Prices of the electricity we use to charge

[MikelBikel]

Can 'Degrowth' Save the World?

A group of academics and activists are questioning the possibility of endless economic growth on a finite planet and calling for a bold solution: degrowth.

BBC News - Can 'Degrowth' Save the World?

The degrowth movement views endless economic growth as an unsustainable fairytale.

www.bbc.co.uk

Will the BBC be "De-growing"? Take less money, reduce the licence fee? They should lead by example, yes?
No, I thought not, "rules for thee, but not for me"!
(We have same problem with RTE which will get an *Extra* €750m over 3 yrs from publics pockets)

 

[MikelBikel]

AI is still in development. Smaller models are trained with synthetic data.
About Tony Heller position on CO2, I think he picks and chooses his data. I live in a small town in France and a big town in the UK, I can easily compare the two locations, the air, the water etc. Real climate is very much affected by population density. By extrapolation, man made. One thing for certain, the bigger city you live in, the more likely you'll be concerned with climate change.

The bigger the city one lives in, the more one will be more concerned with crime, pollution, and potholes, hehe.
"Climate change" refers to a permanent change over a period of 30yrs or more. Taking thermometer readings on an airport runway in full sun after jets have landed on full retro is not "science" but "cherrypicking" sceance.
All urban areas have a "heat island" effect that you can even measure comparing the two locations mentioned..
Correcting for latitude, longitude, altitude, gulf stream, jetstream etc...
And after all, you wouldn't want to deprive your less fortunate neighbours of that stray heat they may sorely need.. winter is coming!

 

[MikelBikel]

Wealth tax on super-rich could raise £1.5tn globally, campaigners say

The Tax Justice Network said trillions could be raised with a ‘featherlight’ tax on the 0.5% of richest households, copying a current Spanish tax

https://www.theguardian.com/news/article/2024/aug/19/wealth-tax-on-super-rich-could-raise-15tn-globally-campaigners-say

10% Income Tax for Everyone over ??,000. No allowances, no tax writeoffs, no deductibles.
No, "my company makes the money, not me". No "I make my money in an offshore tax haven". No exceptions, not even "charities".
Abolish all stupid taxes like "carbon" (b0//0×) tax, dog licence, TV licence, stamp duty, death duties, property tax, fuel & drink "duty" ha!, etc, etc, etc. But above all abolish "Value Added" Tax and "Council" tax.
Oh, and No Non-government bodies (NGO's) to receive Public money.
Phew! what have I left out?

 

[MikelBikel]

...
Neither have the Manchester Airport suspects - I wouldn't read anything into it either
...

Did the Man air individuals "tweet" something sus?

 

[MikelBikel]

Keir Starmer’s plan to tackle the far right? Fill some potholes.

Labour wants to show government can work after a wave of social unrest.

www.politico.eu

All hail the glorious leaders 5YP: "fill some potholes"

Labour councils spend £1.5m on equality and diversity training

Labour councils could have filled 24,000 potholes with the amount of taxpayers' cash they spent on woke initiatives, according to analysis.

www.express.co.uk

 

[flecc]

Keir Starmer’s plan to tackle the far right? Fill some potholes.

Labour wants to show government can work after a wave of social unrest.

www.politico.eu

All hail the glorious leaders 5YP: "fill some potholes"

Labour councils spend £1.5m on equality and diversity training

Labour councils could have filled 24,000 potholes with the amount of taxpayers' cash they spent on woke initiatives, according to analysis.

www.express.co.uk

More like a 5 week plan in my area, there's been an extraordinary sudden program of road resurfacing over long stretches, in both my London borough and the adjacent Surrey borough, much better than tackling just the potholes of course. I'd almost forgotten what smooth roads were like in recent years, but now all the worst tooth rattling stretches have been dealt with.

Its a good tactic, dealing with ALL the little things that trouble the ordinary people the most, one that Mayor Giuliani used in New York used many years back to gradually make huge improvements in peoples lives.
.

 

[MikelBikel]

"MP's receive an Extra £1500 per year heating allowance for their *Second* home"
What about the Carbon released burning that EXTRA £1500 of Methane. Don't they care about "Climate Change", EEK!

 

[MikelBikel]

 

[MikelBikel]

Pothole filled with COCO POPS by 'council worker' who's 'only following orders'

The prankster donned a high-vis jacket and pretended he worked or the council as he poured the breakfast cereal and milk into the hole

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[saneagle]

More like a 5 week plan in my area, there's been an extraordinary sudden program of road resurfacing over long stretches, in both my London borough and the adjacent Surrey borough, much better than tackling just the potholes of course. I'd almost forgotten what smooth roads were like in recent years, but now all the worst tooth rattling stretches have been dealt with.

Its a good tactic, dealing with ALL the little things that trouble the ordinary people the most, one that Mayor Giuliani used in New York used many years back to gradually make huge improvements in peoples lives.
.

The potholes and other road surface defects in my town are absolutely disgusting. I've never see the roads as bad in my entire life anywhere in the UK. Basildon was the same when I was there recently. Call me a right wing conspiracy theorist, but if it's happening in most towns, there must be some intent behind it.

It's not just the roads. I've been riding the cycle routes around telford since 1988. At the moment, they're the worst they've ever been, not just the surface but also the undergrowth is overtaking them to the extend that some are dangerous and others unpassable.

