jonathan.rawle.org

It is an unglamorous town in the south of England known for its rail junction, power station and nuclear research laboratory but today, Didcot in Oxfordshire enjoys a new and enviable reputation – as the place whose residents enjoy the longest, healthiest lives in England and Wales.

Read the whole story in the Daily Telegraph.

One thing they don’t mention in the list of things that are “wrong” with Didcot is that the Ladygrove estate, officially the healthiest place in the country to live, is crossed by high voltage power lines. Have Powerwatch, and any other groups that campaign against supposed health risks of power lines, seen today’s article?

First it was reported that a 19-year-old woman, Kathleen Jennings, was appearing in court charged with putting her feet on the seat of a train. Train operator Merseyrail has been running a campaign against this since February, and there are apparently posters all over the trains and stations warning people.

Then this afternoon, it was reported that Jennings had been found guilty, but had not been punished by the court – the magistrates said Merseyrail should find a less draconian method of dealing with it. This seemed reasonable: she was guilty of antisocial behaviour; however, it would have been much better dealt with by an on-the-spot fine.

I would have thought nothing more of the issue if I hadn’t read Miss Jennings’s comment:

Putting my feet on the seat, which I am sure everyone has done in the past, with the cost of it all, probably cost a lot of money.

How dare she assert that “everyone” has put their feet on the seat of a train. For the majority of people, if they have ever done so in the past, it was as a young child, and following a sharp word from their parents, they never did it again. As adults, most people would never dream of putting their feet on the seat.

I can imagine similar words coming from someone who had been fined for dropping litter. They would say “everyone” drops litter occasionally. Again, they are totally wrong. I never drop litter, and can’t understand the mentality of anyone who does. Even if the wind blows my crisp packet out of my hand, I chase after it.

Some people commenting on news site discussion boards have suggested that there are far more serious crimes going on (particularly on Merseyside) that should be given priority. How naive: do they really think that if the rail employee was not working on the trains, he’d be a police officer out on the beat? Of course not. He probably gets paid significantly less than even a Community Support Officer, and if this job wasn’t available, he might be claiming benefits.

By tackling low-level anti-social behaviour, we can make a start on improving society, so that we return to a situation where we don’t need “draconian” penalties and “enforcement officers” on trains as people are considerate enough not to put their feet on seats, smoke or use abusive language that offends other passengers. And we have to be even-handed: you can imagine the uproar from the tabloid press if an “A*” student from a middle-class background was let off, while a young mother on benefits was prosecuted. Anyway, I doubt the sort of young person who was brought up to keep his feet off the upholstery is the type who carries a gun when he rides his bike.

As a footnote (if you’ll excuse the pun), Miss Jennings received an “absolute discharge” from the Magistrates’ Court. Far from being let off, this counts as a criminal conviction, albeit one that becomes “spent” after just six months. According to the Criminal Records Bureau, a person may be required to disclose spent convictions if he or she “wants to apply for a position that involves working with children or working with the elderly…” If she intends to become a teacher, let’s hope no-one asks her for a full disclosure. If they do, I’m sure there will always be jobs going as an “enforcement officer” as an alternative.

It’s nearly two months since they were taken now, but finally I have uploaded some photos from Edinburgh. I have taken some time to write a little about each image, as I usually do, so that they become a guide to parts of the city rather than purely a set of photos. With only three full days in the city, I had to be selective in the places I visited, but I think I covered most of the main sights.

Highlights include photos of the castle from various vantage points; the monuments on Calton Hill; several views over the city from high points, including Arthur’s seat; and photos from both outside and inside the Scottish Parliament. There is also a whole series of photos taken in North Queensferry of both the Forth rail and road bridges.

In all there are currently 29 photos, so take a look at them now!

I was quite pleased to see Ryanair get into trouble with the ASA over a misleading advert. The airline claimed it is quicker and cheaper to fly from London to Brussels than to take a Eurostar train. Of course, this is very misleading as Eurostar takes passengers right from one city centre to the other, while the airports used by Ryanair tend to be a considerable distance away (in many cases they don’t even use the main airport, but instead use smaller airports in the middle of nowhere, maybe 100km away and even in a different country!)

