Do we need, do we want, a high speed rail link from London to Hampshire?

With news reported in this paper today that a future Tory Government might look kindly on a business plan to support such a link, it opens an interesting debate on what use such a line would be.

Certainly there is a sense of justice in the idea that we here in the south should also enjoy a super-fast link if our taxes are to play a part in paying for a high speed line in the north.

But would the unrest, planning disputes and inevitable anguish caused by such plans be worth the gains?

This paper believes so. A super-fast link to London would connect the super port of Southampton with the world city.

It would also relieve pressure on existing lines, although to be accurate measures already under way to improve Waterloo Station will help there.

There is an irony, of course, in such a transport link to Southampton, the cruise port capital of northern Europe where one reinvigorated form of travel is making huge advances through the use of a revolutionised railway system.

The future offers all sorts of opportunities and varying speeds at which to travel towards them, it seems.