It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
Good on you! It only takes one law abiding driver (or commercial/emergency vehicle) to enforce them.
Given the number of roads that are already excepted from 20mph, I suspected that councils would find it difficult to find any more without pissing off local residents (people like driving at 30mph past other people's houses). I'd guess that is what is happening here?
Nope. It's just Denbigh and Flint have been apathetic about doing a proper in-depth study of speed limits, unlike say Gwynedd.
The reaction I'm seeing suggests this is pissing locals off more than tourists.
Compare and contrast to somewhere like Edinburgh, where almost everything inside the bypass is 20mph or moving towards it.
That map isn't correct. Of the 20mph zones I've been driving through, it's got Ruthin and Llanfiar MG but not Cerrigydrudion or Pwllglas.
Edit - on a double check, not Llanfair either
That would suggest they were 20mph limits already.
It might, but the signs all appear to be new. They might, of course, have been renewed at the same time, or only have been introduced just before. But if the latter, we're splitting hairs about the ubiquity of them.
Edit - I'm remembering that article you sent me by mistake for something else, about how important it was when changing speed limits to prepare the ground carefully and make sure everyone had bought into and understood the changes. The reaction I'm seeing here suggests that just hasn't happened. But equally, I seem to remember that wasn't a point of dispute.
I'm suggesting that much of the opposition to 20mph limits in Wales is based on false information. Indeed, what BigG describes as the perfect suite of speed limits is in effect what the Welsh government has introduced, given the very large number of existing exceptions (and perhaps more after the consultation).
Indeed, you've just demonstrated that a number of the limits were already in place, but are being falsely attributed to the new scheme. You can't cater for that kind of misinformation, and you either rely on your democratic mandate and tough it out, or capitulate.
Good morning
I would suggest you have no idea about the actual position in Wales both in public opinion which indicates 70% opposition to the way the scheme has been implemented from those actually living and driving in Wales, and you seem to ignore that the Welsh government itself concedes it is to change
You can go from 20mph to 30 mph to 40 mph back to 20mph over the Little Orme in a distance less than three quarters of a mie when the previous speed limit was 30 mph and 40mph
Look at the maps from Edinburgh as much as you want but that is not what is the experience nor is it some conspiracy theory that it is based on misinformation
Frankly the issue has been widely discussed in Wales by those living in Wales and the government have listened so little point in arguing an issue that the Welsh have dealt with
Hello BigG , hope you are well. We see yet again these anti - car nutters desperate to stop people being able to get around whilst they live in large cities and even different countries, they spout crap about using bikes and public transport. Bet they are worst polluters to boot as they fly off to the sun etc.
Morning Malc - thank you and considering my health issues I am very grateful to be plodding along
The argument over Wales 20mph zones has been widely discussed in Wales and recognised by the Welsh government it was not implemented properly and changes are being made
The conspiracy theory of misinformation is not valid as it is the day to day experience of Welsh drivers that has led to the changes accepted across the political divide and it has to be said nobody objects to 20mph zones near schools, hospitals, and villages
It is interesting that Starmer has avoided the same error by Drakeford and not mandating it for England from central government but leaving it to local councils to decide where these measures are best applied
I would just say about cycling there are many cycle paths now already separating them from road users, but in our area there are not a large number of cyclists on the roads anyway
It's just dawned on me that Boris might try to return via a Richmond/Yorkshire by-election if Rishi decides to stand down.
A return via a by-election would be the route, particularly if the party was struggling under a dud leader like Jenrick. You can just imagine the momentum - "Bring back Boris". He'd be better off waiting - and letting the meme develop - than seeking an early return. Stranger things have happened.
"You don't want people to be paid a decent wage for doing the jobs you don't want (or can't) do? Why?"
Doctors and train drivers are not poorly paid. Their pay increases are not due to the Government deciding, on merit/economic circumstance, rises are needed but in response to the threat of strike action. They also, of course, benefit from practically guaranteed employment (provided they don't commit some horrendous act) and pensions.
As for work I can't or don't want to do: that applies to a huge variety of jobs. And a job not being something I want to do doesn't make it saintly, and even saintly jobs require a level of pay that's affordable.
Money is absent when required for planned investment. But it's always there when the unions come knocking (at least, so far in this Labour Government's brief time in office).
It's simple supply and demand. Australia beckons.
An easy way to reduce the number of doctors in the long run would be public health investment, as you suggest. But any attempt to improve walking and cycling provision, save playing fields from development, sugar taxes and so on is met with opposition too.
It's just dawned on me that Boris might try to return via a Richmond/Yorkshire by-election if Rishi decides to stand down.
It really shows how out of ideas the Tories are that the plan is to bring back Johnson and to criticise Reeves for the austerity that they had built into the finances.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
Good on you! It only takes one law abiding driver (or commercial/emergency vehicle) to enforce them.
Given the number of roads that are already excepted from 20mph, I suspected that councils would find it difficult to find any more without pissing off local residents (people like driving at 30mph past other people's houses). I'd guess that is what is happening here?
Nope. It's just Denbigh and Flint have been apathetic about doing a proper in-depth study of speed limits, unlike say Gwynedd.
The reaction I'm seeing suggests this is pissing locals off more than tourists.
Compare and contrast to somewhere like Edinburgh, where almost everything inside the bypass is 20mph or moving towards it.
That map isn't correct. Of the 20mph zones I've been driving through, it's got Ruthin and Llanfiar MG but not Cerrigydrudion or Pwllglas.
Edit - on a double check, not Llanfair either
That would suggest they were 20mph limits already.
It might, but the signs all appear to be new. They might, of course, have been renewed at the same time, or only have been introduced just before. But if the latter, we're splitting hairs about the ubiquity of them.
Edit - I'm remembering that article you sent me by mistake for something else, about how important it was when changing speed limits to prepare the ground carefully and make sure everyone had bought into and understood the changes. The reaction I'm seeing here suggests that just hasn't happened. But equally, I seem to remember that wasn't a point of dispute.
I'm suggesting that much of the opposition to 20mph limits in Wales is based on false information. Indeed, what BigG describes as the perfect suite of speed limits is in effect what the Welsh government has introduced, given the very large number of existing exceptions (and perhaps more after the consultation).
Indeed, you've just demonstrated that a number of the limits were already in place, but are being falsely attributed to the new scheme. You can't cater for that kind of misinformation, and you either rely on your democratic mandate and tough it out, or capitulate.
Good morning
I would suggest you have no idea about the actual position in Wales both in public opinion which indicates 70% opposition to the way the scheme has been implemented from those actually living and driving in Wales, and you seem to ignore that the Welsh government itself concedes it is to change
You can go from 20mph to 30 mph to 40 mph back to 20mph over the Little Orme in a distance less than three quarters of a mie when the previous speed limit was 30 mph and 40mph
Look at the maps from Edinburgh as much as you want but that is not what is the experience nor is it some conspiracy theory that it is based on misinformation
Frankly the issue has been widely discussed in Wales by those living in Wales and the government have listened so little point in arguing an issue that the Welsh have dealt with
The map is that published by the Welsh Government. If you think their civil service GIS team is providing false information you should probably take them to court.
Honestly, with respect I think you are losing it - indeed in Wales you have
It's just dawned on me that Boris might try to return via a Richmond/Yorkshire by-election if Rishi decides to stand down.
It really shows how out of ideas the Tories are that the plan is to bring back Johnson and to criticise Reeves for the austerity that they had built into the finances.
Criticising the other side for the austerity that they had built into the finances? That sounds familiar.
"You don't want people to be paid a decent wage for doing the jobs you don't want (or can't) do? Why?"
Doctors and train drivers are not poorly paid. Their pay increases are not due to the Government deciding, on merit/economic circumstance, rises are needed but in response to the threat of strike action. They also, of course, benefit from practically guaranteed employment (provided they don't commit some horrendous act) and pensions.
As for work I can't or don't want to do: that applies to a huge variety of jobs. And a job not being something I want to do doesn't make it saintly, and even saintly jobs require a level of pay that's affordable.
Money is absent when required for planned investment. But it's always there when the unions come knocking (at least, so far in this Labour Government's brief time in office).
It's simple supply and demand. Australia beckons.
An easy way to reduce the number of doctors in the long run would be public health investment, as you suggest. But any attempt to improve walking and cycling provision, save playing fields from development, sugar taxes and so on is met with opposition too.
I've never seen any objection to new cycle paths being developed when being accompanied by new roads.
Your problem is you have a visceral hatred of cars and roads, though you deny it, and want new cycling provision being taken from existing roads with no new roads to compensate.
SKS Fans your vote for Labour turned out to be 22-44% rise in Water Bills Two Child Cap kept 10m pensioners Winter Fuel Allowance Axed Big military spend increase £3bn of NHS contracts offered to private sector £5.5bn Austerity for Public Services 5,500 released early from prison
Congratulations great work
Is there a cite for this list with some analysis? I'm interested.
I have not seen for example the £3pn of private sector contracts from the NHS item before.
It's just dawned on me that Boris might try to return via a Richmond/Yorkshire by-election if Rishi decides to stand down.
It really shows how out of ideas the Tories are that the plan is to bring back Johnson and to criticise Reeves for the austerity that they had built into the finances.
Criticising the other side for the austerity that they had built into the finances? That sounds familiar.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
Good on you! It only takes one law abiding driver (or commercial/emergency vehicle) to enforce them.
Given the number of roads that are already excepted from 20mph, I suspected that councils would find it difficult to find any more without pissing off local residents (people like driving at 30mph past other people's houses). I'd guess that is what is happening here?
Nope. It's just Denbigh and Flint have been apathetic about doing a proper in-depth study of speed limits, unlike say Gwynedd.
The reaction I'm seeing suggests this is pissing locals off more than tourists.
Compare and contrast to somewhere like Edinburgh, where almost everything inside the bypass is 20mph or moving towards it.
That map isn't correct. Of the 20mph zones I've been driving through, it's got Ruthin and Llanfiar MG but not Cerrigydrudion or Pwllglas.
Edit - on a double check, not Llanfair either
That would suggest they were 20mph limits already.
It might, but the signs all appear to be new. They might, of course, have been renewed at the same time, or only have been introduced just before. But if the latter, we're splitting hairs about the ubiquity of them.
Edit - I'm remembering that article you sent me by mistake for something else, about how important it was when changing speed limits to prepare the ground carefully and make sure everyone had bought into and understood the changes. The reaction I'm seeing here suggests that just hasn't happened. But equally, I seem to remember that wasn't a point of dispute.
I'm suggesting that much of the opposition to 20mph limits in Wales is based on false information. Indeed, what BigG describes as the perfect suite of speed limits is in effect what the Welsh government has introduced, given the very large number of existing exceptions (and perhaps more after the consultation).
Indeed, you've just demonstrated that a number of the limits were already in place, but are being falsely attributed to the new scheme. You can't cater for that kind of misinformation, and you either rely on your democratic mandate and tough it out, or capitulate.
Good morning
I would suggest you have no idea about the actual position in Wales both in public opinion which indicates 70% opposition to the way the scheme has been implemented from those actually living and driving in Wales, and you seem to ignore that the Welsh government itself concedes it is to change
You can go from 20mph to 30 mph to 40 mph back to 20mph over the Little Orme in a distance less than three quarters of a mie when the previous speed limit was 30 mph and 40mph
Look at the maps from Edinburgh as much as you want but that is not what is the experience nor is it some conspiracy theory that it is based on misinformation
Frankly the issue has been widely discussed in Wales by those living in Wales and the government have listened so little point in arguing an issue that the Welsh have dealt with
The map is that published by the Welsh Government. If you think their civil service GIS team is providing false information you should probably take them to court.
Honestly, with respect I think you are losing it - indeed in Wales you have
Are suggesting that my evidence-based approach is indicative of a mental health problem?
The fight for the leadershio of the Tory party really is dire. Have we ever had a more miserable selection of candidates?
How long before the right wing defect to become Faragists and the old school middle ground Tories join the Lib Dems
And who would donate to the Tory's now??
Never going to happen under FPTP unless the Tories lost second place and for someone like me the LDs are too left liberal and Reform too populist right.
