The train carriage is littered with letters. They are everywhere—on the seats, tables, floor. I pick up one of them from the seat next to mine. Dated today, it is a profuse apology from Mike Caroll, Managing Director of the Great Western Railways, whose trains service the line from Paddington to Reading and the west of the country, for the disruption of service two days ago. Of course, everyone knows that the service was disrupted because of the bombs planted by an Irish Republican Army splinter. In fact, old Mike goes on to brag about the extraordinary effort of the Great Western’s crews to accommodate the stranded passengers. In my experience, this is the first time the Managing Director’s letters have been made available to the suffering customers of the Great Western Railways. One can be sure that the next time they appear, they will be equally superfluous and equally boastful, that is, that the Managing Director would never even think of apologizing for his company’s many faults, abuses, mistakes. Like today’s inexplicable disruption of service, for instance.