Beavers: Born To Be Wild

Photo by flickkerphotos

A victory, of sorts!

Four months after starting a scheme to trap all the free beavers that live Tayside, Scottish Natural Heritage have decided to call time on the whole thing.

You may remember from Paul Scott's guest post that SNH had been embarrassed by the discovery of free, wild beavers living not far from an area in which they were spending money to, erm, re-introduce free, wild beavers to Scotland.

They decided that having wild animals out of their control in the countryside of Scotland was not something they were prepared to put up with, and so set about trapping the wild beavers which weren't their wild beavers.

And they caught one.

Yes, one. In four months. Local residents set up a campaign group and kept an eye on the beavers, keeping their location secret in case nefarious government agents got hold of the information.

Now, SNH have decided to save face and, for the moment at least, allow the wild beavers to remain wild. They're claiming that the trapping campaign was just "a trial" and now that that's at an end (cough, cough) they'll take stock of the situation.

SNH want to see if conditions are right for wild beavers to live in Scotland. I say that if there's already a group of free, wild beavers flourishing in the country, then conditions are right!

Further Farts Of Life

You know, when I said the other day that perhaps we should be capturing methane from cattle by having them walk around with balloons on their back, I was just joking.

Now, thanks to Weggis, I know someone has actually done it already!

Maybe I should joke about me winning the lottery this week and see if that comes true as well...

Fukushima Radiation Detected In Scotland

Photo by DigitalGlobe

Scotland is, quite literally, half a world away.

On the other side of the planet, you wouldn't expect events in Japan to have any impact on us here. Extreme sympathy with what the people are going through, a quid or two in a collecting tin, but no real impact on our daily lives.

So it brings you up short when you hear the news that radioactive iodine from Fukushima has been detected in Glasgow.

Of course, the levels are so low that they're not a danger to health here.

But it shows that as far as nuclear power is concerned, there's no getting away from it anywhere on the planet.

And then, of course, there's Torness. Just 30 miles down the coast, Edinburgh would be within any Japanese-style evacuation zone if anything were to happen. Can you imagine having to evacuate the whole of East Central Scotland?

We shouldn't have to think "there but for the grace of god..." when it comes to providing us with power.

And another thing, a spurious point and slightly over the top - when a wind turbine breaks, 200 people don't have to sacrifice their lives to fix it.

The Farts Of Life

Photo by Clownhouse III

There's a brilliant story in the Daily Record today. Well, it's brilliant in the sense that the writer has managed to pack so many puns into it, as only tabloid journalists can.

Apparently Scottish cattle produce more methane than any other cows in Europe. 142kg each, to be precise.

I could be po-faced and make the point that we should eat less meat, and therefore reduce our own, erm, emissions. But anyone who's had a bowl of lentils might want to disagree with that.

So instead, I'm going to call on the government to immediately plan for Methane Capture & Storage. Along the same lines as the mythical Carbon Capture & Storage, this will involve attaching a giant inflatable balloon to the back end of each cow. When the balloon is full, it is detached and stored underground for millions of years.

Or until the storage dump catches fire and blows Scotland off the map!

Green In The Media 28th March - 3rd April

Cutbacks at the BBC have caught up with one of their best radio programmes - the environment magazine show One Planet has had it's running time cut and hours moved. The show now goes out on a Monday, with a couple of repeats later in the week.


Monday 28th March

One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 11:32 to 11:50 (Also 1630, Fri 2030, Sat 0030)
One Planet looks at how we use our planet.

Dispatches
On: Channel 4
Time: 20:00 to 21:00 (Also Fri 0200)
BP: In Deep Water.
BP is one of the largest companies in the world and plays an important role in the British economy through UK pension funds, the billions of pounds of tax it pays and as a major employer in the UK. A year on from the start of the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, Dispatches examines the role of BP in this spill as well as similar incidents in the past and examines its contracts with oil-producing nations and relationship with the British government.

Wednesday 30th March

Costing the Earth
On: BBC Radio Four
Time: 21:00 to 21:30 (Also Thu 1330)
Invasive species, like the grey squirrel and Japanese knotweed, cost the UK economy 1.7 billion pounds and they are increasing. Spain is set to eradicate their alien species, but Tom Heap asks whether we could, or should, follow suit.

