{"id":1107,"date":"2022-05-11T15:33:30","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T15:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lancashireloominary.co.uk\/index.html\/?p=1107"},"modified":"2022-05-11T17:43:42","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T17:43:42","slug":"1107-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lancashireloominary.co.uk\/index.html\/1107-2","title":{"rendered":"Northern Weekly Salvo 303"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Northern Weekly Salvo<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Incorporating \u00a0Slaithwaite Review of Books, Weekly Notices, Sectional Appendices, Tunnel Gazers\u2019 Gazette etc. <\/em>Descendant of Teddy Ashton\u2019s Northern Weekly <\/em>and Th\u2019Bowtun Loominary<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Published at 109 Harpers Lane Bolton BL1 6HU email: paul.salveson@myphone.coop<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Publications website: www.lancashireloominary.co.uk<\/strong><\/p>\n

No. 303 May 11th<\/sup> 2022\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Salveson\u2019s half-nakedly political digest of railways, tripe and secessionist nonsense from Up North. Sometimes weekly, usually not; definitely Northern.<\/p>\n

General gossips <\/strong><\/h5>\n

The election results offer food for thought: the Tories didn\u2019t do as badly as some expected, though Labour continues to grow its popularity in the South. The picture is much more nuanced \u2018up North\u2019 with not much sign of a Labour revival in the so-called \u2018red wall\u2019 towns, but doing OK in the cities.<\/p>\n

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Good news for lovers of mill buildings – see ‘No Trouble at Th’Mill’ below<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some of the \u2018hyper local\u2019 parties continue to do pretty well in the \u2018left behind x 2\u2019 towns like Radcliffe, Farnworth and Failsworth but showing some signs of slippage. The new \u2018Cumberland\u2019 has a Labour council whilst neighbouring Westmorland and Furness went Lib-Dem. But I\u2019m not sure that splitting Cumbria into two is for the best. In my old-fashioned view you need a more \u2018local\u2019 local authority as well as the county, covering areas which are small enough to have clear identities \u2013 e.g. Whitehaven, Barrow, Kendal, Penrith and the like. The bigger you go, the less people are engaged\/interested.<\/p>\n

All of which seems trivial compared with what\u2019s happening in Ukraine. What an amazing job is being done by the railway men and women of Ukraine to keep trains running and evacuate tens of thousands of people to safety. Here in the UK it\u2019s good to see station gardens sprouting Ukrainian colours, with community rail events being organised in support of the relief efforts. Please support them. Meanwhile, there\u2019s some sort of \u2018jubilee\u2019 approaching \u2013 not a steam locomotive, but Mrs Windsor\u2019s bash. I hope the many republicans amongst Salvo<\/em> readers will join me in wishing her a very happy and joyous celebration.<\/p>\n

Where should we put GBR?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Last year the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, announced his latest bright idea. The new body being created to bring a \u2018single guiding mind\u2019 to our railways \u2013 Great British Railways \u2013 would be located outside of London. Which is a good thing. But rather than looking at various locations objectively and deciding where to put it (Bolton, obviously) Shapps said that there would be an \u2018open competition\u2019 with towns and cities invited to bid, with a shortlist that would be the subject of a popular ballot. It seems a very odd way indeed to determine the location of the national headquarters of a public body.<\/p>\n

The headquarters of GBR will provide strategic direction to rail in the UK, though Scotland has already said that it\u2019s perfectly happy running its railway without GBR\u2019s interference. There will also be a network of regional \u2018divisions\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Government\u2019s criteria are, in summary:<\/p>\n