Perhaps the Department of Transport needs to take a long hard look at itself as well. As another poster noted the Southern Rail management seem to be just as inept.
Yep. The working classes should go back to touching their forelocks, bowing to their corporate masters now that Brexit is on its way. Who cares about their jobs, incomes and communities? Get some Polish strikebreakers in.
Good trolling.
You don't think commuters are working people? Or do their jobs, incomes and communities not count in your view?
Sure. Just point out that the love affair of the Brexiteers for Britains workers is fading, in favour of their love of capitalist profit.
No surprises there. They have voted like sheep to lose their rights in free market Brexit Britain. Their job is done.
But it is very much why the Labour Party will not die, it is needed more than ever.
Why 'capitalist' profit? Profit makes the world go around, whether that offends your medical sensibilities or not.
A mere quip on a niche message board does not imply a bonfire of workers rights. In case you hadn't noticed, May is making a play for the C2DE vote and might well end up with her tanks all over Labours traditional lawn. She's already convinced my Mum, so I rate her chances.
"You may also have heard Mr. Grayling isn't happy. He's looking at Network Rail's sole control of the nation's rail infrastructure and is thinking of sharing it with private firms"
How to maximise profit was the remainder of his enquiry.
I can assure you this is not about maximising profit.
This is about improving performance and predictability of the nation's delivery of railway projects, and operation of the railways, and at the lowest possible cost to the taxpayer.
Actually that polling isn't scary, because its 15% of his voters. Which tells you, at least, that the rest aren't without eyes and heads of their own.
Poor old Jeremy Corbyn, he was hoping that police officer in Belfast was actually dead. Viva Irish freedom against the evil imperialist Brits eh Jeremy...you dick. Decent wee petrol station where the incident happened, very popular with taxi drivers, who are great arbiters of good car washes. Its location is also a dead giveaway of where the gunmen originated and dumped their kit.
Yeah, those White Working Class bastards, defending their jobs and incomes, are standing in the way of the metropolitan capitalists. First ones against the wall...
A friend who varies between Tory and UKIP and is the ultimate free marketeer (shops from Sports Direct without the slightest qualm) says he thinks highly of ASLEF, who are, he feels, simply doing their job in a free market to maximise jobs and income.
Southern Trains are shit. It's not just the strikes. It was shit before the strikes.
Let's not have more than that. Thank-you.
That doesn't excuse the strikes, though, does it?
The strikes are a symptom of corporate dysfunction. A total abject failure of leadership and management. They really are dreadful. If I was a Southern employee I would leave.
You are obfuscating. Yes, Southern has been dreadful (although to be fair to them, some of the problems have been caused by the Thameslink disruption). That's no excuse for holding thousands of innocent commuters (including I think you?) to a ransom which they can't pay even if they wanted to.
I commute. It's hell. Southern are to blame. I have witnessed too much breathtaking incompetence to look at this any other way. Any decent manager could have avoided this utter clusterfuck.
The govt on this occasion has backed the wrong horse and needs to quietly find away of disposing of Southern.
I commute. It's hell. Southern are to blame. I have witnessed too much breathtaking incompetence to look at this any other way. Any decent manager could have avoided this utter clusterfuck.
The govt on this occasion has backed the wrong horse and needs to quietly find away of disposing of Southern.
It's a false dichotomy. It doesn't excuse the strikes.
Disposing of Southern, and ASLEF and the RMT whilst we're about it, would be a good cross-party solution, if that's what you are proposing.
Southern Trains are shit. It's not just the strikes. It was shit before the strikes.
Let's not have more than that. Thank-you.
That doesn't excuse the strikes, though, does it?
The strikes are a symptom of corporate dysfunction. A total abject failure of leadership and management. They really are dreadful. If I was a Southern employee I would leave.
