chances at the next election, we'll chew things over with our panel — justine greening, a former cabinet minister who signed off on hs2, robertthe authors of the tories' 2019 manifesto, and aleeta adu of the guardian. the optics of the governing party holding its annual conference in the city where a high—speed line is supposed to reach, but appears like it might not now, isn't great. government ministers today have been keen to focus on the success they are having in bringing inflation down and, each time hs2 is mentioned, they say, "we've got spades in the ground." outside the conference hall, the conservative mayor of the west midlands, andy street, gave an impromptu press c0 nfe re nce . he was quietly furious. his message? the pm should not give up on hs2 from birmingham to manchester but instead radically rehink how we build it and embrace, as he put it, the private sector. nick, what's happening? it looks very much like we are going to be saying farewell to the second leg of hs2. that is the line from birmingham to manchester. it looks like we may well be seeing that as soon as wednesday, when rishi sunak will be deliv