the spirit of '45

I went to the Watershed yesterday afternoon to see this Ken Loach film/documentary about post-war Britain. Unsurprisingly with Loach, the film mirrored his socialist views and was an impassioned call for a return to some of the vision, values and aspirations of 60+ years ago. It highlighted the ambition and energy within the country in the mid-40s and beyond – DESPITE the lack of finance and investment available immediately after the war (which makes our current predicament seem almost seem mild by comparison).

The film contrasted the 1945 “gains” with the “individual greed” of the Thatcher era (and beyond). Yes, you might describe it as being a blatantly biased representation but, nevertheless, it came across as a very sobering history lesson (but I bet Michael Gove won’t be advocating its introduction within the history syllabus!).
Afternoon matinee showings at the Watershed are usually only sparsely attended but, yesterday, there were probably 40 people there (admittedly, most of them were old codgers like me… or even older!) and, very usually, the audience applauded at the end of the film!
After the systematic dismantling of the nationalised industries by Thatcher in the 1980s (which were decaying through lack of investment and political will), Loach’s film is a rallying call to protect the one remaining triumph of Attlee’s Labour government, the NHS.
Sadly, I think it might already be too late…

coincidences (and awareness)…

I’ve just started re-reading Julian Barnes’s “The Sense of an Ending” in advance of our next Book Group meeting. It’s strange how these things work out but, within less than 24 hours of starting it, I noticed an article in last Sunday’s Observer about his forthcoming book “Levels of Life”. It’s partly autobiographical and deals with life following the death of his wife, literary agent Pat Kavanagh (they were married for 30 years), who was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2008 and died within 37 days. I’m afraid I had never even heard of her, but I HAD noticed that “The Sense of an Ending” had been dedicated to “Pat”. Even stranger, only the previous day, I had bought a copy of Clive James’s book “The Revolt of the Pendulum” (essays 2005-2008) and had seen - I don’t know why, but I often do note book dedications – that he’d dedicated it to “the memory of Pat Kavanagh”. It turns out that she was his literary agent too.

I know it’s nothing, but I’m aware that this sort of thing (ie. coming across Pat Kavanagh’s name THREE times in less than 24 hours) seems to be happening to me more and more over recent years. Am I becoming more observant in my old age? Almost certainly not.
I’ve always been pretty good at “looking AND seeing” things from a photographic, architectural or artistic perspective, but I’m also aware of my apparent (lifelong?) inability to absorb details from the written page. It makes me think that such coincidences probably happen all the time and I just haven’t spotted them before?
Perhaps it’s just something to do with “having time to notice” such things?

“drawn” exhibition at the RWA

Blimey!

It was perhaps appropriate that daughter Ruth accompanied me to last night’s private view at the Royal West of England Academy (RWA) as she was the person who effectively got me drawing again on a regular basis - as the instigator of the Iona Postcard Project last May/June (note: we’d invited great friends Ros+Eric from Thame for the weekend, so Moira was otherwise engaged).
I decided to enter a piece comprising eighteen café drawings from my sketchbook for the RWA’s “Drawn” exhibition and it's all been a bit of a roller-coaster. Ruth’s husband Stu kindly delivered the framed work last Friday 15 March (while we were on holiday); judging took place on Sunday; a couple of days later, I was notified that it had been accepted; and last night was the private view!
I was delighted to have been included amongst the 201 works from 156 artists (over 700 pieces were submitted) and was rendered almost speechless when I found that someone had actually bought it!! As if this wasn’t enough, I later discovered that I’d even been mentioned in the RWA’s press release (“Steve Broadway's work Cafe Mornings: sketchbook extracts shows quiet observations of cafe scenes drawn in black pen, embodying the lines of an architect but through the eyes of an artist”)!
The exhibition runs from today, 23 March, until 2 June.
I appreciate that all this is of minor significance when compared with artists who do this sort of thing week after week but, for me, it’s been a new and very pleasant experience!   
Photo: the evidence – my picture and the red dot!
PS: When I went to check who had purchased my drawing, the woman leading the front of house team congratulated me (as far as I could tell there had had only been one other piece sold at the time!) and said: “Steve, you used to be a teacher at Norton Hill School didn’t you?”!! She (Rose) had apparently been a student during my time there (even if I didn’t actually “teach”)… I hadn’t recognised her, but it was a lovely coincidence and very nice that she’d remembered me. 
Note: I’d also submitted my “Postcards from Iona” piece but, unfortunately, this hadn’t been selected. Shame!

beyond the hills

Blimey!

