As the unspeakablly wicked HS2 project prepares to devour a swathe of our green and pleasant land an excavation at the site of an abandoned church in anticipation of its ravages in Buckinghamshire has revealed remains of its Anglo-Saxon foreunner. I have written about this site previously in my post Dealing with evil in the Buckinghamshire countryside.
This Anglo-Saxon building lies beneath the remains of the medieval church of Old St Mary’s at Stoke Mandeville, which was abandoned in the nineteenth century and replace by a new church in the village.
The discovery is reported upon by the BBC News website at Anglo-Saxon church found at HS2 excavation site and by the Daily Express at Archaeologists thrilled as HS2 works uncover Anglo-Saxon ruins in heart of Buckinghamshire
Such a discovery is of great interest and presumably the nature of the site allows a much fuller excavation than if the church were still standing. I suppose I could say that out of evil good can come, but I do not think I could convince myself in this case - after all the site could have been investigated without the necessity of destroying it and its surroundings for a vanity railway project.
Couldn't agree more about Boris the wonky shopping trolley's futile, vastly expensive, and environmentally disastrous HS2 vanity project.
ReplyDeleteWe're told its aim is to "level up" the North, and improve some train services in the Midlands by relieving other commuter lines. But what little justification there may have been in that has evaporated now so many former commuters are working from home.
The main reason, as for the equally pointless, expensive, and barely functional Covid Test and Trace project, is literally to waste money. Sounds incredible doesn't it, but really it's all about artificially boosting GDP. That's where the real vanity lies.
Unfortunately, GDP, this outdated measure, includes public spending. So Governments have a perverse incentive to bloat their public sector and spend more on vanity projects and welfare (hence the ongoing immigration of mostly uneducated people many of whom end up permanently on benefits, not a problem thinks the Government on the quiet because that all boosts GDP!)
Measuring national prosperity by GDP is like assessing a person's health solely by their weight, so that a hyper-obese bedridden person scoffing pizzas and watching daytime TV all day is considered healthier than a fit slim marathon runner! Absurd isn't it?
If national prosperity was really increasing steadily over the years, as Government statistics indicate, then taxes as a proportion of income would be steadily dropping instead of the other way round!
Regards
John Ramsden
P.S. FWIW, I may add a longer version of the above to my blog, at https://highranges.com/