Rachel Reeves said this today:
The problems in our economy, the lack of bold reform that we have seen over decades, can be summed up by £100m pounds bat tunnel built for HS2 – the type of decision that has made delivering major infrastructure in our country far too expensive.
So we are reducing the environmental requirements placed on developers when they pay into a nature restoration fund that we have created so they can focus on getting things built – and stop worrying about the bats and the newts – to build a new infrastructure like nuclear power plants, train lines and wind farms more quickly.
I care more about bats and newts - as symbols of the biosphere on which we are all dependent - than I do about destructive growth, the availability of cheap and polluting holiday flights, or the creation of new infrastructure for pharmaceutical companies that will use it to extract ever more money from the NHS and society by keeping us in perpetual states of ill health, as their profit-motivated business model requires.
I very strongly suspect that I am not alone.
Reeves can take on nature. She will alienate millions if she does.
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The Reeves speech could have been given by Thatcher. Similar language, but actually, furher right than Thatcher. Pure Single transferable Party.
Reeves speech is not the result of fourteen years of preparation. Labour have been so bad, they have given up. This is a Right wing, neoliberal patchwork, cobbled in the couple of months, since they realised the had totally made a mess of Government following a landslide election. Short-termism, written in Neon lights.
Absolutely, John. As I’ve noted in another comment today, moronic nonsense. That said, even in my worst nightmares I never though Starmer and co would be this bad. I’m just relieved that I don’t have teach – or explain – this nonsense to students anymore as I’d risk being sacked for using offensive language.
Pure amateurism amongst British politicians surely the true British disease. British democracy now amounts to Lucky Dippism when people vote!
Luckydippism! I like it. I’ll remember that
One of the items on Trump’s to do list on his first day of power, was to ‘put humans before fish’. I am not sure if Trump means an end to fishing conservation measures to preserve fish stocks for future generations, or measures to support salmon spawning rivers etc., from human development. Either way, it bodes ill for the future. However, Rachel from Accounts is clearly very much a Trumpist. Sheer lunacy.
That comment about fish was Trump taking the micky out of the Government of California which had put fish before humans in his eyes when California demolished some reservoirs. This reduced the available water in the State and not having them may have made the wildfires worse.
It wasn’t a general comment about quotas, sea fishing or salmon.
“…This reduced the available water in the State and not having them may have made the wildfires worse…”
Or, you have been misinformed:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/01/27/hear-the-experts-give-the-real-facts-on-california-water/&ved=2ahUKEwj7yPeExZuLAxW_WkEAHTBDPaUQFnoECDAQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3N3qhXShuIdjXxsX5HFSB9
If the accumulated debris in the understorey, therefore available fuel load was managed properly, then fires would be less likely to get out of control. However, the default is to suppress any and all fires. This allows dry tinder to build up, often for several years, where the local flora (and by far the most common non native, blue gum, from SE Australia) evolved to regenerate through fire.
If fire suppression is to continue to be the preferred course, then the physical removal of accumulated dry plant material has to be undertaken. Unfortunately no one seems to be prepared to pay for prevention, despite the much greater cost of dealing the outcomes of major fires.
A phrase, commonly misattributed to Einstein, springs to mind.
Rachel from accounts is at it again giving her views most of which stem from an inability to do joined-up thinking but probably also with an eye to shilling for the rich:-
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/labour-gifts-row-starmer-rayner-reeves-094655974.html
The original reasons for the Labour Party have been gutted by individuals like her and Starmer and Rayner. Daily this is becoming very obvious. Meanwhile voters ignorantly turn to other shillers like Nigel Farage touting to the tune of £81,000 a year for a gold dealing business!
For those who think the Reeves vision is long-term (3rd runway will not be delivered for 10-15 years); it isn’t long term. By the time it is opened it will probably be out of date. Reeves is following a simple, and famous marker of economic growth, that will suit someone as Reeves who never looks outside old and obvious solutions; Reeves measures of economic growth can be describes as “count the cranes”. It is not a bad crude measure of economic activtiy (but knows nothing of productivity, or innovation). Reeves confirmed her short-termism with the speech. She is also a little late trying to force-feed a Silicon Valley now; the term was first used in the 1970s, to something that started naturally (there is a self-contradiction buried in her propsition).
Mr Warren, I have to disagree with you on this: “By the time it (3rd runway) is opened it will probably be out of date” not so.
It will add useful capacity for the USA to transfer troops quickly & easily to the 52nd state – they will be needed to put down revolts in Scotland & Wales. (doubtless walls will be built to keep the Scots out).
More seriously, nobody is asking “why do we need HS2”? Obvs, LINO imbeciles have swallowed the need & the waste of space is probably too far along to stop (pity) but never the less the question needs to be asked.
