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…
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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.
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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…
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I’ve been trying to get around to writing this update for weeks as the last was as long ago as November 25th last year and a huge amount has happened since. I’ve finally found the time but it’s been so long since the last one there’s going to be a lot in this blog. I’ll try and get onto a monthly basis to go forward from here on as the project is really ramping up at the moment. There’s a massive amount of positive news – and one potentially bad one – but more of that later. So, let’s catch-up with news from last year. I’m not going to be able to cover everything so I’ll be cherry-picking and focusing mostly on ‘concrete’ developments rather than some of the more socially orientated announcements.
First off was an announcement on the 16th December when HS2 began the quest for suppliers to provide switches and crossings for the 280km of new track between London, Birmingham and the connection with the existing mainline at Crewe. The contract – worth up to £156m includes the design, manufacture and delivery of around 180 switches and crossings for Phase 1 and 2a of the project, with options to extend for further equipment to cover Crewe to Manchester in phase 2b as well as the maintenance depots. More here.
Two days later HS2 released details of the first dedicated freight train to run. The train – operated by DB Cargo UK and Hanson – delivered 1,650 tonnes of aggregate that will be used in the construction of the temporary Calvert Railhead. Across the whole HS2 project, 15,000 freight trains are planned to be used to haul 10 million tonnes of aggregate to construction sites – taking the equivalent of 1.5 million HGVs off the UK’s roads.
EKFB’s Calvert site’s first freight train delivery at night, with aggregate, and then unloaded by articulated cranes. Copyright HS2 Ltd.
Moving freight for HS2 is providing a welcome boost for the rail industry over the next few years, leading to companies having to source extra traction such as the rebuilding of former Class 56 locomotives with EMD engines, the first of which is currently on test.
On the 22nd December the shortlist of bidders for Track Systems and for Tunnel and Lineside Mechanical and Electrical (M&E) systems. Both sets of contract opportunities cover design and construction between London, Birmingham and Crewe where HS2 trains will join the existing West Coast Mainline. The winners of the Track systems contracts will also take a lead role in managing and coordinating the complex interfaces between the track and other elements of the rail systems. The following were shortlisted for track systems.
Lot 1 – Phase One (Urban – London and Birmingham) – £434m
Balfour Beatty Group Ltd, ETF SAS, TSO SAS (BBVT Joint Venture)
Ferrovial Construction (UK) Ltd and BAM Nuttall Ltd (Ferrovial-BAM Joint Venture)
Colas Rail Ltd
STRABAG AG UK and Rhomberg Sersa UK (STRABAG Rhomberg Sersa Joint Venture
Lot 2 – Phase One (Open Route – Central) – £526m
Balfour Beatty Group Ltd, ETF SAS, TSO SAS (BBVT Joint Venture)
Ferrovial Construction (UK) Ltd and BAM Nuttall Ltd (Ferrovial-BAM Joint Venture)
Colas Rail Ltd
STRABAG AG UK and Rhomberg Sersa UK (STRABAG Rhomberg Sersa Joint Venture)
Lot 3 – Phase One (Open Route – North) – £566m
Balfour Beatty Group Ltd, ETF SAS, TSO SAS (BBVT Joint Venture)
Ferrovial Construction (UK) Ltd and BAM Nuttall Ltd (Ferrovial-BAM Joint Venture)
Colas Rail Ltd
Lot 4 – Phase 2a (Track) – £431m
Balfour Beatty Group Ltd, ETF SAS, TSO SAS (BBVT Joint Venture)
Ferrovial Construction (UK) Ltd and BAM Nuttall Ltd (Ferrovial-BAM Joint Venture)
Colas Rail Ltd
STRABAG AG UK and Rhomberg Sersa UK (STRABAG Rhomberg Sersa Joint Venture)
Rail, switches and crossings and pre-cast slab track will be delivered by separate suppliers – with the Track Systems contractor coordinating the design, logistics and installation. The winning bidders are set to commence work on site once the tunnels, bridges, viaducts and earthworks are complete.
The winner of the estimated £498m Tunnel and Lineside M&E package will be a Principal Contractor, delivering the design, supply, manufacture, installation, testing, commissioning and maintenance (until handover) of the Phase One and Phase 2a Tunnel and Lineside M&E systems.
This includes the tunnel services within the shafts, tunnels and cross-passages, low voltage power services and distribution in the open route. The contractor will also design, supply, install, test and commission the tunnel ventilation systems.
The following organisations are invited to tender for Tunnel and Lineside M&E:
Alstom Transport UK Ltd
Balfour Beatty Bailey Joint Venture (BBB JV) – a joint venture between Balfour Beatty Group Ltd and NG Bailey Ltd
Costain Group PLC
Contracts for Track Systems and Tunnels and Lineside M&E are expected to be awarded in 2022.
