Christian Wolmar

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Christian Wolmar
railway historian
Known forTransport commentary
Political partyLabour
Websitewww.christianwolmar.co.uk

Christian Tage Forter Wolmar (born 3 August 1949) is a British

pundit on Britain's railway industry, and was named Transport Journalist of the Year in the National Transport Awards in 2007. He is an advocate for cycling, and is on the board of the London Cycling Campaign as well as having founded Labour Cycles, which encourages the Labour Party
to adopt a pro-cycling agenda.

Early life and education

Wolmar's father, Boris Forter, was born in Moscow and his mother, Birgit Lindblom, was Swedish. They met in London.

Wolmar was educated at

independent school in South Kensington, followed by the University of Warwick[1] where he obtained a degree in economics and was editor of the student newspaper, Campus.[2] He then squatted at Villa Road in London, helping to save the street from demolition, and co-edited the book Squatting the real story.[3]

Life and career

Following his graduation from university in 1971, Wolmar worked for Marketing, Retail Newsagent, the

paedophile activist group.[4]

He was on the staff of

RAIL magazine and contributes frequently to several other magazines.[5]
His website[6] has over 1,400 articles.

Wolmar's books and columns mainly analyse the current state of the British railway industry and also cover railway history. He has long been an ardent critic of rail privatisation and argued that the structure contributed to the series of railway disasters in 1997–2001.

He is opposed to the construction of

HS2, the planned high-speed railway linking London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester.[7][8][9]

He frequently appears on TV and radio, both on history and news programmes, and has a regular spot as a commentator on Talk Radio. He speaks at transport conferences around the world, both on the railways and on his concerns about driverless cars.

Books

Wolmar's railway history books include The Subterranean Railway: a history of the London Underground, published in 2005, and Fire and Steam, the first major new history of the railways in Britain for 30 years. More recently, Blood, Iron and Gold, a history of how the railways changed the world, was published in October 2009 and Engines Of War, on how the railways transformed modern warfare was published in late 2010. In 2012, he published The Great Railway Revolution on the history of the

Transsiberian railway
. Subsequent rail books include Railways and the Raj, a history of Indian railways and The Story of Crossrail. He has also written two polemics: Are Trams Socialist? describes how Britain's transport policies have always been orientated towards favouring the motor car over public transport and Driverless Cars: on a road to nowhere suggests that the hype around this technology is greatly exaggerated.

He has also written a book on the abuse scandals in children's homes, Forgotten Children, published in 2000, and has written extensively about housing issues and local government.

Politics

London Mayoral election, 2016

In September 2012, Wolmar announced his intention to seek nomination for the Labour candidacy at the 2016 Mayor of London elections.[10] The WolmarforLondon campaign launched in 2013 with Wolmar chairing a panel on "One London" with Nick Raynsford, then MP for Greenwich and Woolwich, Simon Birkett, Founder and Director of Clean Air in London, Vidhya Alakeson, Deputy Director of the Resolution foundation and Councillor Lise Thorsen, Lead Councillor on Sustainability on the Copenhagen City Council.[citation needed] He held a second conference in June 2014, at The Exchange. Speakers included Neal Lawson, Chair of Compass and Professor Tony Travers LSE. Later he took part in the Labour Party Mayoral hustings at Manchester in September 2014 and unveiled plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street with boosts to business and the environment.[citation needed] Described by The Guardian as "the most extensive grass roots campaign",[11] one poll put Wolmar in second place,[12] with policies called Lifeblood for London, Putting a Roof over our Heads, Caring for the Capital's Well-Being and Hungry for Change.[citation needed] Wolmar jokingly encouraged newspapers to print an untrue rumour that he had been press officer for a Maoist slavery cult, saying, tongue-in-cheek, that it would be highly beneficial for his campaign financing.[13]

In June 2015, after cycling over 2,000 miles and speaking at over 100 events, Wolmar won six Constituency Labour Party nominations, and went through to the final shortlist of the

London Labour Party mayoral selection process. Described by The Londonist as "the non-politician who wants to be mayor",[14] Wolmar spoke at the five official hustings about his campaign vision for a more affordable, liveable and sustainable London.[6] The campaign persuaded the eventual winner, Sadiq Khan
, to push for the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street and to introduce the 'Hopper' fare.