Mr Parr, your vivid imagination runs to extremities I do not care to dwell on; to the point you should consider writing scenarios for Hollywood; engineer turned screenplay writer, why not? After all, Hollywood – (just like Trump – the arch re-writer of history, including his own) – now specialises almost exclusively in re-makes and rehashes of past successes.
Britain is just doing to Scotland, Wales and NI, what Britain used to do everyone with the misfortune to fall under its spell; until they made their own bolt for freedom, and never, ever look back.
Reeves thinks she can do a deal for an isolated Britain with China, and India that will benefit Britain primarily. She had better hope that, apart from extracting their inevitable pound of flesh they settle for a pound of flesh rather than eviscerating the carcass; that China and India do not scan too closely the history of Britain’s treatment of China and India; which ranks along with the West Indies and slavery, which modern historians have only begun to realise had largely been written hitherto by myopic British apologists, if not gaslighters. Our history in China and India is, how shall I put this kindly? Not a good look, to say the least.
It was all a long time ago, we may sigh with relief; but then ask yourself this. Does China and India have much reason to care about what happens to Britain; beyond extracting their own economic advantage. You had better hope they do.
Thank you, Gentlemen.
Further to Mike’s reference to HS2, a decade ago, on a Chiltern line train to London, I overheard someone, a railway engineer by the sounds of of, talk about where the line was planned through the hills we were traversing and how, even then, HS2 was no longer needed.
Further to John saying “until they made their own bolt for freedom, and never, ever look back”, my family voted against independence for Mauritius in the mid-1960s, but within 20 years had realised and felt independence was the right thing.
I urge our Celtic brethren to not fear, but seize an opportunity and those of us left in England to push for decentralisation and PR.
I know you were joking, but…
The USAF already have enough very long UK runways at RAF Bases that they lease.
Alconbury, Fairford, Lakenheath, Mildenhall, Menwith Hill, Croughton, Feltwell.
And RAF Boscombe Down has a v long runway used by several foreign airforces.
During international adventures, transport flights come in and out of there frequently.
Non flying RAF bases for USAF:
Barford St John (Comms), Molesworth (intelligence), Welford (Munitions), Blenheim Cresc. (Admin),
https://www.declassifieduk.org/us-air-force-deployment-in-britain-is-third-largest-in-world/
They don’t need Heathrow.
We aren’t really a sovereign country and haven’t been for some time.
Airstrip One gets a longer runway
And clearly that’s why ‘they’ want to re-open DSA (formerly Bomber Command RAF Finningley) to bring in the forces for another ‘harrying of the North’ a millennium on from William the Bas…..d’s!
All with the connivance of the ‘hard-working families’ who clamour for their cheap, climate-wrecking flights to supposedly sunnier climes (that increasingly seem not to want them!)
Reeves is an ecocidal extremist. She should be locked up.
No runways of any length at Menwith Hill
Nor at Feltwell.
But they still have a lot.
Dr Tim Morgan pointed out a while ago on his blog ‘Surplus Energy Economics’ that the forecast growth in air travel was as bonkers as Hermann Goerings plan for a 20000 plane Luftwaffe as there just isnt enough fuel for them.
Its a finite limit set by global oil production which isnt going up any time now or in the future
But the fuel will be SAF: there’ll be plenty of it… provided we all eat fish and chips daily (maybe twice) to generate the used cooking oil.
Or the planes will be electric, or hydrogen fuel-cell-powered, supplied from huge solar farms.
Does government employ actual strategic analysts these days, or simply fantasy science-fiction writers?
50% of UK farmland would be required to deliver necessary volumes of SAF to maintain existing flight volumes. The idea that it is viable is ridiculous.
A Somerset Green Councillor crossed swords with Starmer over a device to keep fish away from the water inlet to Hinkley Point nuclear power station. EDF the builders wanted to scrap the device. Martin Dimery is a Green Councillor for Frome did not agree. Not having it could cause a jam in intake and would affect fish stocks in the Bristol Channel. Martin Dimery may have been an unsuccessful candidate in last year’s by-election but he did get the highest percentage of any Green in a by-election.
Story and remarks Starmer made to the Daily Mail is here.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gen-mark-milley-security-detail-and-clearance-revoked/
sorry wrong link . Don’t know if you can edit. But I thought it contributed.
https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/somerset-green-councillor-slams-sir-9900421?fbclid=IwY2xjawIHAj9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQmZsbWctdA2m6N-qyxM_g7QBUXeBcPP_OVloh1C7lhhjy8MPVGl9DfRTA_aem_sWYoqxU2PkvGBjjIeGju-Q#comments-wrapper
One big reason that HS2 is so ridiculously expensive is that so many people insisted the line should go in a tunnel when it came through their area….
If HS2 is not the answer for the transportation problems in the north of England, what is the answer?
I have no idea which is why I am asking.
A fast cross Penine link from Liverpool to Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, York and maybe Hull.
Much better regional services.
