Waiting for my daughter at Liverpool’s Lime Street station last night, I had an excellent opportunity to hear [and re-hear] the several recorded announcements with which travellers are regularly assailed. These included things like:-
- For your security, this station is monitored 24 hours by surveillance cameras
- There are security guards patrolling all parts of this station constantly
- Travellers are reminded that, for your comfort, this is a no-smoking station
- Please keep your luggage with you. Any unattended luggage will be taken and disposed of
- Any cars parked in unauthorised spaces will be clamped or towed, and finally
- It is not permitted to ride a ride a bicycle, to skateboard,to skate or to windsurf in this station.
OK, I made up the bit about windsurfing but the rest is pretty accurate. My questions are:- 1. Whatever happened to [non-intrusive] written notices? and 2. Are the local populace so inured to this sort of stuff now that it fails to strike them the way it does me. And possibly other overseas visitors.

The other opportunity afforded to me by my 15 minute wait was to witness two groups of Merseyside women, one regular and one only annual. The latter was formed by the women returning from Ladies’ Day at Aintree, ahead of today’s Grand National. This may seem ungallant but my strong impression was that whatever these ladies had spent on their hair and clothes for the day had been largely wasted. The second group was of young women disgorging from the trains for a night out in the city. Without exception - against the background of forecasts of snow for this weekend - none of these was wearing a coat, a jacket or even anything resembling a shawl. Instead, they sported outfits which would have been inadequate even on a typical British summer’s day. In the worst case, this meant a simple T-shirt with plunging neckline. So, it was with a sense of great relief that I greeted a daughter dressed in overcoat and scarf.

This is my last post from the UK so I will end it on an optimistic note. A UK columnist tells us this morning that there will today be a ‘gathering of social democratic politicians from around the world in in the UK for a conference on the theme of "Progressive Governance''. This, he thinks, ‘looks a tired and listless affair’ because ‘There are cycles in politics and we are approaching the end of a period, both here and overseas, during which, under the guise of the word "progressive", the big state held sway. Coming soon is a new political cycle, during which we will inevitably see demands for the excesses of the government-knows-best era to be undone. Personal freedom, choice and a state that exists to help rather than control individuals will feature strongly.'

Well, let’s hope so. It would be nice to go backwards from 1984 to, say, 1984. Not that it actually matters to me. I have no intention of returning to the UK. Or not, at least, until it returns to what it used to be. Fat chance, I fancy.

Sorry to be so sour.