The rail strikes are a symptom of a union not coming to terms with technology. After a very long dispute in the mid-80s the then newly electrified BedPan line (now Thameslink) was the first major rail route that had driver only operation. Now Southern is operating the same rolling stock a lot of it on the same lines as Thameslink but the unions insist that there should be always two on the train. This not only increases costs but makes it more likely that services will be cancelled.
On this one I'm on the side of Southern and (whisper it quietly) Grayling
Southern Trains are shit. It's not just the strikes. It was shit before the strikes.
Let's not have more than that. Thank-you.
That doesn't excuse the strikes, though, does it?
The strikes are a symptom of corporate dysfunction. A total abject failure of leadership and management. They really are dreadful. If I was a Southern employee I would leave.
You are obfuscating. Yes, Southern has been dreadful (although to be fair to them, some of the problems have been caused by the Thameslink disruption). That's no excuse for holding thousands of innocent commuters (including I think you?) to a ransom which they can't pay even if they wanted to.
I commute. It's hell. Southern are to blame. I have witnessed too much breathtaking incompetence to look at this any other way. Any decent manager could have avoided this utter clusterfuck.
The govt on this occasion has backed the wrong horse and needs to quietly find away of disposing of Southern.
Should takeover Southern and at the same time make industrial disputes subject to independent binding arbitration
Southern Trains are shit. It's not just the strikes. It was shit before the strikes.
Let's not have more than that. Thank-you.
That doesn't excuse the strikes, though, does it?
The strikes are a symptom of corporate dysfunction. A total abject failure of leadership and management. They really are dreadful. If I was a Southern employee I would leave.
The rail strikes are a symptom of a union not coming to terms with technology. After a very long dispute in the mid-80s the then newly electrified BedPan line (now Thameslink) was the first major rail route that had driver only operation. Now Southern is operating the same rolling stock a lot of it on the same lines as Thameslink but the unions insist that there should be always two on the train. This not only increases costs but makes it more likely that services will be cancelled.
On this one I'm on the side of Southern and (whisper it quietly) Grayling
And, lest we forget, the halycon days of nationalised rail were not exactly strike-free, let alone punctual, reliable, or comfortable, were they?
Of course unions prefer public ownership. That's because politicians are easy to intimidate, since they have to get re-elected in the short term.
The decline of private sector trade unionism is a complex phenomenon. In the public sector unions are strong, in part because government is answerable and in part because the workers have to unite against a monopoly employer able to abuse its position.
In part the shift in private sector employment from single site factories to multicentre service industries made unionisation more difficult, but also we see the wide range of domestic and European laws over the last 40 years have usurped the position of the unions. Take the dispute about the receptionist sent home for refusing to wear high heels. Years ago that would have been a union matter, but it was addressed in a quasilegal matter.
The Brexiteer desire to rip up these laws could easily revive private sector unions in the UK, organised electronically rather than shop floor trade unionists. It will also lead to employees voting with their feet, with no pliable migrants to pick up the work, at least at the same price.
I commute. It's hell. Southern are to blame. I have witnessed too much breathtaking incompetence to look at this any other way. Any decent manager could have avoided this utter clusterfuck.
The govt on this occasion has backed the wrong horse and needs to quietly find away of disposing of Southern.
It's a false dichotomy. It doesn't excuse the strikes.
Disposing of Southern, and ASLEF and the RMT whilst we're about it, would be a good cross-party solution, if that's what you are proposing.
I have sat at platform 19 of Victoria station with a guard driver and others discussing hiring taxis because the company refuses to run a scheduled train.
I have had guard stop trains and use it mobiles to phone signal men to get he train on the right route to ensure a train stops where it was advertised.
I have been shuffled betwern five different trains, before they ran one home.
In such circumstances I would leave, others strike. I can't condemn them. Sorry. It's gotten beyond what's reasonable.
And, lest we forget, the halycon days of nationalised rail were not exactly strike-free, let alone punctual, reliable, or comfortable, were they?
