This is why we have Brexit. As the Guardian reports this morning:
Seaside towns and cities dominate the list of areas with the highest numbers of people getting into serious difficulties with debt, according to new figures.
Scarborough, the largest resort on the Yorkshire coast, ranked second out of 347 local authorities in England and Wales for personal insolvencies, while Torbay in Devon — which includes the town of Torquay —came third, said the accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young.
Plymouth, on the south coast of Devon, was ranked fourth, while Blackpool was in sixth place.
However, it was the city of Stoke-on-Trent in the Midlands which had the highest rate of personal insolvencies, recording just over 51 per 10,000 adults in 2018. The national average was 25, said the firm.
And these are amongst the strongest Brexit supporting areas, unsurprisingly. Despite which, as Mervyn King has noticed, nothing has changed from the pre-2008 scenario. And so Brexit enthusiasm remains.
He has no answert for that. But I do. It's called a Green New Deal, of course.
Start insulating houses in these places. Create jobs.
Build the infrastructure for the growing home holiday market we are going to have to have whilst we're at it. That's improved public transport. And facilities.
And at the same time regulate this debt: better fix the price that can be paid.
And whatever happens, support people in their communities by allowing more social spending: give these councils the funding they need.
It's not rocket science. But it's a million miles from Westminster and Threadneedle Street. And that's why we're in the mess we're in.
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You mention “regulation”. One thing I took from Binyamin Applebaum’s recent book “The Economists’ Hour” was that much of the mess we’re in has been, to a large extent, due to a bonfire of regulations providing an open season for what you described as “feral finance.”
Part of any GND must be regulation to avoid capture by feral finance.
Indeed
Houses in the UK are being insulated, here in Dundee Scotland. Council houses have been externally clad with dense foam insulation which is then painted. It is laid over traditional roughcast finishes. A slew of two up two down houses near here were done. I watched the progress with interest whilst passing. I’ve seen similar houses elsewhere in Dundee get done and seen others which have clearly been done so it seems to be a rolling program.
I know one guy whose building was done and his heating costs have plummeted. He is astonished and very gratified. Some of the poorest and most vulnerable people here are being boosted out of fuel poverty through this program. I suspect it is being done with EU money, hence the rush to get as much done as possible.
Though of course when are Indpendent in the EU we can tap more EU money for such things.
It was done well in time while it was still warm enough for shorts. We had our first hint of frost this morning, just a shed roof frost but a harbinger of what is to come.
Thanks – interesting
EU – that’s funny.
It’s a partnership between the industry and the government.
https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/article/dundee-to-recieve-additional-external-wall-insulation-investment
Something similar has been happening in Tullibody, just outside Stirling. Clackmannanshire is regarded as a fairly deprived area but the council have slowly been working their way across the village insulating the houses and installing solar panel as well.
Good news
Cromer received several million pounds from the EU towards regeneration. Brussels has always seemed more ready than Westminster to help poorer areas. Brexit means no more EU funds for those areas, and no likelihood of investment by London Tories.
I agree
And I like Cromer!
http://ihbconline.co.uk/newsachive/?p=10973
https://www.heritage-consulting.org/more-cavity-insulation-failures-bbc-report
http://www.civalli.com/
Unfortunately, done incorrectly, it can have consequences.
So can anything
That proves nothing
It proves that one size does not fit all, something that the Green New Deal must recognise, it must not let the likes of the chemical industry hijack any scheme, natural green building materials must be used whenever possible.
Whenever possible, I would wholeheartedly agree
Sustainable cost accounting would also require that
Unfortunately your link to cavity insulation is inappropriate. The post refers to “External Insulation”. This is the first example of this method of insulation I have come across. About 35 years ago there was an attempt to market a similar method where insulation blocks were fixed by metal fixing bolts to exterior wall surfaces and the insulation was then covered with a mesh with held a fine aggregate which rendered the wall waterproof. This method was intended for older houses that had been built with 9″ walls and no cavity. I understood that the method had previously used in France.
