Having watched the abortive anti HS2 campaign for nearly 10 years now two words always spring to mind: Déjà vu – or in the expression made famous by the 1990s film – it’s another “Groundhog Day”…
After 11 years of failure those opposed to building our new high-speed railway haven’t learned a thing and keep repeating the same failed, stale tactics in an endless series of re-runs. Observing their campaign is like having a TV stuck on one of those cable channels that spew out endless repeats! I’ve lost count of the number of petitions launched, legal challenges threatened or boycotts demanded.
The latest ‘haven’t we been here before’? moment comes courtesy of Joe Rukin and StopHs2, the one man and his dog operation that’s been irrelevant for some time now. As Joe’s still not found a proper job after years of trying he’s desperate to try and keep the group running as it helps bring some money in.
So, Joe’s recycling the tried, tested (and failed) route of – yet another Judicial Review! You can find the full details in this rather rambling entry on the stophs2 website.
More Comical Ali than legal eagle, Joe Rukin videoed a call for help from the StopHS2 registered office and ‘nerve’ centre (his spare bedroom).
Over the years anti HS2 campaigners have tried dozens of JR’s. The late (unlamented) High Speed 2 Action Alliance launched a plethora of them, all but one failed and the one that didn’t was on a consultation that HS2 swiftly re-ran, so it was all rather pointless. It’s been the same with celebrity environmentalist Chris Packham who also tried and failed, achieving little more than parting a lot of fools from their money via Crowdfunding. Money that was then trousered by his grateful solicitors ‘Pay Day’ (you mean Leigh Day! Ed). As usual, the only people who benefit from any of these doomed legal cases are the Lawyers.
I’ve little doubt this latest attempt will result in the same outcome. Rukin is applying for permission to launch a Judicial Review, but the fact he’s appealing to others for evidence to back up his claims tell you all you need to know. The fact that he’s giving people so little time to gather this evidence doesn’t bode well either. His closing date is the 9th March (Tuesday).
Of course, what Rukin isn’t telling his supporters is what happened last time he applied for a Judicial Review. This was back in October last year – only then he didn’t bother with such a trivial thing as evidence – which is why his request was summarily thrown out at the first hurdle and he was landed with a legal bill of £4300!
I blogged about the debacle at the time, which you can find here.
For some mysterious reason you won’t find any mention of his October 2020 failure anywhere on the StopHs2 website or Facebook page. It’s been expunged from history, as if it never happened! I wonder why?
Perusing his latest request for help it looks like Rukin is trying to re-run the same failed case again, which suggests he’ll get short-shrift from the Judges who end up having to consider his request. As usual with Rukin, details of these things are scant, so there’s no information on who his legal advisors are (if he even has any) or when the hearing will be, so watch this space as I’ll report on the outcome of the judgement when it’s delivered – as I suspect Rukin will be as reticent as last time to announce another failure! Watch this space…
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
To say this week’s been stressful would be an understatement. We’ve been back and forth to the vets with Jet, our aged moggie. The old boy’s nineteen and a half and his health’s taken a turn for the worse. At one point we had visions of being on a one-way trip to the vets but the old bugger’s bounced back again! We’re fearful we could lose him anytime has he’s indifferent when it comes to eating but he doesn’t seem to be in any pain. The vets can’t find anything wrong with him other than weight loss and the passing of years, so we’ve really no idea how long we have him for. But, he knows he’s loved and the fact we’re both working from home means he’s getting lots of attention so we just have to take life on day at a time.
One bright bit of news was that I’ve now got both my Covid vaccinations booked. I receive the first one next Thursday and the second one on the 27th May. With the relaxation of lockdown looming this makes me feel rather relieved as I may be better placed to take advantage of work opportunities due to that fact. I can’t wait to get out and about again as there’s been huge changes on the railways over the past year with massive changes in train fleets, plus big engineering projects like the rebuilding of Kings Cross station that I’ve simply been unable to cover – and that’s without the biggest engineering project in Europe to document and report on (HS2).
