The past few days has seen even more confusion than usual about the future of the HS2 rail project. There’s the usual dither and delay as a dysfunctional Tory government can’t make its mind up what to do about anything with HS2 just being one item on a long list of issues and policies it’s incapable of tackling with any consistency or rationality.
In many ways, that doesn’t really matter. Most people, including many Tory MPs, can smell the stench of a dying government. What the smart money is on now is what Labour will do when they come back to power at the next election. Labour (who started the HS2 project) have always backed it in opposition, but over the past couple of days sections of the media have cast doubt on the idea and speculated that Labour are somehow backtracking. Today, a group of Labour Shadow Ministers took to the airwaves and Twitter (I refuse to call it ‘X’) to make it very clear that wasn’t the case. I’ve gathered those comments together here. First up is Lou Haigh, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, who reinforced the message put out by Shadow Paymaster General Jon Ashworth in an interview on Sky news.
The message was further rammed home by Shadow Rail Minister Stephen Morgan in this trio of tweets.
Mark Walker of PR agency Cogitamus tweeted the fact that Shadow Minister without Portfolio Nick Thomas-Symonds had also been making Labour’s position clear on the BBCs ‘PM’ radio programme in an interview with Evan Davies.
Meanwhile, the BBC put out this tweet of the interview.
That’s four Labour Shadow Ministers making the party’s position crystal clear in what’s obviously a concerted approach which will almost certainly have the blessing of the Labour Leader’s office. It’s easy to see why. HS2 has massive support up in the North and Midlands where the Tories vacillation on the project has gone down like a cup of cold sick. Labour are smelling blood and capitalising on this to highlight the Tories ‘selling out’ the North and abandoning all pretense of ‘levelling up’. Labour are being handed an ideal opportunity to lambast the Government and erode any support they may still have in the ‘red wall’ seats. After all, why wouldn’t they support building HS2? It was their brainchild after all. Will the Tories realise the trap they’ve set for themselves? Possibly not as they’re so dysfunctional right now. They’re too busy listening to the swivel-eyed loons who got Liz Truss into such policy debacle.
Of course, Labour coming out in force to stamp out any confusion over their HS2 stance will be ignored by some sections of the media and also by the tiny number of Nimbys, right-wingers and faux ‘greens’ who still think them muttering on Twitter can possibly change anything. Labour can safely ignore them as most of them would never vote Labour anyway and none of them have the clout to affect an election in any meaningful way and barring something like an asteroid hitting the Earth, it’s almost certain that Labour will form the next Government…
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/
Excuse me? This is the August bank holiday, the only one actually in that season we in the UK regard as summer. So where’s the summer weather? In fact, where was the summer? OK, I shouldn’t complain too much as we’ve hardly had any rain at all here in the Calder valley today which goes against bank holiday traditions, but honestly – what a low key event. Admittedly, Dawn and I hadn’t got anything planned as we’ve got a busy September ahead. Even so, the idea of sitting out in the garden with a G&T whilst soaking up the sun wouldn’t have gone amiss.
Instead, the pair of us have spent much of the say slaving over keyboards. The other day I had a conversation via Twitter (Musk, you can do one – I refuse to call it X) about the state of some of the old BR built diesel trains and the amount of corrosion repairs many of them had undergone. Then I looked for the pictures I’d taken, realised they weren’t on my website so went hunting. It’s a long story that involves tales of why you should keep a central database and not lots of different folders – but I eventually found them.
The interior of one of the cars of 150257. Note the bottom of the steel skin of the car has been chopped off to deal with corrosion of the bodyshell ribs. The condition of the car frames due to water ingress condensation is also evident. You can find more pictures from here.
Whilst these shots were taken in November 2017 they’ve become rather topical as replacement of these train fleets is back on the agenda as Northern have expressed for expressions of interest in building new ones to replace them. And that’s part of a bigger story. These old diesel trains date from 1985-86. Due to government inertia and dither on electrifying more of the UKs rail network we’re sending far greener and more modern electric trains to the scrapyard – like the Government owned (it’s a long story) class 365s built a decade later in 1995. Meanwhile, we have even more modern electric trains – the class 379s built in 2010 which are stored with no prospects of working for the foreseeable future.
Now, you’d think that a Transport Minister who’s supposed to be thinking about such things may be exercising his mind to solve the problem? But no. Mark Harper is too busy fighting culture wars and proving just how unfit for the job he is – hence this utterly ridiculous tweet.
The Government doesn’t have the ‘legal power’ to stop it? Either this is a blatant lie (it is) or Harper hasn’t got a clue how UK democracy works (possible) or both (likely). Because the truth is the UK Parliament is sovereign and can make or change whatever laws it likes. And let’s not even get into the fact ULEZ was a Tory policy and one they’ve pinned on Sadiq Khan. Plus, there’s the fact most Londoners (who actually want to breather clean air) support ULEZ. So, you can see why the Dept of Transport is in a mess. It’s ‘led’ by a politician who’s a bit like a tortoise atop a fencepost.
