Wow. Donald Trump is giving money to Putin’s war machine so he can keep killing innocent Ukrainians and attacking democracies across Europe. The UK must lead a coalition of the willing that stands up and says no.

Corridor care has hit a record high, and winter hasn't even started yet. In September, an average of more than 3,300 patients a day were treated in A&E corridors or on wards without a proper bed space. That's almost 100,000 times in a single month. 🧵

JUST IN: Latest from the Liz Truss Supporters' Club

"By using AI, tasks like essays that used to take hours can be completed in minutes!" Sure, like how if I arrive at the gym and immediately go for a shower, my workout is done in record time. And if I throw my sandwiches straight in the bin, I can finish my lunch in under 10 seconds.

In today's @navigatepolitics.uk weekly roundup, I analysed how candidates surnames' dictate how well they do within party slates in multi-member wards. 72% of the time, the candidate 1st alphabetically received the most votes. Surnames starting with Z topped their slates just 6% or the time!!

WHAT ARE YOU LOT LIKE?! We have basic tracking on the newsletter. Most clicked link - our tips on Oxford Open Doors. Fair. Second most clicked link? A picture of MP @ollyglover.bsky.social toastie and a debate on where to get the best cheese and onion toasties in Didcot. News and toasties. 💪

It is indeed. Joined the Reading Lib Dem team in the parade, and some chat at their stall afterwards.

Note this comment on Stadler's website. "The FLIRT Akku was developed to close these gaps in the rail network with sustainable electricity and can replace diesel vehicles on secondary lines without overhead lines." UK has convinced itself they are suitable basically everywhere we haven't wired.

Aware such units are being marketed, but from everything I have looked at, no country uses them on unelectrified lines with speeds more than 75mph. If they do 100, it is when in full electric mode.

It isn't a bolt-on, EWR was proposed for it 1st. Perfectly possible to electrify the tunnels into Marylebone. Chiltern is another poor application of battery trains due to 100mph speeds, and north of Banbury used intensively for freight. No rolling contract yet awarded for Class 15x replacements.

Oxford-Bletchley was all rebuilt in recent years, with nearly all structures passively cleared for future electrification. Bletchley to Bedford is going to be rebuilt and fully electrified.

Oxford-Bletchley was all rebuilt in recent years, with nearly all structures passively cleared for future electrification. Bletchley to Bedford is going to be rebuilt and fully electrified.

We were confident we could do HS2 with 400km/h design speed and automatic train operation, ignoring the experience of others, until we ditched both concepts in favour of what works.

As stated above, there are few bridges that need sorting, as most of it is new railway. Lots of things you are ignoring: train reliability; ruling out electric freight; UK's bad track record at doing new and shiny; inferior acceleration of battery trains compared to from the 25kV overhead supply.

Agree with your comments, although I believe EWR is designing for 100mph line speed.

It's mostly a new railway. Few bridges need rebuilding on the existing railway. But even then, British Rail was good at doing such stuff decades ago. If discontinuous and batteries is such a great idea for a fast and busy railway, why isn't everywhere else doing it?

100mph battery trains do not exist. Nowhere in the world uses them. Lack of wires means electric freight is impossible. Lots of unanswered questions about battery life. EWR's own figures show that rolling stock leasing costs significantly higher for battery compared to conventional electric.

They have their merits on slower/more lightly-used lines, but the proposed use of them on 100mph and high-frequency East West Rail is completely absurd, and nowhere else in the world currently uses battery trains on railways with those characteristics.