THE recent hot weather has given us more excuses to criticise our public services. The need for trains to drive slowly has been seen as yet another indication of Britain having a third world infrastructure.

Yes, I agree the trains ought to be able to run on time, and over the years I have had my fair share of problems with delayed and cancelled trains.

On the other hand, we are living through the hottest summer in living memory. Is it really fair to beat ourselves up if our train tracks have not been designed to cope with this?

Looking around the world, America has just suffered the biggest power cut the world has ever known. Parts of North America and Europe are suffering dreadful forest fires. In France thousands of people have reportedly died because of the heat.

Let's get some perspective. The heat is causing problems across the world. We should expect some problems ourselves. Britain is not unique in having public services that are not always of the highest calibre.

We need to change this, but let's not give ourselves too much of a hard time.

In the meantime enjoy the rest of the summer!