Having read the Watershed’s blurb in advance, I realised that this was not exactly going to be a happy, feel-good film.
Indeed it wasn’t.
Directed by Cristian Mungiu, this drama is centred on the friendship between two women who grew up together in a Romanian orphanage. One of them (Voichita) became an orthodox nun and the other (Alina) left to make a life for herself in Germany; Alina returns to “rescue” her friend (with whom she enjoyed a youthful relationship). But Voichita’s new love is God and she’ll have none of it. Alina ends up living (albeit on a short-term basis) in the monastery and is subjected to a bizarre exorcism by the unyielding priest.
It’s an eerie, stark, unrelenting tale (actually based on a true story from 2005). On the one hand it paints a picture of a failing Romanian Orthodox Church (and perhaps the collapse of religion itself?)… but, on the other, it underlines the bureaucratic shortcomings/complicity/attitude of the country’s health service (eg. for releasing a disturbed young woman into the nuns’ care).
It’s a long, somewhat depressing, but nevertheless impressive and powerful film… if only the bloke in front of me could have managed to stay awake to see it!

st ives

High winds, wild seas, colours, space, lack of crowds, bright sunshine and dramatic clouds, Tate Café, art, time, comfort, gentle routine, conversation, reading, walking, drawing, eating and drinking… just a few of the things Moira+I enjoyed during our stay in one of our favourite places.

Ruth, Stu, Iris+Rosa joined us for a couple of days at the start of the week – and we all enjoyed walking along beaches and watching wild seas.
We love being in St Ives when, by and large, it’s empty of other “tourists”. The other mainstays at this time of year seem to be teams and teams of builders (and their vans!) – undertaking property improvements and repairs. Perhaps that’s the one slight, inevitable regret – the fact that so few people actually live in St Ives these days (although Moira did meet someone!) and that the vast majority of properties are now holiday homes.
Having said that, we have clearly benefitted from this fact over SEVERAL years and, this year, our time at Valentine Cottage (owned by friends Matt+Pippa) was a complete delight!
An important of my diary routine was arriving at the Tate Café just as it opened (at 10am) and sitting at the window table overlooking Porthmeor Beach – drinking coffee and looking out over turquoise seas, white sand… and getting on the internet! Enough said.
Another special time in a special place.

march 2013 books

More book stuff:

Who Will Run The Frog Hospital? (Lorrie Moore): It’s a book about adolescence and middle age through the eyes of a girl/woman from upstate New York. This is the first book I’ve read by Lorrie Moore and found her writing style both engaging and amusing… but, ultimately, I was a little disappointed.   
The Lemur (Benjamin Black aka John Banville): Set in present-day New York, this short book tells of John Glass - a one-time crusading journalist, now “burnt-out” - who is asked to write a biography of his rich, ex-CIA, father-in-law. “The Lemur” is the nickname Glass gives to a rather strange-looking man he interviews as a possible research assistant. It’s an easy-read “thriller” which, for me, didn’t quite live up to its early promise.
Bulldog Drummond (Sapper/HC McNeile): This is a ridiculously-dated, crime thriller (written, as it was, in 1920) which starts off with our hero placing this newspaper advert: “Demobilised officer, finding peace incredibly tedious, would welcome diversion. Legitimate, if possible, but crime, if of comparatively humorous description, no objection. Excitement essential…” – you get the sort of thing! Ian Fleming apparently confessed that Bond was “Bulldog Drummond from the waist up”! While you’re reading, you sense the Dick Barton theme tune is constantly playing in the background… easy, non-challenging, but enjoyable, stuff.
The Things He Carried (Stephen Cottrell): Our Ithaca Lent study book. I’m afraid that, although I found some of the book extremely helpful and thought-provoking, much of it left me underwhelmed… rather like his “Do Nothing – Christmas Is Coming” book we read for Advent.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Rachel Joyce): I absolutely loved this book. It’s about a recently-retired, married man (Harold) who sets off, with his wife hoovering upstairs, to post a letter to a former work colleague at the other end of the country who is dying of cancer… he decides, on the spur of the moment, to continue walking (without hiking boots, map, compass, waterproof or mobile phone) to visit his friend in Berwick in order to “save her life”. The journey is both physical and metaphorical. It’s about loss and regret; it’s about misunderstandings and relationships; it’s about romance and loneliness… but it’s about simple pleasures, caring, kindness, encouragement and joy. You REALLY need to read this book!  

