Tag Archives: StopHs2

The anti Hs2 mob & social media. June’s ‘scores on the doors’

21 Sunday Jun 2015

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Here’s the latest social media monitor of the anti hs2 campaigns ‘scores on the doors’. The picture remains unchanged – their campaign’s a disaster that’s failing to reach more than a handful of people. Their best result is Stophs2 managing a *cough* massive 215 extra Twitter followers in 4 months. What’s telling is that Facebook (which reaches the most people) has the lowest increase or is even going backwards. Whichever way you look at it, these numbers are tiny compared to the population of the country or the size of the electorate. Their woes are compounded by the fact the mainstream media are pretty much ignoring them since the election.

june scores

The usual caveats apply. Not everyone following is actually a supporter..

The continuing disappointment in trying to appear like a national campaign come hot on the heels of last month’s election disaster when Hs2aa suffered another humiliation with their superbly ill-thought out social media ‘thunderclap’. This turned out to be little more than a wet fart. You can read about it here.

Joe Rukin & Stop Hs2 are living on another planet.

01 Monday Jun 2015

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If evidence were needed that the anti Hs2 campaign has completely lost the plot then look no further than this piece of self serving nonsense from Joe Rukin published in today’s Bucks Herald.

http://www.bucksherald.co.uk/news/more-news/hs2-reasons-to-be-cheerful-following-election-1-6772919

Headlined ‘reasons to be cheerful’ it’s straight from the Comical Ali school of reality denial & wishful thinking. It’s no co-incidence this daft piece of propaganda appears in local rag the Bucks Herald. The Herald is a semi-official mouthpiece of the anti Hs2 campaign that’s happy to churn out any old rubbish the antis feed it (hardly surprising then, that its circulation is diving).

What’s particularly sad about Rukin’s desperate attempt to save his own neck & non-job is that some poor folks affected by Hs2 may well be given false hope by this breathtaking piece of reality denial masquerading as informed comment. Although, what’s interesting is -if you read behind the lines, Rukin is tacitly admitting that there’s nothing they can do to Stop Hs2, they’re simply praying someone else will. Mind you, before the election they though UKIP would be the cavalry riding to their rescue – and look where that got them…

Meanwhile, what are the likes of Stophs2 actually doing? Nothing. They’ve no events planned at all. No rallies or demo’s, no gatherings – nothing. They’re reduced to an internet presence that few see or care about – or the occasional uncritical article in friendly local rags like the Bucks Herald.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, the Transport Minister, Patrick McLoughlin is in Leeds today,along with Hs2 Chairman Sir David Higgins. McLoughlin will be talking not just about accelerated progress on Hs2 but also Hs3. I’ll add more on this later but you can be sure of one thing. They won’t be giving Rukin any reasons to be cheerful…

You can find McLoughlin’s bullish speech here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/transport-has-power-to-change-the-north

As predicted, there’s not a single crumb of comfort for Rukin & the rest of the anti Hs2 mob. For example:

“Thankfully, the northern electorate didn’t listen to those who tried to play politics with HS2 during the election campaign.

Neither did the people of the west and east Midlands.

So the argument’s been won.

HS2 will be built.”

Or this:

“Start preparing now.

Because HS2 is coming.

It’s coming to Leeds.

To Manchester.

To south Yorkshire.

And the east Midlands.

The time to debate the various merits of high speed rail is over.

Now it’s time to get our cities ready.

Ready for construction.

Ready for investment and regeneration.”

Now, Joe, what was that about reasons to be cheerful?

Crunch time for the anti Hs2 mob…

07 Thursday May 2015

Posted by in Anti Hs2 mob, General election, Hs2, Hs2aa

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Today the anti Hs2 campaign finishes its electoral campaign not with a bang but a whimper.

What’s been remarkable is how low key their campaign has been. Admittedly, both StopHs2 and Hs2aa are skint due to a shortage of donors & having blown all their money on futile court cases so a big poster or mainstream media campaign was out of the question. The only way they could try & make a fuss was on social media but even that’s been quiet. If it wasn’t for UKIP supporters desperately trying to keep the issue alive in the vain hope of grabbing some votes there’s be bugger all going on. Remember, there’s meant to be THREE main groups opposing Hs2. The presence of one (AGHAST) has been so off the radar it’s positively subterranean! Their Campaigns Manager, Deanne Dukhan (@DuKhanD)has tweeted a grand total of twice this month & only a handful of times during the entire campaign. No-one else from AGHAST has even bothered. Mind you, up to the start of the election their campaign website was STILL advertising a petition that closed in 2012 so it’s not really a surprise.

