TRAIN JOURNEY times to cities across Britain will be sharply reduced by a

TRAIN JOURNEY times to cities across Britain will be sharply reduced by a pounds 27bn, 10-year investment programme unveiled yesterday. Railtrack, the monopoly track and signalling company, said that it had embarked on the "biggest investment since the days of Brunel". It said that the money would also be used to tackle bottle-necks on the network to cope with a predicted 30 per cent surge in passenger numbers over the next decade - twice the level it had forecast a year ago.But critics said that the scheme was a "mirage" that contained only pounds 1.4bn of firm investment commitments.Plans include the pounds 1bn upgrade of the East Coast main line from London to Edinburgh, which will cut journey times by 28 minutes to three hours and 30 minutes, and provide capacity for twice as many trains.Railtrack wants to upgrade Great Western lines and cut 37 minutes off the journey to Penzance and 10 minutes off the journey to Swansea. They gambol, gibbering, after them, a Jacobean foretaste of "release into the community". It's horrid touches like that that put the fangs in this Fox.Paul Taylor. A fat, faggoty Volpone would be a more logical outgrowth of this environment.

The farce of the legacy-hunters is wittily orchestrated, with Guy Henry a joy as Mosca, the sidekick worm who turns.The unloveliness of cupidity is vividly underlined. There's a wonderful moment when, sacking the dwarf, eunuch and hermaphrodite, this Mosca tosses a handful of gold coins through the door. But in some way he's an odd choice, since Posner lays great stress on the perverted inward-looking atmosphere of Volpone's home (the hero is discovered in bed at the start with his whimpering dwarf eunuch and hermaphrodite) and what is stifling about the scam. The juxtaposition of these articles - the sterile incorruptibility of the gold contrasted with the putrefaction of flesh - epitomises the neurosis that drives the Venetian magnifico who is the hero of this play.

It's because he abnormally dreads decay and death that he fetishises in organic treasure and it's that, plus the sheer intellectual kick of the thing, that has motivated his three-year scam of pretending to be a mortally sick invalid so as to fleece predatory flatterers who, desperate to be made his heir, bribe him with booty. Malcolm Storry is a much more virile and rugged Volpone than is usual and his wonderful dark, stained voice does honour to Jonson's muscular verse. At the back of the stage are the corpses of swans and assorted furry creatures. LINDSAY POSNER'S incisive RSC production of Volpone is dominated by a monstrous cabinet filled with a suspended avalanche of glittering golden objets and fronted by what looks to be a deceased monkey strapped to a large crucifix. He was sentenced to nine months in a Young Offender Institution.Neal Williams, for the prosecution, told the court: "Not surprisingly, bearing in mind he did not possess a driving licence, Hemmings' control of the car was less than ideal."Judge Alistair McCreath told Hemmings he had breached his employer's trust, and added: "You were incapable of driving any car, never mind a Ferrari.".

The odometer also showed 20 miles that could not be accounted for.Hemmings, 20, this week admitted a charge of aggravated vehicle taking when he appeared before Birmingham Crown Court. One Friday evening in March 1998, the young man turned off the security cameras and collected the keys for the 355 Berlinetta, which can travel from 0-60mph in 4.9 seconds. Ignoring the fact that he had never in his life taken a driving lesson, he settled himself into the driver's seat of the pounds 90,000 car and took a carefree spin around the streets of Birmingham. He even stopped on the way to pick up a friend.And there might the adventure have ended with no one the wiser, apart from the matter of a little prang he incurred, when the vehicle had spun and rammed into a kerb, before he returned the vehicle to the Evans Halshaw showroom in the city centre.The following Monday, a mechanic pointed out to the sales manager that an off-side wheel of the car had been severely damaged. But after all those nights locked away with the red sports car, the temptation became too much. ONE CAN only imagine how many times Gareth Hemmings had gazed almost lustfully at the sleek, sporty lines of the Ferrari he was supposed to be watching over in his job as a showroom security guard.

He had not been given a replacement cell mate, despite asking for one and so remained alone.". Sir David said: "The young man himself remained in that cell No one talked to him, no one counselled him. No one subsequently gave him work on the unit to enable him to get out of that cell. If I get depressed, I talk to the chaplain and ask him to pray for me. Most of the time I sleep."The Chief Inspector also referred to another prisoner who had woken up to find his cell mate trying to hang himself. The prisoner supported his cell mate's body until staff arrived to cut him down and take him for medical treatment. Inside the residential units, youngsters had to eat their meals in their cells, sitting alongside "filthy toilets".Many of the prisoners stayed in bed asleep for much of the day.