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Sir Harry Kroto's strictures regarding British transport are too restrained. Why are we in such a mess? Forty years ago I travelled widely in Japan on trains that ran smoothly and on time; in the UK I faced each journey with trepidation.

Why is no one appointed to top posts in British institutions or enterprises - private, public or hybrid - ever told s/he will be accountable for failure?

Embedded in the culture is the image of a golden handshake rather than of a buck coming to rest at the desktop.

Colin Adamson-Macedo
Emeritus professor
Dollar, Scotland