It is being reported that Corbyn’s Labour is planning a big measure to help those under 25 if it should win the next election with transport costs. The plan is to offer a free bus pass to those in that age group which can be used on those services which are wholly or partly provided by public bodies.
Comments
Rumbled.....
The pensioners' bus pass policy has proved to be a disaster for local services, meaning many have a bus pass but no bus service. This wizard wheeze will cause exactly the same problems - in the end, someone has to pay.
The middle always gets squeezed hardest under Labour.
https://www.newstatesman.com/2018/04/labour-s-free-bus-travel-under-25s-decent-policy-political-masterstroke
I agree to a point. It's not a humongous masterstroke because the Tories have already decided to back the old against the young, but it certainly helps reinforce that dividing line.
https://twitter.com/JamesTapsfield/status/984389843093479424
https://twitter.com/jrmaidment/status/984390475888103424
The Isle of Wight suffers from this too. It has a reasonable bus network, but may of the users are freeloading mainland pensioner tourists, subsidised by the IoW council tax payer. IoW has a per capita income substantially below the national average.
I am all in favour of subsidised public transport, to allow people to get to work affordably, and cut congestion and pollution, but the mechanism and outcomes of these subsidies do need better evaluation.
I know I tipped Raab, but now might be the time to start laying him.
Housing minister Dominic Raab today faced mounting pressure as the UK statistics watchdog demanded he publish evidence for a controversial claim blaming surging house prices on immigrants.
The UK Statistics Authority is calling for the model he used to claim property prices spiralled by 20 per cent over 25 years because of immigration to be made available to the public.
Ed Humpherson, head of the watchdog’s Office for Statistics Regulation, said: “Where analysis is quoted in public debate, the UK Statistics Authority believes it is essential that it be made equally available to all.
“We have been speaking to officials at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government about the minister’s statements on migration and housing.”
Mr Humpherson is preparing to write to officials at MHCLG today to request the analysis is released publicly.
Mr Raab has come under fire amid reports the claim relied on analysis from a quango which shut down eight years ago. Independent fact-checking organisation Full Fact said it had been unable to find any evidence in the public domain to support his comments, published in the Sunday Times.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/dominic-raab-urged-to-make-immigration-house-price-data-public-a3812346.html
https://twitter.com/RTUKnews/status/984390008739115008
The Treaties have been worthless for decades. At least since we in the West allowed our proxy in the Middle East to use them against his neighbours and his own people.
This happened in the 1940s as well, when many Labour MPs including Dalton talked about using the profits to spend on the railways, keep ticket prices low and cut taxes - and only after nationalisation discovered that all railway companies ran at an operating loss. (They should have known, all the information was available - they were just wilfully blind to it.)
https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/984391677040308225
https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/984390112174919685
https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/984381494327169025
I am in snooker and my fingers tapping my phone is too much noise.
I also think that taking it out of the roads budget is madness.
https://e3.365dm.com/18/04/1096x616/skynews-skripal-opcw_4280468.jpg?bypass-service-worker&20180412115458
Reducing train ticket prices: 29
Cutting taxes on petrol/diesel: 21
Admittedly the difference is mostly accounted for by more people thinking the latter would help both groups equally, but this seems wrong to me.
Thanks to the irritating statistical disclosure control for the 2011 Census, we can only look at driving v train/tram/bus. But here's the job split in the composition of the two groups (train/tram/bus first). I reckon the difference would be more pronounced for just train users, but I think cutting train ticket prices would benefit the well off more.
NS-SeC v (Train, underground, metro, light rail, tram, bus, minibus or coach) (Driving a car or van)
1. Higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations 17% 14%
2. Lower managerial, administrative and professional occupations 26% 28%
3. Intermediate occupations 17% 15%
4. Small employers and own account workers 4% 10%
5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations 6% 9%
6. Semi-routine occupations 15% 13%
7. Routine occupations 8% 10%
L15 Full-time students 7% 2%
Is an interesting read. I wish we had a scandal like this today.
Jeremy Thorpe tried to kill me — Norman Scott on the scandal that shook Seventies Britain
A new drama is about to reignite interest in Britain’s biggest political sex scandal of the Seventies. The man at its centre explains how close he came to being murdered
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/times2/jeremy-thorpe-tried-to-kill-me-norman-scott-on-the-scandal-that-shook-seventies-britain-2bzq0lnk8
To govern is to choose. Is this a good choice, compared with other possible uses for the money?
FOUR CURIOSITIES IN YULIA SKRIPAL’S ‘OFFICIAL’ STATEMENT - It contains a number of ‘curiosities’ that are fuelling public distrust among those who doubt its authenticity
The InfoWars approach has been imported to the UK.