 

four go lunching in oxford…

I got together with three of my very good golfing mates (Steve, Bob and Pete) for lunch in Oxford yesterday. Usually, the four of us would be meeting up on a golf course but, with my hip issues ruling this out (hopefully just in the short-/medium-term), it made a lovely change to relax around a lunch table at The Red Lion, Gloucester Green to enjoy putting the world to rights over the odd glass (we’d all travelled by public transport!).

Everyone was in very good form and we did laugh an awful lot!
It was such a beautiful, sunny day that I also managed to fit in a stroll (well, more accurately, a hobble!) around Christchurch Meadow beforehand. Beautiful.
A VERY good day with some brilliant friends.
Photo: Steve, me, Pete and Bob (I really like this photograph because it looks as though I’m just drinking bottled water... which, of course, I was!).

credible opposition?

As far as the Tories (and David Cameron!) are concerned, George Osborne needs the forthcoming budget to work wonders for the party. After their Eastleigh by-election embarrassment, Moody’s recent removal of the UK’s AAA status and the latest fears of a triple-dip recession (following a surprise fall in factory output yesterday, which sent the pound tumbling below $1.50 for the first time in more than two years), Osborne will no doubt address his parliamentary colleagues with a supreme confidence that will placate his team mates… you know the sort of thing - providing the odd nugget of good news for the rich and (of course) smug justification of ALL his economic measures.

My long-standing concern is that, at a time when government policies should be being chastised by an effective political opposition, it’s the government who seems to be “winning” most of the political arguments.
I’ve previously expressed my concerns and disappointment over Ed Milliband’s Labour Party leadership… and there has certainly been nothing over recent weeks to make me change my mind. By the same token, the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, SHOULD be having field day every week, but instead – despite his intellect and his confrontational, big-boy bullying image – he has become something of an embarrassment… scoring a succession of own goals instead of hat-tricks.
I think Alistair Darling was very unfairly criticised as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Gordon Brown’s Labour government and there have certainly been times over the past couple of years when I’ve yearned for his articulate, commonsense reasoning in parliamentary economic debates. So it was very interesting to read Marina Hyde’s article in the morning’s Guardian which expressed the view: “If only Ed Miliband would dump Ed Balls and recast Alistair Darling”.
If only… indeed!

nail in the coffin...

In March last year, I wrote a blogpost expressing my anger and frustration at what I perceived as the impending demise of the NHS as we knew it… thanks to the conservative government’s ideology (pause… I’d REALLY like you to read it because I think conveys the lunacy and urgency of the situation!) . On 1 April (an ironically-appropriate date if ever there was one”), the government’s proposed secondary legislation (under section 75 of the Health+Social Care Act) will virtually force EVERY part of the English NHS to be opened up to the private sector to bid for its contracts.

Today’s Telegraph newspaper published a letter from more than 1,000 doctors and health-care workers calling on MPs to force a debate and vote down the proposal.
Critics have hailed the proposed legislation is a blueprint for privatisation and goes against government assurances.
Why on earth aren’t more people jumping up and down about this?
The changes will take effect and only then will some people realise their devastating consequences. The situation will end up rather like the privatisation of British Rail or the sale of Public Utilities – it will be very difficult/virtually impossible and very expensive to turn back the clock.
I urge you to sign every petition you can on the subject before it’s too late… politicians need to know how the majority of the population feels about the subject.  

song for marion

“Everything that follows is as predictable, dreary and proverbial as the weather in Manchester”.

