General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

But it is the government themselves who create the legal framework which they then go on to blame for being such an obstacle.

Tweedledum and Tweedledee decided to have a battle,
Because Tweedledum said Tweedledee had stole his nice new rattle.

There then came down, a monstrous crow, as black as a tar barrel,
Which frightened both our heros so
They quite forgot their quarrel! (Lewis Carroll)

When UK government found it had WW2 on its hands, it had no difficulty acquiring huge swathes of property for military use and similar. I am not aware of any great sense that owners were inadequately compensated. I guess NIMBYs found no audience for their grievances.

If NIMBYs withholding their votes iis a problem, perhaps our infrastructure projects need to be non partisan: ie done in the name of all parties.

I am going to stick my neck out, and opine that historically, the cancellation of HS2 will be seen as just one aspect of the rising kleptocracy who steal all that is not nailed down, and believe taxes should end up in their pockets, not providing services for the populace.