In the case of London and Brussels, the train journey takes an hour longer than the flight. However, the estimated additional journey time to or from the airport at either end is 1 hour 45 minutes. And that’s assuming there’s a convenient connection after your flight has arrived; more likely there’ll be more waiting for a bus or train from the airport.

While all the press have concentrated on the extra journey time to and from the airport, they have largely overlooked a big time-wasting factor when it comes to air travel: check-in times. (In fact, Eurostar did bring this point up, as can be seen in the ASA Adjudication.) Ryanair suggest people arrive at least two hours before their flight departure time – time spent being ripped off by retail outlets at the airport. Eurostar, on the other hand, only require passengers to arrive 30 minutes beforehand – hardly enough time to buy a newspaper and have a coffee. That gives Eurostar another 1 hour 30 minutes advantage. Of course, that’s just the saving in time; we aren’t even considering all the inconveniences of air travel, mainly due to security restrictions, such as not being able to take liquids in hand luggage, and only being able to carry bags of certain dimensions and weight (and only hand luggage is allowed on Ryanair, unless you want to pay a hefty extra charge).

In all, Eurostar offers by far the more convenient service, and I’m glad to see that the majority of people seem to agree with me.

Let’s just re-cap: Ryanair’s flight is an hour quicker, but they have an extra 1:30 waiting around in the airport; 1:45 extra journey time to and from the airport; and no doubt at least 15 minutes waiting for the connection at the airport. Ryanair’s journey is therefore two and a half hours longer than Eurostar’s, and most probably a great deal more stressful. This time the ASA definitely came to the right conclusion, and if the blogosphere is anything to go by, consumers aren’t going to be very impressed by Mr O’Leary’s childish reaction.

It is no surprise at all that Stonehenge has come top of a list of the most disappointing UK tourist sights. The setting detracts hugely from the stones. The World Heritage site sits between two busy A-roads, with a tall wire fence to keep out non-paying visitors. Entrance is via a tunnel beneath one of the roads, and the stones themselves are roped off and can only be viewed from a distance. Forget about the mystic, prehistoric stone circle in the centre of Salisbury Plain. Visiting Stonehenge is more akin to going to the nearest out-of-town supermarket.

The plans to put one of the roads into a tunnel and downgrade the other still don’t seem to be any nearer fruition. The situation has been described as a national disgrace, and I quite agree. I did once hear one interesting angle on it, which was that if the roads were closed and the visitors’ centre was moved a few miles from the stones, tourists from certain parts of the world would no longer be so keen to visit, as they like to arrive, have a quick look, then leave – the “tick off the sights” school of tourism rather than travellers looking to experience something. Could this be contributing to the various authorities’ failure to agree on improving the area around the monument? As far as I’m concerned, removing some of those tourists would only further enhance the experience.

Taking a quick look at the full list of “disappointing” and “must see” sights in the UK and the world, some of the places on the list are surprises, others less so. The London Eye (No. 6 most disappointing in the UK) is an amazing structure both when viewed from outside, and even more so when inside taking a “flight”. On the other hand, I agree wholeheartedly with the interviewees on the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain (No. 5 most disappointing) which looks quite awful, and is an ugly scar in a pleasant park. I can’t understand Bill Bryson’s enthusiasm for it, although maybe he was able to view it without tourists completely covering it, which probably enhances its appearance ever so slightly.

As for the sights abroad, I have to confess I have yet to visit any of them. I’m surprised to see the Eiffel Tower on the list, but then anywhere high up with a view will impress me.

I’m not surprised to find the Pyramids listed, ever since I saw a photo that showed just how close they are to the city (this photo, and others by the same photographer, show what I am talking about). It seems Egypt’s World Heritage site has suffered the same fate at the UK’s: the setting spoils the experience. Before seeing that photo, I always imagined the pyramids were in the middle of the desert, with sands stretching away as far as the eye could see.

Finally, I’m not surprised that tourists are disappointed by the Statue of Liberty. Since it reopened following the terrorist attacks of 2001, visitors have no longer been able to climb the statue at all, but only to view it from the bottom. Given that restriction, I have no intention of ever visiting the statue. But I think the Americans’ overzealous security might actually have saved me from disappointment. People who did visit pre-September 2001 tell me that the queues lasted for many hours; but when visitors finally reached the top, they were allowed no more than half a minute to admire the view, before being forced to descend again. I think I’d rather find a different attraction to visit!