Member

When I worked in Downing Street, one of the factors driving me to be so keen for radical reform was that I always felt that I, along with my merry fellow travellers, could not actually do anything about train delays or cancellations. When I am standing on a platform, I often feel that I am echoing my long-lost cousins in Boston all those centuries ago. We pay taxes—our fares—yet have no representation, no ability to make change or express our views. We have no accountability when a train is delayed, no ability to make things happen, because it falls between so many people. There is no point protesting at the Government, even though I regularly would, and we cannot blame the helpful and courteous chaps and chapesses on the platforms, either, who are often as baffled and distressed as my fellow commuters. It would fall between some company and another, be the fault of congestion, a mysterious train ahead, signal failings or even the weather.