Westbury White Horse is always a good place to go. Great views (of trains too !), ....

Donald Trump secretly swapped planes as he left a Nato summit in Turkey last month, as part of an elaborate ruse in response to a possible Iranian threat, US media report.

The US president boarded Air Force One in view of television cameras before being transported to a military aircraft with the help of a catering truck, the Washington Post said. Journalists and some White House staff on board did not know he had been smuggled out.

Officials told the BBC's US partner CBS News that the US had detected a credible Iranian threat to fire a missile at the plane. The White House has not confirmed the secret switch.

Trump had earlier said he was Iran's "number one target" during the summit in Ankara.

How would you both like to see Delay Repay operate in the very near future when the transition to GBR is complete?

Scrap it entirely so it's in line with other forms of public transport? 
Get rid of the 15-29 minute refund band? 
Keep it largely as is, accepting the flaws because it means passengers receive compensation? 
Something else?

Railway services to Heathrow Airport are being severely disrupted following the closure of a tunnel for safety reasons, Network Rail says.

Elizabeth line services between Hayes & Harlington and Heathrow Terminals 4 and 5 were suspended until 11:00 BST while Heathrow Express trains have been reduced by 50% with just two trains an hour from London Paddington.

Network Rail says "major disruption is expected until the end of the day" because of a water leak limiting services to one line and that tickets will be accepted on the Piccadilly line and buses 105, 278, 350 and 482.

Heathrow Express is not currently accepting Elizabeth line tickets, which has infuriated some passengers at Paddington.

Expect the (now common this year) KRS measures to be in place from tomorrow or Wednesday through the end of service on Friday.

And on the exceptionally hot days you would expect the usual extra delays and disruption that occur.

Westbury White Horse is always a good place to go. Great views (of trains too !), White Horse & Bratton Camp to explore, watch the suicidal hang-gliding people throwing themselves off the escarpment, lots of birds of prey, plenty of free parking, you sometimes see RAF A400Ms flying by - BELOW you ! .............and there is usually an ice cream van in attendance.

I believe the area behind the car park is a free running area for dogs unlike the White Horse and Camp area where there are often sheep.

It comes entirely from the taxpayer.

Until the rail operations are also the taxpayer's responsibility, doesn't this remove [a/the] financial incentive from the operating company to run trains on time, and to make connections? 

Absolutely. It's perverse. A safety net for poor performance.

Linking senior TOC pay to customer satisfaction ratings...........now there's an incentive that would have got results! 

Intriguing.

So if this data is to be believed, a Friday afternoon train leaving Paddington headed for the Westcountry for one of the busiest event weekends of the year, with the previous train having been cancelled, has "many" seats available throughout with the exception of First class which is full (at those prices there must have been some very rich people on board, or perhaps the GWR management surfing team travelling on staff passes?)

I'd say either the data has a whiff of fertiliser about it - a case of "more sensors than usual requiring repair at the same time?", or perhaps if accurate and the train was as lightly loaded as the data indicates suggests that people have given up on relying on the train and have gone by road instead - or perhaps surfed all the way? 

Does anyone fancy choosing / recommending anywhere that might be slightly quieter even on this day?

1W11 0553 London Paddington to Great Malvern cancelled between Oxford and Great Malvern due to unknown cause (ZW).

Facilities on the 08:18 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington due 10:26.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 9.

08:56 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 11:27 will be started from Oxford.
It will no longer call at Great Malvern, Malvern Link, Worcester Foregate Street, Worcester Shrub Hill, Worcestershire Parkway Hl, Pershore, Evesham, Honeybourne, Moreton-In-Marsh, Kingham, Charlbury and Hanborough.
This is due to a fault on this train.

15:23 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 17:47 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

18:02 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 20:29 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time

The move, announced today by the Cabinet Minister for Finance, intends to remove a potential barrier to investment at a critical stage in the growth of electric vehicles.

The 100% non-domestic rates relief will support the continued rollout of the necessary infrastructure to help drivers make the switch, particularly in areas currently underserved by charging points.

In the current financial year, local authorities will be asked to award the relief using their discretionary powers. Where relevant, this will allow relief to be backdated to the start of the 2024-2025 financial year.

Regulations will be brought forward later this year to place the relief on a statutory footing from 2027-2028 to 2035-2036. Subject to Senedd approval, this will give ratepayers and local authorities certainty in the years ahead.

Number 12, appended with 'sham'?

Mark

Public houses will also be available at Warminster, Market Lavington and West Lavington, along with the reopened Kings Head at Chitterne.
...
Morris Dancing at Imber (1000-1100), Market Lavington Museum & The Green Man (1200-1400) and Tilshead (1500-1600).

That graph is misleading, or at least its annotation is. The physical light level (in lux) varies almost linearly over most of the eclipse, with no sharp dip. It's the subjective brightness that we notice that gives the rather logarithmic shape in that graph. A cube-root-law model fits the eye better, but the shape on a graph looks very similar to logarithmic.

From what I recall, if you don't know there's going to be a partial solar eclipse, even a near miss, you probably won't notice it at all. Even if you are outdoors in bright sunlight, you won't be looking at the face of the sun so as to observe its shape change. The dimming is very slow and subjectively it doesn't darken much. That's why a total eclipse can sneak up on you, until at the last minute the world suddenly goes all dark. That goes for birds too.

Imber Church open for viewing and refreshments from 10am to 6pm;

The refurbished Market Lavington Museum will be open again in the Old School House next to the village church and serving cream teas until 5pm;

Light refreshments also available at the village halls in Tilshead and Chitterne, at St.Arbucks Community Coffee House in Market Lavington and also in Warminster at the Beans & Bits Cafe at Warminster Station and at the Chapel of St. Lawrence on the High Street.

Public houses will also be available at Warminster, Market Lavington and West Lavington, along with the reopened Kings Head at Chitterne.

A small transport sales stall will be available inside Tilshead village hall.

Exhibition of Imber and Imberbus related cartoons at Warminster Library and a Dinosaur trail around the town for families to follow.

Performances by the Bratton Silver Band, plus displays by the London Transport Museum and the Thames Valley & Great Western Omnibus Trust.

Morris Dancing at Imber (1000-1100), Market Lavington Museum & The Green Man (1200-1400) and Tilshead (1500-1600).