The fact that there is even the remotest possibility that the National Railway Museum in York, along with the two other less well-known museums in Manchester and Bradford, could be closed is a scandal that must be nipped in the bud.

Jonathan Schofield in Manchester Confidential:

Maybe in the end this news from the MEN is shock tactics by the Science Museum Group; a call-my-bluff tactic of pure brinkmanship. Maybe they want to force the government’s in to giving them more money, or an attempt to push the museum onto the city council’s hands. Since the latter can’t even keep open Heaton Hall that is a non- starter. What is certain is that proposing something as blatantly unfair and desperate as closing all the Science Museum Group’s northern properties while keeping on the equally struggling London one looks shocking.

They must know this, unless they are absolute idiots.

I find it difficult to believe that either museum will actually close, although the introduction of admission charges is probably highly likely.

But given the out of touch sociopathy of this government, more interested in preserving the bonus culture of their cronies in the city than with the quality of life of ordinary working people, anything is possible.

Great guest post by Gregory Spawton of Big Big Train on the National Railway Museum blog about the inspiration for the song East Coast Racer, from their latest album “English Electric Part 2″.

I really need to get round to reviewing that album for this blog. Like it’s predecessor it’s steeped in English history and landscapes, telling stories of the heroes in the industrial revolution, all set to music that evokes the spirit of 70s English progressive rock in a way that no neo-prog bands comes close to achieving.