This particular point needs a bit more nuance I think:
> Advocates of tax rises point out that actually, middle income families face lower taxes than in many other developed nations, and that’s absolute true, but it overlooks a glaring problem: housing costs.
I'm pretty sure that housing costs are fully demand-constrained at this point. That is, since the shortage is so severe, any increase in income won't be used for discretionary spending; instead, it's ploughed into housing (in one form or another).
This nuance matters because it reframes how the situation we're in is a trap: previous governments rapidly decreased taxes on middle incomes, which didn't improve living standards and just ratcheted housing costs up, and this is a one way road *in the short term*. Under this mechanism, prices can only go down because people can't afford housing at the new supply/demand point whilst paying higher taxes, which is Very Bad.
High(er) housing prices are downstream of low(er) taxes.
I think one of big problems I notice with the UK is the sheer lack of talent in key areas of anaylisys, notably journalism and the wider social studies influenced jobs such as politics or policy. I assume that these roles don't pay well and are too stressful, so the talent goes into the private sector or into other fields. But this leads to the roles becoming filled by those with vested interests who are willing to take a lower salary - people who want to push a political agenda for example, which is what the country is seeing with culture wars and ethnic politics (i.e. the high number of Muslims in politics). If the data is bad then the results are going to be bad as well.
Recently I've found that the likes of the Economist and the Financial Times write in narratives as well, often completely detached from their capitalist foundations too. Too many journalists with vested interests these days.
I think one of big problems I notice with the UK is the sheer lack of talent in key areas of anaylisys, notably journalism and the wider social studies influenced jobs such as politics or policy. I assume that these roles don't pay well and are too stressful, so the talent goes into the private sector or into other fields. But this leads to the roles becoming filled by those with vested interests who are willing to take a lower salary - people who want to push a political agenda for example, which is what the country is seeing with culture wars and ethnic politics (i.e. the high number of Muslims in politics). If the data is bad then the results are going to be bad as well.
Recently I've found that the likes of the Economist and the Financial Times write in narratives as well, often completely detached from their capitalist foundations too. Too many journalists with vested interests these days.
I think one of big problems I notice with the UK is the sheer lack of talent in key areas of anaylisys, notably journalism and the wider social studies influenced jobs such as politics or policy. I assume that these roles don't pay well and are too stressful, so the talent goes into the private sector or into other fields. But this leads to the roles becoming filled by those with vested interests who are willing to take a lower salary - people who want to push a political agenda for example, which is what the country is seeing with culture wars and ethnic politics (i.e. the high number of Muslims in politics). If the data is bad then the results are going to be bad as well.
Recently I've found that the likes of the Economist and the Financial Times write in narratives as well, often completely detached from their capitalist foundations too. Too many journalists with vested interests these days.
I think one of big problems I notice with the UK is the sheer lack of talent in key areas of anaylisys, notably journalism and the wider social studies influenced jobs such as politics or policy. I assume that these roles don't pay well and are too stressful, so the talent goes into the private sector or into other fields. But this leads to the roles becoming filled by those with vested interests who are willing to take a lower salary - people who want to push a political agenda for example, which is what the country is seeing with culture wars and ethnic politics (i.e. the high number of Muslims in politics). If the data is bad then the results are going to be bad as well.
Recently I've found that the likes of the Economist and the Financial Times write in narratives as well, often completely detached from their capitalist foundations too. Too many journalists with vested interests these days.
I think one of big problems I notice with the UK is the sheer lack of talent in key areas of anaylisys, notably journalism and the wider social studies influenced jobs such as politics or policy. I assume that these roles don't pay well and are too stressful, so the talent goes into the private sector or into other fields. But this leads to the roles becoming filled by those with vested interests who are willing to take a lower salary - people who want to push a political agenda for example, which is what the country is seeing with culture wars and ethnic politics (i.e. the high number of Muslims in politics). If the data is bad then the results are going to be bad as well.
Recently I've found that the likes of the Economist and the Financial Times write in narratives as well, often completely detached from their capitalist foundations too. Too many journalists with vested interests these days.
I think one of big problems I notice with the UK is the sheer lack of talent in key areas of anaylisys, notably journalism and the wider social studies influenced jobs such as politics or policy. I assume that these roles don't pay well and are too stressful, so the talent goes into the private sector or into other fields. But this leads to the roles becoming filled by those with vested interests who are willing to take a lower salary - people who want to push a political agenda for example, which is what the country is seeing with culture wars and ethnic politics (i.e. the high number of Muslims in politics). If the data is bad then the results are going to be bad as well.
