From Cornwall to Crewe, or the Media’s Air Raid on British Railways
Media across the UK recently reported that Kristina Coulson flew from Cornwall to Manchester via Málaga to collect her new car to save money (Vergnault 2025; Telegraph Reporters 2025; Mee 2025; Black 2025; SWNS/Pell 2025; Pell et al. 2025; etc.).
Which stratagem did the media use?
Number 26: “Point at the mulberry tree, but curse on the acacia”. A proxy is aimed at instead of the target person (Senger 2004: 399-439).
Britain's media seized on Coulson's story to attack its national rail system, which is considered inefficient and overpriced. The question was how it could be that a round trip to Spain could (theoretically) be faster and (practically) cheaper than a single train journey within the country's borders.
Although all media outlets directly or indirectly confirmed that Kristina and her husband took help from a Facebook group of extreme travelers, the BBC directly addressed Cornwall's Great Western Railway, which is only 2.2 percent more expensive than the EU average (Mee 2025), but whose fares are, by their own admission a jungle (especially when booked at short notice) (Black 2025).
Conclusion
Britain's media didn't cover Coulson to tell her story, but to use her as a catalysator to address a much larger criticism of the structural problems of Britain's railroads.
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Indirect is often cheaper and faster than taking the straight route. Otherwise, the media would directly criticize the British railway system - but who cares?
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