I entirely agree, HS2 is a vanity project - Imagine what we could do to all the regional railways with that money. Strangely, I think we're actually reasonably well connected to London from here.
What I could do with is reopening the Guildford line so that I can get the train from Shoreham and...
We have to bite the bullet and build more train lines across the board, it's the only way forward. People talk about what 'debt' their grandchildren are going to inherit, I'd be more concerned about that their complete lack of ability to quickly get from A to B.