HS2 celebrated the end of a momentous year by releasing this update on the project which includes pictures such as one of the tunnel entrance at Long Itchington. Soon this will be occupied by Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs)
FIlm and photo shoot of the Long Itchington wood North Portal, with apprentice/undergraduate Shehan
2021 started with the announcement that HS2 had received the go-ahead from Birmingham City Council to begin the transformative refurbishment of the Old (Grade 1 listed) Curzon Street Station, built by the London and Birmingham railway. The old building can be seen in the foreground of this illustration which also shows how the grade 2 listed ‘Woodman’ pub will also be incorporated into the area around the station. HS2 have declared that the old station goods yard alignment (and historic roundhouse) be incorporated into the plan.
Birmingham Curzon Street visual, January 2020
On January 25th HS2 announced that preparatory work on the Victoria Road Crossover Box (West of Old Oak Common) was complete and building work would commence.
The huge underground box will house crossovers allowing trains to switch tracks up to a design speed of 62 mph. The box will be 130m in length and 24m deep complete with 1.5m thick walls constructed by diaphragm piling method, with top and intermediate levels of reinforced concrete props. The base slab of the crossover box will be supported by 77 piles installed 20m into the ground below the slab level.
The site at Victoria Road is also currently being prepared to launch the Northolt Tunnel Boring Machines which will bore 3.4 miles North West as part of the construction of HS2’s 8.4 mile Northolt Tunnel. You can learn more here.
Here’s a cross-section of what the construction of the box will look like.
On the same day HS2 released details of new designs for two viaducts near the village of Water Orton in Warwickshire, including new landscaped areas that will provide green public spaces and wildlife habitats. Here’s an artists impression of the landscaped are in between the viaducts which will contain tree planting and new wildlife habitats with an opportunity (subject to local interest) for a community orchard or area of allotments. More here.
The next day it was announced that the first of five headhouses providing ventilation and emergency access to HS2’s ten-mile long Chiltern tunnel had gained planning approval from Buckinghamshire Council. The Chalfont St Peter headhouse takes its inspiration from the style of nearby barns and other agricultural buildings.
Progress continued apace this month with the announcement on the 11th that the bill for Phase 2a to Crewe had received Royal Assent. The 58km (36miles) route will open at the same time as Phase 1 much to the chagrin of those opposed to HS2 as it destroys their claims that HS2 will only ever run to Birmingham and also their mad claim that HS2’s only an ‘airport shuttle’! Royal Assent was no surprise as the bill had sailed through both houses in Parliament, which demonstrated how weak the opposition to HS2 really is. There wasn’t even a vote on the final reading of the Bill in the Lords as it was painfully obvious the bill would pass.
On the 16th February the final design of the Euston tunnel headhouse was announced. Developed in consultation with local residents the 2-stoey building will be clad in engineering brick to enable it to blend into the existing structures. Standing next to the original 10m high retaining wall, the new headhouse structure will extend above the top of the wall, with a green roof, stone-paved courtyard and entrance facing Park Village East. More here.
Cavern Headhouse – Park Village East elevation. The images were created by the Design House team as part of the Schedule 17 application. Copyright HS2 Ltd.
There’s other progress across the route that hasn’t really hit the headlines and a great place to get a flavour of what’s happening right across the route of HS2 is to follow the ‘HS2 in your area’ website which (as the name suggests) goes into detail what’s happening are by area.
One example is the announcement of the start of work on what will be one of the most iconic and visible construction projects on the route – building the Colne Valley Viaduct. Work on piling foundations the piers starts next month. Here’s some details from the HS2 website link.
Another item that’s happening next month is the delivery of the transformers to power the Tunnel Boring Machines that will be digging the tunnels under the Chilterns. These transformers will step the incoming voltage down from 33kV down to 11kV to power the Tunnel Boring Machines at their required levels. Shipped from abroad, the transformers will arrive over the weekends of 13/13 and 27/28 March. The 33kV power supply cable is coming in along the streets of Hillingdon and won’t be ready before June, so don’t expect the TBMs to begin work before then.
To end the round up here’s one of the many people and environmental good news stories. On the 17th February HS2 announced it had taken on its 500th apprentice.
So, as you can see, there’s a huge amount going on and there’s plenty more to come over the next few months. Now that the Government have announced a plan for us leaving Covid lockdown I’m looking forward to being able to get out and about along the route of HS2 as construction ramps up, so expect more blogs over the next few months documenting the chances as HS2’s built.
