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Monthly Archives: January 2016

Sri Lankan sojourn, part 2

25 Monday Jan 2016

Posted by Paul Bigland in Railways, Sri Lanka, Travel

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Railways, Sri Lanka, Travel

After four nights in Colombo we headed for Kandy and the cool of the hill country by taking a train from Fort station. We’d opted to catch the 10.35 which is worked by one of the New Chinese built S12 class DMU’s that were supplied in 2012. 13 of the units were purchased from CSR Sifang under a $101 million, 15yr credit line agreement with China. They’re similar to the UK HST’s in that they have a power car at each end, both fitted with a 1500bhp MTU 12V4000R41 engine.

DG237482. Pax waiting for the  10.35 Colombo to Kandy at Fort. Sri Lanka. 12.1.16.

Colombo Fort station is always a busy place. Here tourists mix with locals as they wait for the Kandy train.

As it was Dawn’s first journey in Sri Lanka I’d booked 1st class at 500 rupees each. Fort station was its usual busy self with a variety of Westerners and locals waiting for the Kandy train which arrived 15 minutes before departure time. As there were no seat numbers on the outside, most people were at the wrong end of the coach which produced the inevitable logjam in the middle of the car as people tried to fight their way through the aisle to the right end! The overall condition of the car was good. They’re fitted with twin sets of seats which rotate to face forward dependent on the direction of travel. Our seats were No’s 43-44 which faced a bulkhead. Legroom was reasonable and we had two small shelves mounted on the bulkhead in front. Rather surreally, two small TV screens played an Xmas themed ‘Home Alone’ film, although (mercifully) the angle of the screen meant we couldn’t see it properly. We departed Fort on time and & bumped & bashed our way out of Colombo. The problem with these push pull sets is 1st is right next to a power car. The power cars don’t seem to be set up very well which means there’s a lot of jerking & jolting. The coach has an attendant who stands in the vestibule. His job seems to be to lock the connecting doors & stop itinerants wandering in to 1st, as well as letting tourists out to wander up and down.

DG237285. S12 932. Fort.  Colombo. Sri Lanka. 11.1.16.

One of the Chinese built S12 class DMU’s working the 10.35 to Kandy.

My impression of the countryside we traversed was that not a lot has changed in 12 years apart from the age of the road vehicles! The small towns we passed through didn’t appear to have expanded, so much of the journey was through lush rice paddies & coconut groves with surprisingly few people to be seen. We stopped at a variety of stations en-route. Mirigama has a large island platform controlled by an attractive old 3 storey, red painted signal box with a shingle roof. It operates a mixture of colour light and ground disc signals. The goods shed tracks appeared abandoned and there was an old hand crane still in situ, rusting gently. From there it was a short hop to Ambepussa where a few short wheelbase & bogie covered wagons sat in adjacent sidings, indicating rail freight still flowed here. The island platform was decorated with flower beds and a small Buddhist shrine. As we sped on I took time off to explore our train which contained a mix of Westerners of all ages and types, from retired couples to backpackers. Judging by overheard conversations both the UK & Germany were well represented in the mix.

DG237514. Bracket semaphore. Rambukanna. Sri Lanka. 12.1.16.

Vintage signalling & the goods yard at Rambukkara

As we started to leave the plains behind the scenery began to change. Hills started to encroach on the line and the power cars worked harder as we began to climb. Rice paddies give way to tropical woodland. After another jerky start from the little station at Alawwa I was glad no-one was serving hot drinks on board the train! Classic semaphore signalling made a comeback at the Colombo end of Polgahawela station which is the junction for lines to the North. It’s a large place as befits its status. The main station building straddles the tracks. There’s a disused loco shed and turntable, plus an active freight yard & attractive signalboxes.

After a succession of small stations, we arrived at Rambukkara, which has a collection of lovely lower quadrant lattice post semaphores. From here the line becomes single track & our train passed through a succession of tunnels & cuttings surrounded by jungle. The river we’d been following switched from right to the left as we climbed the steep valley side. Occasionally we glimpsed paddy fields in isolated areas where the valley widens enough to be cultivated.

DG237551. 10.35 Colombo - Kandy train. East of Balana. Sri Lanka. 12.1.16.

The 10.35 to Kandy threads its way through the hills.

