Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
Rachel from accounts belatedly realising that the UK needs a Department of Government Efficiency.
Oh, and that doesn’t mean employing 500 McKinsey staff to produce a 3,000 page report in 2027, it means doing it the American way and getting a couple of maverick business types in to cut out whole swathes of the standing bureaucracy and repealing the legislation that supports them.
Governments of all stripes have been the same since Thatcher, always talking about making efficiencies but overseeing a constant rise in the cost of government.
The only thing Musk has found to cut so far is his target of cutting $2trn, down to $1trn after a few weeks. I have such faith in this genius that I am sure he will be announcing another $1trn cut in his target sooner rather than later.
The maverick business types are there to plunder what they can from the federal budget, nothing more and this is blatantly obvious.
It's worth quoting Bidens final presidential address to the nation:
“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead,” Biden said.
The president outlined some of his most pressing concerns, including what he described as a “crumbling” free press, the outsized influence of the military-industrial complex, rising disinformation, and the need to remove dark money from politics. He also called for constitutional amendments to ensure presidential accountability, arguing that no president should be immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office..
I think that one of the most clear headed and concise analysis of the state of politics in recent times.
And yet he was good with all of that when he thought it was on his side.
"no president should be immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office.."
That a was bonkers decision by Supreme Court only a few months ago, so you can hardly expected Biden to be able to move on that one.
It's a good summary but sadly at least 50% of US voters don't give a shit as long as eggs and Mc Donalds are falling in price.
If youre on the breadline and living in a trailer park food prices are more important then abstract concepts.
It;s a phenomenon across the west that our politicians spend too much time forgetting their citizens interests and then get surprised when the citizens revolt.
You'd have a point, except Trump, Musk and the bad people of the GOP haven't just forgotten about their citizens' interests; they don't care. They're narcissists.
Trump is certainly a narcissist and wont deliver half the things he promises. But the Democrats arent much better, theyve ignored the day to day issues of their core voters and have lost them. It's the same with Labour in the UK.
If inflation was a core interest, as I think it was, then they did not ignore it. It is just that certain events were ongoing that you might recall that made inflation difficult to tackle for *any* government around the world.
The Tory attacks are clearly having some impact, otherwise Labour wouldn't now be polling below Brown 2010 levels in most polls.
However most of the leakage from Labour has been to Reform, the LDs and Greens as voters who rejected the Tory government last July and now reject the Labour government too look elsewhere for a protest vote
The Tory attacks are saying the country is in crisis and everything is wrong. Given they have been in power the last 14 years bar a few months of course that benefits Reform rather than the Tories. Baffled that this is a strategy. Maybe Farage has some saboteurs within the Conservative party.
Badenoch is set to do a big speech where she fesses up to some of the Tories' mistakes in government.
A sensible first step, I think.
One of the items is essentially admitting they lied about having any plans for what would happen after Brexit.
The mea culpa is vital. Sunak started it the day after the election but it’s been a wasted six months for the Conservatives.
Badenoch has to admit mistakes were made and her part in them as a big part of wiping the slate clean with the public.
Yes, she should, but will she and would the public forgive a sinner repenting and if we were to vote her back into office how do we know she would not simply revert to type.
Quite frankly she's had her chance. She fucked it big style. Time to get someone untainted by the last 14 years in govt.
That’s often where parties end up - Blair and Cameron had no connection to the previous administrations of their respective parties and as such could present themselves to the public without emotional and political baggage.
It’s possible the next Conservative Prime Minister only became an MP in July last year - it’s more likely they will be elected in 2029.
Yes but this is not 1997 as Starmer is massively more unpopular than Blair was, even Ken Clarke would have lost in 2001.
A challenge facing the West, perhaps the most significant one, is the demographic timebomb of an ageing population with declining birth rates. For some on the authoritarian right, the solution is to roll back reproductive rights and encourage young women to have more babies. Within that context, we have seen abortion being banned across large chunks of the US. So, how is that working out?
The results indicate that abortion bans cause significant increases in net migration outflows, with effect sizes growing throughout the year after the decision. The most recent data point indicates that total abortion bans come at the cost of more than 36,000 residents per quarter. The effects are more prominent for single-person households than for family households, which may reflect larger effects on younger adults.
I'd actually say that those figures are quite good for the Conservatives six months into a new Labour government. Labour have had very little time to muck things up, compared to the Conservative's fifteen years, yet either half blame Labour or both equally.
It was only 14 years thankfully, another year and they might have got waiting lists into 8 figures. I agree with you, 6 months in you're only just starting to implement policies, it'll take 2-3 years before they have any real effect. That's why the coalition govt isn't seen as bad as it actually was, for at least the first 2-3 years public services were running on the momentum from the labour govt.
The momentum from the Labour government in 2010 was pretty much downwards IMV...
The coalition was a rare moment of competent government.
In your view. The easiest comparison would be NHS waiting lists (because the stats are available). Falling to August 2008, flat until about August 2012 then steadily increasing. You can't argue that the reduction up to Aug 2008 wasn't entirely down to Labour policies and it took until Aug 2017 for the list to reach Aug 2007 levels with a steady increase from 2012. There's your 2 year policy effect lag.
Buying a factory would allow China to build influence in Germany's prized auto industry, home to some of the oldest and most prestigious car brands, the person said.
Chinese companies have invested across a range of industries in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, from telecommunications to robotics but have yet to set up traditional car manufacturing there, despite Mercedes-Benz having two large Chinese shareholders.
Any such move could mark China's most politically sensitive investment yet. VW has long been a symbol of Germany's industrial prowess, now threatened by a global economic slowdown hitting demand and a creaking transition to green technologies.
Building cars in Germany for sale in Europe would allow China's EV makers to avoid paying EU tariffs on electric cars imported from China and could pose a further threat to European manufacturers' competitiveness.
While bids could come from private firms, state-owned firms or joint ventures with foreign companies, Chinese authorities reserve the right to approve certain investments abroad and would likely be involved in any offer from early on.
Investment decisions would hinge on the new German government's stance towards China following an election in February, the person said...
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
Rachel from accounts belatedly realising that the UK needs a Department of Government Efficiency.
Oh, and that doesn’t mean employing 500 McKinsey staff to produce a 3,000 page report in 2027, it means doing it the American way and getting a couple of maverick business types in to cut out whole swathes of the standing bureaucracy and repealing the legislation that supports them.
Governments of all stripes have been the same since Thatcher, always talking about making efficiencies but overseeing a constant rise in the cost of government.
The only thing Musk has found to cut so far is his target of cutting $2trn, down to $1trn after a few weeks. I have such faith in this genius that I am sure he will be announcing another $1trn cut in his target sooner rather than later.
The maverick business types are there to plunder what they can from the federal budget, nothing more and this is blatantly obvious.
It's worth quoting Bidens final presidential address to the nation:
“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead,” Biden said.
The president outlined some of his most pressing concerns, including what he described as a “crumbling” free press, the outsized influence of the military-industrial complex, rising disinformation, and the need to remove dark money from politics. He also called for constitutional amendments to ensure presidential accountability, arguing that no president should be immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office..
I think that one of the most clear headed and concise analysis of the state of politics in recent times.
And yet he was good with all of that when he thought it was on his side.
"no president should be immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office.."
That a was bonkers decision by Supreme Court only a few months ago, so you can hardly expected Biden to be able to move on that one.
It's a good summary but sadly at least 50% of US voters don't give a shit as long as eggs and Mc Donalds are falling in price.
If youre on the breadline and living in a trailer park food prices are more important then abstract concepts.
It;s a phenomenon across the west that our politicians spend too much time forgetting their citizens interests and then get surprised when the citizens revolt.
You'd have a point, except Trump, Musk and the bad people of the GOP haven't just forgotten about their citizens' interests; they don't care. They're narcissists.
Trump is certainly a narcissist and wont deliver half the things he promises. But the Democrats arent much better, theyve ignored the day to day issues of their core voters and have lost them. It's the same with Labour in the UK.
If inflation was a core interest, as I think it was, then they did not ignore it. It is just that certain events were ongoing that you might recall that made inflation difficult to tackle for *any* government around the world.
The voters only know their pockets are being emptied and blame the government it might be unfair but it;s what they see. The government doesnt help itself by focusing on other issues so voters think their well being is less of a priority.
Buying a factory would allow China to build influence in Germany's prized auto industry, home to some of the oldest and most prestigious car brands, the person said.
Chinese companies have invested across a range of industries in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, from telecommunications to robotics but have yet to set up traditional car manufacturing there, despite Mercedes-Benz having two large Chinese shareholders.
Any such move could mark China's most politically sensitive investment yet. VW has long been a symbol of Germany's industrial prowess, now threatened by a global economic slowdown hitting demand and a creaking transition to green technologies.
Building cars in Germany for sale in Europe would allow China's EV makers to avoid paying EU tariffs on electric cars imported from China and could pose a further threat to European manufacturers' competitiveness.
While bids could come from private firms, state-owned firms or joint ventures with foreign companies, Chinese authorities reserve the right to approve certain investments abroad and would likely be involved in any offer from early on.
Investment decisions would hinge on the new German government's stance towards China following an election in February, the person said...
It's simply Europe screwing it's own businesses. The Net Zero plans benefit China.
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
Not sure that is entirely sensible. Regulators getting out of the way and allowing banks and building societies to lend with mortgages of six or seven times salary led to the 2008 crash
Growth of 0.1% could easily be a contraction of 0.1% or worse after revisions.
Or growth of 0.2%. GDP estimates go all over the place when they’re revised but in recent years they’ve tended to go up.
I think that that you are missing the important PB herd consensus:
Under Tory chancellors revisions are always upwards under Labour ones always downwards.
