The HS2 is old technology with a few modern bells and whistles.

1/ It still runs on rails.

2/ It still runs on flanged metal wheels.

3/ It still needs stations and platforms.

On that basis I guess you would argue that we should all still be flying off on holiday in 707s

Britain can't lead the World with HS rail travel because other countries have a better chance of doing so with their existing long distance networks and there's absolutely no chance of Britain thinking that playing catch-up for catch-ups sake is going to lead to some World-beating pipe dream.

I accept that we can no longer lead the world in high speed train links but that doesn't mean that if we expand their use in the UK we are playing catch-up for catch-up's sake.  There are real benefits in the system as is supported by the way in which their use is being expanded across the world.

The M1 was "new" in that it was to be a completely new road with "gentle" curves, wide carriageways, a hard shoulder and no crossroads in complete contrast to the roads that existed at that time. Also, the M1 was for all vehicles, it wasn't proposed just for buses to carry commuters.......

Not sure I understand that argument - high speed rail is as different to the existing network as the M1 was to dual carriageways of the day - in any case just because motorways are no longer a "new thing" isn't an argument against new ones being built and the existing ones being upgraded even further. 

As for the argument that motorways were for all vehicles is just not true nor relevant, try riding a bicycle on them or for that matter getting a train to run on them!

The HS2 isn't "new" in the same way in comparison to existing rail lines except that it'll largely avoid many centres of population and (presumably) allow a much faster speed.

You've described exactly how motorways were new in comparison to the "old" road network.

I just cannot see how it will relieve any congestion or take much (if any noticeable) traffic from existing road and rail links.

As the existing North-South links are running at capacity and demand is increasing every year I wouldn't have thought it would take much imagination to see that there will be a demand for the new service if it is built - whether it will relieve congestion on existing links is debatable - motorways haven't reduced congestion if you compare traffic on the normal A roads now with what it was in the '60s - that doesn't mean there wasn't the need nor demand for a motorway network.

We tried to be innovative with the Concord(e) and that didn't lead to anything along the supersonic lines (no pun intended) and any gain in time with the HS2 will be eaten up in actually getting to somewhere to get on the thing.

I take your point but high speed rail is hardly a new technology - the 'beauty of the proposed HS2 link is that one end, (London), will use exactly the same station as you would use travelling on the existing rail network and the station in Birmc is close to the city centre and a people mover to link the new station to Moor Street station is planned.  If the proposed station at Birmingham International Airport was also built as proposed then it would only take 10 minutes longer to get to this airport than it does to travel to Gatwick!

We should be trying to encourage business in the locality not promote idiotic long-distance travel for no useful purpose. Who is going to benefit from HS travel? Why do they need HS rail travel anyway? What are they doing that requires the saving of a few minutes of travel time?

Not sure that I agree with you on that - the better the travel links the more work opportunities that are opened up to those who don't live nearby.  Employment opportunities tend to conglomerate around certain areas whereas demand often lies further away - you can't always build more houses near where work is available.

I'm not sure that it is the high speed which is the governig factor for high speed train links - there is a need to expand capacity and into the future - investing in old style rolling stock and track would be like British Airways investing in old models of aircraft rather than the technologically latest ones.

On the other hand if you consider the literally tens of millions of rail journeys that take plkace each year and reduce each by just a few minutes then that is an awful lot of 'man-hours' - of course when the M1 was built all the hype was about how much more quickly you could travel from London to Birmingham - it now takes longer than it did then on the 'old' roads!!!