After coronavirus (which might be quite a long way away), or at least when the world settles down to a new normal, there are some things that I’d like to be different. So over the next days and weeks I’m going to write them down. They will mostly be to do with our relationship with the natural world (but not exclusively).
If you would like to have a go at writing a guest blog on a thing that you would like to be different then please take notice of these general guidelines for guest blogs and send it to me at [email protected] for consideration. I’ll give priority to offers that relate to the natural environment, and/or to those that are well-written (IMHO).
Why don’t we just scrap HS2? And some aircraft carriers?
If you were wondering back in February why the government was ploughing onward with such an unpopular and costly project as HS2 then you should be wondering that even more now.
The future will involve more working from home, less rushing in to and out of London and more regard for the environment. Won’t it?
And the future will involve hard economic times and a reappraisal of how we spend our money. Won’t it?
So as the cost keeps rising, and the need keeps falling, and the opportunity cost of spending the money on a worthless railway line rather than on better options keeps increasing, the quicker we scrap the idea the better. Surely?
And while we are at it, let’s scrap Trident too. And plans for aircraft carriers and other big sexy projects.
Adjustments in public spending, and where they fall, and which sectors of society bear the brunt of them, will be a major test of our moral compass as time goes on.
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How about scapping the outdated, dangerous, outrageously costly environmental disaster of the two new proposed nuclear reactors of Sizewell C, the plans for which have just been submitted by EDF? If it goes ahead, it will have terrible consequences for RSPB flagship site Minsmere and the wider AONB. See sites for ways to help stop it: https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/our-positions-and-casework/casework/cases/sizewell-c/ https://tasizewellc.org.uk/ https://stopsizewellc.org/
Damn right, Jane. This outrage must be completely withdrawn. No downscaling, no greenwashing, no compromises. Sadly, this government has no good side to appeal to; neither has EDF. Therefore, this may well reach the stage where direct action is the only remaining option. If so, I, and (hopefully) many others will be prepared to fight for the place, the wildlife, and the human population that are so dear to our hearts.
Excellent. Can we add Drax gas to that as well?
Bit late for the Carriers, money already been spent or at least committed. Whole political conversation about whether we need a blue water navy or not, and the nature and balance of risk of current threats from terrorism/Russia, but HS2 agree 100%. There is a genuine capacity issue but its the sexy High Speed part that makes it so expensive and so damaging.
Add grandiose new road schemes to the list of things to scrap. They just encourage more cars and they only ever move the traffic jam along a few miles anyway.
Spend some of it on finally getting broadband sorted (for a fraction of the cost of travel infrastructure). I can still only get 2Mb on a good day, a tenth of that that at the office.
We could sell the carriers to China. They’d pay good money, and if we give up bluewater-global pretensions [because we are no longer a fucking world power and should accept it] we would neither need them nor need to worry about China having them.
Plus we could easily get rid of the unusable and fooling nobody nukes that Westminster keeps parking on the Clyde too. Cut back the armed forces and the Security Services, because we don’t need them when we finally accept being a post-imperial power, at least not at their current levels. Then we could pour all that money into social welfare programmes and truly improve the lives of the ordinary people.
But we should still invest in high speed, shinkansen-style, rail in the UK. It should push through all the major UK cities all the way from Scrabster on down, via Glasgow, Manchester, Brum, London, and then through the chunnel to France and into the rest of Europe, which we should get back on good terms with and rejoin the EU by accepting schengen and the Euro, and we can finally achieve the dream of being a modern European democracy. And if you don’t want high speed rail that links the length of the UK, then we can instead spend the money on border checkpoints at Gretna and let Scotland invest in high speed ferries and we can join modern Europe instead.
Moral compass. Was that used by Space X to find the space station?
Mr Musk, can we please also have Toilet X and Water X. You know, since your a bit flush like.
I would like to see the mandatory immediate publication of every inquiry into matters of concern, current and historic, no matter whose corns this may tread on. We should know the un-spun facts about who walks among us – from Profumo to Rotherham. And who benefits from illogical decisions like HS2; data corruption; placemen conducting enquiries. That sort of stuff. And especially who killed David Kelly.