Friday 1st April

Britain's Empty Homes
On: BBC 1
Time: 11:00 to 11:30
Gas technician David Hall and his wife Heather, an architectural student, plan to downsize to a smaller house not too far from their present home in Ingatestone, Essex. David and Heather are keen to be green, and what better way to start than by recycling an empty house. They're hoping this will allow their 400,000 pound budget to stretch so they can afford to install as many eco features as they can. But it's not going to be easy being green as they've never done an eco renovation before. Jules Hudson is on hand to help them explore some of the options, introducing them to some green renovators who've taken advantage of empty homes to create their eco dreams.


Excerpts taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from
http://www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=20818
Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.

The Week In Green Numbers

8%

- reduction from average for the Arctic Sea Ice Extent Maximum this year #

570,000 tonnes

- food and drink waste produced in Scotland each year #

131

- countries participating in Earth Hour this year #

74

- foreign objects found in the faeces of a turtle over the course of a month #

7 million ft²

- green roofs in Chicago #

The Graduate

Photo by Andrew Michaels

I received a phone call the other night, from someone at Napier University. It was basically a begging call, looking for donations from their alumni.

It took me aback a bit, because during the course of the phonecall I discovered that I graduated from Napier with a 1st in Accounting in 1990.

Did I? It was news to me!

The Napier Uni Alumni Association has plagued me for the last few years. It doesn't seem to matter where I move to in Edinburgh, they manage to track me down. The other night, they bothered my dad for my phone number. I'm pretty sure the Canadian Mounties could learn a thing or two from them about tracking people down.

I wouldn't mind so much but I despised my time at Napier. For a start, I was too immature for University life. If it had come along a couple of years later I would have thrown myself wholeheartedly into it, but at that particular moment I was still a wee laddie physically, emotionally and intellectually. I was also studying a subject that bored me to tears. I had enjoyed Accounting at school, but soon realised that it was a completely different subject at Uni.

By midway through my second year, I'd had enough. My attendance dropped to practically zero and I only bothered to sit one of my second year exams, failing it spectacularly. So you can see why I was surprised to discover that Napier think I graduated with a 1st!

So twice a year, when the Alumni magazine falls through my letterbox, it goes straight into the recycling bin unread. And here's where I bring it around to the green - during the phonecall the other night, I persuaded the woman that I didn't want to receive any more communication from Napier, ever. Hopefully, she'll tick the box that takes me off the mailing list and it'll be one less wasted resource making it's way out into the world.

Still, it'd be nice if they sent me a graduation certificate!

Every Week Should Be Climate Week

Someone somewhere has decreed that it is Climate Week in the UK, and that means allowing some big corporations to pretend they give a damn in one of the biggest greenwashed PR events of all time.

Schools, businesses and community groups are being encouraged to hold events from pub quizzes (!) to film nights in a bid to raise awareness of climate change amongst their pupils, staff and members.

And I have absolutely no problem with that. Awareness should be raised, particularly since opinion polls show that the public are increasingly sceptical about climate change.

What I do have a problem with is the "sponsors" that have been chosen to help with Climate Week. They're front and centre on the home page:

The one that is sticking in most people's throats the most is RBS, the bank that used to boast about it's connections to the oil industry and which has provided finance worth €8 billion to the coal industry in the last two years.

But hey, they must be green because they're providing a wee bit of (our own) money for Climate Week.

The government should be promoting the awareness of climate change every week, and without the corporate sponsorship.

Bridge Bidder Named, Government Shamed

As election bribes go, they don't come much bigger than a mile-long lump of steel.

With a brass neck and a smirk, the Scottish Government have announced the preferred bidder for the new Forth Road Bridge just a day before the dissolution of parliament and the official beginning of the election campaign.

It's no wonder the Greens and Labour are fizzing about the announcement, albeit for different reasons. Labour because it steals some positive headlines for the SNP. The Greens because the bridge might well prove wholly unnecessary.

Studies have shown the existing bridge could be repaired for just £122 million, whereas the government are excitingly telling the country that the costs of the new bridge have fallen to £1.6 billion.And we all know how accurate estimates for large public projects in this country turn out to be!

That's a hell of a lot of money to be throwing away at any time, never mind during a recession.

Green In The Media 21st - 27th March

Monday 21st March

Blue Peter
On: BBC 1
Time: 16:30 to 16:55
Blue Peter goes green for Climate Week with an incredible experiment to see if they can they generate enough energy for a full-blown music performance using People Power, plus they reveal a host of other weird ways to save the world. Barney and Helen also spend the night in a hi-tech house the monitors every bit of energy they use.

