Following today’s completion, for a mere £14.8 billion, you will now be able to get on a train in Reading and get off it in Southend, something I thank God I am unlikely to do, in either direction. According to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling this is going to be “a massive driver of economic wealth across the whole of the UK”. The citizens of Scotland, who have stumped up £1.5 billion of the cost of this project, I fear would have a very long wait before they saw their money back in extra economic growth. Meanwhile Scotland’s railways are mostly not even electrified yet, and the A1 not even dualled for long stretches, both South of Edinburgh and North of Newcastle. Ho hum.
Mind you, Crossrail was a snip at about 5.5% of the cost of Trident renewal. Crossrail was described as “Europe’s biggest construction project.” It does rather put things into perspective, that Trident costs almost twenty times Europe’s biggest construction project.
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I continue urgently to need contributions to my defence in the libel action against me by Jake Wallis Simons, Associate Editor of Daily Mail online. You can see the court documents outlining the case here. I am threatened with bankruptcy and the end of this blog (not to mention a terrible effect on my young family). Support is greatly appreciated. An astonishing 4,000 people have now contributed a total of over £75,000. But that is still only halfway towards the £140,000 target. I realise it is astonishing that so much money can be needed, but that is the pernicious effect of England’s draconian libel laws, as explained here.
On a practical point, a number of people have said they are not members of Paypal so could not donate. After clicking on “Donate”, just below and left of the “Log In” button is a small “continue” link which enables you to donate by card without logging in.
For those who prefer not to pay online, you can send a cheque made out to me to Craig Murray, 89/14 Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, EH8 8BA. As regular readers know, it is a matter of pride to me that I never hide my address.