And lets face it there is absolutely no certainty that HS2 will get built, if it ever does its bound to be late opening and a watered down version of what was originally proposed.
Not sure how you can water down a project which is already incredibly unimaginative when compared with European counterparts, despite being so expensive at the same time!
A fast (2 hour max) link from the Scottish Central belt right to the door of BHX, taking in Tyneside, the Yorkshires and Manverpool might then give BHX a big theoretical advantage, but this isn't on the cards any time soon.