A large chunk of the left has been taken for a ride by wealthy Chiltern landowners who object to HS2 because of property values and parochial concerns.

This for a project essential to reducing car and air travel, so as to avert climate crises.

Here's why you're wrong about HS2:

1. It's not just about Birmingham and Manchester — a high speed core will speed up intercity trains all over the country.

Much like vehicles on a motorway, trains will be able to exit HS2 and continue on existing railway and continue to the North and Scotland.

This means that every mile of high speed line will incrementally speed up travel between e.g. London and Glasgow.

2. It's not just about speed, it's about capacity.

The main lines between London and the midlands are at capacity; no more trains can be added.

This is a problem when something like 80% of trips are being made by road and air, which is environmentally catastrophic.

Not only that, rail fares are very high precisely because demand exceeds supply.

A large increase in rail capacity is the only solution to these problems.

3. It's not just about intercity travel. Separating intercity traffic into its own tracks allows for much more regional train service.

Great Britain presently has a mixed traffic railway. Intercity, regional, suburban and freight trains all have to share the same tracks.

So you get local service squeezed between intercity trains, on inconvenient half-hourly or hourly schedules.

Segregating traffic will enable frequent metro-like service in cities beyond London, and all kinds of improved regional connections to smaller communities.

4. Environmental impacts are minimal. A high speed railway does with two tracks the job of a dozen motorway lanes, requiring very little land.

HS2 also uses tunnels to avoid environmentally sensitive areas; something which cannot be safely done where petrol cars are involved.

The term "ancient woodland" is thrown around a lot. That's a very broadly defined term which simply means that land has been wooded for a long time; the trees themselves may be relatively new growth.

HS2's alignment is designed to avoid anywhere of true ecological significance.

Above all: The >80% of trips presently made by road, and the use of domestic air travel within Great Britain, are environmental catastrophes that require a proven solution.

Creating new high speed networks and improving local service on the existing network is exactly that.