Similarly rich people need bumper payrises to motivate them, poor people getting payrises are a drag on productivity.
I've taken to scrolling past the "Reeves is shit" posters, the Tory/Reform/ Trump/Musk rampers and when they are on, the race baiters. There not much left to read. I note with sadness the non-RefCon post count has diminished considerably.
I'd actually say that those figures are quite good for the Conservatives six months into a new Labour government. Labour have had very little time to muck things up, compared to the Conservative's fifteen years, yet either half blame Labour or both equally.
It was only 14 years thankfully, another year and they might have got waiting lists into 8 figures. I agree with you, 6 months in you're only just starting to implement policies, it'll take 2-3 years before they have any real effect. That's why the coalition govt isn't seen as bad as it actually was, for at least the first 2-3 years public services were running on the momentum from the labour govt.
The momentum from the Labour government in 2010 was pretty much downwards IMV...
The coalition was a rare moment of competent government.
In your view. The easiest comparison would be NHS waiting lists (because the stats are available). Falling to August 2008, flat until about August 2012 then steadily increasing. You can't argue that the reduction up to Aug 2008 wasn't entirely down to Labour policies and it took until Aug 2017 for the list to reach Aug 2007 levels with a steady increase from 2012. There's your 2 year policy effect lag.
You miss the point. labour got the waiting lists down by splurging money on the NHS. That could not be continued in the same manner after 2010. IIRC the Conservative governments did increase NHS spending, but not to the same degree as the previous Labour administrations did. It remained at about 7.something % of GDP throughout 2010-2020.
It was unsustainable, and made worse by the ever-increasing demand.
Remainers constantly ignore the other side of the equation which is whether the EU would want us back. There is no appetite for it
Bollocks
There are a number of countries lining up to join
No evidence the UK couldn't be one of them
We could certainly line up.
But that doesn't mean anything. Turkey has been in line since 1987 and some Balkan countries since the 90s and 00s.
And none of those has delivered the EU by far the greatest humiliation in its history, nor were a recalcitrant member when they did join.
Do you really think the EU would want us back if, as is likely, the inevitable referendum were 51:49 in favour or similar? Just to want to leave again a few years later?
The Tory attacks are clearly having some impact, otherwise Labour wouldn't now be polling below Brown 2010 levels in most polls.
However most of the leakage from Labour has been to Reform, the LDs and Greens as voters who rejected the Tory government last July and now reject the Labour government too look elsewhere for a protest vote
The Tory attacks are saying the country is in crisis and everything is wrong. Given they have been in power the last 14 years bar a few months of course that benefits Reform rather than the Tories. Baffled that this is a strategy. Maybe Farage has some saboteurs within the Conservative party.
They chose Truss over Sunak, briefed against Sunak after wise heads installed him and then choose a shortlist of Badenoch and Jenrick. They don't need saboteurs.
Growth of 0.1% could easily be a contraction of 0.1% or worse after revisions.
Or growth of 0.2%. GDP estimates go all over the place when they’re revised but in recent years they’ve tended to go up.
I think that that you are missing the important PB herd consensus:
Under Tory chancellors revisions are always upwards under Labour ones always downwards.
Similarly rich people need bumper payrises to motivate them, poor people getting payrises are a drag on productivity.
I've taken to scrolling past the "Reeves is shit" posters, the Tory/Reform/ Trump/Musk rampers and when they are on, the race baiters. There not much left to read. I note with sadness the non-RefCon post count has diminished considerably.
Hey! I'm sort-of defending Starmer this morning.
(My view is that it's good he's gone to Kyiv, but he should have gone there earlier in his PMship. But to call it 'grandstanding' as he arrives is more than a little off.)
A challenge facing the West, perhaps the most significant one, is the demographic timebomb of an ageing population with declining birth rates. For some on the authoritarian right, the solution is to roll back reproductive rights and encourage young women to have more babies. Within that context, we have seen abortion being banned across large chunks of the US. So, how is that working out?
The results indicate that abortion bans cause significant increases in net migration outflows, with effect sizes growing throughout the year after the decision. The most recent data point indicates that total abortion bans come at the cost of more than 36,000 residents per quarter. The effects are more prominent for single-person households than for family households, which may reflect larger effects on younger adults.
Importantly, data from the U.S. Census Bureau tells a much different story. Currently, 16 states either largely protect all preborn children or have in effect a heartbeat act that protects the preborn after six weeks’ gestation. Census Bureau data show that in fiscal 2024, 13 of these states saw population increases because of interstate migration. The only states with strong pro-life laws in effect that lost population because of interstate migration were Louisiana and Mississippi. Meanwhile, many states with permissive abortion policies, including California, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, and Maryland, all lost population because of interstate migration in fiscal 2024.
Badenoch is set to do a big speech where she fesses up to some of the Tories' mistakes in government.
A sensible first step, I think.
One of the items is essentially admitting they lied about having any plans for what would happen after Brexit.
Suspect it will be more "we haven't made Communism work" than a "we really mucked up with Brexit" reflection.
It would have to be, her media sponsors have spent the last 10 years pushing Brexit for their own interests. They'd be furious if she admitted it was all a terrible mistake.
A challenge facing the West, perhaps the most significant one, is the demographic timebomb of an ageing population with declining birth rates. For some on the authoritarian right, the solution is to roll back reproductive rights and encourage young women to have more babies. Within that context, we have seen abortion being banned across large chunks of the US. So, how is that working out?
The results indicate that abortion bans cause significant increases in net migration outflows, with effect sizes growing throughout the year after the decision. The most recent data point indicates that total abortion bans come at the cost of more than 36,000 residents per quarter. The effects are more prominent for single-person households than for family households, which may reflect larger effects on younger adults.
Importantly, data from the U.S. Census Bureau tells a much different story. Currently, 16 states either largely protect all preborn children or have in effect a heartbeat act that protects the preborn after six weeks’ gestation. Census Bureau data show that in fiscal 2024, 13 of these states saw population increases because of interstate migration. The only states with strong pro-life laws in effect that lost population because of interstate migration were Louisiana and Mississippi. Meanwhile, many states with permissive abortion policies, including California, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, and Maryland, all lost population because of interstate migration in fiscal 2024.
You can read the NBER methodology in detail at the URL given. The National Review does not, ironically, offer a proper review of the study; they just want to dismiss it.
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
It’s hardly Natural England that is a bar to growth. It’s the laws which it is their duty to regulate. Which they didn’t put on the statute.
And in any case we’ve seen where light touch regulation takes us. Rivers full of shit.
At a time of biodiversity and climate crisis, we need to do more for nature not less, but the farming lobby stands in the way of every single atrempt to create the conditions for nature recovery.
I suggest you stop looking for simple solutions and scapegoats and look at the bigger picture. Or at least substantiate your arguments better than whatever simplistic drivel is presented in the popular media.
How do other nations deal with their bats and great crested newts ?
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
It’s hardly Natural England that is a bar to growth. It’s the laws which it is their duty to regulate. Which they didn’t put on the statute.
And in any case we’ve seen where light touch regulation takes us. Rivers full of shit.
At a time of biodiversity and climate crisis, we need to do more for nature not less, but the farming lobby stands in the way of every single atrempt to create the conditions for nature recovery.
I suggest you stop looking for simple solutions and scapegoats and look at the bigger picture. Or at least substantiate your arguments better than whatever simplistic drivel is presented in the popular media.
How do other nations deal with their bats and great crested newts ?
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
It’s hardly Natural England that is a bar to growth. It’s the laws which it is their duty to regulate. Which they didn’t put on the statute.
And in any case we’ve seen where light touch regulation takes us. Rivers full of shit.
At a time of biodiversity and climate crisis, we need to do more for nature not less, but the farming lobby stands in the way of every single atrempt to create the conditions for nature recovery.
I suggest you stop looking for simple solutions and scapegoats and look at the bigger picture. Or at least substantiate your arguments better than whatever simplistic drivel is presented in the popular media.
How do other nations deal with their bats and great crested newts ?
Do you mean that other countries don’t build £120m bat tunnels and spend millions more relocating species that are found all over the country?
A challenge facing the West, perhaps the most significant one, is the demographic timebomb of an ageing population with declining birth rates. For some on the authoritarian right, the solution is to roll back reproductive rights and encourage young women to have more babies. Within that context, we have seen abortion being banned across large chunks of the US. So, how is that working out?
The results indicate that abortion bans cause significant increases in net migration outflows, with effect sizes growing throughout the year after the decision. The most recent data point indicates that total abortion bans come at the cost of more than 36,000 residents per quarter. The effects are more prominent for single-person households than for family households, which may reflect larger effects on younger adults.
Importantly, data from the U.S. Census Bureau tells a much different story. Currently, 16 states either largely protect all preborn children or have in effect a heartbeat act that protects the preborn after six weeks’ gestation. Census Bureau data show that in fiscal 2024, 13 of these states saw population increases because of interstate migration. The only states with strong pro-life laws in effect that lost population because of interstate migration were Louisiana and Mississippi. Meanwhile, many states with permissive abortion policies, including California, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, and Maryland, all lost population because of interstate migration in fiscal 2024.
U-Haul, a company that rents self-drive removal vans, published their stats about interstate moves last year.
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
It’s hardly Natural England that is a bar to growth. It’s the laws which it is their duty to regulate. Which they didn’t put on the statute.
And in any case we’ve seen where light touch regulation takes us. Rivers full of shit.
At a time of biodiversity and climate crisis, we need to do more for nature not less, but the farming lobby stands in the way of every single atrempt to create the conditions for nature recovery.
I suggest you stop looking for simple solutions and scapegoats and look at the bigger picture. Or at least substantiate your arguments better than whatever simplistic drivel is presented in the popular media.
