Ben Elton

Anyone watching the channel 4 documentary on the failed northern railways?
Brilliant...grown up with his comedy and books and loving this.

 

It's been a really good watch

 

I actually thought back in his stand up days that all that anti tory thatcher stuff was just to get more laughs by challenging the establishment...but he's still angry today...with a hint of humor chucked in that was a very good watch

 

Excellent program, a bit of fun with a serious story and very revealing about how much we've all been massively ripped off by the Tories.

 

Can I watch it on catch-up? Was there plenty of railway and train footage? (Seriously).

 

One of the calculations was that British rail was run far more efficiently and privatization has cost £63 billion more

 

Yes and some model trains

 

Just to clarify, in real terms (ie adjusted for inflation) the railways have cost the tax payer £63Bn MORE than British Rail would have cost over the last 25 years. That does not include the additional income generated by rises in ticket prices over and above inflation, purely the amount put in by Government.
British Rail was actually one of the most efficient railways in the world.

 

Very good documentary. Trouble is, barely anyone will have watched it, probably the reason why nobody from Government or the rail industry could be arsed to comment.

Country's being force fed reality/soap bilge. My dad, who passed away in the 1980s, always referred to TV as the Idiot Box, lord knows what he'd call it now.

Also worth watching is Paul Whitehouse doc. Our Troubled Rivers. Probably hidden away on iPlayer somewhere.

 

Good programme but already know first hand that Huddersfield has the worst train service in the country

 

I'm not disagreeing with your comments Brush...but to add to that Blair had years to turn that Tory decision round and didn't, and both the major parties colluded in spaffing billions on Hs2, a misguided white elephant the costs of which dwarf the £63bn.

 

I'm going to find that...love Paul Whitehouse and genuinely would love to see what is happening to our rivers....saw on news last week that Scarborough and Blackpool are off limits for bathing due to effluence....grrrrrrrr.

 

Thanks for reminding me about the Whitehouse programme.
Found it on BBC 2 catch-up / demand.
It originally aired in March

 

I thought they’d both been off limits for years now … you mean they’ve got worse ????

 

Very true.

 

I believe EU rules prevented nationalising industries, so a bit unfair to blame Blair for not reversing the decision.

 

Just watched this last night. Great documentary. Always wanted to try and use the rail more but always seemed to be overpriced. I guess voting a Labour in the next general election will hopefully solve this as they have it in their manifesto to nationalise rail again.

 

Also….does anyone know if the Royston to Wakefield line is still in the pipeline. I know Dan Jarvis wanted the line reopen but I can’t see anything online to suggest some sort of update as to what’s happening.

 

That's not quite right, nationalising the whole system... yes, but Labour's party conference in 2004 voted to take the franchises back into public ownership as the expired or failed, which was allowed, but Blair just ignored it.

 

Last I knew, the bid to reopen the station was rejected about 3 years ago and it was resubmitted about 2 years ago.
I know no more than that I’m afraid.
They’ll blame co-vid for the delay !!