Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
Building more open prisons would surely be simpler as the security needs are somewhat less.
Plus none of this work is starting from scratch. The knowledge of what is needed can help speed the timelines.
It is not a quick process. But it need not be drawn out.
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
Sometimes it takes 6 months to negotiate the building contract…
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
Does that include the Prime Minister?
I mean, we all know that he thinks his predecessor was an utter wally, but his apparent disbelief that Starmer and Timpson might have considered the downside of early release is, at best, cynical game-playing.
There are alternatives.
Start work on building prisons and overcrowd the existing ones until the new ones are ready.
That is an alternative to earlier and earlier releases without ever doing the job of building something.
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
20 years ago I worked with G4S on building prisons and courts.
One major issue the low IQ posters who think building prisons is easy don't appreciate there are several types of prisons (Cat A to Cat D) which require so much different levels of work.
Kitting out a a Cat A prison takes 9 to 12 months and that's after the build time.
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
So a range of 18 to 36 months.
The government was elected over 2 years ago. Using your timescale it could be nearly open by now, or on the optimistic end actually open already.
Where are we up to instead?
I'm not defending the government. I'm mocking you. The first is hard, the second easy.
Prove me wrong. You are the one suggesting solving the imminent prisons crisis by building more prisons. ("Build some jails") Pray, tell, how would you do this by September to achieve that stated aim.
Suppose the amounts were £50m or 50/50 chance of £1bn - for most people it makes sense to actually go for the certain but lesser value choice.
Yes I understand . But passing why this would mean it pays to be a gambler per se ? Is there a real life example of this in betting ?
Not betting but in Deal or No Deal you’d often see people accept £80,000 even though they still had the £250,000.
Quite a few people would say the £80,000 would pay off their mortgage and that would make them financially secure for life.
Arguably the show doesn't want those kind of people on it - less drama, more rational thinking. Many on here (not everyone, for sure) would think yeah, 50 grand is nice but it won't change my world, a million would so I'll gamble.
Many people not on PB think I've never had 50 grand and I can definitely get it right now, I will thanks!
Sure - and gambling you play the odds and (hope to) come out ahead in the long run. This is one off.
I'd quite possibly go for the £50k as a one off, would put a nice dent in mortgage etc. Give me 10 goes and the mean result and I'll take the gambles.
Yes, what looks irrational can be rational. Eg you're offered 10/1 odds on a 50/50 event, a coin toss say. The catch is you must stake £100k.
If £100k is all you have in the world you'll probably pass on that (esp if you're not young). Because if you lose you'll be left penniless. But if you're worth £1m you'll probably do it. 50% chance of doubling that to £2m. Otherwise you've dropped to £900k, no big deal.
It's an illustration of how making money is easy when you already have it and very difficult when you don't. Also of how easy it is for the poor to be exploited by the rich. Money allows you to accumulate and exploit, basically.
Why Everything Changes After You Save £20,000 in the UK
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
20 years ago I worked with G4S on building prisons and courts.
One major issue the low IQ posters who think building prisons is easy don't appreciate there are several types of prisons (Cat A to Cat D) which require so much different levels of work.
Kitting out a a Cat A prison takes 9 to 12 months and that's after the build time.
Though Cat A is not the acute shortage, and people are not going straight from Cat A to early release due to lack of spaces (and if they were Cat A to Cat B to D might be better)
Nothing is easy but if you never start you will never get it done.
2 years ago if some Cat D prisons had begun construction they could feasibly be open by now.
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
So a range of 18 to 36 months.
The government was elected over 2 years ago. Using your timescale it could be nearly open by now, or on the optimistic end actually open already.
Where are we up to instead?
I'm not defending the government. I'm mocking you. The first is hard, the second easy.
Prove me wrong. You are the one suggesting solving the imminent prisons crisis by building more prisons. ("Build some jails") Pray, tell, how would you do this by September to achieve that stated aim.
I'm all ears. Really I am.
I wouldn't.
It could though potentially be done in 18 months and make emergency provisions for temporary overcrowding until it is done.
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
They were able to create plenty of prison camps in Germany from about 1934. Maybe look at how they did it?
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
Does that include the Prime Minister?
I mean, we all know that he thinks his predecessor was an utter wally, but his apparent disbelief that Starmer and Timpson might have considered the downside of early release is, at best, cynical game-playing.
There are alternatives.
Start work on building prisons and overcrowd the existing ones until the new ones are ready.
That is an alternative to earlier and earlier releases without ever doing the job of building something.
Have politicians started locking too many up for too long, for cheap headlines, for policy that’s now needlessly expensive and not actually working, in your view? That does seem to be the view of experts, studies and reports.
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
Building more open prisons would surely be simpler as the security needs are somewhat less.
Plus none of this work is starting from scratch. The knowledge of what is needed can help speed the timelines.
It is not a quick process. But it need not be drawn out
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
That's using our complacent, apathetic, lazy planning and construction schedules.
The Salvadoreans built their massive 40,000 prisoner facility in seven months. So allowing for a bit of time designing it and training staff our new prisons could clearly be open in a year or less.
If the urgency were there, we clearly could build it much quicker than we doubtless will.
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
They were able to create plenty of prison camps in Germany from about 1934. Maybe look at how they did it?
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
So a range of 18 to 36 months.
The government was elected over 2 years ago. Using your timescale it could be nearly open by now, or on the optimistic end actually open already.
Where are we up to instead?
As someone who works in/around the building trade. Much of that can be telescoped - especially by using standardised designs.
I could definitely cut down on the site prep and foundations - just how fast do you want, it and what will you pay?
12 months for superstructure? I know that that's the modern style of one bloke on the site fiddling with something. But have a look at how buildings go up in Hong Kong (say).
@DougSeal You also have to find an appropriate site, and buy it if required: 6-12 months. Procure the project team: 6 months. Procure a main contractor: 6 months.
Site investigations, design development, who knows.
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
We could adopt a standard template, to speed up subsequent builds ?
