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thehustler posted:I know, and I do tell people that, but that seems to be one of the things they don't care about, going in for passenger satisfaction and punctuality instead. Southern are particularly bad for that. i think their punctuality (as self reported) is at like 60% recently, and their reliability was only about 90% - that means you can only actually get a train 9 out of 10 times, I think? Also, their advertising often says poo poo like "our passengers voted us most reliable" or horseshit like that - which makes me wonder why they need passenger opinions for a statistic which should be empirically provable one way or another. If somebody were prepared to go digging I bet you could find they make up bullshit massaged stats pretty much constantly.
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Jan 5, 2015 18:03
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Oberleutnant posted:Don't really have any longbows up here. There's a bison skull (was here before me) above my desk I could drop out the window, maybe Put your computer speakers out the window and blare this at them. Or try and find a halberd. Chillingham Castle has a nice halberd upstairs and an iron maiden in the basement.
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Jan 5, 2015 18:04
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Won't anyone think of the pheasants
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Jan 5, 2015 18:04
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Regarde Aduck posted:Won't anyone think of the pheasants I do all the time. They taste AWESOME.
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Jan 5, 2015 18:07
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Oberleutnant posted:Don't really have any longbows up here. There's a bison skull (was here before me) above my desk I could drop out the window, maybe You could improvise boiling oil with a kettle and a quick trip to Halfords.
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Jan 5, 2015 18:08
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goddamnedtwisto posted:You could improvise boiling oil with a kettle and a quick trip to Halfords. lmao the nearest halfords is probably at least 20 miles away. There is a cauldron in the armoury downstairs though.
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Jan 5, 2015 18:09
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Zephro posted:Also with a small and shrinking all-volunteer force the number of people with direct experience of serving in the armed forces - which is a pretty good inoculation against the hero-worship - is shrinking all the time. In the US something like a quarter of the male population are veterans and they really don't seem to be inoculated.
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Jan 5, 2015 18:10
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thehustler posted:I know, and I do tell people that, but that seems to be one of the things they don't care about, going in for passenger satisfaction and punctuality instead. No because that was not how it ran. The question of punctuality only really became important once delay minutes began to exist (NR gets fined if they make a TOC late, TOC gets fined if they make another TOC late etc), and was not how we ran a railway in Britain. It must be said, BR ran a lot less trains than we do today, but quite often these were longer (8 car HST vs 4 car Voyager is a classic modern thing) so there were more seats. BR also had empowered staff on the ground and because delay wasn't so absolute millions of pounds crucial, they would hold trains at stations to allow connections etc to happen which simply doesn't happen any more. The drivers/guards/train managers were also more flexible and well trained so if things did go tits up, they could work round problems where now you find the issue of the silos of drivers only sign one route and can't go round the alternatives. They also delivered lots of engineering works with trains still running, and had integrated plans to run "blockade buster" services etc. Kings Cross is a classic example of this at Christmas, in any sensible world, trains would have been sent into St Pancras (as Hull Trains did incidentally...) but to do this in the modern age it requires the East Coast driver to be 'route conducted' by a East Midlands Trains driver, the two companies to come to work out a compensation scheme between them, NR to agree to the train plan and it's a loving farce. Financially, at it's death in the mid-90s, BR was the most financially efficient railway IN EUROPE.
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Jan 5, 2015 18:11
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Regarde Aduck posted:Won't anyone think of the pheasants Pheasants are idiots and will charge for your car when you drive along, I'm assuming because they associate it with the farmer or whoever coming and feeding them. So they're probably not idiots really, just conditioned to get themselves killed by cars then set free in places where lots of cars are. Also the person responsible for them is absolved of any responsibility so if they gently caress up your car (or damage your garden or anything that costs people money) the people who get paid to breed them can just shrug their shoulders.
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Jan 5, 2015 18:12
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You do get a free pheasant though.
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Jan 5, 2015 18:15
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Bozza posted:No because that was not how it ran. The question of punctuality only really became important once delay minutes began to exist (NR gets fined if they make a TOC late, TOC gets fined if they make another TOC late etc), and was not how we ran a railway in Britain. It was poo poo. I don't care what imaginative wizardy informs the comment that it was 'financially efficient', the service objectively sucked balls. It was slow and unreliable. It was not a better train service than you could have gotten in several other European countries. It's faster now, but the increase in speed is not commensurate with the increase in price. Just like all neo-liberal privatization miracles, the service is slightly better for a poo poo load more cash. It probably should have just been privatized better, with more efficient and tight regulation. Unfortunately, the forces in the UK who wanted to privatize everything were totally beholden to big business. Rail is also just a lovely industry. It's always been a problem industry.
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Jan 5, 2015 18:15
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Guavanaut posted:You do get a free pheasant though. Well, assuming you want to stop in the middle of the dual carriage way and pick it up.
