And give 746 million people a legal right to live here. And talking numbers, house building is snail-like, and will continue to be so, because there are no votes for either of the main parties in building on green belt or fields that increasingly we are going to need to grow crops to become more self-sufficient to cut carbon down and not be blackmailed by rogue states like Russia. So what happens to young people when you bring all these extra people in from the dinghys. It makes likelihood of owning a home even less likely. You have grandchildren, and must have thought about this. If we were in the Single Market, would you envisage them and their contemporaries leaving the UK to live in a less populous EU country?
As much as I disagree with most of what you post, I have to agree with the majority of that post. We just don't have the infrastructure for mass immigration. Its a reason why immigration limits are supported by a wide variety of people from different political persuasions. We struggle to house british people, nevermind foreigners, we have to be shamed into feeding our own people.
Correct infrastructure has been massively neglected especially with new housing developments. With housing and new housing the thing that often gets ignored is the sheer volume of unoccupied property.
A large part of the problem is that the two main parties are loathe to actually plan for the public benefit. Why is 'planning' such a dirty word? Hence acres of new build housing all over the country and the occasional supermarket but schools, GP surgeries, public transport facilities etc are ignored. There is a system in place but as no government authority wants to spend money at all it is left to the property developers who don't care and only want what generates the most profit for them ie the right to build as many houses as possible where they want and as cheaply as possible. I'm sure that my neighbours and I are not the only people in this country who bemoan the lack of adequate public infrastructure.
Why plan when you can push it down the road, blame foreigners and make a **** load of cash out of it.
Johnson's really getting desperate now, he's rushed back to Ukraine a day after some proper European leaders were there.
Seems Johnson has been spouting his **** again about the reasons for Geidts resignation. Sooner Johnson goes, the sooner this country can attempt to recover from his crippling reign.
Agree Yorks. We allow developers to build new areas of housing, increase population count with no consideration of the cost to provide additional amenities and facilities that are capable to support the larger communities it creates. Developers should have to provide a rated supplement that would be put to local council to make these facilities happen. I have seen some huge housing developments erected and wondered where the school, medical and transport systems needed are going to come from. Apparently there is a Community Infrastructure Levy ( https://commonslibrary.parliament.u...unities-get-the-infrastructure-to-go-with-it/ ) which is not always applied. Which has to make you wonder what is going on behind the closed doors of local government. They are always crying out about lack of money yet seem to not use a levy to support their community better to create a revenue that they could use for new facilities that would benefit the new owners and wider community in that area of development. Seems bizarre, so I can only assume I don’t know, or understand, the full story.
Simon Clarke, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, tells businesses that wages should not keep pace with inflation because that would contribute to an inflationary spiral. And public sector workers have no chance of big pay rises. Psst… we are already in an inflationary spiral which has got nothing to do with wages…..fuel, energy, wheat, cooking oil…..prices all going up because of greed and war, supply side restrictions, nothing that our government can do about it. Of course it’s worse for us because we pay for these things in $ mainly, and the £ is weak against both the $ and the €, but especially the $ . This will continue because even with the recent rise the interest rates here remain below the US. The Bank of England is worried that higher interest rates here will lead to……inflation. So if we are not allowed decent pay rises what will help ordinary people? Tax cuts, changing tax thresholds, increasing benefits and the pension, changing thresholds for benefits. I think Sunak has said that pensions and benefits will go up a lot next year because they are tied to RPI (or is it CPI, I can’t remember or the difference between them), but there might well be a ‘we can’t afford it’ backlash… In truth this is out of control of politicians and their economic advisors (economics must be the most bullshit discipline of all). They could make it a little less painful (charging VAT not only on the price of petrol, but also on the fuel tax already applied to petrol seems like double dipping. I’m just relieved that I don’t have to drive for work). But we are more likely to be told that we have to put our hair-shirts on, that pain is good for us. Not a message that Little Rishi Sunak with his personal stockpile of £750 million will have to apply to himself. Rishi might have to resign soon anyway. Apparently Johnson is minded to reverse the planned rise in Corporation Tax which is the core of Sunak’s attempts to pay for pandemic spending. Meanwhile, Priti Patel says that ECHR judges are racist.
Meanwhile the football industry continues unabated. Spending multi-millions on players and contracts showing no fear for such costs or inflation concerns (perhaps other than asking for higher contracts as ‘costs seem to be rising’ and you ‘have to pay the bills’ - those bloody Bentley people putting up their prices!!). The sport of the working man is a long way away from its roots now. What a crazy world!
Remains to be seen. Economic forecasting is an inexact science. We saw that with all the doom laden Brexit predictions. We have very low unemployment which is a plus. All of the world's major economies are struggling.
Yeah, we were living in a fool's paradise (and still are with much of this WFH stuff), but had we not done, with lockdown, furlough etc, it could have been a lot worse.
please log in to view this image As a human, I'm rather keen that these rights should continue to be protected.
Biden or Johnson? A slightly infirm, but fundamentally good man, or a despicable, self-serving, fat, lying slug. Hmm.
