Christian Wolmar's very late May newsletter
Christian Wolmar
A very belated newsletter, on the last day of the month, as a result of overwork, especially editing the pages of my new book on the Trans-Siberian, to be called, To the Edge of the World, and preparing my book on abuse in children’s homes, Forgotten Children for publication on Kindle.
Therefore it was fortunate that we are in the middle of a relatively quiet period on the railways. The most exciting event was the publication by the National Audit Office of a highly critical report on HS2 which stimulated an interesting contrast of comment pieces by Nigel Harris and I in the latest issue of Rail.
In my capacity as potential mayoral candidate as well as transport writer, I spent a day in Euston talking to the people who will be affected by HS2 and it did strengthen my opposition. Yes, of course, if the project was genuinely in the national interest and was the only alternative, then demolishing 600 homes and moving people away would be justified. But as the NAO stressed, there has been no strategic justification for its construction and moreover locally a plan put forward by protesters that would involve rebuilding the station on two levels within existing envelope, therefore not needing demolition, has not been properly considered by HS2 Ltd.
My two new Rail columns cover the mysterious failure to electrify the Barking – Gospel Oak line here and the concerns over railway financing, especially Network Rail’s debt here
The only other additions to the site are some programme notes on the revived 1928 film Underground which I have done for the BFI here and a regular piece for TSSA Journal here .
The mayoral campaign continues to flourish and I am beginning to get support and encouragement from a variety of people. I realise we are in for the long haul with the selection unlikely to be made before the 2015 election, but that means there is plenty of time to build up momentum. Do subscribe to the updates by subscribing via the www.wolmarforlondon.co.uk site.
There are various upcoming events, such as the decision by ORR on the railways’ plan for investment and the spending announcement on 26 June. But I do not expect any great drama – though Mystic has been wrong before now.
I have merged my two twitter accounts, under @christianwolmar, though the mayoral website will continue to cover the campaign. My Transsiberian book, incidentally, is now scheduled for publication on Nov 7. Get your orders in early…
And do keep on clicking on the ads on the site. I actually am trying to publicise the fact that the ads are another Google tax dodge since it does not pay VAT on them because notionally the transactions are carried out in Ireland. It is time for HMRC to challenge this (and if my sites plunge down the rankings, you will know why!)
Christian