I don’t usually read reviews before seeing a film but, today, I did and this was the final sentence of Philip French’s review in the Guardian.
Not exactly encouraging!
I seem to be on a bit of a roll as far as “senior” films are concerned – my previous two being “Amour” and “Quartet”! This film, directed by Paul Andrew Williams, starred Vanessa Redgrave as a terminally ill wife, who embraces life as a member of the local community choir and, by way of contrast, Terence Stamp as a grumpy old man fixed in his routines. There were less than 20 of us in the audience this afternoon at the Watershed – most of them were women who were perhaps keen to see how their young 1960s heartthrob (Stamp!) had stood the test of time. Actually, the answer is quite well, I think!
As it happens, Moira is a member of a local community (fortunately WITHOUT any life-threatening illness) and I am often referred to – COMPLETELY unfairly in my view(!) – as a grumpy old man… so, at times, it felt a little close to home!
It’s predictably sentimental and “heartwarming” (even joyous and charming on occasions) – despite being predictable and somewhat patronising at the same time.
Another one of those rainy Sunday afternoon DVD films.

arnos vale cemetery

Moira+I met up with Hannah+Felix+Ursula for lunch yesterday at the Bocabar… which really good. However, before that, M+H+F+U wanted to select wool at the local woolshop for a jumper for Felix. Strange as this may seem, but I’m not really a woolshop sort of person… so I decided to opt out of that particular activity! Instead, I decided to spend 45 minutes or so looking around Arnos Vale cemetery (which is virtually opposite Bocabar). I’d been there a few times before, but had never really explored beyond the central core between the entrance and the café.

I KNEW it was a wonderful place but, frankly, I hadn’t appreciated just how wonderful it was. It extends over 45 acres(!) and is the “final resting place” (don’t you just hate that description!) for more than 300,000 people.
The cemetery really is stunning and I absolutely loved my brief time exploring there yesterday. There was a very real sense that people cared for the cemetery; there was a tangible sense of the place “being well loved”. The task of upkeep must be HUGE, but it’s being done both sensitively and with great enthusiasm. There are also well-maintained pathways throughout the cemetery (suitable for buggies etc) and so accessibility isn’t a problem.
I found the whole experience quite moving and humbling… and I will definitely be a regular visitor over the coming months/years (hopefully not one of the permanent residents just yet though!).
If you get a chance, you really must see this simply amazing place.
An oasis of peace.  

martha tilston at colston hall

I spent Thursday evening listening to Martha Tilston. She really does have the most wonderful, clear (almost fragile at times) voice. She sang for two hours, accompanied by her three musicians (she’s a brilliant guitarist in her own right), and the evening was an absolute delight. At times, she has something of Joni Mitchell in both her delivery and in her songwriting (and even Sandy Denny on occasions?) and, as a bonus for me, she sang two songs that she styled as “odes” to Leonard Cohen and Mitchell. Many of her compositions question the greedy modern world – if I were a songwriter, I’d be doing the same!

PS: For me, the only slight downside of the evening was that we were given a 30 minute warm-up singer… followed by a 30 minute interval (Colston Hall obviously see this as their way to increase bar sales!)!

february 2013 books

More book stuff:

