I thought I’d offer an update on the death throes of the HS2 ‘rebellion’ which is playing out in both Staffordshire and (shortly), in the Courts.
Four days ago bailiffs, security staff and police took over the last remaining protest camp on the HS2 route, the so-called ‘bluebell’ camp near Swynnerton. The few occupants remaining were caught with their pants down and the camp was swiftly repossessed. One lad got up a tree and was removed within a few hours whilst it’s believed that only 2-3 others made it into tunnels on the site. Meanwhile, a slightly larger group were surrounded and fenced-in at another nearby woods which they (complacently) thought was a ‘safe-haven’ for them. Cut off from supplies and any reinforcements, they’ve been told they can leave anytime they want, but they won’t be allowed back in.
This fiasco made local news on day one but since the media have shown little interest – and why would they? The unprepared tunnel rats have no communications with the outside world so aren’t producing any propaganda. Instead, the ‘campaign’ are relying on dire Facebook rants from two of the protesters ‘Drew’ (not his real name) who’s corralled inside the ‘bluebell B’ camp and who (judging by his video’s) seems to spend most of his time pissed and on Jim Knaggs who was at ‘Bluebell A’ but not on site when the eviction happened. If you’re suffering from insomnia you could always find Knaggs 20 minute long polemics where he invents a long (long!) list of HS2 ‘crimes’ and whatever else he can think of to fill the time with – including constant appeals to mugs to part with more of their money to fund no-hope court cases and fund the squatters beer, ‘baccy and food bills.
27 shares and 12 comments. Not much of a ‘rebellion’ is it?
Quite how any of these people are meant to be stopping HS2 when they’re hiding in tunnels or corralled behind Heras fencing away from the route is a mystery, but then sense is always in short supply when it comes to trying to talk to these people.
Meanwhile, HS2 contractors and security are busy demolishing the ‘Bluebell A’ camp and preparing to dig out whatever tiny number of tunnel rats remain. Over at ‘Bluebell B’ the impotent protesters bluster (and get pissed) in their cage whilst not being able to do anything else until they get bored, run out of food, fags and alcohol (and whatever other exotic substances they possess) and go home – or get evicted.
It’s farcical. The HS2 ‘rebellion’ has ended not with a bang, but with a whimper. There are no other camps anywhere on the route of HS2 and there’s not likely to be either. On Thursday 26th May HS2 Ltd’s legal team will be back at the High Court in Birmingham where their application for a route-wide injunction will be heard. The Final Hearing is estimated two last 2 days. If the injunction is granted (and there’s every reason to believe that it will) then any further trespass on HS2 land will become a criminal matter. The protesters claim this will make protests against HS2 ‘illegal’ – which is not the case at all. Here’s the wording of the injunction.
Protest will still be legal. Trespass, vandalism, interference and obstruction will not.
There’s another court case pending which has interesting ramifications as it will clear up the legality of protest. The Lord Chief Justice has granted leave to appeal to the Supreme Court the case of an HS2 protester (Elliot Cuciurean). The LCJ has certified points of law of public importance for the Supreme Court to adjudicate upon, these are;
(1) Does the Human Rights Act 1998 require a court when determining a charge of aggravated trespass contrary to section 68 of the Criminal and Public Order Act 1994 to undertake a proportionality assessment when the actions under scrutiny occurred during a protest?
(2) What are the circumstances in which a court is required to carry out a proportionality assessment when determining a criminal charge when the actions alleged to constitute the actus reus* of the offence occurred in the course of protest?
*actus reas – action or conduct which is a constituent element of a crime
(3) What principles should a court apply both at first instance and on appeal when a proportionality assessment is required?
The Supreme Court ruling on these matters will remove any ambiguity in the future which is important as it establishes the law around aspects of the right to protest. This may help or hinder the protesters, but it’s important that it’s established.
Either way, it’s not going to save the HS2 rebellion, which is on its death-bed anyway.
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The eviction of the sole remaining outpost of the HS2 ‘rebellion’ began in the early hours of this morning when Bailiffs, security and Police moved in on the woods known as Cash’s Pit near Swynnerton in Staffordshire. It appears the few remaining protesters were taken by surprise, not only at ‘Bluebell’ camp (which was already under a High Court injunction) but also at the protesters satellite camp nearby, which they’d assumed was safe. Their ignorance and complacency was their undoing as HS2 security soon began to surround ‘Bluebell B’ with Heras fencing. The message to the protesters was simple. You can leave, but you’re not coming back – and you’re not getting supplies or reinforcements.
Meanwhile, at the original Bluebell camp Bailiffs and security moved in to begin dismantling the camp and removing any people foolish enough to have defied the High Court injunction. This is believed to be a mere handful as many ‘old faces’ had slunk off recently, leaving only a skeleton presence behind. It’s unclear just how many there are in either camp but the total is looking like it’s less than a dozen.
Of course, the protesters are trying to exaggerate these totals and claim that many people made it into tunnels and up trees. Not that it really matters as this is only going to end one way – just as it did in the other camps that were evicted one by one. Now this is the last act in the farce as there’s no more camps left and later this month the High Court in Birmingham will rule on HS2 Ltd’s application for a route-wide injunction which will ensure there won’t be any more if the injunction’s granted. You can find details of the injunction here.
