The Guardian view on HS2: let the train take the strain | Editorial

HS2 is well behind schedule and over budget. It can only work as part of an integrated transport plan designed to cut carbon“When in a hole, stop digging” is an iron law of politics, but not one that Boris Johnson recognises. He made his name by flouting conventional wisdom and gives the impression there’s no reason to stop. In the case of High Speed 2 – a railway where costs have doubled to around £100bn – he joked to schoolchildren last week that with a hole