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Ever been caught short at a station scrambling for coins to pay for the toilet?
Now passengers at the UK's busiest railway stations will be able to spend a penny for free - after Network Rail scrapped charges.
On Monday, London Liverpool Street, London King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley became the last of its 20 stations to make their toilets free.
Previously some charged up to 50p per person.
Network Rail said it wanted to put "passengers first" and help make their journeys "a bit more hassle-free".
In 2017 it was revealed that the public sector body had made £41m in 10 years from toilet charges.
The latest figures show Network Rail-run stations across the UK made £3.1m from toilet charges in 2017-18.
Independent watchdog Transport Focus said toilets were a "priority for improvement" at stations according to its research.
It said scrapping charges was "a welcome step for passengers".
Other stations run by Network Rail - including Birmingham New Street, Manchester Piccadilly and Glasgow Central - have already scrapped toilet charges.
Smaller stations managed by local train operating companies may still charge for the use of facilities.
Network Rail said the move was one of a number of measures to help passengers.
Other improvements being made at stations include the introduction of water fountains, better and more seating, and reducing clutter on concourses.
Ever been caught short at a station scrambling for coins to pay for the toilet?
Now passengers at the UK's busiest railway stations will be able to spend a penny for free - after Network Rail scrapped charges.
On Monday, London Liverpool Street, London King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley became the last of its 20 stations to make their toilets free.
Previously some charged up to 50p per person.
Network Rail said it wanted to put "passengers first" and help make their journeys "a bit more hassle-free".
In 2017 it was revealed that the public sector body had made £41m in 10 years from toilet charges.
The latest figures show Network Rail-run stations across the UK made £3.1m from toilet charges in 2017-18.
Independent watchdog Transport Focus said toilets were a "priority for improvement" at stations according to its research.
It said scrapping charges was "a welcome step for passengers".
Other stations run by Network Rail - including Birmingham New Street, Manchester Piccadilly and Glasgow Central - have already scrapped toilet charges.
Smaller stations managed by local train operating companies may still charge for the use of facilities.
Network Rail said the move was one of a number of measures to help passengers.
Other improvements being made at stations include the introduction of water fountains, better and more seating, and reducing clutter on concourses.
In a completely unexpected move, the British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday announced outside Number 10 Downing Street that the UK would resume its space launch programme, 47 years after its cancellation following the launch of the Prospero satellite. She outlined a bold plan with a target of placing the Doc Martens of a British astronaut on the Lunar surface as early as 2024. Funded by the £350m per week Brexit windfall, the move would she said place the country at the forefront of a new 21st century Space Race with the North Koreans.
An estimated 2 million jubilant supporters took to the streets of London at the news, bringing the capital to a halt as they paraded with colourful banners from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square and down Whitehall past her Downing Street home. Meanwhile the value of shares in the popular British high street bakery firm Patisserie Gregoire jumped by 19% as it was revealed that their new vegan sausage roll had in fact been a secret trial of the British astronaut diet.
As you might imagine, here at Hackaday we are enthusiastic about space exploration, and welcome wholeheartedly any news of new initiatives in that direction. But we recognise that in the light of the fast-moving political theatre of Brexit these are turbulent times in which what makes the headlines on April 1st might well have become merely chip wrappers by April 2nd. So to try to make sense of the story and give it some context, we thought we’d take a moment to look at the British space industry as it stands. And with a 5.1% share of the global space economy, a Government-funded UK Space Agency with plans for a spaceport, a host of space related work from the private sector, and some of the world’s more bleeding-edge research, it might come as a surprise to find out just how much of it there is.
It’s difficult to write any story involving the UK in early 2019 though without further mention of Brexit, and the space business is certainly no exception with industry figures expressing concern about its effect. A story that came and went last year was that UK firms would be excluded from contracts associated with the Galileo satellite navigation system. Since a significant proportion of Galileo used British technology and their control centre was in the UK, the Government responded by announcing that it would commission a study into creating their own constellation of navigation satellites. To this end they have committed £92m, a sum which seemed to go down well with the choir but even with the UK’s demonstrable expertise in the field would represent a drop in the ocean compared to the cost of a final system. In a nutshell: they could certainly do it, but at a cost which future Governments might find difficult to stomach. This is something which if you’ve read the Prospero piece linked above, you’ll know has happened before. If there is a glimmer of hope for Brits in all this it is that the UK is still part of the European Space Agency, but as with Galileo any UK access might be limited when it comes to ESA projects funded by the EU.
![A model of an earlier SABRE engine design. Science Museum London / Science and Society Picture Library [CC BY-SA 2.0]](https://hackadaycom.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/sabre_engine_designed_for_skylon_spaceplane_1990s._9660572897.jpg)
HOTOL was a 1980s programme to create a horizontal-takeoff British Aerospace spaceplane that was cancelled as the government of the time decided its focus should lie with the conventional rockets of ESA. Three HOTOL engineers formed Reaction Engines in 1989 with the aim of developing the HOTOL concept of a hybrid engine and aircraft that could use atmospheric oxygen to burn during the stages of its flight close to Earth, only switching to its onboard oxygen tanks as atmospheric pressure reduced to the point of not supporting combustion and the craft entered space. Their work has culminated in the precooled SABRE engine of which they are expected to have a ground-based working prototype by 2020, and the Skylon spaceplane concept design which will it is hoped fly in a future decade. In another nod to the Prospero story, the company’s UK test facilities are at Westcott in Buckinghamshire, once home to test stands for the cancelled Blue Streak rockets of the 1950s.
