The Secretary of State has considered carefully all the representations before him. On the basis of the submissions received, he is of the view that there are no substantive issues which require the Inquiry to be re-opened and he has therefore decided that he is in a position to re-determine the appeal on the basis [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Sandy's blog'
High noon for Park Street – official
February 3rd, 2012 · No Comments · Sandy's blog
Tags:Colnbrook·freight terminal·Helioslough·Park Street·Radlett·St Albans·St Albans Civic Society·STRiFE
From The Book of Hawking to the book of Hawking
January 31st, 2012 · 4 Comments · Sandy's blog
Last week I attended the presidential lecture by Donald Munro at the Arc and Arc (the St Albans and Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society). All newly elected presidents give a lecture. Donald chose as his topic the history of printing and publishing in St Albans up to the end of the nineteenth century.
Not many people [...]
Tags:Abbey·Arc and Arc·Book of Hawking·father of the chapel origin·printing·SAHAAS·St Albans·St Albans School
‘The Crypto Linguist – pre doughnut days’
January 21st, 2012 · 1 Comment · Sandy's blog
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 [...]
Tags:Bletchley Park·crypto linguist·GCHQ·Ian Walkington·James Crowden
Nick Clegg’s dogged insistence on better resources for mental health treatment
January 19th, 2012 · No Comments · Sandy's blog
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 [...]
Tags:mental health·Nick Clegg·Sopwell House Hotel·St Albans·time to change
Speed can be over-rated – is HS2 the domestic equivalent of Trident?
January 10th, 2012 · 3 Comments · Sandy's blog
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 [...]
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“Curryoke” – mixing curry with karaoke for a unique night out
January 8th, 2012 · 1 Comment · Sandy's blog
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 Halema Takeaway on Hatfield Road. There was some extraordinary (in every sense of the word) musical talent on display.
The Fleetville Community Centre didn’t know what [...]
Tags:Curryoke·Fleetville Community Centre·Halema Takeaway·Liberal Youth·SADLY·St Albans
Mirror, mirror on the wall, which is the dearest train fare of them all?
January 6th, 2012 · 4 Comments · Sandy's blog
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 [...]
Tags:FCC·First Capital Connect·rail fares·Sandy Walkington·St Albans·Thameslink·Tim O'Toole
Everyone wish for a Happy New Year since 2012 will need all the help it can get
January 1st, 2012 · 1 Comment · Sandy's blog
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 [...]
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Do you have £100 million spare cash? Do you want to run a railroad?
December 23rd, 2011 · 4 Comments · Sandy's blog
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 [...]
Tags:Abellio·APTU·Association of Passenger Transport Users·FCC·First Capital Connect·Thameslink franchise
Stick it up ‘em and other soundbites
December 22nd, 2011 · 3 Comments · Sandy's blog
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 [...]