Oh, I mentioned one bit of (potentially) bad news, which came through Hs2’s Mark Thurston’s comments at yesterdays National Rail Recovery Conference. RAIL’s Richard Clinnick broke the news on Twitter.
This sparked a discussion at the conference which included Jim Steer, William Barter and Prof McNaughton. I questioned Jim about the potential impact of this change. His opinion was that it wasn’t a major issue and that rebuilding Euston station in one phase rather than two was a great improvement as doing it over 20 years as had been planned was a ‘big ask’ of the residents and communities around Euston. The conference continues tomorrow and you can still register (which will allow you to catch-up on what was said).
You’ll notice that i’ve not mentioned the increasingly desperate and failing protests against HS2 in this update. I’ll be covering those next in a separate blog which you can now find here.
I’ve always said that Extinction Rebellion and HS2Rebellion are anything but real environmentalists. Both organisations have jumped on the ‘green’ bandwagon to further a wider (anti-capitalist) agenda and nothing more – hence some of their mad tactics that do nothing to promote tackling climate change. Exactly the opposite in fact. One only has to look at the way XR have frequently disrupted public transport in the UK, even going as far as disrupting electric public transport by gluing themselves to trains on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) or standing on the roofs of Underground trains!
HS2Rebellion are doing the same with High-Speed 2, opposing a green railway that is the only way we’ll have the rail capacity to get modal shift from road air to rail to cut our biggest source of Co2 emissions (transport) and meet our international obligations to tackle Climate Change.
Today, HS2Rebellion let the cat out of the bag by showing they either don’t understand the issues – or just don’t care. Their target was the news that Malaysia has cancelled the proposed High-Speed rail project between Kuala-Lumpur and Singapore and they used this (superficial) report on the BBC from a freelance journo based in Singapore. In the report it mentions that there are 30,000 local flights between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur per annum – as well as a 24 hour bus service. Here’s what XRebellion have to say on their Facebook page.
Yet again we have supposed ‘environmentalists’ playing along to the right-wing libertarian narrative about costs. This is bizarre. After all, aren’t they the ones who’re always telling us that there is no ‘Planet B’ and that the environment is priceless? Not if you’re intending to build High-Speed rail it seems (roads? No problem – carry on!).
What is it that these ‘environmentalists’ are deliberately ignoring? Simple, just how much carbon those different modes of transport generate. Take a look at this and compare domestic flights, buses and high-speed rail (mentioned as ‘Eurostar’ on this chart).
Here you have the blatant hypocrisy of XR and HS2Rebeliion exposed in black and white in one simple chart.
Over in the UK there’s a similar picture. The biggest market for domestic aviation is between Scotland and London’s airports. HS2 (like HS1 before it with flights to Brussels and Paris) will make severe inroads into that market by speeding up Anglo-Scottish services, as Chris Ogilvie often points out.
I have to declare an interest here. I know Malaysia (and Singapore) well. I’ve been travelling there since 1992 and maintain a keen interest in the areas political, economic and transport issues. In the past, I interviewed the then head of Malaysian Railways for the International Railway Journal and I maintain contacts inside both countries, which is why I know the BBC story isn’t the full story by any means. Even so, for ‘environmentalists’ to gloat over the failure to building a carbon-neutral alternative to 30,000 horribly polluting domestic flights a year (never mind all those 24 hour, 5 hour coach trips) is mad – but then, these people aren’t real environmentalists. What’s depressing is the number of genuine ‘green’ groups and people who’ve been taken in by them. We’ve now gone from saving the planet by any means to saving the planet – just as long as the price is right! This is why I’ve long maintained that the the UKs ‘green’ movement (or what passes for it) simply isn’t fit for purpose as they’ve become just another limb of the libertarian right. You have to ask, how (and why) did ‘greens’ suddenly start celebrating the failure of plans for high-speed rail networks whenever and wherever in the world they happen, and how on Earth can they still call themselves greens?
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As if their doomed campaign campaign hadn’t reached farcial new lows at Euston over the past few days, they’ve decided to descend even more into parody this afternoon.
Remember these are people are supposed to be concerned for the environment. Of course one of the best things for the environment is green travel options – like electric railways for example. Ah, but not if you’re of an Extinction Rebellion mindset! Remember they’ve a history of really dumb stunts like gluing themselves to electric trains which provide eco-friendly mass-transport around London. The last time they did this it really didn’t go down well with ordinary Londoners and XR hastily back-tracked, claiming it was a ‘mistake’ (damned right it was! Ed).
It appears they have the memories of Goldfish, because this has just appeared on the Hs2Rebellion Facebook page.