So you may by now have gathered that while those British boots might not be treading the surface of the Moon in five years time to wave at their American and perhaps Chinese rivals there is a surprising amount of British space tech already in the skies as well as the promise of more to come. Whoever next lands a craft on the Moon should be hailed by space enthusiasts of all nations, accompanied by the fervent hope that they do so in safety and return home unscathed. Brits meanwhile should have no need to go back to the moon for a few more decades, after all they sent an intrepid pair of explorers there in the 1980s.
Header image: Prime Minister, Kuhlmann [CC BY 3.0]/Number 10 Downing St, Sergeant Tom Robinson RLC/MOD [OGL v1.0]
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s exit from the European Union was in disarray after the implosion of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit strategy left her under pressure from rival factions to leave without a deal, go for an election or forge a much softer divorce.
FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks in the Parliament in London, Britain, March 29, 2019 in this screen grab taken from video. Reuters TV via REUTERS
After one of the most tumultuous weeks in British politics since the 2016 referendum, it was still uncertain how, when or even if the United Kingdom will ever leave the bloc it first joined 46 years ago.
A third defeat of May’s divorce deal, after her pledge to quit if it was passed, left one of the weakest leaders in a generation grappling with a perilous crisis over Brexit, the United Kingdom’s most significant move since World War Two.
Parliament will vote on different Brexit options on Monday and then May could try one last roll of the dice by bringing her deal back to a vote in parliament as soon as Tuesday.
“There are no ideal choices available and there are very good arguments against any possible outcome at the moment but we are going to have to do something,” said Justice Secretary David Gauke, who voted in the 2016 referendum to stay in the EU.
“The prime minister is reflecting on what the options are, and is considering what may happen but I don’t think any decisions have been made,” he told BBC TV.
Many in May’s party, though, have lost patience. The Sun newspaper reported that 170 of her 314 Conservative lawmakers had sent her a letter demanding that Brexit take place in the next few months - deal or no deal.
The United Kingdom was due to leave the EU on March 29 but the political deadlock in London forced May to ask the bloc for a delay. Currently, Brexit is due to take place at 2200 GMT on April 12 unless May comes up with another option.
The labyrinthine Brexit crisis has left the United Kingdom divided: supporters of both Brexit and EU membership marched through London last week. Many on both sides feel betrayed by a political elite that has failed to show leadership.
Parliament is due to vote at around 1900 GMT on Monday on a range of alternative Brexit options selected by Speaker John Bercow from nine proposals put forward by lawmakers, including a no-deal exit, preventing a no-deal exit, a customs union, or a second referendum.
“We are clearly going to have to consider very carefully the will of parliament,” Gauke said.
With no majority yet in the House of Commons for any of the Brexit options, there was speculation that an election could be called, though such a vote would be unpredictable and it is unclear who would lead the Conservatives into it.
The Sunday Times said May’s media chief, Robbie Gibb, and her political aide Stephen Parkinson were pushing for an election against the will of her chief enforcer in parliament, Julian Smith.
The Conservative Party’s deputy chair, James Cleverly, said it was not planning for an election. But the deputy leader of the opposition Labour Party, Tom Watson, said his party was on election footing.
Labour’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, Emily Thornberry, said it could try to call a vote of no confidence in May’s government.
“We don’t know if she is going to remain prime minister, if we are going to get somebody else, who that other person is going to be - it is a mess,” Thornberry said.
Opponents of Brexit fear it will make Britain poorer and divide the West as it grapples with both the unconventional U.S. presidency of Donald Trump and growing assertiveness from Russia and China.
Supporters of Brexit say while the divorce might bring some short-term instability, in the longer term it will allow the United Kingdom to thrive if cut free from what they cast as a doomed attempt in European unity.
Reporting by Kylie MacLellan and Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky
LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May risks the “total collapse” of her government if she fails to get her battered Brexit deal through parliament, the Sunday Times newspaper said, amid growing speculation that she might call an early election.
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May is seen in a car outside the Houses of Parliament as she faces a vote on alternative Brexit options in London, Britain, March 27, 2019. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez/File Photo
Underscoring the tough choices facing May to break the Brexit impasse, the newspaper said at least six pro-European Union senior ministers will resign if she opts for a potentially damaging no-deal departure from the EU.
But at the same time, rival ministers who support Brexit were threatening to quit if May decides to stay close to the EU with a customs union or if she sought a long delay to Brexit, the Sunday Times said.
