For some reason the anti Hs2 campaign has always attracted the Walter Mitty types & this weeks chosen campaigner is a classic example!

Step forward Nicholas Batty…

Today’s superbly daft tweet sets the scene.

‘Relentless & expanding rapidly’? How deluded can you get?

I’ve blogged before on the true situation with their campaign but let’s have a look at the state of play since I wrote that back in January. In the past 6 months the anti campaign’s failed to make any impact on a general election. Unlike previous years it’s not organised a single national event, demonstration or gathering- nor has it any planned. It’s failed to capture much media attention and its social media penetration is poor (to say the least). Here’s the latest ‘scores on the doors’ to illustrate the fact.

The usual caveats apply. Not all followers are supporters etc. The figures show that not only is the anti campaign growing slowly from a ridiculously small base, in some cases it’s going backwards! To put these figures in perspective, over 46 million people are registered to vote in the UK! So much for ‘expanding rapidly’ eh?

2015 has shown that the anti Hs2 campaign only really exists on social media nowadays. The ‘action group’ network that Hs2aa used to boast about (claiming over 90 +) has been shown to be less than half that. No new groups have formed since Phase 2 was announced but plenty have folded.

The anti campaign was further embarrassed when the Mid Cheshire ‘action’ group published their 2015 AGM minutes online. These exposed the fact only 23 people attended out of a Cheshire population of 700-800,000! Unsurprisingly, the group has since taken the minutes off the web. No doubt the ‘action’ group network will dwindle further one the petitioning process is completed. After all – what are they for anymore when there’s nothing going on?

So, where’s any evidence (outside of his own fevered imagination) to back up Batty’s claims? There’s none. Anywhere.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Batty has come out with abject nonsense. Back in 2013 he claimed that there were ‘thousands’ of anti Hs2 protesters in central London ahead of their annual rally. Only around 500 actually turned out to be real. But then Batty is a typical Walter Mitty who invents his own attendance at these events as well as that of others. Mind you, if you look at his profile, then do some research, it seems that’s not all he’s invented…

You’ve got to hand it to the anti Hs2 campaign, they really do know how to attract some very ‘special’ people.

2023 update.

Like the majority of the anti HS2 keyboard warriors, the ‘batty bricklayer’ (as he was known as by HS2 supporters) has vanished into thin air. His Twitter account disappeared years ago as his ridiculous fantasies and bluster came to naught. There’s literally hundreds of other abandoned anti HS2 Twitter accounts still out there, cluttering up social media. It’s one of the reasons the few remaining anti HS2 Twitter accounts get such a poor response. Most of the people who’re following them gave up and moved on years ago. A case in point is this tweet from Batty. It got all of 8 retweets. Of those 8 accounts only one – the human Oxymoron ‘@johnsensible’ is still tweeting, all the others are long gone…

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