Contrast this with the antis fantasy claims of a million people ‘blighted’ by Hs2, or that the majority of the UK opposes the project & you really do have to wonder what planet they’re living on. Whatever it is – it obviously doesn’t have access to Facebook, Twitter or the letters pages of UK newspapers!

Poor Hs2aa have tried to pretend they’re still an influence by recycling the same old lies, like the £138bn ‘cost’ of Hs2 I exposed here

Their latest wheeze is a ‘thunderclap’. Here’s the explanation from their website.

thunderclap

What’s laughable about this is the fact they never learn. Last year the anti Hs2 campaign tried what’s known as a ‘Twitterstorm’. The idea was that if enough people tweet about Hs2 the hashtag would ‘trend’ – showing their influence & how many folks were opposed. The result was nothing short of total embarrassment. Less than 100 folks tweeted. All it demonstrated was how few real people supported them. They’ve never tried it since. Until now…

Here’s their results so far.

hs2aa

Embarrassing, isn’t it? Remember this is a campaign that claims to represent the views of millions of people & that Hs2 is such an important issue it could seriously influence the result of the election. These ridiculous claims will be laid bare on Friday – and I’ll let you know how their ‘thunderclap’ goes as I doubt anyone will hear it otherwise!

In the meantime, I’ll be staying up to watch the election results tonight. I’m looking forward to one or two ‘popcorn moments’ – especially the one from Thanet South. I’ll be taking time to Tweet & run this blog until tiredness or boredom sets in.

The anti Hs2 campaign in the last week of the election.

02 Saturday May 2015

Posted by in General election, Hs2, Hs2aa, Politics, StopHs2

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As we’re in the final week of the election campaign I though I’d take a look at how the anti Hs2 campaign’s going. The answer is – very badly indeed.

Their laughable ‘no votes for you with Hs2’ campaign has got absolutely nowhere. It’s not even persuaded individual politicians to backtrack on their support for Hs2 never mind the actual parties. Instead, all the major players (including the SNP) have restated their support for the Hs2 project in no uncertain terms. Take this example from Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, who gave an interview to the Liverpool Echo;

Ed Balls

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/general-election-2015-ed-balls-9148898

Or this, from Labour leader Ed Miliband, who was talking to the Yorkskire Evening Post:

Ed Milliband

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/labour-will-back-hs2-miliband-1-7194044

All political parties know that (in reality) the anti Hs2 campaign is tiny. It has little real support & commands fewer votes. To illustrate this fact here’s the latest antis social media ‘scores on the doors’. These are a record of the leading anti Hs2 groups & leaders following on social media (Twitter & Facebook). Note the usual caveat. Not everyone following them opposes Hs2. Some followers are pro’s there just to keep an eye on them!

Scores

To say the results are pathetic is an understatement. They started off from a ridiculously low base and have hardly made any progress since February.There’s been no election effect at all. To put their campaign numbers in perspective, the total number of UK parliamentary electors in 2013 was 46,139,900. I’d work out what % of the electorate is actually following StopHs2 or Hs2aa but I don’t have a calculator that works to that many zero’s!

That’s not all. The main players (Stophs2 & Hs2aa) have been almost absent from the fray. Having run out of money & with a shrinking activist base they’ve relied on both UKIP & the Greens to make all the running. Their problem is – both parties are slipping in the polls.

What will be interesting to watch is what happens to their campaign after the results of the election come in and it becomes obvious they’re a disaster for them.

Watch this space…

Crazy anti HS2 campaigner of the week – No 2.

25 Saturday Apr 2015

Posted by in Hs2, StopHs2, Yorkshire

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– comes to you from one of the tiny number of anti Hs2 groups on the phase 2 route, or in the North. Although, they do seem rather confused over where the North actually is.

This was shared on Twitter today;

'Spend in the North'? Nimbys complaining about Hs2 being built near their village in Yorkshire seem rather confused...