Of course unions prefer public ownership. That's because politicians are easy to intimidate, since they have to get re-elected in the short term.
No-one has said 'recreate British Rail', although it was rather more cost-effective than the privatised mess. Sack Grayling, who instigated the strikes and couldn't run a pissup in a brewery, and appoint someone who actually understands how to run trains on time without an 'off peak' (ha ha) return Ludlow to Edinburgh costing £172 (I kid you not).
It needs a return to integration of trains and tracks to reduce costs/improve punctuality. The franchises delivered by the public sector for various reasons have tended to be less expensive, so it doesn't take many brain cells to suggest keeping them in the public sector when they expire and re-integrating with NR which owns the tracks.
Yeah, those White Working Class bastards, defending their jobs and incomes, are standing in the way of the metropolitan capitalists. First ones against the wall...
A friend who varies between Tory and UKIP and is the ultimate free marketeer (shops from Sports Direct without the slightest qualm) says he thinks highly of ASLEF, who are, he feels, simply doing their job in a free market to maximise jobs and income.
It's not a free market though, is it? Southern Rail couldn't hire a different workforce so where is the 'market'?
Neither side has covered itself in glory but pointing out that the other has failings is not a defence of a bigger failing of the other.
Southern Trains are shit. It's not just the strikes. It was shit before the strikes.
Let's not have more than that. Thank-you.
That doesn't excuse the strikes, though, does it?
The strikes are a symptom of corporate dysfunction. A total abject failure of leadership and management. They really are dreadful. If I was a Southern employee I would leave.
The rail strikes are a symptom of a union not coming to terms with technology. After a very long dispute in the mid-80s the then newly electrified BedPan line (now Thameslink) was the first major rail route that had driver only operation. Now Southern is operating the same rolling stock a lot of it on the same lines as Thameslink but the unions insist that there should be always two on the train. This not only increases costs but makes it more likely that services will be cancelled.
On this one I'm on the side of Southern and (whisper it quietly) Grayling
That's just plain wrong. The door thing is the tip of the iceberg. It's different stock.
Southern Trains are shit. It's not just the strikes. It was shit before the strikes.
Let's not have more than that. Thank-you.
That doesn't excuse the strikes, though, does it?
The strikes are a symptom of corporate dysfunction. A total abject failure of leadership and management. They really are dreadful. If I was a Southern employee I would leave.
The rail strikes are a symptom of a union not coming to terms with technology. After a very long dispute in the mid-80s the then newly electrified BedPan line (now Thameslink) was the first major rail route that had driver only operation. Now Southern is operating the same rolling stock a lot of it on the same lines as Thameslink but the unions insist that there should be always two on the train. This not only increases costs but makes it more likely that services will be cancelled.
On this one I'm on the side of Southern and (whisper it quietly) Grayling
Trumpism and Brexit have the same roots, a refusal to accept a globalised world.
Now we have Brexit, we must have Red Brexit, with the workers rather than the bosses making the rules.
@Cyclefree you have been brave. There is more faith in honest doubt etc.
However, I think you're looking at the wrong thing. I voted to Remain not for any love of the EU but because the direction of the country would be worse if we left than if we remained. This is primarily a moral rather than an economic judgement.
So now we find pbers who told us that Britain was full and could not take any more immigration enthusiastically cheering on the idea of immigration from former white colonies. We find pbers unable to condemn death threats against a public figure without also saying how much they dislike her. Newspapers call judges the enemies of the people for issuing judgments that they disagree with and politicians call for those judges to be sacked for the same reason. Those who continue to want to remain in the EU are branded traitors rather than accepted as honestly believing a different course is better for the country.
The economics can be survived. The damage to the civic society might not.
Thank you. I did not expect the sort of reaction you have described. I certainly deplore it. Moving away from PB I have heard some people who voted Remain describe those who voted otherwise in quite vitriolic terms.
