{"id":82131,"date":"2025-05-07T08:04:22","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T07:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=82131"},"modified":"2025-05-07T08:04:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T07:04:22","slug":"what-is-the-uk-really-going-to-be-short-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2025\/05\/07\/what-is-the-uk-really-going-to-be-short-of\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the UK really going to be short of?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Politicians talk about shortages.<\/p>\n

All sorts of excuses are made for a lack of GP appointments, housing, places in schools, and much else.<\/p>\n

The reality is that none of these things is in short supply. We can afford to have enough of them all, if we want. We just chose to permit money to be used for other purposes.<\/p>\n

The same is true of something else that is going to be in short supply this summer, unless we have torrential rain between now and then, and that is water.<\/p>\n

We face a drought this summer.<\/a> This is not necessary. We could have a more than adequate water supply in the UK. There has, however, been a political choice made not to pursue that possibility. That choice is still being made, right now, with the government refusing to intervene in the water industry even though the need to do so is apparent to absolutely everyone but those working in the Treasury.<\/p>\n

For 45 years, it has been more important to pursue profit than to meet need.<\/p>\n

For that long, financial engineering has been more important than actual engineering.<\/p>\n

We are now paying the price, and still our politicians have not realised that there is a need for change.<\/p>\n

Will they ever do so, or do we need a disaster to prove the need? I really don't know, but so powerful is the lure of money for them, it seems, I suspect a disaster is required before they even notice the issue, let alone consider how to deal with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Politicians talk about shortages. All sorts of excuses are made for a lack of GP appointments, housing, places in schools, and much else. The reality
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