Plus if the LDs became the centre right party they would need to be to win over remaining middle ground Tories, the social democrat wing of the LDs would in turn defect en masse to Starmer Labour who in turn would likely leak further to the Greens
How's that focus on growth working out, between the windfall tax and cutting investment to fling cash at the unions?
You don't want people to be paid a decent wage for doing the jobs you don't want (or can't) do? Why?
Train drivers and Doctor's are among the highest paid in the country already, what do you count as a decent wage £150K
I dunno about that. The starting salary for a junior doctor is about £32K, which isn't that high compared to other graduate jobs requiring a similar level of qualification. My own lad has just been offered a job in finance with a salary far higher than that when he finishes his degree.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
Good on you! It only takes one law abiding driver (or commercial/emergency vehicle) to enforce them.
Given the number of roads that are already excepted from 20mph, I suspected that councils would find it difficult to find any more without pissing off local residents (people like driving at 30mph past other people's houses). I'd guess that is what is happening here?
Why italicise that?
If people choose to live on a main road, what's wrong with driving past their home at 30mph or 40mph or 50mph if that's the speed limit?
Main arterial roads should be 40 or 50mph through towns and 60 or 70mph outside of towns.
20 is plenty for residential streets, but arteries are not residential streets.
That does get more complicated in Wales, where the lack of bypasses means very often they are the same thing. Ponterwyd or Rhayader or Aberystwyth, for example.
There are some however classified as residential that really are not. The A44 at Llangurig where the 20mph zone goes past the church, the pub and a garage springs to mind. The village itself is on a back street...
I still maintain this road near me should be a 40 https://tinyurl.com/5n7f524t got done for doing 36 about 6 years back.
It's close. I can see why that's 30, but bit harsh to nick people on it for 36. This 30 limit on the way into Guildford catches people (not speed cameras, but police camera vans love it):
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
Good on you! It only takes one law abiding driver (or commercial/emergency vehicle) to enforce them.
Given the number of roads that are already excepted from 20mph, I suspected that councils would find it difficult to find any more without pissing off local residents (people like driving at 30mph past other people's houses). I'd guess that is what is happening here?
Nope. It's just Denbigh and Flint have been apathetic about doing a proper in-depth study of speed limits, unlike say Gwynedd.
The reaction I'm seeing suggests this is pissing locals off more than tourists.
Compare and contrast to somewhere like Edinburgh, where almost everything inside the bypass is 20mph or moving towards it.
That map isn't correct. Of the 20mph zones I've been driving through, it's got Ruthin and Llanfiar MG but not Cerrigydrudion or Pwllglas.
Edit - on a double check, not Llanfair either
That would suggest they were 20mph limits already.
It might, but the signs all appear to be new. They might, of course, have been renewed at the same time, or only have been introduced just before. But if the latter, we're splitting hairs about the ubiquity of them.
Edit - I'm remembering that article you sent me by mistake for something else, about how important it was when changing speed limits to prepare the ground carefully and make sure everyone had bought into and understood the changes. The reaction I'm seeing here suggests that just hasn't happened. But equally, I seem to remember that wasn't a point of dispute.
I'm suggesting that much of the opposition to 20mph limits in Wales is based on false information. Indeed, what BigG describes as the perfect suite of speed limits is in effect what the Welsh government has introduced, given the very large number of existing exceptions (and perhaps more after the consultation).
Indeed, you've just demonstrated that a number of the limits were already in place, but are being falsely attributed to the new scheme. You can't cater for that kind of misinformation, and you either rely on your democratic mandate and tough it out, or capitulate.
Good morning
I would suggest you have no idea about the actual position in Wales both in public opinion which indicates 70% opposition to the way the scheme has been implemented from those actually living and driving in Wales, and you seem to ignore that the Welsh government itself concedes it is to change
You can go from 20mph to 30 mph to 40 mph back to 20mph over the Little Orme in a distance less than three quarters of a mie when the previous speed limit was 30 mph and 40mph
Look at the maps from Edinburgh as much as you want but that is not what is the experience nor is it some conspiracy theory that it is based on misinformation
Frankly the issue has been widely discussed in Wales by those living in Wales and the government have listened so little point in arguing an issue that the Welsh have dealt with
The map is that published by the Welsh Government. If you think their civil service GIS team is providing false information you should probably take them to court.
Honestly, with respect I think you are losing it - indeed in Wales you have
Are suggesting that my evidence-based approach is indicative of a mental health problem?
Nothing to do with mental health but that you have lost the argument you are trying to make decisively by the people and government here in Wales
The UK economy continues to move along quite nicely:
"August is witnessing a welcome combination of stronger economic growth, improved job creation and lower inflation, according to provisional PMI survey data.
“Both manufacturing and service sectors are reporting solid output growth and increased job gains as business confidence remains elevated by historical standards.
“Although GDP growth looks set to weaken in the third quarter compared to the impressive gains seen in the first half of the year, the PMI is indicative of the economy expanding at a reasonably solid quarterly rate of around 0.3%.
“Inflationary pressures have meanwhile moderated further in August, including notably in the service sector, which has been a key area of concern for the Bank of England.
“The latest survey data therefore help lower the bar for further interest rate cuts, although the still-elevated nature of inflation in the service sector suggests that policymakers will move cautiously."
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
While the French services sector got an Olympic boost:
France’s private sector registered its first month of expansion since April during August, latest HCOB PMI® survey data revealed, with the overall pace of growth at its quickest since March 2023 as a strong upturn in services activity propelled the broader economy. This came despite an intensification of manufacturing malaise, as factory orders fell at the steepest pace in over four years. Indeed, aside from the headline index’s improvement, August PMI data highlighted fragility across France’s economy. Private sector employment decreased for the first time since January, while overall new business also shrank. Expectations for growth over the next 12 months also slipped to their weakest in almost a year.
I really don't think an RFK Jr withdrawal helps Trump that much. For starters he is a pro choice on abortion, anti corporation, pro environmental regulation son of Democratic royalty. Indeed Yougov had Kennedy Jr taking 47% of Biden 2020 voters and 43% of Trump 2020 voters ie about even
If anything his withdrawal may impact the popular vote more as in safe states like New York, California or Texas voters are more likely to be making a third party protest vote than swing states where every vote counts
Weird guy joining team weird doesn't really make any difference at all.
It's just dawned on me that Boris might try to return via a Richmond/Yorkshire by-election if Rishi decides to stand down.
It really shows how out of ideas the Tories are that the plan is to bring back Johnson and to criticise Reeves for the austerity that they had built into the finances.
Why would a newly elected leader allow Johnson onto the selection list for Sunak's seat when he stands down in October?
I really don't think an RFK Jr withdrawal helps Trump that much. For starters he is a pro choice on abortion, anti corporation, pro environmental regulation son of Democratic royalty. Indeed Yougov had Kennedy Jr taking 47% of Biden 2020 voters and 43% of Trump 2020 voters ie about even
If anything his withdrawal may impact the popular vote more as in safe states like New York, California or Texas voters are more likely to be making a third party protest vote than swing states where every vote counts
Weird guy joining team weird doesn't really make any difference at all.
I've just watched the highlights of Coach Walz's speech, linked to earlier. My word, he's impressive, regardless of political views. One of the most effective and articulate down-to-earth communicators I've ever seen - with apparently not much practice, certainly not to an audience of that size and importance.
Starmer should watch it and learn a thing or two from it, especially if he wants his 'son of a toolmaker' stuff to resonate more favourably. He is just so stiff in comparison to Walz.
Walz is a good orator and campaigner, better than Starmer on that but probably Starmer has the higher IQ of the 2 and his mode of operation is dull but competent. He is also no 1 in Labour, Walz only no 2 in the Democrats ie their equivalent of Angela Rayner to whip up the activists
"You don't want people to be paid a decent wage for doing the jobs you don't want (or can't) do? Why?"
Doctors and train drivers are not poorly paid. Their pay increases are not due to the Government deciding, on merit/economic circumstance, rises are needed but in response to the threat of strike action. They also, of course, benefit from practically guaranteed employment (provided they don't commit some horrendous act) and pensions.
As for work I can't or don't want to do: that applies to a huge variety of jobs. And a job not being something I want to do doesn't make it saintly, and even saintly jobs require a level of pay that's affordable.
Money is absent when required for planned investment. But it's always there when the unions come knocking (at least, so far in this Labour Government's brief time in office).
It's simple supply and demand. Australia beckons.
An easy way to reduce the number of doctors in the long run would be public health investment, as you suggest. But any attempt to improve walking and cycling provision, save playing fields from development, sugar taxes and so on is met with opposition too.
I agree, the way to deal with health issues in the longer term is to implement an updated version of the Marmot report published in the dying days of the Brown government.
A key to economic growth was to bring an end to the public sector and rail strikes. They had been creating misery for too long, and holding back the economy.
After all, isn't the purpose of controlling immigration to boost wages for working people? Or should we send out recruiting parties to India to sign up train drivers?
"Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has said decisions on introducing road calming and safety schemes, such as 20mph zones, should remain with local communities rather than her department."
That's a response to the Conservative trying to stop LAs putting in place LTNs, 20mph limits and bus lanes.
If you're a fan of local democracy this is welcome news. In the Streets Ahead podcast she suggested that councils will have her full support if they go for schemes like this, which I think relates to the fact many councillors get extreme levels of personal abuse whenever they try, despite overwhelming democratic mandates to do so.
What's interesting is that the new shadow Transport Secretary has come out strongly against it, very much in the big government/culture war mode.
When you say "overwhelming democratic mandate", what you actually mean is "all shades of local councillors are fully signed up for this stuff, so there is no possibility to vote it down".
My town has several very busy roads with 30mph limits which should probably really be 40mph (that's the speed traffic moves most of the time anyway). My idiot local council has consulted several times about making them 20mph, each time the answer they get back is a resounding no. I'm fairly sure they will eventually rig a consultation well enough the results are 50:50 and then do it anyway.
Also, in stupid justifications for things, a lot of the out of town roads round my way are officially very dangerous, entirely because middle aged men on sports motorcycles insist on converting themselves into unpleasant jam sandwiches. (5 in two separate incidents last weekend) Take motorcycle accidents out of the numbers and they are amongst the safest roads in the country. Despite this, the total casualty numbers (mostly bikers) are constantly used as an argument to lower the speed limits on said roads, which the middle aged men on sports bikes were ignoring anyway. Given that most of the appeal to the mid life crisis types appears to be the real risk of conversion to jam, preventing them achieving this fate seems to be one for the patron sant of lost causes, and we'd do better to either accept that it's going to happen or restrict the availability of sports bikes in some way. Slowing down everyone else on their commute to work seems a particularly bad answer to the problem.
"You don't want people to be paid a decent wage for doing the jobs you don't want (or can't) do? Why?"
Doctors and train drivers are not poorly paid. Their pay increases are not due to the Government deciding, on merit/economic circumstance, rises are needed but in response to the threat of strike action. They also, of course, benefit from practically guaranteed employment (provided they don't commit some horrendous act) and pensions.
As for work I can't or don't want to do: that applies to a huge variety of jobs. And a job not being something I want to do doesn't make it saintly, and even saintly jobs require a level of pay that's affordable.
Money is absent when required for planned investment. But it's always there when the unions come knocking (at least, so far in this Labour Government's brief time in office).
No jobs are saintly, but just need doing. If you're not willing to pay for a public sector to run local communities and services, you'll have to pay Serco/Capita/G4S or OCP to do the same job. Obviously, the shareholders come before any public service in that case, and you only have to look at Thames Water to see where that can end up. Now, there's an argument to be had about train drivers and doctors getting what they do but demonising all public sector is just bizarre. As to pensions and job security (I've known of plenty getting the push for various reasons at the sharp end) if you're jealous, you can always apply to work in the public sector.
It was very good. I particularly liked the reference to Project 2025. "As a school coach, and trust me on this, when the other side go to the trouble to produce a playbook they are going to use it."
But most of it was relentlessly positive. "While other states were banning books we banned hunger from our schools."
