Even though I belive the money should have been spent on upgrading and adding new lines up north, HS2 should be built. I do laugh when costs are mentioned but do people still talk about the costs of crossrail? Nope because thats London. Its another screw you to the north and those who believed in levelling up was real.
There has to be a fundamental change in the way infrastructure is dealt with in this country, you see Italy, Spain, France and numerous other countries with huge infrastructure projects getting completed quicker, and at lower costs than here. Countries that already have infrastructures far superior to ours. The projects in the UK are just turned into cash cows by contractors who simply sub contract them out then sit back whilst their open ended, no fixed price, contacts bring in big profits.