[…] on seats beneath the trees, the old men group of an evening to drink their ale and gossip over village politics;

‘There are twenty-five of us, but they don’t reckon I’m worth anything. I’m just a cog in the machine.’

That's far from the promised land set out in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, that the railways would have a guiding mind that would be in control of the industry's finances. Businesses have what is called a profit and loss account, showing both revenue and costs, but the current situation means that the two sides of the system are in different hands - and neither is (as yet) in the hands of a 'guiding mind'.

It seems the weapon of choice in Rostock and other wonderful displays of harmony with fellow humans (NOT) was the Mollie (Molotov cocktail).