OK, I’ve digressed from Bank holidays to a rant about useless politicians. Sorry (not sorry) about that. Anyway, I hope you’ve all enjoyed your day off – if you’ve had one…
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/
What a great start to the week! I’m (slowly) heading down to London today ready to be in place to meet up with a friend as the pair of us will be looking at some of the “unachievable” HS2 construction works.
Not being in any rush I got some work done at home first, hoping the grim weather here in the Calder Valley would pick up and save me a soaking on the walk to the station. It didn’t. As I was engrossed in a phone call en-route I hadn’t checked how trains were running. The answer is – badly – which I only found out when I got to the station and checked the PIS. Apparently, there’s an obstruction on the line West of Todmorden that’s blocked both tracks. Most trains are cancelled with a few running to Hebden Bridge or Todmorden where buses will take us the rest of the way. The obstruction (whatever it is) is predicted to disrupt services until 17:30. Ho hum!
I’ll let you know how I get on and where I get to. This is going to be a long day…
13:00.
Hmm, plan B…
Having arrived at Hebden Bridge I had the option of waiting for the replacement bus service which wasn’t leaving for another 20 mins, or leaping onto a rammed York- Blackpool North service as far as Preston although I’d originally planned to get on the WCML at Warrington using the direct service to Chester. The train won.
I’m now wedged in a vestibule along with suitcases, prams and parents with offspring all heading for the seaside. I don’t envy them – the forecast for this week is crap!
Passing through Accrington. It’s grim up North…
14:40.
I’m finally heading in the right direction! I left my Northern service at Preston – as did many others which surprised me as I assumed the majority of folks were heading for Blackpool. Services on the West Coast seem to be in some disarray but I’ve no idea why at the moment. This time I’m unaffected and after getting a few shots in torrential rain joined the 14:18 Avanti Pendolino to Euston via Birmingham. It’s packed! So much for ‘no-one’s travelling by train anymore’. I’m perched on a tip-up seat by the toilets in coach D, although the friendly crew have told me the train’s due to empty after Crewe.
Approaching Wigan North Western.
15:50.
We’re just pulling out of Wolverhampton en-route to Birmingham. The weather’s will improved insomuch that it’s stopped raining and cloud level’s gained a few hundred feet, but that’s it. I’ll be changing trains and lines at New Street with the optimistic hope of getting some pictures. Let’s see.
18:50.
Apologies for the gap in blogging but I’ve been wandering around Birmingham getting pictures and soaking up the atmosphere. I’ve confessed this before but I really like the city. Its multiculturalism makes it a fascinating place to shop or just people-watch. Of course I was there for another reason too – which was to cast my eye over the ‘unachievable’ (according to much of the lazy UK media) HS2 work where progress looks anything other than unachievable! I’ll add a pic later. The weather was crap and I got a right soaking wating for the right moment but my patience was rewarded.
Now I’m chasing the storm that soaked me, heading South on a Chiltern Railways service as far as an old haunt – Leamington Spa. I can’t go all the way to Marylebone as the line’s closed due to engineering works. Instead I’ll be travelling via Oxford and Reading through to Paddington.
19:30.
The observant amongst you may have spotted the slight flaw in my plan. There are no trains running South of Leamington Spa at all – not just Chiltern ones. The line’s closed all week, which means I haven’t escaped the dreaded bustitution. Instead, I’m kicking my heels on a coach which will be leaving for Didcot in 15 mins. It’ll take just over an hour to get there. Ho ho hum…
To be fair, it’s an interesting experience. The staff (both rail and coach) have been excellent and everyone’s trying to make it as painless an experince as they can.
The Didcot coach is in pole position…
20:15.
So, here we are. Eight of us from Leamington rattling around on a coach to Didcot. Trying to put a gloss on it – at least I’m seeing parts of Leamington and the M40 I wouldn’t normally! To be honest it’s a relaxed journey. I’m in no hurry yo get anywhere. The rain’s cleared, leaving a lovely evening (although not great light for photography right now) so I’ll see how things turn out later.
21:15.
That was painless! Our driver’s estimate of 1hr 15m proved to be conservative, traffic was lighter than expected so we made it to Didcot in just over an hour. I didn’t hang around, much as I’d liked to have done as I have fond memories of the place – but it’s the wrong time of the day. Instead, I boarded GWR’s 21:04 stopping service to Paddington, just to enjoy the views and reminisce. I used to spend a lot of time on this route when I lived in London, but it’s not so easy when you live in West Yorkshire.
As you can see, this time of day my shuttle train isn’t exactly busy. The annoying thing? These electric trains should have been working to Oxford, not terminating at Didcot, but a certain Tory transport Minister (Chris Grayling) cancelled the project mid-stream.
21:45.
