 | Forum
Reply | Housing news from Labour. Great stuff
at 14:29 10 Jul 2024
The question, in case you forgot, is: has immigration driven economic growth in the UK? If interested in the wider picture then you would need to show how far the 3 graphs I mentioned are similar or different for a given country. Actually several EU countries, including Germany, don't look to be in a great position either. The USA is different because it offers far less social protection for poorer people, with an obvious impact on public expenditure and the economy. As Milton Freidman said, you can have a welfare state or you can have free immigration, but not both. |
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Reply | Housing news from Labour. Great stuff
at 11:54 10 Jul 2024
Several reasons:
Cheap labour leads to delays in investment linked to greater use of automation.
Influx of relatively unskilled labour which depresses wages, depresses the per capita tax take, and means fewer people are making a net fiscal contribution.
A large number of immigrants are not entitled to work under existing rules, and consume government revenues in a way that does not aid economic growth.
You have been peddling the economic growth argument for a long time, but just put graphs of per capita productivity, and per capita GDP alongside a graph of total annual numbers of arrivals over time. If immigration was really so good for economic growth we wouldn't be where we are. |
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Reply | