tubby, if you look at VT and their failures, it was Virgin XC that was more of a wash-out than Virgin WC. And, it is not only Virgin at fault, but also Railtrack (now Network Rail), and Stagecoach, Virgin's partner in VT.
The Pendolino services, together with the Mallard services from GNER, put some of the joy back into taking the train, whereas FGW and their new layout still gets a bollocking for being crap. Without Virgin's high-profile campaigns to embarrass the government and its lapdog (Network Rail), the whole West Coast upgrade would have been shelved when Railtrack went bye-bye.
But that's another story altogether. I hope Virgin buys Gatwick, and turns the airport into a place that people will love to fly into.
S.