Will renationalising the railways lead to a better service?

Domestics policy

Brigitte Macron, wife of Emmanuel Macron, was seen to push him in the face as the doors to their plane opened on arrival for a visit to Vietnam. The French President claimed they were just joking. It will kindle memories of awkward moments between Donald Trump and his wife Melania, as well as the incident in June 2019 when police were called to the south London home of Boris Johnson’s then-girlfriend Carrie Symonds after reports of a heated argument, apparently about wine being spilled on a sofa.

– It is increasingly hard for politicians to keep their domestic disputes private. Harold Macmillan and his wife, Dorothy, got through three decades of public appearances without making it obvious to the public that they led separate lives on account of her affair with the Tory MP Robert Boothby.

Red line

South West Trains was renationalised. Will the return of franchises to the state result in a better service? Punctuality and reliability in Q4 2024 of franchises which are already in public ownership:

% trains on time % trains cancelled

50.6 Northern Trains 8.0

62.5 Scotrail 2.7

57.5 Transport for Wales 7.6

Source: Office of Rail and Road

Know your unions

Who joins a trade union?

– In 2024, 6.4m UK employees belonged to a union, 22% of all employees. This was down from 22.4% in 2023 and 32.4% in 1995. Union members in 2024 were made up of 2.7m men and 3.7m women.

– The gap between male and female union membership is growing. Between 2023 and 2024 the number of male members fell by 172,000 while female members grew by 134,000. Some 2.5m union members work in the private sector, down 57,000 on the year, while 3.9m work in the public sector, up 20,000 on the year. 64% of union members have a degree or equivalent, compared with 53% of the working population as a whole.

Source: Department for Business and Trade