HS2. The White Elephant finally dies.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

The ultimate vanity project finally kicks the bucket.

It should never have been given life in the first place.

Clitheroe to Leeds direct would have been of far greater use.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/rishi-suna...091351592.html

[sinkov]

It's amazing this white elephant has staggered on for so long, but a lot of people are making a lot of money on the back of it, and they won't give up easily, it's not dead yet.

[army88]

It's amazing this white elephant has staggered on for so long, but a lot of people are making a lot of money on the back of it, and they won't give up easily, it's not dead yet.

Feck em up North I think - different when a government needs votes

Glad it’s gone tbh it wasn’t worth the investment for time saved to London in travel etc.

However we’re back to us and them now - which is about right tbh

[sinkov]

I'm not convinced it's gone, toys are being thrown out of the pram at a rate of knots, Burnham is going to see his learned friends, half the Tory Party is in open revolt. It should have been put out of it's misery years ago, it might be too late now.

[SAMMY BUBBLY]

It would have been easier and cheaper to have moved Birmingham to London.

[sinkov]

Do you wonder why it costs so much ?

"the 52-page epic that is HS2’s latest annual Equality, Diversity and Inclusion statement (by contrast, HS2 produced, at the same time, a mere 12-page document dedicated to ‘tunnelling costs’).

This remarkable work begins with an earnest prologue from one ‘Dame Judith Hackett, DBE, FREng, FIChemE, FCGI, Non-Executive Director and Board Champion for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’, who practically manages to cover two pages with just her name and title.

With that out of the way, the documents dives deep. Very deep. Much of it is dedicated to eagerly telling us exactly how many white men they have excluded – sorry, how many more women and ethnically, ***ually and religiously diverse people they have employed, promoted, or used as suppliers. Ms Hackett herself tells us that ‘this year we have seen ever greater workforce diversity in the Tier 1 supply chain’. On page 3, the statement lets us know that ’40 per cent of the HS2 Ltd Executive Leadership Team’ is female. On page 12 it says ‘we have set a challenging corporate target of 23 per cent for ethnic diversity’, on page 15 we learn that HS2 people say ‘Ramadan Mubarak’, and a few pages later it goes into such depth we are told that 0.5 per cent of HS2 workers are Buddhist.

And it continues. Page 5 reassures us that there is ‘an EDI goal in all staff annual objectives, with a bespoke library of goals for our ELT and our SLT focused on championing inclusivity and challenging bias’. On page 6 we are educated that ‘each year HS2 runs a structured reverse mentoring programme where we pair all our SLT members with a reverse mentor’. Yes, who needs an actual train when you’ve got a reverse mentor? On page 7, Emma Head informs us that ‘we delivered an inclusive leadership workshop for our top sixty technical leaders’. By page 12 we likewise discover that HS2 has been ‘delivering training sessions on conscious inclusion and understanding bullying and harassment to help facilitate internal conversation and greater understanding of unconscious bias’, which sounds like it takes up an awful lot of time which might be better spent, I dunno, building railways?

There is plenty more. Page 23 assures us that HS2’s award winning Race Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage Network has continued to ‘grow its membership at pace’ by ensuring awareness, right along the HS2 route, of Race Equality Week, South Asian Heritage Month, National Inclusion Week, Black History Month, National Day of Staff Networks, and Stephen Lawrence Day. A few lines later we are told that the Onboard Network has sent mail-outs, created information sheets and organised events so as to enable all HS2 workers to celebrate important dates like: International Non-Binary People’s Day, Bi-Visibility Week, International Drag Day, Trans Awareness Week, International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, and the International Transgender Day of Visibility. Nor have they forgotten HS2 railway workers who are so exhausted by all this they have gone off having *** – or building railways. The Onboard Network also creates info sheets and offers events surrounding International A***uality Day.

Within this sea of inanity, one set of stats is particularly enticing, and deserves focus. On page 18 the HS2 document assesses, in morbid detail, the ***ual orientation of its workers. For instance, while we learn that only 4 per cent of HS2 workers are lesbian, gay, bi***ual, trans or questioning, it is also good to know that at least 8 per cent of ‘phase 2 HS2 directors’ are on the LGBTQ+ rainbow."

Just another day in the asylum.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

I have absolutely no idea why we need one word of this bollox. What on earth is wrong with shipping in a a couple of thousand Irish labourers and just build a f*ucking railway line.

[sinkov]

I have absolutely no idea why we need one word of this bollox. What on earth is wrong with shipping in a a couple of thousand Irish labourers and just build a f*ucking railway line.

Jobs for the boys, and girls of course, and gravy trains are two phrases that come to mind. This cash cow for so many people will not be led to the abattoir without a lot of kicking and screaming. Not dead yet, not by a long way, and of course it's all taxpayers money being spent on this project, the private sector wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

£100 billion and counting just to cut 15 minutes of a railway journey that often does not run at all.

https://outlook.live.com/mail/0/inbo...PRAAaJbCoRAAAA

[sinkov]

£100 billion and counting just to cut 15 minutes of a railway journey that often does not run at all.

Indeed mon ami, your mates on the picket lines have destroyed the case for spending any money on a high speed rail link they can shut down on a whim.