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
They were able to create plenty of prison camps in Germany from about 1934. Maybe look at how they did it?
The trains got detainees there on time too?
Eventually. Not sure time keeping was key on those trips.
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
So a range of 18 to 36 months.
The government was elected over 2 years ago. Using your timescale it could be nearly open by now, or on the optimistic end actually open already.
Where are we up to instead?
As someone who works in/around the building trade. Much of that can be telescoped - especially by using standardised designs.
I could definitely cut down on the site prep and foundations - just how fast do you want, it and what will you pay?
12 months for superstructure? I know that that's the modern style of one bloke on the site fiddling with something. But have a look at how buildings go up in Hong Kong (say).
Standardised design ought to be the way for schools, hospitals and prisons. But maybe there are too many vested interests.
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
So a range of 18 to 36 months.
The government was elected over 2 years ago. Using your timescale it could be nearly open by now, or on the optimistic end actually open already.
Where are we up to instead?
As someone who works in/around the building trade. Much of that can be telescoped - especially by using standardised designs.
I could definitely cut down on the site prep and foundations - just how fast do you want, it and what will you pay?
12 months for superstructure? I know that that's the modern style of one bloke on the site fiddling with something. But have a look at how buildings go up in Hong Kong (say).
Standardised design ought to be the way for schools, hospitals and prisons. But maybe there are too many vested interests.
The Soviet approach.
Doesn’t work as well as you think as every site is different.
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
20 years ago I worked with G4S on building prisons and courts.
One major issue the low IQ posters who think building prisons is easy don't appreciate there are several types of prisons (Cat A to Cat D) which require so much different levels of work.
Kitting out a a Cat A prison takes 9 to 12 months and that's after the build time.
Though Cat A is not the acute shortage, and people are not going straight from Cat A to early release due to lack of spaces (and if they were Cat A to Cat B to D might be better)
Nothing is easy but if you never start you will never get it done.
2 years ago if some Cat D prisons had begun construction they could feasibly be open by now.
Male reception prisons (Cat A) are the most overcrowded.
See figure 2.2
Rates of crowding vary by prison function, and in the 12-months to March 2024, levels were highest in Male Reception prisons, where 50.3% (13,143) prisoners were held in crowded accommodation. In Male Category C prisons, the crowding rate was 16.2% in the year ending March 2024. The crowding rate in Female Local prisons was 11.0% for the same time period.[footnote 18]
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
So a range of 18 to 36 months.
The government was elected over 2 years ago. Using your timescale it could be nearly open by now, or on the optimistic end actually open already.
Where are we up to instead?
As someone who works in/around the building trade. Much of that can be telescoped - especially by using standardised designs.
I could definitely cut down on the site prep and foundations - just how fast do you want, it and what will you pay?
12 months for superstructure? I know that that's the modern style of one bloke on the site fiddling with something. But have a look at how buildings go up in Hong Kong (say).
Standardised design ought to be the way for schools, hospitals and prisons. But maybe there are too many vested interests.
The Soviet approach.
Doesn’t work as well as you think as every site is different.
Once you are out of the ground.....
You could build your prisons on industrial estates. One of the reasons for industrial estates is the ease of building simple shaped, large buildings.
And the neighbours won't be too bothered by a slab sided concrete box.
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
20 years ago I worked with G4S on building prisons and courts.
One major issue the low IQ posters who think building prisons is easy don't appreciate there are several types of prisons (Cat A to Cat D) which require so much different levels of work.
Kitting out a a Cat A prison takes 9 to 12 months and that's after the build time.
Though Cat A is not the acute shortage, and people are not going straight from Cat A to early release due to lack of spaces (and if they were Cat A to Cat B to D might be better)
Nothing is easy but if you never start you will never get it done.
2 years ago if some Cat D prisons had begun construction they could feasibly be open by now.
Male reception prisons (Cat A) are the most overcrowded.
See figure 2.2
Rates of crowding vary by prison function, and in the 12-months to March 2024, levels were highest in Male Reception prisons, where 50.3% (13,143) prisoners were held in crowded accommodation. In Male Category C prisons, the crowding rate was 16.2% in the year ending March 2024. The crowding rate in Female Local prisons was 11.0% for the same time period.[footnote 18]
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
So a range of 18 to 36 months.
The government was elected over 2 years ago. Using your timescale it could be nearly open by now, or on the optimistic end actually open already.
Where are we up to instead?
As someone who works in/around the building trade. Much of that can be telescoped - especially by using standardised designs.
I could definitely cut down on the site prep and foundations - just how fast do you want, it and what will you pay?
12 months for superstructure? I know that that's the modern style of one bloke on the site fiddling with something. But have a look at how buildings go up in Hong Kong (say).
Standardised design ought to be the way for schools, hospitals and prisons. But maybe there are too many vested interests.
The Soviet approach.
Doesn’t work as well as you think as every site is different.
Once you are out of the ground.....
You could build your prisons on industrial estates. One of the reasons for industrial estates is the ease of building simple shaped, large buildings.
And the neighbours won't be too bothered by a slab sided concrete box.
Of course but getting out the ground is the hard bit.
Put the spade in the ground, pull out a load of lead or asbestos. Project delayed 12 months.
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Well No 10 Manchester came into being very rapidly. How about a new HMP Manchester?
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Well No 10 Manchester came into being very rapidly. How about a new HMP Manchester?
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
20 years ago I worked with G4S on building prisons and courts.
One major issue the low IQ posters who think building prisons is easy don't appreciate there are several types of prisons (Cat A to Cat D) which require so much different levels of work.
Kitting out a a Cat A prison takes 9 to 12 months and that's after the build time.
Though Cat A is not the acute shortage, and people are not going straight from Cat A to early release due to lack of spaces (and if they were Cat A to Cat B to D might be better)
Nothing is easy but if you never start you will never get it done.
2 years ago if some Cat D prisons had begun construction they could feasibly be open by now.
Male reception prisons (Cat A) are the most overcrowded.