I’m now on one of GWRs express services to Paddington worked by another of those ‘unachievable’ schemes – the IEP project (see yesterday’s blog). I was tempted to jump on a slower Crossrail train (wasn’t that also ranked as ‘unachievable’? Ed) but getting there earlier allows me leeway to get some pictures at a station I don’t visit often enough nowadays. Paddington was always one of my favourites but then I’m old enough to remember it in the days of Wester region diesel-hydraulic locos like the ‘Hymek’ and ‘Western’ classes hauling old composite coach sets with buffet cars. It’s not quite the same anymore.
00:30.
Time to draw this blog to a close. There’s lots to talk about but it’s late and today’s another day. I’ll leave you with three ‘unachievable’ things. I’ve done today. Well. if you believe the mainstream media!
Here’s the ‘unachievable’ HS2 station at Birmingham Curzon Street earlier today.Oh, this is the ‘unachievable’ Hitachi Class 800 that carried me from Reading to Paddington earlier. I also took a trip on the ‘unachievable’ Crossrail (aka ‘Lizzy line) from Paddington to Farringdon earlier.
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/
This morning social media’s in a froth because of some crap journalism from the mainstream media, including the BBC. It seems they’ve finally caught up with some old news that on the 20th July the Infrastructure and Projects Authority published its annual report into progress on major government schemes and infrastructure projects – like HS2. The media’s making great play of the fact HS2’s currently rated RED and the fact this includes the word ‘unachievable’ – leaving a lot of people horribly misinformed and thinking HS2 can’t/won’t be built.
It’s worth noting that (contrary to impressions given by the media reports) this is not an investigation into HS2. It’s the IPA’s annual report and HS2 is only mentioned in passing. There’s no discussion of HS2 in the main body of the report – only in the traffic light ratings.
The IPA uses a colour-coded system to gauge how scheme are doing progress wise, they go from green to red. The ‘red’ rating is described thus;
Note the caveats. ‘appears’ – ‘at this stage’ – ‘do not appear’ – ‘may need’, absolutist this is not. Of course, you’re not going to get the lazy journalists at the Beeb or other media outlets to explain all this – or the fact many projects that have been given red ratings from time to time go on to be completed successfully. Here’s another project mentioned in the same report. Crossrail!
Yep, Crossrail was also rated as unachievable at one time! Would anyone dare argue it’s unachievable now? No. Despite difficulties in delivery the project’s been a roaring success and already exceeded expectations.
A train pauses at Custom House in East London on the ‘unachievable’ Crossrail line on the official opening day May 2022.
There’s another rail project that was rated Red at one time too – the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) which was the design, build and delivery of the new Hitachi train fleets known as the Class 800-802 (or ‘Azuma’ if you’re on LNER). Here’s this from page 24 of their 2018 annual report.
An ‘Unachievable’ Class 800 approaches Paddington in November 2022.
The irony? The first IEP went into service in 2017! These trains are now in nationwide service and have been for over 6 years years on the East Coast Main Line, Great Western Main Line and Trans-Pennine express routes across the Pennines and to Scotland. More have been built for Hull Trains, Lumo and now East Midlands Railway and Avanti West Coast. So much for ‘unachievable’.
Oh, I could mention that the Royal Navy’s two Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers were also rated ‘unachievable’ too! Here’s page 21 of the 2017 report listing red ratings in 2013-2014.
Admittedly, there’s still problems with them, but now they’re delivered and afloat they’re off the IPAs ratings. The point is, these ratings are a guide, not gospel. Nor is the Infrastructure and Projects Authority there to cancel projects. Its remit is to aid successful delivery.
Sadly, the mainstream media won’t give you this analysis and background. Partly through laziness but also because there’s very few specialised journalists worth their salt anymore who know the background on these things. Which means the public is more misinformed than informed. Let’s face it. what did any of you actually learn from the media reports in the way of perspective – until I blogged this?
There’s a reason why HS2 is getting these red ratings – and it’s nothing to do with the actual construction of HS2 – which is going well. It’s due to the Governments meddling, dither and constantly changing their minds that’s increasing costs, causing delays and altering the scope of the project leading to uncertainties. But the mainstream media don’t mention that either.
Lord Reith must be spinning in his grave…
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/
Today’s been another home based one here at Bigland Towers. I’d hoped the pair of us might have got out and about as Dee’s had the day off but it wasn’t to be as too many other things got in the way and time flew.
So I spent time on various household duties, work and watching the Tory party in London disintegrate on social media. The High Court threw out a challenge by five outer London boroughs (all Tory voting) to the Mayor of London’s extension to the ULEZ (Ultra Low Emissions Zone) from central London. Apparently, it’s OK to have a ULEZ in the central London boroughs where few people own a car, but woe betide a Labour Mayor who has the temerity to extend it to areas where the Tory voting middle classes who own multiple cars per family live. Don’t even ask how much this futile court challenge has cost taxpayers in the five Tory boroughs. Oh, and ignore the fact that ULEZ was originally planned by one Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson when he was London Mayor as that just doesn’t fit the narrative!
