1/ The absurdity is that we are even having this debate. A normal Western European country would have completed HS2 at least a decade ago. But there are issues with the eastern branch around capacity on the London leg.
2/ The current plan seems be to run 11 trains an hour from London to the NW and 6 to the NE with some of those dividing en route (slowing them down and introducing delay risks). That puts 17 trains an hour on the London section, which looks over-optimistic.
3/ 17 trains on hour on a 200mph railway may work on a closed system, but HS2 will take trains from the existing network which may well be running late. That means leaving space in the timetable to fit in delayed trains. So 14-15 trains an hour is more realistic.
4/ But 14-15 trains an hour on the London section leaves only 3-4 paths for NE trains - and that simply isn't enough, unless there's a lot of dividing and joining of trains, which really isn't a great idea.
5/ So added to services from B'ham to the NE that's about 7 trains an hour, which is rather poor use of a very expensive bit of railway. The cheapest way of making better use of it is to link in more destinations to the northern arms of HS2.
6/ It would be fairly simple to route trains from the SW and South Wales onto the northern arms of HS2. The junction would be be just north of Birmingham. So now we get HS2 being more like an X, with big time savings from the SW to the NW and NE.
7/ The current HS2 doesn't reach Nottingham city centre, stopping at a parkway station in Totton on the city outskirts. That's stupid. HS2 should link to the centre of Nottingham, allowing a 25 minute B'ham to Nottingham shuttle, properly linking those two cities.
8/ It would also be simple to build a link allowing trains coming up the East Midlands main line through Luton, Bedford and Leicester to use the NE arm of HS2 to reach Leeds and maybe futher north with big journey time savings.
9/ What I am proposing is turning HS2 from a London feeder network into the core part of a national high speed system, and in the process making better use of the northern arms of HS2.
10/ There are further possibilities. A short stretch of line would enable HS2 trains to approach Leeds from the east allowing services such as Birmingham/Leeds/Bradford, Leicester/Totton/Leeds/Bradford and Sheffield/Leeds/Bradford.

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More from @nickreeves9876

8 Oct
1/ The Tories continue to lead in the polls. We have to understand that deindustrialisation has shattered the working class as a political force. The opposition has to cooperate in a Progressive Alliance or face a further defeat.

#FBPA Follow Back #ProgressiveAlliance
2/ Deindustrialisation has shattered the working class communities and organisations that formed the backbone of the Labour party. Disorientated voters are now clinging to the fake community of tribal nationalism, and the Tories are taking full advantage. sussexbylines.co.uk/un-divide-to-c…
3/ For a social class to be a political force requires much more than a lot of people being in similar economic circumstances. It requires well developed communities and a web of organisations linking them to a political party. In the British working class these have crumbled.
Read 4 tweets
3 Oct
Rachel Reeves says Labour has 'moved on' with regard to Brexit and that Labour will not restore Freedom of Movement.

A political party that 'moves on' from the worst abuses of democracy in modern British history is a party no-one should support.
cityam.com/brexit-labour-…
And for Labour to say it will not restore Freedom of Movement, is for it to say that the fascist torrent of hate and lies against migrants in the Brexit billionaire press was OK and should be swept under the carpet. I think that is beyond disgusting.
I cannot support a party that dares not condemn the xenophobic propaganda pumped out by the right-wing press during the Brexit campaign. For me, collusion in xenophobia is xenophobia. Labour is a xenophobic party.
Read 4 tweets
2 Oct
I wrote this article explaining how people disorientated by the crumbling of working class communities are clinging to the false promises of Tory tribal nationalism. Tribal loyalty is deeply emotive, and very resistant to contrary reasons and facts.
sussexbylines.co.uk/un-divide-to-c…
Humans are very much tribal beings. In times of social stress we tend to seek safety in a tribe. The only available tribe in England is the nation-tribe. As with family, tribal loyalty is deeply emotional. To disagree with the tribe is to betray a powerful emotional bond.
So rather than feel disloyal to their tribe people would prefer to hold onto the tribe's opinions regardless of evidence to the contrary. Millions of Germans continued to support Hitler even as the Thousand Year Reich crumbled into ruins.
Read 6 tweets
1 Oct
Here's a modest little project - a global campaign to eradicate tax havens.

#PATH - People Against Tax Havens.

If you like the idea please retweet and spread the news any way you can, and put #PATH in your name or profile Let's get this moving!
The cost of failure to eradicate tax havens is crime, corruption, lower living standards, higher taxes, crumbling government services, environmental destruction and growing dissatisfaction with democracy.

#PATH People Against Tax Havens
Rees-Mogg's father co-authored "The Sovereign Individual" which forecast that the super-rich would free themselves from national taxation, and ultimately seize control of nation states. Tax havens are key weapons in this kleptocratic war of destruction against democracy. Image
Read 4 tweets
30 Sep
Even as early as 2012 £13 trillion had been hidden in tax havens by the global elite.

Tax havens are parasites crippling our economies, and destroying democracy.

They must be erased. Please help get the campaign going.

#PATH People Against Tax Havens.

theguardian.com/business/2012/…
This is not a small campaign! We need a global campaign to ensure that in every democracy no government can come to power without a firm commitment to the eradication of tax havens.

#PATH People Against Tax Havens
The cost of failure to eradicate tax havens will be crime, corruption, lower living standards, higher taxes, crumbling government services, environmental destruction and growing dissatisfaction with democracy.

#PATH People Against Tax Havens
Read 5 tweets
29 Sep
How is it that, at least so far, the Tories have been able to get away with governing so negligently? The answer is in this article explaining how economic change has transformed politics, and how the opposition needs to respond
sussexbylines.co.uk/un-divide-to-c…
Tory government negligence is no accident. In the past the Tories served the middle class and ordinary businesses which forced them to govern competently. Now they can win support from voters left adrift by the crumbling of working class communities and organisations.
When political change is a result of a fundamental economic change like deindustrialisation, then changing policies or leaders won't work. Political strategy has to be reworked from the ground up. The Tories have done that. The opposition hasn't even started.
Read 4 tweets

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