I rarely use pictures with my Leaders as I generally don’t have room for them, but I’m going to make an exception today. Initially tempted to use the phrase: ‘A picture paints 1,000 words’, I was drawn instead to Rod Stewart’s early album ‘Every picture tells a story’, since I want to ask, “does it?”. For me, the pictures here aren’t telling a story; they’re throwing up a bunch of questions: 

  

How can this filthy London Underground train be in service? Has a power outage imprisoned  all the passenger-ready trains in a depot somewhere? Has an employee/ex-employee with a grudge snuck this train into service to cause problems for management? Has London Mayor Sadiq Khan had to shift a chunk of the train cleaning budget into the roads pot to replace the ULEZ cameras destroyed by ‘blade runners’? These were questions my daughter and I were asking as we took this Northern Line train from Colliers Wood in South London, up to Camden on Monday evening.
The rear corners of the seats themselves had such a build-up of soot-like dust that it had clearly been there for months; much like the grime between the seat backs where the easy-to-reach bits contrasted starkly with the disgusting build-up of grime lower down. The muck on the floor had been allowed to accumulate for a long time too. We couldn’t imagine when the carriage may have had more than just a quick sweep. We were horrified at the state of everything and ashamed and embarrassed about the impression it would leave on visitors to our capital city. I sincerely hope that this was an unfortunate ‘one-off’ and that trains like this don’t normally make it into service! 

  

Further down the page there’s news about a new World Health Organisation guide on infection prevention in healthcare settings. As I only came across it last night I’ve not had the chance to digest it properly and I’m wondering how its advice will differ from, or match, that given by professionals in this industry. Your feedback would be much appreciated, whichever part of the world you’re from…