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OH DEAR. The High Court of Conventional Media Wisdom may has ruled that Gordon has rescued his premiership but from the latest polls, at least, it looks as if someone forgot to tell the voters.
After a week when Mr Brown has barely been off the TV, saving the world, ComRes in the Independent on Sunday showed the Tories nine points ahead, with a modest two-point boost for Labour over its previous Independent poll, and a one-point fall for David Cameron. YouGov in today's Mirror has a one-point increase for Labour. Another firm, BPIX, regarded as less transparent and reliable by experts, put the Tories no fewer than 16 points clear, three up on its previous poll.
It's true that public opinion is like an oil tanker it takes a long time to turn. It's true that the Tory lead in most places is half what it was last month. And it's also true that the very important news narrative is pro-Brown; even yesterday's ComRes, which must be rather disappointing for Labour, was reported by the Independent on Sunday as having "slashed" Cameron's lead.
But, for the moment, even such shamelessly crowd-pleasing moves as the return of Peter Mandelson, let alone taking control of the banks, have failed to produce quite the rewards many were expecting. So in the spirit of helpfulness for which I'm renowned, may I suggest another state power grab which might be more popular.
Now is the moment to renationalise the railways and it has never been cheaper or more possible. Rather like the banks, many of the companies which hold Britain's rail franchises will soon become disastrously over-extended. They have contracted to pay massive sums to the Government for the right to operate trains, assuming that passenger numbers would continue to grow strongly and that fares could continue to rise well above inflation.
In a recession, both those assumptions look highly questionable but the Government has said that franchises will not be renegotiated. What that means, if ministers stick to their guns, is that some of the most justly hated companies in Britain First Great Western, Virgin Trains, SWT will have no option but to give back the keys. The franchises will revert to the state, and it won't cost taxpayers a penny.
The stations, tracks and signals are already in public hands. And thus, with a few exceptions, we could restore the railways to single ownership, a single command structure, and sanity. The only thing holding ministers back is their terror of the N-word but after spending £37 billion on partly nationalising the banks, that Rubicon has surely been crossed.
Last week, in recognition of a crisis even more serious than the economy's, the Government announced a new target of reducing C02 by four-fifths. If we are to meet it, one absolute necessity is a railway that runs as an integrated network, that functions seven days a week and that does not charge you more than it costs to travel by car.
Nice work on the banks, Gordon. But renationalising the railways would mark the real death of discredited Thatcherite neo-liberalism, and millions of commuters would thank you for it.
Sorry Alastair, we still hate you
THE longest case of Stockholm syndrome in the history of broadcasting grinds on, with the BBC giving that twinkly old charmer Alastair Campbell yet another platform to reveal movingly how he was the real victim of the David Kelly affair. Here, Alastair, is a tip: however long you spend pleading with the British public to stop hating you, it simply will not work until you display at least a facsimile of contrition and humility.
Princes' jolly in hard times
AFTER the bank bail-out comes another landmark act of statesponsored reflation to cheer us all up. Are Princes William and Harry, plus protection teams, injecting large sums of taxpayers' money into a desperately needed eight-day motorcycling jolly across South Africa, sorry important charity fundraising event? Earlier, the public purse helped stabilise the hard-pressed Mayfair cocktail-lounge industry, with an emergency spending package of farewell drinks for the boys at the Whisky Mist club. Prince William, by the way, is now 26 years old. Isn't it good to know that, at least for some people, the world goes on just like it always has?
Reader views (16)
Of course Andrew is correct.
The cost to the taxpayer of the present rail set-up is around five times, in real terms, what it was under BR, despite big increases in passenger numbers and in fares. There are now around 100 separate businesses, all of which have to make a profit relating to each other via a complex series of contracts, where there was once a simple command and control system, with huge sums being paid to the lawyers and accountants at every interface.
The train operators have grown fat on public subsidy yet, when faced with revenue osses in a recession, they expect the taxpayer to bail them out with more cash and of course they know the Government will never let them go bust.
The main purpose of privatisation was to reduce the cost of the railways to the public purse, yet costs have rocketed to the extent that they are becoming unaffordable. Let's hope that it's not too late for New Labour, who have done little so far except tinker around the edges, to come up with a real vision of what we need.
- Geoff Kerr, Todmorden, UK
Dave - why shouldn't cyclists be able to take their bikes on trains? I know the wobble bottomed employees of Virgin have probably never sat on a saddle, but many of us are trying to get fit and be environmentally friendly.
- Tony Mcmahon, London, UK
The railways are already nationalised - how much does Branson receive from the State for running Virgin Rail? Pretty sure it was over a billion last time I looked. What on earth would change were that cash to be diverted to a reborn National Jobsworth Rail?