How do other nations deal with their bats and great crested newts ?
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
It’s hardly Natural England that is a bar to growth. It’s the laws which it is their duty to regulate. Which they didn’t put on the statute.
And in any case we’ve seen where light touch regulation takes us. Rivers full of shit.
At a time of biodiversity and climate crisis, we need to do more for nature not less, but the farming lobby stands in the way of every single atrempt to create the conditions for nature recovery.
I suggest you stop looking for simple solutions and scapegoats and look at the bigger picture. Or at least substantiate your arguments better than whatever simplistic drivel is presented in the popular media.
How do other nations deal with their bats and great crested newts ?
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
Rachel from accounts belatedly realising that the UK needs a Department of Government Efficiency.
Oh, and that doesn’t mean employing 500 McKinsey staff to produce a 3,000 page report in 2027, it means doing it the American way and getting a couple of maverick business types in to cut out whole swathes of the standing bureaucracy and repealing the legislation that supports them.
Governments of all stripes have been the same since Thatcher, always talking about making efficiencies but overseeing a constant rise in the cost of government.
The problem is that DOGE is bullshit.
Given that it was the Budget which triggered the fall in business confidence perhaps she could look at that.
Meanwhile Torsten Bell is saying interesting things about pensions.
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
Rachel from accounts belatedly realising that the UK needs a Department of Government Efficiency.
Oh, and that doesn’t mean employing 500 McKinsey staff to produce a 3,000 page report in 2027, it means doing it the American way and getting a couple of maverick business types in to cut out whole swathes of the standing bureaucracy and repealing the legislation that supports them.
Governments of all stripes have been the same since Thatcher, always talking about making efficiencies but overseeing a constant rise in the cost of government.
The problem is that DOGE is bullshit.
Given that it was the Budget which triggered the fall in business confidence perhaps she could look at that.
Meanwhile Torsten Bell is saying interesting things about pensions.
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
Rachel from accounts belatedly realising that the UK needs a Department of Government Efficiency.
Oh, and that doesn’t mean employing 500 McKinsey staff to produce a 3,000 page report in 2027, it means doing it the American way and getting a couple of maverick business types in to cut out whole swathes of the standing bureaucracy and repealing the legislation that supports them.
Governments of all stripes have been the same since Thatcher, always talking about making efficiencies but overseeing a constant rise in the cost of government.
The problem is that DOGE is bullshit.
Given that it was the Budget which triggered the fall in business confidence perhaps she could look at that.
Meanwhile Torsten Bell is saying interesting things about pensions.
Buying a factory would allow China to build influence in Germany's prized auto industry, home to some of the oldest and most prestigious car brands, the person said.
Chinese companies have invested across a range of industries in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, from telecommunications to robotics but have yet to set up traditional car manufacturing there, despite Mercedes-Benz having two large Chinese shareholders.
Any such move could mark China's most politically sensitive investment yet. VW has long been a symbol of Germany's industrial prowess, now threatened by a global economic slowdown hitting demand and a creaking transition to green technologies.
Building cars in Germany for sale in Europe would allow China's EV makers to avoid paying EU tariffs on electric cars imported from China and could pose a further threat to European manufacturers' competitiveness.
While bids could come from private firms, state-owned firms or joint ventures with foreign companies, Chinese authorities reserve the right to approve certain investments abroad and would likely be involved in any offer from early on.
Investment decisions would hinge on the new German government's stance towards China following an election in February, the person said...
It's simply Europe screwing it's own businesses. The Net Zero plans benefit China.
That ship sailed long ago. The fact is that is Germany doesn't develop a domestic EV industry, it won't have a car industry. The Chinese simply beat them to the new market.
This was predictable a decade ago, and has nothing to do with Net Zero. Climate change certainly incentivised the development of EVs, but now it's just about market forces.
And learn to use the apostrophe correctly, or don't use it.
Remarkable given the poltical titans in charge of SLab.
Paul Hutcheon @paulhutcheon NEW: Scottish Labour has slumped to fifth place among older voters for the Holyrood election after the winter fuel payment debacle.
A poll has found Anas Sarwar's party on 11%, behind Reform UK.
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
Rachel from accounts belatedly realising that the UK needs a Department of Government Efficiency.
Oh, and that doesn’t mean employing 500 McKinsey staff to produce a 3,000 page report in 2027, it means doing it the American way and getting a couple of maverick business types in to cut out whole swathes of the standing bureaucracy and repealing the legislation that supports them.
Governments of all stripes have been the same since Thatcher, always talking about making efficiencies but overseeing a constant rise in the cost of government.
The problem is that DOGE is bullshit.
Given that it was the Budget which triggered the fall in business confidence perhaps she could look at that.
Meanwhile Torsten Bell is saying interesting things about pensions.
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
It’s hardly Natural England that is a bar to growth. It’s the laws which it is their duty to regulate. Which they didn’t put on the statute.
And in any case we’ve seen where light touch regulation takes us. Rivers full of shit.
At a time of biodiversity and climate crisis, we need to do more for nature not less, but the farming lobby stands in the way of every single atrempt to create the conditions for nature recovery.
I suggest you stop looking for simple solutions and scapegoats and look at the bigger picture. Or at least substantiate your arguments better than whatever simplistic drivel is presented in the popular media.
How do other nations deal with their bats and great crested newts ?
Do you mean that other countries don’t build £120m bat tunnels and spend millions more relocating species that are found all over the country?
A challenge facing the West, perhaps the most significant one, is the demographic timebomb of an ageing population with declining birth rates. For some on the authoritarian right, the solution is to roll back reproductive rights and encourage young women to have more babies. Within that context, we have seen abortion being banned across large chunks of the US. So, how is that working out?
The results indicate that abortion bans cause significant increases in net migration outflows, with effect sizes growing throughout the year after the decision. The most recent data point indicates that total abortion bans come at the cost of more than 36,000 residents per quarter. The effects are more prominent for single-person households than for family households, which may reflect larger effects on younger adults.
1) I don't think the reason - either explicit or implicit - for abortion bans is 'to have more babies in order to ensure long-term demographic stability'. 2) I'm also triggered by the word 'cause' in there. Correlation <> causation!
More likely explanation is 'general religious conservative outlook' leads to both 'increase in support for abortion bans' and also 'type of place not particularly attractive for sparkly-eyed 20-somethings to live'.
But also note that the most liberal states like California and New York are also seeing outflows of population. Because hyper-liberalism leads to 'type of place not particularly attractive for sensible-child-raising-30-somethings to live'
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
Rachel from accounts belatedly realising that the UK needs a Department of Government Efficiency.
Oh, and that doesn’t mean employing 500 McKinsey staff to produce a 3,000 page report in 2027, it means doing it the American way and getting a couple of maverick business types in to cut out whole swathes of the standing bureaucracy and repealing the legislation that supports them.
Governments of all stripes have been the same since Thatcher, always talking about making efficiencies but overseeing a constant rise in the cost of government.
The problem is that DOGE is bullshit.
Given that it was the Budget which triggered the fall in business confidence perhaps she could look at that.
Meanwhile Torsten Bell is saying interesting things about pensions.
I'd actually say that those figures are quite good for the Conservatives six months into a new Labour government. Labour have had very little time to muck things up, compared to the Conservative's fifteen years, yet either half blame Labour or both equally.
It was only 14 years thankfully, another year and they might have got waiting lists into 8 figures. I agree with you, 6 months in you're only just starting to implement policies, it'll take 2-3 years before they have any real effect. That's why the coalition govt isn't seen as bad as it actually was, for at least the first 2-3 years public services were running on the momentum from the labour govt.
The momentum from the Labour government in 2010 was pretty much downwards IMV...
The coalition was a rare moment of competent government.
In your view. The easiest comparison would be NHS waiting lists (because the stats are available). Falling to August 2008, flat until about August 2012 then steadily increasing. You can't argue that the reduction up to Aug 2008 wasn't entirely down to Labour policies and it took until Aug 2017 for the list to reach Aug 2007 levels with a steady increase from 2012. There's your 2 year policy effect lag.
You miss the point. labour got the waiting lists down by splurging money on the NHS. That could not be continued in the same manner after 2010. IIRC the Conservative governments did increase NHS spending, but not to the same degree as the previous Labour administrations did. It remained at about 7.something % of GDP throughout 2010-2020.
It was unsustainable, and made worse by the ever-increasing demand.
You could argue that the inflection started in 2008. NHS demand is affected by the length of the waiting list, the resources required to treat people increase as their condition worsens, they also develop secondary health issues, what is unaffordable is allowing the waiting list to increase, that is one of the reasons why there is ever-increasing demand. To stay on top of demand you have to diagnose and treat as soon as practical.
Remarkable given the poltical titans in charge of SLab.
Paul Hutcheon @paulhutcheon NEW: Scottish Labour has slumped to fifth place among older voters for the Holyrood election after the winter fuel payment debacle.
A poll has found Anas Sarwar's party on 11%, behind Reform UK.
Buying a factory would allow China to build influence in Germany's prized auto industry, home to some of the oldest and most prestigious car brands, the person said.
Chinese companies have invested across a range of industries in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, from telecommunications to robotics but have yet to set up traditional car manufacturing there, despite Mercedes-Benz having two large Chinese shareholders.
Any such move could mark China's most politically sensitive investment yet. VW has long been a symbol of Germany's industrial prowess, now threatened by a global economic slowdown hitting demand and a creaking transition to green technologies.
Building cars in Germany for sale in Europe would allow China's EV makers to avoid paying EU tariffs on electric cars imported from China and could pose a further threat to European manufacturers' competitiveness.
