That seems to be a reasonable response under the present emergency conditions.
I have two longer term concerns.
Firstly, when the emergency is over will Pullman dining be re-introduced? Even if very poorly patronised initially. I recall that in the aftermath of the Hatfield accident, all Pullmans were "temporarily" withdrawn. Most never returned.
I fear that this will be an excuse to permanently withdraw dining. Then remove the kitchens to prevent Pullman dining ever being re-instated.
Secondly I have fears for the longer term future of the sleeper. When the emergency is over, run the sleeper without telling anyone about the re-instatement. Then withdraw it.

And yes I know that Pullman dining and the sleeper are franchise commitments, but these are easily negotiated away, after doing a survey that shows that they are not wanted.

If confirmed, a significantly reduced service is IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) a reasonable response to the present emergency and consequent staff shortage.
In the interests of still permitting essential travel throughout the nation, I would hope that trains will still serve the entire network, though reduced in number.
Unless loadings on the reduced service are very low, I would hope that trains will still be full length. Although proper "social distancing" might not be possible on a train, 200 passengers on a 9 car is clearly preferable to 200 passengers on a 5 car, despite the fact that 200 on a 5 car is not overcrowded by ordinary standards.

Withdrawal of the sleeper, if confirmed, seems rather perverse. A cynic might suspect that they want to discourage use.

Yes, I did.
Some good points made about relatively minor works that could relieve bottlenecks and allow faster, more reliable or more frequent services.
And the amount of stored rolling stock, not just Crossrail units.
I feel that the programmed overstated the benefits of electrification. I am in favour of electrification, but primarily for environmental reasons, not journey time.
Viewing some of the grossly overcrowded 2 car units featured in the programme, the near term answer should be much longer diesel units, with electrification being a longer term goal.

How many HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) are stored ?
And yes I know that they are old, rapidly becoming non standard and not ideal for local services. But in the short term there are many routes where a 5 car HST could replace a 2 car DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit).
This might mean suspending some disability regulations to allow HSTs in the short term.
Viewing some of the gross overcrowding, with many able bodied passengers left behind, I doubt that the "compliant" 2 car units are actually useable by anyone with significant mobility problems.
And as for oft quoted boarding delays due to the end doors, would these be any worse than the delays as a few more tried to board the units featured in the programme ?

Indeed, under present circumstances I am rather more forgiving of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) for staff shortages.
It is the failure to provide enough staff under NORMAL circumstances that I find hard to forgive.

Electricity starts of red, but turns black as it is used up. That is why we used a red wire for fresh electricity, and a black wire for the used electricity that is being returned for recycling. As any fule knoweth.

I stand corrected, perhaps a new company could be started by ex Northern Rail managers who otherwise would be "spending more time with their families" a suitable name cold be devised, how about "northern enforcement"

Perhaps enforcement could be subcontracted to Northern Rail, they have a proven track record of enforcement and imposing penalties. They are better at this than running trains.

The old UK^▸ (United Kingdom) colour code for 3 phase was becoming less sensible as the years went by.
In particular the use of blue for one phase, when blue was becoming standard for neutral in so many other places.

Yellow was also becoming less sensible on account of yellow being prohibited in in mains voltage flexibles.

One phase pretty much had to be brown, as that had been used for decades in flexibles.
For the other two phases, it was easier to list the colours that were unsuitable.

Green, recently used for earth
Black, recently used for neutral
White, too widely used overseas for neutral
Yellow, prohibited in flexibles, so better avoided for installation cables also.
Any striped or bi colour, prohibited in flexibles except for green/yellow earth. So best avoided in cables.

Possibilities included.
Grey, not recently widely used for anything else (limited use for earth in some places)
Orange, not widely used for anything else. (limited use for phase in USA)
Violet, not widely used for anything else, slight risk of confusion with blue neutral.
Red, already accepted for live/phase in UK and some other places, limited historical use for earth in Europe.

