DynamicSpirit
Established Member
Would anyone be interested in setting up a group to campaign publicly for HS2?
It seems to me that there are a lot of well informed people on railforums, who have spent a lot of time putting forward good, rational, arguments for HS2 - particularly in this 'Why are people opposed to HS2?' thread. But having followed that thread for some time, I'd say many of us are basically wasting our time there, debating with other people who (mostly) already understand the arguments behind HS2. And while we're doing that, all the ill-informed anti-HS2 groups are active online much more publicly, on Twitter, in the media, etc. - spreading what many of us on railforums would recognise as misinformation.
To make it worse... we now have all the leadership machinations in the Tory Party, in which it looks like several Tory leadership contenders might try to axe HS2 in order to make themselves more popular inside the Tory Party. And the Brexit party is looming large... Nigel Farage has never as far as I can see been a fan of either HS2 or of factual accuracy.
I'm therefore thinking a more productive use of some of time would be to campaign away from railforums UK (hard concept I know
) for HS2 (and perhaps for sensible rail improvements generally) on the basis of communicating accurate information about what HS2 is likely to achieve. Ideally, I'm thinking of a campaigning group that would have its own website, and which could respond quickly online to the various bits of idiocy that hit the media (such as the recent Taxpayers Alliance proposal to divert funds from HS2). And perhaps even starting to do things like leaflet commuters on rail lines that stand to benefit from HS2. Although those are only rough ideas - I'm open to other ideas.
Anyone interested? If so, I'd say, either discuss here, or (better) PM me.
It seems to me that there are a lot of well informed people on railforums, who have spent a lot of time putting forward good, rational, arguments for HS2 - particularly in this 'Why are people opposed to HS2?' thread. But having followed that thread for some time, I'd say many of us are basically wasting our time there, debating with other people who (mostly) already understand the arguments behind HS2. And while we're doing that, all the ill-informed anti-HS2 groups are active online much more publicly, on Twitter, in the media, etc. - spreading what many of us on railforums would recognise as misinformation.
To make it worse... we now have all the leadership machinations in the Tory Party, in which it looks like several Tory leadership contenders might try to axe HS2 in order to make themselves more popular inside the Tory Party. And the Brexit party is looming large... Nigel Farage has never as far as I can see been a fan of either HS2 or of factual accuracy.
I'm therefore thinking a more productive use of some of time would be to campaign away from railforums UK (hard concept I know
) for HS2 (and perhaps for sensible rail improvements generally) on the basis of communicating accurate information about what HS2 is likely to achieve. Ideally, I'm thinking of a campaigning group that would have its own website, and which could respond quickly online to the various bits of idiocy that hit the media (such as the recent Taxpayers Alliance proposal to divert funds from HS2). And perhaps even starting to do things like leaflet commuters on rail lines that stand to benefit from HS2. Although those are only rough ideas - I'm open to other ideas. Anyone interested? If so, I'd say, either discuss here, or (better) PM me.
