Just to let you know that the press coverage of HS2 is continuing today. A huge range of different campaigners are talking on a wide variety of different shows.
Lizzy Williams has been on radio this morning, along with Pete Waterman, who was talking in favour of it.
We haven’t got a list of all the different people who are on, or the different shows, but if you have some details of a program to watch or radio show to listen to, maybe you could add a comment below.
PS Patrick Burns blog talks about some of the comments that were made during the Politics show – ” The phones, emails and Twitter were absolutely red hot”.
R.Carter as nobody has had the decency to inform people that it could be going through their homes it is some of those who were affected who began to tell others near them.If you live in the midlands it is unlikely you would take more than a passing glance about say, a wind farm in devon. I would have thought that was pretty obvious unless a friend lived by it and told you.If you actually looked at what has been done by those who started stop hs2, dispite having their lives affected, they have looked into the project very carefully to see if it justifys them loosing their homes. they have found it does not, and therefor want to try to stop a project that we will all pay for.The govenment would have otherwise have gone ahead and some may have been totally unaware .I think you should put youself in their shoes.
R.CARTER IF YOU THINK YOUR ARGUEMENT FOR HS2 IS SO STRONG WHY DO YOU RESORT TO CHILDISH NAME CALLING?
What, the “Nimby” thing? No offence, but it just looks strange how all these Google-powered experts in economics and rail travel appear to be people who live along the proposed route. Probably not a co-incidence I suspect.
Not everyone who is opposed to HS2 is living on the route. I assume that not everyone who is in favour is working for the rail industry or will be a direct beneficiary. It would be wrong for either of these small groups to get the scheme cancelled/activated to meet their own personal interests – the country is expected to pay for this and so the key point is the net benefit to the country. It is the woeful business and environmental case of HS2 that means it should be cancelled, not any amount of nimbyism.
Phil is correct in some ways but we appear to have members of all parties supporting us.we are third on the 38degrees list we need more to boost us to no1 they saved the forests.
The forest campaign was very effective, and it shows that the Coalition is willing to listen, sometimes. However, that campaign had an advantage – people automatically assume that it is good to have forests in public ownership.
However, people tend to assume that high speed rail is always good, and so our first step is to get people to listen to the facts about this proposal. For instance, the BBC quotes Pete Waterman as saying “”I just feel that this country needs a high speed railway.”
There may be other ways of doing high speed rail in the UK (and lets face it, the WCML, the ECML and the Great Western Mainline all count as “high speed” under the European definintion), but the particular HS2 proposal is not right for Britain.
2) The case For is a political one: that is what we are fighting.
What rubbish. Understand this – there are plently of ordinary people (myself included) who want HS2 built because of the economic benefits it will bring and because there are a lot of us who want the best for the country going forward into the future. You people want it stopped for you own selfish, self-interest and you are the people that need to be fought and defeated for the wider good. If the message at “Nimbyfest 2011” was that HS2 was is all about politics then you people have been wasting your time, and need to start putting some genuine arguments forward instead of this delusional guff about it all being some big conspiracy to waste money by the state.
There are obvious people who will directly benefit from HS2 – mostly rail users who might be able to spend an extra 20 minutes in bed of a morning. You can also include the people who would work on building it, and if you wish the people making the rails and the trains (although they will likely be based overseas so you could argue against including them as a plus for taxpayers expenditure).
There are obvious people who will directly suffer from HS2 – mostly those who live near the proposed route. You can also add people in those towns and cities not near a station and for which every business that relocates to say east Birmingham is a business lost to say Coventry.
All of the above together are relatively small when compared to the population of the country , and neither set have the right to speak on behalf of the silent, apathetic (and I mean no disrespect here – this would have included me) majority who will be paying for the scheme. They are relying on their politicians to make the correct decisions. Politicians spending the country’s money (or rather your (grand)children’s money), based on the information presented to them by big business and lobby groups, based on sound bites and ‘how will this play to the northern vote’, based on wanting to ‘do something’ – to show their years in government were not wasted, based on wanting to spend an extra 20 minutes in bed of a morning before heading off to/from London.
Of course it is a political case. The value for money, environment, transformation of the north, and all the other reasons given are just hollow shells of guesswork, for which the evidence against is at least as strong as the evidence for. Only politicians and the mad would think to be able to come up with an answer and be so sure they were doing ‘the right thing’.
All 3 parties broadly agree on it. Whatever your definition of the word “political” is, I doubt that HS2 is it. It’s probably one of the few issues in the spotlight that isn’t, because of the cross-part consensus. And the “all for 20 minutes off a journey” argument is one which all HS2 supporters get tired of dismissing. It’s about being part of a European-wide HS2 network and leaving a transport infrastructure in place for generations to benefit from. It’s amazing how the rest of the world is developing HSR but in this country, it must all be some big conspiracy between “big business” and the government and no, we don’t want it because we know best.
All 3 parties broadly agree on it at the moment. But Geoffrey Robinson MP is suggesting that Labour should not support it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12518839
And he said that there are rumblings amongst MPs in the corridors of Westminster that maybe it’s not such a good idea after all, and Theresa Villiers may be thinking they’ve been ‘sold a pup’ taking on the previous government’s immature scheme.
Press Association says: High Speed Rail plans laughable!
Go Lizzy!
the press association was quoting her they did not say it was laughable
I was interviewed on BBC Radio Coventry & Warwickshire this morning by Liz Kershaw – just after 11.00am. You can find it at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00dvdqf/Liz_Kershaw_20_02_2011
Having been st Stoneleigh yesterday I am struck by 3 things:
1) the AGAHST people are (like me) too old – we need to get younger people who will end up paying for this involved.
2) The case For is a political one: that is what we are fighting.
3) Most people across the country will be ambivalent. Those in Birmingham love the idea, so they can get to London more quickly, everyone else will not realise they will be paying for it.
Great event at Stoneleigh, but only an opening shot. Well done to those who organised it.
The stop HS2 momentum has started. Well done StopHS2 for organising a great convention. The debate will be won through the press. Media coverage is still overwhelmingly negative about HS2 and has been consistently negative since HS2 was launched in March 2011. The special advisers in the DfT must be already planning that how to get Mr Hammond out of this mess.
That’s assuming Philip Hammond will be the transport secretary in 2015?….place your bets?
NB: If anyone watched Politics Today and the interview with Gerry Blackett from Birmingham he said ‘you can get a lawyer for a fraction of the cost in Birmingham than you can in London’…..London Lawyers must now draw their swords and come out against HS2 – why would they vote for a train line that reduces their profits?….Turkeys and Christmas…..bring it on Gerry….let’s have more comments like that so that the anti HS2 campaigners can hit back at HS2 from all sides.
the press are overwhelmingly negative about everything that is what they do they dont print good news ! The argument should be won through logic and fact not through the press. they are not elected and their comment is there for one thing – to sell papers to increase circulation. it is very popular to rubbish the government in power whoever they may be and to see a conspiracy at every corner. in fact the press in general is not very supportive of our country at all.
i was surpised that you didnt have more supporters at your event particularly when you claim that so many people are against it.
i wanted to go and know alot of people my age (40’s with kids) who wanted to go saturday is a working day for many people and its hard to organise child care and get saturday off work. sunday might have worked better for the younger generations to attend.
The Politics show West Midlands will be having an item on HS2 after 12.30. It’s on BBC1.