Wednesday 23rd March

Costing the Earth
On: BBC Radio Four
Time: 21:00 to 21:30
Tom Heap asks if events in Japan have dealt a fatal blow to the future of nuclear power in the UK. Ten new nuclear reactors were supposed to alleviate Britain's impending power shortage. Tom examines what changes in safety regimes may be provoked by the ongoing disaster. He also asks if the economic case for nuclear has changed and looks ahead to the future supply of uranium.

Thursday 24th March

Live Energy and Climate Change Questions
On: BBC Parliament
Time: 10:30 to 11:30
Live coverage of questions in the House of Commons to Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne and his ministerial team.

One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 10:32 to 11:00 (Also 1530, 2030, 0130, Sat 2030, Sun 0630)
One Planet looks at how we use our planet.

Sunday 27th March

On Your Farm
On: BBC Radio Four
Time: 06:35 to 06:57
Charlotte Smith looks at cutting-edge farming at Aberystwyth University, where scientists are trying out the latest eco-friendly farming methods, which aim to improve crop yield, reduce pesticides and improve animal welfare.


Excerpts taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from
http://www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=20818
Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.

The Week In Green Numbers

4,618

- thoroughbred racehorses destroyed in Ireland last year when their owners could no longer afford to keep them #

13 feet

- how far Japan has moved eastward after last week's earthquake #

2,000%

- growth in the market for solar water heaters in South Africa, following new building regulations #

75%

- decrease in the UK government's feed-in tariff for large solar installations #

197 million acres

- surface freshwater in Canada's boreal forest #

Tidal Turbines Turning Soon

Scotland took another baby step towards being the world leader in tidal energy technology, when plans were announced for 10 turbines to be sited in the Sound of Islay.

Actually, the turbines coming to Scotland isn't a new announcement - there is an election on after all! - but their size and placement is, and is to be welcomed despite political allegiances.

Hopefully much will be learnt from these turbines and we can quickly move on to the planned installation in the Pentland Firth, which should provide 1,600MW of predictable power.

And it's that predictability that renewables sorely needs. Along with some stirring music on that promotional video!

Not So Tickety-Boo

So it's goodbye to the Bus Ticket machines that have graced Edinburgh's streets for the last few years.

Lothian Buses say that the "trial period" is now at an end, and since absolutely everyone now has ridacards (I don't) then there's no point in keeping the machines.

Oh, and they've reached the end of their life anyway.

Huh? I think someone's telling porkies on that last one. The machine on Gorgie Road has never let me down. Although solar-powered, it has provided tickets during fair weather and foul to a great many people.

I'm in favour of anything which helps more people use public transport. And I'm particularly in favour of these machines - the tickets were 10p cheaper than if you bought on-board!

We Can Pollute As Much As We Want Now!

Photo by TB2011

The Scottish Government seems to have fallen head over heels in love with a new report showing that it would be possible to "store" up to 100 years of Scotland's CO₂ output under the North Sea.

Woo hoo! We can pollute as much as we want with no consequences! Back of the net!

Except... the report comes from a whole load of fossil-fuel industry bodies who are competing for a huge public subsidy to study Carbon Capture and Storage. They're what is known as vested interests.

CCS is a technology that does not yet work, no matter how much the politicians try to will it. My feelings on it are thus:

1. Not one penny of public money should be diverted from renewable energy investment to study CCS.

2. If the energy companies want to try retro-fitting CCS to existing power plants, then let them do so. But do not let the possibility of CCS be an excuse for them to keep those plants open beyond their due closure dates.

3. We must not allow new fossil fuel power plants to be built on the basis that they may one day have CCS installed in them.

Carbon Capture and Storage is about power in the other sense of the word - the energy companies don't want to give up the power of controlling the country's power use through their large concrete boxes on the coast.

Those large concrete boxes have had their day.

#sp11: On A War Footing

It's just over 50 days until the Scottish Parliament elections on May 5th, so I wanted to clarify a few things that may happen with this blog.

Firstly, I'm well aware that a high number of my readers are not Scottish and are therefore not interested in Scottish elections. In fact, I'm sure I've got some weirdo readers who ARE Scottish but not interested in elections!

