First glimpse of a refurbished CrossCountry Voyager at Leeds yesterday.
First impressions are that...it's still a Voyager, but a bit more presentable 🙄
Sustainable travel campaigners have argued for this for decades. Dare we hope that the message is finally cutting through?
I’m thrilled to have finally sent off the manuscript for a new edition of Agnes Grey that I’ve produced for @oxunipress. Working with Anne’s novel has been utterly joyful - she is such a smart writer and woe betide those who underestimate the power of Agnes Grey.
Happy 226th Birthday to George Hudson, York's notorious 'Railway King', born #OTD in 1800 🥳
On #WorldBookDay we are celebrating the House of Lords Library, which turns 200 years old this year.
The Library collection includes around 80,000 books, from a 1490 legal text to the latest titles in social science, international relations, economics and more.
The pushback against 'barebeaters' is gathering pace--and not a moment too soon. Surveys show that the silent majority--if you'll pardon the pun--find noise on public transport a nuisance. So when will bus and train operators follow suit?
metro.co.uk/2026/03/04/m...
I smiled when I spotted this at Leeds this evening. That's a name with a long, proud history of railway usage! 😊
Nothing could better illustrate intellectual laziness of the far right than this feeble, unimaginative attempt to imitate Trump. It's the same laziness that leads them to reject 'woke' history, despite the overwhelming evidence to back it up. Original thought is clearly too much for them.
If all parties put up qualified tradespeople at the next election they could usefully turn over the next parliament to doing DIY.
It's Ireland's biggest coffee-machine department...so I'm told 😉
I could say the same of the old LSWR 'Paddleboats' but alas, those are all long gone now 😥
An pleasant surprise at York this morning. It might be a controversial opinion, but I rather like the class 70s. They're not conventionally beautiful, but they're endearingly quirky.
Haunting to have written about internal US migration in 2023 and 2024, and to see this mass exodus in action within two years of that.
Bury: it's a town with a Peel 😉 I'm sure @victoriancommons.bsky.social will be pleased to see Sir Robert still standing proud in the town centre.
History is full of unlikely political alliances. The alliance of the USSR with the capitalist Western democracies during WWII is perhaps the ultimate example!
#OTD in 1804, Richard Trevithick's Penydarren locomotive successfully traversed the Merthyr Tramroad, South Wales—the first recorded journey by a railway locomotive.
The word 'historic' is over-used, but this truly was. It was as revolutionary for the C19th as the internet has been for the C21st.
Thinking about it, the last time the son of a monarch (again, not technically a prince) was imprisoned was in 1685, when James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth (and illegitimate son of Charles I), was arrested for leading a rebellion against James VII and II. He was subsequently executed for treason.
That's wonderful to hear! 😊
Oh no wait, sorry, I forgot...he's not a prince any more, is he? My mistake.
I wonder if they'll hold it in Westminster Hall, as in days of old? The seating capacity might well be useful...!
So, when was the last time a British Prince was held in custody? Was it these two?! 😬
Nevertheless, the Manners-Suttons refused to move out of the #SpeakersHouse for several months afterwards! Charles was the last Speaker to reside in the old Speaker's House before it was pulled down to make way for the construction of Sir Charles Barry's new House of Commons.
Waiting for my connection at Leeds and somebody's left the remains of a full-blown picnic in the waiting room. On what planet do people think this is acceptable? Did their parents or teachers never instill them with any consideration for others? I despair... 😣
Bravo to the authorities in India for cracking down on 'barebeating'. The silent majority—if you'll pardon the pun—find it a nuisance, and for autistic travellers like myself, it has a severe impact. So, why are UK PT operators (TfL excepted) still reluctant to act?
metro.co.uk/2026/02/17/f...
When Sam Hirst teaches Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights, they often find the students who end up hating it are the ones who expect it to be a love story.
Thanks to @romgothsam.bsky.social @drclaireocall.bsky.social @drmtremellen.bsky.social for speaking with me!
time.com/7373005/wuth...
Why have I never been in here?! Clearly, I'm missing a treat! 😲
I agree the bishops should go (not least because the House is overcrowded anyway). Not sure I'd want an elected 2nd chamber; that would challenge the primacy of the Commons and create regular political deadlock. Lords should be a revising/scrutinising chamber, but we need a better appointment system
The funny thing about the pub culture is that Telegraph columnist love to preach about young people not being able to afford a deposit on a house, because of a daily coffee habit, but it's almost expected that adults should regularly go to a pub and spend £20-£30 a night 🙄
Only fifteen years to go and they'll outlast the Beattie Well Tanks... 😲