After a stop at the tiny station of Kadigamuwa (which rather soberingly, contains several wrecked coaches dumped by the lineside, presumably from the 2002 accident which killed 15 people) we encountered the best views yet, steep sided high hills, covered in forest, some of which was made up of massive old trees. We climbed continuously now (the line hits 1 in 44 on this section), every so often the views open out to give wonderful vistas across the valleys before another brief stop at Ihala Kotte which was another tiny, well cared for station festooned with plants of all shapes & sizes in a multitude of pots. Shortly afterwards a new peak swung into sight. Its topside was a sheer rock face that no life can cling to. In the distance, other oddly shaped hills that wouldn’t look out of place in America’s Monument valley could be seen through the haze. When the views were obscured by trees our attention swung to hunt for wildlife amongst the boughs. Sri Lanka has a rich variety of bird life, so you never know what you might see.

All too soon we arrived at Peradeniya, at 113km from Colombo it’s the junction for the line through the hills to Badulla and a fascinating station its own right. Fans of antique semaphore signals would love it as it has a fine collection of antique lower-quadrant signal gantries which are still in everyday use. There’s also a fuel depot here which brings regular trains of petrol tankers to the site. From here it’s only a short trip into Kandy station, which is another railway gem. Opened in 1867, it’s a mix of a Victorian station & Art Moderne building. It boasts 4 terminal platforms plus a one through route. Platform 1 is the through line for the Matale branch. 2 is a single track line with platform faces either side. 3 & 4 contain a loco release crossover and 5 is a shorter bay. the station has extensive sidings plus a two road loco shed and a covered road for wagon/coach repairs. There’s also a turntable which is in regular use for turning the Class W6 diesel hydraulics used on many hill country services so that they can run short nose first. The station is operated from a large signalbox fitted with a 68 lever Saxby & Farmer frame. This controls a fascinating array of lower quadrant signals on a variety of gantries. It’s like stepping back to the Victorian era, although I doubt the Victorians engineers would be impressed with the slackness of some of the signal wires, which means some of the signal arms appear barely ‘off’ when cleared!

DG237649. M7 809. Kandy. Sri Lanka. 13.1.16.

Class M7 809 sits on the head of a train from Matale at Kandy. 16 of these 994 hp locos were built by Brush in 1981. 15 remain in service.

DG237645. Y 683. Kandy. Sri Lanka. 13.1.16.

A look at the loco and carriage yard at Kandy. The shunter is Y Class No 683 which was built by Hunslet of Leeds.

Our arrival in Kandy was the end of this phase of our journey. I’ll talk about the town itself in part 3.

If you’d like to see more pictures of our Sri Lankan trip. follow this link.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

 

Thank you!

Sri Lankan sojourn. Part 1

23 Saturday Jan 2016

Posted by Paul Bigland in Sri Lanka, Uncategorized

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Sri Lanka, Travel

After a hectic few days exploring Colombo and the hill country, we’re kicking back on one of Sri Lanka’s lovely Southern beaches at the little town of Mirissa. It’s hard to believe we’ve already been here for two weeks as the time seems to flown by. Hopefully, now we’re on a beach it’ll slow down a bit!

I’ve not been back to Sri Lanka since 2004. Since then the bloody war between the Government and the Tamil Tigers has ended (not without controversy) and the country appears to be entering a new era of prosperity – mostly on the back of Chinese investment. Colombo is certainly changing. New multi-storey hotels are springing up all around the lagoon at the back of Galle Face Green in the area formerly known as Slave Island. It’s the same along the Galle Rd where new shopping centres and apartment blocks have replaced many of the low rise buildings. Colombo is growing in both stature – and height.

DG237443. The changing face of Slave Island. Colombo. Sri Lanka. 12.1.16.

The changing face of Slave Island as Chinese money expands Colombo’s skyline & economy

Despite this, there’s a lot that’s still familiar and unaffected by the rush to modernity. Pettah still maintains its warren of backstreet bazaars & crush of humanity of all races and religions. Manning market adjacent to Fort station still sells fresh produce in the traditional way & hasn’t altered for donkey’s years. It’s a fascinating place to wander around, watch people and discover all manner of exotic fruit and veg that many Westerners have never even seen before – much less eaten.

DG237334. Traders. Manning market. Colombo. Sri Lanka. 11.1.16.

Inside the old Manning Market, which hasn’t changed in donkeys years

One place that’s successfully made the transition from old to new is the former Dutch Hospital in the cities business district. Situated opposite the World Trade Centre, It’s a well-executed restoration of a single storey colonial building with red roof tiles that surrounds two courtyards this historic building has been transformed into a centre for several restaurants & bars. It’s home to the famous Ministry of Crab – a seafood restaurant with a reputation as one of the top restaurants in Asia (I’ll let you know if that title’s deserved before I leave as we’re booked in on our last night!).

