parliamentary trains in the uk were passenger services required by an act of parliament passed in 1844 to allow inexpensive and basic railway travel for less affluent passengers .

the legislation required that at least one such service per day be run on every railway route in the united kingdom .

such services are no longer a legal requirement , and the term has come to be used instead to describe train services that continue to be run to avoid the cost of formal closure of a route or station , but with services reduced sometimes to one train per week , and without specially low prices .

such services are also often called " ghost trains " .

parliamentary train

so i depart . noting the railway map that shows this line of this mysterious parliamentary train , and headed off to catch a bubble train .
old abandoned rusty trains in uk . abandoned train cars on the barry scrapyard . ghost train
trees and bushes bursting forth with spring growth lean over the tracks and the parliamentary train passes through the narrowing leafy corridor . clattering and bashing as nature is unwillingly pushed back by the passing of parliamentary power .
what made you want to look up parliamentary train ? please tell us where you read or heard it ( including the quote , if possible ) .
a parliamentary train or parly ( also referred to as a ghost train ) is , nowadays , a british english term for a train that operates a parliamentary service - that is to say a token service to a given station , thus maintaining a legal fiction that either the station in question or , in some cases , the whole line is in fact open , whereas in reality the train operating company in question has almost completely abandoned the station or line .
but the government , 20 years on admitted they botched the basis of rail privatisation , but they inadvertently protected the network by making closures so complicated and expensive that it is cheaper to run one train a week , the so - called parliamentary train .
parliamentary
trains are strange services which often run just once a week and in one direction .
, as well as utilising possibilities such as facebook live to train new canvassers .
the crewe to derby line is franchised to go to nottingham . however the only train to nottingham is the last train on sundays . trains usually terminate at derby .
here , the line out of paddington diverts from its path to wales and turns to the north . the parliamentary train has begun its run along the lost tracks of the new north main line .
known as a ' parliamentary train ' this service runs along the new north mainline , that connects the great western mainline to the chiltern railways network . normally to get out this way you ' d take a train from marylebone , but once a day there is a train that runs from london paddington and back , to maintain drivers ' knowledge and prevent the section of track from closing .
i ' m a signalman , and i actually signal this train through the greenford area .
if a few remain they’ll be sitting as far apart as possible on the ghostly train .
train travel in the uk should be a pleasure , not a headache . so if you’re taking a train on the uk railway , start your journey here . we’ve lots of hints , tips and advice to help you find your way around , travel smoothly and arrive in style by train .
the stockport to stalybridge line where just one train per week runs in one direction . [ 1 ]
151 . making up train sets is one of the hazards of the railway industry , mr crawley .
is ' parliamentary ' the reason for the once a day ( morning ) train from barking to willesden , by passing gospel oak ? ( although the service is rammed full of folk ) . no similar service in the opposite direction however .
a typical parliamentary train will serve its stations or line as little as once per week , and never when the service would actually be useful to any passengers . parliamentary services will typically be either very early in the morning or very late at night or in the middle of the day at the weekend . [ 1 ] quite often the service will run in one direction only .
the idiot who , in railway carriages scribbles on window - panes we only suffer to ride on a buffer on parliamentary trains .
this ' parliamentary ' train is a little - known service kept open only to stop the lengthy process of shutting the line down completely due to lack of use . this means that if you ever have a need to get between paddington and ruislip at somepoint mid - morning , there is a train service that just might be suited to you .
delightful tale of a lost time jouney…thank you . i will seek out this train when next in london .
parliamentary
trains - also known as
ghost
trains - are strange services which often run just once a week and in one direction .
for the price of an occasional train service with a clapped - out diesel , or in some cases even a bus , the train operators are able to duck the long and costly consultation , accompanied by inevitable howls of public protest , that the law stipulates when a railway line is to be closed . for these reasons the ghost trains are sometimes known as
parliamentary trains
.
dates with dots provide a link to available publications . to access debates and journals from 1867 to 1993 , please visit the canadian parliamentary historical resources portal .
mr . milliken ( parliamentary secretary to the leader of the government in the house of commons ) presented the answer to a question on the order paper .
parliamentary train
originally meant a cheap service affordable by the working man that railway companies were obliged to provide . the type of housing in a particular suburban area often correlates wuth the extent of the
parliamentary
service . for instance , to the east of london , cheap fares originally extended to leytonstone , were later extended to ilford and goodmayes . the mass housing stock of these areas clearly reflects the respective dates .
figure 2 : the first train into grimsby – a romantic view of the coming of the railway . ( from perkins )
) it is indeed , and we are now facing the hazard of making up those train services and getting things working .
these services run at all only because rail transport is heavily regulated in the united kingdom and it is therefore considerably cheaper for a train operating company to run a parliamentary service than it is to go through the full legal process of applying for a station or line to be permanently closed .
the parliamentary trains are fleeting echoes in the timetables , often slipping into stations unnoticed , running along odd railway tracks at strange times to fulfill often century old laws .
more broadly , this historical analysis could help shed light on the broader impact of women in parliamentary rhetorical culture . was there a discernible ‘feminized language of politics’ , and if so , where did it appear , and when ? similarly , was there any difference in parliamentary behaviour between the sexes , with women contributing disproportionately more to debates on certain topics , and less to others ? finally , can we associate the introduction of new parliamentary topics or forms of argument to the appearance of women speakers ?
there is no single definition of what constitutes a ghost train , although the general consensus is that it’s when a service is so infrequent , the train becomes effectively useless . slippery or not , though , the term “ghost train” seems apt . it implies a service that is not exactly whole – something that whispers through towns and countryside , leaving barely a dent in its wake .
when i get off at gerrards cross , i find i am no longer alone . the ethereal figure at the end of the deserted platform , pointing a camera at the front of the train , is not the ghost of railways past but dave , an off - duty train driver , who is one of the
ghosties
– rail enthusiasts who travel the land
copping
[ spotting ] the
parliamentary
trains .
little known and rarely used , but those in the know who wait at paddington station at just the right time can take a trip one of the uk’s mysterious parliamentary trains .
because we waste our time on parliamentary trains . make it easier to eliminate routes no one travels by ( literally no one ) , make it easier to eliminate unnecessary lines .
but inevitably , the train pulls into south ruislip station . here it joins the normal tracks , the tracks followed by hundreds of other chiltern trains every day . the parlimentary train is no more , merely a simple service completing a journey along tracks all too familiar .
it’s a passion that takes commitment . since the trains are run on extremely inconvenient schedules , sometimes without a return trip , sometimes before sunrise , the journey means a lot of legwork . if there is anyone else on the train , it’s probably another ghost train enthusiast .
can you ride the train back into paddington on the return journey ? as i live near to west ruislip this direction suits me better .
i once took this train when it went from paddington to wycombe . before we left paddington , a ticket inspector approached me to ask if i was sure i was on the correct train , as i was the only passenger . we had a nice long conversation about the operation of it .
but tracking these trains down - and taking a journey on them - is the particular passion of a select group of ghost train
hunters
.
sadly this train now goes to high wycombe only . i’ve been wanting to take thi la train for months and when i finally had the chance today , they’ve cancelled it . not sure since when it’s no longer going to the ruislip area , but i’m gutted… this would have been so cool !
so to avoid the lengthy expensive closure process , what is known as a ‘parliamentary service’ is run to satisfy the legal requirements . these trains were introduced by the 1844 railway regulation act which was designed to protect passengers from train companies exploiting passengers , who were travelling longer and longer distances to work and to find work , often travelling in primitive wagons . the act’s intentions were to make train travel available and safe even for 3rd class passengers and included minimum passenger travel standards pertaining to comfort and safety .
bristol & gloucester railway broad gauge third class parliamentary carriage , 1844 . this provided only minimal compliance with the railway act by covering the passenger accommodation by means of a tarpaulin , similar to a tilt wagon
that is the crux of why the ghost trains still exist . a more official term is “parliamentary trains” , a name that stems from past years when an act of parliament was needed to shut down a line . many train operators kept running empty trains to avoid the costs and political fallout – and while this law has since changed , the same pressures remain .
interesting – and intriguing : i wonder whether the term “parliamentary train” is now an anachronism , superseded by more rational office of rail and road regulations ( you suggest that route training is one reason for maintaining the ruislip–paddington skeleton service ) . but perhaps the numerous old local acts of parliament which enabled today’s railways are still in force for the purpose of requiring certain minimum services .
running one train a week is sometimes avoided by running a substitute bus service such as between watford junction and croxley green for the last 20 years or so .