While bids could come from private firms, state-owned firms or joint ventures with foreign companies, Chinese authorities reserve the right to approve certain investments abroad and would likely be involved in any offer from early on.
Investment decisions would hinge on the new German government's stance towards China following an election in February, the person said...
It's simply Europe screwing it's own businesses. The Net Zero plans benefit China.
That ship sailed long ago. The fact is that is Germany doesn't develop a domestic EV industry, it won't have a car industry. The Chinese simply beat them to the new market.
This was predictable a decade ago, and has nothing to do with Net Zero. Climate change certainly incentivised the development of EVs, but now it's just about market forces.
And learn to use the apostrophe correctly, or don't use it.
They can develop an EV industry but on the timescales proposed theyre screwed.
A challenge facing the West, perhaps the most significant one, is the demographic timebomb of an ageing population with declining birth rates. For some on the authoritarian right, the solution is to roll back reproductive rights and encourage young women to have more babies. Within that context, we have seen abortion being banned across large chunks of the US. So, how is that working out?
The results indicate that abortion bans cause significant increases in net migration outflows, with effect sizes growing throughout the year after the decision. The most recent data point indicates that total abortion bans come at the cost of more than 36,000 residents per quarter. The effects are more prominent for single-person households than for family households, which may reflect larger effects on younger adults.
1) I don't think the reason - either explicit or implicit - for abortion bans is 'to have more babies in order to ensure long-term demographic stability'. 2) I'm also triggered by the word 'cause' in there. Correlation <> causation!
More likely explanation is 'general religious conservative outlook' leads to both 'increase in support for abortion bans' and also 'type of place not particularly attractive for sparkly-eyed 20-somethings to live'.
But also note that the most liberal states like California and New York are also seeing outflows of population. Because hyper-liberalism leads to 'type of place not particularly attractive for sensible-child-raising-30-somethings to live'
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
It’s hardly Natural England that is a bar to growth. It’s the laws which it is their duty to regulate. Which they didn’t put on the statute.
And in any case we’ve seen where light touch regulation takes us. Rivers full of shit.
At a time of biodiversity and climate crisis, we need to do more for nature not less, but the farming lobby stands in the way of every single atrempt to create the conditions for nature recovery.
I suggest you stop looking for simple solutions and scapegoats and look at the bigger picture. Or at least substantiate your arguments better than whatever simplistic drivel is presented in the popular media.
How do other nations deal with their bats and great crested newts ?
Do you mean that other countries don’t build £120m bat tunnels and spend millions more relocating species that are found all over the country?
Growth of 0.1% could easily be a contraction of 0.1% or worse after revisions.
Or growth of 0.2%. GDP estimates go all over the place when they’re revised but in recent years they’ve tended to go up.
I think that that you are missing the important PB herd consensus:
Under Tory chancellors revisions are always upwards under Labour ones always downwards.
Similarly rich people need bumper payrises to motivate them, poor people getting payrises are a drag on productivity.
I've taken to scrolling past the "Reeves is shit" posters, the Tory/Reform/ Trump/Musk rampers and when they are on, the race baiters. There not much left to read. I note with sadness the non-RefCon post count has diminished considerably.
Hey! I'm sort-of defending Starmer this morning.
(My view is that it's good he's gone to Kyiv, but he should have gone there earlier in his PMship. But to call it 'grandstanding' as he arrives is more than a little off.)
I don't scroll past you posts. Sometimes I agree with them, sometimes I don't.
Really interesting that this is the one polling result that shows a strong correlation between the answers from Tory and Reform voters.
It suggests that opposing the current Labour government effectively is the keystone to uniting the Tory and Reform votes, and being vague on future policy.
I guess that isn't a revolutionary prescription, but it feels revelatory because I've become so used to seeing polling results that mark Reform voters out as being particularly unusual.
One month's figures tell us *nothing* about "growth". Whether they are revised or not later all they do is hint about the short-run state of the economy
Very true but other than that and similarly pointless speculation about ephemeral movements in opinion polls, what else is there for sites like this to obsess about in the four years before the next elections, here and in the US?
Buying a factory would allow China to build influence in Germany's prized auto industry, home to some of the oldest and most prestigious car brands, the person said.
Chinese companies have invested across a range of industries in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, from telecommunications to robotics but have yet to set up traditional car manufacturing there, despite Mercedes-Benz having two large Chinese shareholders.
Any such move could mark China's most politically sensitive investment yet. VW has long been a symbol of Germany's industrial prowess, now threatened by a global economic slowdown hitting demand and a creaking transition to green technologies.
Building cars in Germany for sale in Europe would allow China's EV makers to avoid paying EU tariffs on electric cars imported from China and could pose a further threat to European manufacturers' competitiveness.
While bids could come from private firms, state-owned firms or joint ventures with foreign companies, Chinese authorities reserve the right to approve certain investments abroad and would likely be involved in any offer from early on.
Investment decisions would hinge on the new German government's stance towards China following an election in February, the person said...
It's simply Europe screwing it's own businesses. The Net Zero plans benefit China.
That ship sailed long ago. The fact is that is Germany doesn't develop a domestic EV industry, it won't have a car industry. The Chinese simply beat them to the new market.
This was predictable a decade ago, and has nothing to do with Net Zero. Climate change certainly incentivised the development of EVs, but now it's just about market forces.
And learn to use the apostrophe correctly, or don't use it.
Except that it’s not about market forces, it’s mostly about European governments forcing through changes via legislation before the market is ready, and in a way that massively favours China over domestic competitors.
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
It’s hardly Natural England that is a bar to growth. It’s the laws which it is their duty to regulate. Which they didn’t put on the statute.
And in any case we’ve seen where light touch regulation takes us. Rivers full of shit.
At a time of biodiversity and climate crisis, we need to do more for nature not less, but the farming lobby stands in the way of every single atrempt to create the conditions for nature recovery.
I suggest you stop looking for simple solutions and scapegoats and look at the bigger picture. Or at least substantiate your arguments better than whatever simplistic drivel is presented in the popular media.
How do other nations deal with their bats and great crested newts ?
Do you mean that other countries don’t build £120m bat tunnels and spend millions more relocating species that are found all over the country?
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
Rachel from accounts belatedly realising that the UK needs a Department of Government Efficiency.
Oh, and that doesn’t mean employing 500 McKinsey staff to produce a 3,000 page report in 2027, it means doing it the American way and getting a couple of maverick business types in to cut out whole swathes of the standing bureaucracy and repealing the legislation that supports them.
Governments of all stripes have been the same since Thatcher, always talking about making efficiencies but overseeing a constant rise in the cost of government.
The problem is that DOGE is bullshit.
Given that it was the Budget which triggered the fall in business confidence perhaps she could look at that.
Meanwhile Torsten Bell is saying interesting things about pensions.
What's he saying.
No more triple lock, reduce the tax free lump sum to £40K and raise the age at which you can take a pension to 57.
Buying a factory would allow China to build influence in Germany's prized auto industry, home to some of the oldest and most prestigious car brands, the person said.
Chinese companies have invested across a range of industries in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, from telecommunications to robotics but have yet to set up traditional car manufacturing there, despite Mercedes-Benz having two large Chinese shareholders.
Any such move could mark China's most politically sensitive investment yet. VW has long been a symbol of Germany's industrial prowess, now threatened by a global economic slowdown hitting demand and a creaking transition to green technologies.
Building cars in Germany for sale in Europe would allow China's EV makers to avoid paying EU tariffs on electric cars imported from China and could pose a further threat to European manufacturers' competitiveness.
While bids could come from private firms, state-owned firms or joint ventures with foreign companies, Chinese authorities reserve the right to approve certain investments abroad and would likely be involved in any offer from early on.
Investment decisions would hinge on the new German government's stance towards China following an election in February, the person said...
It's simply Europe screwing it's own businesses. The Net Zero plans benefit China.
That ship sailed long ago. The fact is that is Germany doesn't develop a domestic EV industry, it won't have a car industry. The Chinese simply beat them to the new market.
This was predictable a decade ago, and has nothing to do with Net Zero. Climate change certainly incentivised the development of EVs, but now it's just about market forces.
And learn to use the apostrophe correctly, or don't use it.
They can develop an EV industry but on the timescales proposed theyre screwed.
The Net Zero timescale is of far less importance than market forces. It was the luddites in the industry who are responsible for the position of their auto industry.
The debate is about how they might mitigate that. The Net Zero argument is a separate one.
A challenge facing the West, perhaps the most significant one, is the demographic timebomb of an ageing population with declining birth rates. For some on the authoritarian right, the solution is to roll back reproductive rights and encourage young women to have more babies. Within that context, we have seen abortion being banned across large chunks of the US. So, how is that working out?
The results indicate that abortion bans cause significant increases in net migration outflows, with effect sizes growing throughout the year after the decision. The most recent data point indicates that total abortion bans come at the cost of more than 36,000 residents per quarter. The effects are more prominent for single-person households than for family households, which may reflect larger effects on younger adults.
That's interesting, although easier to move between states in a Federal Union, than to emigrate to escape a nationwide ban.
Any data on birth rates yet?
I saw this article in the Guardian, and it made me wonder whether the attacks on contraception that the Republican Right want to move onto might be more successful than I'd previously imagined. The contraceptive status quo is not working for a lot of people.
A challenge facing the West, perhaps the most significant one, is the demographic timebomb of an ageing population with declining birth rates. For some on the authoritarian right, the solution is to roll back reproductive rights and encourage young women to have more babies. Within that context, we have seen abortion being banned across large chunks of the US. So, how is that working out?
The results indicate that abortion bans cause significant increases in net migration outflows, with effect sizes growing throughout the year after the decision. The most recent data point indicates that total abortion bans come at the cost of more than 36,000 residents per quarter. The effects are more prominent for single-person households than for family households, which may reflect larger effects on younger adults.