I think Conventions speak almost exclusively to the converted. ..
And, of course, you've had a number of Republicans speaking at the DNC, as they endorse Harris.
There was an interesting conversation around the convention (and the 40ft estd by me high video wall).
Interesting commentary from Alistair Campbell and Rory Steward on The Rest is Politics, especially on how the DNC is put together, narratives etc, and discussing Project 2025, which they have both read.
As a minor point - interesting side comments from Rory Stewart on the thousands of US marines going to pray each morning in the bases in Iraq during the war/occupation, and his reaction.
I've just watched the highlights of Coach Walz's speech, linked to earlier. My word, he's impressive, regardless of political views. One of the most effective and articulate down-to-earth communicators I've ever seen - with apparently not much practice, certainly not to an audience of that size and importance.
Starmer should watch it and learn a thing or two from it, especially if he wants his 'son of a toolmaker' stuff to resonate more favourably. He is just so stiff in comparison to Walz.
I my own (mercifully) brief experience of teaching, being a confident speaker is a fantastic quality to have. If you don't have it to begin with, you'd better learn it pdq.
Jenrick's "Bring Back Boris" schtick is obviously designed to appeal to the voting members if he makes it to the last two, that's all. And I suspect it will work.
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
SKS Fans your vote for Labour turned out to be 22-44% rise in Water Bills Two Child Cap kept 10m pensioners Winter Fuel Allowance Axed Big military spend increase £3bn of NHS contracts offered to private sector £5.5bn Austerity for Public Services 5,500 released early from prison
Congratulations great work
Your Islamic bloc MPs would have to do the same, even if in opposition they can just blame the rich globalist businessmen
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
You very quickly get used to 20mph zones, we’ve had them here in suburban north London for years. Trust me.
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
You very quickly get used to 20mph zones, we’ve had them here in suburban north London for years. Trust me.
Edinburgh, London . . . what is it with those here in capital cities wanting to impose their mores on the rest of the country?
SKS Fans your vote for Labour turned out to be 22-44% rise in Water Bills Two Child Cap kept 10m pensioners Winter Fuel Allowance Axed Big military spend increase £3bn of NHS contracts offered to private sector £5.5bn Austerity for Public Services 5,500 released early from prison
Congratulations great work
In favour of:
Two Child Cap kept 10m pensioners Winter Fuel Allowance Axed Big military spend increase
Clear legacies of prevous govt: 22-44% rise in Water Bills (21% over 5 years according to google, nothing unusual anyway) 5,500 released early from prison
Ambivalent on: £3bn of NHS contracts offered to private sector (not a significant part of NHS spending or contracts, imagine annual private sector NHS involvement is in tens of billions already).
So left with £5.5bn Austerity for Public Services - generous/fair pay settlements for lots of public sector workers , of course some areas have to be cut back but that does not equal austerity.
"You don't want people to be paid a decent wage for doing the jobs you don't want (or can't) do? Why?"
Doctors and train drivers are not poorly paid. Their pay increases are not due to the Government deciding, on merit/economic circumstance, rises are needed but in response to the threat of strike action. They also, of course, benefit from practically guaranteed employment (provided they don't commit some horrendous act) and pensions.
As for work I can't or don't want to do: that applies to a huge variety of jobs. And a job not being something I want to do doesn't make it saintly, and even saintly jobs require a level of pay that's affordable.
Money is absent when required for planned investment. But it's always there when the unions come knocking (at least, so far in this Labour Government's brief time in office).
It's simple supply and demand. Australia beckons.
An easy way to reduce the number of doctors in the long run would be public health investment, as you suggest. But any attempt to improve walking and cycling provision, save playing fields from development, sugar taxes and so on is met with opposition too.
I agree, the way to deal with health issues in the longer term is to implement an updated version of the Marmot report published in the dying days of the Brown government.
A key to economic growth was to bring an end to the public sector and rail strikes. They had been creating misery for too long, and holding back the economy.
After all, isn't the purpose of controlling immigration to boost wages for working people? Or should we send out recruiting parties to India to sign up train drivers?
I remember that in 2021 we had numerous PBers demanding the immigration of as many European delivery drivers as was required to stop wages rises.
Ditto for supermarket, agricultural and construction workers.
"Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has said decisions on introducing road calming and safety schemes, such as 20mph zones, should remain with local communities rather than her department."
That's a response to the Conservative trying to stop LAs putting in place LTNs, 20mph limits and bus lanes.
If you're a fan of local democracy this is welcome news. In the Streets Ahead podcast she suggested that councils will have her full support if they go for schemes like this, which I think relates to the fact many councillors get extreme levels of personal abuse whenever they try, despite overwhelming democratic mandates to do so.
What's interesting is that the new shadow Transport Secretary has come out strongly against it, very much in the big government/culture war mode.
When you say "overwhelming democratic mandate", what you actually mean is "all shades of local councillors are fully signed up for this stuff, so there is no possibility to vote it down".
My town has several very busy roads with 30mph limits which should probably really be 40mph (that's the speed traffic moves most of the time anyway). My idiot local council has consulted several times about making them 20mph, each time the answer they get back is a resounding no. I'm fairly sure they will eventually rig a consultation well enough the results are 50:50 and then do it anyway.
Also, in stupid justifications for things, a lot of the out of town roads round my way are officially very dangerous, entirely because middle aged men on sports motorcycles insist on converting themselves into unpleasant jam sandwiches. (5 in two separate incidents last weekend) Take motorcycle accidents out of the numbers and they are amongst the safest roads in the country. Despite this, the total casualty numbers (mostly bikers) are constantly used as an argument to lower the speed limits on said roads, which the middle aged men on sports bikes were ignoring anyway. Given that most of the appeal to the mid life crisis types appears to be the real risk of conversion to jam, preventing them achieving this fate seems to be one for the patron sant of lost causes, and we'd do better to either accept that it's going to happen or restrict the availability of sports bikes in some way. Slowing down everyone else on their commute to work seems a particularly bad answer to the problem.
Yes, that's what I mean by democratic mandate. When I point out to people in my area that 80% of first preference votes are for councillors who are supportive of LTNs, 20mph, bus lanes, you can almost hear the social media bubble popping. Even local Conservatives can be in favour, if the LTN happens to be in their ward.
And the idea that you need a referendum or something is silly. This is representative democracy and local politics is dominated by debate of local transport issues.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
You very quickly get used to 20mph zones, we’ve had them here in suburban north London for years. Trust me.
Edinburgh, London . . . what is it with those here in capital cities wanting to impose their mores on the rest of the country?
Hasn’t Wales itself imposed the zones? Nothing to do with Edinburgh or London is it?
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
You very quickly get used to 20mph zones, we’ve had them here in suburban north London for years. Trust me.
Indeed some drivers near me have gotten so used to them that they think 12-15mph is a sensible driving speed on a clear open road.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
You very quickly get used to 20mph zones, we’ve had them here in suburban north London for years. Trust me.
Edinburgh, London . . . what is it with those here in capital cities wanting to impose their mores on the rest of the country?
Hasn’t Wales itself imposed the zones? Nothing to do with Edinburgh or London is it?
Warrington was one of the first places to implement 20mph limits anywhere in the UK, if you're looking for someone to blame.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
You very quickly get used to 20mph zones, we’ve had them here in suburban north London for years. Trust me.
I rarely drive in London, but did have to pop down last week. Although it's as busy as it ever was, driving around the city seems a lot more relaxed with the 20 mph limits than it used to be back in the 80s, when I remember it as being quite manic.
Mr. Stopper, " As to pensions and job security (I've known of plenty getting the push for various reasons at the sharp end) if you're jealous, you can always apply to work in the public sector. "
Aye. Why don't we all work for the public sector? Possibly because then there'll be no private sector to actually fund the public sector. A flourishing private sector means more revenue to either reduce borrowing (I wish), reduce taxes, or increase public sector spending.
Hammering the private sector with taxes and reducing growth prospects by axing infrastructure plans reduces economic prosperity and the revenues generated by the private sector to fund the public. Do that and then add in yet more cash for any union that raises an eyebrow and what's left for investment that actually generates a return (transport/communications infrastructure and the like)?
My point on pensions/job security, which you might've noticed but I'll spell out more clearly in case not, is that the very high degree of job security and secure pensions compared to the private sector is a significant perk of the public sector.
If somebody who comments on Scottish affairs despite not living there is a Scotch expert* then is somebody who comments on Welsh affairs despite not living there a Welch expert?
Sounds positively libellous for a betting site if put that way, so I hope not!
*or Stuart Dickson.
And there was me thinking that a Scotch expert was someone who could tell an 18-year-old Macallan from an 18-year-old Glenfiddich?
I’m happy to volunteer by the way, if someone would like to send me a bottle of each I will post the results here.
Really, to be scientific, you would need to do multiple verticals of multiple brands.
Also the horizontals.
With a full double blind protocol. Could take a while.
{Fires up research grant application}
Presumably, if you have a PhD in it, that would make you a Certified Scotch Expert?
"Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has said decisions on introducing road calming and safety schemes, such as 20mph zones, should remain with local communities rather than her department."
That's a response to the Conservative trying to stop LAs putting in place LTNs, 20mph limits and bus lanes.
If you're a fan of local democracy this is welcome news. In the Streets Ahead podcast she suggested that councils will have her full support if they go for schemes like this, which I think relates to the fact many councillors get extreme levels of personal abuse whenever they try, despite overwhelming democratic mandates to do so.
What's interesting is that the new shadow Transport Secretary has come out strongly against it, very much in the big government/culture war mode.
When you say "overwhelming democratic mandate", what you actually mean is "all shades of local councillors are fully signed up for this stuff, so there is no possibility to vote it down".
My town has several very busy roads with 30mph limits which should probably really be 40mph (that's the speed traffic moves most of the time anyway). My idiot local council has consulted several times about making them 20mph, each time the answer they get back is a resounding no. I'm fairly sure they will eventually rig a consultation well enough the results are 50:50 and then do it anyway.
Also, in stupid justifications for things, a lot of the out of town roads round my way are officially very dangerous, entirely because middle aged men on sports motorcycles insist on converting themselves into unpleasant jam sandwiches. (5 in two separate incidents last weekend) Take motorcycle accidents out of the numbers and they are amongst the safest roads in the country. Despite this, the total casualty numbers (mostly bikers) are constantly used as an argument to lower the speed limits on said roads, which the middle aged men on sports bikes were ignoring anyway. Given that most of the appeal to the mid life crisis types appears to be the real risk of conversion to jam, preventing them achieving this fate seems to be one for the patron sant of lost causes, and we'd do better to either accept that it's going to happen or restrict the availability of sports bikes in some way. Slowing down everyone else on their commute to work seems a particularly bad answer to the problem.
Yes, that's what I mean by democratic mandate. When I point out to people in my area that 80% of first preference votes are for councillors who are supportive of LTNs, 20mph, bus lanes, you can almost hear the social media bubble popping. Even local Conservatives can be in favour, if the LTN happens to be in their ward.
And the idea that you need a referendum or something is silly. This is representative democracy and local politics is dominated by debate of local transport issues.
Local democracy is a farce with a low turnout appealing to busybodies on their own hobbyhorses whether it be NIMBYism or any other crap.
But the idea that this is universally popular is absolute balderdash. Maybe in your city, but across the rest of the nation?
If its so popular locally in places like where Big G lives, then why would it be getting imposed by Drakeford's diktat?
The way to get LTNs is to build more roads and relieve the traffic from the old roads onto newer, faster roads. Then everyone can win, but you don't want everyone to win.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
You very quickly get used to 20mph zones, we’ve had them here in suburban north London for years. Trust me.
The difference is that no one attempts to drive any distance in North London. In North Wales, when I was growing up, the "local" hospital was an hours drive away, the nearest supermarket 4 miles away, I went to 6th form 23 miles away.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
You very quickly get used to 20mph zones, we’ve had them here in suburban north London for years. Trust me.
Edinburgh, London . . . what is it with those here in capital cities wanting to impose their mores on the rest of the country?
Hasn’t Wales itself imposed the zones? Nothing to do with Edinburgh or London is it?
