HS2
Letters: Britain needs HS2
Moaning minnie MPs Sir: I was recently quoted in the Sun newspaper in a story about how MPs were reacting…
From a solar-powered bin to HS2: the destruction of my childhood home
My mother is a classy lady. I have always known this, but it still affected me in a way I…
The financial logic behind HS2 is collapsing. It’s time to pull the plug
No one is in any doubt about the problem facing Britain’s railways. Over the past decade, rail fares have risen…
Why HS2 doesn’t stand up to the test of time
In past years, I have been a critic of HS2. I might now change my mind. One simple tweak might…
How Ebenezer Grayling destroyed the Kite family Christmas
Ebenezer Grayling sat busy in his counting house. It was a cold, bleak day at the Department for Transport. Big…
Portrait of the week
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, invited the media to take a photograph of her beginning a holiday with her…
Despite rumours to the contrary, the high-speed loco has left the drawing board
There’s a lot of negativity around HS2, and I sniff a Brexit connection. You might think Leave campaigners whose aim…
Real life
‘Sadly, the world is filled with apathy,’ said my friend, as we looked at our sad little list of conscripts…
Does HS2 pass the Butterfield test?
Despite my opposition to High Speed 2, I am quite a big fan of HS1, the line which runs from…
The presentation of choice
The appallingly bad photograph below was taken on my mobile phone about 15 years ago. It shows the menu layout…
Remember when Britain could build stuff?
Heathrow. The whole British story is there. Reading up around that debacle last week, I came across the eye-watering —…
Real life
The ‘I’m Voting For Chuka’ posters in my rich neighbours’ front windows pushed me over the edge. There is nothing…
Diary
I have escaped this rather depressing election campaign by retreating to my home in la France profonde — to be…
Letters
Disband Ofsted Sir: Dennis Sewell’s damning indictment of Ofsted (‘Ofsted in the dock’, 13 December) stopped short of the logical…
What Miliband needs is a grilled tomato
My children have a phrase called ‘fomo’ — which stands for ‘fear of missing out’. It is a constant, mildly…
Real life
The countryside is all very well so long as you know you can leave it. Funnily enough, exactly the same…
How HS2 blights lives
Whether the high-speed rail line is built or not, it is destroying the retirements of people like my parents
Barometer
What’s special about Rochester What is special about Rochester and Strood? — Rochester has the second oldest cathedral and school…
Magic bullet
Stephen Bayley explains why he has become addicted to Japan’s Shinkansen
The welfare line
George Osborne proposed an attractive idea this week: that spending on state benefits should be diverted into new infrastructure in…
Adam Smith vs the measurebators
Gandhi would test his resolve by sleeping between two naked virgins, an avenue not really open to me, as my…
Osborne’s northern ‘super-city’ looks like a cynical vote-grab – but I’m all for it
When John Prescott used to wax garrulous about a ‘superhighway’ from Hull to Liverpool, everyone assumed it was a wheeze…
Australian Letters
Old cabby’s tale Stephen Rommei’s London cabby story (Diary, 7 June) reminded me of catching a cab one cold night…
Portrait of the week
Home The British economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2014, disappointing hotheads who’d expected 1 per cent. It…
Portrait of the week
Home In the Budget, George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said that the economy was working but the job…
