Jon Worth

EU politics and sustainable transport, especially railways Brit who became German & lives in a village in France. When he's not escaping it on a train or a folding bicycle Teaches at College of Europe, still writes a blog, photographs with a drone

Analysis

Photo intermission - autumn in East London

Skyline from my window All of the following pictures are along the Hertford Union Canal and Regent's Canal, between Victoria Park and Limehouse Basin. All photos are Creative Commons / Sharealike licensed, and high res versions can be downloaded from my East London set on Flickr.

France

Paris, 114 km

The early spring sunshine is setting behind a straggle of clouds strewn across the agricultural plains of that non-descript part of France somewhere between Bourgogne and Paris. In the blink of an eye we’ll be looping around Paris and heading north to Brussels. But before that, a pause, for

Analysis

The hypocrisy of Europe’s railways: some observations after a journey from Brussels to Germany

In the January edition of ‘Mobil’, the magazine of Deutsche Bahn there’s a picture of Guillaume Pépy (head of SNCF), Rüdiger Grübe (chair of the board of Deutsche Bahn) and Yoshio Ishida (president of UIC) beaming at Gare du Midi, Bruxelles, in front of the Climate Express, a special

Guides

Dive Lake Malawi

It was one of the most unusual work assignments I've ever been given: 3 days working in Lilongwe, Malawi. But it would be mad to fly to sub-Saharan Africa without enjoying a few days off too. Lake Malawi is supposed to be one of the best freshwater dive

Analysis

In the grip of Star Alliance

‘Breakfast?’ Breakfast. What. Just about off to sleep in a tiny Air Canada seat. Airbus A330-300, modern, very little space. Grumpy staff. It’s morning. Sun over Scotland somewhere. In flight maps not working – what good is that for the son of a geographer? Get a second breakfast from passenger

Analysis

Body Mass Index airline seat pricing

An article at Boing Boing caught my eye today - that United Airlines wants to charge obese passengers for two seats. The argument is a simple one: if you're too large to fit into a seat you have to pay for a second one as you are inconveniencing

Analysis

Farmland the game: not only Ryanair has problems with scantily clad women

Mary Honeyball MEP has rightly been having a go at Ryanair about a charity calendar the airline has been selling that contains air hostesses in various states of undress in their aircraft. You can read Mary's posts about that case and make up your mind about it; frankly

Quick takes

DB Schenker takes to the rails in the UK

It was a small flash of white on maroon, but it meant so much - the DB Schenker logo on the side of a Class 60 UK railway engine somewhere between Chesterfield and Derby on 3rd October, out of the window from my Sheffield-London train. If anyone can help improve

Analysis

London-Sheffield for an early meeting: how hard can it be?

I need to get from London to Sheffield on 3rd October and I ideally need to arrive by 0900. Shouldn't be too hard? Think again. Maybe I am just too used to Eurostar that can get me from Brussels via Lille at 300km/h and allow me to

Analysis

You know you have a problem with your main airport when...

...you can make jokes about Heathrow Terminal 5 in adverts in German in the magazine of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Translation: "Sorry, our advertisement is still stuck in Heathrow Terminal 5". The deckchair seems to make reference to the famous anti-German Carling Black Label advertisement about Germans and British

Analysis

Customer service - how you should do it

I've been so frustrated in recent weeks by a complete lack of customer service in all kinds of places I've been - Coditel and UPS in Belgium, Thomas Cook Airlines in Canada, BAA at Gatwick (on my return from Canada - not as severe as Boris

Analysis

Riding the Railroad

The cloud sits heavy over Albany, NY and drips of rain slide down the windowpanes of the coach windows of Amtak train 69 "Adirondack" bound for Montréal. After a nightmarish bus journey in the opposite direction this is much more civilised. I wonder whether the border crossing is

Analysis

Brussels - St Pancras - Gatwick - Montréal and onwards

Eurostar terminal Brussels on a Friday morning, 0830. Why so many people? Apparently it's normal a stressed UK Borders passport checker informs me. Coach 17, filled with doddering pensions and Flemish children. Why can't Eurostar do a business standard coach? And why can't Flemish

Analysis

Thalys via Paris: it's the planes and the second seat that are the real scandal

From the start of the French Presidency of the EU (1st July), a 300km/h Thalys train is going to be hired to transport MEPs and EP officials from Brussels to Strasbourg for the monthly plenary sessions. Sounds like a reasonable idea - via the high speed line towards Paris,

Analysis

Swedish rail transport and the market: twisted signals

So private train companies cause more crashes do they? That's the message being put out by SEKO, the Swedish trade union of Service and Communication Employees. They use the image above, with the slogan 'Mer konkurrens?' (shown as a small version in the image here to

Analysis

Brussels - London - Berlin - London - Brussels - London - Brussels

I'm on the road for 10 days, doing all kinds of website work and running training courses. I'll blog when I can, but don't expect any detailed analysis of European politics in the next few days... Plus I'm in Berlin now, my

Analysis

Carbon neutral year? Well, lower carbon at least

I like to consider myself as being reasonably environmentally friendly but I've not been as systematic about it as I might have been until now. So 2008 I'm going to do better... 1. All electricity at home is green electricity, supplied by Lampiris and I have

Analysis

The unique challenge of a Belgian junction

Belgium is one of the last places where the priorité à  droite rule still applies to traffic (more from Marko and Expatica) - i.e. when on any road you should give priority to traffic joining from the right. If you're on a major thoroughfare and there'

Analysis

Eurostar grandeur

My Eurostar leans into a curve as the twinkling lights of Calais disappear into the distance, accelerating into northern France. With the dark of an autumn evening outside the window only the dull reverberations of the air on the carriage walls convey the impression of speed. Yet only forty-five minutes

Quick takes

The 0805 to St Pancras International

I was on it - the first ever 0805 Eurostar train from Brussels Midi to London St Pancras International on 15th November, the 2nd day of operation of the new high speed line. The line itself is relatively unexciting - a quick dip in a tunnel under the Thames at

Analysis

Good Dutch design, so I'm set for stylish cycling

It's been a long search (see this post for all the links), but I reckon I have now managed to find the best cycle pannier bag anywhere in Europe - the Basil Preston office bag, aubergine. I don't think the picture here really does it justice.

Analysis

Airport signs: the serious and the frivolous

It's a serious issue: what rights do airline passengers get when their flights have been delayed? The EU has agreed tough rules to oblige airlines to pay, and in Brussels airport there are signs (shown on the right here) that explain those rights. Low cost carriers have not

Analysis

Streetcar plays cleverly on gender stereotypes

From this month's Streetcar newsletter: Not since Mrs Dewbury’s husband ran off with the milkman had news travelled so fast on Chalton Street. Read it, and then read it again. It was accompanied by the cartoon shown. 'Mrs' and 'milkman' in the same

Analysis

De-training and a first ever missed flight

I've just returned from a weekend in Ireland (Giant's Causeway, Enniskillen, Sligo, Belfast). The weekend was excellent, but it did not start well. The 0601 Thameslink / First Capital Connect train from Elephant & Castle to Luton Airport brought down the power lines between Farringdon and Kings

Analysis

Stylish cycling, from Berlin to Barcelona, via Zürich

I've just spent a week in Berlin where plenty of people had Freitag bags - made by a firm in Zürich from recycled tarpaulin and other things. The firm started by making bags for cycle couriers, but those are no good really for commuters - I need a