Privatisation works. Not.
Being a cheapskate when I'm paying my own fare, I asked for a second class sleeper to Glasgow. I was told there weren't any. I had to pay extra for a cabin to myself.
But at the station, the attendant showed me into a sharing cabin. I pointed out that they'd wrung an extra £20 from me for a single one. Apparently they knew that - and I'd have it to myself.
Suddenly I'm in demand. Gordon must have boobed.
I came out of a meeting Wednesday afternoon to find four calls from broadcasters wanrting to interview me, the first I've had duiring this election campaign, and I knew at once that Gordon Brown must have egg on his face. That's the only way my Brown biography gets me airtime.
Corralling the grey vote for Mr Cameron
Joan Bakewell, crowned “The Voice of Older People” by Harriet Harman in 2004, has lent herself – unintentionally, I think – to an attempt to corral the grey vote for David Cameron.How did BA fill my seat?
I should be just coming back from Bahrein. But last Tuesday night, the British Airways website carried a plea for those with seats to cancel them, so that if places were running, BA could get stranded passengers home. We cancelled ours. But instead of giving returned seats to stranded passengers, BA is selling them at a premium (see story here.)
Beware self-appointed spokesmen for the grey vote
Politicians know they need the third age vote. Not only are third agers a growing part of the population, they are also much more likely to vote than other generations.
Read more: Beware self-appointed spokesmen for the grey vote