DG237229. Ministry of Crab. Colombo. Sri Lanka. 10.1.16..JPG

The Ministry of Crab, inside the former Dutch hospital.

Food is certainly one of Sri Lanka’s highlights. Most mornings we’d start the day with string hoppers eaten at a local café near our hotel. Served with a lush coconut chutney, curry sauce and dahl, they’re both cheap and delicious (breakfast for the two of us would cost about £1.50). In the evenings we’d eat at one of the food stalls set up on Galle face Green. Here you can enjoy devilled squid for around £1.75 or seafood Kottu for £2. Vegetable rice will set you back £1. The Green’s also a great place to sit and people-watch – especially on a Sunday when it’s jam-packed with locals enjoying their day off. There’s families of all religions, canoodling teenagers glad to be away from watchful parental eyes, hawkers selling all manner of plastic toys and dozens of kids flying kites in the strong sea breeze. It’s an ideal place to people-watch & observe Colomban’s at play from the shade of one of the palms bordering the green.

DG237247. String Hoppers with dahl and chutney.  Colombo. Sri Lanka. 11.1.16..JPG

The classic Sri Lankan breakfast. String hoppers with dahl & coconut chutney.

DG237218. Selfies on Galle Face Green. Colombo. Sri Lanka. 10.1.16.

A group of Muslim women pose for a “selfie” on Galle Face Green

On our first night exploring Colombo we stumbled across a procession of priests and locals led by acrobats swirling fire wheels, accompanied by traditional drummers and dancers which disappeared into the World Trade Centre. After questioning an English speaking member of the group we discovered it was part of a ceremony to commemorate the 15 workers from the Centre who had died in a bomb attack by the Tamil Tigers back in 1997. Prayers were also said for all victims of terror around the world. We were invited to participate & sat in on the simple but moving ceremony which gave a fascinating insight into local life.

DG237076. WTC procession dancers. Colombo. Sri Lanka. 8.9.16.

Drummers in the procession to the World Trade Centre ceremony

The modernity of the business district was a marked contrast to Slave Island, the area where we were staying. Here, the old rubs cheeks with the new, although a lot of the former colonial buildings have seen better days. They’re gradually retreating under the march of time & new Chinese money.

DG237136. Old colonial buildings. Justice Akbar Mawatha. Slave island. Colombo. Sri Lanka. 9.1.16.

The changing face of Colombo. Old colonial buildings in Slave Island whilst a new Chinese funded tower dominates the skyline.

If you want to see more pictures from the trip, click on this link which will take you to the Sri Lanka gallery on my website.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

 

Thank you!

The bell tolls for the anti Hs2 campaign…

22 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by Paul Bigland in Anti Hs2 mob, Hs2, StopHs2

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Anti Hs2 mob, Hs2, Hs2aa, StopHs2

Here’s the first analysis of 2016 that looks at the state of play with the anti Hs2 campaign. To be honest I doubt there will be many more of them as their campaign’s falling apart even faster than I thought. 2015 ended badly for them and the trend has got even worse in 2016. How much longer they can pretend they still have a credible campaign is very much open to question.

They only have two campaign groups left in 2016. Stophs2 and Hs2aa. The latter seems to be a group in name only nowadays. Apart from a couple of desultory tweets showing ‘empty’ West Coast trains they’ve done nothing since December 7th 2015. Hs2aa remain totally silent about their last ditch legal appeal to the UN which was due to be considered in December. This suggests it’s not gone well. Meanwhile, the Hs2aa Directors seem to have adopted the line of “every man for himself” by abandoning any coherent campaign and represent their own self-interests at the Hs2 Petitioning Committee instead. This isn’t really surprising as their campaign has nowhere to go. They’ve exhausted the legal options, they’ve failed to make any political impact and there’s nothing else they can do apart from pray they can somehow influence the Lords when the Hs2 bill reaches them (if they last that long). It’s a forlorn hope.

