So, just how real was the news that HS2 wasn’t going to finish at Euston and instead its London terminus be rerouted a few miles west to Old Oak Common?

Well, according to chancellor Jeremy Hunt, it was all nonsense. The essence of what he said on Friday lunchtime was that he’d already given the scheme his full backing in the autumn. He’d even trekked up to Solihull to Laing O’Rourke’s site where it is building a new station called Interchange, stuck on a hard hat, climbed into some safety gear, posed for pictures with a digger driver. What more proof did people need?