[helsinkiandrew]

> Hs2 needlessly cut down thousands of ancient oaks

That depends whether you agree that HS2 is justified. HS2 would argue that the loss to humanity/UK of cutting down those ancient oaks is worth it due to the benefits of HS2.

Whereas cutting down the Sycamore Gap tree benefited no one.

[jibbit]

I don’t think there are any benefits, it’s cancelled (or about to be)

[stephen_g]

Nonsense, it's not cancelled and cancelling it would be absolutely ridiculous... HS2 is pretty critical in creating capacity since the WCML is basically at full capacity. HS2 is important for taking long distance passenger trains off the WCML to allow that to be used for more freight and shorter distance regional trips.