So, these ‘environmentalists’ have closed down a green railway in the capital in the height of a pandemic, this preventing key workers – which will include NHS staff, fire-service staff, and other public-transport workers getting to/from work. For example, University College Hospital (UCH) is only across the road from the station. How many people could potentially lose their lives because of stupid stunts like this unless this idiot is removed quickly and Euston station reopened – and what the hell do these people think they’re playing at?
My only hope is that the police now deploy the full force of the law here, as this has gone way beyond the bounds of legitimate protest. This is putting innocent people’s lives at risk.
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Unless your name’s Rip Van Winkle it’s unlikely that you’re unaware that the UK is currently in a national ‘lockdown’ to combat the resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic, especially as there’s a new (much more easily transmittable) strain around.
The Government is (for once) pretty clear on the legal restrictions, and the message is – stay at home! As the rules make plain;
“You must not leave, or be outside of your home except where necessary”
You are permitted to leave home for certain (essential) reasons, but the laws go on to say;
“If you do leave home for a permitted reason, you should always stay in your local area – unless it is necessary to go further, for example to go to work.
Staying in your local area means stay in the village, town, or part of the city where you live”.
Straightforward, no?
To the nation’s credit, most people are obeying the laws for the simple reasons of self-preservation and out of respect for others. Well, that is unless you’re an anti HS2 protester as apparently the rules don’t apply to them. These are the same protesters who have launched a barrage of complaints against HS2 workers, labelling them Covid ‘super spreaders’ for continuing to work during the pandemic (ignoring that they’re only one part of the construction industry which is continuing to work on essential projects up and down the country whilst being closely monitored by Health Officials and other Government agencies).
You may have seen from the media that here’s a farce going on outside Euston station at the moment as a tiny band of protesters and homeless people are being evicted by Police, bailiffs and HS2 workers who have moved in to begin clearing and securing the site. As of Friday morning all that’s left is (according to the protesters themselves) four people in a tunnel the protesters have dug under the gardens.
To say this protest is futile is an understatement. It doesn’t stop any HS2 construction work at all. The Gardens are outside the main footprint of the Euston station construction project and the site isn’t required for temporary relation of facilities for a long time yet. In effect, the protesters had neutralised themselves! All it’s achieved is a certain notoriety as a squalid place for drug-dealing that’s turned the gardens into a tip. A lot of the publicity the protesters are attracting is as much negative as positive.
But my issue is this. If we’re in a lockdown amidst a pandemic that’s already killed 100,000 in the UK, where are these protesters coming from – because many aren’t living in that camp. Now, I’m going to make absolutely no apology for naming and shaming some people here. People are dying in their 1000s, yet these protesters (and their hangers-on) consider the lockdown rules don’t apply to them. They’re roaming the country at will. Here’s some examples, all taken from their own self-publicity on social media.
Meet Caroline Thompson Smith, a ‘leading light’ in the anti Hs2 campaign in Steeple Claydon, where she lives.
Here’s Caroline yesterday, livestreaming from Euston to the HS2rebellion Facebook page. Steeple Claydon is 59 miles away from Euston. Now, what was that Government advice again?
Meet Sam Smithson, AKA “Swan”, a protester who lives at the risibly named Denham Ford ‘protection’ camp North of Uxbridge, where the protesters have failed to stop the National Grid moving some High Voltage pylons that are in the way of HS2. Back in the summer ‘Swan’ had a fall from some ropes whilst protesting and the anti HS2 websites were full of claims that she’d broken her collarbone. She made a miraculous recovery and was photographed bouncing on a bed in the hotel she was taken to immediately after her arrest!
The Denham camp is 20 miles NW of Euston. Here’s ‘Swan’ being interviewed there during their last failure to stop National Power.
And here’s ‘Swan’ yesterday at Euston, broadcasting to the world with the assistance of William AKA “boots on the ground” (more of whom in minute).
Right, let’s talk about William. Ole’ Boots can’t be with us today because he’s buggered off to Spain (for the second time during the Pandemic). This time he was boasting about how he took the train to get there. Y’know – High-Speed trains – the things he opposes the UK having? William (an American national living in London) has a long history of both spouting rubbish and flitting around the world and the UK whilst totally ignoring the Covid restrictions. Ole ‘boots’ nonsense has featured in several blogs before, notably this one, and this one.
Whilst William had to be content circulating his rubbish whilst sunning himself in Spain, other protesters had turned up. Meet Jacob Harwood, a long time protester who’s popped up all over the place since 2019. Supposedly, he’s meant to be in Canterbury where he’s a student.