Recently I've found that the likes of the Economist and the Financial Times write in narratives as well, often completely detached from their capitalist foundations too. Too many journalists with vested interests these days.
Following your link, the claim that Hinkley Point is a uniquely bad nuclear project doesn't stand up to scrutiny. The "four times" figure refers to South Korea, which is the closest thing to a success story for nuclear outisde China. Flamanville (started much earlier, before costs rose) was only 25 per cent cheaper. And the US AP-1000 fiasco was even worse, with two of the four reactors abandoned after billions of dollars ahad already been spent.
This matters because the correct lesson isn't: do better next time (with Sizewell C, or vaporware SMRs). It's stop wasting scarce public funds on super-expensive nuclear power.
Yes and no. Yes public services and tbh those who deliver them are failing appallingly, agreed. But markets wont solve anything. Free markets dont and never have existed. Capitalism is not only dead - it was never alive. It was only ever a mechanism to allow a few powerful families to parasitise the productive efforts of the British people.
The UK like many other countries is devolving into a “second world” state that is not only much worse than a proper first world nation, but indeed worse than a third-world one. Third-world countries are corrupt, but there are reasonably efficient workarounds ands affordances that permit people to maintain a functional if relatively impoverished existence. Second-world nations retain some of the wealth generated by the high-trust first-world version of the culture that once existed, but everything breaks down and grinds to a halt due to sheer spiritual bankruptcy. This is a sad fate for a once-great nation.
Yes, we are indeed the 6th biggest economy in GDP terms, but the reason we feel broke is that measured by GDP per capita, we're really middle of the table, and being overtaken by one nation after another. We are, in fact, broke.
Our decline and the relentless decay of our public spaces will continue until we prioritise economic growth, and I don't have any sense the public is ready for the costs of that.
"The RAF still doesn’t have any of these new helicopters".
Isn't it lucky that the RAF has no need for helicopters, or fighters, or bombers, or transports. Just as the army and navy have no need for weapons, because no one is threatening us and we shouldn't be threatening (or actually attacking) anyone.
Whereas of course Sir Keir and his moronic government are trying to provoke a war with Russia which, if the Russians ever took it seriously, would end in about 20 minutes with Britain becoming uninhabitable.
A year later and still no indication at all that any of this will be addressed.
This particular point needs a bit more nuance I think:
> Advocates of tax rises point out that actually, middle income families face lower taxes than in many other developed nations, and that’s absolute true, but it overlooks a glaring problem: housing costs.
I'm pretty sure that housing costs are fully demand-constrained at this point. That is, since the shortage is so severe, any increase in income won't be used for discretionary spending; instead, it's ploughed into housing (in one form or another).
This nuance matters because it reframes how the situation we're in is a trap: previous governments rapidly decreased taxes on middle incomes, which didn't improve living standards and just ratcheted housing costs up, and this is a one way road *in the short term*. Under this mechanism, prices can only go down because people can't afford housing at the new supply/demand point whilst paying higher taxes, which is Very Bad.
High(er) housing prices are downstream of low(er) taxes.
I remember nearly crashing my rent car because of some pothole
It does. (From Germany)
Because the rich are bleeding it dry.
I think one of big problems I notice with the UK is the sheer lack of talent in key areas of anaylisys, notably journalism and the wider social studies influenced jobs such as politics or policy. I assume that these roles don't pay well and are too stressful, so the talent goes into the private sector or into other fields. But this leads to the roles becoming filled by those with vested interests who are willing to take a lower salary - people who want to push a political agenda for example, which is what the country is seeing with culture wars and ethnic politics (i.e. the high number of Muslims in politics). If the data is bad then the results are going to be bad as well.
Recently I've found that the likes of the Economist and the Financial Times write in narratives as well, often completely detached from their capitalist foundations too. Too many journalists with vested interests these days.
I think one of big problems I notice with the UK is the sheer lack of talent in key areas of anaylisys, notably journalism and the wider social studies influenced jobs such as politics or policy. I assume that these roles don't pay well and are too stressful, so the talent goes into the private sector or into other fields. But this leads to the roles becoming filled by those with vested interests who are willing to take a lower salary - people who want to push a political agenda for example, which is what the country is seeing with culture wars and ethnic politics (i.e. the high number of Muslims in politics). If the data is bad then the results are going to be bad as well.
Recently I've found that the likes of the Economist and the Financial Times write in narratives as well, often completely detached from their capitalist foundations too. Too many journalists with vested interests these days.
