I was on some calls with Microsoft about Exchange 2010 earlier this year but Windows 7 and XP came up and a lot of the NHS IT people on the call said they still had XP in many areas. Often as standalone machines but the point I wanted to make is that what often seems money wasted on admin isn't always. Win 7 enhanced support is doubling per machine each year and that's going to get pricey for the NHS without some investment.

I think this is the most likely outcome and will turn Birmingham into a suburb of London. Maybe not quite but all the benefit will be in the South East again which I thought the current government was addressing.

And whilst I don't want to stray into politics its a bit too easy to say cut admin/pen pushers etc. There's probably an argument for more investment in things like IT systems which have been neglected to avoid headlines about buying PCs rather than nurses. Many trusts are still on Window XP and have antiquated systems that will add a significant overhead to costs and efficiencies.

I suspect it will be 'rescoped' until its pretty much London to Birmingham and most of the Northern parts delayed. That seems to be the theme so far with much of the original plan for the North (and Scotland?) falling prey to cost savings.

Opening paragraph from an article in the Daily Telegraph. The Telegraph is probably against HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) (it seems to be against most things) but it does echo my view that if it was going to be built it should have started in the North or even Scotland.

HS2 will cost taxpayers more than the benefits it will deliver, the Government has admitted for the first time.

Analysis conducted by civil servants found that the rail project will now deliver just 90 pence in economic benefit for every £1 it costs, raising fresh questions about its existence ahead of this week’s Autumn Statement.

The report, unearthed in a new paper by Policy Exchange, a centre-right think tank, comes after ministers said the first leg of the route is likely to overshoot its “target cost” as it burns through cash reserves.

Conservative MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) have raised questions about the project, which was originally intended to cost £38 billion, but is now expected to exceed £100 billion by the time it is complete.

The report also said that 43 per cent of the economic benefits of HS2 will be felt by those living in London and the South East, despite ministers’ claims it would be a major component of the Government’s “levelling up” project.

As a fairly regular Carmarthen to London traveller there just doesn't seem enough demand although I'm guessing it might be more to do with logistics and Swansea station perhaps. More (than the one currently anyway) direct services would be useful but its not something I ever found myself feeling I really needed.

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/railway-enthusiasts/guidelines-for-taking-photos-at-stations/

When I worked as a producer for a UK^▸ (United Kingdom) Broadcaster we always had to get a permit to film at the station which was normally turned down by the press office. It use to be why you saw so many interviews by the entrance. I was never sure what bylaw I was breaking but as an inexperienced producer the first few times I told the camera crew ( in the days before it was one person) that we were entitled to film and they just quietly sighed, probably made a note to avoid any future items I was setting up, and waited for the police to eject us.

Anti terrorism was the most often mentioned reason for not allowing filming although I suspect it was Railtrack being paranoid about the media.

I was never convinced by the argument for HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) but it does feel that all the 'cost saving' changes are going undermine the argument for it even further.

And so much for levelling up and Northern Powerhouse...

Article in the Telegraph (behind a paywall) that fares could increase by over 10% next year unless the link between CPI (or is it RPI^▸ (Revenue Protection Inspector (or Retail Price Index, depending on the context))) and ticket prices is broken.

That could be some quite hefty price rises on season tickets. For my old commute it would be over £400 a year more which is more than any pay rise I'm likely to get this year.

Even the Telegraph seemed to admit it wasn't a good way to tempt people back to the railways or even their office.

Now I've finally moved from Twyford to the middle of nowhere I really don't miss my commute. My future employment prospects may be limited but I suspect my day is a lot less stressful.

I would have hoped for some sort of arms length body to run it. While the treasury will always hold the purse strings they shouldn't be involved in operational decisions. Some sort of 5-10 year funding plan that allows for forward planning and a decree of independence. Bit like the way the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) licence fee is done?

Does the new GB^▸ (Great Britain) Railways provide this?

Thank you for the information- very useful.

We're probably looking at a 600w-1KW generator only to power the pump and water treatment plant. It would be stored in the shed with the pump and filters. It already has a hefty padlock although we're so remote any theft would either be obvious as never see people or easy if we're not around and you could make as much noise as you want. I did wonder about filtering the air which might mean leaving the shed door open although noise shouldn't be a problem.

We were thinking aspen petrol as it has a longer life and can be used in the mower.

Having recently had a long power cut I'm thinking about buying a generator which will mean storing petrol. A battery generator doesn't appear to have enough power for my needs although would be more convenient.

Not having mains water I'm reliant on pump which of course needs electricity. A small generator would mean we continue to have drinking water. Heat and cooking come from an oil fired range and log burner.

I feel like I'm joining Broadgage in preparing for the zombie apocalypse.

Sticking to the station element I'm not convinced. The demand for trains is for the 'fast' services to London and this proposal so far as I can tell would be about Crossrail stopping trains which  seem to have a reasonable amount of spare capacity. Building several thousand houses is going to create that demand rather than relieve it.

The car park argument seems reasonable although I'd imagine most people driving to the station would be travelling into London and go to Twyford for the fast trains. If you work in Reading is driving to Twyford gardens going to save you time and money?

The proposal does look very nice but I can't help but feel its going to overwhelm Twyford. There's been several new estates in the past decade or two around Twyford and the main problem has been the amount of 4 and 5 bed detached houses rather than higher density options. The brochure is quite vague on what they want to build and a comment only that they 'could' include social housing.

I'm moving from Twyford so I've avoided commenting on the proposal but if I was staying I would have reservations of which the train station is probably the least of them.

I've been catching it for a couple of years and pre-pandemic it was generally very crowded to Swindon/Bristol which I guess is commuting traffic. After Cardiff it got a lot emptier and by Swansea I'm generally on my own as anyone in the know got the TFW train. The stops after Swansea always seemed pointless although I did wonder if they were included because the IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) can't actually run at speed so do you lose a lot of time stopping at Llanelli and the like?

I generally assumed the main reason for the trains existence is to have an IET in place for the early morning run to London which is busy when I've been on it (in the pre apocalypse days anyway). It was a pleasant surprise to discover a direct train from London/Reading when I started making the journey but I've always half expected it to disappear at some point.

You could change the TFW train but then it goes on to Milford Haven (I think) and does look well used the few times I've been on it. You also have the reverse in the morning about 8am with the Manchester train and local service running pretty close together and I'm not sure you need both of them other than it spreads the passenger numbers out a bit. The staff at Carmarthen though do always try encourage me to get the Manchester train for Swansea but it just means a longer wait in the cold at Swansea for the connection.

Travelling to Carmarthen I was always surprised that there were two trains late evening from Swansea. The train crew are pretty good at going up and down the train encouraging you to get the TFW train as it got in about 15 mins earlier than the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway). Interesting to read above why this situation arose as it always seemed a bit pointless to me.

It might make more sense to run of the services non stop Swansea - Carmarthen and the other service becomes a stopper? Always feels strange have the IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) doing request stops at these tiny stations and I'm often the only person on the train.