News from around the UK

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Very little from our neck of the woods.   Is that because we're just in a small part of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), 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^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) 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

[GBM]

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.

[grahame]

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, here's the map of the area we cover:


From WikiPedia confirming the government's definition as used in so many of the official stats that get quoted:

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.

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.



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^▸ (Great Western Railway) serve are out of scope of the question.

[TaplowGreen]

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" 

[PrestburyRoad]

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.

[ChrisB]

That railcard offer includes the south west though

[grahame]

That railcard offer includes the south west though

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

[GBM]

......although to some Cornish people everything East of the Tamar is "London" 

We certainly do