Boris Johnson promised the North that he would make the improvements to the infrastructure which had been neglected for so long, if they would only vote for him in the last election - please!
So it looks as though he is going to allow private contractors to destroy square miles of ancient woodland and farmland, cut villages and communities in two, and demolish houses or anything else which gets in the way of the HS2 railway.
Despite that the estimated cost of this project has doubled from £50 billion to £100 billion - and it is still rising - he will probably try to push ahead with it for reasons already mentioned.
They couldn't even complete the job of electrification between London and Bristol because the contractors went way over budget and refused to finish the job unless they were given more public money. That's what they do. Underestimate, then triple the bill. The government couldn't even afford that.
What are the benefits of this new route? It will knock 20 minutes off the travelling time between London and Birmingham.
He, like Trump, wants to be seen as a politician who keeps his election promises.
Not only should it be scrapped; it should never have been considered in the first place.
ReplyDeleteIt's all down to a handful of people making a killing, as usual.
DeleteWhat a shame Labour ever commissioned the idea in the first place. It should have been kicked into touch and technology acknowledged to have overtaken the idea years ago. Nobody needs to travel to London for meetings.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Labour do not give a toss about the environment, despite their clambering on whatever bandwagon available.
DeleteMy OH regularly had to travel to London for meetings but a 20 minute difference in travel time would not have made a jot of difference to his life. Cheaper ticket prices, trains that were not standing room only and ran on time would have.
DeleteExactly. If it's broke, fix it before designing a whole new one. My argument against modern Conservatives is similar to the argument against New Labour, or what passes for it these days.
DeleteThe old Conservatives knew how to manage land and villages because most of them owned it. There was no point in destroying the countryside along with the lives of the people who lived in it, because - apart from anything else - it was in their interest to preserve and conserve it. The clue was in the name - Conservatives.
This lot only care about lining the pockets of fund managers in the short term, and Labour are so stupid that they think they can resist the avarice of big business with old-style, Marxist type measures. I trust the traditional ideology of old Tories more than I trust the equivalent from modern Labour intellectuals, if they exist at all.
I really don't want to express an opinion here Tom (and you two above) - the truth is that I really don't know what to think. I look at other places in the world which have really amazing rail connections and I listen to folk up here in the North who complain about the lack of a decent rail service in the 'forgotten' North - and I look at the villages which will be cut in half and the farm land which will be decimated (and remember I was married to a farmer for over twenty yearsand I know he couldn't have afforded to lose any of his land) and really sometimes I am pleased that at my age I am unlikely to see the end of the project whichever way it goes.
ReplyDeleteI think that young people will not see the end of the project either Weave. If it all goes ahead, they will be the ones who pay for it.
DeleteWe live with Northern Rail and Transpennine Express. All we need is longer trains (even 2 carriages might be nice sometimes) and reinstated dual and quadruple tracks and properly funded trains. Would cost nothing like £100 billion.
ReplyDeleteOf course. Spending one billion of improvements to existing services would make every commuters' life so much better. Italian trains are clean, comfortable, on time and extremely affordable, despite the Mafia.
DeleteI would just be happy with decent Northern trains that are running when they say. Sitting outside the train station for an hour or so, because a) the train is cancelled or b) there wasn't a driver for that train is ridiculous. Then to be told that a new high speed railway from London to the North, will cut 20 minutes of the journey, well sorry the trains up here don't run on time if you are looking for a connection!
ReplyDeleteAnd to think that this Conservative government has actually NATIONIALISED Northern Rail! That says something.
DeleteBoris Johnson actually keeping a promise?
ReplyDeleteNo, it's an excuse for keeping a promise which will also keep his backers happy. All that lovely free money.
DeleteBoris Johnson's main achievement is wasting public money.
DeleteStarting with second-hand water-cannon to quell the masses...
DeleteWith his overwhelming majority furnished - in the main - by dissenters amongst the opposition and their supporters, Boris Johnson and his advisor are now beginning the hatchet-job on all the opposition he refused to confront on the BBC's news department.
ReplyDelete450 BBC jobs to go, including from the World Service, and funding is to be withheld - not cut - to the rest of the network until private companies can get their sweaty mitts on the prime cuts of the corporation.
Haven't I been saying all along that this would happen? Hasn't everyone else?
It's just that nobody could have predicted how soon it would happen, but nobody could have predicted the outcomes of appeals to the people in the form of popular votes as a result of 70 years of being ignored.
Farage has won, and didn't he crow about it at the last MEP assembly including the leaving Brits? Have you ever seen such graceless behaviour in the aftermath of victory? The man is an absolute disgrace who certainly does not represent 52% of ordinary British people.
Are you going to celebrate at 11.00pm tomorrow?
Nothing seems real anymore. But, it is...
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to society?
DeleteTake a look at yourself in the mirror would be a good place for you to start.
DeleteYour point is?
DeleteWe are all responsible for society and can do it for ourselves without blaming others for it being missing if it is considered missing.
DeleteDo you remember Margaret Thatcher saying 'There is no such thing as society...'? For me, that's when it all started.
DeleteIt comes from all of us. We had before the welfare state; blame the introduction of welfare if you want to blame something.
DeleteYes I remember her sayihg it and I believe she probably meant it in the same context as I said above. We have to take responsibility for ourselves and our families and that is where society begins.
DeleteYou see the world through blue-tinted spectacles. Nobody will condemn you for admitting she may have been a tad on the sociopathic spectrum you know.
DeleteI read it also in Doris Lessing's autobiography about life in the 1950s. She said society existed between families and neighbours before welfare came along. You must be able to take responsibility for yourself. It has nothing to do with politics sometimes. Please do not keep insulting me.
DeleteIt is a sad state of affairs if I have to be judged in the way you said for believing that we have to take some responsibility for looking after ourselves and our loved ones.
DeleteYou personalise everything.
Delete