Take a look at the railways. What a sorry story! The last dying days of the last Tory government was spent cobbling together privatisation of the railway network and what a sorry mess we've got now.

The latest survey has put Britain at the pinnacle of Europe – when it comes to soaring fare prices.

Victorian Britain's railways were the envy of the world – railways were born here. Victorians would hang their heads in shame to see what future generations have made of their heritage.

For not only have we got appalling overcrowding of the railway network because of a lack of investment down the years, we've got rail journeys which are by far the most expensive in Europe.

Take, for example, a passenger travelling from here to London. An annual ticket would cost £3,118. The same distance in Holland (the second most expensive) would be £1,934 and just £693 in Italy – the cheapest.

The government plans to have rail passengers meet three-quarters of the cost of running the railways by 2014 and that means passengers paying even more.

It was the same government which was trying to persuade us to use public transport rather than the car. Another failed good intention – although with the speed that our roads are breaking up into potholes we may be forced to walk or go by rail.

Failed good intentions? Just look at the NHS, still with mixed sex wards, MRSA and post-code lotteries for expensive drugs.

Education? Literacy rates are poorer here than much of Europe, despite all the good intentions.

We had a good intention to curb drug use, but we're told there are more teenagers using cannabis in Britain now than anywhere else in Europe.

We had a good intention to end the boom and bust of the past. That's a sick joke, isn't it?

There was another to reduce working hours, give people more holidays and all on the back of new technologies which was going to make all our lives easier.

Remember that one? So many good intentions, so many dreams which have come to nothing and I'm sure you can think of a lot more examples. Is it time for a reality check?

Have courage to end this heartache

Another heart-wrenching case has just hit the headlines about a woman with terminal illness wanting to go to Switzerland to end her life and is deeply concerned that her husband will be prosecuted if he helps her.

Isn't it about time this spineless government took control and brought forward legislation which would put an end to this dreadful state of affairs.

There have been scores of cases of people going to Switzerland to end their lives and, rightly, not one person has been prosecuted for assisting the process.

The government is spineless, too, on the question of organ transplants. It should put the onus on a person to opt out of donating his or her organs, removing the decision from relatives.

And if the government does not want to take a moral lead, then let's have referendums on them.

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