Between the ages of 11 and 18 I travelled between Harrogate and Leeds by train. A journey that took around 30 minutes. The railways were nationalised in those days and were frankly pretty disgusting. The trains were dirty and staffed with people who couldn't give a fuck.
It probably comes as no surprise therefore that I am against nationalising the railways. If you want a good example of what nationalising the railways can achieve take a look at France. SNCF runs at an annual loss of 3 Billion euros is 48 billion euros in the red has a workforce that can't be dismissed, with guaranteed jobs for life and retirement at 52. And they're still not happy.
Macron has a big job on his hands to create some order there. Bonne chance.
My thoughts exactly. People who support the nationalization of the railways don't remember how dreadful they were. It's going to be a messy few weeks in France and I'm not convinced that Macron will get his way.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to watch. It's easy to see what's wrong and easy to see the solutions but ultimately difficult to achieve with a population that doesn't like change. Give people too much but then don't expect to reverse it.
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