Signal Failure

The managing director of London Underground, "described", in the Journalistic Passive Omniscient, "as the capital's best public servant", has resigned; which, given the kind of people who get to retain their jobs these days, makes the Journalistic Passive Omniscient look slightly more convincing than usual. As one would expect in the case of so important a British job, Tim O'Toole is an American; and as an American he has clearly failed to comprehend the underlying logic of the Glorious Successor's transport policy. Asked about the Government's refusal to invest in the Tube, O'Toole made the preposterous claim that public transport is as worthy of financial rescue as the banking system. "No bank is going to get you home at night, so where do you want to put that money?" he asked, apparently unaware that any bank which can pay cash bonuses to incompetent executives can certainly afford to buy a limousine or two for an obliging minister.