#dylanfan

Many thanks to dylanfan for this guest contribution.

Finally, phase 1 of HS2 has received parliamentary approval 8 years since the last Labour Government approved the project.  Phase 1 aims to get trains to Birmingham 20 minutes quicker from London, at the modest cost of £56 billion.  Except the trains won’t be calling at the recently revamped New Street Station in central Birmingham.  No, they’re stopping at a new out of town station and a tram will take passengers into the city centre.

Of course if the train from Guildford is late and you miss your connection, the quicker journey won’t happen.  And if fares are priced like those on the Dart line which runs on HS1 it won’t be cheap.

Don’t get me wrong I am not anti-railways, despite 40 years of commuting to work by train, 30 of them from Guildford to Euston.  But is this seriously the best way to spend £56 billion?  Does anyone believe HS2 will be finished on time and within budget?  No, me neither.

Wouldn’t the Midlands and North of England benefit more by improving services from Birmingham and Leeds to Manchester?

In France the TGV services from Lille to Paris are reportedly of more value to Paris in terms of economic benefits like better job opportunities.  Wouldn’t HS2 have the same effect on the Birmingham/London jobs market?

There are better ways to spend this huge sum of money on our transport system.  How about improving local rail services in all regions of the country, providing better facilities for pedestrians and cyclists, more support for local bus services and school transport.

Measures like these offer better services for more travellers, better local, democratic control and scrutiny.  They’d improve our local environment and create at least as many jobs and economic benefits.

For many travellers fixing the potholes in our roads is a key priority.

Local authorities recently reported that in England and Wales the cost of fixing the potholes at the current rate of progress could rise to £14 billion by 2019.  The Government’s current planned expenditure of £6 billion for local roads only includes £50 million for fixing potholes.

HS2 managers tell us that the £56 billion budget figure includes a £16 billion contingency element.  So how about allocating £1 billion a year for the duration of this parliament to fix the potholes as the local authorities suggest.

And when the potholes are filled in we can travel more safely and in more comfort.

(Many thanks to dylanfan for this guest contribution relaunching the Web Party for 2017)

And so another Christmas is over and we now look forward to the New Year.  I’m generally an admirer of our country’s free press, despite its manifest faults, but the run-up to Christmas produces some of the laziest, cliche ridden writing of the newspapers’ year.

Articles of the “how to” variety are wheeled out to fill the vacuum left by the politicians’ departure on holiday.  My favourite is how to survive the office party; apparently it’s best not to get drunk and insult your boss.  Sound advice.  You will also learn how to cook the perfect Christmas lunch, lose weight for the big day, this advice is usually aimed at women, and find the right outfit for your new size.

More advice deals with the perils of the Christmas period.  Chief among these is trying to travel anywhere which involves trial by weather, engineering work or industrial action.  After reading these articles most sensible people would decide to stay at home and invite their relatives/friends to visit them instead.  Travelling abroad at Christmas does, however, provide a welcome dose of schadenfreude for the stay-at-homes when our transport system succumbs to adverse weather.

And then it’s all over for another year but the politicians are still away.  Don’t worry it’s time to recycle the New Year, New You articles.  Do you want to lose weight (again), give up drinking, find a new job, manage your finances or try the latest detox diet?

Detox diets are usually endorsed by the kind of “celebrities” no sensible person would trust to tell them the time and despite the claims made for them, such diets are not supported by any evidence of medical benefit let alone being a cure for cancer.  Sadly many of their outlandish claims are treated as headline news.

In this morass of cliche and self-promotion, advice on getting control of ones personal finances stands out.  Ignore high risk, short cuts like robbing a bank and concentrate on the basics.  Don’t spend more than you can afford, never disclose your bank details to cold callers, listen to impartial advice from sources like Money Box on Radio 4 and remember always if an investment looks too good to be true then it almost certainly is.  And don’t forget to share this thought with friends, neighbours and colleagues.