It does seem to me that we have lost the art of accepting that people can honestly disagree and that honest disagreement does not mean moral turpitude. It is a great shame and coarsens public debate.
I'm not quite sure when argument stopped being about ideas and became purely ad hominem.
Funnily enough I think the economic case for remaining in the EU was a strong one. This does not mean that I don't think Britain can't thrive outside. But the EU's approach to power, the relationship between the state/government and the people, its instincts re free speech/democracy/the liberties of the citizen are, IMO, wrong (too "etatiste" and top down) and risk destroying some very precious liberties which it has taken us centuries to establish. Like you I probably approached it as a moral/political rather than an economic issue.
I have sat at platform 19 of Victoria station with a guard driver and others discussing hiring taxis because the company refuses to run a scheduled train.
I have had guard stop trains and use it mobiles to phone signal men to get he train on the right route to ensure a train stops where it was advertised.
I have been shuffled betwern five different trains, before they ran one home.
In such circumstances I would leave, others strike. I can't condemn them. Sorry. It's gotten beyond what's reasonable.
But they are not striking to protect your service. They are striking precisely to make it more difficult to run trains.
Ask yourself a simple question. Why on earth would a train operator 'refuse to run a scheduled train'? They are in it for the profit, right? What conceivable motive would they have to incur all the fixed costs (which is most of their costs) and have to pay back a chunk of the revenue? Of course, if they were nationalised, I can see that it would be no skin off their nose. But a private company?
[Which reminds me - I need to claim for a cancelled Southern train I was trying to catch yesterday!]
I have sat at platform 19 of Victoria station with a guard driver and others discussing hiring taxis because the company refuses to run a scheduled train.
I have had guard stop trains and use it mobiles to phone signal men to get he train on the right route to ensure a train stops where it was advertised.
I have been shuffled betwern five different trains, before they ran one home.
In such circumstances I would leave, others strike. I can't condemn them. Sorry. It's gotten beyond what's reasonable.
But they are not striking to protect your service. They are striking precisely to make it more difficult to run trains.
Ask yourself a simple question. Why on earth would a train operator 'refuse to run a scheduled train'? They are in it for the profit, right? What conceivable motive would they have to incur all the fixed costs (which is most of their costs) and have to pay back a chunk of the revenue? Of course, if they were nationalised, I can see that it would be no skin off their nose. But a private company?
[Which reminds me - I need to claim for a cancelled Southern train I was trying to catch yesterday!]
I have sat at platform 19 of Victoria station with a guard driver and others discussing hiring taxis because the company refuses to run a scheduled train.
I have had guard stop trains and use it mobiles to phone signal men to get he train on the right route to ensure a train stops where it was advertised.
I have been shuffled betwern five different trains, before they ran one home.
In such circumstances I would leave, others strike. I can't condemn them. Sorry. It's gotten beyond what's reasonable.
But they are not striking to protect your service. They are striking precisely to make it more difficult to run trains.
Ask yourself a simple question. Why on earth would a train operator 'refuse to run a scheduled train'? They are in it for the profit, right? What conceivable motive would they have to incur all the fixed costs (which is most of their costs) and have to pay back a chunk of the revenue? Of course, if they were nationalised, I can see that it would be no skin off their nose. But a private company?
[Which reminds me - I need to claim for a cancelled Southern train I was trying to catch yesterday!]
Motive requires raional thought. I have seen no evidence of that. The fact remains I have witnessed drivers and guards sitting around being told not to run a service they had been told to run that was later cancelled.
I am not lying. Sadly I am not exaggerating. I wish I was. It is utterly exasperating. My only explanation is that someone is playing a game.
Southern Trains are shit. It's not just the strikes. It was shit before the strikes.
Let's not have more than that. Thank-you.
That doesn't excuse the strikes, though, does it?
The strikes are a symptom of corporate dysfunction. A total abject failure of leadership and management. They really are dreadful. If I was a Southern employee I would leave.