The vagaries of the week have meant my plans (and usual routine) have gone out of the window. My daily exercise has gone to rat-shit but I have managed to scan an awful lot of old slides so the light at the end of the tunnel’s getting closer – although the plethora of pictures is making it much harder to choose the picture of the day! This week I’ve gone from India to Bali via Denmark and various ports of call in the UK, but the picture I’ve plumped for is this as I don’t think I’ve featured anything from Denmark before.
I took this shot of the Radhus clocktower and nearby statue in Copenhagen in August 1994. Lynn and I had friends in the city whom we’d met when travelling in Indonesia and used to visit them on a regular basis. Sadly, now both Lynn and Didi have passed away but it’s a city I have some very find memories of.
You can find many other pictures from Denmark in this gallery on my Zenfolio website.
Scanning of old slides may slow down a bit next week as I’ve many other things to catch-up with, but – the next album in the queue is going back to the very beginning. I started taking pictures on slide film in 1989 and the album I have lined-up to get through starts with shots I took in the USA in 1990 when four of us spent a couple of weeks driving around California, Arizona and Nevada, taking in various national parks like Big Sur, Monument Valley, Death Valley and the Grand Canyon as well as cities like San Francisco. After that the album covers UK destinations before containing the first pictures of my 1991-92 year-long solo trip from India through to Australia – most of which was done the hard way – overland. I’ve wanted to scan these pictures for a long time as they contain some brilliant memories and great stories of how backpacking was 30 years ago. Watch this space…
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Today, in an on-line press conference Siemens showed off the final design of the new trains they’ll be building for the Piccadilly line of London’s deep level tube network. Back in November 2018, Transport for London (TfL) commissioned Siemens Mobility to supply 94 nine-car, articulated Inspiro type trains.
In what is billed as a world first for any deep-level ‘tube’ system the trains will be fully air-conditioned, which will come as a great relief to anyone who’s ever had to use the Piccadilly line in the summer! The technical specification of the trains is impressive.
These new trains coupled with an increase in frequency of trains in peak hours from 24 to 27 trains per hour from mid-2027 (a train every 135 seconds) will provide a 23 per cent leap in peak service capacity.
The new trains feature regenerative braking capability and cutting-edge traction systems using low-loss permanent magnet motors and auxiliary electric systems that feature silicon carbide technology, as well as Lithium Ion batteries. These system will help to reduce the heat in the tunnels generated by the existing trains braking systems, despite the addition of air-conditioning. Passengers will also benefit from the wider doors and abolition of the single doors at the car ends, plus the ability to walk right through the train in the same fashion as the S-stock used on the Sub-surface lines like the Metropolitan. Siemens have released these impressions of the train interiors.
Construction of the vehicles will be split between the existing Siemens factory in Vienna, Austria and the company’s new UK factory which is under construction at Goole in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Initial testing of the fleet will be done at the Wildenrath test track in Germany.
Apologies for absence but the past 48 hours have been rather stressful. I’m not going to go into details right now, just the concept of a nearly 20 year-old cat – and vets…
Our stress levels are starting to subside now but I’m having another night off so without further ado – here’s the picture of the day. I have a huge queue of scanned slides waiting to be edited at the moment and this is one of them. I took this picture of a recovered World War 2 ‘Sherman’ tank at Slapton Sands, Devon on the 31st July 1994. It commemorates one of the great secrets of World War 2. The Slapton Sands area was evacuated of civilians during the war as it was used as a secret training area for the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944. During one such exercise disaster struck as on the 28th April 1944 German E-Boats attacked a fully-equipped convoy training for the landings, killing 700 men. You can find details of the events here.
The tank was lost at sea during the attack and recovered in 1984 after secrecy about the attack was lifted. It was installed by the sands in Torcross as a memorial to all those who lost their lives.
