Interesting catch from a Biased BBC reader here;
“Piece on 5Live today about the Hight Speed Train line to Manchester.
We were treated to the views of a ‘businesswoman’ from Manchester who told us how vital the new line would be for her.
This woman turned out to be Cat Lewis, producer and film maker….who makes films for the BBC.
Isn’t Salford, where the BBC’s new media centre going to be, in Manchester? Guess it would be handy for all those BBC types to have a special train laid on for them.
Must watch this space to see which side of the debate the BBC comes down on.”
Of course the BBC will be favour of HS2 if it puts the nose of Tories in the Chilterns out of joint!
Although a railway anorak in another life I must say that I am in the not convinced category.
All our main railway lines have developed such that every 20 or 30 miles or so you have junction stations, some much more important than others. These stations maximise journey opportunities as the express trains progress.
An example. The DfT noted that there were not may tickets sold at Peterborough for the North therefore suggested the number of stops be reduced at Peterborough for express trains. Someone had to point out to the morons that a rather sustantial number of tickets for the north were sold in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge and the stops were more to serve that traffic than that of Peterborough residents.
In France the TGV system of high speed lines has improved end to end times but devastated intermediate journey opprtunities because the expresses no longer served the intermediate (junction) stations of the Peterborough kind.
At Avignon they decided not to run the TGVs to the classic city centre station so you know take a bus to the TGV station, which adds about 30 minutes to your journey time? Locals drive to the station but if you want to use a connecting local service – get on the bus!
Because of the size of France and the spread of population even now with all their TGV services barely a greater proportion of the French are within a 3 hour train journey of the capital (What I consider to be a reasonable travel for out and back in a day) than in the UK.
We should be tryng to emulate the Swiss rather than the French.
Rant over!
As I often point out Radio 5 use employees ringing in as supposed “members of the public” all the time.
I swear to god I’ve heard several voices from people ringing in under different names, no way are these people genuine, the BBC are liars.
Control who goes into the studio.
Control what comes out of the edit suite.
When media monopolies go very bad.
From ‘Mum’ on Newsnight who turns out to be a feral elite (from the ‘good’ side) high priestess without need to be introduced as such, to interest-conflicted luvvies spinning their way to a personal jolly, there seems a very narrow band of folk who still feel the BBC exists solely to serve as their personal A&P service, as opposed to serving the UK public constantly being claimed as being ‘spoken for’.
Yes, obviously BBC-NUJ has a vested self-interest in the development of HS2, at colossal public expense; BBC-NUJ ideology on HS2 and the licence fee is similar: make the British people pay for the benefit of Beeboids.
HS2 is personally vital for Beeboids so that they can maximise their time in London, and minimise their time in Salford. Isn’t that what HS2 is for?
Yes.
I’m sure the BBC will find that the concensus is calling for HS2, so they don’t need to air a different opinion from any HS2 sceptic. As long as they do that they’ll “have just about got it right”. And just to reinforce that they have got it right; they’ll invite politicians from across the whole spectrum from Left to Hard Left, who represent the Northern constituencies who see a benefit to them getting to Westminster more quickly, to support the National clamour for HS2. You will see that they’re not biased, it’s in their genes.
On this one they can actually include a real Tory, namely Philip Hammond who demonstrates the classic attitude of the ostrich whenever his ‘baby’ is questioned.
Expect lots more of the Northern jobs vs Southern lawns BS to be wheeled out, even though historical record shows that joining a small market to a large market means that the latter gets larger at the expense of the former.
Buggy.
You are quite right. Time after time I hear the argument we must improve roads to the far reaches of the country to help the local factories there to grow. All that happens is that the local factories / distribution depots etc. close and are served by day trips from new facilities built centrally to serve a much bigger area. Bakeries, milk processing plants, abbatoirs etc.etc. No “new” major manufacturing plant is going to be built at Great Yarmouth or Penzance no matter how good the transport.
Mr. Hammond and Mr. Darling teamed up rather infamously on a daily Politics to crush Johnny Ball… and managed to look like utter idiots across matters of education, and climate.
Seems his brief in transport is continuing a long, ignoble line.
The BBC will voraciously support HS2. It is deeply, deeply worrying. Like with everything else, the BBC controls the narrative. This is just the kind of bogus public project (labour inspired, continued by these shyster tories) the BBC will love. We will soon see lots of local businesses all pretending the HS2 willl benefit them. Programmes from Birmingham and “the north” explaining (using false and eroneous arguments, just as they do with climate change and “cuts”) that this will benefit them.
I hate the BBC with every fibre of my being.
I bet a FOI after the HS2 is (presumably) built will show the top execs and top talent will find other means of transport rather than share a train with the hoi polloi.
BTW will HS2 have a class system? Isn’t that against BBC ideology for evey one but themselves?
One thing you can predict. It will be a disaster.
Huge taxpayer expenditure just ideal to a beeboid.
The Victorians built railways to make profits. That attitude is not what a beeboid could ever understand. Bad Victorians .
This is a ridiculous scheme. A vanity project dreamed up by the usual suspects and probably also a half hearted try at persuading the Scots that independence might not be so attractive.
Stay in the UK and look how quickly you can get out of Glasgow.
Another money pit, white elephant, to take too long to build, with no proper
safeguards to expenditure, that even if,(thats a very very big IF) came in ,on time on budget, the proposed results are so negligible, not to warrant going ahead…
sounds like a good thatchers boy dave idea, to syphon off, a fortune to well deserving toffs
& all of this when the rail network, is in desperatly need of funding up,
funding track etc etc
actually sounds like a beebo idea….but hey they could all fill out 1st class on a jolly every week…..marvellous
Noggin.
Cost control on new build railways tends not to be too bad as you are building it like a new motorway. The cost of adding a couple of tracks next to an existing working line costs shed loads more and causes untold delays, bustitution etc.
If we are strapped for cash the railways could spread the joy from the cash for HS2 around the country and benefit a greater number of people. Reading station needs a rebuild to avoid the endless west bound delays there. Peterborough needs another platform. Bits of track singled in previous cutbacks could be re-dualled to allow regular interval services. Selective reopenings etc
Reading is being rebuilt. But the reason for not going down the road you suggest is that no politician would get any credit or airtime for doubling a single track bottleneck.
Just like with the Olympic games it is all about perception and public exposure. Reality TV in real life at the tax payers expense