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Letters | 21 January 2012
Full speed aheadSir: William Astor (‘Signal failure’, 14 January) writes that High Speed 2 is supported only by ‘northern Labour MPs who relish the thought of the beauty of the Chilterns being destroyed’. He seems to have missed the MPs from across the House of Commons who joined forces this week to welcome the project. Links between the north and the south of our nation are of vital importance. Better connections are great for jobs across the north of England, but they are also necessary for the overdue rebalancing of our economy to which the Prime Minister is firmly committed. Lord Astor relies on the internet as proof that rail demand will decrease. The evidence suggests otherwise. The West Coast Mainline is now forecast to be completely full by 2024.
Barometer | 21 January 2012
CondemnedA Norfolk woman was given the honour of pressing a button to demolish a tower at the Campbells soup factory where her father was scalded to death in 1995. Here are some other buildings demolished to expunge bad memories: — 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, former home of Fred and Rose West — 5 College Close, Soham, Cambridgeshire, house where Ian Huntley killed two ten-year-old girls in 2002 — Beb al-Azizlya Compound, Tripoli, former home of General Gaddafi — Muiredge Cottage, Buckhaven, Fife, bungalow where Rab Thomson murdered his two children — 12205 Imperial Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, house where Anthony Sowell raped, murdered and buried 11 women All at seaThe cruise ship Costa Concordia capsized after striking rocks off Tuscany.
Portrait of the week | 21 January 2012
HomeEd Balls, the shadow chancellor, commenting on the public sector wage freeze, said: ‘I can’t promise to reverse that now.’ Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said it was ‘absolutely right’ to place employment before pay rises. But Len McCluskey of the Unite union called it a ‘Blairite coup’ and Mark Serwotka of the Public and Commercial Services Union, called it ‘hugely disappointing’. Inflation fell in December to 4.2 per cent from 4.8 per cent (by CPI) or to 4.8 per cent from 5.2 per cent (by RPI). Thieves dug a 100ft tunnel to a video shop in Manchester over the New Year, and got away with £6,000; a similar tunnel had been discovered at the same place in 2007.
Work in progress | 21 January 2012
It is often claimed that the Lords, unencumbered by the rivalries and ambitions of the Commons, have a greater affinity with ordinary people than MPs. Certainly, this is the spin which opponents of the Welfare Reform Bill would like to put on its rocky passage through the upper house, where the government narrowly avoided a fourth defeat this week. But there is an alternative interpretation: that their lordships are suffering from a form of noblesse oblige which prevents them from seeing that the welfare system has become a racket, incubating the poverty it was set up to eradicate. This week’s near-defeat, on the subject of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) — which is paid to 3.