The Tories are desperate to make out that ULEZ disproportionately hits the poor (it doesn’t) which is quite a turn-up for the books as they’ve spent the past 13 years making the poor poorer. Still, there’s elections due in 2024 so they need every excuse they can grasp hold of. In London the Tories have selected an absolute no-hoper as their Mayoral candidate. Susan Hall was never anyone’s first choice but a succession of scandals meant it was Buggins turn. Said Buggins is a very right-wing, Brexit, Boris and Trump supporting individual who’s left a car crash all across social media – the ideal candidate for London Mayor (not). Nominating Hall as their London candidate is like nominating Enoch Powell as prospective MP for Golders Green. It just ain’t gonna happen! It’s no wonder the Tories are clinging on to ULEZ like shipwreck survivors to a lifebelt. There’s only one problem. ULEZ only affects 1 in 10 cars (and they have to be at least 17 years old) and that number’s dwindling all the time thanks to age and the Mayors scrappage scheme. By the time it comes to the Mayoral elections in May 2024 and the general election later that year this will be a non-issue.
Sad to say, but this whole episode brightened my day. Well, added to the fact the Ukrainians are making solid progress in ejecting the Russian invaders from their country, leading to even more internet tizzys by Russian trolls.
Now it’s time to wind down, ignore the world of geo and local politics and look forward to the weekend. So, I’ll leave you with a picture of the day which was inspired by a conversation I had earlier when I nipped up to our local pub to indulge in the Friday night quiz. Here are Dhows on the beach at Nungwi, Zanzibar on the 30th May 2001…
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/
This morning I woke up to some good news. The Tories had been routed in 2 of the three seats that were up for election yesterday. In the third (Uxbridge and South Ruislip) they had their majority slashed from 7,210 to just 495 votes. In Selby and Ainsty, where Labour won convincingly, they overturned a Tory majority of 21,357, the largest majority ever overturned by the Labour party in a by-election. In Somerton and Frome the winning Lib-Dem candidate overturned a Tory majority of 19,213 to win by 11,008 votes.
In both Selby and Frome the Green party (who came 3rd) did well. Especially in Somerton and Frome where the Greens Martin Dimery managed 3,944 votes or 10.2%, an increase of 5.1% on a reduced turnout out of 44.23% (down on the general election by 31.4%). This is double what the Greens poll nationally in opinion polls.
In Selby and Ansty the Greens Arnold Warneken received 1,838 votes, an increase of 1.9% to take them to 5.1% of the vote – consistent with the national average on a turnout that was down by 27.2% on the 2019 election.
In both elections the Greens held on to their deposits, another unusual outcome for the party.
Meanwhile, what happened to the Greens in Uxbridge, where their candidate (Sarah Green) stood on an anti HS2 ticket which was almost the sole focus of the Greens campaign? Here’s a look at the full Uxbridge results, taken from Wikipedia.
Interesting. There are several things worthy of note here. Firstly, the number of candidates. As this was a celebrity seat – being the one hastily abandoned by former PM Boris Johnson when he ran away before being censure by Parliament it was always going to attract the mad, bad and sad, from the Raving Looney’s, the failed actor and odious right-winger Laurence Fox, to Piers Corbyn and a rag bag of other no-hope independents, all of whom would attract a few votes. However, the turnout (whilst down) was nowhere near as low as in the other two byelections – only 17.3% compared to 27.2% and 31.4%.
As in the other byelections, the Greens came 3rd, but with a very different look – just 2.9%, well below the national polling average and and with a tiny increase of just 0.7% Yet Sarah Green was standing on what is meant to be a sure-fire ticket – an anti HS2 platform in a Nimby constituency that supposedly is in wholesale opposition to HS2. Unless, of course – it isn’t – and people have other fish to fry?
Green attracted 893 votes (and lost her deposit). The Lib-Dems vote dropped by 4.6% from 3026 in 2019 to 526 – solid evidence of tactical voting to oust the Tories as Labour’s vote increased by 6%. Labour ascribe their failure to capture the seat to London’s ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) which is hitting motorists pockets. In a breathtaking example of their hypocrisy, the Tories are saying their win is a referendum on ULEZ, neatly forgetting that it was brought in by a previous Mayor of London and former Uxbridge MP – one Boris Johnson! It’s also Tory party policy. In fact, in 2020 then Transport Secretary Grant Shapps wanted London’s Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan to extend the capital’s congestion charge zone as far as the ULEZ boundary (link). Still, what does the truth matter when there’s a crucial byelection to win? T’was ever thus with the Tories.
Another thing to to note is that there were two candidates standing on an anti ULEZ ticket. Between them they garnered 394 votes. It’s reasonable to assume most of these would have been Tory votes in the past.
Meanwhile, back at the Green party…
It’s clear Sarah Green didn’t stand a chance but then Hillingdon green party has a history of fielding no-hope candidates on anti HS2 tickets who do nothing to enhance the party’s reputation (see Mark Keir). But, just imagine what would have happened if the Greens had decided not to run a candidate this time? How many of those 894 votes would have gone to Labour and potentially swung the election? This would have fulfilled the wider green party agenda as it’s clear the Tories are anything but climate-friendly!