What’s very telling is that on this occasion there’s so few livestreams coming from the protesters or their remaining supporters. Plus hardly anyone’s watching the ones that are being streamed. Mind you, as much of what’s being broadcast is coming from boring motor-mouth and ‘barrack-room lawyer’ Jim Knaggs that’s hardly surprising. There’s more repetition here than in morning prayers at a Monastery! What’s also clear is that the Bailiff’s and Police have already removed and/or arrested several people. How long the farce will drag is anyone’s guess, but I suspect it won’t be long – especially as the ‘rebellion’ is so weak nowadays.
Here’s one of the handful of people at Bluebell ‘B’ being detained, arrested and taken away earlier this afternoon as reported by ‘Drew’ (not his real name) who’s one of the few who were in the camp at the time.
Note how few comments and shares there are!
I’ll keep you posted on events…
Day 2 update.
The protesters were caught with their pants down. Both camps were virtually deserted. Several people have already gjven up and either been arrested or left voluntarily. No-one is in the trees and it’s believed there’s only two people in tunnels. Bailiffs are in possession of everything above ground at Bluebell and Bluebell B is cut off.
Morale is clearly at rock-bottom as even the protesters realise it’s a lost cause. They’re isolated and alone, havily outnumbered – and wasting their time. This could all be over very quickly.
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It’s been a dank and dismal day here in the Calder Valley which was a shame as I’d hoped to start a new week in positive fashion. Sadly it wasn’t to be. Added to the gloom was the bounce I felt yesterday as I thought I was shaking off Covid bounced the opposite way today! This isn’t uncommon apparently. You have good days and bad days, it’s just the bad days get less bad. I’d tried to keep busy with paperwork and preparing for the week and even ventured out for a walk on my own through the local woods where I wasn’t likely to come into contact with people, but by the time I got back I was knackered! The stamina levels obviously still need a bit of tweaking. To that end I’ve loosened the reins on eating and drinking. After all, there’s got to be some pleasures left in life. Thankfully, Dawn still seems to be Covid free even though she feels that not all cylinders are firing.
Away from our own concerns there’s the tragedy of the Ukraine still unfolding. I’m resisting blogging about this (for now) as I need to be in full spleen-vent to describe my feelings about what’s going on, the atrocities occurring and the senseless waste of life on all sides. Because of this I did snap at one point earlier today when I saw a young HS2 opponent tweet about how the protesters were suffering ‘lifelong trauma’. What? from events that never happened? For years the protesters have complained about ‘brutality’ from police and security. This ‘brutality’ happens just as soon as someone says ‘no’ to them. A classic example would be a trespasser refuses to move despite several requests to do so, so the police/security use their powers and exercise reasonable force (as they’re legally entitled to do). As soon as the protester has a finger laid upon them they start screaming about being ‘assaulted’. Oh, please! Despite these protests having lasted for 5 years the only convictions for assault have been of protesters. Several charges and arrest warrants are outstanding but certain people have ‘disappeared’ in the hope of evading the police. Even though said protesters nearly all carry camera-phones to record their antics they’ve never yet managed to film a single genuine assault and the video they do produce often leads to the exact opposite result in court. Now, I’m not taking sides here (other than that of the law). If any member of HS2 security or the police does actually assault a protester they should have the book thrown at them. But that’s up to a real court to rule upon, not the court of social media. Frankly, I find it insulting that people who’ve suffered genuine traumas in their lives are being compared to a protester being told ‘no, the law applies to you too’ who them makes stuff up. It’s disappointing to see some mainstream greens supporting this position but I can see their dilemma.
The Green party began from a protest movement and it’s struggling to be a mainstream political party with aspirations of political power. It’s torn in too many directions. Because with power comes responsibility. How could you pass laws when you encourage people to break laws? It’s a question some greens would rather you don’t ask – especially coming up to the May elections. How can they reconcile support for the tactics of people allied to the Extinction Rebellion banner who routinely break the law (sometimes receiving custodial sentences) and at the same time criticise the Johnson Goverment for its law-breaking without looking like hypocrites. Clearly in ‘green’ eyes some laws are more equal than others. This leaves a huge hostage to fortune and the right-wing media an open goal.
Anyway, enough of these musings. I’m sure I’ll be revisiting them again in the future. In the meantime, here’s the picture of the day which relates to some of my earlier comments. We spotted this on out walk on Norland Moor yesterday.
The sooner this war criminal’s in the bin the better…
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The anti HS2 protesters may have done it their way but there was one major problem. Their way was an utter failure! Late to the party, After the abject failure of groups like ‘StopHS2’ HS2Rebellion was formed in 2019 as a banner under which a rag-bag of professional protesters who were refugees from other failed campaigns could coalesce and recruit young people and locals who lived along the route of HS2 to form a grassroots activist movement. It was a project doomed from the very start because of the tensions inherent in trying to weld together people with diametrically opposed outlooks and political sympathies. Anarchists who who had the dream of ‘smashing capitalism’ (bless! Ed) and thought laws only applied to other people were never going jell with Nimbys who owned multi-million pound homes, nor with landowners and farmers who actually knew something about the environment they stewarded. Add in the fact it was an impossible aim. A tiny handful of people that never numbered more than a few hundred to try and stop the largest construction project in Europe that was spread over hundreds of miles was only going to end one way. And so it came to pass.
At the height of their campaign (2020) there were more than a dozen ‘protection’ camps littering (literally) the phase 1 route of HS2. Gradually, these were evicted or abandoned as ‘weekend warriors’ who only turned up to party lost interest never made credible troops. Here’s a list of camps HS2Rebellion openly advertised on their website in August 2021 (with my annotations in bold).
