I've got massive sympathy for those caught up in the air travel chaos. I spent many years travelling between London and Scotland and the Christmas trip was always a nightmare. I only flew once at Christmas, almost didn't make it and stuck to the trains thereafter.

The flight cancellations also have a massive impact on the trains, something I know only too well from personal experience. The trains are always packed at Christmas; with all these unfortunate would-be fliers also trying to squeeze on they'll be even worse.

Of course, nobody can do anything about the weather. It's winter in the UK, these things happen and safety has to come first. We can't blame the airlines for the cancellations (although the information provision appears unacceptably poor).

But what about the trains? Since these things do happen frequently during the winter shouldn't there be extra capacity to cope? Shouldn't there be some integrated contingency planning? Of course there should be - but there isn't. The trains only just cope with the numbers as it is.

So our national transport infrastructure is totally unable to cope with a predictable annual problem. That's really not good enough.

But we can't really blame the Train Operating Companies. They're Limited Companies who have a legal responsibility to maximise profits for their shareholders. And that means running the minimum number of trains and carriages they can get away with rather than taking the risk of running half empty trains in order to ensure contingency capacity.

This doesn't just apply at Christmas: London commuters experience this every time a peak time train is cancelled and the next one turns into a Hieronymus Bosch scene.

No wonder we have ever increasing car usage with all the environmental problems that brings. Our railway "system" is a mess.

The answer to the UK's travel problems is clear: renationalise the railways, the buses and domestic flights and run them as a single integrated system with a public service ethos rather than a profit motive.

I'm more likely to see Santa's sleigh running a scheduled service.

Heathrow transport travel UK UK politics ukpolitics

For once I find myself whole-heartedly in agreement with Tony Blair. In a speech last week he stressed that whilst we should continue to welcome multi-culturalism we should also expect integration. People, he said, should be expected "to be part of Britain, to be British and Asian, British and black, British and white". He also stressed that Britain is traditionally a tolerant society and one of the few things we won't tolerate is intolerance:

"Integration, in this context, is not about culture or lifestyle. It is about values. It is about integrating at the point of shared, common unifying British values. It isn't about what defines us as people, but as citizens, the rights and duties that go with being a member of our society.

"Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and other faiths have a perfect right to their own identity and religion, to practice their faith and to conform to their culture. This is what multicultural, multi-faith Britain is about. That is what is legitimately distinctive.

"But when it comes to our essential values - belief in democracy, the rule of law, tolerance, equal treatment for all, respect for this country and its shared heritage - then that is where we come together, it is what we hold in common; it is what gives us the right to call ourselves British. At that point no distinctive culture or religion supercedes our duty to be part of an integrated United Kingdom."

I agree. I wish he hadn't excluded atheists, and many people up here would disagree with the UK reference, but in principle I agree.

I think multi-culturalism is great. I also think that it needs to be multi-culturalism within a British context. Where there is an insurmountable conflict between cultures then British culture and values must win. For example no figure or ideology is above criticism and ridicule.

Of course, we can have a long debate about exactly what British values actually are.

To me core British values include freedom, privacy and the presumption of innocence.

All things that Blair's government has been vigorously attacking with control orders, ID Cards, mass fingerprinting & DNA recording, on the spot fines, limits to the right to trial by jury, abolishment of double jeopardy and more.

Maybe it's Tony Blair who needs lessons in British citizenship.

Blair UK politics ukpolitics