Here’s why the GPEW aren’t fit for purpose. They’re not a coherent political party but a rag-bag of local groups with no party discipline and no strategy. They’re little more than incoherent protest groups, campaigning on whatever bee’s in their bonnets, or blowing in the wind to local Nimby issues like opposing wind-farms. Actually tackling climate change takes a backseat.
It’s clear from recent local election results that Greens standing on an anti HS2 ticket isn’t doing the party any good (see this blog). Let’s face it – a ‘green’ party actively opposing us building low-carbon public transport whilst saying they support building a new high-speed N-S railway ‘in principle’ just makes them look like a bunch of hypocrites – and voters see that. But the party’s structured in such a way it’s impossible for the ‘leaders’ to lead, so the party’s stuck – and some of the grassroots like it that way. In the meantime, we’ve just seen Hillingdon ‘green’ party enable a Tory victory in Uxbridge and embolden the right-wing opposition to clean air in London. Oh, the irony! I’m not the only one who’s noticed that either. Joss Garman, Executive Director of the European Climate Foundation tweeted this earlier…
The really dumb thing? The ‘greens’ never stood any chance of winning nor of stopping HS2. This was yet another wasted opportunity to actually do something positive to help change politics in the UK that would further their supposed real aim of tackling climate change. But as I’ve been saying for a long time, they literally can’t see the woods for the trees…
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/
Today’s the day voters go to the polls in three by-elections in different parts of England. Selby and Ansty, Uxbridge and South Ruislip and Somerton & Frome, all very different constituencies – apart from the fact they’d elected Tory MPs. Now it’s looking extremely likely that’ despite the fact two of them were Tory ‘safe seats’ held with huge majorities, all three will change hands. The first two are expected to fall to Labour whilst the Lib-Dems will gain the third.
Most eyes will be focused on Uxbridge, the former seat of Boris Johnson until he ran away after being censured by Parliament for telling porkies. Johnson? Lying? Colour me shocked. The man’s made a career out of lying, but for once they’ve caught up with him and hopefully ended his time in politics.
There’s a diverse range of candidates standing in Uxbridge one of whom I’ve mentioned before. Anti HS2 obsessive Sarah Green has managed to secure the Green Party nomination. Despite her failing to get elected to roles as a local Councillor in the past the local Green party are daft enough to put her forward in an important by-election. She doesn’t stand a chance of course (I’ll be reporting back on the actual results tomorrow) but her nomination made me look at how some other Greens who’ve stood on anti HS2 tickets have fared in the May 2023 local elections. I hadn’t realised until now but former StopHs2 ‘Campaign Manager’ Joe Rukin has joined the GPEW. Well, he does have a lot of free time on his hands nowadays! He was one of 11 Green party candidates in the Kenilworth Town council elections, and guess what? He was the only one who wasn’t elected! You can find the results here.
Meanwhile, over on Erewash Borough Council, another area which HS2 will run through, serial ‘wannabee’ and regular moaner about HS2, Brent Poland, stood in Breaston ward where 2 seats were up for grabs. The party put up 6 candidates across Erewash with Poland the ‘spokesperson’ for the group.
Of the two Breaston seats the Tories won one and the Greens the other, but not Poland, another Green candidate – Ann Marie Mills – was the one elected. As for poor Poland – he even less votes than the 2nd Tory candidate! You can find the full EBC results here.
There’s a message here that the Green party would do well to listen to. Opposition to HS2 – no matter how strident – is not a vote winner, even in constituencies HS2 affects where you hope to pick up the Nimby vote. In fact, the previous high-profile antics and car-crash history of candidates like Rukin and Poland might have proved to work against them, hence the results.
We’ve seen this in election after election. The most recent being another high-profile by-election in Chesham and Amersham where GPEW candidate Carolyne Culver ran an appalling anti Hs2 campaign – to the exclusion of almost all else – including Climate Change!
Sadly, this is a message much of the Green party ignores. Despite the fact the core part of HS2 is almost halfway to completion they still pretend they can somehow stop it and that doing so is somehow ‘green’. It’s baffling, but then so much about GPEW politics is. You do have to wonder if they’re really serious about politics or getting into Government and holding real power and influence. The evidence suggests not…
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/
Yes – it’s back! It’s been increasingly difficult to find candidates for this feature as there’s so few people left pretending they can stop HS2 and the ones that are would all (in one way or another) qualify for this title. But one does stand head and shoulders above the others at the moment, and helps illustrate a wider political problem. Step forward Sarah Green, long-time anti HS2 timewaster and fantasist and the new Green party candidate for the forthcoming Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election. This is the seat vacated by that narcissistic sack of custard, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who abandoned it in a hurry when his lies caught up with him.