There were several others that only lasted a few days/weeks that never even made the list. Here’s the current list that’s buried away on a back page of their website today.
– and then there was one…
Another factor in the mix is the fact some of the people attracted to these protests are ‘nere-do-wells’ or damaged people who lapse into drug-taking, theft and violence. Insiders attest to the fact the atmosphere at these camps could be quite poisonous and women often felt marginalised or even at risk. Some of the young people whose idealism attracted them to the ’cause’ were soon disillusioned by the reality. The aggression shown by some protesters towards ordinary HS2 workers wasn’t what these idealists expected – or wanted, it was all meant to be peaceful and ‘fluffy’ on the protesters part but the reality was anything but. Factionlism soon broke out as those behind HS2Rebellion turned out to be control freaks who tried to take over the campaign – and control the money. This didn’t sit well with some of the earlier activists. I documented some of the spectacular fallings out in this 2019 blog – “trouble at t’stophs2 mill”
The decline of the ‘rebellion’ was swift as it became obvious that all their stunts were almost exclusively for PR purposes. None of them stopped a thing. Many weren’t even on land needed to build HS2 although that was never, ever admitted. Neither was the weapons-grade lying! As far as those leading the campaign were concerned, lying was fine as it was all about publicity. It made a mockery of the Extinction Rebellion slogan ‘tell the truth’ but that’s always been a lie anyway. As far as XR are concerned the truth is what you make up.
Admittedly, work on some sites was delayed or disrupted temporarily and millions of pounds was wasted but there was only ever going to be one winner. Their tactics were hopeless, carbon-copies of the same stunts that failed to stop the road-building programme of the 1980s. They never twigged that people stuck up trees or squatting in tunnels were sitting targets. It was simply a question of how long it would take them to be removed. It was the same with their tactic of blocking site access or sitting atop vehicles. That got them arrested, with onerous bail conditions applied that limited what they could do, further draining their pool of activists which was rapidly turning into a puddle.
The last squatter camp on Phase 1 (at Wendover) was finally evicted without any media attention in November 2021. That left one camp remaining, at Swynnerton in Staffordshire where a pitiful handful of refugees from other camps had pitched up after everyone else had scattered to the four winds. ‘Bluebell’ camp as the squatters named it was all they had left. It was painfully obvious to anyone with half a brain that by this stage in the game they were wasting their time, but those at the camp had nowhere else to go. Plus, they were still managing to get mugs to fund their lifestyle through Crowdfunding. All they had to do was keep up the pretense that they were actually doing something…
So, every few days a video would appear of a handful of them ‘blockading’ a nearby HS2 worksite. There was only one problem – it was complete bollocks as it was purely for show. They’d reached an agreement with their police liasion so that in order they could legally exercise their right to protest they could parade outside the gate for an hour or so. Any longer and they’d fall foul of the law and be arrested. It was painfully obvious they were achieving nothing because if you look back through the video’s you can see the HS2 worksite expanding and the fences growing! But, it was enough to fool the mugs on social media and keep the money flowing. ‘Job’ done the protesters would retreat to camp to waste the rest of their time drinking, smoking and digging the odd bit of tunnel. Interestingly enough, the majority of their crowdfunding doesn’t come from individual ‘widow’s mites’ but large, regular and anonymous donations of £500 at a time. Here’s a screenshot.
Of course, there were a couple of very middle-class kids in the Euston tunnel who’s parent is a millionaire. I wonder…Looking through all the various Crowdfunders the protesters have organised (and there’s loads) there is a pattern of large anonymous donations. So much for a grassroots campaign. I sometimes wonder just how many 100s of 1000s of pounds have been raised and wasted on this futile campaign. No accounts have ever been held and none have ever been published. It’s been a financial black-hole. No-one knows where all the kit they’ve bought (solar panels, climbing gear, vehicles etc) has gone, other than most of it has ‘disappeared’ – along with some the personal and private property of a few of the camps inhabitants.
The lack of a genuine ‘grassroots’ has always been the anti HS2 campaigns weakness. Considering the fact millions of people live in the constituencies HS2 passes through the number of folks protesting has always been ridiculous in comparison. Even celebrities like Chris Packham with his dual vanity projects (a petition and a legal case, both of which failed) plus his weapons grade dishonesty couldn’t revitalise the campaign.
Another sign of their decline is that no-one seems to be directing HS2Rebellion anymore. The people who set it up appear to have either deserted it or taken a very back seat. Looking at the stuff on their social media feeds and accounts it looks like a bunch of clueless kids have been given the keys and allowed to post what they want – hence them endorsing those libertarian, climate-change denialists and smokescreen for the oil lobby – the Cato Institute! Link here.
The people behind HS2Rebellion seem to be Extinction Rebellion acolytes Larch Maxey and Samantha Smithson (aka ‘Swan’) plus a chap called Micheal Truesdale (aka ‘Miami’) who was involved in a lot of the spats over control of the money and protest camps. All are keeping a very low profile. Maxey and Smith have court cases pending due to various daft stunts whilst Truesdale has disappeared, having deleted his Facebook account. Most of the usual suspects were amongst the 63 (with aliases) named in this recent injunction for the real name of ‘Bluebell’ Woods (Cash’s Pit). The injunction’s interesting for several reasons. It exposes just how few people formed the hardcore of the protest, how many have since deserted the campaign, and also which ones are left – and their real names. I mean, seriously – a campaign where there’s less than 100 hard-core supporters to be found and named after four years of protests? That’s pathetic.
