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The Advocate-General of the European Court of Justice is about to make a ruling on whether it is fair to force people into retirement at the age of 65. Since 2006, British Law has decreed that it is legal for employers to force retirement at 65. Over 600 challenges in tribunals await the decision.

At a time when it is becoming very clear that the balance of the UK population is towards older age groups, and at a time when the unsustainability of high pensions is clearly going to have a knock-on effect in years to come, why on earth can’t people work longer if they are fit and able to do so? Is retirement a right?

Will I get to retire in 35 years time? Or will it be 40 or 45? I am doubtful as to whether there will be any such thing as a state pension by then. There will be a smaller and smaller number of working age people having to support a larger and larger number of retired people (so-called baby-boomers) many of whom have in fact retired early and therefore will spend between about a third of their lives in retirement. Is this really a useful way to spend a human life?

So let us help the aged by encouraging them to keep active and work (or else do what some of them already do and take on essential voluntary roles or impart their knowledge to younger people in their professions).

It’s been a while since I’ve made this journey on the train, and definitely not since my little survey of train journey times between Salisbury and Chippenham. And incidentally the price has gone up to £17.50 for a Saver Return.

The journey time from Salisbury to Chippenham via Bath Spa (no direct services at all) is approx. 1h13m. BUT, returning on a Sunday (as many people might), it takes over 2 hours! Also changing via Bath Spa bit with a 40 minute wait. Thankfully you can kill 40 mins at Bath during the day but honestly, this is not even viable by my reckoning and at £17.50 return, even less so.

On a weekday journey time back from Chippenham to Salisbury is reduced to 1h22 but we know there is a direct line ready and able from Salisbury to Swindon via Melksham that could do the job is under an hour.

I have finally got the attention of more people from south Wilts to join the continued TransWilts Rail Campaign and you can read more in the latest newsletter of Salisbury Campaign for Better Transport.

I am really very disappointed that I still can’t confidently recommend anyone travel from south to north Wiltshire or vice versa by rail at the moment, unless it is your only mode of travel.

I have so much backlog to go through for updates on local train issues I thought I would kick-off with a disappointment and share my frustration at both my outward and return journey on Saturday 13th October, travelling from Salisbury to Bristol.

Out. Took the 10.40 to Bristol Temple Meads. Surely a ‘peak’ service considering many travelling rugby fans on route to Bath Spa, many shoppers and long-distance weekend travellers with luggage. We had a two-coach 158. The train did not empty at Salisbury greatly and although we were lucky to find seats many at this stage were filling the corridors and even the guard’s cab! (more…)

Heaven knows (literally) how the Chinese government will administer this one!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20227400/site/newsweek/

Last year, during the FA World Cup, I bought a sandwich which came with its own thought for the day. Today I find myself buying the same sandwich made by Daily Bread: shaved cheddar and pickle. It still comes with its daily motto which today is:

If God wanted us to fly, He would have given us airline tickets

Mel Brooks

Quite so.

Last week and today, First Great Western organised some 60 extra services on its network to ferry festival-goers to and from Castle Cary for Glastonbury 2007.

The question is: did other regular services suffer?

Wiltshire County Council and Swindon Borough Council are currently in the middle of moving various heritage services from around the county (mainly Trowbridge) topurpose-built facilities in Chippenham which will open some time after October 2007 as Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. These services include the record office (archives), archaeology, museums service conservation (moved from Salisbury) and local studies library.

It is claimed that the new facilities will increase access to heritage collections and services for members of the public. However, have the planners thought about transport issues? To try and reach Chippenham from most of Wiltshire is a trial. There are few adequate bus services and a woeful, mistimed rail service on the TransWilts line which means that you have to add almost an hour to your journey to travel, say, from Salisbury to Chippenham (change at Bath) on the train (previously it was direct to Trowbridge). This is the letter I wrote to Salisbury Journal in response to the story of the new History Centre: (more…)

Network Rail are using convicts who are still serving time to help fix the railways. Apparently they are not involved in any safety-critical work and helps rehabilitate prisoners. Union bosses say this is at the expense of industry workers as prisoners are paid less. I’m not sure what I think about this. On the one hand I think most prisoners should work while serving time and earn their keep while in prison. On the other, with increasing over-crowding, perhaps cons will be another cheap solution to plugging the manual work labour-gap rather than utilising the long-term unemployed and getting them off benefits?

This story comes at a time when Network Rail have been criticised by the Prison Service for proposing to build an Engineering Yard right next to a Category A prison Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire. Prison officers are concerned about the noise irritation to the prisoners (many of whom are highly unstable) and the potential for them to cause serious problems if they were to get access to the yard. Presumably in a year or two they’ll all be employed to build it anyway.

Now why are they going building a new yard when several working yards such Eastleigh have recently closed? Eastleight Women’s Prison isn’t far.

FGW boss Alison Forster said in an announcement on 20 April that:

Customers will see real benefits soon

I dread to think of the reality of the benefits FGW will offer. Not to travel by train perhaps? She also said that last year was an “enormous challenge” for the rail company. How hard is it to continue to run a rail service that was running relatively well and improving before they took it over?! It’s not a flippin’ space programme!

Here are parliamentary written answers to questions about the 1000 extra carriages promised by the government (at some point), posed by my MP Robert Key. Published on 24 April 2007.

Q: Robert Key (Salisbury, Conservative)
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how the additional 1,000 new railway carriages recently announced will be allocated to operating companies; and if he will make a statement.

A: Tom Harris (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport)
It is too early to say where precisely the additional rolling stock will be used. The deployment of new rolling stock will be agreed with the industry following the publication of the High Level Output Specification and the long term rail strategy this summer, in accordance with the Periodic Review timetable set out in the Office of Rail Regulation’s advice to Ministers published in February 2007.

…So does that mean, seasonally adjusted, after the 1000 new carriages are distributed about the place we’ll have fewer trains than we started with?
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