Jacob (or ‘Groovella’ as his renamed himself to fool no-one at all) is still getting about a bit. On the 18th January he was filming at the HS2/E-W rail work at Steeple Claydon in Bucks
Which is rather odd as on one of his videos filmed at Euston on Thursday you can hear him swearing blind to a police officer that he’s now homeless as he’s lived at the Euston Camp since August 2019! The story changes in later videos where he claims he’s only been there five months. One thing is clear, you can’t trust a word he says.
Here’s another one to add to the list from today. Karen Wildin, who is already known to the police, having been arrested by them before for climbing on machinery up in Warwickshire. Wildin, who says she lives in Leicester, has filmed herself at Euston this morning. Now what was that the Government advice was? “You must not leave, or be outside of your home except where necessary”…
There are several other protesters who’ve pitched up from elsewhere, including this chap, who’s ostensibly based in Bristol (and who was at Crackley camp recently). He’s one of the ‘leading lights’ in HS2Rebellion. I’ll add more details later.
Frankly, it was a wasted journey. He and another protester were taken down and arrested this morning. All the trees are now clear of protesters. In fact, the only ones remaining on site are the four holed up in the tunnel (well, they’re *really* going to stop HS2 down there, aren’t they? Ed).
Of that four, one is the famous failure, Larch Maxey, who was last seen up in North London where he didn’t stop a tree being chopped down in Islington. Clearly, Maxey has got more ‘bubbles’ than an Aero! Rather than being nicknamed ‘Larch’, Maxey would be better called ‘Dr Death’ because wherever he turns up, trees die! He’s been a serial failure since the mid-1990s when he didn’t stop a motorway extension in Lancashire. His recent roll-call of failure includes just about every StopHs2 camp going!
Oh, another ‘face’ that’s appeared in the Guardian today is Daniel Hooper aka ‘Swampy’ who is pictured down the tunnel. Is he ‘really’ living at that camp? Last month he was arrested at Denham after another famous failure to stop Hs2 work. Or, is this a case of popping in for a photo-op to get in the newspapers – sans mask, in the confines of a tunnel!
Now, the right to protest is enshrined in law – as it should be. But the right to roam the country during a pandemic isn’t. This is the 21st century and there’s a wide range of avenues open to register a protest – as these protesters show by their use of the internet. They do not need to pitch up in Central London, putting other people lives at risk. But that’s their weapons-grade hypocrisy, as this shows.
“Recklessly flouts lockdown”? Oh, the irony…
No doubt I’ll be adding a few other names to this list in the next day or two. In the meantime, it would be refreshing to see some of my colleagues in the mainstream media stop giving these Covidiots a free pass and actually do their jobs by asking some awkward and searching questions of these people for once, rather than just being a propaganda conduit for the protesters…
Of course, the stupidity and futility of this protest is also being ignored by many, because whilst the media and public’s attention is on this circus at Euston, HS2 construction work continues uninterrupted at Euston and all the other sites along the 140 mile route to Birmingham. Soon, work will begin on the Phase 2a route to Crewe as that section will gain Royal Assent any day now. I’ll be listing progress on building HS2 in my next blog…
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Still smarting from his spanking in the courts, ‘celebrity’ conservationist Chris Packham has come up with another wheeze to try and stop HS2, the UK’s new high speed railway, of which phase 1 from North of Birmingham to London is already under construction. This time Packham hasn’t needed to persuade people to donate money for his expensive vanity project as he’s fallen back on an old StopHs2 favorite by starting a petition on the Government website! There’s a rag-bag of other names associated with the petition, but the only ones worthy of note are the veteran human rights lawyer Michael Mansfield QC (who lives near the route), plus Richard Walker, Managing Director of Iceland Foods, charity trustee and Ambassador for the Wildlife Trusts (by the way, that’s some of the same Wildlife Trusts that environmentalist George Monbiot flayed for ‘greenwashing’ road and housing projects in Buckinghamshire).
Packham and his friends have been busy since last week drumming up media support for the petition and exploiting his social media connections. So far, they’ve had quite a bit of success. As I write this, the petition has reached 47,000 signatures, nearly half-way to its target of 100,000 which it needs to hit by the closing date of 17th June 2021. On that performance, it stands a very good chance of being the very first anti HS2 petition to ever reach the magical 100,00 signatures.
There’s just one teeny, tiny problem that Packham and his fellow signatories aren’t admitting in their daft assertions and breathless bluster…
Parliament “must” vote! Really? Says who? No-one. Certainly not the Government petitions website, which points out that these petitions can’t make Parliament *do* anything, as they explain here.
So this may not be debated in June as there’s already been numerous debates (and primary legislation in the shape of 2 Hybrid Bills) already. Still, there’ll be a vote on repealing the HS2 Hybrid Bills AFTER the debate, won’t there?