I think one of big problems I notice with the UK is the sheer lack of talent in key areas of anaylisys, notably journalism and the wider social studies influenced jobs such as politics or policy. I assume that these roles don't pay well and are too stressful, so the talent goes into the private sector or into other fields. But this leads to the roles becoming filled by those with vested interests who are willing to take a lower salary - people who want to push a political agenda for example, which is what the country is seeing with culture wars and ethnic politics (i.e. the high number of Muslims in politics). If the data is bad then the results are going to be bad as well.
Recently I've found that the likes of the Economist and the Financial Times write in narratives as well, often completely detached from their capitalist foundations too. Too many journalists with vested interests these days.
I think one of big problems I notice with the UK is the sheer lack of talent in key areas of anaylisys, notably journalism and the wider social studies influenced jobs such as politics or policy. I assume that these roles don't pay well and are too stressful, so the talent goes into the private sector or into other fields. But this leads to the roles becoming filled by those with vested interests who are willing to take a lower salary - people who want to push a political agenda for example, which is what the country is seeing with culture wars and ethnic politics (i.e. the high number of Muslims in politics). If the data is bad then the results are going to be bad as well.
Recently I've found that the likes of the Economist and the Financial Times write in narratives as well, often completely detached from their capitalist foundations too. Too many journalists with vested interests these days.
I think one of big problems I notice with the UK is the sheer lack of talent in key areas of anaylisys, notably journalism and the wider social studies influenced jobs such as politics or policy. I assume that these roles don't pay well and are too stressful, so the talent goes into the private sector or into other fields. But this leads to the roles becoming filled by those with vested interests who are willing to take a lower salary - people who want to push a political agenda for example, which is what the country is seeing with culture wars and ethnic politics (i.e. the high number of Muslims in politics). If the data is bad then the results are going to be bad as well.
Recently I've found that the likes of the Economist and the Financial Times write in narratives as well, often completely detached from their capitalist foundations too. Too many journalists with vested interests these days.
I think one of big problems I notice with the UK is the sheer lack of talent in key areas of anaylisys, notably journalism and the wider social studies influenced jobs such as politics or policy. I assume that these roles don't pay well and are too stressful, so the talent goes into the private sector or into other fields. But this leads to the roles becoming filled by those with vested interests who are willing to take a lower salary - people who want to push a political agenda for example, which is what the country is seeing with culture wars and ethnic politics (i.e. the high number of Muslims in politics). If the data is bad then the results are going to be bad as well.
Recently I've found that the likes of the Economist and the Financial Times write in narratives as well, often completely detached from their capitalist foundations too. Too many journalists with vested interests these days.
Following your link, the claim that Hinkley Point is a uniquely bad nuclear project doesn't stand up to scrutiny. The "four times" figure refers to South Korea, which is the closest thing to a success story for nuclear outisde China. Flamanville (started much earlier, before costs rose) was only 25 per cent cheaper. And the US AP-1000 fiasco was even worse, with two of the four reactors abandoned after billions of dollars ahad already been spent.
This matters because the correct lesson isn't: do better next time (with Sizewell C, or vaporware SMRs). It's stop wasting scarce public funds on super-expensive nuclear power.
Yes and no. Yes public services and tbh those who deliver them are failing appallingly, agreed. But markets wont solve anything. Free markets dont and never have existed. Capitalism is not only dead - it was never alive. It was only ever a mechanism to allow a few powerful families to parasitise the productive efforts of the British people.
The UK like many other countries is devolving into a “second world” state that is not only much worse than a proper first world nation, but indeed worse than a third-world one. Third-world countries are corrupt, but there are reasonably efficient workarounds ands affordances that permit people to maintain a functional if relatively impoverished existence. Second-world nations retain some of the wealth generated by the high-trust first-world version of the culture that once existed, but everything breaks down and grinds to a halt due to sheer spiritual bankruptcy. This is a sad fate for a once-great nation.
Yes, we are indeed the 6th biggest economy in GDP terms, but the reason we feel broke is that measured by GDP per capita, we're really middle of the table, and being overtaken by one nation after another. We are, in fact, broke.
Our decline and the relentless decay of our public spaces will continue until we prioritise economic growth, and I don't have any sense the public is ready for the costs of that.
"The RAF still doesn’t have any of these new helicopters".
Isn't it lucky that the RAF has no need for helicopters, or fighters, or bombers, or transports. Just as the army and navy have no need for weapons, because no one is threatening us and we shouldn't be threatening (or actually attacking) anyone.
Whereas of course Sir Keir and his moronic government are trying to provoke a war with Russia which, if the Russians ever took it seriously, would end in about 20 minutes with Britain becoming uninhabitable.