Cheap train fare schemes pushed by eco-idiots & WFH brigade is insanity – hardworking taxpayers are left to foot bill
I NORMALLY try to write about things that interest the maximum number of readers.
Which is why I rarely cover railway ticket prices, or Scotland. But this week, the subject matter is railway ticket prices, in Scotland.
5
5
Back in 2023, the far left idealogues that run things up there decided to abolish peak-time rail fares. They said this £40million government-funded scheme would cut car use and make everyone happy.
And naturally, it didn't work.
The number of people using trains went up by just 6.8 per cent. And most of that increase was down to a small number of rich commuters using the train more often.
Car use across the country wasn't affected at all. So, the following year, the idea was shelved.
You'd imagine that would be that. Aha. But it's politicians we are talking about here, so guess what. It's back.
They admit that they tried it, and that it failed. And now they're going to do it again. It's literally the definition of insanity. Trying the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.
Needless to say, everyone up there in whisky land seems to be delighted.
Eco mentalists say that round-the-clock cheap fares are good for the environment.
Business leaders say that it'll help stamp out the practice of working from home.
Which is another way of saying 'working from the coffee shop and the gym'. Or 'not working at all'.
Obviously, the commuters are thrilled too. And so are the trade unions.
In fact, it's hard to find anyone who thinks it's a bad idea. Except me. Because we already know the idea doesn't work. They need passenger numbers to increase by ten per cent to make the scheme self-funding.
And that, when they tried it out a year ago, didn't happen.
So who's going to pay the shortfall? Yes, you've guessed it. The taxpayer. And as there are only 2.6million people in Scotland who pay income tax, most of the money will have to come from England.
This means that if you're a refuse collector in Luton or a nurse in Wolverhampton or a brickie in Huddersfield, some of the money you pay in tax each month is being used to make a Scottish lawyer's weekly trip from Glasgow to Edinburgh a little bit cheaper.
What worries me even more is that politicians in Westminster may look at what's happening north of the border and decide we should have a similar system in England.
So they'll nationalise the railways, bring back the British Rail sandwich and end up paying every driver more than most Premier League footballers.
Then we'll have Ed Sillyband banging on about how it'll contribute to net zero and everyone with pink hair and a Hamas flag will be having street parties to celebrate the return of the 1970s.
And they'll expect people who can't use the train — because there's no suitable station nearby — to pay for those who can.
It's communism. Sounds great on paper. Doesn't work.
PLAN'S ENDED UP IN L
5
When they were first elected, the Starmerites promised that to clear the backlog of people waiting for a driving test, they'd increase the number of tests available every month by 10,000.
And guess what? Figures released this week show that the number of people waiting for a driving test has shot up by 80,000 and has now, for the first time ever, broken through the 600,000 barrier.
I know. It's hard to believe isn't it? Starmer and his cronies promised something and then didn't bother delivering. Amazing.
Except I don't think the waiting lists are a result of government hopeless-ness. Because think about it. The No1 aim of the mad fools who run the country these days is Net Zero.
And nothing cuts the number of polluting cars on the road more than not allowing anyone to drive one.
SO, David Lammy, who's our Foreign Secretary, says that the man who drove him from a meeting in Italy to a ski resort in France, tried to charge him for the fare twice. And the man at the wheel says he didn't.
It really is a case of 'he says this, and he says that', and I guess we'll never know the truth.
What baffles me, though, is why anyone would use a taxi for a six-hour, 350-mile drive from the far side of Italy to the French Alps.
Anyone who saw Lammy on Celebrity Mastermind knows he's a bit thick.
ALE FOR WHAT AILS US
5
AS I'm sure you know, health and wellness enthusiasts always have a miracle cure for whatever ailment you might have.
And it's never 'try eating pork scratchings'. Or 'the best cure for syphilis is beer'.
They always say you should drink something revolting, like wheatgrass or some kind of liquidised mushroom.
Or they tell you to eat magnesium. Which is what they used to make the gearbox casing in a Ford Focus for God's sake. How can eating that cure anything?
Just recently, I've been suffering at night from cramp.
And a girl who works at a gym said I could cure that by drinking 'water'. Rubbish. Have you seen what it does to the bottom of a boat?
The cure for cramp, as most sensible people know, is to leap out of bed and hop about, while swearing.
BAN THE RIDERS
THERE were calls this week from a road safety group to reduce the speed limit in cities and on country roads to 10mph.
The Road Safety Foundation, which has a website and everything, says no one should ever die as a consequence of wanting to go somewhere.
Right. So why not lower the speed limit everywhere to one mph. Or give everyone a Formula One car.
You can crash those things into a wall at 180 and walk away. Or if you are really serious about cutting the number of deaths on the road to zero, start with this: ban cycling.