Nope…
Oh, has Packham not mentioned that? How remiss of him!
You see, the petitions debates are held in Westminster Hall, not the main chamber of the House of Commons – and they’re just that – a debate. Or, to put it in simpler terms – it’s a talking shop! As the Westminster Hall website explains:
“Debates in Westminster Hall take place on ‘general debate’ motions expressed in neutral terms. These motions are worded ‘That this House has considered [a specific matter]’. Amendments to such motions cannot be tabled. Divisions (votes) cannot take place in Westminster Hall.”
So, in short, there’s no way on God’s green earth that the Government’s Parliamentary Managers – or Parliamentary process would allow this (or any other petition) to go to a division (vote) in the Commons. It’s a dead duck! Packham’s peddling the fiction that if 100,000 people sign this petition, MPs will stream into the House of Commons and (en-masse) vote to repeal both HS2 Hybrid Bills! It’s a fantasy that relies on the gullibility of people to have no idea how their Parliamentary democracy actually works.
So, let’s indulge ourselves in a flight of fancy just for one minute. What if there WAS a vote in the Commons on HS2? The Government would win it hands down – for several reasons…
Parliamentary mathematics.
HS2 has massive cross-party support and the Tories would almost certainly ‘whip’ their MPs to vote in favour. So, even in the even more ridiculous and fantastical scenario of everybody else’s MPs voting to oppose HS2 the Government have an 80 seat majority and can’t fail. But, as the only people who oppose HS2 are a handful of Plaid Cymru MPs and the solitary Green, that ain’t gonna happen – but then, neither’s the vote!
The number of MPs who oppose HS2 has fallen in recent years as many of those who did back in 2014 have lost their seats or simply left Parliament, so I refer you back to 1.
In short, this petition’s a complete waste of time. It’s just another myth that Packham’s peddling – like his Court case which was eviscerated as a waste of time with no chance of success by the Judges. This time he’s peddling the fantasy that MPs in Parliament would (if they could) vote to repeal the HS2 bill when they can’t – and wouldn’t.
Oh, there’s also the small matter that by the time this petition ends in June, two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) will already be several miles into their progress digging the Chiltern Tunnels and there’s going to be a lot of earthworks and new bridges being created along the 140 mile route of the line! This is not like pulling the plug in a computer system no-one’s ever seen, and if you think the Government will allow such a visible, physical monument to failure to be left behind you really do need to give your head a wobble! The only monument to failure you’ll be seeing here has Chris Packham’s name written all over it.
I have to say, it’s sad to see that the UK ‘Green’ movement has been hijacked by ‘conservationists’ with no thoughts for the science of climate change, whose only answer to any practical solution to tackle cutting carbon emissions is “but, Trees!” It’s this blinkered, ‘lose not one tree, not one blade of grass’ fundamentalism that’s making them part of the problem, not the solution, and it’s playing right into the oil/road lobby’s hands.
Oh, I take it back when I say this petition’s a ‘complete’ waste of time. It does have a couple of uses, but Packham won’t like either of them.
Firstly, these petitions come with a handy map showing which constituencies the people who’ve signed it live in. This will allow me to map the decline in signatures of people who live in areas HS2 passes through as I have a wealth of data from years and years of other failed petitions!
Secondly, it allows us to see what people acre about MORE than HS2! For example, here’s the top 10 active petitions at the moment.
In comparison to these, Packham and it friends have a mountain to climb. Oh, and that’s without mentioning that the petition to stop Brexit had over 6.1 MILLION signatures. That worked well…
Enjoy watching HS2 being built! If I have time tomorrow I’ll be blogging an update on progress with its construction.
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Just when I’m thinking the remaining anti HS2 protesters can’t make themselves any more ridiculous with their outlandish claims and piss-poor performances, they say “hold my beer” (shouldn’t that be ‘cheap cider’? Ed)…
The latest, almost Pythonesque, farce at Denham Country Park started in the early hours of Monday morning when the protesters erected a bamboo and rope tower in the river in order to stop contractors working for National Grid from running out a temporary bridge across it. Thinking themselves terribly cunning, they arranged for an old 1990s roads protest ‘star’ – Daniel Hooper, (better known as ‘Swampy’) – to perch in the structure as a way of attracting the media attention they desperately crave. Sadly for the protesters their plan wasn’t that ‘cunning’ at all. What they seemed to have overlooked is that ‘Swampy’ is famous for failing to stop anything. He failed at Twyford Down in the 90s and more recently at Jones’ Hill wood earlier this year. He maintained that record today!
