Honours List
Sir Terry Pratchett OBE “Bloody tin boxes going very, very fast don’t do anything for the countryside.”
Janet Street Porter “David Cameron said he profoundly believed it was a good way of bringing the North and South closer together. I beg to differ. What will get our economy functioning again is far more prosaic – millions of tons of salt and grit applied to pavements and roads by council workers who are not being laid off.”
Sir Geoffrey Palmer OBE “Now it is a Transformational Benefit. A what? A Transformational – what is that? Where is the evidence for this Transformational Fairy Godmother – wave my wand at pantomime time”
John Redwood MP “There are numerous people who live nowhere near the proposed route who have doubts about the value of this project, including constituents of mine.”
George Monbiot, honorary president of the Campaign against Climate Change “it would be better to have an honest, informed discussion about high-speed rail, rather than a wild guess based on unfounded assumptions and dodgy figures.”
All our wonderful supporters for making this campaign such a success!
Dishonours List
David Cameron for failing to honour his pledge to “rebuild trust in politics” in particular allowing those who will benefit financially from HS2 to lobby him and sell out our identity as Beautiful Britain, countryside, our communities, our rural economies, our money, our social integration.
“We don’t know who is meeting whom. We don’t know whether any favours are being exchanged. We don’t know which outside interests are wielding unhealthy influence. This isn’t a minor issue with minor consequences. Commercial interests – not to mention government contracts – worth hundreds of billions of pounds are potentially at stake.
I believe that secret corporate lobbying, like the expenses scandal, goes to the heart of why people are so fed up with politics. It arouses people’s worst fears and suspicions about how our political system works, with money buying power, power fishing for money and a cosy club at the top making decisions in their own interest.
We can’t go on like this. I believe it’s time we shone the light of transparency on lobbying in our country and forced our politics to come clean about who is buying power and influence.”
David Cameron for prioritising HS2; wasting millions of pounds on the HS2 project and seeking to commit £34 billion of tax payers money on a loss making project, entirely at our risk when we are facing the greatest austerity measures seen in recent times.
Phillip Hammond for misleading the British public on the facts, the figures and demand for HS2 and also the complete lack of environmental impact appraisal of the proposal.
Phillip Hammond for continuously playing the “NIMBY” card in order to encourage the North South divide.
The list could go on.
STOPHS2, wishes everyone a very Happy New Year and will be back in 2011 with a full status report on where MPs and Local Government along the line stand.
Lizzy Williams
Chairman STOPHS2
thanks for the help Lizzie I will try those contacts lets hope we get some help even if they only sign the petition.
best wishes Eiaine
Thank you, Lizzy, for your New Year message and all the hard work you have personally put into this campaign.
You rightly point out that Philip Hammond is using the NIMBY card and he will do it relentlessly all through the consultation period. It is one of his most powerful weapons. I was interested in the comments made by some interviewers I heard at the time of the route changes. They said to local people ‘but it has to go somewhere’. It doesn’t have to go anywhere! As STOPHS2 makes very clear.
I was struck by your last sentence:
“STOPHS2, wishes everyone a very Happy New Year and will be back in 2011 with a full status report on where MPs and Local Government ALONG THE LINE stand.”
I believe we have already lost the fight if we are reliant on those directly affected. Michael Fabricant, MP for Lichfield, in his statement on HS2 in early December made it clear that the bill will get through Parliament because most MPs are totally unaffected. This is an MP whose constituency is directly on the route!
We have to get a large swathe of MPs right across the country on board. Money spent on HS2 will give their constituents no benefit and will mean less money for their projects. We must encourage a debate not only on the alternatives to HS2, the excellent CPRE report is a very good example, but on other projects which would benefit the whole country, such as an optical fibre network for ultra high speed broadband.
As you point out there are enormous commercial contracts at stake, the big battalions(CBI etc) are in favour, there is cross party agreement(at the moment) with the Prime Minister and one of his senior Minister’s totally behind it. If this cannot be turned into a national debate on prorities at a time of great austerity we will be defeated.
Thank you Philip for supporting STOPHS2! You are quite correct in your comments relating to national positions. There are some coming out against HS2 not on the line eg.John Redwood. I will of course aim to list positions of all MPs who have issued a statement but many don’t even know what HS2 is yet. The trouble is HS2 is simply not a priority issue for those not on the line, something we need to change.
One of the the things we are examining in detail is the level of transport cuts per authority to be able to write to them individually highlighting they are suffering now because of this White Elephant and unless you live in Birmingham or London you will not see any benefits. Kindest. Lizzy
Dear Lizzy
Much appreciate your full response. I didn’t doubt you were looking at issues that would appeal more widely but it was interesting to hear about some of the things you are working on.
Regards, Philip
Hi Lizzie and Joe etc,
I would like to add our thanks for all of the work you and Joe Rukin etc are doing. – Let the New Year begin and more importantly lets stop HS2 before it has one single piece of track to run on! Sue Pybus – Kenilwoth Action Group.
YES LET US HOPE THE NEW YEAR WILL SEE COMMON SENSE PREVAIL.I AM WRITING TO ALL I CAN.I WOULD LIKE TO GET THE ENVIRONMENT CARING STUDENTS ON OUR SIDE, BUT I AM SO FAR UNABLE TO FIND A WEBSITE DIRECTLY TO THEM.HAS ANYONE GOT ANY IDEAS?BEST WISHES TO ALL.
Try the Campaign Against Climate Change http://www.campaigncc.org/whoweare
and the International Institute for Environment and Development http://www.iied.org/general/about-iied/information-for-students x
Just to say – fantastic job you are all doing Lizzie, Joe etc – keep up the brilliant work – I read your site every day – you are an inspiration to us all.
And to the people working at every level to stop this absolute travesty of a project. I salute you all.
Here’s to 2011 and bringing down such a preposterous idea. Lets keep the momentum going.
Happy New Year