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Leamington Letters #12: The beauty of high speed rail

13/1/2012

7 Comments

 
Picture
Digital finger painting by Lara Voce (www.laravoce.com)

“This looks like déjà vu all over again” as Yogi Berra famously observed.

The railway building boom of the mid-19th century was not without its opponents, chief amongst whom were the landowners and landed gentry. They claimed that the creation of new lines would result in the destruction of their estates and the loss of livestock, by which they usually meant foxes.

So it was no real surprise to read the comments of Cameron’s father-in-law, the fourth Viscount Astor, that HS2, the proposed high speed rail link between London and Birmingham,is supported primarily by “northern labour MPs who relish the thought of the beauty of the Chilterns being destroyed”.

Even by the standards of fourth viscounts who admit to having “ridden over the Chilterns all my life”, this is spectacularly crass and disingenuous. In the 1830s and 40s, neither estates nor livestock were destroyed - but the protesters did manage to extract huge amounts in compensation from the railway companies, which was the real purpose of the exercise. This time round, plus, c’est la meme chose:  one can scratch a Buckinghamshire Tory and find that the argument is less about the beauty of the landscape and rather more about property prices.

It’s always about money.

HS2 is all about money, on both sides of the argument. A couple of years back, I did some work with the DfT on the public consultation process for HS2 and in setting out the implications for each community along the route, I came to understand the business case for the project and also the concerns of the many whose lives and properties will be profoundly affected.

Some will receive “generous” compensation. Worse off will be those just outside the compulsory purchase area. These people have my sympathy, especially when they are honest about their motivations.

In the same way as Auden, Spender and MacNeice found pylons beautiful in the 1930s, I find the high speed train beautiful. (Wind farms, too, as it happens.) Watching the TGV race through the French countryside is an awesome, uplifting experience. I find it far more aesthetically pleasing and exhilarating than watching the unspeakable in full pursuit of the inedible, and certainly more pleasant than the rash of “Say No to HS2” signs which has appeared in the hedgerows in our part of Warwickshire.

As Aristotle pointed out, technology imitates nature. It complements and supplements the natural world. Technology completes what nature leaves imperfect, from our point of view. There is nothing natural about a house, for example, even such a house as one suspects is the home of Viscount Astor: a house is made exclusively by humanity for humanity. The “beauty of the Chilterns” which Astor believes will be destroyed is the beauty of the Chilterns after many other beautiful manifestations have been destroyed.

The eye of this beholder finds the current Chilterns beautiful, even with its railway lines, its M40 corridor, its vast expanses of Barratt homes and its Tesco superstores.

And the eye of this beholder will find the Chilterns also beautiful in 20 years or so when, and if, HS2 is completed. 

I should live so long.

Today’s listening: Dylan in Zurich in 1991, with the 4th Never Ending Tour band, featuring Johnny Jackson on guitar. James’s first show.

7 Comments
Ann Wood
15/1/2012 08:09:09

Spoilt brat Chiltern nimbys squealing again - the louder their squeals they think the greater the financial compensation - go figure. But of course it's Ok for them to stuff up the working class among us e.g. Lord Brabourne leasing off loads of his land (but not in his sightline of course) for Tesco to build a megastore near a Hampshire village.....oh and only several of his tenant families having their houses bulldozed...but hey that's Ok cos he'll find somewhere else for them to move their lives to regardless of being uprooted from homes, memories, neighbours..... so Tesco money will save his bacon and his house, lands, family fortune, blah blah..... Mammon is a great god as long as it's you he's rewarding and not the common man..... rant over.....

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Max Smith link
15/1/2012 13:59:16

Brabourne is an excellent example of the arrogance of these people. And it is the breath-taking arrogance of Astor which makes me so angry: that and the fact that he was immediately given, in The Spectator, an outlet for his prejudices. I wonder if there is any connection here - owners, editors, Eton?

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James
15/1/2012 08:09:43

As an imbiber and collector of French Italian and Spanish Fine wines, I have issues with the EU wine liberalisation proposals, which will have long term negative effects upon the above countries wine industry. Firstly their will be a mad rush to plant vines creating lower prices, a boom, followed by over supply and bankruptcy, From boom to bust within a generation.
Secondly some of the great vineyard names which have taken centuries to create will be tarnished by the general lowering of the standards of each region. In other words the deliberate destruction of the Brand.
These proposals appear to me to be more suitable for creation of vinegar than that of the traditional wine.The United Kingdom have been importing wines from the Continent for many centuries and still is their most important market. As such the UK Government is justified in opposing liberalisation.
JW

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Max Smith link
15/1/2012 14:02:21

Thanks James. I think this is extremely important for the wine industry, which is already in a mess. France, Spain, Italy, Germany and a dozen other countries have already registered their opposition. We need to get involved too.

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Leon
18/1/2012 02:14:15

Sure, one of the good things about HS2 is that it pisses off the nobs and nimbys: it's always enjoyable to see them wax wroth. On the other hand, when you're struggling to put food on the table, can't pay the doctor's bills and wonder where the rent money's coming from, it's perhaps not the best time to be splurging on a fancy new train-set.

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myers
19/1/2012 02:06:35

Where is Beeching when you need him?

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William Frazier link
25/1/2012 05:53:39

Great picture Lara.

Max,

Related to your post on the expansion of vineyard areas, a post from a fellow blogger.

http://www.vinography.com/archives/2012/01/gallo_and_constellation_screwe.html.

Which leads to my wine quote of the the day " And if you think that those $3, $5, and $7 wines you're buying at the grocery store are 100% pure, I've got a bridge to sell you."

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    Max Smith

    European writer, radical, restaurateur and Red Sox fan. 70-something husband, father, step-father, grandfather and son. Resident in Warwick, England.

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