"Who needs railways when you've got a private jet?"

A hard-hitting question from UK platform JOE, which bills itself as "a social media lifestyle network serving the interests, passions and curiosities of the modern man". It also periodically serves up satirical and pertinent spoof videos like this one, which riffs off the trailer for the 1996 film 'Trainspotting', based on Irvine Walsh's stories of a group of young Scots, several of them heroin addicts. This parody features members of Britain's Conservative (aka Tory) political party, chiefly the current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his recent predecessors. The whole 'trainstopping' framework refers to Sunak cancelling the northern leg of the HS2 high-speed rail project, citing ballooning costs and mismanagement. The project was conceived and billed as part of 'levelling-up' endeavours to shift the focus of the UK's economic wellbeing away from London. As for the private jet jibe, well, it all fits with a general trend for high-profile corporate and government people using them - without any apparent grasp of irony - to fly to climate conferences and such. Sunak came under fire when government data was reported to show him having spent £500k on private air travel within a single week in 2022. The PM defended the decisions by saying it was the most efficient use of his time. While those who get the references in this clip will perhaps get the most out of the spoof, many others will doubtless relate to the sensation of fragmentation in today's societies. What do you think - slick and fun and not much more, or profoundly effective awareness-raising?

Keywords: JOE.co.uk Trainstopping, Rishi Sunak private jet use, HS2 partial cancellation 2023, Trainspotting parody, political satire