We decry cuts, but spare the Philip Hammonds who fritter cash | Simon Jenkins

Against prestige projects like aircraft carriers, the Olympics or high-speed rail, the poor taxpayer hardly gets a look-in

Anyone opposing the glamorous high-speed rail project of the transport secretary, Philip Hammond, is a nimby. Or so he says. Critics of his HS2 line are Aylesbury luddites, Brackley reactionaries, Great Missenden moanies. Macho ministers do big projects, like high-speed trains, aircraft carriers and turbine parks. Those who oppose them are wimps. To Hammond it is...