The rail strikes are a symptom of a union not coming to terms with technology. After a very long dispute in the mid-80s the then newly electrified BedPan line (now Thameslink) was the first major rail route that had driver only operation. Now Southern is operating the same rolling stock a lot of it on the same lines as Thameslink but the unions insist that there should be always two on the train. This not only increases costs but makes it more likely that services will be cancelled.
On this one I'm on the side of Southern and (whisper it quietly) Grayling
No-one has said 'recreate British Rail', although it was rather more cost-effective than the privatised mess. Sack Grayling, who instigated the strikes
Since the strikes started well before Grayling was in post, it seems a remarkable jump of logic to blame him for 'instigating' them:
Motive requires raional thought. I have seen no evidence of that. The fact remains I have witnessed drivers and guards sitting around being told not to run a service they had been told to run that was later cancelled.
I am not lying. Sadly I am not exaggerating. I wish I was. It is utterly exasperating. My only explanation is that someone is playing a game.
I'm not accusing you of lying.
But maybe you (and indeed the drivers and guards) didn't have the full picture? Trains are not completely independent entities which can run without reference to what else is happening on the network.
Yep. The working classes should go back to touching their forelocks, bowing to their corporate masters now that Brexit is on its way. Who cares about their jobs, incomes and communities? Get some Polish strikebreakers in.
Good trolling.
You don't think commuters are working people? Or do their jobs, incomes and communities not count in your view?
Sure. Just point out that the love affair of the Brexiteers for Britains workers is fading, in favour of their love of capitalist profit.
No surprises there. They have voted like sheep to lose their rights in free market Brexit Britain. Their job is done.
But it is very much why the Labour Party will not die, it is needed more than ever.
Why 'capitalist' profit? Profit makes the world go around, whether that offends your medical sensibilities or not.
A mere quip on a niche message board does not imply a bonfire of workers rights. In case you hadn't noticed, May is making a play for the C2DE vote and might well end up with her tanks all over Labours traditional lawn. She's already convinced my Mum, so I rate her chances.
"You may also have heard Mr. Grayling isn't happy. He's looking at Network Rail's sole control of the nation's rail infrastructure and is thinking of sharing it with private firms"
How to maximise profit was the remainder of his enquiry.
I can assure you this is not about maximising profit.
This is about improving performance and predictability of the nation's delivery of railway projects, and operation of the railways, and at the lowest possible cost to the taxpayer.
Profit is why private interests are interested, the other things you describe are merely the means with which they sell themselves to the owners.
Southern Trains are shit. It's not just the strikes. It was shit before the strikes.
Let's not have more than that. Thank-you.
That doesn't excuse the strikes, though, does it?
The strikes are a symptom of corporate dysfunction. A total abject failure of leadership and management. They really are dreadful. If I was a Southern employee I would leave.
The rail strikes are a symptom of a union not coming to terms with technology. After a very long dispute in the mid-80s the then newly electrified BedPan line (now Thameslink) was the first major rail route that had driver only operation. Now Southern is operating the same rolling stock a lot of it on the same lines as Thameslink but the unions insist that there should be always two on the train. This not only increases costs but makes it more likely that services will be cancelled.
On this one I'm on the side of Southern and (whisper it quietly) Grayling
Trumpism and Brexit have the same roots, a refusal to accept a globalised world.
Now we have Brexit, we must have Red Brexit, with the workers rather than the bosses making the rules.
A slave-driver's lament for the abolition of slavery. I guess you're just going to have to be nice to your nurses and juniors now.
Motive requires raional thought. I have seen no evidence of that. The fact remains I have witnessed drivers and guards sitting around being told not to run a service they had been told to run that was later cancelled.
I am not lying. Sadly I am not exaggerating. I wish I was. It is utterly exasperating. My only explanation is that someone is playing a game.
I'm not accusing you of lying.