Importantly, data from the U.S. Census Bureau tells a much different story. Currently, 16 states either largely protect all preborn children or have in effect a heartbeat act that protects the preborn after six weeks’ gestation. Census Bureau data show that in fiscal 2024, 13 of these states saw population increases because of interstate migration. The only states with strong pro-life laws in effect that lost population because of interstate migration were Louisiana and Mississippi. Meanwhile, many states with permissive abortion policies, including California, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, and Maryland, all lost population because of interstate migration in fiscal 2024.
You need one of those inflow-ourflow graphs (or a table) for all states, each categorised as pro-life or pro-choice, to get the full picture. Cherry-picking (note the word "many"!) can give a misleading picture.
'The UK should negotiate a new customs union deal with the European Union, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey is to say.
In a speech on Thursday, he will argue it is needed to boost Britain's economy and its ability to deal with the incoming Donald Trump presidency from a position of strength.
The policy is a practical move to "turbocharge" the economy and a step towards the Lib Dem goal of rejoining the EU, a party source told the BBC.'
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
Rachel from accounts belatedly realising that the UK needs a Department of Government Efficiency.
Oh, and that doesn’t mean employing 500 McKinsey staff to produce a 3,000 page report in 2027, it means doing it the American way and getting a couple of maverick business types in to cut out whole swathes of the standing bureaucracy and repealing the legislation that supports them.
Governments of all stripes have been the same since Thatcher, always talking about making efficiencies but overseeing a constant rise in the cost of government.
The only thing Musk has found to cut so far is his target of cutting $2trn, down to $1trn after a few weeks. I have such faith in this genius that I am sure he will be announcing another $1trn cut in his target sooner rather than later.
The maverick business types are there to plunder what they can from the federal budget, nothing more and this is blatantly obvious.
It's worth quoting Bidens final presidential address to the nation:
“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead,” Biden said.
The president outlined some of his most pressing concerns, including what he described as a “crumbling” free press, the outsized influence of the military-industrial complex, rising disinformation, and the need to remove dark money from politics. He also called for constitutional amendments to ensure presidential accountability, arguing that no president should be immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office..
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
Rachel from accounts belatedly realising that the UK needs a Department of Government Efficiency.
Oh, and that doesn’t mean employing 500 McKinsey staff to produce a 3,000 page report in 2027, it means doing it the American way and getting a couple of maverick business types in to cut out whole swathes of the standing bureaucracy and repealing the legislation that supports them.
Governments of all stripes have been the same since Thatcher, always talking about making efficiencies but overseeing a constant rise in the cost of government.
The problem is that DOGE is bullshit.
Given that it was the Budget which triggered the fall in business confidence perhaps she could look at that.
Meanwhile Torsten Bell is saying interesting things about pensions.
What's he saying.
No more triple lock, reduce the tax free lump sum to £40K and raise the age at which you can take a pension to 57.
Reduce the tax free sum to £40k !?!! Cripes I'm above that now for 25%, in my early 40s and not even a higher rate tax payer. The age raise to 57 is fine though I think.
Its certainly more down to the previous Conservative government than the current Labour government as it takes time for a government to have an effect.
In fact the effects of the previous Labour government still have more effect than anything that Starmer's lot have so far done.
That said it is possible to make predictions as to what a new government's policies are having and so far they do not positive.
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
Rachel from accounts belatedly realising that the UK needs a Department of Government Efficiency.
Oh, and that doesn’t mean employing 500 McKinsey staff to produce a 3,000 page report in 2027, it means doing it the American way and getting a couple of maverick business types in to cut out whole swathes of the standing bureaucracy and repealing the legislation that supports them.
Governments of all stripes have been the same since Thatcher, always talking about making efficiencies but overseeing a constant rise in the cost of government.
The problem is that DOGE is bullshit.
Given that it was the Budget which triggered the fall in business confidence perhaps she could look at that.
Meanwhile Torsten Bell is saying interesting things about pensions.
What's he saying.
No more triple lock, reduce the tax free lump sum to £40K and raise the age at which you can take a pension to 57.
Reduce the tax free sum to £40k !?!! Cripes I'm above that now for 25%, in my early 40s and not even a higher rate tax payer.
57 has been done. We just await the claims from those who don't manage to take it at 55 before the required date then can't take it until 57.
Remarkable given the poltical titans in charge of SLab.
Paul Hutcheon @paulhutcheon NEW: Scottish Labour has slumped to fifth place among older voters for the Holyrood election after the winter fuel payment debacle.
A poll has found Anas Sarwar's party on 11%, behind Reform UK.
Its certainly more down to the previous Conservative government than the current Labour government as it takes time for a government to have an effect.
In fact the effects of the previous Labour government still have more effect than anything that Starmer's lot have so far done.
That said it is possible to make predictions as to what a new government's policies are having and so far they do not positive.
Of course the 'current state of the country' contains both positive and negative aspects.
There are things that governments do right and people feel positively about, things that governments do right and people feel negatively about, things that governments do wrong and people feel negatively about and things that governments do wrong and people feel positively about.
Remarkable given the poltical titans in charge of SLab.
Paul Hutcheon @paulhutcheon NEW: Scottish Labour has slumped to fifth place among older voters for the Holyrood election after the winter fuel payment debacle.
A poll has found Anas Sarwar's party on 11%, behind Reform UK.
Remarkable given the poltical titans in charge of SLab.
Paul Hutcheon @paulhutcheon NEW: Scottish Labour has slumped to fifth place among older voters for the Holyrood election after the winter fuel payment debacle.
A poll has found Anas Sarwar's party on 11%, behind Reform UK.
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
Rachel from accounts belatedly realising that the UK needs a Department of Government Efficiency.
Oh, and that doesn’t mean employing 500 McKinsey staff to produce a 3,000 page report in 2027, it means doing it the American way and getting a couple of maverick business types in to cut out whole swathes of the standing bureaucracy and repealing the legislation that supports them.
Governments of all stripes have been the same since Thatcher, always talking about making efficiencies but overseeing a constant rise in the cost of government.
The problem is that DOGE is bullshit.
Given that it was the Budget which triggered the fall in business confidence perhaps she could look at that.
Meanwhile Torsten Bell is saying interesting things about pensions.
What is he saying ?
I think he has already put alot of thought into pensions and it is a field he was actively interested in before parliament.
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
It’s hardly Natural England that is a bar to growth. It’s the laws which it is their duty to regulate. Which they didn’t put on the statute.
And in any case we’ve seen where light touch regulation takes us. Rivers full of shit.
At a time of biodiversity and climate crisis, we need to do more for nature not less, but the farming lobby stands in the way of every single atrempt to create the conditions for nature recovery.
I suggest you stop looking for simple solutions and scapegoats and look at the bigger picture. Or at least substantiate your arguments better than whatever simplistic drivel is presented in the popular media.
How do other nations deal with their bats and great crested newts ?
Do you mean that other countries don’t build £120m bat tunnels and spend millions more relocating species that are found all over the country?
Remarkable given the poltical titans in charge of SLab.
Paul Hutcheon @paulhutcheon NEW: Scottish Labour has slumped to fifth place among older voters for the Holyrood election after the winter fuel payment debacle.
A poll has found Anas Sarwar's party on 11%, behind Reform UK.
Ahead of the Texas House speaker race, Republican lawmakers appeared outside for a prayer meeting where pastors called for Christians to “take charge and authority” over the legislature and exercise their rightful “jurisdiction over the affairs of men.” https://x.com/RobertDownen_/status/1879261230344384552
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
Rachel from accounts belatedly realising that the UK needs a Department of Government Efficiency.
Oh, and that doesn’t mean employing 500 McKinsey staff to produce a 3,000 page report in 2027, it means doing it the American way and getting a couple of maverick business types in to cut out whole swathes of the standing bureaucracy and repealing the legislation that supports them.
Governments of all stripes have been the same since Thatcher, always talking about making efficiencies but overseeing a constant rise in the cost of government.
The problem is that DOGE is bullshit.
Given that it was the Budget which triggered the fall in business confidence perhaps she could look at that.
Meanwhile Torsten Bell is saying interesting things about pensions.
What's he saying.
No more triple lock, reduce the tax free lump sum to £40K and raise the age at which you can take a pension to 57.
Reduce the tax free sum to £40k !?!! Cripes I'm above that now for 25%, in my early 40s and not even a higher rate tax payer. The age raise to 57 is fine though I think.
It seems a sensible proposal, but like applying CGT to private home sales it would go down like a lead balloon though raising the age to 57 plus is good
A challenge facing the West, perhaps the most significant one, is the demographic timebomb of an ageing population with declining birth rates. For some on the authoritarian right, the solution is to roll back reproductive rights and encourage young women to have more babies. Within that context, we have seen abortion being banned across large chunks of the US. So, how is that working out?
The results indicate that abortion bans cause significant increases in net migration outflows, with effect sizes growing throughout the year after the decision. The most recent data point indicates that total abortion bans come at the cost of more than 36,000 residents per quarter. The effects are more prominent for single-person households than for family households, which may reflect larger effects on younger adults.
That's interesting, although easier to move between states in a Federal Union, than to emigrate to escape a nationwide ban.
Any data on birth rates yet?
I saw this article in the Guardian, and it made me wonder whether the attacks on contraception that the Republican Right want to move onto might be more successful than I'd previously imagined. The contraceptive status quo is not working for a lot of people.
I think there are several different phenomena involved there. We’ve had various apps come in to the market making big promises of effectiveness, but then possibly not being able to deliver on that. That’s a familiar story about digital disruption!
