Why has common sense abandoned our rail system?

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Long distance: trains between Bristol Temple Meads and London will take extended routes over the Bank Holiday weekend (Simon Calder)

As a nation, we were once known for our common sense. Yet I have recently come to the conclusion that common sense is no longer a part of our national heritage.

Buying a railway ticket has been a truly puzzling experience for years, depending on the day and time that you plan to travel. Another idiosyncrasy arises when you decide to travel a long distance. It is cheaper to divide the journey into segments, namely two or three tickets, than buy just one ticket.

A public consultation is about to be held, which will reveal its conclusions in September. But why take so long to discover what most sensible people are already fully aware of?

When I was a young man, the business of buying a ticket was simple. You purchased a “return”, “day return”, “single”, “first class” or “second class” ticket.

To someone who is not from the UK, buying a ticket nowadays must seem ridiculously complicated.

Colin Bower
Sherwood

As someone who has used both King’s Cross and Glasgow Queen Street extensively, seldom have two train stations been more deserving of their respective awards for best and worst in the UK. King’s Cross is the living definition of commuter heaven (despite being overrun with Harry Potter fans), while Queen Street is a Dantean hell.

But judging by the smug interview that station manager Margaret Hoey recently gave to Scottish TV, Glasgow’s second-largest station will remain the worst for many years to come.

Mark Boyle
Renfrewshire

Humans ignore the plight of nature at our peril

Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano is yet another reminder that nature is an unstoppable force. It also shows the beauty of nature, even when it is rolling over everything in its path.

It is sad that the damage we are doing to nature is more severe than anything it can ever do to us. It’s time to plant a tree and buy a reusable coffee cup.

Dennis Fitzgerald
Melbourne, Australia

Saviours of the shark, protectors of a predator, how progressive and proud, we damn the child who dares to play in a deathly domain of our doing, and wash our hands clean with the tears of a mother’s grief, we the righteous and rare, a protected species of a specious morality.

Mark Dyer
Rockingham, Australia

Britain’s wind farm woes are no surprise

The government’s failure to assess policy changes with regard to onshore wind farms is shocking but, sadly, not surprising.

Susan Alexander
South Gloucestershire

The royal wedding is a PR stunt and an inconvenience

Your correspondents, John Cameron and Patrick Moore (Letters, 6 May) make very valid comments on the wedding that is set to take place in Windsor on 19 May.

As a resident of Windsor for over 47 years, I can add that my town will be effectively closed down from the day before the wedding until late on Saturday night. Virtually every street in the town centre will be closed from 10pm on Friday evening. Residents living on those streets and roads will be prisoners in their own homes for 15 hours before the much-vaunted carriage procession leaves the castle.

From 6am on Saturday morning there will be additional road closures around this central area. There is no indication as to when these roads will be reopened. Residents who need to leave the area will be allowed to do so during the closures, but will not be allowed to enter again until the road closures are lifted.

The wedding service is scheduled for 12pm on Saturday in St George’s Chapel. The carriage procession is timed to begin at 1pm. Knowing the route as I do, I doubt it will last more than 30 minutes.

This whole saga merely represents a major achievement for the Windsor family PR machine – though I hope those visiting my town from elsewhere enjoy themselves. After all, they (and the rest of us) have paid for it.

Richard Fagence
Windsor