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Jan 5, 2015 18:17
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Red7 posted:I do all the time. They taste AWESOME. 
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Jan 5, 2015 18:20
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Disinterested posted:It was poo poo. I don't care what imaginative wizardy informs the comment that it was 'financially efficient', the service objectively sucked balls. It was slow and unreliable. It was not a better train service than you could have gotten in several other European countries. Er, we had the highest percentage high speed lines in Europe well into the late 80s, we run more trains than half of Europe combined. The service from London to Bristol/Cardiff is now slower than it was in the early 90s. Literally only the West Coast is higher speed than it was in the BR days and that was after they spunked billions on it and didn't do a proper job. It was unreliable because the whole loving network had been starved of money for decades on single year budgets. You have no idea what you are talking about. There were better ways to privatise it, but still wouldn't solve many of the problems that exist within the network which are almost universally to do with interfaces.
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Jan 5, 2015 18:20
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Mister Adequate posted:Well, I think that seals it. I'll be swallowing my misgivings over their stance on some scientific issues and voting Green (I was anyway). That was always a pretty major part of Green policy, I don't know why you needed her to write a Guardian article stating what is already her party's line to come to that decision? Bozza posted:No no no no loving no. I don't think she's outright saying 'East Coast is the specific model we should be following' but more 'public owned is better than private in the broad sense'. East Coast has done well on some things, as you say, and is therefore better than say CrossCountry, but that doesn't say that something even better couldn't be done within the framework of public ownership. Pretty sure she'd agree with that. ThomasPaine fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Jan 5, 2015 |
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Jan 5, 2015 18:23
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Bozza posted:Er, we had the highest percentage high speed lines in Europe well into the late 80s, we run more trains than half of Europe combined. The service from London to Bristol/Cardiff is now slower than it was in the early 90s. Literally only the West Coast is higher speed than it was in the BR days and that was after they spunked billions on it and didn't do a proper job. It was unreliable because the whole loving network had been starved of money for decades on single year budgets. You have no idea what you are talking about. And here you have one of the biggest problems of all. Had the whole thing been sold off as a monolithic lump, presumably with a BT-style covenant on service provision, it would probably have all worked out a lot better. Instead John Major was convinced by splitting it up that way you'd instantly get a return to the days of the Big Four and the GWR competing with the LMS to run the best services. Instead, like all attempts to force a market where one can;t naturally exist, the main business of the companies involved is gaming that market rather than providing the services that market is supposed to represent.
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Jan 5, 2015 18:28
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Red7 posted:I do all the time. They taste AWESOME. Like chips, they taste far better poached from an unsuspecting owner though
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Jan 5, 2015 18:31
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goddamnedtwisto posted:And here you have one of the biggest problems of all. Had the whole thing been sold off as a monolithic lump, presumably with a BT-style covenant on service provision, it would probably have all worked out a lot better. Instead John Major was convinced by splitting it up that way you'd instantly get a return to the days of the Big Four and the GWR competing with the LMS to run the best services. Instead, like all attempts to force a market where one can;t naturally exist, the main business of the companies involved is gaming that market rather than providing the services that market is supposed to represent. To be fair to Major, he did propose a return to the Big Four, but the Adam Smith Institute convinced him to create a "vibrant market place" or some other such bollocks. To copy paste from my train thread, the complexity is the biggest issue with the industry at the moment. Here is a watered down diagram:  edit: and this was worse when Railtrack was in charge cos maintenance wasn't in house so was another subcontract. Madness.
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Jan 5, 2015 18:33
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Guavanaut posted:You do get a free pheasant though. I thought you couldnt pick it up if you hit it, but if you find one thats been hit you can?
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Jan 5, 2015 18:34
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serious gaylord posted:I thought you couldnt pick it up if you hit it, but if you find one thats been hit you can? this was my understanding of the laws of pheasants
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Jan 5, 2015 18:42
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serious gaylord posted:I thought you couldnt pick it up if you hit it, but if you find one thats been hit you can? If it just happens in the middle of a country lane and nobody notices, it's probably not an issue. 
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Jan 5, 2015 18:46
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ThomasPaine posted:That was always a pretty major part of Green policy, I don't know why you needed her to write a Guardian article stating what is already her party's line to come to that decision? Did you not see where I said "I was voting for them anyway"? I just like that she's raised the issue at all, even if most of the rest of government will brush it off and reiterate the power of the ~free market~
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Jan 5, 2015 18:50
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Bozza posted:I wish I could sit down with people like Lucas (who I like) and explain how to make the industry work better. Clue: it would involve going back to a BR type sector approach because that was the best the railway in this country has ever been run. Write her a letter and you probably could. It's not like they have a lot else to do at the moment, and you're likely more of a rail expert than anyone else they have easily available.
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Jan 5, 2015 18:50
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has anyone made pheasant and red wine flavoured crisps yet?