In their ‘wisdom’ the local Green Party chose Green as their candidate, replacing another no-hoper and anti HS2 fantasist Mark Keir (blogs passim), who failed to get anywhere in the 2019 election. He came 4th with just 2.2% of the vote way behind Johnson who won with 52.6%. Both Keir and Green have stood (and been rejected) for the Council several times in the past. I’ve no doubt this record will be maintained.
This time the election’s an even more crowded field as this candidate list from Wikipedia shows.
The favourite to win is the Labour candidate, Danny Beales, a local lad who’s currently Camden Counciller. Labour have always come second in the constituency and with the levels of disgust at both the Tory party and Johnson the predictions are they’ll win (albeit narrowly) this time.
Sarah Green will get nowhere, just like the greens candidate (Carolyne Culver) in the Amersham and Chesham by-election in 2021. Culver managed to decrease the green party’s vote in Amersham and I have a suspicion Green may well do the same in Uxbridge. Why?
Green is running a hopeless single-issue campaign that’s entirely focussed on her personal opposition to HS2. It’s a horribly ‘nimby’ and parochial campaign (just like the one Culver ran) based on nothing but scaremongering and exaggerations on the supposed damage HS2 just might do to the area’s rivers and pollution to the Chiltern aquifer that supplies some of London’s drinking water. There’s just one teeny, tiny problem here. None of this scaremongering has ever come true. No streams have been polluted by HS2 and London’s drinking water remains unaffected. A few minor spills of Bentonite (inert drilling mud) and several sinkholes (embarassing, but with no real impact on anything) do not a pollution incident make. Meanwhile, the piles for the Colne valley viaduct (something else Green spread scare stories about) were all sunk without incident and the two tunnel boring machines launched from the South Ruislip portal continue to bore their way Eastwards – away from the aquifer! Of course, none of these inconvenient facts have stopped Green spreading her scare stories, but like the boy who cried wolf, people are getting increasingly bored of hearing them. Even dragging out Jenny Jones from the House of Lords to join in the scaremongering – sorry – ‘campaigning’ hasn’t had the desired effect as the replies to Jones’s Twitter posts have been anything but supportive. As usual, that led the notoriously touchy Jones reaching for the block button even more. Jones really doesn’t like being challenged by anyone – especially people in possession of facts! She is so infamous Greens4HS2 used to sell a T-shirt which said ‘blocked by Jenny Jones’! Here’s a recent bit of nonsense they’ve put out on Facebook. Note the £100m a week figure, which has been plucked from thin air. Also note that they’re protesting about building a green electric railway – outside a green electric railway station that Jones used to get to there from the Lords! Ironic, eh? – only these people don’t do irony (or self-awareness).
Needless to say, people locally and elsewhere seem to be less than impressed, hence Green’s crowdfunder bombing. With only two days left to go it’s stuck on 25% of its modest £2500 target.
5th July funding update. Greens crowdfunder closed on the 29th of June, having raised no more than the £630 (or 25%) shown here. Way short of the £2,500 they wanted.
Whilst Green doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell, there is a wider issue here – which is the Green party’s inability to put forward credible candidates due to their structure. Why aren’t the Greens (unlike their EU counterparts) seen as little more than a repository for protest votes?
Probably because the Green party of England and Wales (the Scots are much more sensible – and independent of GPEW) are not a credible political party. At best they’re a semi-anarchic protest movement who’ve had the luck to get a single MP elected – although that luck may not hold now that Caroline Lucas has announced she’s standing down from her Brighton seat at the next election. Her personal popularity has helped her get elected but if the local party put forward someone of the caliber of their usual candidates, that could change…
Green party members don’t like being told what to do. They’re an undisciplined and contradictory bunch and that’s how they like it. Their problem is – voters don’t, which is why GPEW have never broken through on the national stage and never will. Oh, it’s OK to have some local councillor posturing and prancing around with a placard but people (in general) expect their MPs to have more credibility. Yes, I know some of the Tories 2019 intake have proved to be a bunch of clowns (especially in ‘red wall’ seats) but they’re heading for extinction at the next election. Does anyone in Uxbridge really look at Sarah Green and see someone who they think can represent their best interests in Parliament (never mind Government)?
Greens aren’t bothered by that. Because most of them would never want to be in power anyway as it would mean putting their money where their mouth is. In that respect they’re like a lot of people on the left, they value ideological purity more than making compromises to actually get anything done.
There’s another problem that’s prevalent within the GPEW. Nimbyism. The BBC recently carried an article illustrating how many ‘green’ Cllrs oppose things like solar farms – often on the flimsiest of pretexts. The irony (and hypocrisy) of a party that’s always telling us we’re in the midst of a ‘climate emergency’ but that constantly opposes ways of tackling it (HS2, solar and wind farms) isn’t lost on a lot of people. This is a classic case of Greens ignoring the science by suggesting solar panels should be on roofs not in fields, ignoring the fact that you can’t build the utility scale of solar we need on rooftops. But hey ho – what do experts know compared to green party members? It’s HS2 all over again.