MY CAR GOES A LOT FASTER WHEN IT'S SUPPERCHARGED
5
BOFFINS announced this week that if you listen to 'fast' music like Queen 's Don't Stop Me Now in the car, you will drive more quickly than if you listen to something slow and Billy Joelish.
Put Judie Tzuke's Stay With Me Till Dawn on the stereo and you'll never go faster than three mph.
Go for Kenny Loggins' Footloose, which has 174 beats per minute, and you'll be home before you set off.
No s**t, Sherlock.
For me though, the most dangerous music I listen to in the car is prog rock. Because the drive from my farm to my pub is 8.5 miles, along some of the most beautiful and exciting driving roads in the country.
And what I like to do is see if I can complete the journey in the time it takes to play just one track.
Easy with Mike Oldfield's Amarok, which goes on for an hour. Trickier with ELP's Pirates at 13 minutes.
But I did manage it the other day before Supper's Ready by Genesis was over. That was 23 minutes of tremendous driving and great music.
I've lost you haven't I? Sorry.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
41 minutes ago
- The Independent
Free school meals for half a million of England's poorest children
An extra half a million children will benefit from a free meal every school day after the government announced a major expansion of the policy, which they said would lift 100,000 pupils out of poverty and put an extra £500 in parents' pockets. From the start of the 2026 school year, every child whose household is on universal credit will be entitled to free school meals, the government announced on Thursday. Since 2018, children have only been eligible for free school meals if their household income is less than £7,400 per year, meaning hundreds of thousands of children living in poverty have been unable to access them. As of January last year, nearly 2.1 million children in England were eligible for free school meals. The Department for Education claimed that the expansion will lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty. It comes two years after The Independent 's Feed the Future campaign, in which we called for free school meals to be extended to all schoolchildren in England – both primary and secondary – who lived in households on universal credit but missed out on free school meals. The latest move will be seen as a major concession to Labour MPs who are concerned about the direction of the government, with rebellion brewing over the party's upcoming welfare cuts and calls for Sir Keir Starmer to scrap the two-child benefit cap. The chancellor Rachel Reeves also announced on Wednesday that more people will get fuel payments 'this winter' as she pledged to raise the level of the means test. Announcing the expansion of free school meals, education secretary Bridget Phillipson said 'background shouldn't mean destiny', adding: 'Today's historic step will help us to deliver excellence everywhere, for every child and give more young people the chance to get on in life.' She continued: 'It is the moral mission of this government to tackle the stain of child poverty, and today this government takes a giant step towards ending it with targeted support that puts money back in parents' pockets.' The move was welcomed by campaigners and unions, with the Child Poverty Action Group saying it will be a 'game-changer for children and families'. Kate Anstey, head of education policy the campaign group, said: 'At last more kids will get the food they need to learn and thrive and millions of parents struggling to make ends meet will get a bit of breathing space. 'We hope this is a sign of what's to come in autumn's child poverty strategy, with the government taking more action to meet its manifesto commitment to reduce child poverty in the UK." Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said the expansion of free school meals eligibility was a 'necessary and overdue first step' that would help address child hunger in schools. He said the current threshold, which had been unchanged since 2018, meant 'hundreds of thousands of children in poverty were missing out on the nutrition they need to thrive'. Mr Kebede added: 'As teachers, our members know the positive impact of children eating and learning together – how it breaks down stigma and inequality, and ensures greater community cohesion. Ensuring that a free school meal is available to all children is the next urgent step that must be taken.' Meanwhile, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, welcomed the move to expand free school meals to all families on universal credit, saying 'no child should ever have to go hungry due to their parents' financial circumstances'. But he also called for auto-enrolment and wider support to tackle the broader impact of poverty on children's education. Children's commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza echoed his call, urging the government to make sure every eligible child is 'automatically enrolled for free school meals, rather than putting the onus on parents to sign up'. 'When children talk to me about their family lives, I am struck by how acutely aware they are of their parents' worries and of the impact these have on their daily lives - and their education', she said. 'That's why we need solutions that reflect children's experiences, reduce the shame too many have told me they feel about their circumstances, and break the link between their backgrounds and their opportunities, by giving them communities that are safe, supportive and aspirational.' Last week, The Independent revealed that demand for help from baby banks from parents struggling to feed their children has surged by more than one-third in a year, amid record -high levels of child poverty. New data showed that more than 3.5 million essential items were handed out in 2024, including nappies, clothes and cots – an increase of 143 per cent on the previous year. The announcement came just hours after Sir Keir sidestepped questions over the two-child benefit cap, amid growing calls for him to lift the limit. Critics of the policy say removing it would be the most effective way of tackling child poverty amid warnings that as many as 100 children are pulled into poverty every day by the limit. However, it is thought the cap will not be lifted until the government publishes its child poverty strategy, which has now been delayed until the autumn. Grilled on the policy at Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Keir said he is 'absolutely determined' to 'drive down' child poverty but declined to give further details ahead of the publication of the government's strategy.
