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‘Free Money’: Executives at Failing Train Company Joke About Making Money at the Taxpayer’s Expense ‘Roll-up, roll-up, get your free money here.’ by Polly Smythe 15 January 2024 “Roll-up, roll-up get your free money here,” is how one of the UK’s worst train operators privately described taxpayer money. Leaked slides from an internal Avanti West Coast presentation, whose services are notorious for disruption, delays, short-notice cancellations and overcrowding, show senior management at the operator calling taxpayer money “too good to be true”. The slides, seen by Novara Media, are from a presentation given at an all managers meeting on 12 January. Novara Media understands that the presentation was given to the company’s executive team, including the managing director. The slides mockingly describe how Avanti West Coast is given performance based bonuses by the Treasury for achieving a less than perfect service. A slide entitled, “Roll-up, roll-up get your free money here!” sets out how the Treasury, via the Department for Transport, expects Avanti to “provide resources to deliver high-quality levels of customer service.” In return, the Treasury will support the company to deliver new assets, customer service improvement projects and initiatives, as well as to find maintenance and third-party supplier contracts. The slide then reads: “then they pay for it! …nearly all of it!… But that’s not the end of the matter …” Whereas previously train operating companies were fined for their failure to comply with standards, they will now be rewarded for meeting their targets. The slides tell how Avanti gets performance related bonuses for a service that the Treasury has already paid it to provide, even if it scores seven out of 10 for compliance. “So, to re-cap – they scope our BAU [business as usual] activities – pay for them and pay to check them – how good is that?!” read the slides. “But wait … do they want 100% compliance?”, the presentation continues. “No! 7,8 or 9 out of 10 is asked for across the different areas of our customer experience portfolio… “And here’s the fantastic thing! – if we achieve those figures, they pay us some more money – which is ours to keep – in the form of a performance-based fee!! Sounds too good to be true?! Well on this occasion – it isn’t – it’s the absolute truth!” The RMT union described the slides as a “disgrace,” and have written to Avanti West Coast to requesting an explanation. Avanti West Coast, a joint venture between UK based FirstGroup and Italian train operator Trenitalia, dramatically reduced its timetable in 2022, citing staff shortages as the reason for widespread disruption. However, unions rejected this claim, instead arguing that Avanti had long been operating by expecting staff to work on their rest days. Despite routinely reduced services and delays, in September 2023 the Department for Transport awarded Avanti West Cost a nine-year contract on the west coast main line, with transport secretary Mark Harper claiming the operator was “back on track”. Yet only two months after the contract was renewed, devolved statutory body Transport for the North (TfN) asked transport secretary Mark Harper to conduct a review into Avanti’s operation, after the operator reduced the number of services offered to passengers over the Christmas period. TfN described the “underlying operational resilience” of Avanti West Coast as “fundamentally flawed,” and called for the operator to declassify all first-class seating in order to create more seating. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Avanti is one of the worst rail companies in terms of performance and how it treats rail staff. For senior management to produce a PowerPoint slide bragging about the government paying them public money is a disgrace. “The government has the mandate over Avanti and should never have given them a long term nine-year contract award. “The fact that the company feels emboldened to boast that they get ‘free money’ is down to the ridiculous system of rail ownership in this country. “Ultimately profit driven companies who receive huge public subsidies have failed to deliver for railway workers and passengers alike. And that’s why we need public ownership of the entire network.” The slides are in response to the rollout of Service Quality Regimes (SQR), developed by the Department for Transport. SQRs are a set of standards introduced to measure the quality of customer experience on the railways, with trains, stations, and customer service audited by independent inspection teams, paid for by the Department for Transport. In October 2022, the Department for Transport handed Avanti West Coast a bonus pay-out of £4.1m, despite the operator being then Britain’s worst train operator for punctuality, with only 60.1% of stops by Avanti trains arriving and departing within one minute of their scheduled time. Labour’s shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said the bonus “rewarded abject failure,” calling the pay-out a “scandalous waste of taxpayers’ money.” An Avanti West Coast spokesperson said: “These slides were an attempt to explain how the Service Quality Regime works to some of our colleagues, but the language used was regrettable. “The Service Quality Regime is a robust and independent audit which we take very seriously. It has been demonstrated to hold us to account to drive up standards as we strive to continually improve our customer service.” The Department for Transport declined to comment. The Treasury has been contacted for comment. Polly Smythe is Novara Media’s labour movement correspondent.

Jennifer Coolidge left the Emmys with the award for best supporting actress in a drama series, but she didn’t forget to leave something in return for her LGBTQ+ fans. The White Lotus star had many people to thank in her acceptance speech over the weekend, including producers Mike White, Dave Bernad, Mike Kamine, and last but certainly not least, “the evil gays.” “I want to thank all the evil gays,” she said, directing the audience to applaud. Coolidge went viral last year after the release of the show’s second season for a hilarious moment in the final episode, where her character, Tanya McQuaid, is on a yacht with her newfound gay friends when she realizes that something sinister is afoot. “Please, these gays, they’re trying to murder me!” Tanya begs the yacht’s captain. “We’re all gay here,” he replies in the few English words he knows. The scene was censored in Russia upon its release, with streamer Amediateka changing the word “gay” to “men.” Other LGBTQ+ storylines in the show were also cut in the country. Coolidge, for her part, apparently holds no hard feelings for the “evil gays,” and values her place among the LGBTQ+ community. The actor previously told The Advocate Channel in a 2023 interview that she isn’t quite sure how she became an icon to queer people, but that she takes pride in the honor nonetheless. “I’m someone who tries very hard to get things right,” Coolidge said, adding, “There’s nothing slick about me. I don’t feel unattainable. … Maybe people like that I’m not, you know, even close to perfect.” Further proving her ties to the community, Coolidge’s win was enthusiastically celebrated by the queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race , who IndieWire editor Marcus Jones shared were the first to give the actor a standing ovation. As for Tanya’s fate, and her future in White Lotus , Coolidge noted in her speech that White said “I’m definitely dead, so I’m going along with it.” She concluded with a message to all her fans, LGBTQ+ or otherwise. “I had a little dream in my little town, and everyone said it was impractical and it was far-fetched, but it did happen after all. So, don’t give up on your dream,” she said.

Residents in one the country’s spookiest villages are getting in the spirit of Halloween, with signs put up asking drivers to slow down for ghosts.

Get ready to unleash a dose of laughter with this week’s collection of the funniest animal memes! In the animal kingdom, our furry, feathered, and even scaly friends seem to have a knack for capturing the comedic essence of life in ways humans can only dream of. From cats plotting world domination while lounging on your keyboard to dogs with expressions that perfectly mimic our Monday morning vibes, these memes are a hilarious homage to our non-human companions. So, buckle up for a joyride through a jungle of jokes and a sea of silliness, because these animal memes are sure to bring out the beast of belly laughs in you! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.