I suspect Londoners have a lot less interest in how the rest of the country is run locally than vice versa. A significant part of the country has a weird view of London as a lawless no mans land full of stabbings where you can't possibly take your phone out in public.
I'd be quite happy with an independent London to be honest.
How's that focus on growth working out, between the windfall tax and cutting investment to fling cash at the unions?
Public sector pay had fallen behind private sector pay since 2010. The recent pay rises make up some of the gap, but public sector pay has still increased less than private sector pay since 2010.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
You very quickly get used to 20mph zones, we’ve had them here in suburban north London for years. Trust me.
Edinburgh, London . . . what is it with those here in capital cities wanting to impose their mores on the rest of the country?
Hasn’t Wales itself imposed the zones? Nothing to do with Edinburgh or London is it?
I'm saying the usual suspects on here advocating this crap are from Edinburgh and London.
Drakeford imposed it on his entire country so wasn't following local council instructions.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
Good on you! It only takes one law abiding driver (or commercial/emergency vehicle) to enforce them.
Given the number of roads that are already excepted from 20mph, I suspected that councils would find it difficult to find any more without pissing off local residents (people like driving at 30mph past other people's houses). I'd guess that is what is happening here?
Why italicise that?
If people choose to live on a main road, what's wrong with driving past their home at 30mph or 40mph or 50mph if that's the speed limit?
Main arterial roads should be 40 or 50mph through towns and 60 or 70mph outside of towns.
20 is plenty for residential streets, but arteries are not residential streets.
Those are the closest places we have, including where there are businesses etc, to the horrible freeways-through-town in the USA known as stroads.
For those, 30mph is the max which is realistic, I think. For an example, consider the A6 going into Leicester through Oadby. Anything with a limit of >30mph requires separated mobility infrastructure per national guidelines, for safety reasons.
Nottingham started doing this with most of theirs from the late 1990s, with averaging speed cameras (one of the first uses of SPECS in the country), and it has been a big success. An example is the A610 from M1J26 which is a 40mph limit for the dualled section which then becomes 30mph; there may also be a county / city boundary involved.
(Major highways which have been cut through urban areas with no junctions or buildings on them, such as motorways in Greater Manchester, for example, are a different case I suggest.)
"Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has said decisions on introducing road calming and safety schemes, such as 20mph zones, should remain with local communities rather than her department."
That's a response to the Conservative trying to stop LAs putting in place LTNs, 20mph limits and bus lanes.
If you're a fan of local democracy this is welcome news. In the Streets Ahead podcast she suggested that councils will have her full support if they go for schemes like this, which I think relates to the fact many councillors get extreme levels of personal abuse whenever they try, despite overwhelming democratic mandates to do so.
What's interesting is that the new shadow Transport Secretary has come out strongly against it, very much in the big government/culture war mode.
When you say "overwhelming democratic mandate", what you actually mean is "all shades of local councillors are fully signed up for this stuff, so there is no possibility to vote it down".
My town has several very busy roads with 30mph limits which should probably really be 40mph (that's the speed traffic moves most of the time anyway). My idiot local council has consulted several times about making them 20mph, each time the answer they get back is a resounding no. I'm fairly sure they will eventually rig a consultation well enough the results are 50:50 and then do it anyway.
Also, in stupid justifications for things, a lot of the out of town roads round my way are officially very dangerous, entirely because middle aged men on sports motorcycles insist on converting themselves into unpleasant jam sandwiches. (5 in two separate incidents last weekend) Take motorcycle accidents out of the numbers and they are amongst the safest roads in the country. Despite this, the total casualty numbers (mostly bikers) are constantly used as an argument to lower the speed limits on said roads, which the middle aged men on sports bikes were ignoring anyway. Given that most of the appeal to the mid life crisis types appears to be the real risk of conversion to jam, preventing them achieving this fate seems to be one for the patron sant of lost causes, and we'd do better to either accept that it's going to happen or restrict the availability of sports bikes in some way. Slowing down everyone else on their commute to work seems a particularly bad answer to the problem.
Yes, that's what I mean by democratic mandate. When I point out to people in my area that 80% of first preference votes are for councillors who are supportive of LTNs, 20mph, bus lanes, you can almost hear the social media bubble popping. Even local Conservatives can be in favour, if the LTN happens to be in their ward.
And the idea that you need a referendum or something is silly. This is representative democracy and local politics is dominated by debate of local transport issues.
In general, I think people want the right to drive as fast as they like themselves, but they want other people to slow down when driving through their particular neck of the woods.
"You don't want people to be paid a decent wage for doing the jobs you don't want (or can't) do? Why?"
Doctors and train drivers are not poorly paid. Their pay increases are not due to the Government deciding, on merit/economic circumstance, rises are needed but in response to the threat of strike action. They also, of course, benefit from practically guaranteed employment (provided they don't commit some horrendous act) and pensions.
As for work I can't or don't want to do: that applies to a huge variety of jobs. And a job not being something I want to do doesn't make it saintly, and even saintly jobs require a level of pay that's affordable.
Money is absent when required for planned investment. But it's always there when the unions come knocking (at least, so far in this Labour Government's brief time in office).
It's simple supply and demand. Australia beckons.
An easy way to reduce the number of doctors in the long run would be public health investment, as you suggest. But any attempt to improve walking and cycling provision, save playing fields from development, sugar taxes and so on is met with opposition too.
Scene - an NHS Trust
Manager 1 - We have a shortage of doctors at Hospital X Manager 2 - Time to think outside the box - offer doctors at Hospital X higher pay! Manager 1/Unions/Government - Burn this heretic now!
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
You very quickly get used to 20mph zones, we’ve had them here in suburban north London for years. Trust me.
The difference is that no one attempts to drive any distance in North London. In North Wales, when I was growing up, the "local" hospital was an hours drive away, the nearest supermarket 4 miles away, I went to 6th form 23 miles away.
In which case 20mph will have hardly any effect, with most of journeys in N.Wales on unrestricted roads (as the map posted above shows).
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
You very quickly get used to 20mph zones, we’ve had them here in suburban north London for years. Trust me.
Edinburgh, London . . . what is it with those here in capital cities wanting to impose their mores on the rest of the country?
Hasn’t Wales itself imposed the zones? Nothing to do with Edinburgh or London is it?
I suspect Londoners have a lot less interest in how the rest of the country is run locally than vice versa. A significant part of the country has a weird view of London as a lawless no mans land full of stabbings where you can't possibly take your phone out in public.
I'd be quite happy with an independent London to be honest.
That's the view of the Capital City in nearly every country I've been to. The hatred of Paris, in many part of rural France, is quite startling, for example.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
Good on you! It only takes one law abiding driver (or commercial/emergency vehicle) to enforce them.
Given the number of roads that are already excepted from 20mph, I suspected that councils would find it difficult to find any more without pissing off local residents (people like driving at 30mph past other people's houses). I'd guess that is what is happening here?
Why italicise that?
If people choose to live on a main road, what's wrong with driving past their home at 30mph or 40mph or 50mph if that's the speed limit?
Main arterial roads should be 40 or 50mph through towns and 60 or 70mph outside of towns.
20 is plenty for residential streets, but arteries are not residential streets.
Those are the closest places we have, including where there are businesses etc, to the horrible freeways-through-town in the USA known as stroads.
For those, 30mph is the max which is realistic, I think. For an example, consider the A6 going into Leicester through Oadby. Anything with a limit of >30mph requires separated mobility infrastructure per national guidelines, for safety reasons.
(Major highways which have been cut through urban areas with no junctions or buildings on them, such as motorways in Greater Manchester, for example, are a different case I suggest.)
40 or 50 and separated mobility infrastructure works quite well. What's wrong with that exactly?
As too does having 40-50mph through roads with junctions or roundabouts leading to local roads, which is a very British solution not an American one.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
You very quickly get used to 20mph zones, we’ve had them here in suburban north London for years. Trust me.
Edinburgh, London . . . what is it with those here in capital cities wanting to impose their mores on the rest of the country?
Hasn’t Wales itself imposed the zones? Nothing to do with Edinburgh or London is it?
I'm saying the usual suspects on here advocating this crap are from Edinburgh and London.
Drakeford imposed it on his entire country so wasn't following local council instructions.
Not true, all local councils were asked to propose exceptions and these are detailed on the map above. There are hundreds of them.
The UK economy continues to move along quite nicely:
"August is witnessing a welcome combination of stronger economic growth, improved job creation and lower inflation, according to provisional PMI survey data.
“Both manufacturing and service sectors are reporting solid output growth and increased job gains as business confidence remains elevated by historical standards.
“Although GDP growth looks set to weaken in the third quarter compared to the impressive gains seen in the first half of the year, the PMI is indicative of the economy expanding at a reasonably solid quarterly rate of around 0.3%.
“Inflationary pressures have meanwhile moderated further in August, including notably in the service sector, which has been a key area of concern for the Bank of England.
“The latest survey data therefore help lower the bar for further interest rate cuts, although the still-elevated nature of inflation in the service sector suggests that policymakers will move cautiously."
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
While the French services sector got an Olympic boost:
France’s private sector registered its first month of expansion since April during August, latest HCOB PMI® survey data revealed, with the overall pace of growth at its quickest since March 2023 as a strong upturn in services activity propelled the broader economy. This came despite an intensification of manufacturing malaise, as factory orders fell at the steepest pace in over four years. Indeed, aside from the headline index’s improvement, August PMI data highlighted fragility across France’s economy. Private sector employment decreased for the first time since January, while overall new business also shrank. Expectations for growth over the next 12 months also slipped to their weakest in almost a year.
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
It's hard to see how they can compete with China moving up the value chain in manufacturing. They're going to be left behind in car exports soon:
Perhaps Germany should have spent as much effort in developing electric cars as they did in cheating on diesel emissions.
It's ironic that BMW created the first electric car that Jeremy Clarkson preferred to a petrol one (the i8), and then they effectively abandoned the space, just before it took off.
The other thing I find impressive about that chart is how well the Japanese have turned things around, given they were *very* late to the game with electric, having abandoned the Leaf, and having gone down a number of dead ends like the hydrogen powered Mirai.
How's that focus on growth working out, between the windfall tax and cutting investment to fling cash at the unions?
Public sector pay had fallen behind private sector pay since 2010. The recent pay rises make up some of the gap, but public sector pay has still increased less than private sector pay since 2010.
I don't recall train drivers being paid whopping amounts in 2010.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
You very quickly get used to 20mph zones, we’ve had them here in suburban north London for years. Trust me.
Edinburgh, London . . . what is it with those here in capital cities wanting to impose their mores on the rest of the country?
Hasn’t Wales itself imposed the zones? Nothing to do with Edinburgh or London is it?
I'm saying the usual suspects on here advocating this crap are from Edinburgh and London.
Drakeford imposed it on his entire country so wasn't following local council instructions.
Not true, all local councils were asked to propose exceptions and these are detailed on the map above. There are hundreds of them.
Creating exemptions is putting the cart before the horse.
30mph is a perfectly reasonable minimum default, though 40mph or higher is preferable.
How's that focus on growth working out, between the windfall tax and cutting investment to fling cash at the unions?
Public sector pay had fallen behind private sector pay since 2010. The recent pay rises make up some of the gap, but public sector pay has still increased less than private sector pay since 2010.
Virtually everyone thinks that their work should be valued/paid more.
The same virtually everyone thinks that they should pay less for the work of others.
It's not a pretty aspect of human nature, but we virtually all do it, so there's not point complaining.
(But if you think public sector doctors, teachers, lawyers, computer bods etc are expensive, consider how much the same people cost privately. I'm pretty confident that having one dominant employer setting a pay rate is cheaper than the alternative.)
How's that focus on growth working out, between the windfall tax and cutting investment to fling cash at the unions?
Public sector pay had fallen behind private sector pay since 2010. The recent pay rises make up some of the gap, but public sector pay has still increased less than private sector pay since 2010.
I don't recall train drivers being paid whopping amounts in 2010.
People have been complaining about train driver salaries for as long as I can remember.
