Great Western Coffee Shop

All across the Great Western territory => The Wider Picture in the United Kingdom => Topic started by: grahame on December 21, 2023, 03:17:26



Title: News from around the UK
Post by: grahame on December 21, 2023, 03:17:26
Very little from our neck of the woods.   Is that because we're just in a small part of the UK, because so much that used to be newsworthy is now daily stuff, because our rail provision is so much better than in other places that it doesn't make the news, or because we're a quiet bunch to the south west of London?

Freight train wagons 'susceptible to derailment'
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-67780232

Leaders' fury over new rail timetable cutting region's services
https://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/24003967.new-train-timetable-north-east-cut-services/

Private sector will pay for HS2 Euston tunnel, minister insists
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/mark-harper-hs2-euston-john-armitt-tunnel-susan-hall-potholes-london-sadiq-khan-b1128357.html

See how a former popular railway line could be brought back to life
https://www.tivysideadvertiser.co.uk/news/24000944.former-cardi-bach-railway-line-walking-cycling-route/

‘The reality is the North didn’t get to keep all of the money from HS2’, says Northern Powerhouse Partnership boss
https://www.channel4.com/news/the-reality-is-the-north-didnt-get-to-keep-all-of-the-money-from-hs2-says-northern-powerhouse-partnership-boss

Shoppers rush to snap up £15 digital railcard to save a third on train travel
https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/shopping-deals/shoppers-rush-snap-up-15-31714700


Title: Re: News from around the UK
Post by: GBM on December 21, 2023, 07:37:11
Being devils advocate, define South West!
It means totally different things to different people.
TV defines as Bristol down.
Government means Gloucester down (?), guessing, no proof.
To me, SouthWest is Cornwall and Devon.


Title: Re: News from around the UK
Post by: grahame on December 21, 2023, 08:04:50
Being devils advocate, define South West!
It means totally different things to different people.
TV defines as Bristol down.
Government means Gloucester down (?), guessing, no proof.
To me, SouthWest is Cornwall and Devon.

From our web site home page (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/index.html), here's the map of the area we cover:
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/coffeeshoparea_web.jpg)

From WikiPedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_West_England) confirming the government's definition as used in so many of the official stats that get quoted:
Quote
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England in the United Kingdom. It consists of the counties of Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire.
Quote
The region includes the West Country and much of the ancient kingdom of Wessex.

This Goverment region is the regions used by TravelWatch SouthWest too and many other bodies that naturally work withing political zones. I think it's the old European Parlimentary Consituency too - though that include Gibraltar too.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/twswregion.jpg)

For the purposes of this survey, I'm not sure how much difference the exact boundary makes - though perhaps the Thames Valley (escpecially inward from Reading) and the Welsh bits that GWR serve are out of scope of the question.


Title: Re: News from around the UK
Post by: TaplowGreen on December 21, 2023, 11:34:02
As Graham says the Government's official definition of "Southwest" includes outliers such as Gloucestershire & Wiltshire but the true "Westcountry" is Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset........although to some Cornish people everything East of the Tamar is "London"  :)


Title: Re: News from around the UK
Post by: PrestburyRoad on December 21, 2023, 12:24:05
Quote
As Graham says the Government's official definition of "Southwest" includes outliers such as Gloucestershire & Wiltshire but the true "Westcountry" is Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset........although to some Cornish people everything East of the Tamar is "London"  Smiley

Gloucestershire has long been a boundary area.  For example, before the privatisations it was served by Midland Electricity Board and South Western Gas Board.


Title: Re: News from around the UK
Post by: ChrisB on December 21, 2023, 12:39:09
That railcard offer includes the south west though


Title: Re: News from around the UK
Post by: grahame on December 21, 2023, 16:50:51
That railcard offer includes the south west though

Yes ... there is a sprinkling of national news there ...


Title: Re: News from around the UK
Post by: GBM on December 21, 2023, 17:39:26
......although to some Cornish people everything East of the Tamar is "London"  :)
We certainly do  ;D



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