An old campaigner joins

I have been contributing / plaguing this site for a while now and I think it would be only fair to give a few explanations.

My name is Howard and I have a long history in computer project leadership and consultancy behind me. I did actually begin my 'career' (I think 'careering' from one thing to another sums it up well) which I began on the old BR^▸ WR as an Accountancy Trainee in 1963. That was a hugely useful training which taught me a lot about the old GWR^▸ way of doing things, while a gentleman called Stanley Raymond was very busy, tearing it all down! I didn't get on with the more boring bits of accountancy (I do retain an intermediate level in cost and management accounting) and switched to computing, in which the old WR was quite advanced, but only for accounting projects then. I worked my way up to analyst team leader and then internal consultant on database systems before leaving the BRB^‡ after 14 years (sigh) in 1977 to emigrate with my young family to the Netherlands. I worked as consultant there to many top Dutch firms such as Shell and NOS (Dutch BBC^» ) but chiefly I worked in the largest supermarket company Albert Heijn (Dutch Sainsburys) in POS and distribution systems. I founded a consultancy with some colleagues and made enough money to retire at the ripe old age of 43. (I just 'dabbled' after that and was a chairman of the board for a while). Returning to the South West, some nincompoop wanted to put a bypass (A35) through Dorset and East Devon AONBs^▸ and make it a new super highway (As an ex pat, I was unaware of the 'biggest road project since the Romans' and all that). I got involved and joined CPRE^▸ . For the next 15 years I was engaged in stopping the environmental philistines trying to destroy our precious SW. I was elected by the environmental groups to be one of the three Environmental Members of the SW Regional Assembly. It was a most interesting 6 years from 2003 to 2009 when Gordon Brown abolished us. Still, many positive things emerged, especially for rail, and flowed from the lobbying efforts. I pay tribute to my two colleagues Mark Robins (RSPB) and Cate le Grice Mack and also our fellow fighter, Chris Irwin.

If we are not covered in tarmac, have better environmental controls, and see much better PT provision, it is down to these worthy colleagues. I just generally strung along.

I've retired now, but clearly I have some experience in these matters. I have to pinch myself at present, because the rail renaissance is something I could not have envisaged and I am especially not quite sure why previous opponents seem to be embracing what we preached all those years.

I think the chief thanks for this renaissance go to people like my 26 year old son who eschews the car and uses the bike around Bristol.

Anyway nice to be here. It is a pleasure to read of both the strategic stuff and also the daily issues (thanks TheTrout and Jo, for instance).