags:Base Youth Project·Bernards Heath Infants School·christmas tree festival·Imogen de la Bere·Mount Carmel Kindergarten·OVO·Saints City Trust·St Albans·St Albans Brownies·St Saviours
Very useful and wide-ranging meeting this afternoon with Rail Minister Norman Baker MP in the House of Commons. I was accompanied by Caroline Pidgeon AM, chair of the Greater London Assembly Transport Committee, and by Chris White, leader of the opposition on Herts County Council.
We took with us a dossier prepared by two St Albans commuters about their recent experiences using First Capital Connect’s Thameslink service. Issues covered were
- the hopelessly inadequate knowledge of FCC staff during disruptions, when passengers using smartphones and social networks seem to know far more than platform staff but then get hopelessly frustrated because the latter cannot confirm things;
- poor and incorrect announcements, so that people are allowed to board trains which FCC know will end up being at a standstill down the line outside Radlett or wherever; or being advised to go to Hatfield and catch a bus when a Thameslink train will come in half an hour and so is still the best alternative;
- the continued lack of effective interworking beween FCC and Network Rail, for example the age before the broken electronic information board at Farringdon was replaced;
- the refusal of East Midlands trains to accept FCC tickets during disruptions, which would at least allow St Albans commuters a sensible and timely alternative;
- increasingly high levels of off-peak overcrowding and the way that FCC has quietly dropped its previous passenger charter commitment that ‘we plan services so off-peak you should always have a seat’; and
- all the flaws of the delay repay scheme for commuters, particularly the way that compensation vouchers can’t be used for on-line ticket purchases, and compensation is only given when a journey is actually attempted, although often FCC advise people not to travel and commuters have to make alternative arrangements such as working from home.
Norman Baker listened intently. He is already raising the issue of poor passenger communications during disruptions with ATOC, the industry body which represents rail franchisees. The key thing is to look at best practice elsewhere (it does exist) and then ensure that all operators reach these standards. He also revealed that the next generation of franchises will focus far more on outputs than on inputs – so the passenger experience will matter far more. This meets one of my own long-held hobby horses, that Government has been all too ready to remove franchises when the Treasury is not paid, but strangely reluctant to bite when it is the fare-paying passenger who is let down.
By sheer chance, he was due to have a meeting with Tim O’Toole, chairman of the First Group parent company of FCC, later this afternoon and promised to raise all these issues directly with him – including giving him the above-mentioned dossier.
So we’ll watch this space.
PS Norman is also the minister to thank for getting next year’s fare rises reduced from the planned RPI+3 percent to the previous RPI+1 percent
PPS On the way there and back (on trains that were on time and using the south bank exit from Blackfriars for the first time) I was re-reading the appropriately titled Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood – no Erste Kapital Konnekt in Berlin…
Tags:Caroline Pidgeon·Chris White·delay repay·FCC·First Capital Connect·Norman Baker·St Albans·Thameslink
St Albans saw a world first on Friday with the inaugural “curryoke”, courtesy of St Albans District Liberal Youth. The venue was Fleetville Community Centre. The delicious curry came from 
The Fleetville Community Centre didn’t know what had hit it. I hope this becomes an annual fixture, do check out the St Albans Liberal Democrat website for information.