Oliver Latimer

@osmarks1 @_Senseal_ @networkrail The Treasury hates spending money on anything

@_Senseal_ @networkrail The Treasury hates capex.

🚄 Work continues on the Mid Cornwall Metro! It's a £56.8m project that will give you an hourly coast-to-coast rail service between Newquay, Par, St Austell, Truro, Penryn and Falmouth: 👉 networkrail.co.uk/our-work/our-r… #StPiransDay

@whuchlo @elsieheatherr On some trains (*cough* @CrossCountryUK *cough*) the windows have a special film coating to prevent the sun from damaging the windows, but the coating also happens to block out mobile phone signals. On other trains, it’s simply bc they go through the middle of nowhere.

@elsieheatherr like WHERE does it go because i had it 30 seconds ago 😭

the phone signal on the trains in the uk is an absolute mockery by the way. i stayed in the literal sticks of norway last month and had data the entire time

@V_M_B__ @isoquince Followed shortly up with a hosepipe ban…

@isoquince 4 months of rain straight into a heatwave incoming

UK weather starting to get to me this is genuinely ridiculous now

@MartinSLewis, the @SLC_Repayment are paying a grad a salary *below* the Plan 2 repayment threshold. The jokes write themselves!

@PolitlcsUK If they’d made a decision (& opted for the sensible option to decant for a few years) when this first became an obvious issue, then arguably the project would be nearing completion, if not completed🙄

🚨 NEW: MPs and peers must vote on two options to restore the Palace of Westminster 1: Fully move-out for 19–24 years (£11-15bn) 2: Phased works over 38–61 years, in which the Lords move out to a conference centre and MPs use their chamber for 2 years from 2041 (£19-39bn)

@MattLismore Why not also back-date it to the 50’s so that *everyone* now pays for their uni education??

Here’s my view, as a Labour member on this debate. We can’t go back from charging fees, we don’t have the money as a country. BUT We CAN make student loans interest free OR fixed rate of say, 1%. Loans can currently attract up to 12.9% interest in their current format & that is simply wrong. Additionally - we need a triple lock style system for the increase to the thresholds at which loans are paid back - no tinkering to pinch money here and there. Thoughts?

@oliviazao I would, but only if the teachers don’t use their ‘teacher voice’; speak to me like an adult & ask politely & I would probably move

Are you expected to stand up for school children on a trip on the train…? Because the way these teachers are staring me down

@BBCNewsnight It’s also now “fair and proportionate” to expect everyone who went to uni pre-1998 student loans to have their uni fees back-dated & charged as a loan. Preferably with interest applied from when they started studying as well.

“Fair and proportionate” Chancellor Rachel Reeves says the student loans system is “reasonable”, in response to Martin Lewis’ claims on #Newsnight that freezing the threshold at which graduates repay their student loans was not “a moral thing” for her to do.

@SimonMagus @Birdyword @duncanrobinson If you build mote roads, you simply create more traffic congestion. Buses use the same infrastructure as all other road traffic & so are part of the congestion. A tram, running on dedicated, grade-separated routes, is a million times more efficient at moving large numbers of ppl.

If we want transport investment the priority should be improving the airport and access to the airport. Then we need more m-way capacity ideally North of Leeds and Bradford (where the money is). I'd like a better link N-S, ideally the A629/A650 which means building a tunnel under Saltaire. On rail we should just open stations on existing lines - Laisterdyke, Manningham, White Rose. Then upgrade the non-duelled parts of the Leeds ring road. We should also develop a cashless single system for taxis and private hire. All of these are more sensible and more useful than another fixed link from Leeds to Bradford (we already have two) or a congestion causing fixed link from Leeds centre to White Rose via the football ground. There are also 20-30 road improvement schemes that would improve flow, help the bus network and promote cycling. We don't need a tram. Not even a little bit of a tram which is all the Mayor offered. Sorry to go on but I'm a tad annoyed.

I was two years old when the Leeds Supertram Act was passed, and I think there's a not insubstantial chance that I'll die before actually seeing modern mass transit in West Yorkshire

@M_Occomore @SkyNews Yep - they are.

Jamie Oliver revives high street Italian restaurant chain, six years after collapse Read more 🔗 trib.al/NIyCJDp

@tomhfh Every MP (including ex-MPs) who voted for this ridiculous law ought to be forced to have their browsing history viewable to the general public for life.

