The government has given the go-ahead for a high-speed rail link from London to Birmingham, later to be continued to Leeds or even further. The trains are expected to run at a speed of 225 mph.

We are promised that all manner of benefits will accrue from this development but in my opinion it is a bad move. We are told that we are lagging behind other countries such as Japan, China, Germany and France who already have high-speed rail travel. But my contention is that we need a different rail system from other countries. Rail travel in this country is of a higher density than in most other countries.

Anyone using road transport will know that the slower the traffic, the closer the vehicles can travel, thus making more vehicles per road mile. The same is true of rail traffic; the slower the trains are run the higher the density that is achieved and the more goods or people can be moved. Slower trains mean less wear and tear on the rolling stock and rail.

When all is said and done why do we need to embrace this fetish of speed? I would prefer a comfortable journey in a well appointed train that reaches its destination on time. And with facilities that would enable me to use the time on the train profitably.

Instead of wasting time trying to copy what others have already done and probably making a bad job of it we should be looking at new ways of travelling. Although I love railways I would say that the methods of construction of track and the use of ballast will have to give way to other methods of transport.

The main reason that trains get from A to B more quickly than road vehicles is because rail travel is more direct; it has less curves and no sharp bends, is flatter than roads and is secure and dedicated. Some work has been done with road type vehicles running on dedicated roads and guided. I would like to see more work done on this model; it should be cheaper and more flexible.

When I was growing up in the 1930s I don’t remember many coloured people about. The only one I remember was Prince Monolulu selling betting tips in and around petticoat Lane in London.

The influx of foreign people into the UK escalated during World War II and was quite a culture shock for British residents. But we have got used to it and for the most part welcome it. I have travelled on business around the world and have seldom met anything other than kindness. I believe there are only two races of people in the world; the goodies and the baddies.

So I believe in tolerance for all people and strive to understand people with different backgrounds to my own. I believe that more harm is done to racial relations by the do-gooders than by any other people.

Over 40 years ago I was discussing this with a good friend and we agreed that if you can insult somebody without causing offence that is a good test of friendship. He said that if he went in a pub and and saw a  friend he might start a conversation going by saying “hello Taffy my old Welsh donkey”, but if he said the same sort of thing to a coloured friend he could feel a policeman getting out the handcuffs.

I abhor the mindless chanting of football crowds and if the chanting takes on an offensive racial character the match should be stopped forthwith. But the recent tensions caused by racial remarks made by one football player to another are ridiculous. In my travels around the world I have been called many names some of them quite offensive. Then I put it down to the ignorance of the people making the remark and left it at that. Too much emphasis on this sort of thing blows it up out of all proportion and does nothing to help race relations.

The FA should look to putting its house in order in other directions such as insisting that football clubs must make a profit or be dropped from the league.they should also make harsher penalties for dangerous play and consistent cheating.

The phone hacking scandal is not going away is it? It appears that most of the major newspaper chains have been involved in skulduggery of this kind for many years simply to serve the appetites of their avid readers.

I say again that I have not bought a newspaper for over 40 years and I don’t intend to start now. I can understand people buying newspapers for TV programmes, football results and in some cases comments from well-respected columnists, but as far as  straightforward news is concerned; forget it!

I sympathise entirely with this protest but I believe that the protesters had their aims are a little off skew. Whilst bankers and others have contributed to the current financial situation I believe that the problem goes much further than that

Since the end of the last world war and maybe even before that there have been problems concerning unemployment. For a time after the war there was so much to do to get back onto an even keel that the problem was submerged; but now it is becoming more obvious.

Along with a great many other engineers I have been earning a living by putting people out of work. Because of the design and development of machines that cut out a lot of manual work we are scratching about trying to find sufficient work to go round.

As an example let us look at the manufacturer of babies disposable nappies (or diapers). In the early days the manufacture of this product was labour intensive. Hundreds of people would sit at benches glueing and sewing together cutout shapes in plastic and elastic and inserting the filling. Now these products are made on machines some hundred feet long. Huge roles of plastic, materials for filling and miles of elastic are brought in by fork truck and loaded onto spindles at the input end of the machine. From this raw material base the product is made so quickly that it is seen only as a white blur on the conveyor belt. Even the perfume is added automatically.

