The voice (and face) of middle EnglandBy Colin Sully
The campaign to persuade the Government to re-think its strategy on high speed rail is taking place on a great many fronts (see other articles). However, readers of The Sunday Telegraph may have been surprised recently (or maybe not?) to see Reina Free’s picture and her words when they opened their Sunday paper.
Photographed looking out across “spectacular scenery of rolling hills, a lush valley and grazing cattle”, she is reported by The Sunday Telegraph as saying: “I will lie down in front of the bulldozers. They cannot wreck such a beautiful part of England. It is not just about my house and my view but about many other people and what the Government is doing to this country.”
Hilary Wharf, of Hyde Heath, representing HS2 Action Alliance is also quoted in the same article: “HS2 isn’t green, the business case is flawed, and curing the north-south divide is pure fantasy.”
She said the Government had opted for “the superficial attractions of a vanity project that is set to sacrifice huge swathes of our remaining tranquil countryside and precious public funds. Government is trying to ignore the low-cost, risk-free alternatives that fully meet future capacity needs.”
The Sunday Telegraph reporter suggested that “the protesters are a well-informed, articulate, middle class lobby determined to fight the project.”
“Good on ya girls!” (as they say in middle England).