Despite the protesters claims that they’d built the ‘beacon’ (as they pompously called it) in secrecy, the contractors and security staff just ‘happened’ to have a long reach elevated work platform on-hire on the opposite bank of the river. This morning contractors, security and police swooped and ‘Swampy’ was taken down and arrested by lunchtime – much to the obvious chagrin of the protesters who’d been boasting this stunt was going to ‘stop’ HS2! As usual, the event played out on social media. The protesters had shaken every bush and tree for miles to get bodies there and still only managed to attract a handful who posed no threat to the large numbers of security and police who were in attendance. The mix of middle-class Nimbys, crusty ‘eco-warriors’ and waifs and strays more interested in getting pissed on cheap cider was a sight to behold! Here’s a few screen-grabs from Twitter and Facebook to give you a flavour.
Early on HS2Rebellion posted this preposterous hostage to fortune…
So ‘impossible’ that Swampy had been taken down and nicked by 13:00 today and the bridge push continued without interruption! As for ‘secret’, well, HS2Rebellion do have a reputation amongst some other protesters for allegedly colluding with the police. Still, I’m sure it was pure co-incidence that the contractors had hired in a long-reach elevated platform and had it ready on the other side of the river!
Here’s where the protesters plans all started to go a bit ‘Pete Tong’ as the handy elevated platform swung into action!
It wasn’t long before two Officers descended from the cradle on ropes and soon had Swampy ejected from the ‘beacon’ and brought down into the waiting arms of their colleagues below. A few minutes later after removing Hooper’s possessions the ‘beacon’ was unceremoniously tipped on its side and removed, allowing the bridge push to continue this afternoon.
This one is particularly hilarious! This is almost Trumpian in its pretense that black is white and that this shambolic effort was actually a ‘victory’, but then ole ‘Boots’ is from the USA…
Regular readers may remember William from some of his previous hilarious utterances which earned him a place in my ‘crazy campaigner of the week’ feature. Quite how ‘Swampy’ fits into the description of “normal UK people” is another mystery.
If you want to grab some popcorn and watch the farce play out you can find it on the Denham ‘protection’ camp Facebook Page. I’d recommend doing it with the sound turned off/down as the commentaries range from the profane to the inane – along with lashings of propaganda. My ‘Bullshit bingo’ card filled up in a few minutes as all the buzz words were wheeled out in quick succession. “Ecocide”? Tick, “Illegal”? Check. “Assaulted”? Got it! “Polluting Aquifers”, Yep!
Meanwhile, just a few miles down the road, the final fleet of the 300 lorries bringing the two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) from Germany that would be digging the Chiltern tunnels had already arrived unopposed!
Somehow, I don’t think there’s going to be much carousing around the campfires in the remaining ‘protection’ camps tonight – unlike the worksite canteens where the HS2 contractors will be having a warm and looking forward to the overtime payments appearing in their pay-packets!
As more and more protesters give up and head off home or other causes (knowing this one’s lost) I wonder how much longer this farce will drag out? After all, there’s only going to be one outcome – despite what certain deluded Americans try and claim!
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The Joseph de Maistre quote that “Every nation gets the government it deserves” has never been more apt. Sadly, it’s not just Governments, but politicians in general. Have we ever had such a lacklustre bunch – of all political shades?
Here’s an example – and a confession.
I used to vote for this person when I lived in London. By instinct I’m a natural green voter. But, over the past few years I’ve had a lot of interaction with the party’s politicians potential candidates and members. Now, I wouldn’t touch the Green Party with a barge-pole, because their dogmatic indifference to the science and the real issues – as well as their ineptness and dishonesty – is infuriating.
Here’s yesterday’s example. This blustering tweet from Baroness Jenny Jones regarding the HS2 Phase 2a: High Speed Rail (West Midlands to Crewe) Bill which is about to complete its journey through the House of Lords.
“Fight”, Jones? A fight is something you have a chance of winning. There is no fight as the Hs2 bill is already a ‘done deal’ – this is pure bluster. Either Jones doesn’t know how Parliament works (quite possible) or she’s being dishonest and grandstanding (equally possible). Of course, it might even be both as Jones has repeatedly proved attention to detail or facts really isn’t her forte. But then she is a also a ‘Green’ who backed Brexit in this infamous shambolic justification.
What Jones isn’t being honest about is the Hybrid Bill process. This starts in the House of Commons then moves to the Lords. Here’s the full timeline of the Phase 2a bill.
Now, what Jones either doesn’t know or isn’t admitting is that some stages are more important than others. The most crucial of which is the 2nd reading of the bill in the House of Commons. If a bill gets a majority at this stage then the ‘principle’ of the bill is established. That means it’s gone beyond the point of no return. It cannot be stopped. Oh, amendments to the principle can be made at Committee stage, but the bill cannot fail.