See figure 2.2
Rates of crowding vary by prison function, and in the 12-months to March 2024, levels were highest in Male Reception prisons, where 50.3% (13,143) prisoners were held in crowded accommodation. In Male Category C prisons, the crowding rate was 16.2% in the year ending March 2024. The crowding rate in Female Local prisons was 11.0% for the same time period.[footnote 18]
Irrelevant, you said 'Though Cat A is not the acute shortage', the stats show Cat A are the most (over) crowded.
See when you first get imprisoned you usually get sent to a Cat A prison to be processed and then get moved to other categories were applicable, the choke point at Cat A needs to be fixed first.
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
So a range of 18 to 36 months.
The government was elected over 2 years ago. Using your timescale it could be nearly open by now, or on the optimistic end actually open already.
Where are we up to instead?
As someone who works in/around the building trade. Much of that can be telescoped - especially by using standardised designs.
I could definitely cut down on the site prep and foundations - just how fast do you want, it and what will you pay?
12 months for superstructure? I know that that's the modern style of one bloke on the site fiddling with something. But have a look at how buildings go up in Hong Kong (say).
Standardised design ought to be the way for schools, hospitals and prisons. But maybe there are too many vested interests.
The Soviet approach.
Doesn’t work as well as you think as every site is different.
Once you are out of the ground.....
You could build your prisons on industrial estates. One of the reasons for industrial estates is the ease of building simple shaped, large buildings.
And the neighbours won't be too bothered by a slab sided concrete box.
Of course but getting out the ground is the hard bit.
Put the spade in the ground, pull out a load of lead or asbestos. Project delayed 12 months.
Which is, by itself, stupid.
The company I work with does stuff in West London, where the ground is full of shite. You do historical records search (many don't bother), get the ground radar types in (many don't bother). And you have the phone numbers of remediation companies in your mobile.
They can have a old petrol tank full of bitumen and odd chemicals (common practise was to fill such tanks as a chemical dump and then pour in bitumen or tar to solidify it) gone in a very short time. If you are actually interested in doing the project. And that's far worse than a bit of asbestos. Asbestos is gone in days, in the sites where someone knows what they are doing.
As opposed to having a meeting about having a meeting about having a meeting.
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
20 years ago I worked with G4S on building prisons and courts.
One major issue the low IQ posters who think building prisons is easy don't appreciate there are several types of prisons (Cat A to Cat D) which require so much different levels of work.
Kitting out a a Cat A prison takes 9 to 12 months and that's after the build time.
Though Cat A is not the acute shortage, and people are not going straight from Cat A to early release due to lack of spaces (and if they were Cat A to Cat B to D might be better)
Nothing is easy but if you never start you will never get it done.
2 years ago if some Cat D prisons had begun construction they could feasibly be open by now.
Male reception prisons (Cat A) are the most overcrowded.
See figure 2.2
Rates of crowding vary by prison function, and in the 12-months to March 2024, levels were highest in Male Reception prisons, where 50.3% (13,143) prisoners were held in crowded accommodation. In Male Category C prisons, the crowding rate was 16.2% in the year ending March 2024. The crowding rate in Female Local prisons was 11.0% for the same time period.[footnote 18]
Irrelevant, you said 'Though Cat A is not the acute shortage', the stats show Cat A are the most (over) crowded.
See when you first get imprisoned you usually get sent to a Cat A prison to be processed and then get moved to other categories were applicable, the choke point at Cat A needs to be fixed first.
Its not irrelevant. Ministers say the demand is needed for B to D. I am taking their word that they are not lying.
If they are, that is more serious.
The choke point is not entry, it is whether we release or not, so D works as an intermediary rather than release. Build D and cascade people so instead of release people go to D, cascade C into D, B into C, A into B.
Longer term can build more A to C (though Ministers claim only B to D are needed) but a first step of having D available provides an alternative to release.
'Andy Burnham will hold his first meeting at the new No 10 North in Manchester later on Friday.
The branch of Downing Street in the North West will form part of the prime minister's aim to shift power from Whitehall and Westminster to regions across the country.
Ministers Lucy Powell and Louise Haigh will also operate regularly from the new site, with up to 300 civil servants expected to join them by the end of next year.
On Friday in Manchester, Burnham will chair a meeting of the National Economic Council, a cabinet committee first launched in 2008 to respond to economic challenges around the UK.'
I'm not convinced that "the PM is having a WFH day" is going to cut through as much as the others.
Distributing power- great. Changing the location of the one centre of power- less great.
It has the potential to be a really bad look, if it seems like he’s going home to his missus on Thursday nights every weekend, and dragging a bunch of other Northern-based ministers with him to get out of London as a priority.
Anything "has the potential" to be a really bad or really good look.
My impression is that he means to shift resources from the centre.
Whether it works is a separate question, but it's not simply PR.
Shifting rescources from the centre is a laudable and welcome aim.
However, simply shifting himself and his close colleagues away from the centre for half of the working week, comes across as very different.
You're prejudging the policy before you've seen what it will/might entail.
My point is that there is no published policy, simply everyone taking the ECML train on Thursday rather than Friday.
When there’s a policy, we can debate it.
Like everything else, this imo is to form a definition and signal an intent. It will depend on follow through.
Here's a remarkable "story" built on the VAT off electricity change, stretched more than a little, and turned negative. The EV industry are translating it into a load on people who do not have driveways:
“Drivers will now save close to £900 (US$1,204) a year by charging an EV at home instead of filling up a petrol car - that’s enough to cover an annual insurance bill for many drivers.” ... “But millions of drivers without a driveway will not fully benefit because they can't easily access home charging,” she added. https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/andy-burnham-900-plan-households-34337704
I think the important point is that all groups will always push their own interest to the max (and sod everything else) - I'm reminded of the of the savage opposition to the (Cameron's?) proposals to slightly adjust the child:childminder ratio to reduce costs by allowing slightly more children per childminder.
Mr Burnham will need a very strong resistance to ignoring shouty lobbying groups.