‘Spend in the North’? Nimbys complaining about Hs2 being built near their village in Yorkshire seem rather confused! Perhaps that should read “spend in the North – just don’t build anything near us”…

For those who don’t know, Church Fenton is 16 miles east of Leeds in err, North Yorkshire! The irony of a bunch of North Yorkshire Nimbys trying to stop investment in the North whilst calling for it at the same time is rather priceless but typical of a campaign that’s hopelessly contradictory & confused.

Someone clearly has more money than sense. The population of Church Fenton is less than a thousand. Anti Hs2 campaigners living there number no more than a few dozen. Meanwhile, the local Tory MP has a majority of 22,200. As the old saying goes, do the maths’….

Rather than wasting their money on the poster perhaps Church Fenton antis should have bought themselves a map?

2023 update.

Like most groups the Church Fenton (in)action group faded away into obscurity. The last time they were heard from on Twitter was 2017. Sadly, this vital section of #hs2

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The latest scores on the anti Hs2 mobs doors.

23 Thursday Apr 2015

Posted by in Anti Hs2 mob, Hs2, Hs2aa, Politics, Railways, Scores on the doors, StopHs2

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It’s that time of month to look at the anti Hs2 campaign’s ‘progress’ when it come to getting their message out to all those imaginary millions who oppose Hs2 in the run up to the election. As there’s only 2 weeks to go – you’d think they’d be seeing support swell.

Of course not. It’s all a figment of their imaginations. I’ve shown the Twitter & Facebook followers with % increases or decreases and once again, the news for their campaign isn’t good..

Anti scores Capture

The usual caveat applies. Not everyone following them is a supporter. Many will be there just to see what they’re up to.

To put these numbers into perspective, in 2013 the total number of UK parliamentary electors was 46,139,900….

Stop Hs2’s Vicky Pollard moment.

14 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by in Anti Hs2 mob, Hs2, Penny Gaines, Politics, StopHs2

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The anti hs2 mob are having a terrible election. Their ‘ no votes for you with Hs2’ has been as much use as a chocolate teapot. None of the major parties (or even a single MP) have been persuaded to change their minds. Yesterday it went from bad to worse as the Labour party released their manifesto containing a clear commitment to build Hs2.

Desperately looking for any crumb of comfort Stop Hs2 Chair Penny Gaines had a hilarious ‘Vicky Pollard’ moment – along with one another anti (who’ve featured here before).

'What,the labour party still support Hs2? Yeah, but no, but yeah but no...'

‘What,the labour party unequivocally support Hs2? Yeah, but no, but yeah but no…’

Here’s the ludicrous press release from Pollard – sorry, Gaines:

Labour’s support for HS2 leaves a get-out clause

“they claim to support HS2, but their support leaves a large get-out clause in the form of costs” Thunders ‘Vicky’, neatly falling for her own spin.

Why? Because Hs2 costs haven’t actually risen. What has happened is the economic case which contains detailed costs & revisions after some projects have been scrapped hasn’t been re-issued yet. And remember, those costs already contain a huge contingency. Hs2 are designing the line without using that contingency in their calculations. So, when Labour talk about costs, they they know they’re on pretty safe ground.

Poor ‘Vicky’ can’t mention this as it would expose StopHs2’s years of deception on ‘rising’ costs. Instead, she tries & fails to find some political tea-leaves to read & give false hope to the poor people who still fall for Stophs2’s lies & deceit.

Meanwhile, what does Labour leader Ed Miliband think about Hs2? His recent Yorkshire Post interview answers that:

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/labour-will-back-hs2-miliband-1-7194044

“But asked whether Leeds voters who back Labour can expect HS2 to be delivered on the current timetable if the party wins power, Mr Miliband told the YEP: “Yes.”

He continued: “We support HS2, absolutely, we support HS2. We are not backing off it, we are not changing our position on it. We are supporters of HS2 and that’s clear.

“What Ed Balls has said is that we need the east-west link as well and that’s right.”

Mr Miliband’s commitment on the issue means the election campaign has now produced unequivocal backing from both major parties on pushing ahead to connect Leeds to London and to Manchester and Liverpool with high speed rail.”

Now,’Vicky’ Gaines. Which bit of unequivocal’ don’t you understand?

‘Yeah, but no – but yeah, but no…’

The anti Hs2 mobs campaign continues to head for the rocks

10 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by in election2015, Hs2, Hs2aa, Politics, Railways, StopHs2

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As we’re now well into the general election campaign I thought it would be interesting to have yet another look at the anti Hs2 campaign’s social media influence.