) that is not exactly as i intended it to be . when a train is split apart to have work done on it , even though that work may not be directly related to a fault that subsequently occurs , the mere act of splitting a train apart and putting it back together can cause faults to emerge .
the reaction of train operating companies , fearing the loss of revenue of increasing or improving third class facilities ( i . e . that those who could afford second class would choose the cheaper option if it became bearable ) was to follow the absolute letter of the law and no more – thus running just one train with decent third class facilities per day , at a useless time , such as very early in the morning or very late at night , and ( because only one train like this was run ) that one train really would stop at every station and halt on its line , thus making the journey extremely slow . [ 3 ]
awesome ! as well as the parliamentary requirement . . . i think chiltern also run this to keep drivers familiar with the route , so that they can divert trains to paddington if ever there are issues with marylebone .
on our ride to snaith , the two tell me about the trouble moralee had procuring her ticket . the snaith train was listed on the board of departures , but the person at the ticket desk still hadn’t heard of it . “you must be mistaken , ” he’d told her . “there is no train to snaith . ”
they exist in order to keep certain lines open , because without them the train operators would often have to close the route - something which costs time and money .
to catch one of these odd trains , head to paddington station just after 11 : 30 in the morning and watch the indicator for a train that shouldn’t be there . and in a moment , a company that never runs a train from paddington will appear on the display , offering the 11 : 36am service to west ruislip .
so the end point on the outward journey has changed again . the first time i read about this train , in railway magazine the outbound destination was gerrard’s cross .
a variant of the parliamentary train service is the ' permanent ' replacement bus service , as employed on the watford and rickmansworth railway . this railway line in hertfordshire was ' closed ' in 1996 , but to avoid the legal complications and costs of actual closure train services were ' suspended ' and a bus service now runs between the stations , thus maintaining the legal fiction of an open railway . [ 9 ] the track and station structures are still intact , but are now heavily overgrown and damaged by lack of maintenance . the ' rail ' service still appears on the national rail ticket scheme and on the national rail online timetables , with an accompanying note informing passengers of the replacement bus . the croxley rail link plan would see this parliamentary service replaced with a full rail service .
alternatively , an individual station may get a parliamentary service because the operating company wishes it closed , but the line itself is still in regular use ( most trains speed straight through ) . example of such stations are the following :
the outbound train will now run non - stop at 11 : 36 from paddington to high wycombe and as such will no longer be available using the oyster card sadly .
train running • @ gwr twitter • acronyms / abbreviations • station comparator • rail news • gwr co . site • site style 1 2 3 4 • chat on off
mr . portillo : my right hon . friend the secretary of state travelled on the washington metro in january . i have travelled on the french train a grande vitesse .
given the overcrowding on britain’s trains , it may seem odd for these empty carriages to ride the rails – or for empty stations to stand sentry over them . from 1995 - 96 to 2011 - 12 , the total number of miles ridden by train passengers leapt by 91 % , while the entire uk train fleet grew by only 12 % .
with tynwald in recess for the summer , paul speller reflects on the first parliamentary year of the quayle administration . here he takes a look at how members have handled an issue that could end up dominating for a long time yet .
platform 12 is where you want to be , where no one else will be . a single short train awaits with livery that is unfamiliar in this station . a driver and guard are on board , and so may you be . a single passenger is busy , sometimes a few is this service’s rush hour . often no one rides the train .
the weymouth quay branch is another such line which while technically open , has not seen a train this century so is really closed despite still being fully signalled for passenger trains .
the fact that routes are being reopened and other rail relaunches being planned raises a key question . why has rail become so popular ? what factors have changed to make people want to return to the train ? the answer , it transpires , has more to do with the uk ' s fading romance with the car than a refound love of the train .
bordesley , one train a week ( on saturday ) , except when birmingham city football club are playing at home , in which case certain trains stop to coincide with the matches .
democratization fundamentally changed the form and function of parliamentary representation . from an assembly dominated by a class of notables , parliament evolved to an arena where socio - economic antagonisms became more and more explicitly articulated by parties and their leaders . in “the principles of representative government” bernard manin described how deliberation in these representative institutions changed from an open discussion between independent mps to a confrontation between more or less disciplined party formations . put differently , the deictic center of parliamentary discourse shifted from an independent “i” to an exclusive “we” .
mr . hind : to ask the secretary of state for employment how many people were employed in the lancashire , west parliamentary constituency in march 1986 , march 1987 , march 1988 , march 1989 and march 1990 ; and if he will make a statement .
mr . hind : to ask the secretary of state for employment how many people were unemployed in the parliamentary constituency of lancashire , west in march 1986 , march 1987 , march 1988 , march 1989 and march 1990 ; and if he will make a statement .
you are our only customer today
, announces the conductor , mohammed , inspecting my ticket as though i were being awarded some kind of honour .
most days we have no passengers at all . but we run this train every day so that network rail won ' t shut down the line . if we stop running this train , then that ' s it . kaput .
at 3 : 00 pm , we headed to the train station in malderd’s car . i wanted to go and buy a ticket but the generous man said ‘the ticket is here in my pocket’ and handed it to me . ‘thank you , ’ i said . ‘how much is it ? ’ ‘it has already been paid for . i do not pay for train tickets , ’ . . .
it’s all the more disappointing when many seem happy enough to dance many , merry circles about several aspects of parliamentary reform , or the procedural niceties of where the queen’s representative puts on his or her hat , yet they fall shy of talking about the steam packet .
michael williams ' book ,
on the slow train again : more great british railway journeys
is published in a new , updated paperback edition by arrow books on 12 february , price £6 . 19 .
but it is a different matter in summer , the train is filled with tourists who shun the frequently jammed road into the town . thanks to castle , the line has not passed out of our lives .
there are several stations on the uk rail network that are served by one train a week or just one daily service in one direction . urltoken looks at why these meagre useless services operate in todays commercially based railway .
there ' s a ' ghost train ' service running in and out of london paddington . it is rarely advertised and attracts few riders . it runs to and from west ruislip , once a day , on weekdays only .
i rode the train this morning from platform 11 with six others of your readers , ian , in the rain and with an a to z in my hand . most enjoyable . thanks for drawing it to our attention .
teeside airport must be the only dedicated airport station with no trains on weekdays or saturdays . it is served by one train each way on sundays thus keeping the station technically open thus avoiding the need for formal closure proceedings .
for many
ghosties
, the north of england offers ghost train paradise – or hell if you are one of the few passengers dependent on them . there are only four services a day between helsby and ellesmere port in cheshire . and at styal , between crewe and manchester , just three services a day stop . ( this appears to be true lunacy , since local campaigners have proved that a stop would not add to overall train times . )
polesworth is fortunate in that london midland introduced the award winning trent valley hourly service and that enables the daily service to run as part of a well - used train which is used by just one daily commuter jason . he returns home to tamworth and uses polesworth to make sure the station remains open . the denton example is also completely useless to anybody and the train is really an empty stock movement advertised to the public to keep the station and line open .
with tynwald in recess for the summer , paul speller reflects on the first parliamentary year of the quayle administration . here he takes a look at how members have handled an issue that could end up dominating for a long time yet . are tynwald members sailinginto trouble with the packet ? | news | isle of man
our rail network would be nothing without them . from stephenson ' s rocket to british rail class 92 and beyond , explore the facts , information and anecdotes behind the steam , diesel and electric locomotives that built the age of the train .
the railways that had helped britain become an industrial power , but which were now haemorrhaging money , were to be cut back brutally . the car would replace the train , beeching decreed . in doing so , he ushered in an era of vast motorway expansion and cheap motorised transport . the train , deemed dirty and smoky , was earmarked for extinction . if beeching and other transport planners of the day had had their way , only a rump of inter - city lines would have been left .
the train that cuts across the west yorkshire countryside from leeds to the small town of snaith departs just once at precisely 17 : 16 , monday to saturday . return trains depart twice : one at 07 : 16 , one at 19 : 01 .
further east , kirton lindsay is served on saturdays only a sheffield to lincoln and cleethorpes train and this keeps the line at passenger status and the stations open . this line will not close though because of the huge volumes of freight that use it .
roman polyanovsky and tim alberdingk thijm , two computer science undergraduates who were working as summer interns on the dilipad project , have created a video to showcase the project to a general audience . the video gives a good insight into how our digital parliamentary corpora are constructed ( without getting into technical details ) and shows some exciting preliminary research results .
mr . robichaud ( secretary of state ( parliamentary affairs ) ) , for mr . gray ( leader of the government in the house of commons ) , seconded by mr . massé ( president of the queen ' s privy council for canada ) , moved , - - that the bill be now read a third time and do pass .
yet , waiting for me on platform 14 , in one of the darkest , dankest , greasiest and most inaccessible corners of the station , is one of the spookiest trains in britain : the 11 . 36
ghost train
to gerrards cross in buckinghamshire .
we pass hanger lane , famous for its road congestion , but on the train there are no delays . on our side of the tracks , long lost stations are invisible in the undergrowth . twford abbey halt and brentham halt , romantic names now long gone .
