Why is HS2 so expensive?

Party season

Unusually, the Conservatives are holding their party conference before the Labour party. It has become tradition that the Lib Dems hold theirs one week, Labour the next and the Conservatives the week after that, with the latter concluding in the first week of October. The tradition held even in 2020 when conferences moved online due to Covid. But there was a year when the normal conferences didn’t take place: 1974, when the second general election of the year was held during that time. Labour did, however, hold a shorter conference in late November in London. With October touted as a date for next year’s general election, we may end up in the same situation.

Track record

Why is HS2 so expensive? According to PwC, comparing HS2 with its nearest (unidentified) European equivalent, the extra estimated costs can be attributed thus:

– 7% is added thanks to differences in strategic objectives, such as tunnelling dedicated lines into the cities, as opposed to using existing lines to access city centres.

– 15% is added thanks to the building of new intermediate stations and the cost of purchasing property on the route.

– 12% is added thanks to a more fragmented supply chain in Britain.

– 5% is added by building new depots.

Scam artists

This year has seen a 15% drop in recorded fraud and computer crimes compared with the year before. Lottery scams fell by 42.5%, so you can feel more confident if you win millions. But be careful going on holiday as timeshare and holiday club fraud has risen by 111.9%. Ponzi schemes have stayed steady with a 0.9% increase while dating scams have fallen by 6.8%.

Gas giants

Which are the biggest and lowest emitters of greenhouse gases? Tonnes of CO2 equivalent per person in 2021 (territorial emissions, excluding emissions embedded in imports):

Highest

Qatar 36

Bahrain 27

Kuwait 25

Trinidad and Tobago 24

Brunei 24

Lowest

Democratic Republic of Congo <0.