Okay I’m no scientist and no expert on global warming but I’ll offer this.
I’ve recently done some work in support of reopening the former Varsity rail link between Oxford and Cambridge via Milton Keynes and Bedford, and because of it sharing real estate I gained an insight into HS2.
Air travel in this period of globalisation is essential to some degree or other, and even for leisure travel tourism is good, it opens people’s minds to other cultures etc. Therefore, I respect the need for long haul flying.
But for short haul i.e. London and Birmingham > Paris/Brussels/Manchester/Glasgow/Edinburgh/Aberdeen there is absolutely no need to fly. So high speed rail should be not frowned upon but absolutely encouraged, I think there were, arguably, better alternatives to HS2 but either way would have required broadly the same level of investment. France should be commended for banning any flight where the journey can be achieved by rail in less than 3 hours.
However, here’s the irony, the one thing we know how to do is electrify a railway, we’ve been doing it for 100 years, yet only 40% of the UK network is wired up, no electric train can reach Bristol Temple Meads, Plymouth, Swansea, Oxford, Derby, Nottingham, Sheffield or Aberdeen. How ludicrous is that!
This thread prompted me to see if there has been any news on a distributor for New Zealand. According to the Naim website their is no Naim retailer near me but they list the local NZ distributor as WESTAN. I visited their website to see if I could find out more, but Naim is not listed as one of the products they represent.
Yes, I served 4 years in the United States Marine Corps from 1970 to 1974. After boot camp and infantry training I went to ordnance school which included training on air to air missles, rockets, bombs and high speed cannons used on aircraft. …they also took advantage of my excellent typing skills.