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Bloody hell – it’s March already! We’re now just a few weeks away from the first anniversary of ‘Lockdown’ and the event that’s turned many people’s lives upside down…
It may be the month when spring arrives but the balmy weather we had yesterday was but a flash in the pan. Today we were back to temperatures in single figures and a miasma that hung around all day, blocking views of anything more than a few hundred metres away. The gloomy weather left me with a severe disinclination to venture out. Instead I spent most of the day catching up on paperwork and scanning old slides of sunnier climes. When I did sally forth my walk was a short circular one to pick up some shopping and that was that. I’m working on the assumption that banking my time whilst the weather’s so poor will leave me in credit when it improves and restrictions on movement begin to lift. Oh, and having a pub beer garden to walk to rather than wondering aimlessly without a destination in mind will be a great improvement too!
Anyway, here’s the picture of the day which was taken on Arambol beach in Goa between Xmas and New Year 1993…
Each evening local children from the village would turn up to play on the beach once the heat of the day had dissipated. Here, a group of young boys play cricket whilst a young Western boy (who wasn’t English) looks on in bemusement. It wasn’t just the locals who’d appear this time of day as many Westerners would appear to jog, juggle or just enjoy a stroll along the miles of sand before adjourning to one of the beachfront restaurants for a sunset beer. Oh, to be able to do that right now…
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
February has ended on a bright note – weather wise. We’ve had a gloriously sunny day here in the Calder Valley, where it’s felt like spring really is just around the corner. It’s such a relief after the freezing cold and soaking wet weather we’ve had the past couple of months. If this keeps up it’ll make the last few weeks of Covid lockdown almost bearable as I’ll be able to sit in the garden rather than spending most of my time cooped up indoors.
Looking back over my life I can’t think of a time when I’ve been so restricted to one geographical area. Even when I was a penniless teenager I was out and about as I used to hitch-hike everywhere, sometimes even on a whim. Once (just for the hell of it in 1982) I hitch-hiked from Southport to John O’ Groats and then down to Lands End and back to Southport. Surprisingly, it only took me two and a half days. I’ve always promised myself that when I become more of a man of leisure I’ll write a blog about some of those days. Between 1978 and 1988 I hitched around 75,000 miles and kept logs of how many lifts it took me to get from place to place. What a different era that was! I met some fascinating people and had some crazy times. Looking back over my life it’s fair to say that I’ve always had itchy feet, which is why I’ve not exactly enjoyed lockdown – even if it has had its uses. Once this is over, it’s going to be time to scratch those feet again – big time…
Until then I’ll plod on with making the most of lockdown and scanning all the pictures of past adventures. I’ve still thousands of old slides to get through, many of which tell a tale of a different world., which brings me neatly to the picture of the day, which is from one of the latest batch from India. I took this shot in late December 1993.
It’s the old ferry across the Chapora river from Mandrem to Siolim in North Goa. When I first arrived in Goa in December 1985 these little ferries were the standard way of getting across many of the rivers in North Goa, or for crossing the border into the next state (Maharashtra). When I was staying in Arambol, you had to use these ferries to get to the nearest town (Mapusa) which was quite a day-trip. Then, going to change money at the bank was an all-day adventure. That said, the ferries were a relaxed highlight of the trip. We’d pile onto the local bus and didn’t worry if it connected with the ferry or not because you could always sit and watch the world go by whilst the ferry chugged back across the river. Maybe having a chai, or a cold beer in one of the tea shops or bars as you waited. The ferries started disappearing in the 2000s. Most of the major rivers had already been bridged, but it took until 2003 before the Chapora bridge opened. India being India it would take several years for a bridge to be built from start to finish. The transport infrastructure may have improved, but I miss these little ferries as they were from a time when life was simpler and less rushed – and the cool breeze across the decks on a hot Goan afternoon was something to be savoured!
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
I’ve always been amused by how little the ‘conservationists’ who’re opposed to HS2 actually know about the environment they’re supposedly so concerned about saving. In many cases this is because they’re using ‘green’ issues as a figleaf for the fact that really, they’re just Nimbys. Even the serial protesters of Extinction Rebellion (the ones who wander from cause to cause) seem to know bugger all about the natural world they’re allegedly trying to save. I had to chuckle at the fun and games at Denham, when the protesters claimed they were trying to save an ‘ancient’ Alder tree. A tree whose age kept increasing as the stories got wilder. First it was 400 years old, then 600. People who know anything about trees will know why I was giggling at the claims.