So, who’s vice ‘Miami’? real name Michael Truesdale, last seen wasting his time up a tree in Euston Sq gardens?
In February the ‘Bluebell’ camp was served with an eviction notice which expired on March 24th. There was a lot of bluster from some of the residents about how they were going to challenge this but they’ve gone very quiet after the hearing (let me guess, it failed. Ed). Now the stage is set for the eviction as all the players are in place for the showdown which will obviously take place in the next few days or weeks. The result is in no doubt. What will be interesting is to see how many people are left in the camp when the eviction takes place as more of the long term regulars who ended up at ‘Bluebell’ have already given up and moved on. Here’s two examples from recent weeks.
Ross Monaghan was a refugee from Crackley and Jones’ Hill woods camps (amongst others) and had convictions for assault. ‘Tepcat’ was an occupant of the Bluebell camp who’d previously drifted in and out of several other camps over the years.
Meanwhile, despite these desertions, the bluster from the remaining occupants goes on!
“Growing”? Bless! As for working ‘hard’, here’s a picture posted on one of their social media accounts in recent days which shows just how hard they’re ‘working’. After all, those cider flagons are had to lift don’tcha know! “working hard” at ‘Bluebell’ woods, thanks to mugs donating to Crowdfunders ‘cos they’ve been conned into thinking a tiny group of woodland wasters like this are going to stop the largest construction project in Europe. If this is ‘the resistance’ then it’s painfully obvious resistance is futile!
On the 5th April there’s a hearing in the High Court in Birmingham where HS2 Ltd are applying for a route-wide injunction to prevent any more of these incursions onto HS2 land and prevent unlawful activity such as blocking access to HS2 worksites. You can find all the court papers here. There’s a lot of them but some make interesting reading as they document protests going back to 2017 and expose the protesters claims of being ‘peaceful’ for the lies they are. If the injunction’s granted (and they have been in the past) expect the eviction of ‘Bluebell’ to happen very soon afterwards.
No doubt I’ll be blogging about the eviction as and when it happens as this is the final chapter in this useless and misguided campaign. It’s possible another pointless camp may spring up somewhere in the future but it’s patently obvious that what passed for a national campaign to stop HS2 died a death years ago.
Now the focus moves to Parliament as the consultation period on the Phase 2b route from Crewe to Manchester closes on March 31st. Soon, the Hybris Bill for the route will get its 2nd reading in Parliament. It will pass and the only question is how big the majority will be. There’s no credible political opposition to HS2, but then there’s no credible ‘grassroots’ campaign either. The mantra I’ve been repeating for years is self-evident. ‘Stop Hs2’ is dead….
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With the anti HS2 campaign on its last legs and with only one ‘protection’ camp left (that’s due to be evicted any day now), the kids at HS2Rebellion are having a tough time of trying to stay relevant. It’s clear to all but their most die-hard supporters they’re a busted flush, which is why I rarely blog about them nowadays. The simple fact is – there’s not a lot going on and nothing worth mentioning. However, they’ve now come up with something so stunningly stupid and hypocritical that I couldn’t resist pointing it out.
Meet ‘Satchel’. Not his real name of course – that’s William Harewood. He’s been failing to stop HS2 for several years now. He’s one of the few long-term activists who hasn’t disappeared and keeps popping back up. He was involved in the useless Wendover camp tunnel and several other stunts over the years. He was on Crown Court bail for his involvement in the Jones’ Hill wood eviction back in October 2020 but decided to ignore that fact and popped up at the Bluebell wood camp in Staffordshire where he was one of a handful of people involved in a pointless trespass stunt on a nearby HS2 site and was identified.
Bad move.
Such a blatant breach of his bail conditions meant that a warrant was issued for his arrest – and arrested he was. The Judge hearing his case agreed to his being remanded – logical as he’d shown contempt of court by ignoring his bail conditions. He’s now in HMP Dovegate in Staffordshire awaiting his hearing.
The expression ‘bang to rights’ springs to mind here, but HS2Rebellion have decided that – despite the fact they’re always whining about anything and everything to do with HS2 being ‘illegal’ the law doesn’t actually apply to them, or ‘Satchel’. What’s more, they’ve now decided that – because ‘Satchel’ is a person of colour, they’re going to play the race card. Yep, ignore the fact he flagrantly ignored his bail conditions. The police nicked him ‘cos of his skin colour – honest! It was absolutely nothing to do with anything else – oh no!
That all Hs2rebellion are doing is playing into the hands of racists hasn’t even entered their heads. They’re so self-righteous (and desperate) they’ll try anything, no matter how dumb. They’re so far through the looking glass they’ll ignore the obvious contradictions here (you’re seriously suggesting it’s racist to uphold the law and that the law doesn’t apply to POC?) yet their dwindling pool of supporters fall for it. They staged a yet another pointless stunt outside the prison today.
Whilst they’re wasting their time outside a prison, who’s meant to be stopping HS2?
Ironic that – whilst HS2rebellion try and play the race card they ignore the far more numerous claims of sexual harassment and abuse from their own supporters – women who’ve been involved in the protests and lived at the camps. But then that doesn’t fit with their narrative. Either way. ‘Satchel’ is about to find out that the Judge is more interested in his contempt for the law than his skin colour – and HS2 ‘rebellion’ will continue to fall apart. Once the ‘Bluebell’ camp is evicted, that’s it. Let’s face it, the idea that you’re going to stop the largest construction project in Europe when you can’t even close off access to a single site compound is definitely ‘Looney Tunes’ territory!