It is a real issue which iirc someone flagged up on pb – it represents (or can be misrepresented as) a subsidy for affluent EV owners charging at home.
Though imo the whole EV business wants looking at. There is no longer any reason for the Chancellor to write subsidy cheques to Elon Musk and President Xi now that electric cars are established and attractive in their own right.
I wonder if Miliband being off to Ruritania, and the EV targets being eased up upon, will create headroom for that.
There are several billion budgeted for EV purchase grants over a period, and there's an argument for reducing the £37k upper limit; EV prices fell by 4% since 2025.
I'd go for that if we also dump the COVID subsidies (tax breaks if you prefer) for fossil fuels. Just that 5p duty reduction has cost £10 bn so far.
It could help pay for bus fair reductions, new tramways and light rail, and lots of modal filters.
And a 20mph default residential area limit .
Now schools have broken up, the number of young women in particular walking around staring at their phones and blindly stepping off the pavement makes me think 20 mph limits are a poor substitute for the Tufty Club.
"How to be safe around roads as a pedestrian" training for children is something about which I do not know very much.
I know that Bikeability, which does 300-400k children per annum, is massively better than the Cycling Proficiency it replaced in 2007. I did it myself in Nottingham when I got back on a bike seriously in my late 30s.
But for the Tufty Club ... no idea.
You have to be a certain age. It was a road safety thing, did squirrels come into it? - for children from about 1961, from the days when a police officer would go round infant schools to talk road safety. In those days you sometimes saw police on the streets and children were taught that if you were lost or in trouble you found one and told him about it and he looked after you. For a generation or so a recurring line in tough TV CID cop detective dialogue would be "Any more of that and you'll find yourself back on the beat and running the tufty club."
@DougSeal You also have to find an appropriate site, and buy it if required: 6-12 months. Procure the project team: 6 months. Procure a main contractor: 6 months.
Site investigations, design development, who knows.
All of that.
The bit that takes the most time is the "business case", and planning.
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Well No 10 Manchester came into being very rapidly. How about a new HMP Manchester?
Then went into an existing government office, and stuck a banner up.
Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him
Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.
I've seen comments "below the line" on shorts and videos that are pro-nonce, Nazi-sympathising (and enthusiastically so), defending Tate and so on. This then seems to encourage others, and discourage or push off those who try and oppose it.
There really are some messed up people out there, and it worries me.
Prisons are an expensive way of making bad people worse
No prisons would be an even more expensive way of making good people much worse.
I'm not saying don't have prisons. Society wants, maybe needs, retribution. Prisons are a better way of retribution than vigilante groups for instance.
The threat of prison acts as a powerful deterrent to most people. Even if I didn't pay my taxes out of a sense duty, the prospect of two years inside is a great encouragement. The threat has to be real.
Nevertheless prisons have failed totally at the point someone gets locked up. Prisons didn't prevent the prisoner from committing the crime in the first place. It's likely to lead to the prisoner committing more, not less, crime in the future. I don't believe anyone has a solution to the problem that prisons with prisoners in them don't actually work.
Prisons are an expensive way of making bad people worse
No prisons would be an even more expensive way of making good people much worse.
I really worry about the ways things seem to be pointing. We can't deport violent foreign criminals; we haven't enough space to imprison all those who should be imprisoned; violent criminals are being let out too early; the push for medically-assisted suicide is being brought back to parliament. I really do worry that all these things will come together and we'll end up with the death penalty again. It isn't unthinkable because Rupert Lowe is already saying it. Proclaiming it, even.
Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him
Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.
Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him
Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.
I've seen comments "below the line" on shorts and videos that are pro-nonce, Nazi-sympathising (and enthusiastically so), defending Tate and so on. This then seems to encourage others, and discourage or push off those who try and oppose it.
There really are some messed up people out there, and it worries me.
Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him
Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.
Very low Green, and with that Labour still way behind where they need to be with the Greens so squeezed.
Could Green have a far worse result next General Election, as “Vote Green, Get Polanski” seeps into the electorates consciousness?
It's mid-term and Labour are just 8 points off the percentage that gave them an overall majority of 172 in 2024. That's not a bad position at all particularly if Reform and the Cons keep splitting the right wing vote.
I've seen comments "below the line" on shorts and videos that are pro-nonce, Nazi-sympathising (and enthusiastically so), defending Tate and so on. This then seems to encourage others, and discourage or push off those who try and oppose it.
There really are some messed up people out there, and it worries me.
I've seen comments "below the line" on shorts and videos that are pro-nonce, Nazi-sympathising (and enthusiastically so), defending Tate and so on. This then seems to encourage others, and discourage or push off those who try and oppose it.
There really are some messed up people out there, and it worries me.
I mentioned it before the mother of a friend of mine has been utterly radicalised by Facebook from being a centrist to thinking Rupert Lowe is a race traitor tor letting his son marry a Muslim.
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
20 years ago I worked with G4S on building prisons and courts.
One major issue the low IQ posters who think building prisons is easy don't appreciate there are several types of prisons (Cat A to Cat D) which require so much different levels of work.
Kitting out a a Cat A prison takes 9 to 12 months and that's after the build time.
Though Cat A is not the acute shortage, and people are not going straight from Cat A to early release due to lack of spaces (and if they were Cat A to Cat B to D might be better)
Nothing is easy but if you never start you will never get it done.
2 years ago if some Cat D prisons had begun construction they could feasibly be open by now.
Male reception prisons (Cat A) are the most overcrowded.
See figure 2.2
Rates of crowding vary by prison function, and in the 12-months to March 2024, levels were highest in Male Reception prisons, where 50.3% (13,143) prisoners were held in crowded accommodation. In Male Category C prisons, the crowding rate was 16.2% in the year ending March 2024. The crowding rate in Female Local prisons was 11.0% for the same time period.[footnote 18]
Irrelevant, you said 'Though Cat A is not the acute shortage', the stats show Cat A are the most (over) crowded.
