Words Dept.: entry

Crain’s this week has a nice story about “council and quango chiefs” spending “hundreds of thousands of pounds” of public money travelling by first class train. The editor’s comment bemoans

the first-class gravy train

and

free gin and tonic for fat cats.

It’s a nice story that’s bound to cause a justified outbreak of tutting among the Manchester accountants and lawyers whose travel budgets have been slashed to nothing in the last few months.

But wait, what’s this on the back cover? Erm, it’s a full-page advert for Virgin Trains (which, of course, operates the service between Manchester and London) specifically encouraging passengers to travel first class.

Travel like a lottery winner… book a first class journey on our trains and you’ll think your numbers have come up. You’ll enjoy extra legroom, free newspapers and complimentary food and drinks served at your seat. Lucky you.

Hmm. I’ll bet that ad was a hit with the money-burning council tax wasters featured on page 1.

Meanwhile, it’s perhaps worth noting that if you want to travel before 9am, the cost of a first class return ticket from Manchester to London on Virgin Trains is £387 – even when booked a fortnight in advance. No wonder their first class passengers feel like lottery winners. If you’re happy to spunk the cost of a package holiday in Greece on a two-hour train journey, you probably already are one.