I cannot think that HS2 is worth the money. So much emphasis is made on getting ‘business people’ whoever they are to and from the Midlands and London. I don’t think this arguament of Doris holds water. Remember we are now so very screen based, people are possibly prefering to fly and airports are usually easy road links, I’m not convinced of the HS2 arguament. Not ever a mention of goods needing to be transported, decades ago rail was important for this. Perhaps moves to help / aid road transport might be a better idea. Or better still getting the existing rail network to function as it should be, to focus more on local solutions, to open a few more local commuter lines to and from growing towns and into local cities would surely be a useful idea.
HS2 sounds silly, perhaps a diversion / news filler when in fact the big problem is exiting Europe, my heart bleeds for manufacturers whose worlds are being turned upside down, with probable bankruptcy or closure at the end of it. How else can it be, the USA most certainly does not want our goods, trump himself is hell-bent on protectionism and tariffs, oblivious to knowledge, expertise or history.
So many flaws with HS2 as highlighted this morning on bbc r4 news, lets list a few of my rambling poorly read ideas …
- HS2 terminals look to be separate from existing stations, its not just a question of walking to another platform.
- environmentally its tragic.
- a nonsensical reach for max upper speed on HS2 adds dramatically to final cost, massage it down a little and look at the saving!
- I don’t think there is the need for it, but I do concede it may take pressure away from existing networks, maybe … but where does this factor into the daily commute for the average person?
- we know fine well that with climate change we need to be closer to our work, to somehow eliminate travelling.
- the regions themselves all insist the money could be better spent locally.
It was quite ironic a few minutes later we have a news item say 0830’ish regarding the plight of the homeless and how a simple one room bedsit is so very important, we assume and hope getting people turned around again, getting them away from the desperate hopelessness of sleeping rough. No wonder mental health problems and drugs are rife. I also believe mentoring is so very important, methinks cuts after cuts have ground away so much that could be done. To NOT give them a bedsit and some basic mentoring IS to commit them to an early death.
Its my opinion social housing and council built property (when well done) is so vastly under-supplied. Now that would be a very good use of HS2 money.
I remember the silly move 20 years ago to send the weak and mentally ill or handicapped into the community ‘American style’ a cruel move indeed, disrupting and / or removing networks and socialisation to place the handicapped into bungalows and dwellings across the UK where boredom hardly starts to describe their pointlessness.
We don’t seem to be very good at ‘thinking’ do we?
climate-change-briefing 