No doubt they’ve been hoping that the *cough* ‘millions’ they claim are affected by & who oppose Hs2 would be flocking to their banner. As usual, the truth is very different.

I’ve previously looked at their Twitter & Facebook performance in February & March. This looks at the groups themselves and the individual ‘main players’. I’ve added today’s scores in this little spreadsheet, along with the percentage change.

Anti Hs2 mob stats

As you can see – it’s abysmal. They’ve hardly moved from a very low base & in some cases they’ve even gone backwards! Bear in mind that ‘followers’ doesn’t automatically mean supporters. Many folks will be following simply to see what they’re up to. No wonder the main political parties don’t see them as anything to worry about with such abysmal numbers as these. That said, UKIP & the Greens should take note too. They’ve been conned into thinking there’s lots of votes to harvest by opposing Hs2, which is pure moonshine.

Let’s put these numbers in perspective. The total number of UK parliamentary electors in 2013 was 46,139,900. I hate to think how many zeros would be on the figure if you calculated what percentage of that number the anti Hs2 campaign is reaching!

There’s another problem for the anti Hs2 mob. As the election campaign progresses it’s becoming clearer that voters are starting to seriously think about who they want to see in Government. It’s all very well considering placing a protest vote with UKIP or Greens but neither have a snowballs chance in hell of holding power. Polls are showing that voters are realising this, with votes transferring back to the main parties.

This is yet more bad news for the anti Hs2 campaign. Their ‘no votes for you with Hs2’ campaign’s been an embarrassing flop & they’re failing to persuade anyone who could stop Hs2 to do so. It’s not hard to see why. Their Twitter campaign is increasingly relying on the sort of people the PM once called ‘swivel-eyed loons’…!

When the election results become clear & the Hs2 Hybrid Bill Committee reconvenes, I suspect their campaign will go into another slough of despondency. I can’t see the people who bankroll it continuing to throw their money away forever. Perhaps it’s time Joe Rukin started looking for a proper job…

The anti Hs2 campaign’s ‘fightback’ turns out to be a damp squib!

25 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by in House of Lords, Hs2, Hs2aa, Railways, StopHs2, Transport

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I suspect anti Hs2 campaigners began today with such high hopes. After all, today was going to be THEIR day. First off would be a ‘damning’ (as they love to call anything even slightly critical) report by the House of Lords Economic Activity Committee into Hs2. Then, whilst Hs2 & its supporters were reeling from this blow to the solar plexus, Cheryl Gillan & the massed ranks of anti Hs2 MPs would deliver a knock-out punch in their Parliamentary debate.

Needless to say, it didn’t quite work out that way…

The HoL report is a poor piece of work that’s full of holes & omissions. Although it’s had some media attention it hasn’t had the wall to wall coverage the antis were hoping for & it certainly hasn’t changed the minds of anyone in power.

But worse was to come. The Gillan debate was truly, deeply, awful! Only a handful of the 41 MPs who voted against Hs2 even bothered to turn up. It was the usual suspects (Gillan, Fabricant, Dobson etc) and – more tellingly – not a single, solitary new MP opposed Hs2. Even UKIPs two rebadged ex-Tory MPs didn’t bother. Mind you, both of them support Hs2, which leaves UKIP in a bit of a quandry!

The anti MPs trotted out the same tired & trite arguments that they’ve rehearsed so well & that have failed them for so long. The only new line was Kelvin Hopkins MP trying to introduce the ridiculous claim that Hs2 will really cost £138bn (a lie exposed here).

They didn’t land a single punch, never mind a knockout…

When they’d run out of steam, Shadow Transport Secretary Lilian Greenwood MP stood up. Without fuss she calmly & methodically put the case for Hs2 & left them in no doubt that Labour remain fully behind the project. When she’d finished, Transport Secretary Robert Goodwill did exactly the same thing for the coalition. He reiterated all the main points for the project, demonstrating that the Government are both unmoved & unruffled by the antis last ditch attempt to alter minds before the election.

To add to the antis woes today has been a busy & eventful news day and – yet again, they’ve been upstaged by Jeremy Clarkson!