An even better one happened a couple of years ago after one of the local Buckinghamshire rags reported the moans of a local farmer who was complaining about Ragwort growing on land owned by HS2 as the plant could spread to his fields and ‘pollute’ his land, threatening his livestock who get upset tummies if Ragwort gets into their feed. Suitably outraged, some of the local Nimbys tried to get a group together via one of their Facebook pages with the intention of going out to pull up the ragwort! It took a real environmentalist to point out that would be illegal as Ragwort is a valuable native plant that’s a source of food for insects and butterflies!
It seems these people never learn, hence this weeks award. Step forward Caroline Thompson-Smith, the determined self-publicist and serial spreader of exaggerated nonsense who can normally be found at Calvert, near where she lives. Well, unless she’s breaking the Covid lockdown to travel to other protest camps, such as her spot of gratuitous self-publicity and filming at Euston the other month.
Caroline has produced another long video diatribe which has appeared on the HS2Rebellion Facebook page and features the latest failure of the protesters at the Poors Piece eviction near Calvert (but nowhere near HS2!). Here’s a screengrab.
Never let the truth get in the way of a good story eh, Caroline?
Her garbled story starts unravelling at 1’23” when she makes the claim that behind her contractors are felling Black Alder trees and that the Woodland Trust say the ‘Black Alder’ is one of the rarest trees in the UK with just 600 remaining, so HS2 contractors are felling 1% of the entire UK population! Wow – some claim! And a claim that rapidly unravels by 5’50” when Caroline forgets her original fairy story. Now it’s the Wildlife (not Woodland) Trust who claim the ‘Black Alder’ is rare. So rare the number has shrunk from 600 to 6 in the space of 4 minutes!
So, what’s the truth here? As usual, just a few minutes searching on Google and Caroline’s claims are in tatters. Here’s what the Woodland Trust REALLY say about the Black Alder. Yep, you’ve guessed it – the ‘black’ Alder is just another name for the Alder tree – and it’s also called the Common Alder – because it’s not rare at all! Nor is it a particularly long-lived species, which is why I was giggling last year at the claims about ‘ancient’ Alders!
There’s more on the Alder here from Wikipedia which reveals that the Alder is on the ‘least threatened’ list.
Of course some viewers of Caroline’s nonsense clearly just lap this stuff up. Gullible isn’t the word here. You could literally sell them anything. Listening to people like Caroline you’d think it was Genghis Khan and the Mongol hordes sweeping across the Chilterns, raping, pillaging and laying waste to the countryside in their wake – not a company building a railway who have to abide by legally-binding environmental protocols and laws and who are subject to strict oversight by a whole host of agencies.
Still, never let the truth get in the way of a good story, eh?
2023 update.
The Poors Piece eviction wasn’t stopped by Caroline or anyone else. The trees that had grown up along the course of E-W rail (not HS2 as the wood’s nowhere near) were removed and the rest of the wood remains intact – although polluted by the remains of the abandoned protest camp which was left to rot by its occupants.
Caroline continues to rant about HS2 but on a much reduced basis as it’s painfully obvious to all but the most blinkered that construction of HS2, the maintenance depot and E-W rail is unstoppable with the work at a very advanced stage that expands as each day passes.
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/
It’s ‘groundhog day’ weekend again but the added bonus is the weather’s getting warmer and the days longer. It doesn’t stop the world being any weirder but at least it’s not as chilly! If nothing else, I’m looking forward to being able to sit out in the garden and soak up some sunshine whilst I contemplate the madness. If nothing else I’ll at least have a base-tan for when I’m allowed access to sunnier climes.
Like everybody else I’m looking forward to the end of lockdown and the chance to resume normal life, although I’m not sure what the ‘new normal’ will look like. Whilst everyone has been focused on Covid and lockdown rather than the Brexitshambles we still have the the political and economic consequences of that to look forward to once Covid’s under control and people remember there’s other things happening in the UK other than a pandemic.