So that you can avoid any mention of politics or elections in the next few weeks, I'll be starting any posts mentioning them, like this one, with the twitter hashtag '#sp11'. I'll also be labelling the posts 'Election 2011'.

You may also notice, if you read Suitably Despairing via an RSS reader, that there is some code at the bottom of the post urging you to vote green. I'm not going to apologise for it - as a small party we need to utilise every wee bit of electioneering we can!

If you don't read via RSS and instead visit the site, you may notice some more prominent links to the Scottish Greens website. Again, it's not something I'm going to apologise for.

Apart from voting green in the Regional List portion of the election, I am at the moment entirely open on how I will vote on the Constituency portion. I don't want to influence you, and will look at each party with some fairness (although I'm human - I do have some inherent bias!)

Normal blogposts will continue throughout the election cycle. If you're not interested in the politics there's no need to stop visiting!

Lastly, it'll all be over in a few weeks and we can all go about our daily lives safe in the knowledge that our newly installed Green majority government will be watching out for us.

Actually, that last one is the line I'll be writing for the 2020 elections!

Green In The Media 14th - 20th March

Wednesday 16th March

Costing the Earth
On: BBC Radio Four
Time: 21:00 to 21:30 (Also Thu 1330)
It was touted as capitalism's answer to climate change, a chance to make money and save the planet at the same time. Tom Heap reports on the uncertain future of carbon trading.

Thursday 17th March

Live Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Questions
On: BBC Parliament
Time: 10:30 to 11:30 (Also 0100, 0330)
Live coverage of questions in the House of Commons to Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Caroline Spelman and her ministerial team.

One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 10:32 to 11:00 (Also 1530, 2030, 0130, Sun 0630)
One Planet looks at how we use our planet.


Excerpts taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from
http://www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=20818
Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.

The Week In Green Numbers

1,000x

- radiation levels inside Fukushima nuclear power plant after the Japanese earthquake & tsunami

€1.4 billion

- expected spend on carbon permits by European airlines next year #

475 gigatonnes per year

- combined loss of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets #

53%

- people in the UK who are open-minded about buying an electric car #

38%

- drop in paddy field yields in Pakistan following floods last year #

Philately Will Get You Nowhere

Photo by D Sharon Pruitt

I guess I'm like most folk in not being able to resist an intriguing or slightly bizarre headline. And so yesterday, I discovered that Text Messages Are To Replace Stamps In Sweden.

Actually, it's not as crazy as it first appears. The idea is that you text the Swedish equivalent of the Royal Mail, and in reply you get sent a code which you write on the envelope in place of the stamp. The postal service computers then read the code when the letter is being processed, as they normally read a postcode.

So why is this green? Well, think of the paper and glue savings to be made from people not using stamps. Think of the time savings from not having to queue at the Post Office to buy the damn things!

Not that there are many personal letters sent these days which require stamps, but a system like this could come into it's own at Christmas. Actually, I'm surprised that we can't already print a QR code onto our envelopes before posting them in lieu of a stamp. The Royal Mail seems to be missing a trick there.

On the other hand, I can already imagine the uproar from the Daily Mail if we replace our stamps with written or printed codes. The government would weigh in, the Royal Mail would be forced to compromise, and every time we sent a letter using a code in place of the stamp, we'd all be forced to draw a picture of the Queen's head on the envelope!

You've Been Trumped

You may recall last September that Donald Trump's goons - sorry, employees - had two documentary makers arrested. They had been making a film following the progress of Trump's destruction of a part of North-East Scotland in order to build a golf course and luxury gated community for his rich pals.

Well, the movie is more or less finished and the film-makers need your help.

Called You've Been Trumped, it has been invited to a film festival but it still needs some post-production work done. So they're asking for your help to raise $20,000 to complete what promises to be an illuminating documentary on the practices that Trump has used to get his own way.

You can see the trailer for the film below, and you can donate on their website here.

Horseless Coaches And Magic Cards To Jazz Up Glasgow's Subway

Photo by maanskyn

I'm old enough to remember being dragged along to George Square in the late 1970s to have a look at the new subway car. SPT had put a single carriage on display there, in order to wow the Glaswegian throngs at how modern the "new" subway was going to be.

And wowed we were. I recall my dad wondering how the plants would stay upright on a shoogly train. You don't remember there being plants on the underground carriages? That's cos there weren't - they were just there to spruce up the display train cos otherwise it would be half a million people looking at a row of seats!

