Our new look
Welcome to our new website, which went live at the end of August. I hope that you will find the new site is much improved while retaining all the features and information that you found on the old site.
The most important changes that have been made are in the design of the underlying structure of the site: these will enable us to make our own updates virtually instantaneously, which should improve our service to you considerably. However, we are still in the process of picking up the glitches and writing new items, so please be patient with us in the meantime.
HS2 on the rack
For those of us who want to see the HS2 project consigned to the dustbin, we appear to be entering a promising phase of the propaganda war. We have had to be very patient and persistent in our opposition, but the fruits of our labours appear to be ripening on the tree. There is very definitely a ground swell of public opinion building up against the project, fuelled by media coverage that is largely hostile to HS2. Even some of our political leaders, bless ‘em, are starting to wake up and smell the coffee, although Westminster sadly remains one of the few places in the land where the majority opinion is still backing this white elephant.
The growing list of individuals and organisations that have publically expressed doubts about the project include:
- The House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts.
- The National Audit Office.
- The Institute of Directors.
- The Institute of Economic Affairs, influential independent think tank.
- Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP, former Chancellor of the Exchequer.
- The Lord Lawson of Blaby PC, former Chancellor of the Exchequer.
- Baron Mandelson of Foy PC, former Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.
- The Lord Prescott PC, former Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State.
- The Woodland Trust.
- Adam Mills former Chief Executive of London and Continental Railways – operator of Eurostar until 2010.
- Professor Tony Travers of the London School of Economics, a member of the “Challenge Group” set up by HS2 Ltd.
- Conservative Grassroots, a group of Tory Party local association chairmen.
But the white elephant is hardly a dead duck
Although we should all take heart from the successes that the campaign against HS2 is enjoying, please don’t expect to witness the demise of HS2 any time soon. Whilst, we can allow ourselves to think that there is at least a chance now that we can get it stopped, the odds are still against that. We should all be encouraged by recent events, and take it as our cue to step up the campaign against this foolish project.
Read Peter’s blogs at HS2 and the environment.