The news from Stophs2 is equally dire. The question really has to be asked now – what’s the point of Stophs2? They have no campaign programme away from social media and no new strategy. There’s also signs that the people they’ve been cruelly hoodwinking for so long (the folk who are genuinely affected by Hs2 as they live on the route) are abandoning them. Joe Rukin was meant to be representing several such folk at the Hs2 Committee hearings. The latest list shows that instead, these people have decided to represent themselves. This effectively puts Joe out of a job as that was his last real reason to exist other than being a ‘rent a quote’ for the dwindling number of media outlets who still pay Stophs2 any attention. They have nothing going on away from social media, there’s no demonstrations, rallies or events planned. In fact, their calendar is bare.

The lack of anything happening in the real world has left the anti Hs2 mob increasingly reliant on social media to keep any pretence of a campaign going, so let’s have a look at the ‘scores on the doors’. I now have a whole year of data on their Facebook and Twitter campaign’s to compare and the results are appalling, especially when you consider that not all followers are supporters (many are simply there to keep an eye on them) and the fact the UK electorate consists of some 46 million plus souls. How many are the anti Hs2 campaign reaching? A tiny, tiny fraction…

Anti Hs2 scores Jan 2016

So, in 12 months Stophs2 have managed to reach just over 500 more folk on Facebook and less than 500 on Twitter! Hs2aa’s figures are even more dire. 300 odd on Twitter, and an absolutely pathetic 14 on Facebook! I’ve left in 51m (who’ve ceased to exist) and former AGHAST Comms Director Deanne Dukhan as a comparator.The irony here is that Deanne has managed to boost her following by over 68% by NOT Tweeting about Hs2

To pile on more woes, the StopHs2 campaign’s managed to shoot itself in both feet with a blunderbuss by crazily trotting out another petition. One of their campaign’s trademarks is their stubborn refusal to abandon the same tired & failed tactics they’ve been using since the beginning. Personally I believe this is because they genuinely haven’t got a clue what else to do. The “spend Hs2 money on flood protection” petition has been a tactical disaster for them as all it’s done is highlight their lack of countrywide support whilst exposing the fact they really are a bunch of Nimbys! Around 50% of all signatures come from constituencies on the Hs2 route. The only constituency that’s got over a 1000 is (surprise, surprise) in the Chilterns! You can see a full breakdown in this blog. Needless to say, the petition hasn’t got a snowball’s chance in hell of reaching 100,000, it’s not even getting 75 signatures a day, never mind the minimum 549 it needed. It’s another in their long list of failures.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the parliamentary campaign is going from bad to worse. Back in 2015 Joe Rukin was boasting of how many folks had petitioned against Additional Provision 4 (AP4) of the HS2 bill (a paltry 122). He soon had to eat his works when Locus Standi challenges were upheld against the majority of them. Now the final additional provision (AP5) is in. 22 have petitioned on it but there are Locus challenges against 13 of them! This means that the Petitioning Committee will be winding up very soon, allowing the Hybrid Bill to move on to the next stage. If you want to follow the Hs2 parliamentary process in detail, follow @HS2Parliament on Twitter or visit their website.  Here’s the Hs2 Ctte programme as far as the 3rd February.

Trying to delay the Hs2 bill with petitions was a central plank of the anti Hs2 campaign. Their hope was this would either make the project too expensive or delay in long enough a new Government might have seconds thought and scrap the project. In the early days antis were cock a hoop as they thought the fact the 1100 plus petitions submitted would do the trick. As usual, they miscalculated – badly. The Hybrid Bill Committee have proven to be firm but fair – and no pushover.

The total lack of success on the part of the anti Hs2 campaign has obviously had an effect on its supporters. Sick of being lied to by a few who still crazily insist they can stop Hs2, their sensible supporters are abandoning them. Here’s the sentiment expressed by a recent poster on the StopHs2 Facebook page.

give up

This steady ebbing of support is affecting their campaign in several ways. It’s leaving them increasingly skint and it’s leaving the lunatics in charge of the (social media) asylum. Most of the anti Hs2 Tweeters are what can only be described as “special people”. They’re the Walter Mitty’s who live in a fantasy world. Here’s a classic example from one Nicholas Batty

Batty BS

“strength to strength?” Does anyone genuinely believe this guff? Even arch fantasist Batty himself?

At the risk of falling foul of Godwin’s law, they remind me of the last days in Hitler’s bunker. They’re still pretending they have troops to muster, or that an imaginary cavalry is out there who will ride to their rescue at the 11th hour (that was meant to be UKIP at the general election, but we all know what happened there!). To see how bonkers they’ve become on only has to look at the #hs2 hashtag on Twitter, or peruse the StopHs2 Facebook page . (Don’t bother with Hs2aa’s. Like their website, it hasn’t been updated since December 7th!). Quite how a few rather hysterical and out of touch people ranting on social media is meant to convince anyone to join their campaign is a complete mystery.