He received just over 5% of the total vote.

Wolmar supported

2016 Labour leadership election, Wolmar supported Corbyn's challenger Owen Smith.[16][17]

Richmond Park by-election, 2016

Wolmar was selected as the Labour candidate to contest the Richmond Park constituency in the 2016 by-election and ran on a strongly Remain platform.[18]

He said that he would vote against

EU referendum in June 2016 "was conducted on such dishonest terms that Parliament – or the electorate – needs to vote on the issue before a decision is made whether to leave the EU."[19] He later said that his "view is that we [Labour] ought to be the party of Remain, we ought to be the party of the 48% and build on that".[20] He also said that he opposes the expansion of Heathrow Airport.[19]

Wolmar came third in the by-election, polling 1,515 votes, with 4% of the total vote, losing his deposit as the Liberal Democrat candidate Sarah Olney persuaded Labour voters to support her campaign to keep out the incumbent MP Zac Goldsmith.[21]

Personal life

Wolmar lives in

cricketer and distance runner, and plays tennis. He is a diehard football fan, having supported Queens Park Rangers (QPR) for over 50 years.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Biography page, Christian Wolmar's website.
  2. ^ "UWA/PUB/C/2/44". cdm21047.contentdm.oclc.org. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  3. ^ Whelan, Brian (2013). "What's left: the ghosts of Brixton's radical past". Channel4. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  4. ISBN 978-1-84779-663-9
    .
  5. ^ "Christian Wolmar's website – Titles A-Z". Archived from the original on 22 September 2013.
  6. ^ a b "Christian Wolmar".
  7. ^ Wolmar, Christian (28 January 2013). "The HS2 line is one big punt". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  8. ^ Wolmar, Christian (February 2013). "Rail 715: HS2 is still a big Y". Rail Magazine. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  9. ^ "Why I remain opposed to HS2 – response to Ian Walmsley | Christian Wolmar".
  10. ^ Holdsworth, Rachel (11 September 2012). "Christian Wolmar Throws His Hat Into The 2016 Mayoral Ring". The Londonist. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  11. ^ Hill, Dave (9 February 2015). "Interview: Christian Wolmar, the outsider battling to be London mayor". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
  12. ^ "Miliband urged to act on housing and rail. What green surge? And Jowell still London Mayoral favourite". LabourList. 6 March 2015.
  13. London Evening Standard
    . p. 17.
  14. ^ Holdsworth, Rachel [1] TheLondonist
  15. ^ Stone, Jon (25 August 2016). "Only Jeremy Corbyn will properly oppose the Tories, London Mayor hopeful Christian Wolmar says". The Independent. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  16. ^ Couvée, Koos (12 August 2016). "Jeremy Corbyn's former aide: I'm backing Owen Smith in Labour leadership contest". Islington Tribune. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  17. ^ Schofield, Kevin (6 November 2016). "Excl. Labour by-election candidate Christian Wolmar called on Jeremy Corbyn to quit". PoliticsHome. Archived from the original on 7 November 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  18. ^ "Christian Wolmar to stand for Labour in Richmond Park by-election". BBC News. 5 November 2016.
  19. ^ a b Wolmar, Christian (4 November 2016). "Richmond Park prospective candidate: I would vote against article 50 in Parliament". LabourList. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  20. ^ Silvera, Ian (21 November 2016). "Labour should be 'party of the 48%' says pro-EU Richmond Park candidate". International Business Times UK. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  21. ^ Craig, Jon (2 December 2016). "Lib Dem Sarah Olney beats Zac Goldsmith in Richmond Park by-election". Sky News. News Corporation. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  22. ^ Gerald, Isaaman (14 November 2013). "To the Edge of the World: The Story of the Trans-Siberian Railway by Christian Wolmar". Camden Review. Archived from the original on 30 November 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2016.

Bibliography

External links
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