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Paul Bigland

Category Archives: Euston

Crazy anti Hs2 campaigner of the week. No 27.

30 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by Paul Bigland in Crazy anti Hs2 campaigner of the week, Euston, Hs2, Rail Investment

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Crazy anti Hs2 campaigner of the week, Euston, Hs2, Rail Investment

Normally I nominate a particular individual who’s displayed Darwin awards levels of stupidity, but this week’s award is a collective one that goes to all those involved with Hs2Rebellion and their latest stupid stunt at Euston, where they claim to have set up their 6th ‘protection’ camp. Here’s the nonsense posted by HS2 Rebellion on their Facebook page.

Anyone who knows anything about the Euston station area and the plans for HS2 will spot the rather obvious flaw in their plans…

This tiny bunch, which includes serial muppet Larch Maxey, whose record of failing to stop anything dates back to 1995 and the motorway around Burnley in Lancashire. But then this is the man who was flummoxed by a pair of electronic doors which he’s failed to superglue himself to, so it’s hardly surprising he’s made yet another hilarious gaffe.

Their problem? The trees they’ve climbed may be at Euston, but they’re on the North-Eastern side – which is outside the boundary and worksites of Hs2! They could sit up there until doomsday – it won’t affect HS2 in the slightest! Here’s a look at the area.

The gardens the HS2Rebellion protesters are in are the ones shown in green, opposite blue coloured Stage B2 of the Euston station redevelopment – which is entirely Network Rail’s responsibility. Only Stage a and B1 are part of the HS2 redevelopment, so whilst their tree-hugging might give them some interesting views of the work on HS2, it ain’t going to stop a thing! Not that the Hs2 stage nearest to them isn’t due to start until 2026 – which is an awfully long time to be sat up a tree, waiting…

You have to laugh as this isn’t the first time HS2rebellion have set up ‘protection’ camps that don’t protect anything that’s actually under threat. Poors Piece at Calvert is another example.

These farcical events won’t stop Hs2 in the slightest, they merely illustrate how inept the remaining anti Hs2 protesters are. Many of the original protesters have had their wings clipped by injunctions or through bail conditions set after them being arrested for futile stunts.

Now the nesting season is coming to an end we can expect to see Hs2’s contractors begin to remove the final small areas of woodland that need to be cleared to begin construction of the railway. This will leave the protesters not up a tree – but certainly up shit creek! I don’t expect the protests to survive such a PR failure. Their rhetoric’s become increasingly shrill and out of touch with reality over the past few weeks as they’ve suffered failure after failure – whilst claiming they’re ‘winning’.

Watch the farce become even more pronounced before winter sets in…

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The HS2 Euston Action Group have a car crash in Parliament

07 Tuesday Jul 2015

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

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Anti Hs2 mob, Euston, Hs2

The HS2 Euston Action Group gave their evidence to the Hs2 Hybrid Bill Committee today – and what a car crash it was too! Presented by Camden’s new MP, Keir Starmer, backed by former MP Frank Dobson & local anti group member Robert Latham, it was halting, incoherent & completely failed to make the case they wanted to – the abandonment of Euston as an Hs2 terminus in favour of halting the line at Old Oak Common.

Starmer was awful. He didn’t seem to understand the case he was trying to make and had no idea about the cross London connectivity issues that are solved by having both Hs2 stations. Put simply, Old Oak Common serves East & West London & Euston serves North & South London.

The Committee looked less than impressed, especially Sir Peter Bottomley who clearly has a far better grasp of the issues than Starmer. Dobson wasn’t much better. His cavalier approach to facts & reliance on supposition didn’t score him any points. As for Latham, he made no impression at all. In contrast Sir Peter Bottomley was excellent. He pointed out that the projections were that only 2 out of 5 Hs2 passengers were expected to use Old Oak Common with the rest using Euston. In his evidence the QC representing Hs2, Timothy Mould gave a far more impressive and informed performance forensically demolishing the antis argument brick by brick – as if it were the former Doric Arch at Euston!

Have a look at the session here;

http://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/1a9f4ae3-c26d-4dda-979c-b62cc696f9c0

Once the transcript is out I’ll update this blog as Mould’s tour de force will be worth reading!

After the session was over, Starmer tweeted this;

Starmer

All I can say is – if that shambles was a ‘good’ session it’s not difficult to see why the anti hs2 campaign’s got nowhere in over 5 years!

To be fair to Starmer, he has been put in an impossible situation. The idea of scrapping the Euston Hs2 terminus is so obviously a non-starter I suspect even he knows it’s going to be impossible to sell. He’s been put in that position through no fault of his own but by a crazy cocktail of a Council that’s become hostage to a vociferous minority and the actions of the previous MP, not to mention a few rather upset Labour luvvies. Admittedly, the original Hs1-Hs2 link plans didn’t help as they weren’t well thought out (which is why Higgins dropped them) but that’s history.

Somehow, I can’t see the Hs2 petitioning Committee being persuaded by today’s efforts….

UPDATE.

The transcript of evidence has been published here

Recent Posts

  • 28th February picture of the day…
  • Crazy anti-HS2 campaigner of the week. No 29.
  • 27th February picture of the day…
  • It’s the Hs2 ‘rebellion’ pantomime season!
  • 24th February picture of the day…

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