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 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/
Monday was an interesting day as the Hybrid bill for the latest section of High Speed 2 from Crewe to Manchester and beyond was deposited in Parliament. The bill contains changes that have been made over the past year, such as extending the depot at Crewe, a new Northern link to allow HS2 trains to call at the station and regain the main line, plus an extension of Manchester Airport station and provision for links to the truncated Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) lines. There’s also details of a new train depot at Annandale in Dumfries and Galloway. You can read the full details and peruse the selection of documents here.
The next stage will be in February when the bill gets its 2nd reading. This is the most important stage as it contains a vote on the bill in the House of Commons. When the bill passes the vote, the principle of the bill is established and it becomes unstoppable. The next stages (Committee and petitioning stages, debate in the Lords and final 3rd reading) are important, but procedural. None of them can stop the bill from becoming law – despite what some of the lines opponents pretend! The truth is, HS2 has such great cross-party support in Parliament, both in the commons and Lords, that it will fly through the vote. The only question is just how big the token opposition will be. Let’s face it, what’s the point of some of the Tory MPs who voted against it in the past because it was passing through their constituencies voting against it now it’s being built somewhere else – and annoying their party managers in the process?
So, the only unknown at the moment is which MPs will be appointed to the Committee which will be appointed to oversee the petitioning process and how many people with a genuine interest (or grievance, because there will be some people who will be adversely affected) will petition the committee.
On phase 1, opponents of HS2 tried to kill the project my putting in mass petitions. It was a futile act as many of them were pro-forma letters, so the Committee just lumped them all together to get through them. Even so it took a long time. At the end of the process the outgoing Cttee recommended changes to the Hybrid Bill process.
These lessons were learned on the Hybrid Bill for phase 2a from the West Midlands to Crewe so the process was much quicker. Plus, nowhere near as many people petitioned. It went down from 1600 to just a couple of hundred. Part of the process included challenging the ‘locus standi’ (a right to appear in a court or before any body on a given question) of certain groups and individuals. To petition the Ctte you have to prove you are materially affected by the Hybrid Bill and the building of that section of line. That disbars groups like Extinction Rebellion and StopHs2.
One of the interesting things about the Phase 2b route is that there’s always been so little organised opposition along it. Apart from some long-standing (but ineffective and moribund) Stop Hs2 ‘action’ groups in rural (and expensive) parts of Cheshire there’s never been a single group in the Greater Manchester area or in any towns along the route. It’s all been rural Nimbyism. It’s why whenever one of the few derisory stophs2 protests have happened in the city, it’s always by people from out of town! (more on which later).
So, what was the response of what’s left as an opposition to HS2? Well, they organised (and use that word loosely) two days of ‘action’, billed this on their various websites, culminating on protests in London, Birmingham and Manchester on the day the HS2 bill was deposited.
OK, that was what was billed, but what actually happened? Friday was a taste of the farce to come. There was no ‘media storm’, in fact the mainstream media almost totally ignored them and they caused barely a ripple on social media either. Here’s a classic from the day.
Aww! Bless! They’re boasting of a lone protester asking motorists to honk in support of scrapping a green railway because that causes road congestion and inconveniences that well-known example of green transport- err, car drivers! The optics of this are hilarious, but that’s never sunk in with the protesters who proudly boast of having set up banners on bridges over motorways! You have to laugh!
Things didn’t go any better on Monday. I’d been working in Leeds that morning but had enough time to get over to Manchester to watch their demonstration in Piccadilly Gardens scheduled for noon. It took a bit of finding at first as there was no-one in the gardens. I eventually found them huddled under a the statue of Wellington, which was an excellent choice as they really met their Waterloo!
The handful of protesters were trying to assemble their white elephant and prepare their banners whilst a bunch of TV crews and reporters who outnumbered them waited patiently for them to get their acts together and the circus commence. When they were finally ready they set of for a single circuit of part of the gardens before returning and posing for the camera crews. Here’s a little video of the procession.
The person doing all the shouting is one Karen Wildin, an Extinction Rebellion/Hs2Rebellion activist from that well known Manchester suburb of *checks notes* err, Leicestershire! More on this later…
Here’s another video of them all posing for the media after their five minute amble around the gardens. It took that long as the elephant can’t see where it’s going! I’m sure that must be a metaphor for something!
So, there you have it. 10 people, two more dressed as an elephant and a child, led by a woman from Leicestershire. And how many of them were actually from Manchester? I’m willing to bet none…
Sadly, the members of the 4th estate who were there never thought to ask such pertinent questions. Karen was interviewed by Sky news and trotted out the usual trite and dishonest tosh, whilst John, the bloke from Warrington was interviewed for a minute on Heart radio and came out with the standard scaremongering about ‘ecocide’ plus the fantasy ‘cost’ of HS2 being £200bn!
Whilst I was watching the circus and John recognised me and tipped off Wildin as to whom I was. If you see her Sky interview you’ll notice her looking very furtive and constantly looking out of shot to her left (at me!) Here’s my view of events.
The whole farce lasted less than two hours. After they’d done their media interviews they packed up, whilst they were doing so Wildin buttonholed me and tried to argue with me about HS2. I’ve been their bete noir for years thanks to blogs like this and they don’t take kindly to someone telling the truth. That’s not a good idea when you’re talking to someone who knows far more about the project and politics than they do, nor someone who asks awkward questions and won’t let you duck and evade them (like asking how many of the demonstrators were actually from Manchester!) It didn’t go well for Karen who got more and more flustered before finally storming off after calling me a tw*t and a d*ckhead. Lapsing into abuse when things get uncomfortable is their normal modus operandi.