See when you first get imprisoned you usually get sent to a Cat A prison to be processed and then get moved to other categories were applicable, the choke point at Cat A needs to be fixed first.
Its not irrelevant. Ministers say the demand is needed for B to D. I am taking their word that they are not lying.
If they are, that is more serious.
The choke point is not entry, it is whether we release or not, so D works as an intermediary rather than release. Build D and cascade people so instead of release people go to D, cascade C into D, B into C, A into B.
Longer term can build more A to C (though Ministers claim only B to D are needed) but a first step of having D available provides an alternative to release.
Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him
Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.
Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him
Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.
I've seen comments "below the line" on shorts and videos that are pro-nonce, Nazi-sympathising (and enthusiastically so), defending Tate and so on. This then seems to encourage others, and discourage or push off those who try and oppose it.
There really are some messed up people out there, and it worries me.
I mentioned it before the mother of a friend of mine has been utterly radicalised by Facebook from being a centrist to thinking Rupert Lowe is a race traitor tor letting his son marry a Muslim.
Before you know it, they'll be letting people wearing loud shoes in a built up area. Or walk around in public with an offensive wife.
Something Must Be Done
{For some reason, at this point, I envisage a chap with a moustache, in a three piece pinstripe suit, bowler hat and a very, very tightly rolled umbrella. Is this an Enoch Powell thing bouncing around in my brain??}
Betfair have opened a market on the next PM. Farage is narrow favourite over Kemi. The usual list of no hopers added by the market makers. Graham Brady at 250/1 if you want to waste your money.
MPs have been going back to their constituencies for surgeries on Friday for generations.
As far as I can tell, Number 10 North is simply ministers doing the same on a Friday.
I don't recall Gordon Brown doing a "Number 10 Scotland"?
An American friend had occasion to pass through Brown's constituency. When I told him that it was the PMs constituency - and a PM who been second in the country for a decade before that - he was flabbergasted.
If you are the DOJ, it is unprecedented to lose 17 straight voting cases in 17 different courts without winning a single one. It's even more remarkable when 8 of them were decided by judges appointed by Trump.
Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him
Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.
This is what I was getting at the other day. What can look reasonable in one context looks corrupt when foreigners do it.
Is there a single piece of evidence to suggest Burnham is doing what Trump does ? Seems like a false equivalence to me.
Nearly all politicians favour their home region. Trump is stealing from everyone and *punishing* his opponents on an epic, epic scale.
It's one of those things where magnitude does, in fact make a difference. Burnham moving a few hundred civil servants around vs Trump stealing tens of billions and taking billions from his "enemies". Further - what Trump is doing is often specifically illegal. What Burnham is suggesting is not.
Prisons are an expensive way of making bad people worse
No prisons would be an even more expensive way of making good people much worse.
I'm not saying don't have prisons. Society wants, maybe needs, retribution. Prisons are a better way of retribution than vigilante groups for instance.
The threat of prison acts as a powerful deterrent to most people. Even if I didn't pay my taxes out of a sense duty, the prospect of two years inside is a great encouragement. The threat has to be real.
Nevertheless prisons have failed totally at the point someone gets locked up. Prisons didn't prevent the prisoner from committing the crime in the first place. It's likely to lead to the prisoner committing more, not less, crime in the future. I don't believe anyone has a solution to the problem that prisons with prisoners in them don't actually work.
It's not so much that.
I don't want the likes of Axel Rudakubana walking our streets.
'One of the improvements we’re making to our candidate selection process is screening for this tendency. Conservatives are weeding out the self-absorbed who come into politics because they couldn’t get into showbiz.
For these poseurs, being an MP is not about legislating to make people’s lives easier, safer and richer but a platform to campaign for their personal hobby-horses and other self-promoting activity.
They waste a lot of Parliament’s time with trivia, creating unwelcome delays and distraction from their colleagues’ work and focus on serious matters.'
Remember what I've said multiple times this week, without that early release program there isn't the capacity to hold the prisoners scheduled to be jailed...
Build some jails.
Change the law to build them without planning bollocks.
The number of people who think it possible to design and build a fucking prison (not a house, a prison, a building that by definition has to be secured) in a matter of weeks and just stick it somewhere where no-one is going to object is staggering.
I'm a solicitor and I'm sure someone better placed than me can correct me if I'm wrong -
Feasibility and Architecture (3–6 months): Creating blueprints, engineering plans, and budgeting.
Site Preparation (1–2 months): Clearing land, grading, and excavation.
Deep Foundations (2–6 months): Driving steel piles and pouring massive concrete foundation slabs which need to be deeper than normal to prevent tunnelling.
Superstructure (6–12+ months): Constructing the steel, concrete (or timber if you're feeling kinky) skeleton frame floor by floor.
Building Enclosure / Envelope (3–6 months): Installing exterior walls and roofing to make the shell weatherproof
Staff training (2-4 months): training on the new building will be required even for experienced prison officers.
If there's a stage here you can skip please let me know. As I say I'm not in construction. But the dribblings of people on here who say you can turn out a new shitting PRISON by the Autumn does make me wonder about the basic comprehension skills involved.
20 years ago I worked with G4S on building prisons and courts.
One major issue the low IQ posters who think building prisons is easy don't appreciate there are several types of prisons (Cat A to Cat D) which require so much different levels of work.
Kitting out a a Cat A prison takes 9 to 12 months and that's after the build time.
Though Cat A is not the acute shortage, and people are not going straight from Cat A to early release due to lack of spaces (and if they were Cat A to Cat B to D might be better)
Nothing is easy but if you never start you will never get it done.
2 years ago if some Cat D prisons had begun construction they could feasibly be open by now.
Male reception prisons (Cat A) are the most overcrowded.
See figure 2.2
Rates of crowding vary by prison function, and in the 12-months to March 2024, levels were highest in Male Reception prisons, where 50.3% (13,143) prisoners were held in crowded accommodation. In Male Category C prisons, the crowding rate was 16.2% in the year ending March 2024. The crowding rate in Female Local prisons was 11.0% for the same time period.[footnote 18]
Irrelevant, you said 'Though Cat A is not the acute shortage', the stats show Cat A are the most (over) crowded.