Family and Friends (Anita Brookner): A short novel (187 pages). The lives of a widowed Hungarian mother, now living in England, and her four children provide the focus of the story. It might just be me, but it took a frustratingly long time to appreciate that the initial action was set between the world wars (the book cover shows a Klimt portrait painted in 1902) – which meant that it took me a little time to “get into” the story. Beautifully and precisely observed.  
Fire on the Mountain (Anita Desai): I first started reading this book in 1982(!) but, although it’s only a short book, never finished it. So, I’m very glad I picked it up again… It features three principle characters: a great-grandmother who lives a reclusive life in a mountain retreat; her visiting great-granddaughter, who has just recovered from typhoid (and who is also somewhat reclusive by nature); and a childhood friend of the old woman. The story is very gradually developed and all the action is in the final few pages. Desai is an exceptional writer and I enjoyed the book.
Good Works (EF Schumacher): This was essentially a follow-up to his “Small is Beautiful”. It was first published in 1979, two years after Schumacher’s death and is compiled mainly from a series of his lectures. I first read it in 1981 and it’s absolutely fascinating (and a little depressing) to re-read it more than 30 years later… it emphasises such themes as the wiser use of natural resources, energy, economics, technology and science, and the nature and control of organisations… and ranges across the most urgent concerns of humanity while keeping its central focus upon the human being: what individuals can actually do now to make a viable future visible in the present. It’s also a surprisingly spiritual book.
99 Words (edited Liz Gray): I first came across this book listening to the "Something Understood "programme on Radio 4. Liz Gray compiled the book whilst unable to work due to illness and she asked 99 contributors to consider what 99 words (according to the Qu’ran, all of creation can be expressed in 99 names) they would most wish to communicate if it were their last opportunity. Although I found the premise of the book a little tenuous, as a “project person” myself, I did have some empathy with Liz Gray’s objectives. The contributors are from wide-ranging backgrounds – politicians, writers, artists, musicians, thinkers etc – and, as you might expect, their responses (or at least my reaction to their contributions!) vary… some are absolute gems and some simple made wonder why on earth they’d decided to sat what they’d said! It’s one of those books that I’ll no doubt delve into again over the coming months
The Master and Margarita (Mikhail Bulgakov): This is our next Book Group book. I have to admit (on reading the cover and “feeling” its length!) that I didn’t find the prospect of reading it particularly inspiring… I’m afraid that, although it was clever and inventive, I found it all rather too much for me and was just relieved to finish it!

expectation+anticipation

I don’t seem to have blogged for ages...

A book that I’ve just finished reading has been Liz Gray’s “99 Words” (actually, I suppose its full title is: “You have breath for no more than 99 words, what would they be?”). This was a question she asked after experiencing a life-changing injury had left her facing a future of uncertainty. She sought responses to this query from writers, artists, musicians and thinkers. The results were fascinating – some quite wonderful and some rather bizarre, mystifying and pretentious.
One of my favourite contributions was from Ben Okri.
I’ve previously blogged about the excitement and anticipation of things I’ve yet to do; places I’ve still to visit; people I’ve yet to meet; performances (theatrical, musical, sporting, artistic or whatever) I’ve yet to experience.
Ben Okri’s 99 words (actually only 75!) seemed to sum up what I’d been struggling to say just perfectly. The art of a good writer is a beautiful thing:
Tomorrow’s music sleeps
in undiscovered orchestras,
in unmade violins,
in coiled strings.
Spring waits by the lakes,
listening to the unfurling daffodils.
Summer lingers with the
hyperborean worms,
awaiting an astonishing command
from the all-seeing eye of Ra.
Tomorrow’s music sleeps
in our fingers,
in our awakening souls,
the blossom of our spirit,
the suggestive buds of our hearts.
Tell everyone the idea
is to function together
as good musicians would
in undefined future orchestras.
From “Lines in Potentis” by Ben Okri.

o’hooley+tidow

Moira+I went to see Belinda O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow last night at the Bristol Folk House. To be honest, I didn’t know much about their music before yesterday – I knew that O’Hooley had been with Rachel Unthank+The Winterset (not a bad pedigree!) and that the pair had been nominated for “Best Duo” in the recent BBC Folk Awards.

Anyway, they were wonderful!
The blurb on their website said: “expect an irresistible blend of thought-provoking songs, intricate harmonies and striking arrangements, tempered by cheeky Northern banter”.
They were all of that... and more.

early architectural heroes

Yesterday, I came across “The History ofthe Future in Ten Images” on the BBC website. Featured fifth was “Antonio Sant'Elia's futuristic cities” and featured one of the influential Italian architect Sant’Elia’s seminal, iconic architectural perspectives (left hand drawing above) which he drew for a futurist “Citta Nuova”. It might seem strange but, throughout my career, this image was a huge influence in my architectural thinking and development – not that I ever fancied designing entire cities! Somewhat frightening (for me), as I read the article, I realised the drawing was produced very nearly a HUNDRED years ago (1914)… amazing.

