I CANNOT understand the animosity towards HS2.

This would have repaired some of the damage wrought on the railways by the Tories years ago, when goods lines were ripped up and commercial ventures were encouraged to use the roads, not rail.

HS2 would have increased the capacity and enabled thousands of containers to use the railways.

It was a mistake to promote it as high speed rather than extra capacity, which we desperately need to improve our infrastructure.

Other countries have had the foresight to see the value of rail transport: the railways are heaving with commercial goods and there is not the pollution from commercial vehicles on the roads.

This is a great opportunity lost through political incompetence. But is that anything new?

Brian Ledger, Copmanthorpe

 

Save our insects

With all this ‘wilding’ going on in and around York you’d think the mini beasts would be having a field day. Apparently not so.

Slugs are prospering but insects are having a hard time of it - with incalculable knock-on effects. Is the balance of nature shifting?

It’s not just a local problem.

Butterflies are scarce, certainly in our neck of the woods, with even the once reviled Large White (‘Cabbage White’) much diminished in numbers. A few flurries of bumble bees and ladybirds in relatively modest numbers have punctuated recent months. But whatever happened to ‘Flying Ant Days’?

This may be controversial but I’m hoping for a good season for wasps, important pollinators in their own right as well as master builders.

It’s not just the Tansy Beetle that’s in need of protection and conservation.

Derek Reed, Middlethorpe Drive