The full-page advert has a wispy cloud in the shape of a huge two-fingered V-sign - a British handsign that means either victory of something rather ruder. A pair of jetliners zoom into the sky from the tips of each digit. The colour ad in Monday's Guardian newspaper (one of the UK's serious dailies) apes those of British Airways promoting its New York services.
So what's happening here? What's happening is that environmental lobbyists and activists Greenpeace are having a pop at BA's new service being launched from London to the southern English seaside resort of Newquay. Their message: Take the train instead, it's greener than flying.
"Starting short-haul domestic routes such as this in today's climate completely flies in the face of their stated intent to behave in an environmentally responsible manner," says the ad copy.
And Greenpeace is not simply sounding off at BA, it is offering passengers booked on the inaugural flight a free return train ticket free of charge.
"Change your ticket not the climate," says Greenpeace.
Monday's Guardian paper offers a snapshot of how the green issue is pervading British society like few others around the globe. Of the ads in the 40-page paper, four were promoting one green message or another. In contrast easily the most popular ads were for travel. Ryanair, bmibaby, Expedia, flymonarch, a Norwegian travel operator, Lastminute.com and P&O Ferries.
This says a lot of how Brits see both issues. Yes, the country's green conscience is getting stronger, but so is the expectation to travel more frequently and cheaply. It's a contradiction that will I suspect begin to change travel habits well within the next five years, and possibly even quicker.
Oh and by the way, I'm writing this on the Eurostar in carriage 14 on the way to Paris. Was it an environmental decision to take the train? No, I can't claim any moral high ground here. The editor can honestly say it was more a hatred of Paris Charles de Gaulle and London Heathrow airports that make this short trip a no-brainer for the Eurostar.
on March 20, 2007 12:49 PM | Reply
The last time I had to make a journey of any distance was in November, from the Midlands to Inverness. I decided to travel by train and I believe I paid about seventy pounds for a return. For my seventy pounds I was two hours late getting there and three hours late getting back (Including the last leg where I had to transfer from Birmingham to Coventry by coach, since there were no trains running), these delays were on top of an originally estimated journey time of eight hours.
Since then, Ryanair have started to fly from East Mids to Inverness, which is a hell of a lot cheaper, a hell of a lot quicker, a hell of a lot more convenient and a hell of a lot less likely to result in a coronary as you sit there fuming about the latest train delay due to signalling failure.
If Greenpeace can find me a train that can beat that, then I'll happily take it, but until then I'm not particularly inclined to make another nightmare rail journey when I could be flying there.
on March 20, 2007 12:53 PM | Reply
The last time I had to make a journey of any distance was in November, from the Midlands to Inverness. I decided to travel by train and I believe I paid about seventy pounds for a return. For my seventy pounds I was two hours late getting there and three hours late getting back (Including the last leg where I had to transfer from Birmingham to Coventry by coach, since there were no trains running), these delays were on top of an originally estimated journey time of eight hours.
Since then, Ryanair have started to fly from East Mids to Inverness, which is a hell of a lot cheaper, a hell of a lot quicker, a hell of a lot more convenient and a hell of a lot less likely to result in a coronary as you sit there fuming about the latest train delay due to signalling failure.
If Greenpeace can find me a train that can beat that, then I'll happily take it, but until then I'm not particularly inclined to make another nightmare rail journey when I could be flying there.