all these trains run serving places that have no passengers because it is cheaper to operate a train than to initiate the formal closure process . when the 1993 railways act became law in 1994 , many observers thought that the rail network would slowly shrink and wither .
mr . portillo : my right hon . friend is meeting the central transport consultative committee on 26 march . it was a pity that the report on network southeast did not highlight that british rail ' s plans are for an increase in train miles to be operated .
commercial sensitivity is a handy cop - out to call on to avoid discussing the matter in public , but one cannot help but feel that members of the public are either being cheated or taken for granted to not be considered deserving of being privy to what is going on in the minds of our parliamentary representatives , both inside the government and in the wings .
the recent closure of the folkestone harbour line after seeing just one train a year for five years illustrates this well . a locomotive was run on this line to keep the legal side of the railway construction contract compliant preventing the land from returning to the original owner’s ancestors .
ten new zealand soldiers were killed when they were hit by a train at bere ferrers in southern england . the accident occurred as troops from the 28th reinforcements for the nz expeditionary force were being transported from plymouth to sling camp on salisbury plain . read more . . .
the curve was taken out as late at 1990 , but i have not suggested it for the listing as passenger services had ceased long before that , and it ' s a pretty short stretch of line with equivalent passenger journeys possible with a change of train at trowbridge .
recorded on 16th july 2016 . parliamentary train from chester to liverpool south parkway . the usual chester to runcorn service was extended by northern via the request from the north cheshire rail user group . this is the final service ( to liverpool south parkway ) that will ever exist . the halton curve is now closed for engineering work to add another line enabling services between wales and chester and liverpool . route times chester - 0 : 753 helsby - 08 : 01 frodsham - 08 : 05 runcorn - 08 : 14 liverpool s . parkway - 08 : 23 more information can be found here urltoken north rail user group ( official website ) urltoken
3 . 1 the railway has moved on from its role as common carrier and the requirement to provide the daily
parliamentary train
; a service for all comers at one penny per mile ! nevertheless the lack of even basic services on several routes and at certain lightly used stations is very unsatisfactory . services should enable potential passengers to fulfil basic travel needs , such as getting to and from work ; on some lines this simply is not possible . the role of rail in social inclusion was overlooked in the service specifications set out by the franchising director and is still lacking in some aspects of the sra ' s and tocs ' agenda .
the gerrards cross ghost train is one of several ethereal services that wend their eerie way around britain ' s rail network , almost unknown to the public and running mostly empty , since they operate at deliberately inconvenient times – often offering their passengers no prospect of getting home again .
the railway regulation act 1844 bound the various train operators to provide third class passengers with a minimum standard of service : specifically , that at least one train per day must have adequate facilities in third class including a covered carriage with seats . [ 2 ] furthermore trains so equipped needed , on any given day , to serve every route and station in the railway company ' s area ( across the whole day ' s service ) each day . finally all this had to cost no more than a penny per mile in third class . [ 2 ]
all aboard ! the north island main trunk railway was 100 years old in 2008 . take a trip back in time to explore the epic story of its construction , the heyday of the steam passenger train and the place of the iconic railway refreshment room in new zealand life .
chris austin is a board member of the association of community rail partnerships , secretary of the all - party parliamentary group on heritage railways and a co - opted member of the railway heritage committee . he joined br in 1967 , working in local management and project planning . for 10 years he was the board ' s parliamentary affairs manager covering the period of privatisation . he set up and ran a political consultancy for the rail industry before moving the strategic rail authority , where his responsibilities included producing the community rail development strategy . he retired in 2009 as head of public affairs for atoc . he is a graduate of cambridge university , a fellow of the chartered institute of transport and logistics and was awarded an obe in 2006 for services to the railway industry . richard faulkner ( lord faulkner of worcester ) is a deputy speaker in the house of lords , which he joined as a working peer in 1999 . from 2009 - 2010 he was a minister in the government whips office , where he had spokesman responsibilities for transport . he is treasurer of the all - party parliamentary railway group , vice - chair of the heritage rail group , and vice - president of the campaign for better transport . prior to entering the house of lords he worked as a parliamentary affairs and pr consultant . for over 20 years he worked as an adviser to the british railways board . he is a graduate of oxford university , an honorary fellow of worcester college , oxford and a fellow of the university of worcester .
the leeds - snaith line is what rail enthusiasts call a ghost train ; snaith station , a ghost station . the webpage about snaith on ticket sales site urltoken warns that ticket machines are not available at the station . nor is there a ticket office , taxi rank or cab office .
mr . milliken ( parliamentary secretary to the leader of the government in the house of commons ) , for mr . tobin ( minister of fisheries and oceans ) , laid upon the table , - - government response , pursuant to standing order 36 ( 8 ) , to petition no . 351 - 0080 concerning wharfs and harbours . - - sessional paper no . 8545 - 351 - 22 .
but polesworth is positively well - off for trains compared with denton and reddish south in greater manchester . both stations have just one train a week , the 0922 fridays only stockport to stalybridge service ! this route used to have a regular well used service until a new curve was installed in manchester about 25 years ago meaning that the demand for the stockport to stalybridge line ceased as better connections were possible in manchester piccadilly . but running this one train a week avoids the need for formal passenger line closure proceedings . the line is regularly used for charter trains , stock movements and freight services .
it’s one of many train services around britain that run with empty carriages – sometimes once or twice a day , sometimes as rarely as once a week . sometimes even ticket sellers don’t know they exist , and it takes dedicated amateurs to seek them out . so why do these trains run at all ?
mr . milliken ( parliamentary secretary to the leader of the government in the house of commons ) , for mr . eggleton ( minister responsible for infrastructure ) , laid upon the table , - - government response , pursuant to standing order 36 ( 8 ) , to petition no . 351 - 0103 concerning the chilliwack river valley hazard management plan . - - sessional paper no . 8545 - 351 - 23 .
perhaps most important of all , the term ghost train implies something that only a special few know exists . the press contact of the national rail museum of york , for example , was baffled by my request for an interview about ghost trains , thinking i wanted to discuss “haunted items” in the museum’s collection .
mr . nicholls : the information is available from the library . march 1990 figures are not available until april . between march 1986 and february 1990 the number of unemployed claimants fell by 2 , 932 , or 40 . 6 per cent . , in lancashire , west parliamentary constituency . the table gives the remaining information requested . the figures are affected by seasonal influences as well as by changes to the count over the period .
mr . nicholls : information about employment in parliamentary constituencies is available only from the census of employment . the most recent figures are for september 1987 . there were then 31 , 000 employees in employment in the lancashire , west constituency . this compares with a figure of 30 , 400 in september 1984 when the previous census of employment was taken . these figures exclude the self - employed and members of her majesty ' s forces .
mr . milliken ( parliamentary secretary to the leader of the government in the house of commons ) , for mr . dingwall ( minister of public works and government services ) , laid upon the table , - - government responses , pursuant to standing order 36 ( 8 ) , to petitions nos . 351 - 0102 and 351 - 0112 concerning the canada post corporation . - - sessional paper no . 8545 - 351 - 7d .
the tourist ticket from new york to hamburg , north of germany cost usd 100 and that of the new york - bound train usd 24 . the ship was fancy and the trip pleasant . most of the passengers were both male and female american students heading for germany and austria to spend the summer holiday there . . .
this once - a - week parliamentary service is probably the most famous on britain ' s railways . decided i need to go and do it on video , and took my friend karl with me . it currently runs once a week on a friday only , 09 : 22 from stockport . karl is on twitter at @ karlinski73 he ' s a local manchester boy ! klf / jamms
it ' s grim up north
- urltoken
more doubtful cases . . . sorry , john r . . . wolverhampton to walsall direct service . absent , re - introduced , now parliamentary ? motherwell via coatbridge and cumbernauld up to stirling . any absences of service to record as closures / openings ? waterloo international to brixton . selby to york - what ' s happened there ? also wondered about new holland pier and new holland town , but they were lost just before serpell . . .
one thing i know for certain , having pored over the small print of the timetable , is that there is no train back . i also know that the real diabolical forces emanate not from the supernatural , but more prosaically from mandarins at the department for transport who keep the ghost trains permanently suspended in purgatory for their own dastardly purposes .
mr . milliken ( parliamentary secretary to the leader of the government in the house of commons ) , for mr . gray ( leader of the government in the house of commons ) , laid upon the table , - - government responses , pursuant to standing order 36 ( 8 ) , to petitions nos . 351 - 0086 to 351 - 0090 concerning the member for markham - - whitchurch - - stouffville . - - sessional paper no . 8545 - 351 - 21 .
polesworth station , just north of tamworth on the west coast main line ( wcml ) has one train a day , the 635am from northampton to crewe which calls there at 723am . if any passenger wants to get there from the north , they have to travel to rugby or northampton to catch the daily early morning service because no southbound trains call there .