There’s also a rise in anti-hormonal/“wellness” etc., which is perhaps linked with anti-vax sentiment and which RFK Jnr taps into.
Those people are moving away from hormonal female contraceptive methods, but aren’t necessarily aligned with a Republican Right philosophy of removing control from women. However, maybe you’re right that they can find sufficient common ground on an anti-drugs line.
(I feel the ghost of my mother watching over me as I type this. She wrote on contraceptive choices, and carried out several thousand vasectomies.)
Chinese business has started buying out distressed assets from Russian entrepreneurs, Russian media report.
According to them, a Chinese company has decided to buy out 100% of LLC Inskaya Mine in Russia's Kemerovo region, which was on the verge of bankruptcy.
Badenoch is set to do a big speech where she fesses up to some of the Tories' mistakes in government.
A sensible first step, I think.
One of the items is essentially admitting they lied about having any plans for what would happen after Brexit.
Suspect it will be more "we haven't made Communism work" than a "we really mucked up with Brexit" reflection.
No doubt.
But the logic of the admission, as @algarkirk points out, rather cuts against that: ..These matters are so important and so basic that it is hard to see how, with the overwhelming policy resource available to the state, anyone could fail to spot these gaps and contradictions in advance. So it is not just incompetence...
Indeed. Not having a plan was key to Leave winning. It wasn't a mistake.
Buying a factory would allow China to build influence in Germany's prized auto industry, home to some of the oldest and most prestigious car brands, the person said.
Chinese companies have invested across a range of industries in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, from telecommunications to robotics but have yet to set up traditional car manufacturing there, despite Mercedes-Benz having two large Chinese shareholders.
Any such move could mark China's most politically sensitive investment yet. VW has long been a symbol of Germany's industrial prowess, now threatened by a global economic slowdown hitting demand and a creaking transition to green technologies.
Building cars in Germany for sale in Europe would allow China's EV makers to avoid paying EU tariffs on electric cars imported from China and could pose a further threat to European manufacturers' competitiveness.
While bids could come from private firms, state-owned firms or joint ventures with foreign companies, Chinese authorities reserve the right to approve certain investments abroad and would likely be involved in any offer from early on.
Investment decisions would hinge on the new German government's stance towards China following an election in February, the person said...
It's simply Europe screwing it's own businesses. The Net Zero plans benefit China.
That ship sailed long ago. The fact is that is Germany doesn't develop a domestic EV industry, it won't have a car industry. The Chinese simply beat them to the new market.
This was predictable a decade ago, and has nothing to do with Net Zero. Climate change certainly incentivised the development of EVs, but now it's just about market forces.
And learn to use the apostrophe correctly, or don't use it.
They can develop an EV industry but on the timescales proposed theyre screwed.
The Net Zero timescale is of far less importance than market forces. It was the luddites in the industry who are responsible for the position of their auto industry.
The debate is about how they might mitigate that. The Net Zero argument is a separate one.
If the market forces were driving this, why is the government stiffing car markers £15k a car if they sell more than 80% ICE?
The reality is that the buying public is not yet convinced about EVs and so the government is forcing their adoption.
Had the fools in government not done this (having less than 10 years previously forced car makers to go diesel for environmental reasons!), there would still be an EV transition, but not quite as fast. Also Europe would still have a car industry.
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
It’s hardly Natural England that is a bar to growth. It’s the laws which it is their duty to regulate. Which they didn’t put on the statute.
And in any case we’ve seen where light touch regulation takes us. Rivers full of shit.
At a time of biodiversity and climate crisis, we need to do more for nature not less, but the farming lobby stands in the way of every single atrempt to create the conditions for nature recovery.
I suggest you stop looking for simple solutions and scapegoats and look at the bigger picture. Or at least substantiate your arguments better than whatever simplistic drivel is presented in the popular media.
How do other nations deal with their bats and great crested newts ?
Do you mean that other countries don’t build £120m bat tunnels and spend millions more relocating species that are found all over the country?
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
Rachel from accounts belatedly realising that the UK needs a Department of Government Efficiency.
Oh, and that doesn’t mean employing 500 McKinsey staff to produce a 3,000 page report in 2027, it means doing it the American way and getting a couple of maverick business types in to cut out whole swathes of the standing bureaucracy and repealing the legislation that supports them.
Governments of all stripes have been the same since Thatcher, always talking about making efficiencies but overseeing a constant rise in the cost of government.
The problem is that DOGE is bullshit.
Given that it was the Budget which triggered the fall in business confidence perhaps she could look at that.
Meanwhile Torsten Bell is saying interesting things about pensions.
What's he saying.
No more triple lock, reduce the tax free lump sum to £40K and raise the age at which you can take a pension to 57.
Reduce the tax free sum to £40k !?!! Cripes I'm above that now for 25%, in my early 40s and not even a higher rate tax payer. The age raise to 57 is fine though I think.
It seems a sensible proposal, but like applying CGT to private home sales it would go down like a lead balloon though raising the age to 57 plus is good
CGT should certainly apply to any property except the primary residence. Although the primary residence capital gain should be dealt with too, probably through IHT. Why should any unearned income be tax free while earned income is taxed?
Buying a factory would allow China to build influence in Germany's prized auto industry, home to some of the oldest and most prestigious car brands, the person said.
Chinese companies have invested across a range of industries in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, from telecommunications to robotics but have yet to set up traditional car manufacturing there, despite Mercedes-Benz having two large Chinese shareholders.
Any such move could mark China's most politically sensitive investment yet. VW has long been a symbol of Germany's industrial prowess, now threatened by a global economic slowdown hitting demand and a creaking transition to green technologies.
Building cars in Germany for sale in Europe would allow China's EV makers to avoid paying EU tariffs on electric cars imported from China and could pose a further threat to European manufacturers' competitiveness.
While bids could come from private firms, state-owned firms or joint ventures with foreign companies, Chinese authorities reserve the right to approve certain investments abroad and would likely be involved in any offer from early on.
Investment decisions would hinge on the new German government's stance towards China following an election in February, the person said...
It's simply Europe screwing it's own businesses. The Net Zero plans benefit China.
That ship sailed long ago. The fact is that is Germany doesn't develop a domestic EV industry, it won't have a car industry. The Chinese simply beat them to the new market.
This was predictable a decade ago, and has nothing to do with Net Zero. Climate change certainly incentivised the development of EVs, but now it's just about market forces.
And learn to use the apostrophe correctly, or don't use it.
They can develop an EV industry but on the timescales proposed theyre screwed.
The Net Zero timescale is of far less importance than market forces. It was the luddites in the industry who are responsible for the position of their auto industry.
The debate is about how they might mitigate that. The Net Zero argument is a separate one.
If the market forces were driving this, why is the government stiffing car markers £15k a car if they sell more than 80% ICE?
The reality is that the buying public is not yet convinced about EVs and so the government is forcing their adoption.
Had the fools in government not done this (having less than 10 years previously forced car makers to go diesel for environmental reasons!), there would still be an EV transition, but not quite as fast. Also Europe would still have a car industry.
Or would it be even closer to extinction by foreign EV makers ?
The point is that with a very few years, EVs will be superior to ICE vehicles in almost every respect, and be cheaper. And that's entirely independent of anything the EU (or we) do.
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
Rachel from accounts belatedly realising that the UK needs a Department of Government Efficiency.
Oh, and that doesn’t mean employing 500 McKinsey staff to produce a 3,000 page report in 2027, it means doing it the American way and getting a couple of maverick business types in to cut out whole swathes of the standing bureaucracy and repealing the legislation that supports them.
Governments of all stripes have been the same since Thatcher, always talking about making efficiencies but overseeing a constant rise in the cost of government.
The problem is that DOGE is bullshit.
Given that it was the Budget which triggered the fall in business confidence perhaps she could look at that.
Meanwhile Torsten Bell is saying interesting things about pensions.
What's he saying.
No more triple lock, reduce the tax free lump sum to £40K and raise the age at which you can take a pension to 57.
Reduce the tax free sum to £40k !?!! Cripes I'm above that now for 25%, in my early 40s and not even a higher rate tax payer. The age raise to 57 is fine though I think.
It seems a sensible proposal, but like applying CGT to private home sales it would go down like a lead balloon though raising the age to 57 plus is good
Reducing the tax free lump sum would impact me but it is a while off, but I plan to take my pension pot ad UFPLS so get the tax free lump sum with every withdrawal.
Is the age to take a pension just limited to accessing a DC pot or will it apply to public sector and the remaining private sector DB schemes too ? That is coming in for DC anyway.
Get rid of the triple lock for sure. They should take the hit now and live with the consequences. Changing the inflation measure applied in the future is going to help.
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
Rachel from accounts belatedly realising that the UK needs a Department of Government Efficiency.
Oh, and that doesn’t mean employing 500 McKinsey staff to produce a 3,000 page report in 2027, it means doing it the American way and getting a couple of maverick business types in to cut out whole swathes of the standing bureaucracy and repealing the legislation that supports them.
Governments of all stripes have been the same since Thatcher, always talking about making efficiencies but overseeing a constant rise in the cost of government.
The problem is that DOGE is bullshit.
Given that it was the Budget which triggered the fall in business confidence perhaps she could look at that.
Meanwhile Torsten Bell is saying interesting things about pensions.
What's he saying.
No more triple lock, reduce the tax free lump sum to £40K and raise the age at which you can take a pension to 57.
Reduce the tax free sum to £40k !?!! Cripes I'm above that now for 25%, in my early 40s and not even a higher rate tax payer. The age raise to 57 is fine though I think.
It seems a sensible proposal, but like applying CGT to private home sales it would go down like a lead balloon though raising the age to 57 plus is good
CGT should certainly apply to any property except the primary residence. Although the primary residence capital gain should be dealt with too, probably through IHT. Why should any unearned income be tax free while earned income is taxed?