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
It's hard to see how they can compete with China moving up the value chain in manufacturing. They're going to be left behind in car exports soon:
Perhaps Germany should have spent as much effort in developing electric cars as they did in cheating on diesel emissions.
It's ironic that BMW created the first electric car that Jeremy Clarkson preferred to a petrol one (the i8), and then they effectively abandoned the space, just before it took off.
The other thing I find impressive about that chart is how well the Japanese have turned things around, given they were *very* late to the game with electric, having abandoned the Leaf, and having gone down a number of dead ends like the hydrogen powered Mirai.
I'm surprised by the flat US figures. What about all those Teslas?
Mr. Stopper, " As to pensions and job security (I've known of plenty getting the push for various reasons at the sharp end) if you're jealous, you can always apply to work in the public sector. "
Aye. Why don't we all work for the public sector? Possibly because then there'll be no private sector to actually fund the public sector. A flourishing private sector means more revenue to either reduce borrowing (I wish), reduce taxes, or increase public sector spending.
Hammering the private sector with taxes and reducing growth prospects by axing infrastructure plans reduces economic prosperity and the revenues generated by the private sector to fund the public. Do that and then add in yet more cash for any union that raises an eyebrow and what's left for investment that actually generates a return (transport/communications infrastructure and the like)?
My point on pensions/job security, which you might've noticed but I'll spell out more clearly in case not, is that the very high degree of job security and secure pensions compared to the private sector is a significant perk of the public sector.
But you have to pay for the public sector. You have to pay for healthcare, education, emergency services, armed forces, local councils and the myriad of other things you expect to miraculously happen. What alternative do you propose? I'm not arguing against streamlining it, making it efficient, cutting what doesn't work, but why do you expect to pay peanuts if your house is on fire at stupid o'clock in the morning and you're asleep in your wankpit and you need help?
If somebody who comments on Scottish affairs despite not living there is a Scotch expert* then is somebody who comments on Welsh affairs despite not living there a Welch expert?
Sounds positively libellous for a betting site if put that way, so I hope not!
*or Stuart Dickson.
And there was me thinking that a Scotch expert was someone who could tell an 18-year-old Macallan from an 18-year-old Glenfiddich?
I’m happy to volunteer by the way, if someone would like to send me a bottle of each I will post the results here.
Really, to be scientific, you would need to do multiple verticals of multiple brands.
Also the horizontals.
With a full double blind protocol. Could take a while.
{Fires up research grant application}
Presumably, if you have a PhD in it, that would make you a Certified Scotch Expert?
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
How's that focus on growth working out, between the windfall tax and cutting investment to fling cash at the unions?
Public sector pay had fallen behind private sector pay since 2010. The recent pay rises make up some of the gap, but public sector pay has still increased less than private sector pay since 2010.
I don't recall train drivers being paid whopping amounts in 2010.
"Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has said decisions on introducing road calming and safety schemes, such as 20mph zones, should remain with local communities rather than her department."
That's a response to the Conservative trying to stop LAs putting in place LTNs, 20mph limits and bus lanes.
If you're a fan of local democracy this is welcome news. In the Streets Ahead podcast she suggested that councils will have her full support if they go for schemes like this, which I think relates to the fact many councillors get extreme levels of personal abuse whenever they try, despite overwhelming democratic mandates to do so.
What's interesting is that the new shadow Transport Secretary has come out strongly against it, very much in the big government/culture war mode.
When you say "overwhelming democratic mandate", what you actually mean is "all shades of local councillors are fully signed up for this stuff, so there is no possibility to vote it down".
My town has several very busy roads with 30mph limits which should probably really be 40mph (that's the speed traffic moves most of the time anyway). My idiot local council has consulted several times about making them 20mph, each time the answer they get back is a resounding no. I'm fairly sure they will eventually rig a consultation well enough the results are 50:50 and then do it anyway.
Also, in stupid justifications for things, a lot of the out of town roads round my way are officially very dangerous, entirely because middle aged men on sports motorcycles insist on converting themselves into unpleasant jam sandwiches. (5 in two separate incidents last weekend) Take motorcycle accidents out of the numbers and they are amongst the safest roads in the country. Despite this, the total casualty numbers (mostly bikers) are constantly used as an argument to lower the speed limits on said roads, which the middle aged men on sports bikes were ignoring anyway. Given that most of the appeal to the mid life crisis types appears to be the real risk of conversion to jam, preventing them achieving this fate seems to be one for the patron sant of lost causes, and we'd do better to either accept that it's going to happen or restrict the availability of sports bikes in some way. Slowing down everyone else on their commute to work seems a particularly bad answer to the problem.
Yes, that's what I mean by democratic mandate. When I point out to people in my area that 80% of first preference votes are for councillors who are supportive of LTNs, 20mph, bus lanes, you can almost hear the social media bubble popping. Even local Conservatives can be in favour, if the LTN happens to be in their ward.
And the idea that you need a referendum or something is silly. This is representative democracy and local politics is dominated by debate of local transport issues.
A democratic "mandate" achieved by virtue of there being no way to vote against this stuff (because it's all done by cosy concensus between all the parties) sounds like the sort of thing one gets in those lovely countries with "Democratic" in their name, because that's the only place you'll find it.
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
It's hard to see how they can compete with China moving up the value chain in manufacturing. They're going to be left behind in car exports soon:
Perhaps Germany should have spent as much effort in developing electric cars as they did in cheating on diesel emissions.
It's ironic that BMW created the first electric car that Jeremy Clarkson preferred to a petrol one (the i8), and then they effectively abandoned the space, just before it took off.
The other thing I find impressive about that chart is how well the Japanese have turned things around, given they were *very* late to the game with electric, having abandoned the Leaf, and having gone down a number of dead ends like the hydrogen powered Mirai.
I'm surprised by the flat US figures. What about all those Teslas?
Teslas destined for non US markets are built in China.
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
It's hard to see how they can compete with China moving up the value chain in manufacturing. They're going to be left behind in car exports soon:
Perhaps Germany should have spent as much effort in developing electric cars as they did in cheating on diesel emissions.
It's ironic that BMW created the first electric car that Jeremy Clarkson preferred to a petrol one (the i8), and then they effectively abandoned the space, just before it took off.
The other thing I find impressive about that chart is how well the Japanese have turned things around, given they were *very* late to the game with electric, having abandoned the Leaf, and having gone down a number of dead ends like the hydrogen powered Mirai.
I'm surprised by the flat US figures. What about all those Teslas?
Teslas destined for non US markets are built in China.
That's not quite true: they make about 500,000 cars a year at their factory in Grünheide, Germany, and are hoping to get to 1m.
How's that focus on growth working out, between the windfall tax and cutting investment to fling cash at the unions?
Public sector pay had fallen behind private sector pay since 2010. The recent pay rises make up some of the gap, but public sector pay has still increased less than private sector pay since 2010.
Before 2010 of course public sector pay increased more than private sector pay, so now Labour are back in power and the Tories out of power expect a reversion to that
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
It's hard to see how they can compete with China moving up the value chain in manufacturing. They're going to be left behind in car exports soon:
Perhaps Germany should have spent as much effort in developing electric cars as they did in cheating on diesel emissions.
It's ironic that BMW created the first electric car that Jeremy Clarkson preferred to a petrol one (the i8), and then they effectively abandoned the space, just before it took off.
The other thing I find impressive about that chart is how well the Japanese have turned things around, given they were *very* late to the game with electric, having abandoned the Leaf, and having gone down a number of dead ends like the hydrogen powered Mirai.
Toyota, on the other hand, are over the moon with their primarily hybrid strategy, which is now really paying off for them in markets that haven’t yet fully developed electric infrastructure.
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
It's hard to see how they can compete with China moving up the value chain in manufacturing. They're going to be left behind in car exports soon:
It is worth noting that Volkswagen, through its SAIC partnership, is the largest foreign manufacturer - not just of autos, but of anything - in China.
And how long until SAIC hollows out VW and buys them in totality? It's the Chinese way.
Well, given the ongoing (and rather serious) Chinese construction collapse, which is going to absolutely screw up financing for companies across China, I'm not sure SAIC is going to be buying out anyone.
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
It's hard to see how they can compete with China moving up the value chain in manufacturing. They're going to be left behind in car exports soon:
Perhaps Germany should have spent as much effort in developing electric cars as they did in cheating on diesel emissions.
It's ironic that BMW created the first electric car that Jeremy Clarkson preferred to a petrol one (the i8), and then they effectively abandoned the space, just before it took off.
The other thing I find impressive about that chart is how well the Japanese have turned things around, given they were *very* late to the game with electric, having abandoned the Leaf, and having gone down a number of dead ends like the hydrogen powered Mirai.
I'm surprised by the flat US figures. What about all those Teslas?
Tesla tends (for some value of tends) to build in the US for the US market.
Not sure how much they are exporting from the US, as opposed to building in their other factories.
If somebody who comments on Scottish affairs despite not living there is a Scotch expert* then is somebody who comments on Welsh affairs despite not living there a Welch expert?
Sounds positively libellous for a betting site if put that way, so I hope not!
*or Stuart Dickson.
And there was me thinking that a Scotch expert was someone who could tell an 18-year-old Macallan from an 18-year-old Glenfiddich?
I’m happy to volunteer by the way, if someone would like to send me a bottle of each I will post the results here.
Really, to be scientific, you would need to do multiple verticals of multiple brands.
Also the horizontals.
With a full double blind protocol. Could take a while.
{Fires up research grant application}
Presumably, if you have a PhD in it, that would make you a Certified Scotch Expert?
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
It's hard to see how they can compete with China moving up the value chain in manufacturing. They're going to be left behind in car exports soon:
Perhaps Germany should have spent as much effort in developing electric cars as they did in cheating on diesel emissions.
It's ironic that BMW created the first electric car that Jeremy Clarkson preferred to a petrol one (the i8), and then they effectively abandoned the space, just before it took off.
The other thing I find impressive about that chart is how well the Japanese have turned things around, given they were *very* late to the game with electric, having abandoned the Leaf, and having gone down a number of dead ends like the hydrogen powered Mirai.
Toyota, on the other hand, are over the moon with their primarily hybrid strategy, which is now really paying off for them in markets that haven’t yet fully developed electric infrastructure.
Yep: they've been able to get costs down to incredibly low levels. They are an extraordinary success story of iterative manufacturing improvements.
"Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has said decisions on introducing road calming and safety schemes, such as 20mph zones, should remain with local communities rather than her department."
That's a response to the Conservative trying to stop LAs putting in place LTNs, 20mph limits and bus lanes.
If you're a fan of local democracy this is welcome news. In the Streets Ahead podcast she suggested that councils will have her full support if they go for schemes like this, which I think relates to the fact many councillors get extreme levels of personal abuse whenever they try, despite overwhelming democratic mandates to do so.
What's interesting is that the new shadow Transport Secretary has come out strongly against it, very much in the big government/culture war mode.
When you say "overwhelming democratic mandate", what you actually mean is "all shades of local councillors are fully signed up for this stuff, so there is no possibility to vote it down".
My town has several very busy roads with 30mph limits which should probably really be 40mph (that's the speed traffic moves most of the time anyway). My idiot local council has consulted several times about making them 20mph, each time the answer they get back is a resounding no. I'm fairly sure they will eventually rig a consultation well enough the results are 50:50 and then do it anyway.
Also, in stupid justifications for things, a lot of the out of town roads round my way are officially very dangerous, entirely because middle aged men on sports motorcycles insist on converting themselves into unpleasant jam sandwiches. (5 in two separate incidents last weekend) Take motorcycle accidents out of the numbers and they are amongst the safest roads in the country. Despite this, the total casualty numbers (mostly bikers) are constantly used as an argument to lower the speed limits on said roads, which the middle aged men on sports bikes were ignoring anyway. Given that most of the appeal to the mid life crisis types appears to be the real risk of conversion to jam, preventing them achieving this fate seems to be one for the patron sant of lost causes, and we'd do better to either accept that it's going to happen or restrict the availability of sports bikes in some way. Slowing down everyone else on their commute to work seems a particularly bad answer to the problem.