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Jan 5, 2015 18:50
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JFairfax posted:has anyone made pheasant and red wine flavoured crisps yet? 'Red Wine' sounds abit lower middle class, What type of red wine we talking? 
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Jan 5, 2015 18:59
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Fluo posted:'Red Wine' sounds abit lower middle class, What type of red wine we talking? French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, French errr Southern French. Danish. Cotes... eau de cotes, chateau neuf, any of the papes, 97 through to 81
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Jan 5, 2015 19:16
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Just give me a Vimto.
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Jan 5, 2015 19:27
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Don't pick a pheasant up that's been hit by a car you idiots, they have very flimsy bones which break easily especially when hit by a car at sixty miles an hour. Roadkill isn't meant to be eaten. They're all poo poo now anyway, but you can probably get one for two quid that was shot. By a posh fella.
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Jan 5, 2015 19:33
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I'm still concerned that the Greens want to scrap HS2. It's a fundamentally un-Green policy aimed at capturing a few council seats in Camden. I'm also concerned that the cancellation of HS2 might be one of Lucas's demands if the Greens are in a position to offer Supply and Confidence.
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Jan 5, 2015 19:34
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Fluo posted:'Red Wine' sounds abit lower middle class, What type of red wine we talking?
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Jan 5, 2015 19:42
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Speaking of HS2, there's a rumour going round they want to flatten the Soho Curzon to make a ticket office/station. While these are unsubstantiated at the moment, why the gently caress would the Curzon be an appropriate/realistic place to put something like that?
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Jan 5, 2015 19:48
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Goldskull posted:Speaking of HS2, there's a rumour going round they want to flatten the Soho Curzon to make a ticket office/station. While these are unsubstantiated at the moment, why the gently caress would the Curzon be an appropriate/realistic place to put something like that? As in, the one in London? That's more at danger from Crossrail. The Birmingham terminus will be at the old Curzon Street station, which is now half railway land, half car park. Maybe that's what they mean.
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Jan 5, 2015 19:53
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Duh my bad, I misremembered it from this morning, Crossrail 2 it is, not HS2. https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-the-curzon-soho?bucket&source=facebook-share-button&time=1420394983 Anyway, hopefully just rumoured, although the speed at which Westminster are knocking the gently caress out of anything interesting in Soho nothing would suprise me. Tons of Tourist tat shops littering Shaftesbury Ave? They can stay! Much loved and respected indie cinema? Flatten it!
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Jan 5, 2015 20:00
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LemonDrizzle posted:Caroline Lucas is arguing for railway renationalisation. We aren't, old people are (unless you're an old person in which case apologies  )http://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2015/jan/04/credit-boom-ticking-timebomb-uk-plc 'Yet the overall figure depends on the over-50s paying off their mortgages at an accelerated rate. By contrast, the under-40s take on bigger mortgages to buy a home with an inflated price and borrow on credit cards to fund a lifestyle ravaged by six years of below inflation pay rises.' (over-50s are also the people who were able to buy houses back before they cost more than the GDP of Argentina, and have been ringfenced from austerity cuts to pensions, of course...)
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Jan 5, 2015 20:07
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notaspy posted:Seeing as he is an unrepentant rapist as well as an unsocialised criminal does that mean that he can never be accepted back into civilisation? We already bar people convicted of certain crimes from working in certain jobs and industries, the finance sector won't hire anyone who's been convicted of fraud (unless they're rich or have the right friends to let them in). He could do any job that doesn't require a CRB check and doesn't have contact with children and vulnerable adults, just like any other nonce. And of course for the time being, he'd have to take a job that fits the conditions of his sentence, since he served half in prison and is serving the other half out. I'm not too sure how that works.
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Jan 5, 2015 20:11
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Someone needs to tell people that footballers aren't role models. Especially lower league waste men, rapists or otherwise. If you're thinking right now of a footballer who you think is a role model, him being a footballer is probably irrelevant.
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Jan 5, 2015 20:15
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stickyfngrdboy posted:Someone needs to tell people that footballers aren't role models. Especially lower league waste men, rapists or otherwise. Sorry mate but he's on telly all the time, driving around fancy cars and that's because he can run up field and put the ball in the goalhole.
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Jan 5, 2015 20:21
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToAah0ME4bY
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Jan 5, 2015 20:23
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stickyfngrdboy posted:Someone needs to tell people that footballers aren't role models. Especially lower league waste men, rapists or otherwise.
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Jan 5, 2015 20:24
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Bozza posted:To be fair to Major, he did propose a return to the Big Four, but the Adam Smith Institute convinced him to create a "vibrant market place" or some other such bollocks. To copy paste from my train thread, the complexity is the biggest issue with the industry at the moment. Here is a watered down diagram: Complex for a non-mensan, sure.
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Jan 5, 2015 20:31
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