After a gap of about25 years, i visited Cambridge and was shocked and dismayed by the really ugly urban sprawl. Apparently this will continue, with the slums of the future being erected.
No doubt some will disagree with me, but I am just giving my reaction. If this is what growth is to parent, then I personally have no doubt that future generations (if any exist with our changing climate) will forever condemn us.
The way the UK builds large projects is designed to maximize cost and take as long as possible, which also helps to increase cost. (The treasury decided to slow down the HS2 project and take twice as long. ( Some extra costs, inflation, management, and you cant halve the the manpower or equipment.)
1. A separate company is setup not to build it but to let the contracts, plenty of directors and other highly paid managers.
2. The original design and business case is thrown in the bin.
3. “Design and Build” and payment to the contractor is “Cost Plus”. This means the contractor can build what he likes and the more he spends the more money he makes. Also the longer the contracts takes the more money from inflation he gets.
4. The final user is not allowed to have any input, private industry knows best.
5. Does the final user get the final drawings to know what they have been given?
6. I have not been able to find any sign of quality control. (Examples:- Testing:- every delivery of concrete is good practice, testing compaction of earth works, certification construction steel, In fact it is good practice to sample all construction materials.
7. There seems to be no financial control, no one knows what the cost to date, this is indicative of cost control failure.
8. I would like to know what is the “Business Case” after cutting the eastern leg to the East Coast main-line, and the line to Manchester, I expect the idea of terminating at Old Oak Comman would make it negative?
9. Huston was originally designed to have 11 new platforms with no emergency facility. Now it will only be 6, locking in a third of the track capacity.
By the way Ireland is no better at projects, the cost of the new Children’s hospital in Dublin is already 3 times over budget and has all ready clocked up 14 revised completion dates.
HS2 has competition.
On embankments and other earth works it is recommended that no topsoil is used but to spay the chalk / subsoil with wild flower seed and nutrients, this will inhibit the growth of trees and minimize maintenance. You can sell the topsoil.
There is a lot of truth in this Ben.
Under titles like ‘Best Value’ and before that ‘Compulsory Competitive Tendering’ local authorities that used to design and even manufacture their own stuff (and employ and control the people who did it) now spend tedious hours negotiating contracts with external providers and all this has done really is the allow private sector supply chains and services to expand into the public sector. I’m not sure where the ‘Best Value’ is anymore to be honest in these matters.
This is the same public sector that cannot pay a decent wage and has trouble recruiting and retaining staff!
It’s happening all over. Where I live is Cannock Chase. Not a natural landscape but overgrown military and industrial areas, with pine plantations. There is considerable wildlife, however Staffordshire Council/Forestry Commission monetisation hurtles onwards with plans to ‘further enhance the leisure experience’ with more artificial ‘experiences’ as well as close most parking spots and charge for the rest. To the east is the dying end of HS2 which has obliterated miles of countryside, closed businesses, destroyed precious habitats, and is no more than a transfer of public money to the private sector IMO. As someone who enjoys walking and running through countryside, my blood pressure is constantly rising over both national and local destruction. The biggest laugh is the ‘stewards of the landscape’ bollocks. Our local farmers and landowners are itching to sell to builders, even though nominally in the ‘green belt.
That is about the sum of it
Might Madam Reeves speak, behave and, presumably, think as she does because she uses Conventional Thinking [C. T.] rather than Systems Thinking [S. T.]?
Here are some examples:
C.T. The relationship between problems and their causes are obvious and easy to trace.
S. T. The relationship between problems and their causes may well be not obvious but be indirect.
C. T, Policies designed to achieve short term success will also assure long term success.
S. T. Most quick fixes have unintended consequences and may make little or worse differences in the longer term.
From https://helpmegrownational.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HMG-DPS-Slides.pdf
Might many to all of our national institutions, not least our democracy and our education set ups, use conventional thinking with its ease of communication and prompt pay-offs instead of slower, deeper, more effective systems thinking?
I do not know, but I am quite sure she is decidedly neurotypical.
I’m just a simple OAP but the money for Heathrow’s runway could surely be better spent on repairing crumbling hospitals and schools ?
Yes, of course.
But government says it will not pay for it. It’s just saying it will let it happen.
Hi Richard,
Please consider ditching any comments on here using the term “Rachel from accounts”.
It’s a term that invalidates any arguments the contributors may have of the actions she takes, demeans the contributor and ultimately the website.
I used it yesterday
I disagree with you
I think it neatly summarises the fact that she is not an economist, but a poor bean counter at best
Apologies for the language but we are totally fucked. We being the planet and everything living on it. Short-sighted, narrow-minded, unimaginative, feeble, cowardly, TINA nonsense from Labour. So, so, disappointed/disappointing because there is always an alternative which they are choosing to ignore.
I have lived at voting age through Thatcher, Cameron, Johnson etc And and now we come to this. I f***ing detest this Labour government… and I am a Labour Party member.
You are not alone.