Camden New Journal: HS2: New picture shows how trucks will descend on Primrose Hill
YELLOW Tonka truck-style construction vehicles lay siege to a parade of Regency villas in an image released by HS2 ahead of more than a decade of major works in Camden.
Sheffield Telegraph Call to axe HS2 in favour of reopening Woodhead line from Sheffield
Campaigners fighting HS2 have urged the Government to ditch the plans and reopen a closed route between Sheffield and Manchester instead.
The Transport Network: Ministers ‘considering u-turn on Network Rail reclassification’
The Government is considering a u-turn on reclassifying Network Rail as a public body from next month in order to avoid adding its £34bn of gross debts to the national deficit, it is understood.
Keighley News: Keighley man plans to launch his own political party
A KEIGHLEY supermarket trolley worker is planning to launch his own political party and contest the next general election.
Bruce On Politics: 15 reasons that HS2 is silly
These 225mph trains would run initially to Birmingham, where the line splits in two with an East coast spur to Leeds and Newcastle and a West coast spur to Manchester and Scotland. It is estimated to cost a massive £30 billion. The Department for Transport now says it will cost £43 billion, a study by the Institute of Economic Affairs suggests a total cost of £80 billion. And here is why it is silly:
Birmingham Post: Green Party leader Natalie Bennett on HS2, taxes, Ed Miliband and the party conference
But Ms Bennett asked: “Does Birmingham really want to become a London commuter suburb? Which is one of the things HS2 does.
PotteriesEYE: Council taxpayer bill for Stoke-on-Trent HS2 station dream tops £300,000 including £75,000 on PR
More than £300,000 of taxpayers cash has so far been spent on consultants by cash-strapped Stoke-on-Trent City Council, in their attempt to persuade the government to change the route of proposed HS2 rail line, with a station in Stoke-on-Trent.
John Redwood’s Diary: HS2 – Where has all the money gone?
In the two years to March 2014 HS2 Ltd has spent £384,000,000 of grant aid from taxpayers. What is remarkable is that after such a high spend the balance sheet of the company doing all that spending shows zero net assets. The best part of £400 million has gone and the company has nothing to show for it of more permanent value that gives us some net assets on its balance sheet.
Institute of Economic Affairs: Pork barrel UK: Buying off voters with taxpayer cash has serious consequences
The classical liberal French economist Frédéric Bastiat once said that ‘government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavours to live at the expense of everybody else.’ Over the past year or so, numerous examples and allegations suggest that a more accurate pearl of wisdom for the UK would be: ‘Government is the great fiction, through which politicians deliver resources to the benefit of target constituencies, to improve their chance of re-election.’
The Times: Labour must scrap HS2 to avoid a rail disaster
The fast link to the north will be late and over budget. Miliband must put principle before political calculation
BBC: Future – The trouble with trying to make trains go faster
The Woodland Trust: Secret agent: Woodland Trust lawyer Helen Kemp lets us in on her unusual job
Lawyer Helen Kemp is one of just 14 Roll A Parliamentary Agents in the UK. Here she explains her vital role as our representative against the HS2 hybrid bill and what’s next in the whole HS2 petitioning process.
TechRadar: Will technology outpace the High Speed Two (HS2) rail project?
Despite the best efforts of those supporting the massive investment in the High Speed Two (HS2) rail project, the initial case for spending upwards of £40bn was speed – a shorter journey time between Birmingham and London. Apparently the current 81 minutes is just too long.
Yorkshire Post: Campaigners say ancient woodland is threatened by M1 service station plans
The Woodland Trust also said prospective HS2 rail routes also threaten parts of Smithy Wood, together with nine other ancient woodland sites in South Yorkshire.
Birmingham Mail: Walk In The Park: Imperial Gardens in Cheltenham
But the mature trees at Park Gardens close to the Hotel La Tour could soon be felled thanks to HS2.