Comment on HS2 is officially ‘unachievable’ after being given red rating
Syldon@feddit.uk 1 year agoWith a government that literally could not organise a piss up in a brewery, the answer has to be no. They are just grifters conning the country out of money for themselves and anyone who will support them. Nothing else has any importance. The covid inquiry outcome will be very telling just how little these scumbags actually wanted to help the people they serve.
The delay and spiralling cost seems to be a mixture of government failure, local issues, national anti HS2 campaigns, poor planning by the contractors building the thing.
What, in your opinion, could this government (or the next Labour government) do to enable 21st century transport infrastructure to be built across the country (north to south, and east to west)?
What, in your opinion, could this government (or the next Labour government) do to enable 21st century transport infrastructure to be built across the country (north to south, and east to west)?
Go back to the drawing board - look at what we need.
A stronger E-W connection - we need one of those fancy drilling machines they buried after Crosstalk and it can dig road and rail tunnels through the Pennines east of Manchester (if you look on the map everything just peters out or has to go up and around). That gives quite and direct links through to the A1 and you can then have a high speed line between Hull and Liverpool (which will cut out a lot of freighter traffic having to go round).
It was always important that our high speed network connected with Europe’s in order to cut flights but the end of HS2 comes into the wing side of London. You really want a high speed rail line down the east coast up to Edinburgh and across to Glasgow that continues on to the Channel Tunnel.
You could then put in other lines - Glasgow to Crewe to Birmingham to Bristol and the SW. Cardiff to London. If you must you could then link Birmingham to London but you are only shaving minutes off the journey at that point.
You then end up with a high speed east coast line, a west coast line and Scottish, north and south cross lines. Along with improved road links under the Pennines.
We used to have a stronger E-W connection, the Woodhead line. It was even electrified before being finally closed, the track lifted, and the tunnels filled in.
The failure of this project is set purely at the heart of government and their steam roller ideology. They miss-read the feeling of the areas they wanted to bulldoze. I doubt any section of the line came in on budget. I would not be surprised if this was just another excuse to fund donors.
How could it be done better? Not waste money in other areas. Claw back that money lost through fraud that no one in government cares about. Take some good non political advice with a proper feasibility study.
I disagreed massively with the HS2 scheme. London has had enough money spent on it. The rest of the country could really use some good transport, and that does not need to be attached to London. This was just another of Johnson’s vanity projects. And as we have seen with everything Johnson touches he care nothing about the cost to the tax payers.
Labour will do a better job with any projects they push forward, because the Murdoch media is a lot more critical in their reporting on non Tory governments. Everything is broken in this country now thanks to the current crew. It will be an uphill struggle to fix anything once they are gone. The thing I want to see fixed most is our FPTP voting system. I want to remove this dominance that the two parties have on this country. Johnson was bad, but it just as easily have been Corbyn. We need to remove the ease with which extremists can manipulate the system.
The thing I want to see fixed most is our FPTP voting system. I want to remove this dominance that the two parties have on this country. Johnson was bad, but it just as easily have been Corbyn. We need to remove the ease with which extremists can manipulate the system.
100% agree with this. Not sure how PR in itself will build rail infrastructure 🤷 but I agree with the sentiment.
The rail affects a very small part of the country. Both parties have ignored it for decades.
I firmly believe that if we do not plug the gap in our voting system, then the next extremist group to gain power will be very much worse than what we see now. They will take what they have learned to abuse and expand on it. We may never have an election again after that without a civil war. I am not overly confident about Starmer, if I was being honest. He is being more than a little underhanded with the rank and file of the party. I get why he took on the Corbynites, especially with Corbyn being a thorn for his own agenda. But Starmer seems to have taken it upon himself to oust anyone with a different opinion. Removing opposing views is not a good thing for a party. That was exactly how Johnson ran his ship.
So yes the transport system is important. It generates cash for the country after all. I just don’t view in the same light as others do.
sadreality@kbin.social 1 year ago
People make real money on government contracking and it is a good place for corruption where state actors and private sector fleece tax payers. Boomers are getting extra greedy tho, back in the day at least they delivered something, half the to now project isn't even delivered or delivered without poor condition or not fit for the use case.
Syldon@feddit.uk 1 year ago
Boomers ?? seriously you want to start a culture to defend this shitty government. Get over yourself you moron.
sadreality@kbin.social 1 year ago
Just exposing pervasive culture of corruption the boomer generatetion shares.
Every time I see shady dealing, there are a few boomers making good money on it as they control most of the negotiation and leadership roles in government and private sector. They collude in their deals via this "culture"
It has always happened but the cut this generation is taking is border line highway robbery. It is getting our of hand.
I apologize my analysis triggered you but without calling spadr a spade we can't really move forward since at this point political process is captured and we have a massive social issue on our hands that requires a cultural change.
Syldon@feddit.uk 1 year ago
The buses don’t go where you come from my friend. You are a prime reason why we need a better education system in the UK. Go back home the village is missing their idiot.