How many spin agencies does it take to sell a high-speed railway? The answer is 17

Relative to the cost of HS2 – currently £106bn – the advisers are cheap. However, Chris Blackhurst can’t help but imagine how much hot air is in the room every time they meet

HS2 might not be finished until 2036, a decade later than planned (PA)

It could be a joke if it was not so unfunny. How many firms of communications advisers does it take to sell a much-needed high-speed railway, connecting the nation’s capital with major cities and linking them together, providing much-reduced travel times and extra capacity, and enabling at long last a move towards economic and social equality?

Answer: 17. For the record, here are the spin agencies employed by HS2, from a parliamentary reply to a question: “JBP Associates, Blue Rubicon, MHP Communications, Brand and Deliver, Brandnew, M-is, Precedent Communications, Crown Business Communications, PRgloo, Booz & Company, SKV Communications, Emergn, Stairway Communications, Gorkana, Hopscotch Consulting, Weber Shandwick, Westbourne Communications.”

Seventeen! Imagine, if there was a meeting to discuss the approach most likely to win over sceptics, what information would best convince those in the south and north that the project was required, and would prove money well-spent, that the end result would be transformative for the UK. If every firm sent two staff members along that would be 34. Assuming a team of six from the client side and you reach a total of 40. That’s one enormous table if that’s how they’re arranged, or several rows of seat. Certainly, it’s one big room. It’s also a huge amount of hot air.