EARLIER this month, GNER was named as the best rail operator in Britain in the inaugural British Travel Awards in London.

It was a tribute to the hard work of its staff to improve customer service on the East Coast Main Line and, while trains will always attract complaints, the company could be proud of achieving its best satisfaction ratings of 90 per cent in the independent National Passenger Survey.

A few weeks later, persistent rumours that GNER would be asked to surrender its East Coast Main Line franchise became reality when it failed to renegotiate the terms of its contract with the Government.

The bottom line is that GNER had saddled itself with too great a financial burden in the desperate race to win the East Coast Main Line contract in March last year. Transport experts were already sceptical about whether the company could make ends meet, and then the July 7 bombings - together with soaring electricity costs and the additional financial problems brought by parent company Sea Containers - made the challenge even harder.

In 15 months, the franchise upon which so many North-Easterners depend will be back up for grabs. The lesson from the GNER experience is that ambition must be balanced by realism in a highly competitive market.

Royal pride

TODAY'S photographs of Prince William's graduation from Sandhurst are in stark contrast to those heartbreaking images of nearly a decade ago when he walked as a 15-year-old behind his mother's coffin.

Then, wearing a dark grey suit and black tie, he walked as a boy, with his head bowed in sorrow and bewilderment. Yesterday, resplendent in his black and scarlet uniform, he was pictured as a man, holding his head high and proud.

Despite everything he has had to endure, the 24-year-old prince has grown into a fine young man who appears to have inherited his mother's best qualities. He is down-to-earth, likeable and gives hope for the future of the monarchy in this country.

Wouldn't Diana have been so very proud?