A better choice for 3 phase IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion), would have been brown, orange, and violet. Limited existing use of orange for phase in USA no problem. Brown and orange might possibly be confused, but confusing one phase with another is less bad than confusing phase with earth or neutral.
Violet would have to be well specified to be as "un blue" as possible.
Alternatively, brown, orange, red. Not ideal due to limited legacy use of red for earth in Europe.

Making your own hand sanitiser is not that hard ! all that is required is the correct ingredients and careful measurement to ensure that these are mixed in the correct proportions.
And MINOR errors don't matter that much.
Ready made products often contain a bit less alcohol than is desirable, because water is cheaper than alcohol.
The better formulations such as those that I previously suggested contain a bit more than the minimum alcohol so as to give a margin for MINOR errors in measurement, or for the alcohol being SLIGHTLY less concentrated than claimed by the supplier.

I anyone is doubtful, I would assure you that clinics and hospitals in developing countries DO use hand sanitiser, and that they DONT import it in small, pretty, and expensive bottles from Europe.
It is made on site, from locally sourced ingredients, in the clinic pharmacy, with facilities only slightly more sophisticated than most of us have at home.

I suspect that this increase in fatalities might be indirectly due to the coronavirus.
A significant minority of people who are already depressed and at risk, could be "pushed over the edge" by worries that they or their relatives are infected, or liable to become infected.
Others might decide to "end it all" because they fear serious financial loss due to the fall in stock prices, or failure of their business due to the virus. ISTR^▸ (I seem to recall/remember) an increase in suicides in the last financial crash.
Yet others may be suffering from significant underlying health problems, and might fear lack of treatment or shortage of medication as hospitals fill up with coronavirus victims.

I appreciate that these deaths are not officially confirmed as suicides, but experience suggests that it is likely.

Yes, to purchase large volumes could indeed attract unwanted attention.
Note however that most home made hand sanitisers only call for about 4% by volume of "low test" hydrogen peroxide that contains 3% active ingredient and 97% water.
Therefore one liter of 3% hydrogen peroxide solution would make about 25 liters of hand sanitiser. Not many people want more than that.
I ordered two packs each of one liter, from different suppliers. I don't really need that much but wanted to duplicate the order with different suppliers in case one lot failed to arrive.

Agree, subject to availability. Soap and water is unlikely to be available on most public transport or outdoors.
In say an office, soap and water is probably only available in the toilets. After use of these facilities, how many surfaces and items will you touch en route to your desk? Toilet door ? office door ? intermediate doors ? lift buttons ? Hand sanitiser at your desk would be prudent as well as soap and water in the washroom.

In ones home, soap and water is preferable but remember to have a hand towel for each person, don't share them. Hot wash towels frequently.

In the workplace disposable paper towels are more hygienic, despite the environmental costs thereof. At home consider a box of paper towels in reserve in case circumstances prevent laundering of re-usable items.

If anyone wishes to make their own hand sanitising mixture, the isopropyl alcohol to which I refered a few posts back, is now in short supply and has trebled in price.

An alternative formulation uses ethanol, which is widely sold as a fuel. A slightly larger percentage is required. One suggested formulation is as follows,

Ethanol------------------ 83%
Hydrogen peroxide-------4%
Glycerine------------------1.5%
Purified water-----------to make 100%

The ethanol should be of the approx 98% pure grade that is widely sold as fuel. Avoid ethanol motor fuel as it contains a small percentage of petrol.
The hydrogen peroxide presumes use of a solution containing 3% active ingredient, other concentrations may be used if the amount used is adjusted accordingly.
The glycerine should be of cosmetic or food grade.
Distilled or deionised water is preferred, but boiled and cooled tap water may be used if fit for drinking.

TAKE CARE the pure ethanol is highly flammable, and is still somewhat flammable after dilution. Preparation best done outdoors. store in sealed containers.

I have a cynical suspicion that the real concern is trying to stop electrification, and that concerns about a not very interesting bridge are simply a way of trying to stop electrification.

Yes, hydrogen peroxide can be used in improvised explosive manufacture.
It has so many legitimate uses that it is hard to control or restrict sales.
A search on fleabay will reveal numerous suppliers.