> The human costs of HS2 are also mounting up. As well as homes being demolished (including several hundred flats in Camden, north London), hundreds of farms have been divided by the line. Farm tracks have been closed for months or even years while replacement bridges are built. Near Sheephouse, I bumped into a cattle farmer of 54 years who said the HS2 construction work had displaced badgers living further down the valley. New badgers had moved on to his land and introduced TB to his cows. He lost a prize bull and a long bloodline of good cattle.

Oh diddums.

Meanwhile China is leaving in the dust by actually investing in their infrastructure,