"Yes, with fuel prices on the rise it's the perfect time to build a fuel-guzzling aircraft."
Who said anything about building a 'fuel-guzzling aircraft' ?
Your words....certainly not mine...
I don't believe supersonic travel is dead...maybe just not too alive at the present moment...
As I said, if Britain had financial wealth, they could do something special again ( Just look at Reaction Engines )... But as Dude also added, Britain needs a little more than money....it needs a vision...
and it appears to me, reading some of the posts, that Britain currently has neither..