See when you first get imprisoned you usually get sent to a Cat A prison to be processed and then get moved to other categories were applicable, the choke point at Cat A needs to be fixed first.
Its not irrelevant. Ministers say the demand is needed for B to D. I am taking their word that they are not lying.
If they are, that is more serious.
The choke point is not entry, it is whether we release or not, so D works as an intermediary rather than release. Build D and cascade people so instead of release people go to D, cascade C into D, B into C, A into B.
Longer term can build more A to C (though Ministers claim only B to D are needed) but a first step of having D available provides an alternative to release.
Worth remembering that these are politicians.
Not all the prisoners in question are politicians. And it is jolly unfair to imply they are. Some are humble, honest drug kingpins. In prison for decent crimes like murder.
I've seen comments "below the line" on shorts and videos that are pro-nonce, Nazi-sympathising (and enthusiastically so), defending Tate and so on. This then seems to encourage others, and discourage or push off those who try and oppose it.
There really are some messed up people out there, and it worries me.
I mentioned it before the mother of a friend of mine has been utterly radicalised by Facebook from being a centrist to thinking Rupert Lowe is a race traitor tor letting his son marry a Muslim.
Before you know it, they'll be letting people wearing loud shoes in a built up area. Or walk around in public with an offensive wife.
Something Must Be Done
{For some reason, at this point, I envisage a chap with a moustache, in a three piece pinstripe suit, bowler hat and a very, very tightly rolled umbrella. Is this an Enoch Powell thing bouncing around in my brain??}
Very low Green, and with that Labour still way behind where they need to be with the Greens so squeezed.
Could Green have a far worse result next General Election, as “Vote Green, Get Polanski” seeps into the electorates consciousness?
That Survation poll like the new Yougov poll earlier today could still make Burnham PM with LD and SNP support even if the Greens barely do any better than 2024.
Or alternatively Farage would have to beg Kemi to make him PM, either way it would be a very hung parliament
'One of the improvements we’re making to our candidate selection process is screening for this tendency. Conservatives are weeding out the self-absorbed who come into politics because they couldn’t get into showbiz.
For these poseurs, being an MP is not about legislating to make people’s lives easier, safer and richer but a platform to campaign for their personal hobby-horses and other self-promoting activity.
They waste a lot of Parliament’s time with trivia, creating unwelcome delays and distraction from their colleagues’ work and focus on serious matters.'
I've seen comments "below the line" on shorts and videos that are pro-nonce, Nazi-sympathising (and enthusiastically so), defending Tate and so on. This then seems to encourage others, and discourage or push off those who try and oppose it.
There really are some messed up people out there, and it worries me.
I mentioned it before the mother of a friend of mine has been utterly radicalised by Facebook from being a centrist to thinking Rupert Lowe is a race traitor tor letting his son marry a Muslim.
Before you know it, they'll be letting people wearing loud shoes in a built up area. Or walk around in public with an offensive wife.
Something Must Be Done
{For some reason, at this point, I envisage a chap with a moustache, in a three piece pinstripe suit, bowler hat and a very, very tightly rolled umbrella. Is this an Enoch Powell thing bouncing around in my brain??}
Enoch Powell bouncing, you say?
When I was little, I had a coat like those girls are wearing.
'One of the improvements we’re making to our candidate selection process is screening for this tendency. Conservatives are weeding out the self-absorbed who come into politics because they couldn’t get into showbiz.
For these poseurs, being an MP is not about legislating to make people’s lives easier, safer and richer but a platform to campaign for their personal hobby-horses and other self-promoting activity.
They waste a lot of Parliament’s time with trivia, creating unwelcome delays and distraction from their colleagues’ work and focus on serious matters.'
Prisons are an expensive way of making bad people worse
No prisons would be an even more expensive way of making good people much worse.
I'm not saying don't have prisons. Society wants, maybe needs, retribution. Prisons are a better way of retribution than vigilante groups for instance.
The threat of prison acts as a powerful deterrent to most people. Even if I didn't pay my taxes out of a sense duty, the prospect of two years inside is a great encouragement. The threat has to be real.
Nevertheless prisons have failed totally at the point someone gets locked up. Prisons didn't prevent the prisoner from committing the crime in the first place. It's likely to lead to the prisoner committing more, not less, crime in the future. I don't believe anyone has a solution to the problem that prisons with prisoners in them don't actually work.
It's not so much that.
I don't want the likes of Axel Rudakubana walking our streets.
Do you?
Indeed. Some people need to be kept away from society for the rest of their lives for our safety. I was really talking about the other 99.9% of prisoners who will be released at some point under any scenario.
I've seen comments "below the line" on shorts and videos that are pro-nonce, Nazi-sympathising (and enthusiastically so), defending Tate and so on. This then seems to encourage others, and discourage or push off those who try and oppose it.
There really are some messed up people out there, and it worries me.
I mentioned it before the mother of a friend of mine has been utterly radicalised by Facebook from being a centrist to thinking Rupert Lowe is a race traitor tor letting his son marry a Muslim.
Before you know it, they'll be letting people wearing loud shoes in a built up area. Or walk around in public with an offensive wife.
Something Must Be Done
{For some reason, at this point, I envisage a chap with a moustache, in a three piece pinstripe suit, bowler hat and a very, very tightly rolled umbrella. Is this an Enoch Powell thing bouncing around in my brain??}
Enoch Powell bouncing, you say?
When I was little, I had a coat like those girls are wearing.
And they look like Clarke's sandals to me.
I'm so old I remember Clarke children's shoe shops had some kind of mini x-ray machine to check on feet size etc.
Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him
Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.
This is what I was getting at the other day. What can look reasonable in one context looks corrupt when foreigners do it.
Is there a single piece of evidence to suggest Burnham is doing what Trump does ? Seems like a false equivalence to me.
