I refreshed my browser, checked the URL didn’t include the second level domain joke.uk, and gasped. Rail minister Andrew Jones really had said: “Through this competition we can ensure that the Pacer can be transformed to serve a community near where it carried passengers in an entirely different way. As Wigan MP Lisa Nandy put it: “If this is the ‘northern powerhouse’ they can keep it.”As a very regular rail passenger in the north of England, I often have the extreme displeasure of travelling on Pacer trains. Jonathan Reynolds, MP for Stalybridge and Hyde in Greater Manchester, couldn’t see his constituents bidding for a Pacer cafe or playgroup. • Helen Pidd is the Guardian’s north of England editor

Source: The Guardian May 29, 2019 11:12 UTC