in 1989 lul reported the one incident referred to in my previous answer because it involved malicious damage . lul did not consider that any other incident was covered by the requirement to notify the department but i now understand that there were 32 other other instances when the doors of underground trains opened either on the wrong side or when the train was in motion .
this consultation was made in compliance with the statutory requirements of the railways act 2005 and relates to the withdrawal of railway passenger services over sections of the network in south and west london . these passenger services are currently provided by a daily southern train between wandsworth road and kensington ( olympia ) ; also by a weekly rail replacement bus service between ealing broadway and wandsworth road .
notwithstanding the recent optimization of optical character recognition ( ocr ) techniques , the conversion from image to machine - readable text remains , more often than not , a problematic endeavor . the results are rarely perfect . the reasons for the defects are multiple and range from errors in the original prints , to more systemic issues such as the quality of the scan , the selected font or typographic variation within the same document . when we converted the scans of the historical canadian parliamentary proceedings , especially the latter cause turned out to be problematic . typographically speaking , the parliamentary proceedings are richly adorned with transitions between different font types and styles . these switches are not simply due to the esthetic preferences of the editors , but are intended facilitate reading by indicating the structure of the text . structural elements of the proceedings such as topic titles , the names of the mps taking the floor , audience reactions and other crucial items , are distinguished from common speech by the use of bold or cursive type , small capital or even a combination .
its not due to a lack of a platform as the station has two 138 metre long platforms and it is platform 2 which is served by a train . platform 1 , which ironically has a waiting shelter , is bereft of trains . this is because as part of the wcml upgrade , the station footbridge was taken down and not replaced and trains stopped nearly a decade ago .
it would be nice to think that , if they are contemplating something as far - reaching as taking ownership of ferries and franchising out their operation , for instance , that , somewhere down the line they would consider letting the public in on that train of thought before the process hurtles down the track and the spending of £150 million is announced and approved before the public can say ’shipping forecast’ .
besides being successful in solving analogy tasks , word2vec turns out to be useful for many other tasks , such as clustering . creating a vector space model based on all speeches of female mps enables us to construct a nearest neighbor network of all words which are indicative of women’s parliamentary language . each word w1 thus becomes a node and is connected to another word / node w2 if the latter appears in the set of n - closest vectors to word w1 . the result is a network that at first sight might not seem very illuminating .
but it’s harsh to define beeching’s legacy in terms of the closures . he cared about the railway and contributed much to it , championing its role in moving bulk minerals and developing the liner train concept for containerised freight . there will always be the photographs though - melancholy scenes of dilapidated stations and overgrown trackbeds , redundant engines quietly rusting , tunnels bricked up , villagers huddling under brollies to await the daily bus .
in an interesting example , british rail was forced to serve smethwick west in the west midlands for an extra 12 months in the mid - 1990s after a legal blunder meant that the station had not been closed properly . this meant that one train per week each way still called at smethwick west , even though it was only a few hundred yards down the line from its replacement smethwick galton bridge . [ 8 ]
given these infrequent departures , you’d expect packed carriages . but on a recent friday rush hour – when leeds train station , the second - busiest in the uk outside london , is swirling with commuters – no one , aside from me and my companions , remains on the line for more than a few stops . soon , one carriage after another becomes completely , eerily empty . you could cartwheel down the aisles .
the halton curve is one example . a half - mile connection between two lines that are frequently serviced , it operated for years as a ghost train . after years of advocates defending its potential , if run more regularly , to provide service from north wales into liverpool , plans were finally announced last year to give it a £10 . 4 million upgrade and re - establish the link , returning it to full service .
nor can i bring myself to decry the changes to the main character , rachel . on the page , she is a dishevelled , overweight drunk whose only escape from the memory of her failed marriage is to stare out of the window of a creeping commuter train and speculate about the lives of the people she passes . if you hear the words “dishevelled , overweight drunk” and think immediately of emily blunt , it’s your lucky day .
mr . laurin ( joliette ) , seconded by mr . guimond ( beauport - - montmorency - - orléans ) , moved , - - that , in the opinion of this house , the government should immediately take the required measures to authorize the construction of a high - speed train ( hst ) linking the cities of windsor and quebec city , as well as the necessary infrastructure . ( private members ' business m - 112 )
i rode this route yesterday . just about made it , as running late i ran to platform 12 , only to hear the announcement that it was departing from platform 11 ! possibly due to those timetable changes mentioned above i estimated that there were at least 20 people on the train . took the best part of the day to reach princes risborough to ride the ‘bubble car’ which was standing room only . last service runs this saturday .
the regulator is quite right , provided that competent management and expedient planning ensures the railway network is used effectively and efficiently . a well run railway system is essential to the national economy , and is expected and taken for granted by large sections of the british public , including those who may not be regular rail users . even
mondeo man
and
worcester woman
want a convenient and affordable train when their cars are not available .
at the moment , we are trying to improve and expand the method . so far , the model uses only the frequency of n - grams , and not their location in a token . by taking location into account , we expect that we could improve the results , but that would also increase dimensionality . besides adding new features , we should also experiment with other algorithms , such as support - vector machines , which perform better in a high - dimensional space . we will also test whether we can expand the method to correct other structural elements of the parliamentary proceedings , such as topical titles .
we aim to publish outputs which will appeal to a mainstream audience of historians who will have little familiarity with our methodologies , rather than to prioritise a narrower digital humanities audience . we will aim to make telling interventions in existing historical debates which could not be made using traditional research methods . with this in mind , we are pursuing a number of exciting topics using our roughly two centuries - worth of parliamentary data , including the language of gender , imperialism , and democracy . while future blog posts will expand upon all three areas in more detail , i offer a few thoughts below on the first .
inspired by manin and others , i investigated to what extent parliamentary deliberation in the belgian lower house ( “ kamer van volksvertegenwoordigers ” ) changed in times of democratization by looking at the linguistic behavior of mps through the prism of pronominal selection . instead of analyzing ( theoretical ) reflections on the changing character of political representation , i chose to study how , from a longitudinal perspective , shifts in the daily discursive practice of mps relate to the transformation of representative government . in addition to scrutinizing chronological evolution , i analyzed how pronominal selection correlates with certain attributes of the speaker ( ideology , power status , age ) .
most fundamentally for government to secure an investment strategy that maintains and improves the existing network while developing and delivering entirely new infrastructure , such as crossrail or new high - speed lines . the restructuring of timetables to provide regular interval services over the national network , following continental models , and bravely attempted by virgin cross country ' s operation princess plan , is an objective the strategic rail authority ( sra ) and train operating companies ( tocs ) must work towards .
to summarize : what are the strong points of this system ? first of all , it is fairly simple , reasonably time - efficient and works even when the quality of the original data is very bad . manual filtering can be done quickly : for each year of data , it takes an hour or two to correct the rules generated by each of the two processes and replace the names . secondly : once a classifier is trained , it can also predict corrections for the other years of the same parliamentary session . lastly , as mentioned before , the classifier can correctly predict replacements just on the basis of a few shared characters .
a ghost train might be a bureaucratic hangover . it might be a fiscal headache . it might be a waste of resources and potential . but in the world of transport and infrastructure , where efficiency and budgets rule , it’s also a quirky aberration – one that might not be around forever , but that , for now , provides an acute sense of joy to a small , passionate group of people who love it for its alice - in - wonderland - style absurdity .
certainly , this once mighty main line to birmingham and birkenhead , pride of the great western railway until it was downgraded during the beeching cuts of the 1960s , seems on its last legs . the train crunches along a rusted single track past the back end of the industrial estates off the great west road . here are the bulldozed remains of the old oak common engine sheds that housed the kings and castles , among the greatest steam locomotives built in britain ' s industrial heyday .
going back to the 1980s , i made several trips on this line behind class 47 and 50 locos on the evening commuter service to banbury ( at one point extended to birmingham new st ) . the line was / is dead straight , back then mostly 1950s era jointed track with a low 70mph speed limit . it seemed very weird running alongside the central line tracks in a fast mainline train . i suspect most of those old rails are still there thirty years later , gently rusting away !


guardian media group plc ( gmg ) is a british mass media company owning various media operations including the guardian and the observer .

the group is wholly owned by scott trust limited , which exists to secure the financial and editorial independence of the guardian in perpetuity .