Personally, I’m taking a backseat. I always knew that Brexit was going to be a shambles that would drag on for decades, but what’s masked that has been Covid, but not for much longer…
We’re in for a very ‘interesting’ year of the old Chinese curse variety although I suspect most people have still fallen for the Tory slogan that Johnson got Brexit ‘done’. Oh, if only it was that simple. Welcome to years of negotiations folks.
Not that I want to be seen as a complete curmudgeon. The Covid vaccination progamme seems to be going really well, although the cynic in me knows that’s because the Government didn’t bung billions to Ministers friends this time and let the NHS do the job instead. Try as I might, I still struggle when I realise that we’re now living in a banana republic and a cause for celebration is someone doing something right for once.
Anyway. Enough of this. As the old saying goes, people will have plenty of leisure time in which to repent. Right now I’m going back in time to post the picture of the day, which comes from a very different era and time in my life.
Today’s picture was taken at the Anjuna flea market in December 1993.
The women you see are local tribes-people from Maharasthra, the state North of Goa. India’s a fascinating place for so many reasons but the mixture of people’s is one of the most intriguing. The history of different invasions and ethnic origins makes the place so colourful – as these women demonstrate.
Scanning all these old photographs during lockdown is so frustrating as it’s showing me all the places that Covid has deprived me of visiting. I’m going to have a lot of lost time to make up. Not just for places that I’ve been before – but also the places I’ve never yet made it to. As soon as the planet starts to re-open, I have a cunning plan..
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
As the final curtain is about to fall on the pantomime that was the HS2 ‘rebellion’ tunnel fun at Euston, another pantomime has opened at Calvert in Buckinghamshire, where a rag-bag of Nimbys and activists have congregated at Poors Piece wood. But first let’s recap and chart each act in the pantomime.
The theatre curtain rose back in January when police and bailiffs moved in to clear the garden at the front of Euston station which had become a refuge for various Exinction Rebellion/Hs2Rebellion ‘activists’ and a cadre of homeless people who found shelter and security in numbers. As a PR stunt the anti HS2 protesters had dug tunnels under the gardens and 9 of them did white rabbit impressions just as soon as the eviction started. Whilst the rest of the rabble were quickly cleared from tents and trees the troglodytes in the tunnels refused to come out at first, but then departed in dribs and drabs over the days. The most famous occupant of the tunnels was ‘Swampy’, an old road protester from the 1990s who was down there with his young son. What most of the media who covered the story neglected to mention was that ‘Swampy’ was a serial failure who never managed to stop anything, but hey – at least he got publicity!
The description here is pure ‘Comical Ali’! A “hugely successful occupation”? This was as much use in trying to stop Hs2 as is Americans sending ‘thoughts and prayers’ to stop school shootings…
On Monday another serial failure (Larch Maxey) gave up after being cornered by bailiffs. Today (day 30) three more of the tunnellers (including ‘Swampy’ and son) gave up and came out of their own accord. According to Hs2 Rebellion the final (anonymous) troglodyte will give up tomorrow after 31 days, bringing the whole farce to an end. Why a farce? Because they never stopped anything! The big joke about the camp in Euston Gardens is that it’s not cost HS2 a single day in construction time because the gardens are nowhere near an active HS2 construction site! It was pure theatre, nothing more. The theatrics have continued with the protesters claiming the event as some kind of victory – although how having 9 protesters holed up in a tunnel where they can’t stop any work is a ‘victory’ is a mystery…
Several of the protesters evicted from Euston gardens later turned up at the abandoned Harvil Rd ‘protest’ camp in Uxbridge, only to be evicted again within days as that camp was cleared and demolished without them putting up a struggle.
All the remaining ‘protest’ camps are feeling the pinch at the moment as HS2 Ltd are ramping up construction and clearance work along the phase 1 route. At the recent National Rail Recovery Conference Hs2’s Chief Executive announced that the company now has 300 separate worksites in operation. Yet the protesters number less than a few dozen hard-core – which is why the same few faces keep popping up time and time again.