You can’t read words on the internet in Britain anymore thanks to moronic MPs passing the ‘everyone install a VPN’ law.

@braziliangog @BDSixsmith I disagree, but only bc the death penalty is a quick punishment - I think continuous solitary confinement until natural death would be a much harsher punishment.

@BDSixsmith For most of my life I was opposed to the death penalty. In the last few years my views have shifted. When there is incontrovertible evidence of guilt, it should be carried out for crimes like this. These men’s victims should have the satisfaction of hearing their necks snap.

A horrific piece, and with a devastating final line. theguardian.com/society/2025/n…

@Doug1707 @surplustakes Mad Men

@surplustakes which series is this from?

One of THE great scenes

@thomasforth @MatthewJDalby @WillDeakin1 But if that’s the case, why hasn’t the Harrogate line been changed from single to dual track north of Knaresborough & the whole line electrified?? That whole area is also ‘Tory Utopia’ (or at least it was until the last GE)

@MatthewJDalby @WillDeakin1 The line to Tory Utopia got electrified by the Tories. I am stunned. (there may actually be a good railway reason rather than a grumpy Tom reason which Will will know).

Over on LinkedIn (I never saw it coming either, but the first rule of tech is that Microsoft win, so I should have) @WillDeakin1 has done an absolute banger of a map of Britain and Ireland rail electrification. So I'm sharing it here. And linking to it. linkedin.com/posts/will-dea…

@TocquevilleJnr @OliDugmore @ZackPolanski She’s no longer the political editor though?? Chris Mason took over the job in 2022.

@OliDugmore The BBCs political editor shows that she simply CANNOT cope with Politicians like @ZackPolanski not beholden to Billionaires (whether Media owners or Think Tank Funders or Politician funders). She earns £500,000 + a year of our money I’m told to do what public service exactly?

As reported in the New Statesman four days ago 🤷‍♂️

@LapGong @SimonMagus @dc_lawrence @DuncanStott @LabourTogether @WestYorkshireCA @LeedsCC_News Yeah but they might as well bite the bullet & build a system that will actually work - if there’s little capacity on the existing road space for the current number of vehicles using it as it is & some of the other areas in the wider city centre are on hills too steep for a tram

@oliver_latimer @SimonMagus @dc_lawrence @DuncanStott @LabourTogether @WestYorkshireCA @LeedsCC_News Wouldnt that cost real $$$$

What’s the difference between the Leeds metro and the Marseille metro? The Marseille metro exists. Leeds is the largest city in Europe without a metro. UK towns lag Germany & France, holding back growth. In a new report with @labourtogether, we set out a plan to change this 🧵

@grantwyeth @SpeakingBee @mattyglesias It also took A LOT of ground work for the party to even to get to that stage.

@SpeakingBee @mattyglesias This was only the case at the most recent election. After the Lib Dems worked out that it's better to concentrate their resources on where they could actually win, rather than run a national campaign. Previously FPTP dogged them significantly.

@lbmjason @O_TTravels Plus, the Azuma ride is much more comfortable going non-stop, as a few months ago there was an issue with the Azuma set for this exact service, so they used the 225 set instead; I never get travel sick, but that journey felt like being on a ship during a bad storm lol

@O_TTravels It's easier to maintain the times with an Azuma over an IC225 set, due to better power delivery/acceleration. Remember the Class 91 locos were sort of derived from APT-E power cars, so are basically 70's tech against 10's tech.

Since when did LNER run this service 👀??? Leeds to London King's Cross in just under 2 hours!! Really really wish Intercity services like this were consistent and ran hourly!

@SimonMagus @dc_lawrence @DuncanStott @LabourTogether It very much does - the roads are congested, which means the buses get congested (and therefore delayed). What @WestYorkshireCA & @LeedsCC_News needs to do is build an underground system in the city ‘core’ and the immediate suburbs & then continue it above ground elsewhere

@dc_lawrence @DuncanStott @LabourTogether Leeds doesn't need a value destroying loss making tram. open.substack.com/pub/simoncooke…

@DeliFloe @atuntable @garyauthordixon @ellymelly It’s just a total privacy nightmare which anyone with half a brain cell could have foreseen. Unfortunately, our Glorious Politicians seem to lack that criteria.

As warned, the Australian government is discussing measures to ensure VPNs cannot be used to circumnavigate age restrictions and identity verification for the internet. To all those who shrugged and said, 'It'll be fine!' No - no it WON'T be fine.