guardian media group

what businesses does guardian media group own ? the core business of gmg is guardian news & media . the group also owns a number of investments .
david pemsel has been appointed chief executive of guardian media group . photograph : sarah lee / guardian
latest marketing and advertising news for guardian media group , including insights and opinions .
guardian media group , the publisher of the guardian , has sold its stake in trader media group to apax partners for around £600m to bankroll its loss - making newspapers and website .
guardian media group to cut 250 jobs and restructure its operations in hopes to break even . . .
guardian news and media launches branded content guardian labs service with 7 - figure unilever . . .
guardian media group plc ( gmg ) publishes its financial statements detailing the group’s financial performance and that of its subsidiary companies ( such as the core business guardian news & media limited ) , joint venture top right group and associates . the gmg group accounts are prepared in accordance with international financial reporting standards ( ifrs ) .
executive to leave guardian group after 24 years to lead airline . by mark sweney
despite turbulent trading conditions and advertising volatility across the media sector , guardian media group reported revenues of £214 . 5m , up 2 % on the previous year , as the guardian continued to strengthen its relationship with its readers and saw good growth from guardian us and guardian australia .
revenue including share of joint venture companies trader media group and top right group ( formerly emap ) £466 . 7m ( 2011 £466 . 1 million )
carolyn mccall , the chief executive of the guardian media group , is poised to leave the company to become chief executive of easyjet .
david pemsel was appointed ceo , guardian media group ( gmg ) in july 2015 with responsibility for leading gmg’s commercial and financial business strategy .
ebita , before exceptional items , including share of joint venture companies trader media group and top right group £48 . 4 million ( 2011 £49 . 6 million )
at guardian media group ( gmg ) , securing a sustainable future for quality journalism has been our number one priority during the last year .
© 2018 guardian news and media limited or its affiliated companies . all rights reserved .
© carnyx group ltd 2018 | the drum is a registered trademark and property of carnyx group limited . all rights reserved .
emap has confirmed it has sold its business - to - business magazine and events arm to guardian media group and private equity firm apax for around £1bn .
what are the values of the trust and company ? the trust has a strongly held set of values which guide the business conduct of guardian media group .
the scott trust was formed in 1936 , but the history of the trust and guardian media group began more than a century earlier with the launch of the manchester guardian on may 5 , 1821 .
pemsel , currently deputy chief executive of guardian news & media , the publisher of the guardian and observer newspapers , succeeds andrew miller .
the guardian is on track to achieve the aim of the plan , to break even at an ebitda level by 2018 / 19 , and for the guardian media group to become financially sustainable in perpetuity .
richard johnstone needs your help with “ the board of directors at guardian media group : katherine viner must resign as editor - in - chief at the guardian ” . join richard and 33 supporters today .
guardian news & media restructure sees david magliano promoted to managing director of marketing , . . .
guardian media group ( gmg ) is amongst the uk’s leading media organisations . its core business is guardian news & media ( gnm ) , publisher of theguardian . com , one of the largest english - speaking quality newspaper websites in the world . in the uk , gnm publishes the guardian newspaper six days a week and the world’s oldest sunday newspaper , the observer .
what is the relationship between guardian media group and the guardian ? gmg is the parent company of the guardian . however , editorially the guardian is completely independent from the commercial entity that owns it . the editor - in - chief is appointed by and reports directly to the scott trust , not the board of gmg .
guardian news and media will allow advertisers to tap into trending topics in real - time with . . .
“this set of results are a testament to the hard work of the management team and of everyone at guardian media group . there is much to do , but the strategy is on track .
anna is chief customer officer of guardian news & media ( gnm ) . she is responsible for the guardian’s membership , subscription and contributions programmes , partnerships with technology businesses including google and facebook , syndication and licensing , and other consumer revenues including the guardian’s live events . she also oversees the guardian brand and all guardian marketing .
guardian media group has completed the first year of a three - year transformation plan to increase revenues by building deeper relationships with readers , align its advertising business to market growth , and reduce costs .
other media organisations don’t go as far as kelner , but one senior figure , who sits on the board of a major company , says : “i think they [ the guardian ] are not immune to the possibility that the objectives of the guardian media group as a whole are influencing the attitudes and tone of their journalists . ”
described by management today as
one of the toughest operators to have risen through the guardian media group ' s ranks
mccall , a mother - of - three , started her career at the guardian in 1986 as a research planner , moving quickly into sales .
guardian media group said total revenues increased by 2 . 4 % to £214 . 5m in the year to 2 april , thanks to the popularity of its membership scheme , one - off contributions and growth in international operations .
the newspaper ' s proprietor , guardian media group , has told its 1 , 500 staff that some of their jobs will be lost as part of its plans for the second year of its three - year turnaround plan .
on 13 june , the guardian announced plans to move the guardian and observer print titles to tabloid format , from early 2018 .
– trader media group : one of europe ' s largest specialist media companies , and publisher of the auto trader website and magazine . trader media group is jointly owned by gmg and apax partners . – top right group ( formerly emap ) : a leading international business - to - business digital intelligence and events business , also jointly owned by gmg and apax partners . – gmg property services : the leading provider of software , technology and design solutions to the property industry . – an externally managed investment fund .
gmg has also built an endowment fund , which includes the proceeds from the 2014 disposal of its 50 . 1 % holding in trader media group . the sole purpose of the fund is to secure the editorial independence and financial security of the guardian in perpetuity . the business conduct of the group is guided by the scott trust values .
we are an independent charity which supports media under threat , promotes diversity in the media and empowers children and young people to engage with the news .
3 . 20 widen the scope of the rules to take account of cross - media ownership across all mediaperhaps looking at share of voice and revenues ( especially advertising ) across all media , to ensure that organisations like google or news corp cannot acquire too big a share of voice across all media .
9am ( bst ) 25 july 2017 , london : guardian media group ( gmg ) – publisher of the guardian and the observer newspapers and theguardian . com , one of the largest english - speaking quality newspaper websites in the world – today announced financial results for the 12 months to 2 april , 2017 .
group revenues surpass £300m for the first time in our history . fy 14 group revenues were £312 . 7m and adjusted ebitda was £85 . 3m , up from £271 . 4m and £69m respectively in fy13
prior to joining gnm , david worked in many senior roles within the media industry , including launching shine entertainment in 2000 , before becoming group marketing director of itv plc in 2005 .
the tesco writ made a reference to guardian media group ' s purchase of emap plc in partnership with apax and sought to make parallels with its property deals . ian griffiths and felicity lawrence set out below the details of the deal and the tax consequences
or in the day - to - day editorial control of news and content , nor do the board of guardian media group plc . the day - to - day editorial control of news content is the sole responsibility of the editor and his staff .
katharine viner is editor - in - chief of the guardian , a position she has held since june 2015 . she joined the guardian as a writer in 1997 . she was appointed deputy editor of the guardian in 2008 ; launched the award - winning guardian australia in 2013 ; and was also editor of guardian us , based in new york .
katharine viner joined the guardian as a writer in 1997 and has since undertaken numerous roles , including editor of weekend magazine , features editor , and saturday editor . she was appointed deputy editor of the guardian in 2008 ; launched the award - winning guardian australia in 2013 ; and was most recently editor - in - chief of guardian us . she became editor - in - chief of guardian news & media in june 2015 .
but the idea of a knuckleduster at the heart of the guardian is oddly appropriate . a growing number of other media companies are asking questions about how the paper and its parent company , guardian media group ( gmg ) , are using their editorial and corporate influence . these critics include not only the independent , which has become increasingly angry about its rival , but also senior figures at channel 4 and itv .
3 . 21 raise , however , the current thresholds for cross - media ownership to ensure that cross - media efficiencies can be harnessed on behalf of the consumer .
gmg and apax already have close working ties after the private equity firm paid £650m for a 49 % stake in trader media group , the gmg subsidiary that includes the classified advertising magazine auto trader .
zach is the chief digital officer of guardian news & media ( gnm ) . he is responsible for all aspects of the guardian’s digital products , enterprise systems and technology strategies , including the development and evolution of the guardian’s core products - from urltoken and the award - winning apps to its content management systems .
trader media reported pre - tax profits last year of £32m on revenues of £252m .
evelyn webster joined guardian news & media ( gnm ) in january 2017 as the interim chief executive officer ( ceo ) of guardian us . she was appointed as ceo of guardian us & australia in 2018 . in this role evelyn is responsible for leading the commercial and operations teams , working closely with useditor john mulholland .
joined the board in 2014 and is chair of the remuneration committee . jennifer is currently a non - executive director at mitie and council member for the royal college of art . prior to that she was executive vice president of people at arm , group people and culture director for six years at ubm plc and group human resources director for an international media and marketing services group emap plc . her earlier career was in management consultancy and banking .
it has , by any standards , been a remarkable year for gmg . the group ' s strategy is to use its portfolio of assets to support the guardian while we go through the tumultuous period that the media industry is experiencing . this gives us the huge advantage of being able to navigate our core business , guardian news & media ( gnm ) through these challenging times at a pace and within a timeframe that reflects the needs of the business .