All the evidence points to the Stophs2 campaign being on the verge of collapse. In many ways it already has as it’s no credibility or capability left. It wouldn’t be unfair to say that now, it’s all over bar the shouting. All that’s left is for the funder(s) to finally pull the plug on StopHs2 and Hs2aa. Will the last person left please turn out the lights…

The anti Hs2 mob shoot themselves in the foot again!

10 Sunday Jan 2016

Posted by Paul Bigland in Anti Hs2 mob, Hs2, Hs2 petitions, StopHs2

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Anti Hs2 mob, Hs2, Railways, StopHs2

For years the StopHs2 campaign has pretended that it’s not really just a bunch of nimbys who live along the route, it’s really a national campaign of concerned citizens (-honest, guv). We’ve been expected to turn a blind eye to the fact that there’s not a single StopHs2 “action” group anywhere – except for those on the route.

It was never going to wash and now the Stophs2 campaign’s latest attempt at a petition has provided the evidence in cold, hard numbers.

The poll in question wants to see the Hs2 budget diverted to flood defences. Now, you might expect the people who are calling for this to be living in flood affected areas. Not a bit of it. The beauty of the new Government petitions page is that it supplies a map of all the UK parliamentary constituencies with the individual petition scores for each one.

Here’s a copy of the results along the Hs2 route from London to just South of Birmingham.

Chiltern nimby nos 10.1.16.

Isn’t it a remarkable co-incidence that the folks who most want to see Hs2 money spent on flood barriers live on the Hs2 route and away from any flooding?

Here’s another map, this time covering the flood hit areas of Lancashire and Yorkshire.

nw nimbys 10.1.16

The two areas with the highest number of signatories just ‘happen’ to be on the Hs2 route. In contrast, the Calderdale constituency (one of the most badly hit by floods) has flooded the petition with a massive 3 votes…

I predicted that this petition would backfire on Hs2 anti’s as it would expose how little support they had. In fact, it’s done more by exposing that the Chilterns are by far the biggest group in the Stophs2 campaign, dwarfing all others. It’s also revealed that some of the Phase 2 anti Hs2 groups are far, far weaker in comparison. Much of the phase 2 route doesn’t even show up as the number signing the petition are no greater than the surrounding areas!

14th January update.

Here’s an updated map showing the position now their petition has hit 6165 signatures (with their average dropping by the day now).

Nimbys 14 jan 16

Here’s another chart that puts those 6165 votes into perspective. 2888 come from a mere 16 out of 650 constituencies, and guess what – they’re all on the Hs2 route!

Flood poll stats 14 jan

So, 46.85% of the entire votes cast come from those 16 constituencies! If you added all the others that Hs2 touches what’s the bet that the figure will be way over half? There is another interesting tale the petition tells too – which is how weak the Stophs2 campaign is away from the Chilterns & Phase 1. Look at the numbers in areas like Staffordshire or Mid Cheshire, they’re tiny.

This is why the flood defences vs Hs2 petition does nothing but shoot the anti Hs2 campaign in the foot. The numbers don’t lie – even if they do…

UPDATE (24th January)

Now that this petition is clearly failing (the past week has seen signatures down into double figures with the running total standing at 6848) I thought it would be interesting to update the phase 1 map.

Nimby map 24.1.16.

This shows that most of the votes are still centred on the Hs2 route. Only one constituency out of 650 has more than 1000 signatures. It’s that one well known for flooding. err – Amersham & Chesham? The proof that the core of the Stophs2 campaign is Chiltern Nimby based is incontrovertible and it’s been supplied by the Stophs2 campaign itself – as has the evidence of how weak they are on phase 2 of Hs2. Remember these numbers have been reached after the stophs2 campaign (and its individual supporters) have been frantically puffing the petition across all their websites & social media outlets – yet this is the best they can do…

UPDATE 2 (10th February).

I thought it would be interesting to have another quick crunch of the numbers on this petition, so here they are. The total now stands at 7445 votes – a miserable failure. The petition itself is of no interest – but who signed from where is.

48.35% of signatures come from just 16 out of the 650 constituencies. All those 16 are on the Hs2 route! Only one has more than 1000 signatures – the anti Hs2 nimby stronghold of Chesham & Amersham with 1219! (16.37%). Here’s the full 16.