Second reading – the general debate on all aspects of the Bill – took place on the 30th January 2018. The bill passed by 295 votes to 12, a massive majority of 283. The 12 opposing were the usual suspects, many of whom representing constituencies HS2 passes through.
Of course, some of the 12 have since left Parliament! Meanwhile, when the Bill passed 3rd reading in the Commons on the 15th July 2019 the Bill had 263 votes for and 17 votes against – another huge majority.
So, since January 2018 there’s been no ‘fight’ against the bill. To reinforce that fact when the bill had its 2nd reading in the Lords on the 9th September 2019 it passed without a vote as it was clear there was no need for a ‘division’. Why? Because there’s something else Jones isn’t telling people – HS2 enjoys even more support in the House of Lords than it does in the House of Commons! This isn’t a ‘fight’, it’s a walkover! The final stages of the bill are now a formality, it’s only a matter of time now before it receives Royal Assent, at which point it becomes law. This afternoon the bill is back in the Lords at what’s known as the ‘reports’ stage. This gives a further chance to closely scrutinise elements of the bill and consider (minor) changes – nothing more, as the Lords Ctte noted themselves on Page 6 of their report.
“It is not for this Committee to consider the general merits of the scheme. Parliament has already approved it by passing the 2017 Act and by giving a second reading in both Houses to the West Midlands–Crewe bill. We note these general issues by way of background”.
So Jones is blustering. Needless to say, quite a few people pointed this out to her on Twitter. Her response? A mixture of arrogance and (typical of Green party ‘leaders’) an absolute unwillingness to listen to opposing views. Jones clearly prefers the security of her own little echo-chamber.
Worse was to come. How’s this for an example of patronising contempt – and cringeworthy sexism!
“Big boy toys”? Seriously?
Sadly, this sort of stuff is par for the course from Jones who is one of the main architects of the Green Party’s mad policy to oppose HS2. Still, it’s a good example of why they can’t be taking seriously as a credible political party. There’s a whiff of good, old fashioned Stalinism about the way they won’t tolerate any dissent – either from ordinary voters or within their own ranks.
Why does this matter? Good question. The Green Party only have one MP and their chance of getting any more is pretty much zero. But…
Climate Change is the biggest issue facing us all. We need a credible, strong, Green Party to continue to push for positive change and work with others to achieve it.
An illustration of the problem. These are the Medway viaducts in Kent. the two massive and wide motorway bridges dwarf the graceful high-speed 1 railway viaduct in the background. Now, guess which form of transport the Green Party spend all their time and energy in opposing?
Sadly, that’s the last thing we’ve got. Instead we have a bunch of tone-deaf people at the head of a dogmatic party that’s incapable of meaningful engagement with ordinary voters. So where does that leave politically homeless people like me who can see the problem? I’m damned if I know.
UPDATE:
Anyone looking forward to some political pugilism as promised in Jones’ bluster will have been sadly disappointed by this afternoon’s debate. It was a walkover!
I won’t bore you with the political minutiae and ins and outs of the procedure that involved Lord Berkeley trying to put forward an amendment using Transport and Works Act Orders as a way of delaying the bill’s progress, but it failed. Badly. From the outset it was clear Berkeley had no support, so he didn’t even press for a ‘division’ (vote), instead he withdrew his amendment.
And that was the end of that! Jones did speak, but there was no ‘fight’ in her. In an anondyne speech (sans StopHs2 T-Shirt) the gist of which was “I like trains, me”, she expressed her concern that people weren’t being listened to and that there was a lot of expertise out there people weren’t paying attention to!
“I think people should be listened to – and I’ll block or mute the first person who dares argue with me”!
Her weapons-grade hypocrisy nearly caused a coffee/keyboard interface issue here in Bigland Towers. The same person who was boasting on Twitter how she blocks and mutes people who don’t agree with her lecturing on ‘listening’? You couldn’t make this stuff up!
One bright point of the debate was Lord Adonis who was as fluent and passionate as ever, gently poking fun at Lord Berkeley and making the case for HS2’s Eastern leg whilst sporting a rather impressive tie!
If you want to watch the events on Parliament TV, you can follow this link, which will take you to it. After Lord Berkeley’s amendment was withdrawn the debate continued to discuss HS2 and another amendment from Lord Adonis that would commit the Government to building the Eastern leg of HS2. Lord after Lord from all sides of the political spectrum spoke in favour of, including many Ex-Government Ministers like Lord Blunkett (Labour) and McLoughlin (Conservative). Anyone watching the debate would be left in no doubt of the strength of support for HS2 in the Lords!
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 