the number of guardian’s paying members increased from 50 , 000 to more than 230 , 000 in the last financial year . photograph : sarah lee for the guardian
, which was established in 1936 to secure the ongoing independence of the guardian .
reader relationships : at the end of 2016 - 17 , guardian news & media ( gnm ) had more than 400 , 000 regular paying members and subscribers to our print and digital products . more people are paying for guardian journalism than ever before .
powerful media companies can be properly considered . currently , the framework focuses on
traditional media
, meaning that some types of organisation could fall outside its scope . the table below gives some examples of the consequences of the current regulatory framework for cross - media ownership and activity :
it is important not to exaggerate the anxiety about the guardian and gmg . as one senior media figure points out : “one should not get paranoid . in many respects the guardian does a good job . ” indeed , all of the executives interviewed for this article recognise it is right that they face media scrutiny . but given that one newspaper has such a dominant role , they think it only fair to ask : who guards the guardian ?
in a significant move towards securing gmg’s long - term future , the value of the group’s investments and cash holdings has risen to £1 . 03 billion . this was due to a 20 . 6 % increase in the value of the guardian’s long term endowment fund and the sale of gmg’s 22 . 4 % stake in ascential plc , the international business - to - business media and events group , for a gross consideration of £239m .
gmg’s relationship with apax has been controversial . the publisher was accused of hypocrisy on tax for using an offshore structure in the caymans to buy the magazine and events group emap , now rebranded top right group , in another joint venture with the private equity firm .
exists to create public value , not private gain . its unique ownership structure means that the wider guardian media group does not seek profit for the financial benefit of its owners or shareholders , but to sustain journalism that is free from commercial or political interference , and to uphold a set of values laid down by our former guardian editor , cp scott , and now enshrined as the scott trust values .
hamish nicklin is the chief revenue officer of guardian news and media . he is responsible for driving operational and strategic direction across the media , jobs and labs businesses . hamish also has responsibility for building long - term , sustainable business relationships directly with clients and agencies across the globe .
richard is the chief financial officer of guardian media group ( gmg ) . richard is responsible for the financial stewardship and efficient operational management of the business together with helping shape the strategic direction and improving the performance of the group . he is a member of the executive committee ( exco ) and the gmg board . richard manages the finance function , investment fund and newspaper publishing business as well as central functions including legal , risk , facilities , and company secretarial .
apax already owns incisive media , which publishes b2b titles including computing , legal week and insurance age .
gmg has continued to implement the three - year plan launched by david pemsel , ceo , and katharine viner , editor - in - chief of guardian news & media , in january 2016 .
im group and bluevenn create a coordinated national marketing solution for subaru dealerships nationally across the uk resulting in improved test drives and car purchases .
“david has been a key architect of gnm’s commercial success , digital strategy and international expansion , ” said neil berkett , chairman of guardian media group . “i am therefore delighted that he is now stepping up to the top job , unquestionably one of the most demanding and exciting roles in the media industry . i know that he will build on the strong strategic platform put in place by andrew miller , who has done an outstanding job as chief executive” .
guardian journalism goes from strength to strength . it ' s just our shape that ' s changing
audience / readership : more than 140 million monthly unique browsers consistently engage with guardian journalism online .
guardian’s editor - in - chief alan rusbridger reveals raft of senior management changes across . . .
the guardian media group ( gmg ) said it had reduced losses before tax to £200 , 000 in the year to 2 april from £173m in the same period a year earlier . total revenue hit £214m , up 2 . 4 per cent from the previous year . digital revenues rose by 15 per cent to £94 . 1m from £81 . 9m .
mail & guardian online owners originally a separate division of the mail & guardian . in 1997 a 65 % share was sold to internet service provider mweb , but then bought back in 2008 by trevor ncube ' s m & g ; media , the company that publishes the m & g ; newspaper .
joined the scott trust in 2016 . he is currently financial editor of the guardian . nils joined the guardian in 2003 , and was appointed to the scott trust board as journalist director in 2016 .
guardian media group , the parent company of the guardian newspaper , has used an offshore structure to complete its acquisition of emap ' s trade magazine and events interests , in partnership with the private equity firm apax partners . the deal , completed march 20 , 2008 , involved gmg incorporating a new company in the tax haven of the cayman islands and integrating it with an existing network of cayman companies set up at the same time by the private equity firm .
1 . 2 as news consumption is increasingly a cross - media activity , we have considered the impact of these regulations across the whole media sector , with a specific , separate focus on national and regional / local effects .
aftenposten won “best in europe” at inma´s global media awards in washington dc . check out all the schibsted winners !
the board fully supports the strategy and transformation programme for our core business , guardian news & media ( gnm ) , which chief executive officer andrew miller and his team are implementing with great skill and determination .
since 2016 , the guardian has added 230 , 000 new paying members , it said on tuesday .
the digital age puts customers in control , tesco ceo philip clarke says at guardian changing . . .
the mail & guardian online previously known as em & g ; and the daily mail & guardian . first cousin , once removed , to the mail & guardian . a pan - african daily online newspaper , published all day , all week , aimed at serious and not - so - serious readers .
“despite the challenging market conditions faced by all news organisations around the world , our three - year strategy is well on track to achieve its financial goals and to secure the future of the guardian , ” the group’s chief executive , david pemsel , said .
aligning advertising business with growth : group continues to refine and improve its advertising proposition , taking account of rapid changes in the print and digital advertising markets .
last year the group introduced a three - year plan to cut costs by 20 per cent , in its bid to break even by 2018 / 19 .
rank group achieve a centralized view of all its customers and prospects , to identify cross sell opportunities and optimize the marketing processes in each of its brands .
the company and the group are committed to high standards of corporate governance and the board is accountable to the company ' s shareholders for good corporate governance .
jonathan joined the board on 15 may 2013 and became chairman of the audit committee in november 2013 . he is also group finance director of close brothers group plc , joining in february 2008 and previously held the same position at the london stock exchange group plc since 1999 . jonathan has also been a non - executive director of emap plc and chairman of ftse international . the early part of his career was at price waterhouse where he qualified as a chartered accountant .
david is a non - executive director of the british fashion council , a voting member of bafta and a council member of the marketing group of great britain .
gmg’s core business is urltoken and the guardian and observer newspapers . investments are undertaken to support and develop journalism
in addition he is chairman of gmg ventures , a $ 50m fund making early stage investments in innovative businesses in the media technology sector . he is also a member of the scott trust , the ultimate owner of the guardian .
cath keers joined the board on 1 july 2017 . ms keers started her retail career with thorn emi and , after marketing and business development roles at sky tv , avon and next , joined the bt group in 1996 , holding a number of commercial roles , including marketing director o2 , chairman of tesco mobile and customer director o2 . ms keers is a non - executive director of the royal mail group , talktalk telecom group plc and liverpool victoria friendly society limited ( lv = ) and is the chairman of ustwo ; digital product and games studio . ms keers was a non - executive director of home retail group limited from september 2011 to september 2016 .
joined the scott trust in january 2013 . she is professor of professional practice at the columbia university journalism school and director of the tow center for digital journalism at columbia’s graduate school of journalism . she was previously director of digital content for guardian news & media , editor - in - chief of guardian unlimited and business editor for the observer .
the guardian has campaigned against tax avoidance but gmg paid no stamp duty on the emap acquisition . it also took advantage of hmrc’s substantial shareholding exemption to avoid corporation tax on the profits from the 2008 trader media stake sale to apax .
mail & guardian owners originally owned by hundreds of small shareholders who bought small blocks of shares at r1 000 each , as part of a surge of ' reader power ' to respond to the death of the rand daily mail . in the early 1990s , the guardian newspaper group in london became the largest shareholder when it came to the rescue of the then - ailing company . in 2002 , the guardian reduced its shareholding to 10 % and sold the majority share at 87 , 5 % to zimbabwean media owner and entrepreneur trevor ncube . having relocated to south africa , ncube also took over as ceo of the company .
mccall was appointed chief executive of gmg and chair of guardian news and media in august 2006 . she was first appointed to the gmg board in 2000 , having served on the gnm board since 1995 , becoming its chief executive in 2000 .