I’ve always held the view (and I appreciate that, these days, this is probably a minority opinion!) that architects SHOULD BE ABLE TO DRAW… and, perhaps somewhat strangely (in the eyes of many), I still maintain this view – even in this wonderful age of computer technology.
I produced a large number of architectural perspectives during the course of my architectural career – although I now probably only have records of one or two fairly insignificant ones (a cause of some regret).
Seeing the Sant’Elia (1888-1916) drawing reminded me of my other architectural perspectivist hero, Helmut Jacoby (1926-2005).
I used to get his books out of the library on an incredibly regular basis (I think our local library stocked just two of them… and that I was the only person who ever booked them out!). A typical illustration of his is shown on the right hand side of the above image.
I just googled the name and see that I could buy a used copy of “Helmut Jacoby: Master of Architectural Drawing” for a mere £1,226.29!
We all need heroes… and these were two of my mine.

justice, selfishness, bigotry… and sadness

We come across beautiful moments every day of our lives (if only we took notice).

We see, hear and read about some absolutely wonderful things that are happening and about people’s kindness or determination in difficult circumstances… oh, and lots of other very positive, heart-warming matters. 
But, sadly, there’s also an awful lot of evil in the world and, just recently, I keep coming across events (and that’s just in this country – I appreciate that, worldwide, there are SO many more) that depress me and make me sad or angry.
There are LOTS of examples… here are just three:
1.    The Muslim family in Nottinghamshire who’ve been hounded out of their home after a series of racist attacks and wicked taunts… no one has yet been charged in connection with the incidents.
2.    And, locally, a Bristol man recently received a jail sentence for killing a young mother due to dangerous driving… a drink-driver (more than twice legal limit); he’d left the scene of the accident; he’d apparently been driving without a licence or insurance for 13 years(!); he’d also had previous convictions for failing to stop after an accident (banned for a year) and for failing to provide a breath specimen (banned for two years). He’s been jailed for 6 years 8 months (with the prospect of early release after 4 years or so?).
3.    And again, locally: a 38 year-old man has appeared in court charged with causing the deaths of a couple (see the above photograph) who were knocked off their tandem bicycle near Bristol. The car allegedly involved in the crash was being followed by police. The man was remanded in custody charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving. He’s also been charged with driving while disqualified, driving with no insurance and failing to stop at the scene of a collision. In the light of the previous example, I wonder if this man’s sentence (if he’s found guilty) will follow similar lines?
What a depressing society we live in, when the actions of mindless individuals have such a profound effect on the lives of others…
Photo: extract from the BBC website (Rod Minchin).

amour

I missed Michael Haneke’s film “Amour” last year and so gratefully accepted the opportunity to see it at the Watershed last night (their Head of Programme hailed “Amour” as his film of 2012).

I thought it was absolutely wonderful.

It’s a film about love and death and about a couple in their 80s. Their lives are fundamentally changed when the wife (exquisitely played by Emmanuelle Riva) suffers a series of strokes and her husband (played by Jean-Louis Trintignant – a most amazing actor) cares for her.

I cannot commend this film highly enough.

At times, I found it difficult to watch (perhaps this has something to do with me being in my mid-60s!) and yet I was completely captivated.

It has huge dignity; it’s devastatingly painful; sensitive; graceful; beautiful; agonisingly poignant; disturbing… and simply LOVELY. 

boundary changes

The Tories will be very disappointed by yesterday’s defeat in the House of Lords over the proposed electoral boundary changes. According to the BBC’s Six O’clock News yesterday, it seems that the changes might have provided the Conservatives with as many as 20 extra seats at the next General Election.

However, I suspect that their tears will be of the crocodile variety.
As far as the impending Scottish Referendum on potential independence is concerned (in Autumn 2014 – to coincide, perhaps, with the 700^th anniversary of Bannockburn?!), Mr Cameron has nailed his colours to the Union flag.
Of course, this is a very sensible “win-win” strategy.
If the Scots vote against independence, Cameron will take huge credit for keeping the union together (even though, I suspect, his support might encourage people to vote in favour!). If the Scots opt for independence, Cameron will shake his head and declare it a very sad day for the “old country”…
Actually, if the Scots do opt for independence, Cameron and his party will privately (and some not so privately) be jumping for joy – because this will ultimately remove all the Scottish MPs from the House of Commons and thereby (because of the current 58 Scottish MPs, only ONE of them is Conservative) make all future General Elections very much more difficult/virtually impossible(?) for the other “major” English parties to form a future Government.
So, while yesterday’s debate was all about electoral boundary changes… the REAL boundary change vote has still to happen.
Maybe it’s time for us all to move north?