Yes, that's what I mean by democratic mandate. When I point out to people in my area that 80% of first preference votes are for councillors who are supportive of LTNs, 20mph, bus lanes, you can almost hear the social media bubble popping. Even local Conservatives can be in favour, if the LTN happens to be in their ward.
And the idea that you need a referendum or something is silly. This is representative democracy and local politics is dominated by debate of local transport issues.
A democratic "mandate" achieved by virtue of there being no way to vote against this stuff (because it's all done by cosy concensus between all the parties) sounds like the sort of thing one gets in those lovely countries with "Democratic" in their name, because that's the only place you'll find it.
There were some independents who ran against that consensus. Some of them got tens of votes.
The Conservatives too, who lost half their councillors and came 5th after the Greens.
SKS Fans your vote for Labour turned out to be 22-44% rise in Water Bills Two Child Cap kept 10m pensioners Winter Fuel Allowance Axed Big military spend increase £3bn of NHS contracts offered to private sector £5.5bn Austerity for Public Services 5,500 released early from prison
Congratulations great work
In favour of:
Two Child Cap kept 10m pensioners Winter Fuel Allowance Axed Big military spend increase
Clear legacies of prevous govt: 22-44% rise in Water Bills (21% over 5 years according to google, nothing unusual anyway) 5,500 released early from prison
Ambivalent on: £3bn of NHS contracts offered to private sector (not a significant part of NHS spending or contracts, imagine annual private sector NHS involvement is in tens of billions already).
So left with £5.5bn Austerity for Public Services - generous/fair pay settlements for lots of public sector workers , of course some areas have to be cut back but that does not equal austerity.
Must try harder!
Increasing social housing rents above inflation was not one in the manifesto either....
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
It's hard to see how they can compete with China moving up the value chain in manufacturing. They're going to be left behind in car exports soon:
Perhaps Germany should have spent as much effort in developing electric cars as they did in cheating on diesel emissions.
It's ironic that BMW created the first electric car that Jeremy Clarkson preferred to a petrol one (the i8), and then they effectively abandoned the space, just before it took off.
The other thing I find impressive about that chart is how well the Japanese have turned things around, given they were *very* late to the game with electric, having abandoned the Leaf, and having gone down a number of dead ends like the hydrogen powered Mirai.
Toyota, on the other hand, are over the moon with their primarily hybrid strategy, which is now really paying off for them in markets that haven’t yet fully developed electric infrastructure.
One issue we have going forwards is that for those without parking at home, publicly charging a hybrid is cheaper than publicly charging an EV. Even with the UKs incredibly high fuel duty.
How we address that I've not seen any good suggestions on. Its not enough to simply roll out some public chargers if those chargers are very expensive people won't adopt it.
Another reason why off road parking is such a good idea when building homes.
Mr. gezou, " Public sector pay had fallen behind private sector pay since 2010. The recent pay rises make up some of the gap, but public sector pay has still increased less than private sector pay since 2010. "
That's an interesting point. But the corollary would be that if private sector pay falls then public sector wages should be cut by a commensurate amount. Because private sector wages are determined based on economics rather than politics, the public sector would end up chained to the private. Not sure that'd be good for either, but it's something worth thinking about.
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
It's hard to see how they can compete with China moving up the value chain in manufacturing. They're going to be left behind in car exports soon:
Perhaps Germany should have spent as much effort in developing electric cars as they did in cheating on diesel emissions.
It's ironic that BMW created the first electric car that Jeremy Clarkson preferred to a petrol one (the i8), and then they effectively abandoned the space, just before it took off.
The other thing I find impressive about that chart is how well the Japanese have turned things around, given they were *very* late to the game with electric, having abandoned the Leaf, and having gone down a number of dead ends like the hydrogen powered Mirai.
Toyota, on the other hand, are over the moon with their primarily hybrid strategy, which is now really paying off for them in markets that haven’t yet fully developed electric infrastructure.
If they had evolved their line to include a 100% electric Prius (or Prius alike), they would have taken everything that Tesla did, and more.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
You very quickly get used to 20mph zones, we’ve had them here in suburban north London for years. Trust me.
I rarely drive in London, but did have to pop down last week. Although it's as busy as it ever was, driving around the city seems a lot more relaxed with the 20 mph limits than it used to be back in the 80s, when I remember it as being quite manic.
Indeed. It has made driving more pleasant. One of the best advantages is that because people drive more slowly towards bottlenecks they have more time to anticipate oncoming traffic. It's actually much smoother.
How's that focus on growth working out, between the windfall tax and cutting investment to fling cash at the unions?
Public sector pay had fallen behind private sector pay since 2010. The recent pay rises make up some of the gap, but public sector pay has still increased less than private sector pay since 2010.
I don't recall train drivers being paid whopping amounts in 2010.
That may be an issue with your memory. Consider...
"Train drivers get 20% pay increase", The Times, April 12, 1996
TRAIN drivers with a newly-privatised rail company have been offered a 20 per cent pay increase for working fewer hours each week.
The deal, which is among the highest the railway industry has seen, involves Great Western, which runs services to Wales and the South West from London. The offer applies to 375 drivers belonging to the Aslef trade union.
"GNER train drivers' pay rise may blaze a high-speed trail", Financial Times, December 6, 2000
Rail operators are facing demands for improved pay and conditions for drivers of high-speed trains following an innovative 20 per cent pay agreement viewed as a benchmark for the sector.
The deal between the drivers' union Aslef and Great North Eastern Railway will give more than 250 drivers employed on its high-speed trains an annual salary of GBP33,000, equivalent to a 20 per cent increase.
"TRAIN DRIVERS GET SKY-HIGH PAY RISE", The Independent, November 8, 2000
DRIVERS OF express trains on one of Britain's flagship routes have been given "airline pilot status" in a ground-breaking deal granting them the highest salaries in the industry. As part of the agreement, Great North Eastern Railway, which operates services between London and Aberdeen, has agreed to pay drivers almost pounds 6,000 extra a year, raising salaries to pounds 33,000. The 20.6 per cent increase is more than six times the inflation rate.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
You very quickly get used to 20mph zones, we’ve had them here in suburban north London for years. Trust me.
Edinburgh, London . . . what is it with those here in capital cities wanting to impose their mores on the rest of the country?
Hasn’t Wales itself imposed the zones? Nothing to do with Edinburgh or London is it?
I'm saying the usual suspects on here advocating this crap are from Edinburgh and London.
Drakeford imposed it on his entire country so wasn't following local council instructions.
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
It's hard to see how they can compete with China moving up the value chain in manufacturing. They're going to be left behind in car exports soon:
Perhaps Germany should have spent as much effort in developing electric cars as they did in cheating on diesel emissions.
It's ironic that BMW created the first electric car that Jeremy Clarkson preferred to a petrol one (the i8), and then they effectively abandoned the space, just before it took off.
The other thing I find impressive about that chart is how well the Japanese have turned things around, given they were *very* late to the game with electric, having abandoned the Leaf, and having gone down a number of dead ends like the hydrogen powered Mirai.
Toyota, on the other hand, are over the moon with their primarily hybrid strategy, which is now really paying off for them in markets that haven’t yet fully developed electric infrastructure.
Yes, much to the world’s amazement.
There’s a lesson there. When everyone around you looks at you like you’re mad, they might be right. Often they are. But sometimes they aren’t.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
Good on you! It only takes one law abiding driver (or commercial/emergency vehicle) to enforce them.
Given the number of roads that are already excepted from 20mph, I suspected that councils would find it difficult to find any more without pissing off local residents (people like driving at 30mph past other people's houses). I'd guess that is what is happening here?
Why italicise that?
If people choose to live on a main road, what's wrong with driving past their home at 30mph or 40mph or 50mph if that's the speed limit?
Main arterial roads should be 40 or 50mph through towns and 60 or 70mph outside of towns.
20 is plenty for residential streets, but arteries are not residential streets.
Those are the closest places we have, including where there are businesses etc, to the horrible freeways-through-town in the USA known as stroads.
For those, 30mph is the max which is realistic, I think. For an example, consider the A6 going into Leicester through Oadby. Anything with a limit of >30mph requires separated mobility infrastructure per national guidelines, for safety reasons.
(Major highways which have been cut through urban areas with no junctions or buildings on them, such as motorways in Greater Manchester, for example, are a different case I suggest.)
40 or 50 and separated mobility infrastructure works quite well. What's wrong with that exactly?
As too does having 40-50mph through roads with junctions or roundabouts leading to local roads, which is a very British solution not an American one.
It sounds fine in practice, but whenever I've visited somewhere which has that sort of rigid segregation between cycle/pedestrian routes and cars, such as Milton Keynes, the outcome is something hellish.
Designing urban areas to accommodate cars doesn't work. I can't think of a single town or city I've been where designing around the needs of cars leads to a positive outcome. But I can think of lots of urban centres where cars are mostly excluded that are delightful.
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
It's hard to see how they can compete with China moving up the value chain in manufacturing. They're going to be left behind in car exports soon:
It is worth noting that Volkswagen, through its SAIC partnership, is the largest foreign manufacturer - not just of autos, but of anything - in China.
BMW also. They now make 500,000 cars/year in China. The "German" manufacturers are highly globalised and the raw number of cars exported don't tell the full story.
The Chinese brands (BYD, MG, etc.) are still shitgarbage for the not particularly choosy and cash strapped but it won't stay that way for ever.
I think we should ban Old Trafford from hosting any more test matches.
Once watched the Saffers vs England ODI there. Abiding memory of the day was the absolute screamer Jonty Rhodes took at backward point off the bat of Gough.
How's that focus on growth working out, between the windfall tax and cutting investment to fling cash at the unions?
Public sector pay had fallen behind private sector pay since 2010. The recent pay rises make up some of the gap, but public sector pay has still increased less than private sector pay since 2010.
Before 2010 of course public sector pay increased more than private sector pay, so now Labour are back in power and the Tories out of power expect a reversion to that
But the economics is much less rosy than it was for much of Labour's term in office (until the Brown Bust in 2007-8 basically) so they have much less room to spray money at their public sector friends, New Labour style.
On topic - some much needed good news for the Reps who badly need to change the nature of the US campaign. It may be worth 1% for Trump - much of the Kennedy vote will drift to the other minor parties or stay at home.
The Asheboro, NC, speech by Trump is worth a watch. An improvement on the effort in Pennsylvania where he looked very old and frankly rather bewildered. However, he is still low energy and rambling - a far cry from 2016 Trump. If he can't improve radically then they need to change their strategy. Boring his keenest supporters to sleep is no way to win an election!
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
Good on you! It only takes one law abiding driver (or commercial/emergency vehicle) to enforce them.
Given the number of roads that are already excepted from 20mph, I suspected that councils would find it difficult to find any more without pissing off local residents (people like driving at 30mph past other people's houses). I'd guess that is what is happening here?
Why italicise that?
If people choose to live on a main road, what's wrong with driving past their home at 30mph or 40mph or 50mph if that's the speed limit?
Main arterial roads should be 40 or 50mph through towns and 60 or 70mph outside of towns.
20 is plenty for residential streets, but arteries are not residential streets.
Those are the closest places we have, including where there are businesses etc, to the horrible freeways-through-town in the USA known as stroads.
For those, 30mph is the max which is realistic, I think. For an example, consider the A6 going into Leicester through Oadby. Anything with a limit of >30mph requires separated mobility infrastructure per national guidelines, for safety reasons.
(Major highways which have been cut through urban areas with no junctions or buildings on them, such as motorways in Greater Manchester, for example, are a different case I suggest.)
40 or 50 and separated mobility infrastructure works quite well. What's wrong with that exactly?
As too does having 40-50mph through roads with junctions or roundabouts leading to local roads, which is a very British solution not an American one.
It sounds fine in practice, but whenever I've visited somewhere which has that sort of rigid segregation between cycle/pedestrian routes and cars, such as Milton Keynes, the outcome is something hellish.
Designing urban areas to accommodate cars doesn't work. I can't think of a single town or city I've been where designing around the needs of cars leads to a positive outcome. But I can think of lots of urban centres where cars are mostly excluded that are delightful.
