Live the high life… in a mid rise

How radically left-wing is Labour’s proposed ‘renationalisation’ of the railways? Though militant Mick Lynch of the RMT union ‘strongly welcomed these bold steps’, the real answer is: hardly at all. The revolutionary socialist group Counterfire agonised thus: ‘While it would be extremely obtuse to say that Labour’s policy is bad, it would be naive to say it was adequate, let alone particularly socialist.’ I’m struggling to disagree with that summary.

The central idea of taking train operating franchises into public hands as they expire comes as no shock: LNER, Northern, Southeastern and the dreadful TransPennine Express have already met that fate, along with Scottish and Welsh trains, and those that remain private are largely despised by passengers. ‘Open access’ operators such as Grand Central, Hull Trains and Lumo, which travellers tend to prefer, will continue. So will the private companies which own and lease the rolling stock that HM Treasury is never likely to pay directly to upgrade.

The establishment of Great British Railways as ‘a directing mind’ for the entire network, and of a unified ticketing system, is in line with a 2021 blueprint for Boris Johnson’s government by Sir Keith Williams, who has largely welcomed Labour’s plan.

An incoming Labour regime seizing control of a vital element of national infrastructure might look like revolution. But this plan is little more than a pragmatic attempt to bend the tangled mess of privatised rail back into shape. We wait to see whether it holds fares down and saves the taxpayer a promised £2.2 billion a year; we’ll wait much longer to see whether the Tories ever try to re-privatise the whole thing. Meanwhile, Labour’s ‘Getting Britain Moving’ scheme is unlikely to produce a worse rail service than the one we already have.

Clash of mining titans

Here’s a deal to make City pulses race and meters run: BHP Billiton, the Australian mining conglomerate, is bidding £31 billion for Anglo American, its London-listed but South African-based smaller competitor.