So the battle begins! Justine Greening, a leading Conservative moderniser and Transport Secretary has just announced in Westmonster that she is going full speed ahead to deliver the new high speed railway. She immediately received cross party support from all parties because all the main politicians are 'modernisers' which means that they don't back the British public.
Facing them will be families who will lose their homes, people wishing to defend beauty spots and and villagers who will lose their way of life. This surely has to be worth defending. We have got a perfectly adequate rail system. It is over priced and badly administered but that is not the fault of the public. Before these 'modernisers' destroy the countryside they should attempt to make the current system work. Prices continue to rise dramatically and the service that the public receive is appalling.
Almost every government in the world recognises that an efficient railway must be subsidised. It is the duty of a government to maintain a good rail service for the benefit of the people. They cannot ask passengers to keep paying for an over crowded service. The crux of the problem is that the 'modernisers' do not understand the word 'duty'. It is not in their vocabulary.
We are a relatively small country. Even at high speed the time saved will be minimal. It will never be worth the cost, the destruction of the countryside and the devastation of local communities. It is only worth it if your ultimate intention is to break down a society.
I hope that the thousands of people who will feel the full force of this project fight it all the way and that the rest of us support them.
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