But maybe you (and indeed the drivers and guards) didn't have the full picture? Trains are not completely independent entities which can run without reference to what else is happening on the network.
It was chaos thatt day. A total breakdown of control. I suspect someone had walked out.
Can't remember where I read this, but one survey in the USA asked (by mistake) "Have you ever been decapitated?" and 4% of respondents said yes. So 15% on this question looks to be within normal parameters.
Perhaps they were confused by the word decapitated and thought it meant something else? I remember Tommy Docherty once being asked what he thought should be done about football hooliganism and he said they should bring back capital punishment. "A good birching will do them a power of good"
Southern Trains are shit. It's not just the strikes. It was shit before the strikes.
Let's not have more than that. Thank-you.
That doesn't excuse the strikes, though, does it?
The strikes are a symptom of corporate dysfunction. A total abject failure of leadership and management. They really are dreadful. If I was a Southern employee I would leave.
The rail strikes are a symptom of a union not coming to terms with technology. After a very long dispute in the mid-80s the then newly electrified BedPan line (now Thameslink) was the first major rail route that had driver only operation. Now Southern is operating the same rolling stock a lot of it on the same lines as Thameslink but the unions insist that there should be always two on the train. This not only increases costs but makes it more likely that services will be cancelled.
On this one I'm on the side of Southern and (whisper it quietly) Grayling
You are SeanT and I claim my five pounds.
More seriously, I agree entirely.
See recent issues of Private Eye for details of when it's unsafe to have trains without guards. There have been injuries or possibly deaths when trains have left the station with passengers trapped in a door.
The govt instigated the strikes on Southern; Southern has a fixed fee franchise and the government receives the fare revenue.
Southern Trains are shit. It's not just the strikes. It was shit before the strikes.
Let's not have more than that. Thank-you.
That doesn't excuse the strikes, though, does it?
The strikes are a symptom of corporate dysfunction. A total abject failure of leadership and management. They really are dreadful. If I was a Southern employee I would leave.
The rail strikes are a symptom of a union not coming to terms with technology. After a very long dispute in the mid-80s the then newly electrified BedPan line (now Thameslink) was the first major rail route that had driver only operation. Now Southern is operating the same rolling stock a lot of it on the same lines as Thameslink but the unions insist that there should be always two on the train. This not only increases costs but makes it more likely that services will be cancelled.
On this one I'm on the side of Southern and (whisper it quietly) Grayling
Trumpism and Brexit have the same roots, a refusal to accept a globalised world.
Now we have Brexit, we must have Red Brexit, with the workers rather than the bosses making the rules.
A slave-driver's lament for the abolition of slavery. I guess you're just going to have to be nice to your nurses and juniors now.
Southern Trains are shit. It's not just the strikes. It was shit before the strikes.
Let's not have more than that. Thank-you.
That doesn't excuse the strikes, though, does it?
The strikes are a symptom of corporate dysfunction. A total abject failure of leadership and management. They really are dreadful. If I was a Southern employee I would leave.
The rail strikes are a symptom of a union not coming to terms with technology. After a very long dispute in the mid-80s the then newly electrified BedPan line (now Thameslink) was the first major rail route that had driver only operation. Now Southern is operating the same rolling stock a lot of it on the same lines as Thameslink but the unions insist that there should be always two on the train. This not only increases costs but makes it more likely that services will be cancelled.
On this one I'm on the side of Southern and (whisper it quietly) Grayling
You are SeanT and I claim my five pounds.
More seriously, I agree entirely.
See recent issues of Private Eye for details of when it's unsafe to have trains without guards. There have been injuries or possibly deaths when trains have left the station with passengers trapped in a door.
The govt instigated the strikes on Southern; Southern has a fixed fee franchise and the government receives the fare revenue.
Comments
This is about improving performance and predictability of the nation's delivery of railway projects, and operation of the railways, and at the lowest possible cost to the taxpayer.
