In a word....” Corruption”.
All them hefty kickbacks being trousered by the tories

Sticky subject here squire.

HS2 is all about sucking the fast, long-distance trains onto one network and freeing up the existing network for improving everything else.
HS2 is all about capacity and segregation. Despite what some people keep saying speed and time savings are a side effect not the core reason.

The reason for HS2 is now irrelevant because it stops for us here in the North East at Birmingham.

Well yes, without both northern legs HS2 itself would never have been approved as the critical mass of benefits came building from all of it, not part.

Surely, it's more fundamental than that.
IF we are this top nation, showing the world how great Britain is, we should strive to have the best infrastructure that we can and just as other leading nations have high speed rail, the UK should be keeping up.
The decision to cull HS2 to the North East is appalling, its just as neccessary up here as it is "down South"

Down south won't fully benefit from it either by only half doing it though, that's the most stupid thing about this. You won't free up all the capacity to places like Stevenage and up to Peterborough because fast Scotland and Yorkshire to London trains will still be going down the old line.
It's just a moronic decision taken by short-termist fools who don't think strategically or act in the interests of anyone other than themselves and the people who pay them.

If only they'd have consulted you first eh nod

I thought we'd finally got confirmation from you that you don't follow the news, don't read and aren't into the detail.

Given that, please forgive vs for not taking your views particularly seriously.

I'd have concerns about you if you did.