Subsidies or not... My friend just spent a week travelling from country to country by train in Eastern Europe and the most he paid for a ticket was £12 - from Belgrade to Zagreb. Capital to capital within the UK would be almost ten times that!

And I didn't say we shouldn't bail out private companies - just that we should be aware of the consequences of privatisation. If Northern Rock hadn't been bailed out large parts of the north of England's population would have lost both their savings and their homes. If Railtrack hadn't been bailed out the railways would only be used by wildlife now. Both unthinkable, but a logical conclusion to 'leaving things to the market'.