Britannia Radio

http://business.scotsman.com/business/Big-names-warn-of-danger.6630256.jp

Oil crunch' prompts energy warning
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hJvKaGhhFewyvyDtsK7k43Z9prZw?docId=N0128001290011629480A

Sir Richard Branson begins strategic review of Virgin Atlantic
Sir Richard Branson has hired Deutsche Bank to examine strategic options for Virgin Atlantic in a move that could eventually see him relinquish control of his airline.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/8111295/Sir-Richard-Branson-begins-strategic-review-of-Virgin-Atlantic.html

McNeil added: 'This is far from the end for Virgin Atlantic. It's a great brand, an excellent product and has a loyal customer base. But it faces an industry that has rapidly consolidated and it's not easy to see how Virgin participates in that.'
In May Branson said the airline might not be able to maintain its independence given the recent spate of consolidations in the industry.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1327092/Virgin-takes-advice-British-Airways-American-Airlines-deal.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Texas, Sir Richard Branson join high-speed rail debate
While Texas tries to find the best way to link its major cities together, one big-time investor says he wants in on the high-speed rail game
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/politics/blogs/texas-sir-richard-branson-join-high-speed-rail-debate

Richard Branson’s New High-Speed Project

The Virgin Group has joined a consortium to make a bid for high-speed railway projects in Florida
snip
‘I think it’s important for the States’ and Federal government to help support these trains but it’s also important for companies like ours and other investors to be involved, too,’ explains Branson. Aside from Florida, Branson is looking at other areas to invest in high-speed rail. ‘I think it would be great to have a fast train from Las Vegas to California.’.

http://blogs.forbes.com/kymmcnicholas/2010/11/11/richard-bransons-new-high-speed-project/?boxes=Homepagelighttop

Virgin chases US train deal
http://www.cityam.com/news-and-analysis/virgin-chases-us-train-deal

Another notable name making a bid is the state-owned French railway company SNCF, who really wants the bid. How badly do they want it? Bad enough to make what the Jerusalem Post calls an “unprecedented show of regret,” by apologizing for a little indiscretion back during World War II, when they sent 76,000 Jews in France to Nazi death camps.
Earlier this month, SNCF’s chairman Guillaume Pepy spoke in Florida to an interested group and said the company wanted to convey their sorrow for being “part of” the Nazi plan to exterminate Jews, but as the Jerusalem Post report, that apology didn’t really win to many folks over
http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/dailyloaf/2010/11/16/richard-branson-wants-in-on-floridas-high-speed-rail-fun/

Oil crunch' prompts energy warning

There was a spokesperson from the relevant consortium on Toady this

morning.

And 'Toady' is highly appropriate in this context. It was yet another

gushing, uncritical interview, with no real attempt to probe what is

evidently going to be the newspeak/BBC line on this.

The hidden agenda, and there most certainly is one, is revealed by the

unlikely presence of retailer Kingfisher in this grouping. You might

expect energy companies, or merchant banks perhaps, but a wallpaper,

paint and gardening chain is, at face value, rather strange.

It's not as odd as you might think. Some years ago, Kingfisher jumped

noisily onto the 'renewable energy' bandwagon. The company sells solar

panel and wind turbine kits in its DIY outlets, and has invested

significant amounts in promoting them.

Evidently sales are falling, so a new scare story is necessary.

Forget anthropogenic global warming: now it's the peak oil scare that

will compel us to queue at the B+Q checkouts, shrink-wrapped windmills

under each arm.

The vast majority of B+Q stores I've encountered are on the edge of

town, surrounded by barren acres of car parking. So the answer as to how

we might get the junk home, in the middle of a global oil shortage, is

anyone's guess.