Oh, and how everyone (including strangers) laughed when it was pointed out to dad he was trying out the seat designated for the elderly and infirm. You don't see the word "infirm" being used much anymore, do you?

Apart from a wee paint job here and there, the Glasgow Subway - incidentally, it has NEVER been called the "Clockwork Orange" by any Glaswegian despite what journalists continue to write - has hardly been touched. Until now.

The Scottish Government have announced plans to act as guarantors as SPT modernise the subway. Smartcards are to be introduced, disabled access - or should that be infirm access? - will be enhanced, and the trains are to become driverless with signalling enhancements.

I've been saying for years that the government missed a trick when they introduced travel entitlement cards a couple of years ago. With a bit of extra money they could have become smartcards for everyone in the country, being used on all public transport throughout Scotland. As it is, I hope they extend the Subway smartcards to Glasgow's buses and the local Scotrail trains.

But joined-up thinking isn't exactly a bureaucrat's strong point.

This story also gives me an excuse to show this video again, as a student tries to beat the subway train between Buchanan Street and St Enoch:

EU Fails To Find It's Bollocks

Photo by rockcohen

It was only a fortnight ago that I mentioned that the European Union was on course to easily beat it's 20% emissions reduction targets. I was urging them, as I always do, to strive for more.

As I said at the time

What is the point of a government if it does not improve people's lives? What is the point of a government that merely stands still instead of striving for better?

Unfortunately it would appear that the leaders of the EU don't listen to me. The BBC are reporting that not only are they going to stick with their low and easily beatable targets, but they're also going to allow countries to buy offsets.

So basically, polluting industries throughout the continent can relax. We're not going to make them clean up their act too much. In fact, we're going to applaud ourselves for achieving a completely unambitious target.

I'm sure history won't be applauding.

Green In The Media 7th - 13th March

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. That really is Scottish Green Patrick Harvie on Question Time this week. It's only taken 10 years to get representation on the programme, but hopefully this will be the first of many appearances.


Wednesday 9th March

Costing the Earth
On: BBC Radio Four
Time: 21:00 to 21:30 (Also Thu 1330)
The British Fur Trade Association claim fur is natural, renewable and sustainable compared to faux fur. Tom Heap investigates to see if the green credentials stack up.

Thursday 10th March

One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 10:32 to 11:00 (Also 1530, 2030, 0130, Sat 2030, Sun 0630)
One Planet looks at how we use our planet.

Question Time
On: BBC 1
Time: 22:35 to 23:35 (Also BBC Parliament Sun 1800)
David Dimbleby chairs the topical debate in front of an invited studio audience in Edinburgh, with Scottish Greens Co-Convenor Patrick Harvie


Excerpts taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from
http://www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=20818
Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.

The Week In Green Numbers

14

- effective population of Siberian tigers in the wild #

$243billion

- new investment in renewables in 2010 #

85%

- dairies in California's Central Valley that are within 300ft of someone else's water well #

87

- bottlenose dolphins that have washed up dead in the Gulf of Mexico #

1.5 tons

- water used in the production of a desktop PC #

Fuel Fools

Photo by Steve Snodgrass

The Scottish Parliament has passed a motion calling on the UK government not to implement a proposed tax increase on fuel prices.

I caught a wee bit of the debate last night, and what I saw was woeful.

Member after member lined up to share their constituents' tales of woe, and, as one observed, it was rather like a Dutch auction as they competed against each other to say who had the highest petrol price.

And yet most of their speeches didn't acknowledge that this could be our future. That high oil prices could be here to stay. That building new roads and new road bridges was the stupidest thing we could be doing to prepare for the new world economy that is looming.

By contrast, Spain has taken the bull by the horns and lowered their motorway speed limits to cut fuel use, as well as lowering train fares.

Compare and contrast these stories:

Spain Speed Limit Cuts To Save €1.4billion A Year

Make Limit 80...And Put Economy In Fast Lane

Perhaps the Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond, needs to listen to Chris Huhne's speech tonight on the economics of climate change and peak oil. Burning our way through the stuff faster in order to "improve" the economy is a ludicrous notion.

There was one notable exception in the Scottish Parliament debate last night. The Green's Patrick Harvie attempted to get across to his fellow parliamentarians the futility of reducing the tax on fuel which would only keep the price low by a couple of weeks at best. He wasn't listened to, and continually interrupted.