May’s Brexit strategy is in tatters after the exit deal she hammered out with other EU leaders was rejected for a third time by the House of Commons on Friday, the day that Britain was supposed to leave the bloc.
Nearly three years after Britons voted by 52-48 percent to end the country’s EU membership after 46 years, what Brexit will look like or whether it will even happen remains up in the air.
May now has less than two weeks to convince the 27 other EU countries that she can break the deadlock. Otherwise she will have to ask the bloc for a long extension or take Britain out of the EU on April 12 with no deal to soften the economic shock.
May has said she will step down if her Brexit deal gets through parliament, offering her critics the chance of a different prime minister to lead the next round of negotiations with Brussels about Britain’s future ties to the bloc.
But that last-gasp offer has failed to break the impasse, leading to talk of an election.
The Mail on Sunday newspaper said May’s advisors were divided over whether she should call an early election if she fails to win support for her Brexit deal from parliament in the coming week.
The newspaper said a possible “run-off” vote could take place on Tuesday in parliament between May’s deal and whatever alternative emerges as the most popular from voting by lawmakers on Monday.
That meant an election could be called as early as Wednesday, the newspaper said, without citing sources.
An early election would need the support of two thirds of members of parliament, and the Observer newspaper said Conservative lawmakers were reluctant to let May lead them into another election after she lost their majority in 2017.
The Sunday Telegraph said senior members of the Conservative Party did not want May to lead them into a snap election, fearing the party would be “annihilated” at the polls if she faced down parliament over Brexit in the coming months.
An opinion poll in the Mail on Sunday gave the opposition Labour Party a lead of five percentage points over the Conservatives. That lead fell to three points if voters were offered the chance to vote for a new group of independent lawmakers who have not yet created an official party.
One of the most popular alternatives among lawmakers, including Labour members, is Britain staying in a customs union with the EU, an option also favored by many business leaders.
Brexit supporters say a customs union would deny Britain the opportunity to strike trade deals around the world.
Earlier on Saturday, one lawmaker said Conservative members of parliament had written to May telling her to lead Britain out of the EU in the coming months, even if it means a potentially damaging no-deal Brexit.
The Sun newspaper said the letter was signed by 170 of the 314 Conservative lawmakers in parliament, including 10 cabinet ministers.
Reporting by William Schomberg and David Milliken; Editing by Daniel Wallis
LONDON — When Alfred Smith and Bob Weighton were born, Edward VII was king of Britain. They have lived through two world wars, more than 20 prime ministers and the entire rule of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch. They also saw Britain join the predecessor of the European Union — a bloc it was supposed to leave on Friday, the day both men turned 111.
As it became clear that the withdrawal known as Brexit wouldn’t happen on his birthday after all, Mr. Weighton, who lives in southern England, echoed a growing frustration with the current political deadlock, calling it “a total mess.”
“My own feeling is that if there were defects — and there were quite obviously defects — we can negotiate on the inside rather than walking off the field with the cricket ball and saying ‘I’m not playing,’” Mr. Weighton told the BBC.
But the most common question he has been asked does not concern politics. He said most people wanted to know the secret to his longevity — something to which he could not respond.
“I have no answer, except to avoid dying,” he said.
The oldest person on record living in Britain is a woman: Grace Jones turned 112 in September. But men are increasingly living past the age of 90, and more than 14,000 centenarians were living in Britain in 2017, the most recent year such statistics are available, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Government population estimates see the number of centenarians passing 65,000 by 2031.
Most British citizens receive a personal greeting from Queen Elizabeth II on their 100th and 105th birthdays, and one for each year past the age of 110. Mr. Weighton told the BBC that he would ask the monarch to stop sending him cards in order to save public funds.
Mr. Weighton and Mr. Smith, who lives in Scotland, were both born on March 29, 1908. In recent years, their photographs have appeared in the news side by side, sitting in armchairs 500 miles apart. Though they have never met in person, the two men have exchanged birthday cards.
“I feel he’s a twin brother, although technically he’s not,” Mr. Smith said of Mr. Weighton in an interview last year with the Scottish network STV.
Both men have led an adventurous life spanning continents and different jobs. In the 1930s, Mr. Weighton taught at a missionary school in Taiwan, and moved to the United States by way of Canada.
He and his wife, Agnes, were in the United States during the attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the country into World War II. He has a son who married a Swede and a daughter who married a German.
“I flatly refuse to regard my grandchildren as foreigners,” he told The Guardian last year. “I’m an internationalist, but I’ve not lost my pride in being a Yorkshireman or British.”
Mr. Smith immigrated to Canada in 1927 and worked on a farm there. But he returned to Scotland after five years to drive trucks for his brother. He was a farmer until his retirement at the age of 70.
“I like to think I’ve lived a decent life,” he told The Scotsman newspaper this past week. “I do ask myself — why me? Why have I lived so long when others haven’t?” he asked. His wife died more than 15 years ago at 97, and one of his sons died in 2016.
As to longevity, Mr. Smith had no definitive answer, either.
“Porridge is helpful,” he said, “and having a job you enjoy.”