2 . 2 the
plurality of media
provision is particularly important in sustaining a diverse , high - quality news ecology .
before joining gmg , richard was chief financial officer and acting chief executive officer of ubm emea , a division of ubm plc , a uk - listed ftse 250 media company . richard joined ubm in 2004 and was head of group development ( from 2004 to 2008 ) responsible for all the group’s mergers and acquisitions , cfo and senior vice president , events & publications of ubm aviation ( 2008 - 11 ) and then cfo of ubm emea ( formerly ubm live ) from 2011 .
during her executive career she oversaw the move of the guardian from a broadsheet format to the berliner . she was active in the sale of a stake in trader media group to apax for £675m and acquired emap ' s business - to - business titles alongside apax for £1bn . she was awarded the 2008 veuve clicquot business woman award , and is chair of opportunity now , which promotes change for women in the workplace .
james is the chief strategy officer at guardian news & media , responsible for strategy implementation and transformation . in his role james has overall responsibility for gnm’s 3 year change programme , working with the functional areas to ensure the business delivers on its priorities .
gmg is pleased to be offered the opportunity to comment on the current uk media ownership rules and the implications for provision of news .
despite operating at a loss , the group managed to increase its endowment fund to over £1bn , helped by selling off its stake in publishing company ascential , formerly known as emap .
emap communications is a strong business with a range of highly successful brands . the acquisition meets our requirements in terms of diversifying gmg ' s media interests , in line with our commitment to guarantee the long - term financial security of the guardian .
the guardian foundation is a partner of the european press prize which annually salutes and encourages the highest achievements in european journalism .
all material © mail & guardian online . material may not be published or reproduced in any form without prior written permission .
3 . 11 with news consumption increasingly becoming a cross - media activity , concerns about plurality of ownershipand , therefore , diversity of voiceshould cover all media . the current framework does not take sufficient account of the concentration of voice from any one organisation across all types of outlet .
it is true that gmg faces painful decisions of its own about staff numbers and budgets . the problem is unusual because the scott trust has a mandate to safeguard the guardian “in perpetuity” . this means there is a tension at the heart of gmg . guardian news and media ( gnm ) , publisher of the guardian and the observer , lost £26 . 4m last year but has so far been immune to compulsory redundancies . other parts of gmg , some of which are profitable , are having to axe staff .
it will also support the company’s international ambitions , which have already meant heavy investments in expansion in the united states and australia . andrew miller , chief executive of gmg , has also said he would like to enter the indian media market , as part of the left - leaning group’s quest to become “the world’s leading liberal voice” .
caspar llewellyn smith is the editor of the guardian’s digital platforms - principally the website , urltoken – and is also head of culture , another editorial role that involves responsibility for the guardian and the observer’s coverage of books , film , music and more .
apax ' s sole financial adviser was jp morgan while gmg was advised on its exit from trader media by bank of america merrill lynch and freshfields bruckhaus deringer . it is ultimately owned by the scott trust , which was first set up in 1936 safeguard the guardian .
blair crump was appointed to the board on 1 january 2018 having joined sage in august 2016 in the newly - created position of president , leading on sales and customer service across the group .
guardian ' s new membership scheme ' ahead of target ' - but no hard figures yet , says head of . . .
joined the board in february 2018 . yasmin is a non - executive director on the boards of the royal bank of scotland ring - fenced bank entities , nation media group ( east africa ) and an independent panel member of the cabinet office major projects review group . during her executive career , yasmin held chief information officer roles at bupa and the financial times , where she became the chief operating officer . she previously had a career spanning nearly 20 years at abbey national plc , latterly serving as an executive director on the board .
2 . 3 given the cross - media ownership rules inand derived fromthe communications act , we are concerned that
public interest
questions regarding plurality might be thought only to arise in merger situations involving tv , radio and newspaper assets . with consumption of news becoming an increasingly cross - media activity ,
public interest
considerations should apply explicitly to all media , including , for example , the internet , which may not currently be covered .
most media organisations are notoriously oversensitive about press criticism , of course . the woes facing these firms have been well documented beyond the guardian . and mediaguardian is bound to cause upset sometimes . in the past , the daily telegraph and daily mail have registered their anger . but it is also understandable that media companies are sensitive in a recession , which is happening just as business models are collapsing in the rush to the internet .
an attorney - at - law , frances bain - cumberbatch is the group corporate secretary and head of the legal department of the ansa mcal group . prior to joining the group , frances worked at j . d . sellier & co . as an advocate attorney - at - law . she gained invaluable practical knowledge and experience in several areas of law including intellectual property , corporate / commercial and industrial relations . she holds a ba double major in french and spanish from uwi , st . augustine , a llb from university of london and a legal education certificate from the sir hugh wooding law school .
our clients are a diverse bunch across retail , leisure & travel , automotive , publishing & news media , finance , charities and more . . .
joined the scott trust in 2015 . she is an independent journalism , media and technology advisor with over 20 years experience across the sector . previously she has held multiple high - profile media roles including head of news at twitter , general manager of urltoken and president and ceo of national public radio .
pemsel will work closely with katharine viner , who was appointed as the new editor - in - chief of the guardian in march .
one of the scott trust’s most crucial functions is to appoint the editor of the guardian , as well as that of the observer .
we are delighted to have secured the board ' s recommendation for our joint offer with apax partners ,
said carolyn mccall , the chief executive of gmg , which publishes the guardian , observer and guardian unlimited network of websites , including mediaguardian . co . uk .
paul johnson is deputy editor of guardian news and media , and head of news , business and sport . as irish correspondent for the guardian he won awards for his reporting when the violence was at its height , before becoming news editor . he was a member of the teams which twice won the british press awards investigation of the year and has also received the front page of the year award at the british press awards .
he joined the group in 2007 as a project engineer at alstons building enterprises ltd ( abel ) , and last serves in the position of general manager of abel building solutions prior to his move to standard .
4 . 6 for example , in spain , the competition authority ( servicio de defensa de la competencia ) has expressed its frustration with having to investigate three complex , inter - related media competition issueshistorical dominance of the football rights market , cross - selling and rights acquisition collaboration without the necessary media expertise . [
the publisher of the guardian and observer has rarely , if ever , seen a year like 2011 / 12 . the company embarked on a radical new strategy , its journalism reached record audiences and the revelations about phone hacking caused global shockwaves and had huge implications for british media , politics and policing .
he is more bullish about social media . “the thing that has changed fastest for us in the past three months” , he told me , “is facebook . it has made a vast difference . ” as part of its open policy , the guardian got into bed with facebook to try so - called frictionless sharing : if a reader who is signed into facebook reads something on the guardian site , the fact that they did so shows up in their facebook newsfeed , with a link . this irritates some users , but gives the guardian more young readers and a share of the revenue from any ads . “in the last week facebook has overtaken google for referrals . we’ve had 6m downloads of the facebook app , and it has rocket - charged traffic to guardian . co . uk . an audience of 18 - to - 25 - year - olds who would never have read the guardian in the past , are falling on guardian content . facebook are amazed by it , we’re suddenly on the facebook radar in a big way .
juan señor is a leading expert on newspapers , a spanish television reporter turned visiting fellow in news media at oxford university and partner at innovation media consulting , a firm which advises struggling papers . the remedies he prescribes—more explanation , stronger graphics , bolder features , full integration between print and web teams—look much like the medicine the guardian has taken of its own accord . but when he saw the three little pigs ad , he was unimpressed . “open journalism ? ” he wrote in a tweet . “how about profitable journalism first . the guardian lost £33m last year and counting . muddled rhetoric , poor model to emulate . ”
mr . sabga holds a b . eng in civil engineering from the university of the west indies , and an executive mba from the arthur lok jack graduate school of business . he currently holds several directorships within the group .
the guardian foundation has teamed up with the learn2think foundation and the week junior to launch the first ever journalism competition for children aged 8 - 11 .
the publication belongs to m & g ; media limited , which is majority owned by the international non - profit media development investment fund , together with ceo hoosain karjieker as the local empowerment partner . a 10 % share is held by the m & g ; staff share trust , and the remaining stakes are shared by minority shareholders .
aneal maharaj was appointed as the group finance director in february 2008 . he is a fellow of the chartered association of certified accountants ( fcca ) and has over 25 years of experience in the energy sector and business advisory . prior to joining the group , aneal was the vice president , finance at bhp billiton and has held a variety of senior finance and planning positions with bp , amoco and deloitte & touche , in trinidad , the uk and usa .
brendan joined gmg in april 2017 and is responsible for media relations , internal communications and public policy for the group . between 2010 and 2017 , brendan held a series of senior communications roles at the ftse 100 education company pearson . earlier in his career , he held roles as deputy press secretary at the british embassy in washington dc , senior press officer at downing street , and in other government departments .
gmg paid £622 , 000 in charitable donations and gifts in kind to the guardian foundation , an increase of more than 10 % over the previous year .
the source said : “the situation was not sustainable as a business could not have this lingering over it and the guardian needed the cash to survive . ”
mail & guardian focus political analysis , investigative reporting , southern african news , comprehensive coverage of local arts , music and popular culture , and more . . .
the sale howver means gmg will no longer enjoy annual dividends from trader media . nothing was paid last year amid restructuring , but in 2012 the publisher received a £50m ordinary dividend .
the combined value of our cash balance and investment fund increased from £197 . 4 million to £225 . 8 million , reflecting dividends and preference share redemptions from trader media group ( tmg ) , partially offset by cash outflow to fund gnm ' s operating losses . all our major joint venture and wholly owned portfolio companies grew operating profit before exceptional items and amortisation of intangibles and our investment fund proved resilient in a fluctuating market .