I’m not alone in being frustrated with GPEW, there’s quite a few decent party members who see the problem too, but the way the party is constituted means there’s no way to change things without root and branch reform and there’s no way the majority of the membership would countenance such a thing – which is why – if you really want to see a green future, it’s a waste of time voting green. There’s more chance of stopping climate change than there is getting GPEW to reform.
I’ll watch the result of the Uxbridge by-election with interest. Still, there’s on bright spot on the horizon. Unlike last time, voters will be spared the pantomime sight of former @stophs2 ‘Campaign Manager’ Joe Rukin dressing up as a tree!
5th July update.
More analysis has come out about the campaign which shows why the Green and the greens are barking up the wrong tree as usual. Ben Walker from ‘Britain elects’ has written this very interesting piece in the New Statesman which suggests local issues may well mean it’s not the cakewalk that Labour are anticipating. But that local issue isn’t HS2 – it’s London’s ULEZ (the Ultra Low Emission Zone) proposed by Boris Johnson but enacted by Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan. This offers no help to the Green as she’s entirely focused on HS2 and if pressed would support the ULEZ.
The bookies aren’t impressed by her either. Here’s recent odds on the various parties.
Green and the greens are 300/1 – behind the Reclaim Party, which is the vehicle for failed actor and right-wing bandwagon-jumper Laurence Fox!
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/
We’ve had another mixed day here at Bigland Towers. On opening the bedroom blinds this morning it was obvious the glorious sunshine we’d had yesterday was a flash in a pan as the view across the valley was hampered by low cloud and poor visibility. Temperatures weren’t exactly balmy either! As the pair of us had plenty to keep us occupied with at home the weather wasn’t much of a problem – although sunshine and blue skies does help lift the spirits.
The weather certainly didn’t stop us voting in the local elections. Nor did the new need for photo ID. That’s because we’d already voted! For many years now we’ve had postal votes so our returns were in. I can’t help thinking the whole photo ID idea is a scam on the part of the Tories to stop people voting. Recorded cases of voter fraud have always been tiny, so why the sudden need for photographic ID? Plus, if I remember correctly, when there have been minor cases of impersonation it’s been with postal ballots – for which you don’t need ID! I’ll be very interested to see how this scheme pans out and if it backfires on the Tories in the was some observers are suggesting. Some older people (likely Tory voters) don’t have photographic ID and may well struggle to be allowed to vote. There would be a delicious irony if we see shrinkage in the Tory vote because the ‘wrong sort’ of voters have been disenfranchised!
Of course, the results won’t be clear until tomorrow and I’m not going to be staying up to watch as the pair of us have better things to do tomorrow. Dawn’s spent the day toiling like a Stakhanovite in order to clear as much of her work as possible before turning off her computer this evening ready for the next few days.
Me? I’ve been busy too although I did have a side trip to our local GPs in order to have check-up that I’m overdue for. Fair credit to our local surgery down in Sowerby Bridge. I only rang them about an appointment this morning yet they managed to squeeze me in to see a GP by 15:00! That’s an impressive service, but then they’ve always been good.
Now it’s late in the evening and the pair of us are packing, ready to head off to Turkey tomorrow whilst leaving the cottage in good order for our friends who’ll be looking after the place whilst we’re away. No doubt I’ll be doing some blogging over the next few days whilst I’m away, just don’t expect them to be mammoth travel guides to Istanbul as we’re going with the other members of the ‘5 from the 6’ so the intention’s to have fun!
It’s a good time to go, the UK weather forecast’s not looking good for the next few days. Plus, as a republican and not a royalist the next few days of Coronation fever and forelock tugging is something I’m happy to miss – especially when I reflect on the state of the UK economy right now. I’ve nothing against Charles (in fact, I rather like him) but there’s a whiff of ‘bread and circuses’ in the air that hopefully won’t travel as far as Turkey, although I suspect some of our number will be happy to watch the pageantry, pomp and circumstance on ‘catch-up’…
OK, time to go. Today’s picture is from the last time the ‘5 from the 6’ went on a jaunt which was to Berlin this time last year. Here’s the Oberbaum bridge which became an important crossing point between East and West during the ‘Cold War’ years.
I’m looking forward to being let loose in Istanbul with the camera, but I think hoping for blue skies like this may be optimistic…
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/
On Monday the Public Accounts Committee of MPs took oral evidence on the pause of HS2 construction at Euston station. Anyone expecting any real answers as to how we got to this sorry state will have been sadly disappointed at the session as it was more the ‘dunno’ show than generating any real insights. It was also curious for what was not said or discussed as much as what was.
For some reason the Committee decided to focus exclusively on Euston station itself and ignore another vital piece of that jigsaw. The Euston tunnels, which are essentially separate to the station but they’ve been paused too – as has construction of phase 2a from Handsacre Junction North of Birmingham as far as Crewe.
