Attended the poignant funeral of an old friend, who'd been beset with Parkinsons for more than 10 years. The Service was held at Ampleforth in Yorkshire and was well attended, testament to the friend of so many, who leaves behind a very special wife and family. Afterwards, I joined the countless other motorists heading south, not helped by the train strike. And more bad news, train drivers at nine rail companies will strike on 13 August in a dispute over pay, the union Aslef said. They really are the end. In political news, a Labour MP was removed from the Party's frontbench by Sir Keir Starmer after giving a TV interview on the picket line during a rail strike. And legal history will be made tomorrow when a Crown Court broadcasts the sentencing remarks in a criminal trial for the first time.