Poor old Jeremy Corbyn, he was hoping that police officer in Belfast was actually dead. Viva Irish freedom against the evil imperialist Brits eh Jeremy...you dick. Decent wee petrol station where the incident happened, very popular with taxi drivers, who are great arbiters of good car washes. Its location is also a dead giveaway of where the gunmen originated and dumped their kit.
They will certainly lose with their bogus self employment.
The govt on this occasion has backed the wrong horse and needs to quietly find away of disposing of Southern.
https://twitter.com/mailonline/status/824378079019679747
Disposing of Southern, and ASLEF and the RMT whilst we're about it, would be a good cross-party solution, if that's what you are proposing.
On this one I'm on the side of Southern and (whisper it quietly) Grayling
In part the shift in private sector employment from single site factories to multicentre service industries made unionisation more difficult, but also we see the wide range of domestic and European laws over the last 40 years have usurped the position of the unions. Take the dispute about the receptionist sent home for refusing to wear high heels. Years ago that would have been a union matter, but it was addressed in a quasilegal matter.
The Brexiteer desire to rip up these laws could easily revive private sector unions in the UK, organised electronically rather than shop floor trade unionists. It will also lead to employees voting with their feet, with no pliable migrants to pick up the work, at least at the same price.
I have had guard stop trains and use it mobiles to phone signal men to get he train on the right route to ensure a train stops where it was advertised.
I have been shuffled betwern five different trains, before they ran one home.
In such circumstances I would leave, others strike. I can't condemn them. Sorry. It's gotten beyond what's reasonable.
It needs a return to integration of trains and tracks to reduce costs/improve punctuality. The franchises delivered by the public sector for various reasons have tended to be less expensive, so it doesn't take many brain cells to suggest keeping them in the public sector when they expire and re-integrating with NR which owns the tracks.
Neither side has covered itself in glory but pointing out that the other has failings is not a defence of a bigger failing of the other.
But, what happens in the morning?
Oh, I thought you knew. The sun comes up.
Now we have Brexit, we must have Red Brexit, with the workers rather than the bosses making the rules.
It does seem to me that we have lost the art of accepting that people can honestly disagree and that honest disagreement does not mean moral turpitude. It is a great shame and coarsens public debate.
I'm not quite sure when argument stopped being about ideas and became purely ad hominem.
Funnily enough I think the economic case for remaining in the EU was a strong one. This does not mean that I don't think Britain can't thrive outside. But the EU's approach to power, the relationship between the state/government and the people, its instincts re free speech/democracy/the liberties of the citizen are, IMO, wrong (too "etatiste" and top down) and risk destroying some very precious liberties which it has taken us centuries to establish. Like you I probably approached it as a moral/political rather than an economic issue.
Anyway, thanks to you, @John_M, @CasinoRoyale and @The Apocalypse for your comments.
Ask yourself a simple question. Why on earth would a train operator 'refuse to run a scheduled train'? They are in it for the profit, right? What conceivable motive would they have to incur all the fixed costs (which is most of their costs) and have to pay back a chunk of the revenue? Of course, if they were nationalised, I can see that it would be no skin off their nose. But a private company?
[Which reminds me - I need to claim for a cancelled Southern train I was trying to catch yesterday!]
I am not lying. Sadly I am not exaggerating. I wish I was. It is utterly exasperating. My only explanation is that someone is playing a game.
More seriously, I agree entirely.
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/london-commuters-set-for-disruption-as-southern-rail-staff-back-strike-a3137891.html
But maybe you (and indeed the drivers and guards) didn't have the full picture? Trains are not completely independent entities which can run without reference to what else is happening on the network.
The govt instigated the strikes on Southern; Southern has a fixed fee franchise and the government receives the fare revenue.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/25/angela-merkel-berlin-martin-shultz-germany-spd
FWIW I don't think Schulz will make it - the polls showing the CDU comfortably ahead are far too stable. But I've been wrong before.