started to clear the area of inhabitants -- about 100 people live in around 25 different parts of the area. The media were banished from the whole area (yes, this is the farce of 'transparent government' ) but the next day they could all see the burning roofs of the farmhouses. And what was the justification for this failure to keep to the agreement to wait for the environmental report before proceeding? Well it appears that from the start of November there is some legal requirement in France that forbids making anyone homeless in winter. So the violent evictions needed to happen before the end of October... report or no report, agreement or no agreement. As I said, the farce of a government agreement. This takes us to another farce that we share across the European HSR projects -- the farce that is a politician's pre-election promise . In the case of Nantes, before his election the President of France (Hollande) said that he definitely opposed the Nantes scheme including on environmental grounds. However, it was he who supported the appointment of the Prime Minister of France (Ayrault), who is a past mayor of Nantes and is absolutely committed to the development. Holland did not seem to tell Ayrault to hold his fire last week, at least until the environmental issues had been reported on. So much for Hollande's pre-election promise to protect the unique environment. And yes we all remember Cameron's 'greenest government ever' promise that somehow doesn't seem