Everyone seems to agree that working people deserve more and pensioners deserve less. But pensions policy has to take account of the fact that people move from the first category to the second in the course of their lives. If the government makes pension saving less attractive fewer people will do so and the money will end up somewhere else.
When Macron tried to raise the French pension age students joined the protests. They were sensible enough to realise it was going to impact them rather than the existing elderly.
Buying a factory would allow China to build influence in Germany's prized auto industry, home to some of the oldest and most prestigious car brands, the person said.
Chinese companies have invested across a range of industries in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, from telecommunications to robotics but have yet to set up traditional car manufacturing there, despite Mercedes-Benz having two large Chinese shareholders.
Any such move could mark China's most politically sensitive investment yet. VW has long been a symbol of Germany's industrial prowess, now threatened by a global economic slowdown hitting demand and a creaking transition to green technologies.
Building cars in Germany for sale in Europe would allow China's EV makers to avoid paying EU tariffs on electric cars imported from China and could pose a further threat to European manufacturers' competitiveness.
While bids could come from private firms, state-owned firms or joint ventures with foreign companies, Chinese authorities reserve the right to approve certain investments abroad and would likely be involved in any offer from early on.
Investment decisions would hinge on the new German government's stance towards China following an election in February, the person said...
It's simply Europe screwing it's own businesses. The Net Zero plans benefit China.
That ship sailed long ago. The fact is that is Germany doesn't develop a domestic EV industry, it won't have a car industry. The Chinese simply beat them to the new market.
This was predictable a decade ago, and has nothing to do with Net Zero. Climate change certainly incentivised the development of EVs, but now it's just about market forces.
And learn to use the apostrophe correctly, or don't use it.
They can develop an EV industry but on the timescales proposed theyre screwed.
The Net Zero timescale is of far less importance than market forces. It was the luddites in the industry who are responsible for the position of their auto industry.
The debate is about how they might mitigate that. The Net Zero argument is a separate one.
If the market forces were driving this, why is the government stiffing car markers £15k a car if they sell more than 80% ICE?
The reality is that the buying public is not yet convinced about EVs and so the government is forcing their adoption.
Had the fools in government not done this (having less than 10 years previously forced car makers to go diesel for environmental reasons!), there would still be an EV transition, but not quite as fast. Also Europe would still have a car industry.
Or would it be even closer to extinction by foreign EV makers ?
The point is that with a very few years, EVs will be superior to ICE vehicles in almost every respect, and be cheaper. And that's entirely independent of anything the EU (or we) do.
Fining car makers and banning ICEs does seem an odd way to go about it though. Surely it would have been better to have gradually increased taxation on ICE vehicles and used the revenue to subsidise EV purchases or infrastructure. I think Norway has taken an approach more like this and now sells very few ICE vehicles.
Badenoch is set to do a big speech where she fesses up to some of the Tories' mistakes in government.
A sensible first step, I think.
One of the items is essentially admitting they lied about having any plans for what would happen after Brexit.
That was the dire David Cameron, five Prime Ministers ago. It also didn't stop them winning triumphantly in 2019 or leading in the polls for the first half of that Parliament, so I'm not sure how beneficial it will be.
Far better to admit to mistakes on mattes of current salience, such as uncontrolled immigration, statist economic policies and Nut Zero lunacy. People might actually care.
Also worth pointing out the Tories Parliamentary party were split 50/50 and half of them campaigned to remain. The Tory govt enacted Brexit as the will of the people. Whether die hard remainers, like that Femi bloke and the tit in the Top hat, like it or not.
We have left the EU, we are not going back.
Focus on the here and now not revisiting the battles of 2016.
But as you keep pointing out, Brexit is the here and now. The fact that we never had a coherent plan of how to manage the UK's new situation - and still don't - is not something to be ignored.
The equivalent would be my saying "Labour are in government; there's no point in arguing about their policies". That would be absurd.
The world has moved on from events 9 years ago.
Remainers constantly ignore the other side of the equation which is whether the EU would want us back. There is no appetite for it
Also have you noticed how whenever you point out we'd have to hand over £20-30 billion every year and adopt the Euro if we rejoin, even the most ardent Remoaner always changes the subject?
Not only that but rejoining terms would be fairly dtaconian and then the constant interference in day to day life which we have all forgotten would be back and start to grate again.
It's why I maintain that the polls on rejoining will shift massively when the costs are placed in front of the electorate.
Makes the £6.5 billion we were actually paying seem a bargain.
Rachel Reeves is today urged to tell Britain's regulators and quangos to 'get out of the way' as she asks for their help in reviving Britain's stuttering economic growth.
Ministers asked them to offer suggestions in the wake of last year's Budget, which triggered a sharp fall in business confidence.
However, they are said to be underwhelmed by the proposals so far, which appear to involve the bodies continuing to fulfil existing roles.
No shit
I wish her well but she needs to do more than just tell them. She also needs to focus her fire on Natural England, a bar to growth if ever there was one.
It’s hardly Natural England that is a bar to growth. It’s the laws which it is their duty to regulate. Which they didn’t put on the statute.
And in any case we’ve seen where light touch regulation takes us. Rivers full of shit.
At a time of biodiversity and climate crisis, we need to do more for nature not less, but the farming lobby stands in the way of every single atrempt to create the conditions for nature recovery.
I suggest you stop looking for simple solutions and scapegoats and look at the bigger picture. Or at least substantiate your arguments better than whatever simplistic drivel is presented in the popular media.
How do other nations deal with their bats and great crested newts ?
Do you mean that other countries don’t build £120m bat tunnels and spend millions more relocating species that are found all over the country?
Buying a factory would allow China to build influence in Germany's prized auto industry, home to some of the oldest and most prestigious car brands, the person said.
Chinese companies have invested across a range of industries in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, from telecommunications to robotics but have yet to set up traditional car manufacturing there, despite Mercedes-Benz having two large Chinese shareholders.
Any such move could mark China's most politically sensitive investment yet. VW has long been a symbol of Germany's industrial prowess, now threatened by a global economic slowdown hitting demand and a creaking transition to green technologies.
Building cars in Germany for sale in Europe would allow China's EV makers to avoid paying EU tariffs on electric cars imported from China and could pose a further threat to European manufacturers' competitiveness.
While bids could come from private firms, state-owned firms or joint ventures with foreign companies, Chinese authorities reserve the right to approve certain investments abroad and would likely be involved in any offer from early on.
Investment decisions would hinge on the new German government's stance towards China following an election in February, the person said...
It's simply Europe screwing it's own businesses. The Net Zero plans benefit China.
That ship sailed long ago. The fact is that is Germany doesn't develop a domestic EV industry, it won't have a car industry. The Chinese simply beat them to the new market.
This was predictable a decade ago, and has nothing to do with Net Zero. Climate change certainly incentivised the development of EVs, but now it's just about market forces.
And learn to use the apostrophe correctly, or don't use it.
They can develop an EV industry but on the timescales proposed theyre screwed.
The Net Zero timescale is of far less importance than market forces. It was the luddites in the industry who are responsible for the position of their auto industry.
The debate is about how they might mitigate that. The Net Zero argument is a separate one.
If the market forces were driving this, why is the government stiffing car markers £15k a car if they sell more than 80% ICE?
The reality is that the buying public is not yet convinced about EVs and so the government is forcing their adoption.
Had the fools in government not done this (having less than 10 years previously forced car makers to go diesel for environmental reasons!), there would still be an EV transition, but not quite as fast. Also Europe would still have a car industry.
Or would it be even closer to extinction by foreign EV makers ?
The point is that with a very few years, EVs will be superior to ICE vehicles in almost every respect, and be cheaper. And that's entirely independent of anything the EU (or we) do.
Fining car makers and banning ICEs does seem an odd way to go about it though. Surely it would have been better to have gradually increased taxation on ICE vehicles and used the revenue to subsidise EV purchases or infrastructure. I think Norway has taken an approach more like this and now sells very few ICE vehicles.
More that Norway had a huge taxes on cars. Which they omitted for EVs when they came in. So a Tesla Model S was a cheap car in Norway.
Not only that but rejoining terms would be fairly dtaconian and then the constant interference in day to day life which we have all forgotten would be back and start to grate again.
It's why I maintain that the polls on rejoining will shift massively when the costs are placed in front of the electorate.
My favourite example of this was that detailed polling by the Blair think tank which showed that people generally wanted a closer relationship with the EU, but also showed that even Remainers wanted restrictions on free movement*, which of course the EU has already ruled out as the four freedoms are considered to be inviolable.
I suspect that this is at the heart of why Labour do not want to get into such debate, as they already know that what people might stomach isn't deliverable.
* This would even make a halfway house like EFTA a real challenge to achieve.
Growth of 0.1% could easily be a contraction of 0.1% or worse after revisions.
Or growth of 0.2%. GDP estimates go all over the place when they’re revised but in recent years they’ve tended to go up.
I think that that you are missing the important PB herd consensus:
Under Tory chancellors revisions are always upwards under Labour ones always downwards.
Similarly rich people need bumper payrises to motivate them, poor people getting payrises are a drag on productivity.
I've taken to scrolling past the "Reeves is shit" posters, the Tory/Reform/ Trump/Musk rampers and when they are on, the race baiters. There not much left to read. I note with sadness the non-RefCon post count has diminished considerably.
Have you considered the idea of posting, for the first time, a comment of your own that is, in any way, interesting, witty, insightful, engaging, wry. diverting, educational, comic, clever, intellectual, memorable, or even worth reading for more than a fraction of a second?