I think that's letting your own prejudices shine through.
I used to travel regularly to Milton Keynes and always found it very pleasant, not remotely hellish. I'd rather drive in Milton Keynes than London that's for sure.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
Good on you! It only takes one law abiding driver (or commercial/emergency vehicle) to enforce them.
Given the number of roads that are already excepted from 20mph, I suspected that councils would find it difficult to find any more without pissing off local residents (people like driving at 30mph past other people's houses). I'd guess that is what is happening here?
Why italicise that?
If people choose to live on a main road, what's wrong with driving past their home at 30mph or 40mph or 50mph if that's the speed limit?
Main arterial roads should be 40 or 50mph through towns and 60 or 70mph outside of towns.
20 is plenty for residential streets, but arteries are not residential streets.
That does get more complicated in Wales, where the lack of bypasses means very often they are the same thing. Ponterwyd or Rhayader or Aberystwyth, for example.
There are some however classified as residential that really are not. The A44 at Llangurig where the 20mph zone goes past the church, the pub and a garage springs to mind. The village itself is on a back street...
Mr. gezou, " Public sector pay had fallen behind private sector pay since 2010. The recent pay rises make up some of the gap, but public sector pay has still increased less than private sector pay since 2010. "
That's an interesting point. But the corollary would be that if private sector pay falls then public sector wages should be cut by a commensurate amount. Because private sector wages are determined based on economics rather than politics, the public sector would end up chained to the private. Not sure that'd be good for either, but it's something worth thinking about.
Broadly speaking, one would expect pay across the board to rise at a similar rate. That implies that any such pay increases represent broader inflationary processes. If public sector pay has increased less than private sector pay that does not suggest that the public sector is being showered with goodies, as some posters appear to think.
I am not suggesting that public and private sector pay has to rise in lockstep. There will be diverse reasons why pay in different sectors should have its own trajectory. I offer the information (which comes from the IFS) descriptively, not proscriptively.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
Good on you! It only takes one law abiding driver (or commercial/emergency vehicle) to enforce them.
Given the number of roads that are already excepted from 20mph, I suspected that councils would find it difficult to find any more without pissing off local residents (people like driving at 30mph past other people's houses). I'd guess that is what is happening here?
Why italicise that?
If people choose to live on a main road, what's wrong with driving past their home at 30mph or 40mph or 50mph if that's the speed limit?
Main arterial roads should be 40 or 50mph through towns and 60 or 70mph outside of towns.
20 is plenty for residential streets, but arteries are not residential streets.
That does get more complicated in Wales, where the lack of bypasses means very often they are the same thing. Ponterwyd or Rhayader or Aberystwyth, for example.
There are some however classified as residential that really are not. The A44 at Llangurig where the 20mph zone goes past the church, the pub and a garage springs to mind. The village itself is on a back street...
That used to be 30 (below), and the limit has been dropped to 20 and moved a little further out of the village to be beyond the entrance to a housing estate which looks like it is due for a lot more expansion.
The move of the sign further out is sensible, because they know that your average UK driver who does not look beyond the end of their bonnet will be racing up to that sign at 50 or 60mph than stand their car on its nose to slow down, or continue through the village (and it is through the village) at highway speeds.
I'd say that 30mph is a sensible limit there IF the limit is obeyed, but it will be ignored - because that is seen as acceptable behaviour.
The real issue there is that UK roads are not designed to look like roads that are safe at the suitable speed limit eg through villages, so there are not the necessary visual cues for people driving through to slow down, and they go hooning through regardless.
That's down to the nature of LHAs being created to build roads, and ignore other interests - such as adequate consideration for pedestrians. It's also why junctions prioritise throughput over safety, and anyone asking for a Zebra crossing across a busy road to a primary school will be told in effect that not enough children under 10 have been killed or crippled to justify it yet.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
Good on you! It only takes one law abiding driver (or commercial/emergency vehicle) to enforce them.
Given the number of roads that are already excepted from 20mph, I suspected that councils would find it difficult to find any more without pissing off local residents (people like driving at 30mph past other people's houses). I'd guess that is what is happening here?
Why italicise that?
If people choose to live on a main road, what's wrong with driving past their home at 30mph or 40mph or 50mph if that's the speed limit?
Main arterial roads should be 40 or 50mph through towns and 60 or 70mph outside of towns.
20 is plenty for residential streets, but arteries are not residential streets.
Those are the closest places we have, including where there are businesses etc, to the horrible freeways-through-town in the USA known as stroads.
For those, 30mph is the max which is realistic, I think. For an example, consider the A6 going into Leicester through Oadby. Anything with a limit of >30mph requires separated mobility infrastructure per national guidelines, for safety reasons.
(Major highways which have been cut through urban areas with no junctions or buildings on them, such as motorways in Greater Manchester, for example, are a different case I suggest.)
40 or 50 and separated mobility infrastructure works quite well. What's wrong with that exactly?
As too does having 40-50mph through roads with junctions or roundabouts leading to local roads, which is a very British solution not an American one.
It sounds fine in practice, but whenever I've visited somewhere which has that sort of rigid segregation between cycle/pedestrian routes and cars, such as Milton Keynes, the outcome is something hellish.
Designing urban areas to accommodate cars doesn't work. I can't think of a single town or city I've been where designing around the needs of cars leads to a positive outcome. But I can think of lots of urban centres where cars are mostly excluded that are delightful.
That's true. The most pleasant place I've lived was a town in Germany with many areas from which cars were excluded. Because everything was easily accessible by foot, cycle or public transport, we didn't need a car for everyday life so we didn't buy one. On the few occasions we did need a car, we'd hire one.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
Good on you! It only takes one law abiding driver (or commercial/emergency vehicle) to enforce them.
Given the number of roads that are already excepted from 20mph, I suspected that councils would find it difficult to find any more without pissing off local residents (people like driving at 30mph past other people's houses). I'd guess that is what is happening here?
Why italicise that?
If people choose to live on a main road, what's wrong with driving past their home at 30mph or 40mph or 50mph if that's the speed limit?
Main arterial roads should be 40 or 50mph through towns and 60 or 70mph outside of towns.
20 is plenty for residential streets, but arteries are not residential streets.
That does get more complicated in Wales, where the lack of bypasses means very often they are the same thing. Ponterwyd or Rhayader or Aberystwyth, for example.
There are some however classified as residential that really are not. The A44 at Llangurig where the 20mph zone goes past the church, the pub and a garage springs to mind. The village itself is on a back street...
That used to be 30 (below), and the limit has been dropped to 20 and moved a little further out of the village to be beyond the entrance to a housing estate which looks like it is due for a lot more expansion.
The move is sensible, because they know that your average UK driver who does not look beyond the end of their bonnet will be racing up to that sign at 50 or 60mph than stand their car on its nose to slow down.
The real issue there is that UK roads are not designed to look like roads that are safe at the suitable speed limit eg through villages, so there are not the necessary visual cues for people driving through to slow down, and they go hooning through regardless.
That's down to the nature of LHAs being created to build roads, and ignore other interests - such as adequate consideration for pedestrians. It's also why junctions prioritise throughput over safety, and anyone asking for a Zebra crossing across a busy road to a primary school will be told in effect that not enough children under 10 have been killed or crippled to justify it yet.
Beyond the entrance to the estate? That's absurd, why should the main road outside the estate be a 20?
Inside the estate, sure, drive slowly on residential streets. But if you're driving past and not on the estate? Then keep driving past it.
Your whole argument for LTNs and one I can respect and agree with is it separates the residential from the traffic, but that becomes moot if you're making the main road be classed the same as the estate, its not.
It is interesting being in Wales for a few days and obeying the new 20mph speed limit. Everywhere I seem to build up massive queues of irritable locals.
This is in the north-east, so one of the areas worst affected and where the three local councils have been most resistant to making adjustments.
Good on you! It only takes one law abiding driver (or commercial/emergency vehicle) to enforce them.
Given the number of roads that are already excepted from 20mph, I suspected that councils would find it difficult to find any more without pissing off local residents (people like driving at 30mph past other people's houses). I'd guess that is what is happening here?
Why italicise that?
If people choose to live on a main road, what's wrong with driving past their home at 30mph or 40mph or 50mph if that's the speed limit?
Main arterial roads should be 40 or 50mph through towns and 60 or 70mph outside of towns.
20 is plenty for residential streets, but arteries are not residential streets.
Those are the closest places we have, including where there are businesses etc, to the horrible freeways-through-town in the USA known as stroads.
For those, 30mph is the max which is realistic, I think. For an example, consider the A6 going into Leicester through Oadby. Anything with a limit of >30mph requires separated mobility infrastructure per national guidelines, for safety reasons.
(Major highways which have been cut through urban areas with no junctions or buildings on them, such as motorways in Greater Manchester, for example, are a different case I suggest.)
40 or 50 and separated mobility infrastructure works quite well. What's wrong with that exactly?
As too does having 40-50mph through roads with junctions or roundabouts leading to local roads, which is a very British solution not an American one.
It sounds fine in practice, but whenever I've visited somewhere which has that sort of rigid segregation between cycle/pedestrian routes and cars, such as Milton Keynes, the outcome is something hellish.
Designing urban areas to accommodate cars doesn't work. I can't think of a single town or city I've been where designing around the needs of cars leads to a positive outcome. But I can think of lots of urban centres where cars are mostly excluded that are delightful.
I think that's letting your own prejudices shine through.
I used to travel regularly to Milton Keynes and always found it very pleasant, not remotely hellish. I'd rather drive in Milton Keynes than London that's for sure.
When I visited Milton Keynes I didn't drive - I think that's the key difference.
Not sure why you would call that prejudiced?
I'm driving most days now because I'm living in a rural area. Cars are great. I'm not prejudiced against them. There simply isn't room for them in urban areas. So the only tricky thing is managing the transition between rural area and urban area.
I think we should ban Old Trafford from hosting any more test matches.
Once watched the Saffers vs England ODI there. Abiding memory of the day was the absolute screamer Jonty Rhodes took at backward point off the bat of Gough.
Old Trafford: I remember a raspberry and Cointreau roulade rolling down to our seats from a picnic above. They didn't get the piss ripped out of them at all, no sirree...
Comments
The argument over Wales 20mph zones has been widely discussed in Wales and recognised by the Welsh government it was not implemented properly and changes are being made
The conspiracy theory of misinformation is not valid as it is the day to day experience of Welsh drivers that has led to the changes accepted across the political divide and it has to be said nobody objects to 20mph zones near schools, hospitals, and villages
It is interesting that Starmer has avoided the same error by Drakeford and not mandating it for England from central government but leaving it to local councils to decide where these measures are best applied
I would just say about cycling there are many cycle paths now already separating them from road users, but in our area there are not a large number of cyclists on the roads anyway
An easy way to reduce the number of doctors in the long run would be public health investment, as you suggest. But any attempt to improve walking and cycling provision, save playing fields from development, sugar taxes and so on is met with opposition too.
Your problem is you have a visceral hatred of cars and roads, though you deny it, and want new cycling provision being taken from existing roads with no new roads to compensate.
I have not seen for example the £3pn of private sector contracts from the NHS item before.
Plus if the LDs became the centre right party they would need to be to win over remaining middle ground Tories, the social democrat wing of the LDs would in turn defect en masse to Starmer Labour who in turn would likely leak further to the Greens
"August is witnessing a welcome combination of stronger economic growth, improved job creation and lower
inflation, according to provisional PMI survey data.
“Both manufacturing and service sectors are reporting solid output growth and increased job gains as business
confidence remains elevated by historical standards.
“Although GDP growth looks set to weaken in the third quarter compared to the impressive gains seen in the first
half of the year, the PMI is indicative of the economy expanding at a reasonably solid quarterly rate of around
0.3%.
“Inflationary pressures have meanwhile moderated further in August, including notably in the service sector, which
has been a key area of concern for the Bank of England.