This has been true at the latest eviction at Poors Piece this week where another semi-abandoned camp (which had less then half a dozen regular occupants) had an influx of refugees from Euston and Harvil Rd in a desperate attempt to bolster numbers to attract some more publicity, because let’s be honest – they stand no chance of stopping the eviction, far less actually stopping HS2! The same farcical scenes have played out this week when all the protesters bravado and bluster soon came to nothing as tree-houses quickly fell to the bailiffs, police and HS2 workers who promptly moved in to begin clearing up the mess.
In a lovely touch of irony, some of the protesters from the nearby Wendover camp who turned up at Poors Piece for a day were disconsolate on their return to base as they found Hs2 had been busy clearing woodland uninterrupted whilst they’d been away!
The result of the Poors Piece eviction is beyond doubt and I’d be surprised if it lasted more than another couple of days, despite all the bluster and rhetoric from the protesters and a couple of local Nimbys who bolster the protest but who clearly have nothing better to do. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that these events are more about egos and publicity than being any serious attempt to stop Hs2. This protest is one of the first of the social media age and it’s becoming obvious that a cross-section of those involved are using the protests to boost their social media status as an ego-trip although a minority are more circumspect and use false names or identities.
In fact, the whole StopHs2 ‘campaign’ has changed direction in the past year. The original (Nimby based) groups like the High Speed 2 Action Alliance (who folded in 2016) and StopHs2 (aka the Joe Rukin show) have faded into the background. Now, the running is being made by a rag-bag of Extinction Rebellion devotees, self-publicists, some old road and fracking protesters and hippies – and a smattering of Nimbys. The real aim of the protests now seems to be to raise support for Extinction Rebellion (and make a few bob).
When Extinction Rebellion first appeared on the scene I was broadly sympathetic. I thought that by raising the profile of environmental issues and the desperate need to tackle climate-change, they might actually do some good. Then I watched in bemused amazement as they started to increasingly dumb things, like attacking public transport. That made me start to examine who they really were and it made me realise that they were just another hard-left (anti capitalist) group who used environmental issues and animal rights to further their political agenda – just like the far right in the shape of Britain First and the BNP have done (as well as the vote Leave campaign).
What a lot of this is really about is two things. Recruiting young people through manipulation and indoctrination – and also using social media tools to raise funds.
I’ve blogged about this before when I highlighted the split between some of the people allied to Extinction Rebellion and the ‘old school’ more anarchic protesters who don’t like XR’s command and control tactics – and stranglehold on the money! Over the past couple of years through various Crowdfund appeals and other donations pages six-figure sums have been raised to fund legal cases or to ‘support’ the protest camps (or even individual protesters!). There’s only one problem. No-one has a clue where the money really goes and no-one ever publishes any accounts! The money just disappears and no-one is held responsible for it. There are several example of this. Here’s one.
Over £42,000 raised. Where’s it gone? No-one knows. There’s no updates and there’s no accounts. There’s not even anyone named as being in charge. This is just one of many such fundraisers that go to prove the old adage that “a fool and their money are easily parted”.
Another example is ‘celebrity’ environmentalist Chris Packham, who ran a crowdfunder to raise money for his vanity legal cases against HS2. They were doomed to failure from the start but the money rolled in. Was all the money spent? Who knows. What happened to any surplus? Dunno – as it’s now a year on and Packham (to my knowledge) has never published any accounts or updates explaining what happened to the money. I wonder if the taxman knows either?
The more I dig into the anti HS2 ‘campaign’ the more it starts to look like a scam. Because, let’s face it – it doesn’t have a hope in hell of actually stopping HS2! How can this tiny bunch of protesters halt the largest construction project in Europe when they can’t even stop themselves being evicted? There’s so few of them now they’re doing little more than fire-fighting, stripping bare the remaining camps of people to try and put up a show at the latest one to be evicted.
