George Osborne could lose his seat..

[max_tranmere]

I watched Channel 4 news tonight and it revealed there's a lot of anger in the Midlands about the HS2 rail link just like there is down south. That Etonian choirboy Osborne is the MP for Tatton in Cheshire, which the railway will pass through, and some of his constituents were interviewed and said they would not vote for him again. One said "he'll be out of a job at the next election". I wonder if this might make Cameron and co alter the route. What do people think?

[Arginald Valleywater]

A hideously extravagant vanity project for the southern part of the UK. Why does the government assume every fucker north of Watford wants to get to London any quicker? How about dual carriageways across the A69 and A66 cross Pennine routes? The only real beneficiaries will be Man U fans who can get home to their Surrey mansions half an hour earlier..

[David Johnson]

Well, I guess HS2 is better than digging holes and filling them in again as a way for the government to spend money creating jobs.

Having said that as far as I know there is limited evidence that it will bring sustained growth in the North of England once it is finished. For example there is a really fast train between Madrid and Seville and yet Seville is in one of the poorest areas of Spain, Andalusia and is really struggling itself.
Aside for a holiday tip, beside all of that, Seville is a fantastic city.

Typically, fast connections result in the city with the stronger economy - Madrid, London etc. being able to suck more money out of the poorer cities. It allows companies to forgo having offices etc and use the train to get staff from London to Birmingham and Manchester instead.

I'm not against the government spending this amount of money it is just that it would have been better spent on improving the existing infrastructure.

As for Boy George, one would have hoped that he was a gonna anyway because of his complete disaster of an economic policy - the debt up, the deficit up, no growth for 2 years, long term unemployment growing, the possibility of an unprecedented triple dip recession if the first three months of this year produce negative growth, criticism from the IMF which once supported his plans wholeheartedly and the credit agencies putting the UK on negative watch.

He could hardly have done worse.

[Porn Baron]

What a waste of money. Billions to save half an hour in time.

Could have built two Severn barrages for that price and got a predictable source of sustainable energy for the next 120 years.

[Dave Wells]

HOOFUCKINRAY !

[max_tranmere]

Interesting comments there. I myself also wonder what positives any of this will bring, I assume the Government is paying for it all, rather than just some of it, and that money could be better spent. I would imagine the money being spent on this, and the money spent on those two illegal wars, would be similar to the money spent bailing out the banks (wasn't that ?66b or something?). They could have not done those things and instead avoided all the massive cuts taking place right now. Some of the most vulnerable people in society are suffering now while the wankers, sorry bankers, are still living in their large mansions with their massive salaries and bonuses.

[Arginald Valleywater]

David Frost said many years ago that London was a separate country. If they want this expensive project they should offer to pay for it. A year's worth of bank bonuses should get things moving..