It seems that for some people, and in particular our political lords and masters, the short-term gain of cheaper fuel trumps the long-term pain of the entire planet.

IEP Is Go! (Or: Look! Shiny New Trains!)

Yes, I know, two railway articles in two days. I'll be getting a reputation as the thinking person's Christian Wolmar or something...

The government yesterday finally got around to giving the go-ahead to what was formerly known as HST2 (not to be confused with yesterday's HS2).

The new Intercity Express trains are to be built by a consortium headed by Hitachi, and will replace the current HST fleet run by Great Western. They'll also replace the HSTs that East Coast have, but there's no word on whether they will also replace the CrossCountry HSTs.

But what's this tucked away in Philip Hammond's statement?

This proposal retained the more modern electric Intercity 225s on the East Coast Main Line

So East Coast aren't going to get a whole new fleet, just a smattering of trains to replace the handful of HSTs they have. Which seems a bit of a lost opportunity for economies of scale. Similarly, replacing all of CrossCountry's HSTs AND Voyagers would produce some much-needed standardisation for the intercity fleet across the UK.

I guess we'll have to wait and see just how many companies jump on board for the IEPs, but it'll be a fond farewell to the old warhorse HSTs. They're brilliant trains but they're 40 years old and showing their age.

I Despair As Greens Oppose HS2

Photo by Irargerich

I was quite shocked this morning to discover that during their party conference at the weekend, the Green Party of England & Wales has voted to oppose plans for High Speed 2 (HS2), the proposed new high-speed rail line between London and Birmingham.

I joined an intercity rail company in 1997, just months after privatisation. Since then, I’ve seen many grandiose schemes come and go with varying degrees of enthusiasm. From relatively small-scale plans to electrify the Edinburgh to Glasgow route, to fanciful notions of tunnelling between Ireland and Wales, most of them come up against the reality of economics.

One dream has remained throughout most of the last 30 years - a proper high-speed network serving Britain’s cities. The West Coast and East Coast Main Lines are not that solution. The WCML is far too hilly and bendy - Network Rail and in their previous incarnation, Railtrack, have both failed in an attempt to provide a track fit for Virgin’s Pendolino trains to run at 140mph for the journey from Glasgow to London. As for the ECML, straight lines mean that 125mph is common but there are pinch-points that regularly see intercity trains compete with regional trains compete with freight trains for the same piece of track. Both routes are close to capacity, indeed creaking at the seams.

What is needed is a dedicated high-speed line that runs through the spine of the country. HS2 will be the start of this process, so it’s disappointing to see the GPEW claim that they remain dedicated to high speed rail, just not this project.

While I agree that it has flaws - I think if it was ever realistically to reach Scotland then they would have built it from the north southwards to guarantee that - to see the Greens turn their back on the only game in town, and likely to be the only game for a long time to come, is quite annoying.

They cite economic reasons. I’ve never seen a consultant’s report about the railways that was proved accurate yet. Every single new scheme that has come to fruition has vastly underestimated how much the public will use the railways. The last one I saw, for the brand new Laurencekirk station in Aberdeenshire, estimated only 36,000 passengers a year would use it. In fact, 64,000 people used it in it’s first year. Many of those first franchises after privatisation were overwhelmed by the increase in passenger numbers when they bought new trains - close to 50% in some cases. The government are estimating another 40% rise in rail passengers by 2050, although I bet that’s surpassed quite quickly.

As for environmental factors, electric trains are more silent than diesel of course, and you can mitigate the impact on the countryside by having the tracks placed in cuttings in sensitive areas - although anecdotally, I’ve talked to people who choose to go day trips to places they’ve never considered before after seeing them from a train window.

The big plus for the environment, of course, is the reduction in plane and car travel associated with high-speed rail. In Spain, airlines had a 90% market share for the Madrid to Barcelona route until the new railway line opened. Today, it’s less than half that and falling.

The more we extend HS2 north of Birmingham, the greater the environmental benefits. In 2004, rail had a 38% share of the Manchester to London air/rail market. Today, it’s over 70%.

But we can’t extend something that’s not there in the first place, and we can no longer just “make do and mend” with our existing railway. Like I’ve previously said, HS2 is not perfect and I have my differences with some of it, but I can’t see wholesale changes being made to the plans after the consultation.