THE people of York clearly don't feel as strongly about African affairs as their beloved MP, according to a new survey.

As chair of the Africa All-Party commission, Hugh Bayley has been a passionate torchbearer in persuading Tony Blair to help tackle tyranny, poverty and disease in the continent.

But how much does the general public know or care about the commission?

Not much according to a new Chatham House report. In a survey of British attitudes towards Africa, the foreign policy think tank found that 67 per cent of those questioned had never heard of the commission.

Embarrassingly for Mr Bayley, the greatest lack of awareness was in York.

But the MP said the survey researchers questioned only 40 people in Parliament Street for the study - and most of those were tourists.

"Africa is not top of everyone's agenda, but 1,400 members of churches and mosques in York signed a petition which I presented to the Prime Minister asking him to implement the commission's findings," Mr Bayley said.

"It's clear that they cared about it."

AMID the much-deserved acclaim for GNER, now that it has won the right to run trains up and down the East Coast Main Line for another seven years, one of the Diary's acquaintances is hoping the rail company will consider making at least one change to its excellent service.

The matter came to mind after he and two fellow Rugby Union fans from York set off south earlier this month to watch members of the somewhat beleaguered England team as they tried to resurrect their faltering season.

Diary readers may remember that the team - the current holders of the Rugby World Cup - lost their first three matches in this year's Six Nations Championship, albeit by narrow margins.

The trio got safely to Twickenham, and were cheered when their team managed a win over the even less successful Italians - although their mood was not quite as euphoric as the one which enveloped the whole of Wales a week later.

Even so, they knew they had to shun London's fleshpots, since they had only two trains they could catch after the game, the 7.30pm and the 8.30pm - the latter being the very last they could take north on a Saturday night.

And despite being confident of making the 7.30pm, after battling through the departing throng and along crowded train and tube lines, the trio only just managed to make the final train.

"Our match kicked off at 4pm, but last Saturday the Twickenham game started at 6pm - there would have been no chance of catching the last train then," said our Rugby fan. "It's not as if we were having a long night out."

Perhaps GNER chiefs will take the opportunity to consider his plight - in time for next year's tournament.

Updated: 09:31 Wednesday, March 23, 2005