Hs2 floods

This blows apart various anti hs2 claims. One is that they’re a national campaign – it’s clear the vast majority of their support is not only route based but is concentrated on the Phase 1 route in the Chilterns. The other observation is that the anti Hs2 campaign has very little support along the phase 2 routes to Manchester & Leeds. These figures make depressing reading for antis as they show that once Phase 1 goes ahead, the anti Hs2 campaign will collapse as the two campaigning groups (Stophs2 & Hs2aa) are run  by (and mostly funded from) phase 1 residents.

 

En-route to a vitamin D fix…

07 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by Paul Bigland in Travel, Uncategorized

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Travel

We’re taking our leave of soggy and gloomy Yorkshire aboard a Grand Central train to London. You can tell it’s January, not just by the weather but by how quiet the train is. GC services are normally very busy nowadays with some services full and standing, but on this one there’s enough room to park an elephant. The good thing about it is the staff have more time to chat, so I’ve had and interesting discussion with Zak (our Customer Service Assistant) about his home town in the Gujarat, India – which I had the pleasure of visiting a few years ago.

We’re heading for his part of the world now. Not India itself, but the island that lies at the top of it – Sri Lanka. I first went there in 1992 but I’ve not been back since 2004 so I’m looking forward to seeing how much it’s changed – and to soaking up some winter sunshine on one or two of those glorious beaches.

But first there’s an important stop to make at Searcy’s champagne bar in St Pancras station.

See you later folks…

 

Crazy anti Hs2 campaigner of the week No 18..

04 Monday Jan 2016

Posted by Paul Bigland in Anti Hs2 mob, Crazy anti Hs2 campaigner of the week, Hs2, Uncategorized

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Anti Hs2 mob, Crazy anti Hs2 campaigner of the week, Hs2

The first award of 2016 goes to one Nicholas J Batty for this (just posted) supremely idiotic tweet where he forgot to check the calender before typing;

BattyBS

What happens when you click on the petition link?You get a petition that closed on the 7th August 2014 after gathering 124 signatures!

The appropriately named Mr Batty appears to be a classic Walter Mitty personality as anyone browsing his details will find. He has a long history of preposterous personal claims. The anti Hs2 campaign does seem to attract an awful lot of people like him.  Still, a man who can claim the anti Hs2 campaign is both “relentless” and “expanding” whilst posting rubbish like this obviously lives in a special place the rest of us don’t.

Meanwhile, the active anti Hs2 flood petition has just passed the 1700 mark in 7 days. Anyone proficient in either maths or the way these polls work will know that means it doesn’t have a snowballs chance in hell of hitting the 100,000 in 6 months that it needs. I’ll do an update on this petition and the embarassment its providing for the StopHs2 campaign in a couple of weeks, when it’s clear it’s fading away.

The anti Hs2 mob never learn…

02 Saturday Jan 2016

Posted by Paul Bigland in Anti Hs2 mob, Hs2, Uncategorized

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Anti Hs2 mob, Hs2

After 6 years of failure at everything they’ve tried and in the final year of their disastrous campaign you’d have thought the anti hs2 mob may have grown both older – and wiser. It wasn’t to be.

Instead we see the same failed tactics trotted out time and time again. The latest is yet another attempt at a petition. Like before, it’s a futile attempt to link flood spending with Hs2 and the tired and trite idea that (despite us being the 5th richest country on the planet) we can only afford one thing at a time so everything has to be either/or.

Here’s a link to the petition, which wants to divert hs2 funding to flood defences. I’ve blogged about the intellectual fallacy (and environmental disaster) that spending billions on turning our river defences into sterile flood drains would be here. Instead let’s have a look what the petition really tells us about the anti Hs2 mobs level of support

The beauty of the Government petitions website is that it allows you to see which constituencies the people signing it live in. This gives you both a geographical spread and the ability to identify clusters. In other words, it allows you to get an idea of the level of support for the anti Hs2 campaign in their supposed heartlands – and the news is not good! I’m not going to do a full analysis now as there’s only 632 signatures and the petition runs until June, but feel free to do your own. Take a look at the constituencies with the most votes, then compare them to a map of the ones Hs2 passes through…

Compare this petition to the huge success of recent petitions on keeping Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear and the massive petition that wanted to get Donald Trump banned from the UK. Each gathered huge numbers of signatures in a matter of days.

This is yet another lesson in how social media and the internet is such a double-edged sword for campaigners. It’s a lesson the anti Hs2 campaign resolutely refused to learn.

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