Their tiny band then traipsed back to Piccadilly station for the final farcical act. Yes, they’d arrived by train! The very thing they’re protesting against building more of!
The other protests in Birmingham and London weren’t much better, although they had marginally more people. A demonstration at Curzon St caused minor disruption to a lorry trying to enter the site before police intervened.
In London, a group of people protested outside Euston station by carrying banners and banging drums (well, that’s REALLY going to stop HS2! Ed). Interestingly this protest was timed for later in the day, presumably so some of those protesting in Manchester could get back to London in time to attend!
No problem here! The protest as Euston, which seems to have got its messaging mixed. Is this a demo against HS2 or Tory legislation? I do love the fact even one of the Extinction Rebellion drummers is having to wear ear-defenders!
And the sum total of all this? Zero. Today it’s business as usual on the HS2 construction sites, whilst Parliament prepares for the HS2 Phase 2b bill’s second reading. All the protesters have achieved is to demonstrate just how powerless they are when it comes to stopping HS2. It’s not going to get any better as their campaign continues to collapse into infighting and squabbles over increasingly scarce resources as the numbers of protesters and funds to support them dwindles. Interestingly, there wasn’t sight nor sound of any of the usual suspects from StopHs2 which has ceased to exist nowadays. Joe Rukin has retired, leaving Bournemouth based Panny Gaines as their only representative. Despite their being direct trains from Bournemouth to Manchester (via Birmingham) Penny never showed her face. This was almost exclusively an Extinction Rebellion event, plus a couple of Nimbys. None of the usual ‘stars’ from XR turned up either. No Larch Maxey, No ‘Swampy’ and no ‘Swan’. That’s because most have them have been hamstrung by bail or conditions or convictions – and the fact squabbles in the campaign are putting others off. I doubt I’ll be writing about the protesters again for a while. Well, until their next futile stunt, anyway. Oh, you’ll be able to see more pictures of the daft demo in Manchester by the end of today. They’ll be added to this gallery.
What I will be writing about will be the progress of the HS2 Phase 2b Hybrid Bill and also some site visits to various HS2 construction areas over the next month, so watch out for them.
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Welcome to my first blog of 2022! I’m opening the year with a light-hearted look at an old subject which is unlikely to feature much this year as the anti HS2 ‘campaign’ (and I use that word very loosely indeed) now resembles Monty Python’s famous parrot!
With all the protest camps on phase 1 of HS2 having been evicted or abandoned (despite what the @hs2rebellion website claims) there’s just a solitary camp in Staffordshire remaining – although that’s living on borrowed time. The tiny handful of regular occupants are good at bluster (claiming their campaign is growing) and wringing Crowdfunded money from mugs who fall for their spin, but what they’re not good at is doing anything to impede – never mind stop – HS2, as their latest pantomime demonstrated.
Their normal stunt is to turn up at a local HS2 compound, film themselves failing to stop any work, then buggering off back to camp before they get arrested. Their gullible followers on social media fall for this and throw money into the bucket to keep them in food and fags for another few days.
Over the Christmas holiday they tried a different stunt which went woefully wrong!
The M42 motorway was closed between Xmas eve and New Year’s eve in order to prepare groundworks for the ‘Marston box’, a bridge which will carry HS2 over the M42.
The protesters decided it would be a cunning plan to try and disrupt this work, so a few Bluebell occupants, a well-known but equally useless Extinction Rebellion activist from Nottinghamshire and a couple of youngsters from who knows where headed over to the work on the 29th. Quite how this one man and his dog operation (there was only about 6-7 of them) was meant to stop such a huge project is a mystery, but most of their actions are purely for the sake of the cameras nowadays anyway.
It went badly. Three of them ended up getting arrested, including the gobby but hopeless character who calls himself ‘run away Jim’ who was nicked for sitting atop a wagon for a little while. Their friend from Notts, Karen Wildin* also got nicked for breaching her bail conditions. The video’s were farcical as they showed just how useless the protest had been, and also how small. One young protester hadn’t even got a clue where she was and kept claiming she was blocking the ‘M25 North’!
Wildin was seen on film protesting that the police refused to tell her why she was being arrested, despite the fact it’s clear from her commentary (and subtitles) they’d told her it was because she’d breached her bail conditions – conditions which would have been clearly explained to her at the time. But then Wildin isn’t the sharpest tool in the box. In another video she can be heard unthinkingly spouting the usual XR propaganda, including the claim that HS2 is merely a ‘shuttle service’ between airports. Any enquiring mind might ask, “why on earth do you need a shuttle service between airports? Who flies in to Heathrow to fly out of Birmingham, or vice versa”? It’s one of the most intellectually vacuous of all the anti HS2 claims, but enquiring minds are as rare as rocking-horse sh*t when it comes to these protesters.
Oh dear, poor Karen, your own words show you knew exactly why you were being arrested (again).
So, how much disruption was caused by this laughable protest. The sum total of zilch! The M42 was meant to reopen by 21:00 on New Years Eve, but as the local paper, the Coventry Telegraph reported, the work finished early – by 16:00! In fact, torrential rain caused more disruption to the work than the protesters!