Want real change? Take the train set away from the nation's favourite subsidy junky.
- TV, Hounslow, UK
Oh dear, is Andrew still bitter about the way he was treated (back) by a guard when rightly told he couldn't bring his bike onto the Virgin train?
- Dave, London
I could add that in recent years 2 lines close enough for me to use have increased there service from half-hourly to quarter-hourly, a big improvement! I can think of another service, entirely within the Travelcard zone, where this has happened.
- W R Stevenson, London , UK.
Andrew, while the infrastructure i.e. rails, signals and stations may be state owned, I believe the rolling stock is the property of the Train Operating Companies or rather the financed companies that have leased them. So while the TOCs may 'hand back the keys', we will have a railway with no rolling stock.
You also seem to have distorted memories of what British Fail was actually like. Are you suggesting we also nationalise the remaining failing car companies and bring back British Leyland?
Now where did I put the keys to the Morris Ital?
- Adam, Harrow, UK.
Can we please, please, just use the Soviet model and be done with it. All this fussy squishy socialism is giving me a headache.
- Trunk, US.
And whilst they're at it, how about the water companies and gas and electricity as well? Please.
- Patricia, Sandgate UK
Obviously none of you knew what it was like with British Railways.
Trains ALWAYS late, dirt, indifferent service and strike after strike after strike.
It was awful. You may not believe it but today's rail travel is wonderful after the fifties and sixties.
The problem is nor privatisation it is the cack handed method by which it was structured.
And that shows up in the normal governmental greed in wanting a huge piece of the pie as a "royalty" up front.
Let's not even mention the shambles which is Network Rail.
Remember this, you are raging against a system which, in effect, is run 60% by the Government. The rail companies, having their hands tied through bureaucracy and punitive government costs, are the BEST part of the system.
And you want this Government to take over the whole thing?
You are all very stupid. But what's new with the British people!
- Minnie, London, UK
Great! More Nu Labor? Really? So Crash Gordon didn't really screw it up? Gilligan You live in a parallel universe uniquely populated by the media.
- James, New Malden, Surrey
Andrew, compare these polls to what was going on a month ago and you can see the Tory lead is very volatile and unsafe. If they had put some policies out during their long hot summer they would still be 20 points ahead. Because they let Labour re-unite and regain ground, they are skating on thin ice. Most polls narrow considerably during a general election, and since the Tories are paranoid about Labour stealing their manifesto, it seems it would not be until the day before polling day that they would unveil their manifesto. A 9-point lead now translates into a four or five point deficit by polling day, because the government has the chance to work on things now when it counts rather than during the campaign when it is too late.
With the signs regarding the economy significantly the other way round, Cameron is still putting out useless gimmicks rather than significant tranches of a workable policy. If Brown goes in the spring, they don't even have the next conference to put out their own "Timetable for Action", a gamble they may soon regret.
Perhaps it is better to get a consortium in to run the Tory party while they still have time to come up with a manageable manifesto. I was promised by several MPs over the summer that policies would be revealed "within a few months". We need them now, Dave, not in a few more months, or the alternative is getting back the big boys to run the game for you and relegate you to spin doctor again.
- Louise, Reading, UK
Nationalising the railways is one thing but it should only be done with a purpose. How about emulating our French friends by completely re-building the rail infrastructure, and not in some ridiculous timeframe and budget? The French built the first TGV line - 275 miles - in less than 5 years. Remember it took us 11 years to lay a meagre 67 miles of track between London and Folkestone...
Any government that promised to match our Gallic cousins' achievements will get my vote.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland
Andrew, did you not watch the recent BBC4 series on British Railways? In the end, they ran at such a huge loss, and so inefficiently, that BR was privatised...
Maybe people of a certain age (me included) always look back on the past thru' rose-coloured specs.
- Suzy, colchester, Essex
I woudn't be surprised if that new convert to Socialism, David Camoron adopted this. On the Today program Dave was again saying how much he approved of the Swedish Government's policies. Only a few weeks ago he was saying that Swedish Schools were superior to ours. I know he is out of touch with most things but doen't he realise Sweden is Socialist. In the old days Tories used to love anything American. How times have changed.
- Harold Hill, Acton
I'm all in favour of nationalising the rail system. Let's do the buses as well!
- Drew, London, UK
I sometimes wonder if I live in the same world as other people. Andrew did you ever travel on British Rail? With the constant dirty carriages, late trains and conductors who did not speak any English? with no new trains for a generation. OK I agree that Beardies trains aren't as cutting edge as he seems to think they are - but they are a damn site better than the "We're getting there" mob ever ran. Attack the train service we have by all means. A total screw up by the Conservatives in the way it was implemented I agree - but re-nationalise? No thank you very much!
- Johnfaganwilliams, London