Novochick or no Novochick
Britain’s claims about the type of nerve agent used to poison the Russian double agent Sergeir Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury have been upheld by the UN’s Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2018/apr/12/uk-russia-tensions-rise-over-syria-attack-and-salisbury-poisoning-live-updates
https://twitter.com/ChrisCaesar/status/926546199011786752
Your definition of fake news is anyone who doesn't agree with FO propaganda isn't it.
Pulpstar said:
Looks like Trump has been comprehensively outplayed by Putin.
I said
Quite the opposite actually. Putin said if you send missiles we will shoot them down. Trump said good luck with that. Russia said there will be consequences. Trump said yes indeedy and have you seen what's happened to your currency recently? Russia said, well, if you are going to do this would you mind awfully if we got our people out of harm's way first. Trump said yes, but be quick. Now he says, well its going to happen but not necessarily when. So do the inbedded Russians stay out of harm's way effectively neutered or do they go back to war and
take their chances?
The fact you buy the stuff they post, despite being debunked time and time again, is actually rather sad.
"The OPCW are a joke. How can they say these are Novichok? We have ensured they have never had any samples of the Novichok nerve agents we produce at our secret facility in....
Oh. Ooops."
https://20years.opcw.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/s-1612-2018e.pdf
He's not likely to see the irony though. That would require self-awareness and intelligence. The cohort for the civil service exam that year must have been really weak if he was at number 3.
Not sure Anna is right on this one.
Didn't know you played snooker. Do you fancy a match sometime?
Would probably not be in the next few weeks given work commitments.
Dying a little while later, he swiftly arrives at the pearly gates.
"Jeremy Bernard Corbyn" St Peter recites. "Born, 26 May 1949 in Chippenham. Died, 12 April 2018. Cause of death, accidental poisoning by Russian government".
"Woah", interjects Jeremy. "You're being a bit hasty there is suggesting my death was *definitely the Russians".
https://twitter.com/STWuk/status/984359329921929218
The BBC is being sued over its footage showing officers searching the star's Berkshire apartment in 2014 after a claim of historical sexual assault.
Sir Cliff, 77, was not charged with any offence and says he suffered "profound and long-lasting damage".
The BBC argues its coverage was in the public interest.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43740665
I can't see this ending well...
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/12/resigned-rochdale-council-leader-richard-farnell-lied-to-child-abuse-inquiry
Still it succeeds in casting Corbyn as in favour of the young and the Tories not so may work in the short term. Whether it is a sensible use of money is another matter.
On Syria, what would be the point of the UK joining any military action and what would be the plan? I hope May does not overplay her hand and I don’t see that there is anything wrong with getting Parliamentary approval first.
Nominative Determinism Of The Week: the Sussex policeman working as a prostitute while on sick leave, Detective Constable... Dick Holder.
https://nypost.com/2018/04/10/cop-named-dick-holder-is-fired-for-moonlighting-as-a-prostitute/
Not that I play very well either!
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/12/manic-street-preachers-jobs-meaning-jeremy-corbyn-doesnt-understand-that-resistance-is-useless
Labour’s new policy could be the first step towards a fairer allocation of resources and a tiptoe towards universal basic services
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/12/young-people-free-bus-passes-labour
I was listening to a podcast the other week talking about UBI and the guests stated that while in favour in theory, in all likelihood by the time it went through the political sausage machine it wouldn't be all benefits replaced by UBI, it would end up with many of the existing benefits + UBI, so totally defeating the object.
https://twitter.com/elisabethbraw/status/984398808149909505
And even in London there are only so many bankers.
'Chief Constable Giles York told the hearing Holder had struggled with “underperformance”'
I think this has the hallmarks of a cock-up!
ydoethur said:
» show previous quotes
Well, at least we can sure it wasn't the Ayrshire SNP. No turnips in sight.
ydoethur, Ayrshire is full of them. Novichok would be a soft drink here.
The report also criticised Margaret Thatcher’s “remarkable” decision to award a knighthood to the suspected child abuser Cyril Smith. It said the knighthood in 1988 showed the “unwillingness of those at the highest level” to believe his victims.
Anyway, seems Trump is backtracking, probably following some behind the scenes discussions.
French may get there before Trump does...
I'll start you off:
1. Russia.
Cameron started a convention, which May could ignore.
AIUI the Nottingham tram is losing many millions per year in running costs (citation below), and with the recent western extension, it is important for it to be seen as a success. Therefore price the rides so more people go on t'tram than t'bus, especially as both services probably get council subsidies.
Then there's the issue of the budget not being infinite, and the money spent subsidising the tram might be coming from services that would otherwise run to settlements away from the tram network.
Edit: http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/Rail-News/nottingham-tram-operator-records-losses-of-48m-following-network-expansion
It might make us all feel better to feel that we're Doing Something, but sometimes surely we do have to just realise that doing nothing is better than making things worse.