Meanwhile, at the same time The London Infrastructure Summit was going ahead. Delegates were asked if they thought Hs2 would go ahead under the next Government. Their answer?

london First

The truth about this debate is it was only really ever about one thing: Realpolotik. In other words, a handful of MPs showing a minority of their constituents who oppose Hs2 that they’re doing the ‘right thing’ by them in order to keep their seats. Their parties (of both colours) know their opposition to Hs2 won’t make the slightest shred of difference as the project has too much support. They can comfortably absorb such a tiny ‘rebellion’. There’s not a cat in hell’s chance of them succeeding, so their parties can accommodate them, knowing that it just might improve the chances of them holding onto their seats in an election year when every one may count.

The woeful truth behind the anti Hs2 campaign’s claims of expansion & ‘mass support’

21 Saturday Mar 2015

Posted by in Hs2, Politics, StopHs2, Transport

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It’s a month on from my blog exposing how little real support the anti Hs2 campaign has so I thought it was time for an update. After all, we’re in the run up to a general election & Hs2 has been in the news. The 3 major parties have all restated their support whilst UKIP & the Greens have restated their opposition. Has this galvanised the anti Hs2 campaign? The immortal words of the TV character Jim Royle spring to mind.

Previously, I’d highlighted the fact that all their claims of ‘mass support’ & being a ‘growing campaign’ were nothing but hot air & I used their support on social media to illustrate this. Of course, since then the Jeremy Clarkson incident broke. That really went viral, both on social media & in the real world. Over 1 million folks signed a petition to get the presenter reinstated!

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/celebritynews/jeremy-clarkson-petition-soars-past-one-million-signatures-as-suspended-top-gear-host-warns-protest-never-works-10124676.html

This seems to have thrown anti Hs2 campaigners into a bit of a depression. After all, they’ve been trying to drum up support for years & got nowhere. Then along comes Clarkson & within days – bang – 1 million signatures! Ironically, 1 million is the number some anti Hs2 folks claim are blighted by the project…

Let’s revisit the original 22nd February ‘scores on the doors’ for the Hs2 anti’s on social media. Today’s updated scores are in brackets along with percentage changes.

Here’s the Twitter followers of the main anti Hs2 groups:

Hs2 Action Alliance (@hs2aa): 3,199 followers (today 3,237 + 38 = 1.19%)

StopHs2 (@stophs2): 4,112 (today 4,167 + 55 = 1.34%)

I’ve also included both of StopHs2’s leaders.

Joe Rukin (@joerukin): 1,857 (today 1,871 + 14 = 0.75%)

Penny Gaines (@penny_gaines): 399 (today 401+ 2 = 0.5%)

51M (@51M_Hs2project): 610 (today 613 + 3 = 0.49%)

Here’s AGAHST’s ‘leader’

AGAHST’s Deanne DuKhan (@DuKhanD): 654 (today 654 + 0 = 0%)

Meanwhile, over on Facebook (used by over 30 million Britons);

Hs2aa: 2,168 (today 2,154 – 14 = minus 0.65%)
https://www.facebook.com/HS2AA?fref=ts

StopHs2: 6,415 (today 6,325 – 90 = minus 1.4%)
https://www.facebook.com/STOP.HS2?fref=ts

51M: 393 (today 387 – 6 = minus 1.53%)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/51m_HS2project/218611348167462

It’s worth noting that 51M’s FB account still hasn’t been updated since the 1st June 2011.

Hmm, so much for that expanding campaign! Expanding? It’s actually shrinking on the media with the biggest penetration (Facebook) and hardly moving at all on Twitter (a medium widely regarded as stagnant). Not only are they failing to get their message across, they’re actually in retreat. Perhaps they should sack Joe Rukin & give his job to Jeremy Clarkson?

Of course, in real life – things are even worse. Hs2aa has blown all its money on futile legal cases so isn’t even churning out misleading posters. StopHs2 isn’t in any better position. No-one has organised any demonstrations at Parliament because (frankly) the numbers showing up is plain embarrassing – I’ve seen more life in a tramps vest! What is also telling is that their annual gathering in Staffordshire has bitten the dust too. It failed to happen in 2014 & there’s no sign of it happening in 2015 either. Talk about failing to get your message across…

So,next time you hear a few lazy journalists trot out the usual trite phrases about how there’s ‘strong’ opposition to Hs2, feel free to ask them, “where”?