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
The big problem facing UK as deadline to finalise US trade deal looms
When push comes to shove, the question of whether British industry faces crippling tariffs on exports to the US or enjoys a unique opportunity to grow may come back to three seemingly random words: "melted and poured". To see why, let's begin by recapping where we are at present in the soap opera of US trade policy. Donald Trump has just doubled the extra tariffs charged on imports of steel and aluminium into the US from 25% to 50%. In essence, this would turn a painfully high tariff into something closer to an insurmountable economic wall (remember during the Cold War, the Iron Curtain equated to an effective tariff rate of just under 50%). Anyway, the good news for UK steel producers is that they have been spared the 50% rate and will, for the time being, only have to pay the 25% rate. But there is a sting in the tail: that stay of execution will only last until 9 July - on the basis of President Trump's most recent pronouncements. 1:00 For anyone following these events from the corner of their eyes, this might all sound a little odd. After all, didn't Sir Keir Starmer announce only a few weeks ago that British steel and aluminium makers would be able to enjoy not 25% but 0% tariffs with America, thanks to his bold new trade agreement with the US? Well, yes. But the prime minister wasn't being entirely clear about what that meant in practice. Because the reality is that every trade agreement works more or less as follows: politicians negotiate a "heads of terms" agreement - a vague set of principles and red lines. There then follows a period of horse-trading and negotiation to nail down the actual details and turn it into a black and white piece of law. In this case, when the PM and president made their big announcement 28 days ago, they had only agreed on the "heads of terms". The small print was yet to be completed. Right now, we are still in the horse-trading phase. Negotiators from the UK and the US are meeting routinely to try and nail down the small print. And that process is taking longer than many had expected. To see why, it's worth drilling a little bit into the details. The trade deal committed to allowing some cars to pass into the US at a 10% rate and to protecting some pharmaceutical trade, as well as allowing some steel and aluminium into the US at a zero tariff rate. When it comes to cars, there are some nuances about which kind of cars the deal covers. Something similar goes for pharmaceuticals. Things get even knottier when you drill into the detail on steel. 2:13 You see, one of the things the White House is nervous about is the prospect that Britain might become a kind of assembly point for steel from other countries around the world - that you could just ship some steel to Britain, get it pressed or rolled or worked over and then sent across to the US with those 0% tariffs. So the US negotiators are insisting that only steel that is "melted and poured" in the UK (in other words, smelted in a furnace) is covered by the trade deal. That's fine for some producers but not for others. One of Britain's biggest steel exporters is Tata Steel, which makes a lot of steel that gets turned into tin cans you find on American supermarket shelves (not to mention piping used by the oil trade). Up until recently, that steel was indeed "melted and poured" from the blast furnaces at Port Talbot. But Tata shut down those blast furnaces last year, intending to replace them with cleaner electric arc furnaces. And in the intervening period, it's importing raw steel instead from the Netherlands and India and then running it through its mills. Or consider the situation at British Steel. There in Scunthorpe they are melting and pouring the steel from iron made in their blast furnaces - but now ponder this. While the company has been semi-nationalised by the government, it is still technically a Chinese business, owned by Jingye. In other words, its steel might technically count as benefiting China - which is something the White House is even more sensitive about. 👉 Tap here to follow Politics at Jack and Anne's wherever you get your podcasts 👈 You see how this is all suddenly becoming a bit more complicated than it might at first have looked? This helps to explain why the negotiations are taking longer than expected. But this brings us to the big problem. The White House has indicated that Britain will only be spared that 50% tariff rate provided the trade deal is finalised by 9 July. That gives the negotiators another month and a bit. That might sound like a lot, but now consider that that would be one of the fastest announcement-to-completion rates ever achieved in any trade negotiations in modern history. There's no guarantee Britain will actually get this deal done in time for that deadline - though insiders tell me they think they could be able to finalise it in a piecemeal fashion: the cars one week, steel another, pharmaceuticals another. Either way, the heat is on. Just when you thought Britain was in the safe zone, it stands on the edge of jeopardy all over again.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Worker's hilarious reaction to Rachel Reeves' transport speech caught on camera
A staff member at a bus factory had a hilarious reaction to Rachel Reeves' speech in Greater Manchester on Wednesday morning (4 June). As the chancellor announced the government's 'biggest ever' transport investment in the UK, the worker displayed an animated expression behind her. The individual in the background fidgets as Ms Reeves speaks, with video of the moment posted on X by the Conservatives in a post captioned: 'This guy speaks for all of us.' The party added: 'Listening to Rachel Reeves makes you just want to…' and inserted an eye-rolling emoji.