Likewise the country roads. They used to cut back the growth from the verges, but on my last ride, I noticed that I had to ride as far as 2 metres from the edge of the road to avoid horizintal stinging nettles and brambles that rip into your skin if you don't see them in time. I've never seen these roads as bad in all the time I've been riding my bike around here.

Telford is not a poor council. I could maybe understand it a bit if they had laundered all the public money to their friends and assiciates and ended up bankrupt, like some other councils (including Croydon) are accused of.

 

[Woosh]

"Climate change" refers to a permanent change over a period of 30yrs or more.

you could look at a period into the future by extrapolating the past. Climate change is usually understood by the damage it does to food producing land. Large aeras become too hot or too dry to grow crops.

Taking thermometer readings on an airport runway in full sun after jets have landed on full retro is not "science" but "cherrypicking" sceance.

You can of course discard those conclusions based on cherry picking. There are still enough evidence that the rate of change is rapidly accelerating. Warmest year, rainiest year, most damage to buildings etc. Records keep being broken at more noticeable rate.

 

[MikelBikel]

Worst councils for fixing potholes - the deadlines damaging our cars by the hour

The most common response time is two hours, with 79 local authorities looking to patch up their roads within this period

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[MikelBikel]

you could look at a period into the future by extrapolating the past. Climate change is usually understood by the damage it does to food producing land. Large aeras become too hot or too dry to grow crops.

You can of course discard those conclusions based on cherry picking. There are still enough evidence that the rate of change is rapidly accelerating. Warmest year, rainiest year, most damage to buildings etc. Records keep being broken at more noticeable rate.

In Ireland we're having a particularly cool and wet summer. So "extrapolating" that forward I predict another Ice Age. We are in an "Interglacial" period after all, with glaciers still in Europe

 

[MikelBikel]

 

[Woosh]

10% Income Tax for Everyone over ??,000. No allowances, no tax writeoffs, no deductibles.
No, "my company makes the money, not me". No "I make my money in an offshore tax haven". No exceptions, not even "charities".
Abolish all stupid taxes like "carbon" (b0//0×) tax, dog licence, TV licence, stamp duty, death duties, property tax, fuel & drink "duty" ha!, etc, etc, etc. But above all abolish "Value Added" Tax and "Council" tax.
Oh, and No Non-government bodies (NGO's) to receive Public money.
Phew! what have I left out?

what is not fair that billionaires pay on average less than the estimated 6% in tax over the fortune they amassed. The simple reason is they can channel their profit to trusts, often in tax havens, rather than themselves. They then use that tax free money to buy nice big houses here. When they sell them, the contracts are made in a tax haven between two trusts, avoiding capital gain tax.
Governments are powerless against these legal arrangements. Only few remedies exist, tax on 'grandes fortunes' usually below 1% per annum is one of them.

 

[flecc]

The potholes and other road surface defects in my town are absolutely disgusting. I've never see the roads as bad in my entire life anywhere in the UK. Basildon was the same when I was there recently. Call me a right wing conspiracy theorist, but if it's happening in most towns, there must be some intent behind it.

It's not just the roads. I've been riding the cycle routes around telford since 1988. At the moment, they're the worst they've ever been, not just the surface but also the undergrowth is overtaking them to the extend that some are dangerous and others unpassable.

Likewise the country roads. They used to cut back the growth from the verges, but on my last ride, I noticed that I had to ride as far as 2 metres from the edge of the road to avoid horizintal stinging nettles and brambles that rip into your skin if you don't see them in time. I've never seen these roads as bad in all the time I've been riding my bike around here.

Telford is not a poor council. I could maybe understand it a bit if they had laundered all the public money to their friends and assiciates and ended up bankrupt, like some other councils (including Croydon) are accused of.

All repeatable around here, the worst I've ever seen in 57 years, and as said, not just the deservedly broke Croydon borough but Tandridge in Tory north Surrey. But now it's like a miracle has happened, miles of resurfacing and remarking all the lines and even the worst stretch not yet resurfaced, patched over large areas to a quite high standard.

Since we are existing on Government loans in Croydon, the cash must have come from central government to pay the contractors, so it looks like policy at work. Hopefully you'll get a bite of the cherry before long.
.

 

[MikelBikel]

"A council spokesman said: “Like other towns and cities across the country, our roads have deteriorated due to a reduction in government grants and consecutive *COLD* winters."
Didn't they get the memo? It's *HOTTER* than it's ever been before! Tut tut, haha https://www.mancunianmatters.co.uk/news/22062015-bolton-goes-potty-over-potholes-council-dispute-foi-complaint-figures/

 

[MikelBikel]

Potholes: UK's roads like 'the surface of the moon', after record rise in breakdowns, RAC says

Some are in a "desperate state", the firm says, and councils may be "patching up potholes rather than fixing them properly".

news.sky.com

"Like the surface of the Moon". 'Policy', she no workin Senore

 

[MikelBikel]

Labour council mocked for claiming it will 'cost £25,000 to fill each pothole'

Medway council has been slammed after begging for money after ‘running their council into the ground'.

www.express.co.uk

 

[Ghost1951]

Does flecc REALLY think that in six weeks,the new government managed to resurface many miles of road? REALLY?

How naive.

Putting contracts out to tender and judging the bids, would take MUCH longer than that on its own, not to mention the logistics of getting heavy plant and thousands of tonnes of gravel, workers, and tarmac marshalled in the right place.

My bet is that this work was commissioned by the local councils at least six months ago, if not more.

Public procurement policy

Directives, regulations, policies and guidance relating to the procurement of supplies, services and works for the public sector.

www.gov.uk