HS2 bosses haven’t got a leg to stand on says James Whale

We might as well finish off the job (Image: Getty) They might as well just have made a bonfire and burned the cash on a pyre outside Euston Station (where, ironically, the surviving HS2 route looks highly unlikely to even reach). The point of HS2 was a direct, fast link to the north. Leaving it stranded at Birmingham is a total waste of money but, worse still, ambition. The entire enterprise is at risk of becoming utterly pointless. To spend so much money on this project and then fail to complete it feels like an utter betrayal of political responsibility. It could have ended up being a transport lifeline if they had more confidence in completing it. Frankly, you might as well just scrap the whole thing. Surely finishing it off is an investment in the future? Equally, cutting it in half is sticking our heads collectively into the sand. Especially given how much work has already taken place. So many mature trees cut down, people bought out of family homes and so much destruction of farmland and woodland, leaving a giant scar on the landscape with nothing to fill it. No one knew the pandemic was going to hit us and change people’s working lives forever. We can’t blame the politicians or the planners for that. But we can ask loudly and publicly why better care wasn’t taken to rein in the costs. Reportedly, three bosses on the HS2 rail project have picked up salaries totalling £1.3million, while more than 40 others on the project earn at least £150,000. Conservative MP Craig Mackinlay rightly described these salaries as ‘shameful’. Hear, hear. No wonder HS2 Ltd boss Mark Thurston stood down on Friday. No need to worry for him though: his pay package alone was worth £677,000 in the last financial year. The truth is, neither of our main political parties could organise a drinking session in a brewery. What has happened to confident, grown-up politicians of all colours we used to take for granted. Enough is enough the police need to do more (Image: Getty) What is it about stop and search that seems to alienate so many people? I know you’ll find this very hard to believe but, when I used to do my late night phone-in show on TalkRadio in the 90s and drove a white Mercedes wearing a baseball cap, I used to get pulled over regularly after leaving the studios in the early hours of the morning. Sometimes, I had a laugh as the police searched the car. Other times, if I found their attitude patronising, I didn’t laugh and didn’t cooperate. It took longer. But no matter how annoying, I never felt the police were doing anything other than their duty. And stop and search is done properly most of the time. But forget about middle aged men in their cars. If we want to stop teenagers carrying knives and killing each other, we must allow our police to do their jobs. Otherwise, horrifying deaths like that of 15-year-old Elianne Andam last week in south London may happen again. Plant a tree to fill the Sycamore gap The mindless destruction of the beautiful Sycamore Gap tree has left many people feeling upset. Whatever possessed the lad that allegedly did this terrible thing is hard to understand – but let’s turn this act of vandalism into something positive. Why don’t we all plant a tree this week and that way the loss of that one tree could result in hundreds of new ones. And a bad action has been more than counteracted by lots of good ones? Laurence Fox is his own worst enemy… and everyone else’s. I loved him in Lewis but he should have stuck to acting. I was once labelled the rudest man in the media – I think Piers Morgan may hold that particular accolade these days. But there is a line between being outspoken and plain wrong. And Fox was way over that line when last week, as pretty much everyone in the country now knows, he went on GB News and talked in the most demeaning way imaginable about a young female journalist. He was rightly suspended, as was the presenter Dan Wootton who didn’t pick Fox up on his comments. As unpleasant as this all is, however, it must not be used by wokeists as an excuse to close down GB News, as was suggested last week by Tory MP Caroline Nokes when she told Newsnight: ‘It should be taken off air.’ And I don’t remember anyone demanding that the BBC be shut down after Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand’s antics in the so-called Sachsgate affair. As I say, it’s not in any way to condone Fox’s behaviour. He’s rightly been suspended. But let’s breathe deeply before we start making other knee-jerk reactions. And as for Fox himself, he should go back to what he’s good at as fast as possible: acting. Tragedies do happen… but armed officers are essential to maintain law and order We should show solidarity towards the armed police in this country. A more stressful job I can’t imagine. And now one has been charged with murder for the split-second shooting of an unarmed man during a police operation. I am very grateful they are the exception, not the rule, but without armed police we all risk falling prey to the worst people: violent criminals, terrorists and other elements that would harm and even kill us. We have to accept as a civilised country that the rule of law must stand. No one is bigger than it (no, the police neither, before you ask) but that means our forces of law and order have to be able to act in defence of all our rights to life. Sometimes that will mean using a weapon. Mistakes will be made. To err is to be human. These are the most difficult decisions imaginable. We should respect the rights of those who take them on for us all.