Nearly all politicians favour their home region. Trump is stealing from everyone and *punishing* his opponents on an epic, epic scale.
It's one of those things where magnitude does, in fact make a difference. Burnham moving a few hundred civil servants around vs Trump stealing tens of billions and taking billions from his "enemies". Further - what Trump is doing is often specifically illegal. What Burnham is suggesting is not.
Yes, there is a vast difference.
Whether Burnham will succeed with his policy is an open question, but it's quite clearly a legitimate effort to bring resources to regions which have lagged the SE for decades. Even partially addressing the underperformance of the regions might make a large positive difference to our economy.
He's showing signs of going for an early election.
He isn't, he would win a landslide in Manchester but he also knows on the latest UK polls this week though Labour wouldn't even win most seats and would lose its majority to a hung parliament. Burnham would at minimum need LD and Green and probably SNP support as well to stay in No 10
He's showing signs of going for an early election.
He isn't, he would win a landslide in Manchester, on the latest UK polls this week though Labour wouldn't even win most seats and would lose its majority to a hung parliament
It would only make sense if you had a pathological hatred of your predecessor, and being dependent on the majority he won was causing you deep psychic pain. And probably if your Love Of The North meant that you didn't really want 100-plus nancy southerners as part of your Parliamentary team.
Put like that... when's he calling it?
(Though how you align it with Lascelles, flip knows.)
He's showing signs of going for an early election.
He isn't, he would win a landslide in Manchester, on the latest UK polls this week though Labour wouldn't even win most seats and would lose its majority to a hung parliament
It would only make sense if you had a pathological hatred of your predecessor, and being dependent on the majority he won was causing you deep psychic pain. And probably if your Love Of The North meant that you didn't really want 100-plus nancy southerners as part of your Parliamentary team.
Put like that... when's he calling it?
(Though how you align it with Lascelles, flip knows.)
I expect if he even tried the Cabinet would tie him to his chair
He's showing signs of going for an early election.
He isn't, he would win a landslide in Manchester, on the latest UK polls this week though Labour wouldn't even win most seats and would lose its majority to a hung parliament
It would only make sense if you had a pathological hatred of your predecessor, and being dependent on the majority he won was causing you deep psychic pain. And probably if your Love Of The North meant that you didn't really want 100-plus nancy southerners as part of your Parliamentary team.
Put like that... when's he calling it?
(Though how you align it with Lascelles, flip knows.)
I expect if he even tried the Cabinet would tie him to his chair
"You'll all be very pleased with your new cabinet jobs...shame most of you won't be in them for long" "What was that you muttered, Andy?" "Oh nothing"
Very low Green, and with that Labour still way behind where they need to be with the Greens so squeezed.
Could Green have a far worse result next General Election, as “Vote Green, Get Polanski” seeps into the electorates consciousness?
Track the MRP polls. Unlike the VI polls they've never been so wildly pro/anti Green as the others. My headcanon says that if they get over 10MPs I won't be surprised, but they may get under that as well.
I've seen comments "below the line" on shorts and videos that are pro-nonce, Nazi-sympathising (and enthusiastically so), defending Tate and so on. This then seems to encourage others, and discourage or push off those who try and oppose it.
There really are some messed up people out there, and it worries me.
I mentioned it before the mother of a friend of mine has been utterly radicalised by Facebook from being a centrist to thinking Rupert Lowe is a race traitor tor letting his son marry a Muslim.
Before you know it, they'll be letting people wearing loud shoes in a built up area. Or walk around in public with an offensive wife.
Something Must Be Done
{For some reason, at this point, I envisage a chap with a moustache, in a three piece pinstripe suit, bowler hat and a very, very tightly rolled umbrella. Is this an Enoch Powell thing bouncing around in my brain??}
Enoch Powell bouncing, you say?
When I was little, I had a coat like those girls are wearing.
And they look like Clarke's sandals to me.
I'm so old I remember Clarke children's shoe shops had some kind of mini x-ray machine to check on feet size etc.
Betfair have opened a market on the next PM. Farage is narrow favourite over Kemi. The usual list of no hopers added by the market makers. Graham Brady at 250/1 if you want to waste your money.
You won't believe this but their last ‘next Prime Minister’ market included a random northerner who was not even an MP.
Comments
Plus none of this work is starting from scratch. The knowledge of what is needed can help speed the timelines.
It is not a quick process. But it need not be drawn out.
Start work on building prisons and overcrowd the existing ones until the new ones are ready.
That is an alternative to earlier and earlier releases without ever doing the job of building something.
One major issue the low IQ posters who think building prisons is easy don't appreciate there are several types of prisons (Cat A to Cat D) which require so much different levels of work.
Kitting out a a Cat A prison takes 9 to 12 months and that's after the build time.
RFM 26% (+2)
LAB 25% (+1)
CON 19% (-2)
LD 10% (-1)
GRN 8% (-3)
SNP 3% (=)
PC 2% (=)
RB 1% (-1)
OTH 6% (+2)
F/w 22-24 July 2026. Changes vs 15/07/2026
https://x.com/Survation/status/2080693022895858156
Prove me wrong. You are the one suggesting solving the imminent prisons crisis by building more prisons. ("Build some jails") Pray, tell, how would you do this by September to achieve that stated aim.
I'm all ears. Really I am.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPZk6t9uK44
Nothing is easy but if you never start you will never get it done.
2 years ago if some Cat D prisons had begun construction they could feasibly be open by now.
It could though potentially be done in 18 months and make emergency provisions for temporary overcrowding until it is done.
The Salvadoreans built their massive 40,000 prisoner facility in seven months. So allowing for a bit of time designing it and training staff our new prisons could clearly be open in a year or less.
If the urgency were there, we clearly could build it much quicker than we doubtless will.
I could definitely cut down on the site prep and foundations - just how fast do you want, it and what will you pay?
12 months for superstructure? I know that that's the modern style of one bloke on the site fiddling with something. But have a look at how buildings go up in Hong Kong (say).
Site investigations, design development, who knows.