Now, Euston station is undoubtedly a mess but that’s no reason to postpone building the Euston approach tunnels. Plus, the tunnels are ‘critical path’ work. Without the TBMs for the Euston tunnels being launched from the Old Oak Common station box you can kiss goodbye to opening the HS2 station at Old Oak that’s now being talked about as a ‘temporary terminus’ for HS2 in London. Plus, if you don’t build the tunnels you won’t be running any HS2 trains into Euston – whatever final design’s cooked up!
The PAC session was billed as asking “how the risks to value for money are being managed” yet the session was all about the money and not about the value. We got bogged down in the minutiae of how much it would cost to secure the Euston site (even talking about hoardings) but nothing about the REAL value of money questions – such as how much the delays to building Euston would affect railway capacity and passenger usage of the truncated HS2 line to Old Oak Common. Nor was anything asked about the environmental costs of delaying HS2 – which are also financial – or the economic impact on ‘levelling up’.
Instead, what we heard from Dame Bernadette Kelly (Perm Sec at DfT), Alan Over (DG of High Speed Rail Group and SRO for HS2 at DfT) and Mark Thurston (Chief Exec at HS2 Ltd) was a sorry tale of government delay and dither and what happens when you let a Committee design something. Think of the problems with the Great Western Main Line electrification where everyone sticks their ‘pennorth’ into the specification so the costs keep rising.
Reading between the lines of what was being said at the Committee, this is what happened at Euston. Costs kept rising as Government changed its mind on the size of the oversite development (which impacted on the rail design), a new ‘partnership’ was established which added other priorities and considerations and the whole thing grew so that the agreed 2019 budget hopelessly was unrealistic when the wish-list was presented to the construction team who were meant to wrap it all up into a final, costed design that they could build.
I suppose you could describe it like this. You want your dream kitchen so you and all your family set an unrealistic budget, then you pore over an out of date catalogue whilst accepting suggestions from your neighbors and relatives on what’s needed. Then you call the builder. The builder weighs everything up, itemises it, sucks his teeth and tells you exactly how much that little lot will cost in the real world today.
Now, I have sympathy with the idea that Euston had to be paused. It’s clear the existing wish list (I won’t grace it with the name of ‘plan’) was far too expensive and that the dither and delays had added to the costs. Remember, Euston was originally expected to open at the end of 2026 with the rest of phase – despite what Kelly and Merriman have previously claimed, which I dealt with here. Plus, in the original plan we were going to get more (11 platforms) for less money. As we’re now 1/3 of the way through 2023 and there’s still no viable plan and in the intervening time we’ve seen rampant inflation, cost pressures due to Covid, the Ukraine war and Brexit so it’s hardly surprising costs have increased.
Some of this was touched on at the hearing, some of it wasn’t. Was was studiously ignored was the Government’s involvement in this expensive fiasco. Obviously, the witnesses were going to have to tread carefully (if you’re a civil servant criticising this Government can be very bad for your career) but not all the PAC members were Tories and could have asked awkward questions. The bizarre thing is none did. The nearest we got was Labour’s Nick Smith MP, who did ask some direct open questions and didn’t take fuzzy replies as an answer. But otherwise, it was a very poor show. Many questions were asked about ‘exactly’ how much the shutdown was going to cost and all three witnesses gave the same answer – ‘dunno’ – because no-one’s worked it out yet! The decision was only taken around 4 weeks ago and no-one’s looked at all the implications and crunched the numbers – which makes the Transport Minister Mark Harper’s initial claim that this was being done to ‘save’ money look even more ridiculous.
Mark Thurston did shed some light on what happens next. £2bn has been spent on the Euston area since the project began in what he describes as ‘no regrets’ investment (meaning its needed whatever the new station plans are). This includes all the preparatory and enabling work, all the works in the surrounding areas (like building new homes) and the work to the London Underground. A further £220 million will be spent on completing the TfL vent shaft and substation, the new construction skills centre and the station facilities block. This work will run to the autumn when the Euston station site will be secured and shut down. Ctte Chair Dame Meg Hillier questioned how long this would mean the site would be shut down as the timescale Thurston was suggesting was less than 2 years, or was it? Thurston explained that he expected the site to reopen in Spring 2025.
Alan Over did make two things clear in response to questions. One was that there’s no way the savings being asked for can be made without cutting the ‘wish list’ that’s been included in the final Euston design that the builders costed (which came in at £4.8bn) . the other was that, depending on what final ‘wish list’ is agreed by all parties, the Government may need to cough up some more money.
After 2 hours of being none the wiser on costs or timetables and with not having asked any of the really big question on value (never mind costs) the Ctte wound up. I can only hope they return to these matters having thought about the ‘big picture’ stuff and the real implications of the delays to HS2 and don’t get bogged down in the minutiae of mothballing building sites, but I won’t hold my breath…
Looking down on the Euston HS2 construction site in October 2021 at the bit no-one at the PAC talked about. The Euston tunnels…
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/
Paul Bigland 