DK123GWR

Firstly, and for the purposes of information only, your assumptions about the carbon footprint of 'our' leisure activities are very broad, and (though you would have no reason to know) may not be entirely correct. I will not fly any more unless it is absolutely unavoidable. Nearly all of my models are second hand, and in recent times nearly all purchases have been from local sellers and collected in person (travelling on foot or by bicycle). They have a carbon footprint, but the majority of it was created before I was born, and was not something I contributed to. Even if this were not the case, I would be willing to guess that the carbon footprint of a 00 gauge locomotive is significantly less than a trip on Mr Branson's space plane. Alas, as concrete figures will be hard to come by, that conjecture is not likely to be fertile ground for an enlightened discussion.

Secondly, to address the question which seems to be the more fundamental point of your post, I wouldn't care if somebody suggested a way that they felt I could spend my money better. If I came to agree I would thank them; if not I would ignore them. If I were being compelled to do something I disagreed with that may be a different matter, though of course I am not attempting to compel Mr Branson or Mr Bezos to do anything. I am merely suggesting that in their position I would do things differently to them - in a way which I feel would be more beneficial for society - and no harm will come to anybody as a result of that.

They may be entitled to spend their money as they please, but others are entitled to have opinions - especially when so much fuel is being burned unncesesarily (in the case of Virgin at least). Surely it would be nice if wealthy people used their money for good - doing things such as providing books for impoverished children. I'm not sure why you take such offense to that suggestion.

If I were in the position of the men we are discussing, that is the sort of thing I would want to do with the majority of my excess wealth. If I were to put resources towards a space mission, it would be one which actually benefits humanity, such as conducting research or providing communications infrastructure to areas where it is lacking. I certainly wouldn't be spending it all on pointless joyrides into space with an enourmous environmental cost.

@Hroth what a ridiculous suggestion. We all know that the aliens have disguised themselves as humans and now make models of strategic locations such as railway stations and yards which they use to plan their invasion. Accuracy is so important given the number of their species' lives at stake that they need to count every last rivet to ensure the plans don't go awry. They organise exhibitions of these models because we are less likely to become suspicious of their activities if they aren't concealed from us (and because they're quite good at what they do and deserve to be proud of it).

Fortunately, we are one step ahead of them. A secret band of resistance fighters creating life-like models of imaginary locations have repeatedly managed to fool the aliens into landing in the wrong place. A number of unusual incidents in the Irish Sea may actually be attributed to the tradition of these resistance fighters of creating spurious models of an island they call Sodor. This practise dates back to the Reverend Awdry, one of the very first members of the resistance, and it continues today in the hands of some very talented individuals who cannot be named for security reasons (though many of you will be familiar with them already).

We must thank these heroes not only for saving us from the extraterrestrial menace, but also for creating very beautiful works of art which we are all able to enjoy.

I loved the comment from Branson attempting to deflect criticism of his exploits (and especially their enourmous carbon footprint) by suggesting that a lot of valuable scientific research is carried out in space. Yes it is, but not by billionaires like him going for a jolly in a glorified aeroplane.

I thought a good layout was never finished...

@truffy The Wurzels have an alternative method which uses tools easier to obtain in this country.

My suggested solution is a private conversation with Jeff!

My thoughts are along the same lines as Hroth's. If you're designing something which goes very fast, how do you imagine it looking? How do you convey to the consumer that this is the fastest way to get to their destination? How do you get all of the children excitedly telling their parents how cool it is? If the answer to any of those questions is 'by making it a characterless cylinder' then I would be highly surprised.

Due to the number of adverts for Riley & Son that I have seen, I assume that the algorithms are also unable to distinguish between a desire to repair my 4mm:1ft locomotives and a desire to repair my 12inch:1ft locomotives.