Sheryl Turkle wrote that it’s important to understand what technologies can undo, as much as what they can do. Imagine if the car had never been invented? For one, the rail network would have been expanded and not reduced in the 1960s. It would have been possible to travel almost anywhere by train. Hundreds and thousands would never have been killed and maimed on Britain’s roads. Communities would not have been ripped apart by giant trunk roads (as has happened in nearly every city in the UK); less pollution perhaps? Less noise pollution?

New Scientist recently ran an article suggesting that traffic noise could contribute to around 3% of heart attack deaths a year. There is plenty of evidence that living next to busy roads has a very negative impact on the health of the general population and a particularly bad impact on the development and health of children.

While 70% of the UK population favour traffic reduction schemes in urban areas (this includes villages that are blighted by road traffic) the media likes to focus on the activities of a tiny minority who set fire to speed cameras or hang around outside garages with ridiculous SUVs moaning about the price of petrol.

And as a means of transport, in most cases - long distance travel between cities, or short journeys on a regional basis, the train is more effective and usually much quicker. So it was a relief to get the train to Middlebrough yesterday rather than drive. Firstly I managed to read New Scientist from cover to cover; on the way back I slept between Billingham and Seaham - a much needed nap - and then read another pile of papers for work. At Newcastle a neighbour and friend got on so we had a catch up chat. Marvellous.

And then I get an email to tell me that National Express are taking over the East Coast Mainline from December. The same company that runs the dreadful Central Trains service. I have used those trains four times. On two occassions the train was over 1 hour late. I got dumped in the middle of Norfolk by one of their trains that meant I missed the last bus to where I was heading and had to pay £25.00 for a taxi with one headlight working driven by a lunatic at high speeds along a scary B road. Private Eye has been full of stories of their incompetence.

How can a bus company run a railway? Well, it seems with National Express they can’t. If there is one single thing that would help to regenerate the north east, and boy does it need some serious regeneration and fast - it would be a high speed rail link. What I fear is about to happen will be the reverse. A train that staggers from station to station, longer journey times and more expensive tickets.

Once again a government of incompetents and a moronic civil service make the worst decision possible.