After being released on bail the hapless protesters returned to their camp (or Notts, as Wildin’s bail conditions ban her from land owned by HS2) but they won’t be there for long as the camp is living on borrowed time and HS2 bailiffs and security will soon be arriving to take possession. Like all the other camps it won’t be much of a fight.. Soon all that’ll be left is another woodland full of crap and detritus left behind by the hopeless protesters. This will bring to an end the pathetic tale of the protest camps, none of which stopped a thing.
As for the claims that their campaign is ‘growing’, their own social media accounts belie these claims. Time and time again they carry tales of protesters who’ve given up and moved on elsewhere, often to other hopeless causes. Their final acts are often to try and bum more money in the process…
The support they get in some of their new protests is in marked contrast to their claims. “Digger Down” was one of the occupants of the pointless Euston tunnels, now he’s protesting about trees in London, with the same levels of success and support!
The @hs2rebellion pantomine has had its last season. Most of the actors in this tiny troupe are now ‘resting’ (one way or another) and don’t expect a summer performance either! With the rate things have gone they’ll be lucky to fill a phone box in 2022. The only appearances they’ll be getting booked for are those in Court…
Happy New Year!
*Wildin has a track record of failure as Extinction Rebellion ‘cannon-fodder’ Having sat up trees on the HS2 route only to be turfed out toot-suite she tried her hand at sitting atop a biomass train at Drax power station. That went as well as expected! She also ignored ‘lockdown’ to pitch up in Euston to film herself at the tunnel protest. The expression ‘rebel without a clue’ springs to mind…
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Whilst all the recent news about HS2 has been about the Eastern leg to Leeds being mothballed it would be easy to forget that the rest of the new railway is still being built – especially Phase 1 from London to Birmingham and beyond (which contains the most impressive structures on the line) – and Phase 2a to Crewe, although that’s still in the early stages of utilities diversions and site clearances as part of the preparatory works, before full construction begins next year.
It’s often difficult to get a sense of the progress being made on the project as much of the route is in the countryside and not always visible, unless you happen to stumble across it. It’s why drone footage such as this latest one by Michael Warner is so useful.
You can really see the enormous progress being made building the route of HS2 in open country, as well as some of the ecological mitigation that’s being put in place in many locations. It’s all the stuff the opponents of HS2 deliberately ignore. Of course, much of the route looks like an open scar at the moment due to the sheer amount of landscaping work that’s being done as part of the project. HS1 looked very similar, but you’d be hard put to identify any of the sites that were used in its construction. HS2 is very much a work in the early stages of progress with the earthworks, which is why it looks this way. Once those earthworks are complete and bridges and tunnels are in place and the land’s been landscaped, this scene will look very different. It’s another reason why drone footage like this is valuable, we’ll be able to look back at in future years and see the changes as the route’s developed from a few trail bores and test pits to a completed railway.
Another useful ‘go-to’ for information on ecological work is a farmer, Penny McGregor (@Penmcgregor on Twitter). Penny used to be anti HS2 and joined the protests against it but has come to realise that campaign was based on falsehoods. Now Penny (who’s become a critical and unbiased supporter of HS2) often tweets pictures showing how the ecological planting is becoming established, and indeed even thriving. This is the antithesis of HS2 antis who always ignore these inconvenient facts and try to pretend this stuff’s been a disaster. Here’s two of Penny’s most recent tweets.
I’m hoping to spend more time looking at the work on the ecological mitigation (as well as the construction sites) myself shortly, but as you can imagine, there’s a heck of a lot of ground to cover. In the meantime, why not follow Penny on Twitter as she’s much closer to the work than I am.
One thing conspicuous by it’s absence in this drone footage (or anything else) is evidence of any protesters or genuine attempts to stop HS2. That’s because the anti HS2 campaign’s dead in the water. The eviction of the last protest camp on Phase 1 at Wendover (and the lack of publicity that received) has effectively killed it off. Add in the advent of winter and the fact there was only ever a few dozen hardcore protesters pretending they could close down over 300 active worksites spread over a huge geographical area and you can see why their claims always were laughable.
Now, the only place left where there’s any regular protests are at Swynnerton in Staffordshire on the Phase 2a route to Crewe close to the ‘Bluebell’ camp as the protesters call it. It’s the only refuge the protesters have left (not that it’ll last long). Here a continually revolving door of (normally) less than a dozen people are pretending they can stop Hs2 by trying (and failing) to block a single site access gate!
You have to laugh! ‘New’ camps? There aren’t any. Not a one, ‘bluebell’ is all that’s left and that was established ages ago. “Grows ever stronger”? Oh, my aching sides! In this picture you have a rag-bag of people who’ve been evicted from elsewhere, or are Phase 1 Nimbys, like the woman on the far left of the lower picture, the hilarious self-publicist Caroline Thompson-Smith of…Calvert, In Buckinghamshire, who pitched up in Staffs for a few hours one day. Caroline is (in)famous for this nonsense about ‘Black Alder’ trees, one of a long series of things she just can’t help making up. Interestingly, several of the old faces have never put in an appearance at Swynnerton as it’s too far from London for them to get to. Mind you, I expect many of the old bangers they drive would never make it there and back anyway!
Quite how failing to block even a single gate on a single site is going to stop Hs2 is a mystery. This seems more like a desperate effort to appear relevant in order to get more gullible people to donate (hence the ‘gofundme’ link included in the post). Sadly for the protesters, the mugs money is running out and they’re increasingly reliant on mysterious large (three figure) donations from an anonymous source. Still, you know what they say about fools and their money. No amount of cash is going to bring the anti HS2 campaign back from the dead!