Doesn’t work as well as you think as every site is different.
Could Green have a far worse result next General Election, as “Vote Green, Get Polanski” seeps into the electorates consciousness?
See figure 2.2
Rates of crowding vary by prison function, and in the 12-months to March 2024, levels were highest in Male Reception prisons, where 50.3% (13,143) prisoners were held in crowded accommodation.
In Male Category C prisons, the crowding rate was 16.2% in the year ending March 2024. The crowding rate in Female Local prisons was 11.0% for the same time period.[footnote 18]
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmpps-annual-digest-april-2023-to-march-2024/hmpps-annual-digest-2023-to-2024#prison-crowding
You could build your prisons on industrial estates. One of the reasons for industrial estates is the ease of building simple shaped, large buildings.
And the neighbours won't be too bothered by a slab sided concrete box.
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-06-04/57465
Put the spade in the ground, pull out a load of lead or asbestos. Project delayed 12 months.
See when you first get imprisoned you usually get sent to a Cat A prison to be processed and then get moved to other categories were applicable, the choke point at Cat A needs to be fixed first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW7Iv-V1-Jo
The company I work with does stuff in West London, where the ground is full of shite. You do historical records search (many don't bother), get the ground radar types in (many don't bother). And you have the phone numbers of remediation companies in your mobile.
They can have a old petrol tank full of bitumen and odd chemicals (common practise was to fill such tanks as a chemical dump and then pour in bitumen or tar to solidify it) gone in a very short time. If you are actually interested in doing the project. And that's far worse than a bit of asbestos. Asbestos is gone in days, in the sites where someone knows what they are doing.
As opposed to having a meeting about having a meeting about having a meeting.
If they are, that is more serious.
The choke point is not entry, it is whether we release or not, so D works as an intermediary rather than release. Build D and cascade people so instead of release people go to D, cascade C into D, B into C, A into B.
Longer term can build more A to C (though Ministers claim only B to D are needed) but a first step of having D available provides an alternative to release.
As far as I can tell, Number 10 North is simply ministers doing the same on a Friday.
The bit that takes the most time is the "business case", and planning.
That's before you even get to Doug's list.
Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/business/trump-state-grants-canceled.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0FA.3lpn.K0tPilQLPdAe&smid=nytcore-ios-share
I've seen comments "below the line" on shorts and videos that are pro-nonce, Nazi-sympathising (and enthusiastically so), defending Tate and so on. This then seems to encourage others, and discourage or push off those who try and oppose it.
There really are some messed up people out there, and it worries me.
The threat of prison acts as a powerful deterrent to most people. Even if I didn't pay my taxes out of a sense duty, the prospect of two years inside is a great encouragement. The threat has to be real.
Nevertheless prisons have failed totally at the point someone gets locked up. Prisons didn't prevent the prisoner from committing the crime in the first place. It's likely to lead to the prisoner committing more, not less, crime in the future. I don't believe anyone has a solution to the problem that prisons with prisoners in them don't actually work.
Nigel Farage
@Nigel_Farage
Open Borders Burnham will not stop the boats.
https://x.com/Nigel_Farage/status/2080680011716030477
===
If we elect this man it will like one of those wargame reenactments -this time of the Trump 2.0 White House.
This is what I was getting at the other day. What can look reasonable in one context looks corrupt when foreigners do it.
Let's see what happens.
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/2016/02/10/cameron-buying-off-tory-rebels-300-million-taxpayer-cash/
Is your Morning Star subscription not working?
Seems like a false equivalence to me.
Something Must Be Done
{For some reason, at this point, I envisage a chap with a moustache, in a three piece pinstripe suit, bowler hat and a very, very tightly rolled umbrella. Is this an Enoch Powell thing bouncing around in my brain??}
NEW: Westminster Voting Intention
RFM 26% (+2)
LAB 25% (+1)
CON 19% (-2)
LD 10% (-1)
GRN 8% (-3)
SNP 3% (=)
PC 2% (=)
RB 1% (-1)
OTH 6% (+2)
F/w 22-24 July 2026. Changes vs 15/07/2026
https://x.com/Survation/status/2080693022895858156?s=20
"Why aren't the street paved with gold?"
How long will the networks ignore this?
How long will Trump?
https://x.com/marceelias/status/2080393501741654132
It's one of those things where magnitude does, in fact make a difference. Burnham moving a few hundred civil servants around vs Trump stealing tens of billions and taking billions from his "enemies". Further - what Trump is doing is often specifically illegal. What Burnham is suggesting is not.
I don't want the likes of Axel Rudakubana walking our streets.
Do you?
That's what this is.
https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/2080715440423109023?s=20
For these poseurs, being an MP is not about legislating to make people’s lives easier, safer and richer but a platform to campaign for their personal hobby-horses and other self-promoting activity.
They waste a lot of Parliament’s time with trivia, creating unwelcome delays and distraction from their colleagues’ work and focus on serious matters.'
https://x.com/KemiBadenoch/status/2080595010177683906?s=20
Or alternatively Farage would have to beg Kemi to make him PM, either way it would be a very hung parliament
Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
@MayorOfWY
Power has a new postcode.
https://x.com/MayorOfWY/status/2080680115365626336
I'm so old I remember Clarke children's shoe shops had some kind of mini x-ray machine to check on feet size etc.
North 2.0?
I can't believe it's not the North?
Noooooooooooooorth!?
Eamont Bridge is a little bit to the north of Middlesborough. The line is wrong.
Eamont Bridge is a little bit to the north of Middlesborough. The line is wrong.
Whether Burnham will succeed with his policy is an open question, but it's quite clearly a legitimate effort to bring resources to regions which have lagged the SE for decades.
Even partially addressing the underperformance of the regions might make a large positive difference to our economy.
Topical quota - Thurso today. No heatwave here.
(The tracery is cut from one piece of stone, allegedly.)
Put like that... when's he calling it?
(Though how you align it with Lascelles, flip knows.)
"What was that you muttered, Andy?"
"Oh nothing"