It might benefit the site, if you made that debut. Go on, I am sure you can do it. Just one comment worth reading. Just one. Try and squeeze it out. Take a week off, to really work up to it
Comments
Badly. A new study, https://www.nber.org/papers/w33328 , finds that young people are leaving US states with abortion bans:
The results indicate that abortion bans cause significant increases in net migration outflows, with effect sizes growing throughout the year after the decision. The most recent data point indicates that total abortion bans come at the cost of more than 36,000 residents per quarter. The effects are more prominent for single-person households than for family households, which may reflect larger effects on younger adults.
The easiest comparison would be NHS waiting lists (because the stats are available).
Falling to August 2008, flat until about August 2012 then steadily increasing.
You can't argue that the reduction up to Aug 2008 wasn't entirely down to Labour policies and it took until Aug 2017 for the list to reach Aug 2007 levels with a steady increase from 2012.
There's your 2 year policy effect lag.
Chinese buyers interested in unwanted German Volkswagen factories
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-chinese-buyers-interested-unwanted-050439744.html
FRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) - Chinese officials and automakers are eyeing German factories slated for closure and are particularly interested in Volkswagen's sites, a person with knowledge of Chinese government thinking told Reuters.
Buying a factory would allow China to build influence in Germany's prized auto industry, home to some of the oldest and most prestigious car brands, the person said.
Chinese companies have invested across a range of industries in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, from telecommunications to robotics but have yet to set up traditional car manufacturing there, despite Mercedes-Benz having two large Chinese shareholders.
Any such move could mark China's most politically sensitive investment yet. VW has long been a symbol of Germany's industrial prowess, now threatened by a global economic slowdown hitting demand and a creaking transition to green technologies.
Building cars in Germany for sale in Europe would allow China's EV makers to avoid paying EU tariffs on electric cars imported from China and could pose a further threat to European manufacturers' competitiveness.
While bids could come from private firms, state-owned firms or joint ventures with foreign companies, Chinese authorities reserve the right to approve certain investments abroad and would likely be involved in any offer from early on.
Investment decisions would hinge on the new German government's stance towards China following an election in February, the person said...
It was unsustainable, and made worse by the ever-increasing demand.
But that doesn't mean anything. Turkey has been in line since 1987 and some Balkan countries since the 90s and 00s.
And none of those has delivered the EU by far the greatest humiliation in its history, nor were a recalcitrant member when they did join.
Do you really think the EU would want us back if, as is likely, the inevitable referendum were 51:49 in favour or similar? Just to want to leave again a few years later?
They don't need saboteurs.
At most they would allow us back into EFTA
(My view is that it's good he's gone to Kyiv, but he should have gone there earlier in his PMship. But to call it 'grandstanding' as he arrives is more than a little off.)
Importantly, data from the U.S. Census Bureau tells a much different story. Currently, 16 states either largely protect all preborn children or have in effect a heartbeat act that protects the preborn after six weeks’ gestation. Census Bureau data show that in fiscal 2024, 13 of these states saw population increases because of interstate migration. The only states with strong pro-life laws in effect that lost population because of interstate migration were Louisiana and Mississippi. Meanwhile, many states with permissive abortion policies, including California, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, and Maryland, all lost population because of interstate migration in fiscal 2024.
It’s why all patriots voted Remain in 2016.
It’ll be the easiest deal in history and the EU need us more than we need us, it will all be sorted out in an afternoon in Bruxelles.
Top Five:
🔴#1 - SC
🔴#2 - TX
🔴#3 - NC
🔴#4 - FL
🔴#5 - TN
Bottom Five:
🔵#46 - PA
🔵#47 - NY
🔵#48 - NJ
🔵#49 - MA
🔵#50 - CA (5th year in a row)
https://x.com/endwokeness/status/1875703762314010836
Has the crisis been caused by Hamas not ceasing to exist?
https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/1879822469563109572
€50 for the tarp, couple of days labour for the openings bish bosh and that's your lot.
Meanwhile Torsten Bell is saying interesting things about pensions.
Gerry Adams brought peace to Northern Ireland and his lawyers deserve every penny.
Cut immigration further and per capita it will be growing too
I suspect he could loses his kneecaps
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/pensions/labour-radical-new-pensions-minister-triple-lock-scrapped/
The fact is that is Germany doesn't develop a domestic EV industry, it won't have a car industry. The Chinese simply beat them to the new market.
This was predictable a decade ago, and has nothing to do with Net Zero. Climate change certainly incentivised the development of EVs, but now it's just about market forces.
And learn to use the apostrophe correctly, or don't use it.
Paul Hutcheon
@paulhutcheon
NEW: Scottish Labour has slumped to fifth place among older voters for the Holyrood election after the winter fuel payment debacle.
A poll has found Anas Sarwar's party on 11%, behind Reform UK.
https://dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/
https://x.com/paulhutcheon/status/1879822998645219738
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BaT_Tunnel
Oh, maybe that's not what you meant.
OK, what about...
https://www.vennbahn.eu/en/attraktion/bat-tunnel/
2) I'm also triggered by the word 'cause' in there. Correlation <> causation!
More likely explanation is 'general religious conservative outlook' leads to both 'increase in support for abortion bans' and also 'type of place not particularly attractive for sparkly-eyed 20-somethings to live'.
But also note that the most liberal states like California and New York are also seeing outflows of population. Because hyper-liberalism leads to 'type of place not particularly attractive for sensible-child-raising-30-somethings to live'
A Labour MP who wants to take all your money off you.
NHS demand is affected by the length of the waiting list, the resources required to treat people increase as their condition worsens, they also develop secondary health issues, what is unaffordable is allowing the waiting list to increase, that is one of the reasons why there is ever-increasing demand.
To stay on top of demand you have to diagnose and treat as soon as practical.
It suggests that opposing the current Labour government effectively is the keystone to uniting the Tory and Reform votes, and being vague on future policy.
I guess that isn't a revolutionary prescription, but it feels revelatory because I've become so used to seeing polling results that mark Reform voters out as being particularly unusual.
It was the luddites in the industry who are responsible for the position of their auto industry.
The debate is about how they might mitigate that.
The Net Zero argument is a separate one.
Any data on birth rates yet?
I saw this article in the Guardian, and it made me wonder whether the attacks on contraception that the Republican Right want to move onto might be more successful than I'd previously imagined. The contraceptive status quo is not working for a lot of people.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/15/contraception-apps-women-birth-control
In a speech on Thursday, he will argue it is needed to boost Britain's economy and its ability to deal with the incoming Donald Trump presidency from a position of strength.
The policy is a practical move to "turbocharge" the economy and a step towards the Lib Dem goal of rejoining the EU, a party source told the BBC.'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm29e0em72xo
In fact the effects of the previous Labour government still have more effect than anything that Starmer's lot have so far done.
That said it is possible to make predictions as to what a new government's policies are having and so far they do not positive.
We just await the claims from those who don't manage to take it at 55 before the required date then can't take it until 57.
A sub-sample of a Scottish poll.
.
There are things that governments do right and people feel positively about, things that governments do right and people feel negatively about, things that governments do wrong and people feel negatively about and things that governments do wrong and people feel positively about.
I think he has already put alot of thought into pensions and it is a field he was actively interested in before parliament.
Not a fan of the triple lock for sure.
Every time somebody posts a sub-sample a little part of me dies.
https://x.com/RobertDownen_/status/1879261230344384552
There’s also a rise in anti-hormonal/“wellness” etc., which is perhaps linked with anti-vax sentiment and which RFK Jnr taps into.
Those people are moving away from hormonal female contraceptive methods, but aren’t necessarily aligned with a Republican Right philosophy of removing control from women. However, maybe you’re right that they can find sufficient common ground on an anti-drugs line.
(I feel the ghost of my mother watching over me as I type this. She wrote on contraceptive choices, and carried out several thousand vasectomies.)
https://x.com/gerashchenko_en/status/1879790779025002620
Chinese business has started buying out distressed assets from Russian entrepreneurs, Russian media report.
According to them, a Chinese company has decided to buy out 100% of LLC Inskaya Mine in Russia's Kemerovo region, which was on the verge of bankruptcy.
https://x.com/JoyceCarolOates/status/1879528627848478932
The reality is that the buying public is not yet convinced about EVs and so the government is forcing their adoption.
Had the fools in government not done this (having less than 10 years previously forced car makers to go diesel for environmental reasons!), there would still be an EV transition, but not quite as fast. Also Europe would still have a car industry.
The point is that with a very few years, EVs will be superior to ICE vehicles in almost every respect, and be cheaper. And that's entirely independent of anything the EU (or we) do.
Is the age to take a pension just limited to accessing a DC pot or will it apply to public sector and the remaining private sector DB schemes too ? That is coming in for DC anyway.
Get rid of the triple lock for sure. They should take the hit now and live with the consequences. Changing the inflation measure applied in the future is going to help.
When Macron tried to raise the French pension age students joined the protests. They were sensible enough to realise it was going to impact them rather than the existing elderly.
The thing that struck me, in all the reporting was the claim that "Not a single bat could be allowed to die"
This requirement is insane - we don't design projects to prevent all human deaths. Otherwise there would be zero infrastructure projects.
So either the requirement was misreported everywhere, or we have another classic.
People who don't actually know or understand regulations trying to implement them and coming up with absurd results.
Who gives a fuck if we have 0.000038% growth if we are actually getting POORER
I suspect that this is at the heart of why Labour do not want to get into such debate, as they already know that what people might stomach isn't deliverable.
* This would even make a halfway house like EFTA a real challenge to achieve.
It might benefit the site, if you made that debut. Go on, I am sure you can do it. Just one comment worth reading. Just one. Try and squeeze it out. Take a week off, to really work up to it