@julianvaughan
Train Driver, ASLEF H&S Rep, Blogger, Dad, Sunderland fan. Rail accessibility campaigner - ‘professional agitant’. Labour Parliamentary candidate 2017/2019 - no longer in Labour. Pro PR and a fairer society.
The more I look into yesterday’s announcement on ‘Access for All’ funding from Lord Hendy, the worse it gets.
From what I’ve seen, the 23 stations progressing to “detailed design” are far from a done deal.
For all the warm words, rail accessibility is being shunted into the sidings under Labour.
Rob Reiner: “Silence in the face of authoritarianism is complicity. Speaking out is a patriotic act. Democracy doesn’t defend itself. It requires participation, vigilance, and courage from ordinary people."
Maybe try giving people some hope rather than gaslighting them 🙄
The Council of Europe's human rights commissioner warns that “for every inch yielded, there’s going to be another inch demanded” on the ECHR. I think he's right, and yesterday's attempts to amend it will only increase support for withdrawal. www.theguardian.com/law/2025/dec...
Nothing quite says ‘House of Lords reform’ and ‘improving trust in our politics’ as appointing 34 unelected life peers 🙄
We’ve put together a starter pack of alternative media outlets. Follow these to get a different take on the news. 👇
The media onslaught against people on benefits/those suffering from anxiety & depression is sickening & will have direct consequences in our communities.
This continued othering of sections of our society is a predictable as it is repulsive. It won’t stop. Will it be you next?
A lift entrance at Biggleswade Station surrounded by bright blue cladding, on a cloudless winter’s day.
The lifts at Biggleswade 🚂 station in Bedfordshire will come in to public service tomorrow, 8th December, ending an 8 year campaign 🥳🎊🎉
Still waiting for the much delayed DfT confirmation of funding for Leagrave and the other 49 stations 572 days from 1st being announced 🤦♂️
@sarahowen.org.uk
Very sorry to hear this - which station is that?
Words can’t really express the horror that is Hillsborough - not just on the day but everything that has happened after. The new Hillsborough duty of candour is a step in the right direction but will it be enough to combat a culture of defensiveness, delay and impunity?
It’s a step in the right direction - and testament to the dignity of the families, but much more needs to be done. As I set out briefly in the blog below it needs a fundamental change in the relationship between the state and the people.
julianvaughan.blog/2024/04/01/f...
We need action, not warm words and timidity.
julianvaughan.blog/2025/12/05/a...
A mugshot registration photograph from Auschwitz. A woman wearing a striped uniform photographed in three positions (profile and front with a bare head and a photo with a slightly turned head with a headscarf on). The prisoner number is visible on a marking board on the left.
29 November 1926 | A Polish girl, Zofia Łucarz, was born in Jasło.
In #Auschwitz from 19 January 1943.
No. 29814
She perished in the camp on 3 April 1943.
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A podcast about registration photos: https://youtu.be/c2l9hDA5MZc
Thank you. I hope lessons will be learned as the delays to this project were unacceptable.
It's been a long slog, but finally some good news re #Biggleswade 🚂 station. Lifts on track to enter service 'before Xmas'. Details in the blog... #accessibility #stepfreeaccess
julianvaughan.blog/2025/11/28/b...
It's been a long slog, but finally some good news re #Biggleswade 🚂 station. Lifts on track to enter service 'before Xmas'. Details in the blog... #accessibility #stepfreeaccess
julianvaughan.blog/2025/11/28/b...
A visualisation of the brand new Ravensthorpe station on the Trans Pennine Route due to open in 2028. The visualisation shows lifts, but no toilets, seats, covered areas or offices for platform staff.
£11B on the Trans Pennine Upgrade - but they can't afford toilets at the brand new Ravensthorpe station it seems.
If they want to "deliver a fully accessible railway fit for the 21st Century" as they claim, they need to install toilets.
Actions speak louder than words. @thetrupgrade.bsky.social
For anyone who wants to dive back into the middle of the pandemic, here is my blog on Johnson and Cummings response to Covid 19 written in May 2020. #covidinquiry
julianvaughan.blog/2020/05/27/t...
Welcome news that Labour are stopping the obscene profiteering from the resale of tickets - next step must be the end of freebie tickets to MPs.
It’s the most bizarre form of gaslighting that places the blame of a) Labour’s troubles and b) the prospect of a Reform government, on those who criticise/leave the Party, rather than on the policies, lack of vision and dreadful comms of the current Labour leadership.
Well as it turns out, leadership sits on Starmer’s shoulders just as uncomfortably as it did on Corbyn’s.
One fundamental difference between the two is that, whether you agreed with them or not, you knew the principles that Corbyn stood for.
Whatever the question is, Streeting isn’t the answer!
One of the aphorisms that's been going around resonates with me:
“The underlying purpose of #AI is to allow wealth to access skill while removing from the skilled the ability to access wealth.” ~ need to remember the author. 😖
They don’t to pay or work for expertise anymore!
A pilot friend always says to me: "Yes, we are very well paid. And, if everything goes as it should, we do hardly any work. But then there there is that once-a-decade trip, when we earn a whole career's worth of salaries in ten minutes."
From the details we have so far, it sounds like an exemplary response from both railway staff and the emergency services dealing with an incredibly difficult situation.
Wishing those physically injured a speedy recovery and hope all impacted by this incident are provided with appropriate support.
While 'The Hack' hasn't had the same impact as 'Mr Bates vs the PO’ the sheer scale and breadth of the corruption and the sickening fact that most involved have smugly got away scot free is yet another stain on our political and legal system - and why we need a Leveson 2.
Finally got round to finishing my blog about our Hadrian’s Wall walk.
It won’t quite convey the tiredness in the legs, but hopefully it shows the beauty of the area and will be of some help to future hikers. #HadriansWall #Northumberland
julianvaughan.blog/2025/10/29/h...
"This plan must be ambitious, practical, and transformative. It must make people’s lives better – especially those struggling most. If the government is to take the public with them in rebuilding a society fit for the future, this is absolutely vital.”
https://bit.ly/42Uza2C
My blog on a train driver’s experience following a fatality is still my most regularly read.
I hope it is a help to people both inside and outside the rail industry.
If you need to talk to someone you can call the Samaritans at any time on 116 123.
julianvaughan.blog/2024/06/17/f...
How has the government got itself into the position of standing up for Israeli football hooligans, while criminalising peaceful supporters of Palestine Action?
Too many straws. Too many backs. It is with sadness not bitterness that I have today resigned from the Labour Party. I've set out why below. However, my passion for social justice and trade unionism remains undimmed.
julianvaughan.blog/2025/10/15/l...