Mind you, the Poors Piece eviction is showing another (unpleasant) side to these supposed ‘peaceful’ protesters…
Many of those drafted in to ‘defend’ the camp are young people from middle-class backgrounds who would normally be at college if it wasn’t for Covid. They’re a particularly foul-mouthed group who think nothing of hurling vitriolic personal abuse at anyone involved in the eviction – be it HS2 workers, bailiffs, police or the other emergency services. I’m going to take the gloves off now and say that hearing a bunch of self-entitled kids who’ve probably never done a days work in their lives telling anyone and everyone that they know everyone’s job better than them is a nauseating sight. Many of them throw an absolute strop when an adult has the temerity to say ‘no’ to them, but then that does rather reveal something about their backgrounds. Here’s a fine example.
Middle-Class kid who’s never done a proper day’s work in their life accuses working people of being ‘class traitor scum’. There’s a word for people like that…
There’s plenty more examples of this behaviour on the various videos the protesters stick on their Facebook pages. You can find some of them here. “Peaceful” people my arse! The level of delusion and disinformation coming from these people is weapons-grade. It seems the one thing Extinction Rebellion and the other anti HS2 groups are good at is indoctrination, because the nonsense they get people to spout (and believe) is incredible. Here’s an example from the person who was the founder of StopHS2. This appeared yesterday…
Oh, please…!
That so many of the protesters are (or were) college kids is a fatal weakness of the anti HS2 campaign – and especially now that the Government has mapped a way out of lockdown and return to normal with schools and colleges reopening! Many of these mouthy youths are going to find there’s other more pressing activities that will be taking up their time…
The more digging one does into these protests and the people behind them the more it becomes obvious that this is not really about HS2. It’s not even about the environment – or Climate Change – because if it was they’d be following the science and protesting about the new roads building programme. HS2 is being used by Extinction Rebellion as a tool to increase their influence and raise money – and a lot of fools are parting with it…
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Busy, busy busy – with lots of different things. Although the old canard is that men can’t multitask that’s certainly what I spent most of the morning doing! I had a batch of slides all mounted, ready for scanning so whilst I went through that mechanical process I was tuned into the the National Rail Recovery Conference listening to a series of excellent presentations from speakers about the future of the railways – from how to recover passenger numbers post Covid to how the railway can decarbonise and also how the network can cope with climate change. All three are complex subjects but the speakers really helped to nail the issues. You can find a copy of today’s agenda and details of the speakers here. I could dedicate to whole blog to the conference but time’s short and there’s one more day to go. What I will say is that the conference dispelled many of the myths around how working from home (WFH) is supposedly cutting pollution and the need to travel. In some cities pollution’s increased as people have abandoned public transport and taken to the car – even if they’re working from home. As usual, the simple soundbites you hear from people like those opposed to HS2 simply don’t stand up to the facts. The conference also confirmed my opinion about just how out of touch with the realities surrounding transport and climate change much of the UKs ‘green’ movement really is. So much so that they’re actually hindering, not helping, us tackle the real issues.
The third part of my multi-tasking was (finally) producing my new blog on progress with building High Speed 2, which I finally finished and published this afternoon. All in all – a productive day. I even managed to get out for a walk and get my quota of exercise but managed to time it badly so received a soaking on the way home! Maybe I’ll have better luck tomorrow…
Ok, on to the picture of the day. I’ve now amassed a whole heap of scanned slides that are in the queue to be checked in Photoshop. Due to their age (taken in 1993) and the fact the harsh desert conditions of Western India were never easy on film or film cameras – many slides need retouching to remove surface scratches or blemishes. The worst examples will have to be filed away until I have time to put in the hours to make them presentable. Others only need a few marks, blemishes or shallow scratches removed or contrast and colour balances adjusted. Here’s one such example. I took this shot in November 1993 from atop the magnificent Merangarh Fort that dominates the town of Jodhpur in Rajasthan, India.
Sitting on the battlements of the fort gazing down on the town some 400ft below is quite an experience due to the fact the sounds of the town can be heard really clearly due to the atmospheric conditions that allow them to carry upwards. The blue of the houses? I’m told that’s to show the homes belong to high-caste Hindus (Brahmins) although I’ve seen other reasons given. Whatever the truth is, they make for a colourful sight.
When all the pictures are scanned you’ll be able to find them here.
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Paul Bigland 