On those occasions, David writes a second missive, published on a Thursday.
Enjoy.
New paragraph
Croydon Comment - Wednesday, January 20, 2010.
Railway
minister issues stinging rebuke to train operator
SHODDY is the word used by transport minister Lord Adonis to
describe the efforts of First Capital Connect. The company runs trains – I baulk
at calling it a service – between Bedford and Brighton, via Purley, East
Croydon and Norwood Junction.
I sympathise wholeheartedly with borough residents who have
the misfortune to travel with this company every working day. I do so only
occasionally and I am fed up with its cavalier approach to passengers.
His lordship is threatening to take the franchise away. I
suggest he does so unless the company agrees to run trains with no less than
six carriages at all times.
I have travelled on this line at different times of day and
on different days of the week. My train has never been less than well filled. That is good news for the company commercially, but it responds by shortening
the trains and treating passengers like sardines.
Much of the rolling stock is old by comparison with other
companies’ trains on the same tracks. I know there was a problem with late
delivery of new rolling stock last summer. The company borrowed a few train
sets from fellow operators, but they are still a small minority of those in
use.
I am please the transport secretary is prepared to champion
the travelling public on this occasion, although cynicism suggests he might be
currying favour for his own party in the forthcoming General and Local
Elections.
But in one respect his lordship’s own performance could be
described as shoddy too. Apparently his department still oversees the terms of
employment of railway staff – what price privatisation? – and it still
considers Sunday working to be voluntary.
This very anachronism caused Capital Connect to suspend its
Sunday timetable at one stage because it couldn’t persuade enough drivers to ‘volunteer’.
Surely the time has come for a proper overhaul of railway practice
so the system more closely reflects the way we live in the 21st
century.
That may include withdrawing the First Capital Connect
franchise; it must include employment contracts that allow staff to work any
five days out of seven, to include Saturdays and Sundays.
ENDS
New paragraph
Croydon Comment - Wednesday, December 16, 2009.
Premiership glory remains a pipe dream
without a wealthy owner
FOOTBALL may be a funny old game, but it is also a serious
business.
And it has to be treated as such by those who aspire to own
clubs, particularly ones in the upper two divisions of the English football league
system.
Crystal Palace appears to be in trouble again, having problems
making ends meet in the present difficult financial climate.
But exhortations to thousands of fans, who may or may not
exist, to swell the gate figures at home games and generate additional revenue
may not be the solution.
The days when people grew up and lived in the same area all
their lives, supporting one football team from cradle to grave have long gone,
particularly in a cosmopolitan area like Croydon.
The three males in my household all support different
football teams – and none of them is Crystal Palace.
Two of us are also fans of
rugby union and occasionally swell the crowd at Harlequins.
And we make good use of the excellent television and radio coverage
of all kinds of sport provided by the BBC – television cameras offer better
views of a game than any seat in any stadium, while the radio pictures painted
by the likes of Stuart Hall are even more vivid.
Sometimes I travel to central London at week-ends and the
trains are regular seas of red and white or blue and white as south London and
Surrey’s Arsenal and Chelsea fans make their way to their respective home
grounds.
These are also people who might otherwise be packing the
terraces at Selhurst Park, underlining the point that there are plenty of
alternatives to the local second-division soccer team.
Harlequins seem to have grasped that idea – the occasional
purchase of tickets has put us on their contact list and we receive regular
newsletters with special offers for the next big game.
I am not aware of Crystal Palace running any similar scheme –
maybe it should think about its marketing, but I suspect it must do more than
that.
Selhurst Park is in need of major improvements; parking provision
is inadequate and the ground is poorly served by public transport.
Crystal Palace needs a new stadium elsewhere in the borough
and that requires an owner with bottomless pockets.
ENDS
Croydon Comment - Wednesday, December 9, 2009.
Xmas factor: lyrics are banal, says bishop
HO, ho, ho – and a Merry Christmas to the Bishop of Croydon.
In his book, Why Wish You a Merry Christmas, The Rt Rev Nick
Baines has uttered an inconvenient truth that has plagued the Christian church
for years.
Christmas, he says, is being reduced to the level of a fairy
story by the lyrics of many of our favourite carols, which means children grow
out of their religious faith in the same way that they stop believing in Father
Christmas.
He’s right about the effect, but I think the cause is
somewhat more complicated.
As I understand it, allowing for the vagaries of oral history, Jesus is most likely to have been born sometime in February. But it
suited an evangelising Christian church to hijack the pre-existing pagan
festival of the winter solstice (December 25 prior to 1582) for its own
celebrations.
Since the time of Queen Victoria the feasting and
merry-making that is the essence of the original celebration has returned to
the fore until it now means more to most people than any religious observance.
The Bishop complains he has been quoted out of context –
don’t they all – but he is naive if he believes the tabloid press will forego
the chance to pillory his views as yet another example of the Church of England
shooting itself in the foot.
Children starve to death in the developing world; they die
of diseases that are easily cured by medical science. The church has a role to prick
politicians’ consciences and chide them to spend more tax-payers’ money
alleviating such dreadful ills.
Instead it tears itself apart over arcane matters like women
bishops and gay priests.
Those on the Croydon omnibus don’t give a damn about
such things, but they seem quite fond of Christmas carols.
Now some meddling priest is telling them it is shallow to do
so; that they are retreating behind ritual and refusing to face reality. Oy,
vey!
My Christmas starts at dusk on Christmas Eve with the Radio
4 broadcast of nine lessons and carols from King’s College, Cambridge – not that
I’m a believer, but I love the music and relish it’s always superb performance.
I will go on listening, regardless of the bishop’s views – to
which I am compelled to respond traditionally. Bah! Humbug!
Sometimes one blog a week is not enough.