At the output end of the machine the product is packed into cardboard boxes ready for sale. There is very little handling by humans. Some years ago I saw a plant where these machines were running 24\7. Three shifts were running of eight hours each and comprised of only five people per shift. Imagine the enormous number of people that these machines replaced. Making this product by hand must’ve been a mind numbing experience but it did provide employment.

This same pattern has been, and is still being, reproduced in practically all manufactured articles; automobiles, clothes, electrical goods and so on. It’s no wonder that governments are scratching around trying to find employment for their people.

The fact is that for a long time now we have been going through another industrial revolution and governments are refusing to accept this. We need to look at the economy in a completely different way if we are to survive. Protests against capitalism will inevitably lead eventually to bloodshed and strikes will lessen the quality of everybody’s life.

The present situation has taken decades to come about and will take a long time to remedy. But, as they say, the longest journey starts with a single step. The present financial setup is totally unfair to the vast majority of people and particularly to the lower paid. For example; in my opinion interest paid should be variable in the opposite way to the present. Small sums of money gain very little interest but the larger the sum the higher the interest. This is the wrong way round and needs thinking about.

Work should be shared more equally even if it means drastically lowering the average working week. There is no excuse whatsoever for nurses, doctors and carers to be unable to find employment. Unfortunately the financial system has broken down so badly that I believe it’s beyond the wit of man to mend it. Just look at all this nonsense going on with the Euro; the leaders in European countries just have no idea what to do for the best, and are screaming abuse at the Greek Prime Minister because he has refused to play their daft game.

This system has failed irretrievably. Let’s start today to make a better and fairer system for all. Politicians who refuse to accept the challenge must be thrown out.

At last some of the problems associated with newspapers have come home to roost in a big way. I haven’t bought a newspaper regularly now for over 50 years because they have become scandal magazines.

Newspapers should live up to their name of being NEWS papers and should report on the serious issues of the day. Instead they have become in great part gossip rags. I am not interested in the personal life of so-called celebrities. Just because they are well known in a particular activity such as football does not mean that they should be pursued and pilloried by the press.

I am not interested in the private life of celebrities and disagree with the celebrity cult. I have seen many well-known celebrities during my travels but would never dream of approaching them and invading their privacy. If you disagree with this attitude I would advise you to get your own life.

At the moment one facet of one newspaper, The News of the World, is being discussed; the phone hacking scandal. I believe that any enquiry should go far beyond this and bring into question whether people’s private lives should be exposed without their agreement.

My proposal is that all people should hold “copyright”over their own private lives. Just because people seek publicity for business reasons does not seem to me to be a good enough excuse for the media to pry into personal affairs unless they are illegal.

I appreciate that the limits of confidentiality would be hard to define. Nevertheless I believe that this is becoming a subject for serious discussion.

Welcome to Grandad’s Chat where Grandad helps to put the world to rights. Grandad always has a fresh spin on current topics and is frankly anti-media; at least most of it.

Seriously, Grandad believes that newspapers today have far too much influence and far too few morals. Their only purpose seems to be to make money by causing trouble. Unfortunately, in view of the huge masses of people who go for their “fix” every day, they must be addictive; like many drugs they can cause depression which is why most newspaper addicts walk about looking miserable.

I believe that the world was a far happier place when newspapers behaved more responsibly and, apart from Pathe News in the cinema and radio, were the only source of news. Now they try to outdo TV with horror stories and cheap stunts.

On September 4th 1939 (the day after war started) the Daily Mirror had only 12 pages (24 sides) Unlike today’s “news”papers it contained very little other than hard news. A few cartoons (remember  Jane?),  some ads, reader’s letters and sports news.  No speculation, no gossip, no daft headlines.

This would have represented what newspapers were like between the wars. It cost one old penny (2.4 old pennies to one p).

Grandad reckons that cheap toilet rolls make buying a newspaper a less attractive purchase and now that it’s no longer permitted to wrap fish and chips in them they’re totally redundant.