Stoke-on-Trent’s private consumer debt level record is hardly surprising. It was heavily dependent on pottery manufacturing and no Conservative or Labour government blinked an eye over the years as as most of the jobs in this industry were outsourced abroad! It’s a tale of “Cannibal Capitalism” (devouring individual and family livelihoods in the name of profit) found all over the world in developed Western economies. The American’s call them “rust-belt” cities.
It seems not unreasonable to say the “fruits” of Britain’s Industrial Revolution was undermined from within by successive Conservative and Labour governments. Mostly I would say through ignorance but also a lack of moral compasses (claiming to want to work for the general well-being of the nation but doing the opposite).
What has been forgotten in all this, climate change accepted, that during the late seventies and eighties we had the North Sea oil bonanza. Rather than following the Norwegian model of a sovereign wealth fund generating huge funds with those revenues which could then be used to re-skill and invest in those communities impacted by the Tory policy of de-industrialisation. The money was instead wasted on unemployment pay and other parts of day to day government expenditure, and leaving those affected with the devastation and a lack of hope and resilience that has had consequences that continue to this day.
True
“Build the infrastructure for the growing home holiday market we are going to have to have whilst we’re at it”…ha ha, your thinking about State run holidays now!..pure comedy
No
I am suggesting that if we cannot fly as much – and we most certainly will not be able to do so if we want our children to live – and it is as blunt as that – then holidaying at home will increase
For you that is, apparently, rocket science
It has been done before.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prora
It is embarrassingly obvious you have bandwagoned the environmental issue with your own personal agenda. Do you honestly think insulating houses is going to save the World? Yes you will argue that “it is a step in the right direction” but in the grand scheme it is meaningless. Campaign for population control, controlling household pets and stop the consumption of meat. That might make a difference but only if embraced by China, America, India, Korea, Russia, the Middle East etc etc. The UK accounts for 1% of emissions and has a better record than most. So fight a “meaningful” battle and not one where you are just trying to line your pocket.
If co-writing the Green New Deal is bandwagoning you’re right
But it isn’t
And all those arguments have been addressed thousands of times over
Politely, this blog has no space for reality-denying trolls
And if I’d really wanted to line my pockets I’d have worked in a tax haven
@Jerry No one’s claiming insulating UK houses is going to “save the world”, but as well as reducing carbon emissions it might make millions of poorly designed and built homes more comfortable to live in, reduce illness, alleviate fuel poverty, allow tens of thousands to stop worrying about whether to turn the heating on or have a decent meal. That’s the reality facing too many of our fellow citizens in this rich country. Setting an example for others to follow and helping to “save the world” would be a welcome bonus.
As a social housing developer, my org’ routinely fits solar PV to new build and is also retrofitting PV to existing stock. It really does make a difference to household income – so much so that it contributes to reducing rent arrears too which are far more likely in non PV properties. This – allied with good insulation – means that there is less of a choice between losing your home or heating it and contributes to tenancy sustainability. Its a win-win for both landlord and tenant.
A sensible Government would invest in this throughout the country.
Has anyone seen one at all recently?
Just asking!
Wow, that’s an amazing insight
Is there firm evidence of this?
Unfortunately it is never going to work as long as the government, the media (in particular), Tom Dick and Harry are unable to understand consolidated government accounting. I just received a response from a BoE writer of a fairly good paper on reserves, but he did not understand where the reserves come from in the first place. He suggested I ask the Treasury. I already did and they didn’t know either. Not, in fact, that they have any need to because the BoE issues the reserves (or more properly amends settlement balances).
Whether we are in or out of the EU makes very little difference as long as the fairy tale persists that tax and borrowing fund government expenditure.
Keep at it, though Richard.
I will…
Jerry Nolan – The UK accounts for 1% of emissions and has a better record than most.
Except that a current ONS report (Guardian today) says that Britain is now the G7’s biggest net importer of CO2 emissions per capita through our outsourcing of emissions, mainly to developing countries. Not really such a very great record.