“The latest survey data therefore help lower the bar for further interest rate cuts, although the still-elevated nature
of inflation in the service sector suggests that policymakers will move cautiously."
https://www.pmi.spglobal.com/Public/Home/PressRelease/70e4be6bb27e4c728c4695bea8e86ec4
Meanwhile Germany continues to struggle:
"These numbers are a real mess. The recession in Germany’s manufacturing sector deepened in August, with no recovery in sight. In fact, new orders took a sharper dive than last month, mainly due to a significant drop in foreign demand, signalling more trouble ahead. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that companies are ramping up staff cuts and slashing inventories of inputs even more aggressively than before.
“The struggles in manufacturing are starting to spill over into the otherwise steady services sector. For the third month in a row, services activity growth has slowed down. New business is barely growing, and backlogs declined once again. The export side of services, including tourism, isn’t offering much support either, shrinking at an even faster rate than in July."
https://www.pmi.spglobal.com/Public/Home/PressRelease/3c59ed1870c24259ac3e62cfb7792724
While the French services sector got an Olympic boost:
France’s private sector registered its first month of expansion since April during August, latest HCOB PMI® survey data revealed, with the overall pace of growth at its quickest since March 2023 as a strong upturn in services activity propelled the broader economy. This came despite an intensification of manufacturing malaise, as factory orders fell at the steepest pace in over four years. Indeed, aside from the headline index’s improvement, August PMI data highlighted fragility across France’s economy. Private sector employment decreased for the first time since January, while overall new business also shrank. Expectations for growth over the next 12 months also slipped to their weakest in almost a year.
https://www.pmi.spglobal.com/Public/Home/PressRelease/9d4702ec8d0c40f8aee534c76ea8317c
A real case of a turkey voting for Xmas.
https://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/fair-society-healthy-lives-the-marmot-review
A key to economic growth was to bring an end to the public sector and rail strikes. They had been creating misery for too long, and holding back the economy.
After all, isn't the purpose of controlling immigration to boost wages for working people? Or should we send out recruiting parties to India to sign up train drivers?
My town has several very busy roads with 30mph limits which should probably really be 40mph (that's the speed traffic moves most of the time anyway). My idiot local council has consulted several times about making them 20mph, each time the answer they get back is a resounding no. I'm fairly sure they will eventually rig a consultation well enough the results are 50:50 and then do it anyway.
Also, in stupid justifications for things, a lot of the out of town roads round my way are officially very dangerous, entirely because middle aged men on sports motorcycles insist on converting themselves into unpleasant jam sandwiches. (5 in two separate incidents last weekend)
Take motorcycle accidents out of the numbers and they are amongst the safest roads in the country.
Despite this, the total casualty numbers (mostly bikers) are constantly used as an argument to lower the speed limits on said roads, which the middle aged men on sports bikes were ignoring anyway. Given that most of the appeal to the mid life crisis types appears to be the real risk of conversion to jam, preventing them achieving this fate seems to be one for the patron sant of lost causes, and we'd do better to either accept that it's going to happen or restrict the availability of sports bikes in some way. Slowing down everyone else on their commute to work seems a particularly bad answer to the problem.
Interesting commentary from Alistair Campbell and Rory Steward on The Rest is Politics, especially on how the DNC is put together, narratives etc, and discussing Project 2025, which they have both read.
As a minor point - interesting side comments from Rory Stewart on the thousands of US marines going to pray each morning in the bases in Iraq during the war/occupation, and his reaction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU75265wXzA
Two Child Cap kept
10m pensioners Winter Fuel Allowance Axed
Big military spend increase
Clear legacies of prevous govt:
22-44% rise in Water Bills (21% over 5 years according to google, nothing unusual anyway)
5,500 released early from prison
Ambivalent on:
£3bn of NHS contracts offered to private sector (not a significant part of NHS spending or contracts, imagine annual private sector NHS involvement is in tens of billions already).
So left with £5.5bn Austerity for Public Services - generous/fair pay settlements for lots of public sector workers , of course some areas have to be cut back but that does not equal austerity.
Must try harder!
Ditto for supermarket, agricultural and construction workers.
And the idea that you need a referendum or something is silly. This is representative democracy and local politics is dominated by debate of local transport issues.
Aye. Why don't we all work for the public sector? Possibly because then there'll be no private sector to actually fund the public sector. A flourishing private sector means more revenue to either reduce borrowing (I wish), reduce taxes, or increase public sector spending.
Hammering the private sector with taxes and reducing growth prospects by axing infrastructure plans reduces economic prosperity and the revenues generated by the private sector to fund the public. Do that and then add in yet more cash for any union that raises an eyebrow and what's left for investment that actually generates a return (transport/communications infrastructure and the like)?
My point on pensions/job security, which you might've noticed but I'll spell out more clearly in case not, is that the very high degree of job security and secure pensions compared to the private sector is a significant perk of the public sector.
Also the horizontals.
With a full double blind protocol. Could take a while.
{Fires up research grant application}
Presumably, if you have a PhD in it, that would make you a Certified Scotch Expert?
But the idea that this is universally popular is absolute balderdash. Maybe in your city, but across the rest of the nation?
If its so popular locally in places like where Big G lives, then why would it be getting imposed by Drakeford's diktat?
The way to get LTNs is to build more roads and relieve the traffic from the old roads onto newer, faster roads. Then everyone can win, but you don't want everyone to win.
In North Wales, when I was growing up, the "local" hospital was an hours drive away, the nearest supermarket 4 miles away, I went to 6th form 23 miles away.
I'd be quite happy with an independent London to be honest.
Drakeford imposed it on his entire country so wasn't following local council instructions.
For those, 30mph is the max which is realistic, I think. For an example, consider the A6 going into Leicester through Oadby. Anything with a limit of >30mph requires separated mobility infrastructure per national guidelines, for safety reasons.
Nottingham started doing this with most of theirs from the late 1990s, with averaging speed cameras (one of the first uses of SPECS in the country), and it has been a big success. An example is the A610 from M1J26 which is a 40mph limit for the dualled section which then becomes 30mph; there may also be a county / city boundary involved.
(Major highways which have been cut through urban areas with no junctions or buildings on them, such as motorways in Greater Manchester, for example, are a different case I suggest.)
Manager 1 - We have a shortage of doctors at Hospital X
Manager 2 - Time to think outside the box - offer doctors at Hospital X higher pay!
Manager 1/Unions/Government - Burn this heretic now!
As too does having 40-50mph through roads with junctions or roundabouts leading to local roads, which is a very British solution not an American one.
https://x.com/julianHjessop/status/1826541640086913117/photo/1
Perhaps partly caused by differential effects from Ukraine but also confirms that the Truss experiment was never needed.
The other thing I find impressive about that chart is how well the Japanese have turned things around, given they were *very* late to the game with electric, having abandoned the Leaf, and having gone down a number of dead ends like the hydrogen powered Mirai.
30mph is a perfectly reasonable minimum default, though 40mph or higher is preferable.
20mph should be for residential streets only.
The same virtually everyone thinks that they should pay less for the work of others.
It's not a pretty aspect of human nature, but we virtually all do it, so there's not point complaining.
(But if you think public sector doctors, teachers, lawyers, computer bods etc are expensive, consider how much the same people cost privately. I'm pretty confident that having one dominant employer setting a pay rate is cheaper than the alternative.)
I'm not arguing against streamlining it, making it efficient, cutting what doesn't work, but why do you expect to pay peanuts if your house is on fire at stupid o'clock in the morning and you're asleep in your wankpit and you need help?
Count me in as joining your research project.
Not sure how much they are exporting from the US, as opposed to building in their other factories.
The Conservatives too, who lost half their councillors and came 5th after the Greens.
How we address that I've not seen any good suggestions on. Its not enough to simply roll out some public chargers if those chargers are very expensive people won't adopt it.
Another reason why off road parking is such a good idea when building homes.
That's an interesting point. But the corollary would be that if private sector pay falls then public sector wages should be cut by a commensurate amount. Because private sector wages are determined based on economics rather than politics, the public sector would end up chained to the private. Not sure that'd be good for either, but it's something worth thinking about.
"Train drivers get 20% pay increase", The Times, April 12, 1996
TRAIN drivers with a newly-privatised rail company have been offered a 20 per cent pay increase for working fewer hours each week.
The deal, which is among the highest the railway industry has seen, involves Great Western, which runs services to Wales and the South West from London. The offer applies to 375 drivers belonging to the Aslef trade union.
"GNER train drivers' pay rise may blaze a high-speed trail", Financial Times, December 6, 2000
Rail operators are facing demands for improved pay and conditions for drivers of high-speed trains following an innovative 20 per cent pay agreement viewed as a benchmark for the sector.
The deal between the drivers' union Aslef and Great North Eastern Railway will give more than 250 drivers employed on its high-speed trains an annual salary of GBP33,000, equivalent to a 20 per cent increase.
"TRAIN DRIVERS GET SKY-HIGH PAY RISE", The Independent, November 8, 2000
DRIVERS OF express trains on one of Britain's flagship routes have been given "airline pilot status" in a ground-breaking deal granting them the highest salaries in the industry. As part of the agreement, Great North Eastern Railway, which operates services between London and Aberdeen, has agreed to pay drivers almost pounds 6,000 extra a year, raising salaries to pounds 33,000. The 20.6 per cent increase is more than six times the inflation rate.
There’s a lesson there. When everyone around you looks at you like you’re mad, they might be right. Often they are. But sometimes they aren’t.
Designing urban areas to accommodate cars doesn't work. I can't think of a single town or city I've been where designing around the needs of cars leads to a positive outcome. But I can think of lots of urban centres where cars are mostly excluded that are delightful.
The Chinese brands (BYD, MG, etc.) are still shitgarbage for the not particularly choosy and cash strapped but it won't stay that way for ever.
The Asheboro, NC, speech by Trump is worth a watch. An improvement on the effort in Pennsylvania where he looked very old and frankly rather bewildered. However, he is still low energy and rambling - a far cry from 2016 Trump. If he can't improve radically then they need to change their strategy. Boring his keenest supporters to sleep is no way to win an election!
I used to travel regularly to Milton Keynes and always found it very pleasant, not remotely hellish. I'd rather drive in Milton Keynes than London that's for sure.
Broadly speaking, one would expect pay across the board to rise at a similar rate. That implies that any such pay increases represent broader inflationary processes. If public sector pay has increased less than private sector pay that does not suggest that the public sector is being showered with goodies, as some posters appear to think.
I am not suggesting that public and private sector pay has to rise in lockstep. There will be diverse reasons why pay in different sectors should have its own trajectory. I offer the information (which comes from the IFS) descriptively, not proscriptively.
The move of the sign further out is sensible, because they know that your average UK driver who does not look beyond the end of their bonnet will be racing up to that sign at 50 or 60mph than stand their car on its nose to slow down, or continue through the village (and it is through the village) at highway speeds.
I'd say that 30mph is a sensible limit there IF the limit is obeyed, but it will be ignored - because that is seen as acceptable behaviour.
The real issue there is that UK roads are not designed to look like roads that are safe at the suitable speed limit eg through villages, so there are not the necessary visual cues for people driving through to slow down, and they go hooning through regardless.
That's down to the nature of LHAs being created to build roads, and ignore other interests - such as adequate consideration for pedestrians. It's also why junctions prioritise throughput over safety, and anyone asking for a Zebra crossing across a busy road to a primary school will be told in effect that not enough children under 10 have been killed or crippled to justify it yet.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.4052751,-3.6039681,3a,75y,324.77h,76.15t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s8sOZOWB6phAG5b25VaVZ6w!2e0!5s20101101T000000!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en&coh=205409&entry=ttu
Inside the estate, sure, drive slowly on residential streets. But if you're driving past and not on the estate? Then keep driving past it.
Your whole argument for LTNs and one I can respect and agree with is it separates the residential from the traffic, but that becomes moot if you're making the main road be classed the same as the estate, its not.
Not sure why you would call that prejudiced?
I'm driving most days now because I'm living in a rural area. Cars are great. I'm not prejudiced against them. There simply isn't room for them in urban areas. So the only tricky thing is managing the transition between rural area and urban area.
Doubtless day-trippers from Cheshire.