My Interview on GB News about HS2

Readers of this blog might be interested to see my recent interview on GB News about HS2:

19 Comments

  1. alan jutson
    September 13, 2021

    Unlike the established Media, GB News seems to welcome you forensic detail of Government figures without any interruption, long may they continue to request your opinion on many other Topics JR.
    I hope you may find yourself eventually getting more of the Air time you deserve

  2. X-Tory
    September 13, 2021

    Very good point about the atrocious OBR/Treasury forecasts, and clearly and forcefully put. But I am disappointed that you have given up objecting to HS2. You may think that going on about this is futile, but even if you cannot get the government (or rather, Boris himself) to change course, by continually ridiculing the project and demonstrating the waste of money involved, you will keep highlighting the fact that no further taxes are justified, as they are wasting so much money. The government needs to be kept under pressure and on the defensive, so they can’t claim to be short of money. You need to fight a war of attrition!

    1. glen cullen
      September 13, 2021

      A war of attrition isn’t good enough SirJ needs to drop a GBU-43/B (MOAB, colloquially known as the “Mother of All Bombs”) on HS2

  3. Peter2
    September 13, 2021

    Well said Sir John.
    A calm, authoritative and logical argument.
    It must be a nice change to be on a channel that asks a question and then allows you to respond.

    #so you are saying…

  4. The Prangwizard
    September 13, 2021

    Good stuff Sir John! We need to physically remove the Remain elites you mentioned though. Clearly they are not open to argument. They are subversives and should not be in position.

  5. MiC
    September 13, 2021

    How exactly does John know, as he implicitly claims, that the people at OBR and at the Treasury are “Remain people”? Is it simply because they are highly qualified?

    Even if they were, it’s probably more likely that those who developed the covid19 vaccines here were too, and John doesn’t seem to lack any faith in them, does he?

    1. Peter2
      September 13, 2021

      Desperate to argue the point MiC
      Any facts or statistics?
      Where is bill/hefner when you need them…..for once.

    2. Oldwulf
      September 13, 2021

      Hi MiC
      If the people at the OBR and at the Treasury are highly qualified then the reason they have been getting things wrong is probably not a lack of qualifications. The reason may be general incompetence or perhaps the reason is something more specific.
      What do you have in mind ?

    3. Christine
      September 13, 2021

      The people at the OBR have been wildly incorrect with their forecast so their qualifications don’t seem to help them do a good job, if most did vote to remain it doesn’t mean they were correct in that decision either. UK scientists on the other hand keep producing groundbreaking treatments, so the two groups aren’t comparable.

      There were many highly qualified Brexit voters, like Sir John, so I don’t know why you disparage people who wanted to leave the EU. Throwing insults never wins an argument.

      1. MiC
        September 14, 2021

        I’m just asking the question as to how John knows what he claims to know, Christine.

        I speculated as to the basis of any deduction that he might have made, no more.

        1. Micky Taking
          September 14, 2021

          don’t be silly- you made a childish jibe for which you cannot substantiate any claim – which is the only way you can deal with a challenge. Diversion into stupidity.

          1. MiC
            September 15, 2021

            No, I think that John did.

    4. dixie
      September 14, 2021

      “By their deeds you will know them” (Matthew 7-16)
      If they (treasury, OBR, civil servants) are consistently wrong to our detriment then either they are anti-UK/pro-EU and doing it on purpose or they are not appropriately “qualified” or both.
      Either way they should be replaced pronto.
      I’m sure they could find more effective employment as baristas or fruit and veg pickers or something.

  6. Everhopeful
    September 13, 2021

    Our dream team surely?

  7. Dave Andrews
    September 13, 2021

    It used to be the case that railways were funded by private investment. If only the government wasn’t so ruthless in taxing away wealth, UK investors might be still around to put the money into railway schemes, rather than the government forcing people to pay for it as part of their taxation (as well as borrowing from future taxpayers).
    Even so, a good investment is still worth considering even with depleted funds. So let the executive for HS2 justify the business case for their railway and raise finances privately.
    I’m loathe to let our infrastructure be the property of overseas investors, but such are the only ones unencumbered by heavy taxation.

    1. Micky Taking
      September 14, 2021

      ‘It used to be the case that railways were funded by private investment. ‘ – and they all lost money until bought out to make British Railways post war.

  8. Donna
    September 14, 2021

    It’s good to see genuine conservatives getting an opportunity to make their case on GB news, uninterrupted by left-wing “journalists” who constantly interrupt when they hear something which doesn’t meet with their approval.

    Cummings warned that the Remainer Civil Service would see a hard rain; but now that the Prime Minister has ditched Cummings and his reforming agenda in favour of left-wing/green policies, it isn’t going to happen. Was Johnson really surprised that, after decades of brainwashing by the BBC, the focus groups he relies on delivered a verdict that Civil Service reform wasn’t popular and socialist/green lunacy is?

  9. Bryan Harris
    September 14, 2021

    Nicely said

  10. Mark
    September 14, 2021

    I see that Sunak has at least managed to sink the Boris bridge/tunnel to Northern Ireland. Why not HS2 as well? We simply cannot afford endless value destroying projects.

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