INDEX	May 16, 2025
How Thatcher kept Britain in the slow lane
Twenty years ago Katy and I went to Marseilles to take the new TGV. The thing that struck me most was how quiet and steady the train was despite travelling at high speed. Today the Chinese have trains that run at three or four times the speed and have covered much of Asia with tracks thanks to the belt and road initiative. Meanwhile I have just been to the loo on a train travelling to Euston no faster than the inter city 125s did in the middle of the last century and warned by a disembodied voice to be careful because the train pitches and jumps, which is certainly true. Anyone who is not angry about Thatcher’s privatisations is no patriot.
INDEX Jonathan Brind	May 16, 2025