Now the weather’s turning wintery I don’t expect to see many more of these pointless stunts, and in the New Year this camp will be living on borrowed time as an eviction is inevitable – and unstoppable. 2022 is going to be a huge year for HS2 as construction will be in full swing with several Tunnel-Boring Machines (TBMs) working on different sites, the Colne Valley viaduct taking shape and also major works at Euston, Birmingham Curzon St and Old Oak Common. I’m looking forward to having lots to write about!
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This morning the final two useless anti HS2 protesters came out of the pointless Wendover tunnel. Oh, you didn’t know that three had given up earlier in the week? Neither did the rest of the world as it received no media attention – much to the chagrin of HS2rebellion and the rest of the protesters! The world’s moved on and the fact a tiny bunch of people were holed up in a tunnel that wasn’t even on the route of HS2 so couldn’t possibly stop any work wasn’t in any way newsworthy.
Now the final two, a lad who calls himself ‘Satchel’ plus the much better known but equally useless ‘Swampy’ have given up after being cornered by the bailiffs.
So much for all the bluster about staying underground for months! They made 28 (pointless) days, whilst the whole eviction took 32. Whilst they’ve played troglodyte the former camp above their heads has been demolished and gradually cleared by bailiffs – which has beeb a major task due to the massive amounts of crap these supposed ‘environmentalists’ have dumped on the site. It was a shit-tip, as these pictures from inside the camp show.
Of course, it was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened and those underground were forced to give up.
And the sum total of what they’ve achieved is? Zip. Nada. Nothing. Sweet FA.
Not a single days work building HS2 has been lost because of the stupid actions. At the end they didn’t even get the media attention they craved as no-one from the mainstream news agencies could be bothered with them. This whole (non)event ended with a whimper. The protesters weren’t even arrested as it’s not a crime to seal yourself in a tunnel where you couldn’t possibly get in the way of HS2 construction (as the court case against the Euston protesters established). Criminally stupid, yes, but not illegal. Of course, the protesters are trying to claim this as some sort of ‘victory’, but it’s obvious to anyone with half a brain it’s anything but!
So that’s it. No ‘protection’ camps survive on the phase 1 route of HS2, every single one (and there were only a handful) ended in failure.
The fat lady’s sung….
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As we’re two weeks into the eviction of the final Hs2Rebellion shit-tip – sorry, ‘protection camp’ I thought I’d give you a brief update of what’s been going on as even the tunnelers supporters have got bored and stopped turning up on a regular basis.
Three days ago the bailiffs gained access to the single tunnel’s down shaft and continue with the preparations to remove the handful of occupants. There’s no rush, because the useless tunnelers aren’t in anyone’s way as the tunnel isn’t anywhere near an active HS2 worksite!
Despite all their bluster and braggadocio it seems pretty clear that the penny’s dropped with the muppets in the tunnel and they’ve twigged that protests against HS2 have been a complete waste of time. Now they try and make out that their protest is more about new Government legislation and well, ‘stuff’. It’s reminiscent of Marlon Brando in the film ‘The Wild One’ where Mildred asks his character (Johnny) “Hey, Johnny, what are you rebelling against?” and Johnny replies “Whaddya got?” These people are serial protesters who have a rag-bag of ’causes’ which they switch between without any intellectual coherence or real understanding of the issues. It’s one of the reasons they’ve always been so ineffective.
Talking of ineffective, our old fantasist friend Mark Keir finally turned up again to record an overlong diatribe (12 minutes of repetition, deviation and hesitation) from outside the camp. Keir’s latest obsession was the fact that piling work was to be carried out adjacent to the Chiltern railway running alongside the site of the squatters old camp. Keir couldn’t see any piling rig, so in a masterpiece of pointless speculation decided that the work must have been called off by HS2 Ltd due to the proximity of the tunnel and its occupants, but how dare they still keep the railway closed as this would inconvenience the locals! As usual, this has left Keir with enough egg all over his face to have fed the tunnelers all weekend!
Hmm, 46 shares. Not exactly setting the world of social media alight, are they?
Why? Because the piling rig was already parked up a few hundred metres away. Work’s begun on schedule and is progressing without any interruption, as one local resident’s pointed out. Poor Keir, he just can’t help himself! The rule of thumb now is that as soon as he asserts something you know the opposite will happen!
Meanwhile, HS2 contractors continue to clear up the mess these ‘eco-warriors’ have created (as highlighted by @bucksmart) although this will take some time as there’s tonnes of the stuff – as I illustrated in my last blog on the subject.
Bereft of anything positive to report and keep their bored followers entertained the protesters Facebook and other social media channels are being filled with as much crap as the Wendover camp was! Part of their problem is the tiny group in the tunnel (estimated at 4 in number) aren’t producing any content as they’re completely cut-off from any outside support so are running low on battery power and any other form of resupply. Instead, pre-recorded, garbled messages of justification are mixed with short snips of new footage of them trapped like rats (see above) or other stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with the HS2 protests at all, just adverts for other causes. At this rate GBNews (‘the gammon channel’) will have more viewers than HS2Rebellion!
So, the farce drags on. The fat lady’s gone for a fag and a wee between acts, but the finale can’t be long coming…
24th October UPDATE.
Bailiffs have been busy and broken into the protesters useless tunnel from a separate shaft, leaving the handful down there hopelessly compromised and with nowhere to go. The fat lady’s reaching for the throat-spray…
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 appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Paul Bigland 