HS2

So, the Government has now announced its planned HS2 route north of Birmingham.

On my facebook status this morning, I said I thought the project was “fundamentally wrong”. What I should have said was that I believe the thinking behind HS2 was fundamentally flawed (this applies to both the first and second phases).
I suspect that the country is pretty split over the proposed project but, it seems, that the project is largely supported by the three main political parties. Many will say that HS2 will transform the current situation where many areas within the UK are economically isolated from London and the South-East.
I’m all for vision and innovation, but I fear that technology might well have rendered the project a very expensive, outmoded, white elephant long before its planned completion date of 2033 (and PLEASE don't think that this means I'm a head-in-the-sand/leave-everything-just-as-it-is kind of person!).
Ministers tell us that the economic benefits to all communities are “pretty compelling”. Mr Cameron has declared that "Linking communities and businesses across the country and shrinking the distances between our greatest cities, high-speed rail is an engine for growth that will help to drive regional regeneration and invigorate our regional economies”.
Over the past few months, we’ve heard arguments in favour of HS2 along the following lines: a) there will be huge economic benefits for the country (including more than 100,000 jobs), b) there is a strong environmental argument in support of HS2 and c) it represents a practical and entirely viable scheme.
These arguments have subsequently been roundly countered by academics and pundits alike.
The Government line now seems to have shifted to use of the word “connectivity” (aren’t spin-doctors wonderful!).
Ministers can airily indicate its projected £33billion cost (originally put forward in the last days of the Labour Government, so who knows how much its true cost will be come 2033) safe in the knowledge that they’ll be “well out of it” by the time it’s completed.
Is it really worth spending all this money so that we can travel at 200mph instead on 125mph?
Who will benefit from the project in the long run? All those living in the north? I really don’t think so – I think the real beneficiary will be London.
Professor John Tomaney of the School of Planning at University College London, who has researched the effect of high-speed lines across the world, said: "The argument that high speed can reshape economic geography has been used in several countries around the world such as France, Spain, South Korea… but in practice there is very little evidence that building a high speed rail line heals north-south divides”. Indeed, Tomaneyn found there was strong evidence the other way, with the capital cities rather than the provincial towns, benefiting from the line. In terms of employment, therefore, the argument in the government's report that the line would create 100,000 jobs smacks of pure fantasy.
I’m all for improving rail transport (although I remain horrified by the constantly increasing fares – despite so many more people using the train… and don’t get me started on “privatisation”!). Stand on any station platform these days and you’ll see LOTS of instances where redundant tracks have removed. Wouldn’t it make more sense to spend money developing the railway infrastructure so that it can better respond to the increasing numbers of users?
I’m afraid I share Christian Wolmar’s concluding view in yesterday’s Guardian:
“Today we have the internet, broadband, mobile telephony and even the possibility of driverless cars let alone more mundane exogenous factors such as oil prices and planning policies that ultimately could all affect demand for rail travel. The variables and what Donald Rumsfeld would call the ‘unknown unknowns’ over a 20-year period are so great that in effect, despite all the pseudo scientific business case methodology, this is all one big punt by the politicians. Yet, despite the lack of evidence to support the case for the line, it has now become part of the political consensus supported by all three main political parties rather like the idea in the noughties that Britain's wealth would be sustained by allowing bankers free rein. And we all know what happened next”.
Sorry!
PS: Oh, and the Government persists in telling us that HS2 fares will be virtually the same as the rest of the railway network (but, hang on, aren’t the current high-speed fares some 20% more than other fares?)… it might be worthwhile seeing if Ladbroke’s will take a bet on this – it could be the answer to all your retirement financial worries!
PPS: just so you don’t think that I’m a “southern softie”, London-Bristol is the same as London-Birmingham in distance terms.