· to contact the mediaguardian newsdesk email editor @ urltoken or phone 020 7239 9857 . for all other inquiries please call the main guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332 .
the question hanging in the air is how long the print guardian can last . “it depends how quickly alan reacts , ” juan señor says . “i suspect the guardian will be a weekend paper soon . online they will exist as they do now , hopefully charging , and they will focus their commercial energy on the weekend . ”
david joined guardian news & media ( gnm ) in 2011 and was appointed chief commercial officer in 2012 . a year later he took on increased accountability for the gnm business in the newly - created role of deputy chief executive , with responsibility for leading commercial operations in the uk , the us and australia , and integrating them as one global organisation .
joined the board in november 2009 and was appointed as chair in september 2013 . neil is also a non - executive director of the sage group plc and until recently a member of the board of trustees of the nspcc . previously , neil was chief executive officer of virgin media . he joined ntl , virgin media’s predecessor , as chief operating officer in september 2005 and has also served on the boards virgin unite and bank of queensland as a non executive director . he has also held senior positions at lloyds tsb plc ( uk ) , prudential assurance company ltd uk , st george bank , eastwest airlines australia and icl australia .
it is to be expected that as we invest in the future of the guardian , we will see some increase in gnm ' s losses . meanwhile , difficult economic and market conditions notwithstanding , our portfolio of investments continued to fulfil its intended purpose of providing financial support and long - term security for the guardian and its journalism .
prior to ubm , richard worked in investment banking at lehman brothers and flemings and at prebon group in a senior business development role . between 2007 and 2008 , richard was a non - executive director of itn . he is a graduate of oxford university .
the feeling persists that the guardian may be heading full steam towards an iceberg . at the open weekend , i spoke to one of the paper’s senior staff , and said that i was writing about the guardian and whether it could survive . “if you find the answer , ” he said with a rueful smile , “let us know . ”
meanwhile , the guardian has to find ways of boosting its income . at the end of 2010 it launched guardian masterclasses , offering courses ranging from songwriting with one of adele’s co - writers ( two days , £500 ) to photographing london at dawn ( six weeks , £750 ) to “how to finish a work of fiction” with the author gillian slovo ( nine months , £7 , 000 ) . seven thousand ! the guardian , never a fan of the private schools , seems to have quietly joined their ranks .
the cash from the sale will help fund the guardian and the observer newspapers , and the urltoken website , which between them made an underlying loss of £31m last year .
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2 . 4 this could help to ensure that concentration of voice ( across all media ) is not a threat to plurality . we expand on this argument in our answer to the next question .
the constant bashing of jeremy corbyn has to stop , as do puff - pieces for tory ministers like the ' interview ' with jeremy hunt on monday 15th february . the rest of the media is more than right - wing enough without the guardian joining in . it ' s all gone downhill and way over to the right since katherine viner took over at the top .
the guardian foundation offers a number of bursaries each year for aspiring journalists to study for a postgraduate qualification in newspaper , web or broadcast journalism . meet this years’ bursary students .
in january last year , pemsel and the guardian and observer editor - in - chief , katharine viner , launched a strategy to cut costs by 20 % over three years .
mail & guardian online focus local , international and african hard news , sport and business ; publishing analytical , in - depth reports from its print edition , and more . . .
joined the scott trust in 2015 . he is currently head of commercial at adi . tv . previously , he was content director at the football league and the commercial director of digital at local world media .
donald joined the board in july 2012 and became chairman on 1 september 2012 . he is also chairman of the london stock exchange and the medical research council and was , until 1 september 2015 , chairman of the royal mail plc , and until 19 november 2013 , chairman of smiths group plc . donald had a 20 - year career with barclays group , during which time he was chairman and chief executive of bzw investment management and acting chief executive of bzw followed by fifteen years with the axa group including holding the posts of chairman and chief executive of axa investment managers and chairman of axa framlington . he has also recently chaired the london metal exchange , amersham plc , taylor nelson sofres plc and the ifs school of finance and is a past chairman of everychild . he has also served as senior independent director of allied domecq plc and scottish power plc .
james joined gnm in 2014 from bain & company , where he led teams focused on strategic and operational questions across media , private equity and other industries . he holds a ba in history from the university of bristol .
the weekly mail was started in mid - 1985 by a group of journalists who had been recently retrenched from the rand daily mail and the sunday express , which had both closed down . the paper was run on a shoestring , but made possible by the revolution in “desktop publishing” of the 1980s .
steve joined sage in january 2014 , having previously been operating partner and co - head of the portfolio support group at the private equity firm apax partners , which he joined in 2009 . prior to this he built over 10 years’ experience leading the finance function for three listed uk companies culminating as cfo for ftse 100 company invensys plc , the global technology - related business , from 2006 to 2009 . between 2004 and 2006 steve was group finance director for spectris plc , the ftse 250 precision instrumentation and controls company and from 1997 to 2003 he was with marconi plc , acting as cfo from 2001 .
during the year , gmg reduced its costs by £19 million to £259 . 2m , and reduced headcount by approximately 300 fte roles . these moves , painful though necessary , enabled the group to reduce losses at the ebitda level by 35 % to £44 . 7m before £9 . 6m of exceptional costs .
he is executive chairman of ansa mcal limited and chairman of ansa merchant bank limited . on friday 23rd october , 2015 the executive chairman of the ansa mcal group of companies – a . norman sabga was the recipient of a doctor of laws degree , honoris causa from the university of the west indies .
david b . sabga is deputy chairman of ansa mcal limited . he is also a member of the executive committee . he holds a ba ( economics ) from windsor university , canada . david previously held chairmanships at standard equipment , crown industries limited and farmhouse industries prior to joining the group in 1988 .
joined the board in september 2012 . nigel is currently the chief strategy and innovation officer for dentsu aegis network . prior to this he was the chief executive officer of aegis media americas and emea . he was the founding ceo of isobar , the digital division of aegis media . he is also a founding member of the facebook client council and twitter influence council . nigel also sits on the steering committee of the world economic forum’s future of work initiative .
mail & guardian readers niche market , interested in a critical approach to politics , arts and current affairs . large numbers of readers among professionals , academics , diplomats , lobbyists , non - governmental groups .
history of the mail & guardian founded 1985 by a group of retrenched journalists from the deceased rand daily mail . built up a reputation for nose - thumbing attitude to the establishment and for uncovering inkathagate scandal . favourite prison reading of nelson mandela ; banned for a while by pw botha . in recent years , continues to be a thorn in the side of gravy - train politicians with reports on oilgate , the police chief and more . in 2005 , the m & g ; newspaper turned 20 . find out more
andy mahadeo is a mechanical engineer by profession and a member of both the association of professional engineers and the board of engineering of trinidad and tobago . he started his professional career in the energy sector working for both local and international oil service companies before joining the ansa mcal group in 1994 . during his time with ansa mcal , andy successfully progressed through the ranks of maintenance engineer to operations manager and then on to managing director of ansa mcal chemicals ltd . throughout his career , he has been able to consistently demonstrate the creativity , energy , passion and focus on people basics that are the hallmarks of the group’s core values .
early rumours had suggested that apax would look to merge emap ' s business - to - business arm with trade magazine publisher incisive media , which it acquired last year , leaving gmg with selected titles such as broadcast and screen international .
a source close to the deal said gmg had negotiated hard to extract the highest possible price from apax . the private equity fund acquired 49 . 9pc of trader media from gmg in 2007 at a total value of £1 . 35bn .
in this context , the guardian’s reporting of others’ difficulties has jarred with some readers . a recent media supplement cover story about the problems at the indie , by a former staffer , provoked strong reaction . “it strikes me that the guardian is currently compromising its integrity on an almost daily basis to discredit a commercial competitor , ” wrote one reader – a posting which , it should be noted , mediaguardian was happy to publish . another reader , an anonymous indie journalist , complained : “i look around and see a lot of talented , liberal journalists and see them being knocked by a load of other talented , liberal journalists and can’t quite bury the hypocrisy . ”
anna joined gnm in december 2016 as vp for platforms and partnerships , managing global relationships with digital technology partners including google and facebook , and pioneering the guardian’s commercial video strategy in partnership with editorial and digital teams .
joined the board in january 2016 . after having co - founded a publishing company in 1982 , baroness gail rebuck dbe went on to become the ceo of random house for 22 years from 1991 to 2013 . she currently , on the penguin random house uk global board of representatives and also the group management committee of bertelsmann .
3 . 9 we also note that ofcom has , in our view rightly , begun to give consideration to promoting public purposes in the arena of digital interactive participative media . however , we are not wholly convinced by the argument that public purposes are