Can anyone provide a link please as various searches have failed to find it.  I assume this is someone from GTS Rail Operations Ltd, the consortium who take over the contract for running the line in May this year?

Possibly not much point running an excess of trains to/from Heathrow today, as it might just encourage intending passengers to turn up and wait in vain.  Still staff needing to get there though some may have been told not to bother coming in, and it's also quite a useful coach travel hub for non-air travel, assuming the bus/coach station has enough power to operate (ditto of course the various rail stations).

City Thameslink and Farringdon aren't the same.  London Terminals from the south does extend as far north as City Thameslink.  From the north you need a "London Thameslink" ticket to reach either of them if travelling on Thameslink, or generally a ticket to "Zone U1" on other routes though tickets showing the specific station name may occasionally pop up.  It's all logical (but admittedly not simple) if you know the background and history of the various lines, and is explained at https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/travel-information/travelling-in-london/ though even the compiler of that page seems to accept that it's not straightforward given the inclusion of a "The below diagrams may help with understanding" apology.

...All admittedly some way off the topic of rail fares in North Devon!

I see the article quotes the somewhat clumsy description of "Non-subsurface stations" so on that basis a book exchange would still be allowed at Rayners Lane for example.  Books are actually pretty hard to set light to, particularly when packed close together, so low risk at an above-ground station.  Try it some time with an unloved book! They would eventually burn if the station building went up in flames but would be a trivial part of the overall blaze rather than the cause.  One reason piles of Metro newspapers (clearly visible in one of the photos) are allowed. 

The book exchanges are not on the train where there might be rather more concern, so the (almost certainly dodgy) e-bike is very different in that respect, though modified/non-compliant ones ought to be dealt with on a wider level than just by LU as they're a safety hazard wherever they are.

I'm guessing that subsidised routes in particular don't get promoted. The funding authority will only see it as their role to make sure a service is provided to meet proven need rather than encouraging extra travel, and the operator won't be interested as they're getting paid anyway. 
Cynically I'd say that on occasion the local authority may deliberately keep awareness as low as possible in the hope that low usage will demonstrate that the service isn't needed and the subsidy can be dropped.  I've certainly come across cases where the only timetables on the ground have been put up by local residents worried that no-one knows the bus runs so it isn't getting used.

All very well pricing out second home-owners, but would a local move in or would it just stay empty as lack of local employment means no-one needs to live there anyway?  Holiday lets are a bit different.  Arguably holidaymakers bring in more income to the area than a permanent resident would spend each week, plus there's employment for cleaners, tradespeople etc (in my experience they're generally maintained to a higher standard than a family home so provide regular work, and often that work will be off-season).  I've also often felt that the holiday homes I've stayed in are no longer realistic for living in permanently; a bijou (or if you're not a letting agent, cramped) cottage with little storage space, hidden up a steep narrow alley with parking 5 minutes walk away and few local services is fine for a week but many aspects would become less appealing over time.

All part of a bigger and complicated picture that I doubt will ever be fully addressed.

Does for me (or possibly, link now corrected?)

I suspect much of this is existing guidelines included in a new document, and a lot of it will be for internal company use rather than PA^▸ (Public Address) announcements or public-facing printed/online text.  I doubt that "mankind" or "Christian name" and some other expressions referred to have been used for years as they sound very dated so I'd be surprised if the content is all new.
 
Without seeing the document it's hard to know if it really said that "you" should be used instead of "passenger" to be gender-neutral as that wouldn't make sense, or if the Telegraph just put that interpretation on what is just an attempt to be more direct.  Some of the simplification is a bit naff, but indeed why say "purchase" instead of just "buy", or "mother and father" rather than the shorter "parent" which covers both?  A few woke-ish suggestions perhaps (and avoiding mention of Christmas with "happy holidays" overlooks the original meaning of the word "holiday"!) but mostly the Telegraph molehill-building.

“What better way to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the railways with a record attempt.”

Am I being too negative to suggest things like getting the railway running reliably the rest of the time and making sure trains are long enough for the number of people using them?  Certainly the real critics (I'm thinking of the "HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) is an extravagance as it's just shaving 15 minutes off the London-Birmingham time" brigade) will not be impressed by a one-off publicity exercise when there is still much to criticise. 

As I understand things, it mostly relies on the driver's training and paying attention to the preceding signal which would have indicated that a turnout was being taken; that's why there is such an emphasis on route-learning, and one of the demands often quoted when drivers' reasonably generous pay is discussed. The speed limit sign itself even if clean and well-positioned is unlikely to be seen from far enough away to form the main instruction, and is not intended to do so. It really just means "This is the exact point where the speed restriction you are already expecting starts", and if the drop in speed is significant there is an advance warning sign. Reading the RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) Safety Digest https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6798ebbf4686aac15860641e/D012025_250127_Manor_Park.pdf I'm not sure the driver would have driven differently if the sign had been more visible.

First do seem to centralise the wrong things, including liveries and corporate identity, rather than providing the technical support and economies of scale that a large organisation can give while letting local management get on with doing what they know best.
 
A recent example - my local subsidiary (somewhat optimistically called Berkshire & Thames Valley but covering little more than Slough and Windsor!) sent me a voucher code which didn't work for a Day ticket to mark my birthday.  No way to contact them other than through First's National Contact Centre who decided it was the entirely different WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) free travel for a month scheme and nothing to do with them, apparently unaware that their Slough operation is around 100 miles from that local authority.

You could say that this happens by design at some London termini when doors are closed up to 2 minutes before the train is timetabled to leave for platform and on-train staff to check all the doors are closed, effectively meaning that the train has left so far as any intending passengers still on the platform are concerned. Somehow staff at intermediate calling points normally seem to carry out that process starting at the time shown in the timetable, which presumably has it built in.  Do any non-London stations have similar pre-timetabled departure time boarding restrictions?

I'm not sure I've ever looked at the Home page.  I stumbled across the Forum many years ago and soon saved "Recent Unread Topics" as a shortcut.  I may have to explore more fully!

Almost laughably bad (grammar, terminology, the survey itself, the fake comments and then the change in price to £2.50 - I couldn't resist a cautious look!), but I presume that's at least partly to filter out people less likely to be taken in.

Present the Oyster card to the yellow reader on an LU POM (possibly also other Oyster-enabled TVMs^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine)?) and somewhere inconspicuous on the screen - top left if I remember correctly - it will show that you have a Railcard discount set.  You can link one Railcard to multiple Oyster cards so long as you have the Railcard with you when using that card in case you are asked to show it; gates can be set by revenue staff to flag that a card with a discount has just been used.

Just noticed that the hover function doesn't work for:
LU - London Underground
POM - Passenger Operated Machine (equivalent to a TVM but sometimes handy to distinguish)
Can an admin add them please?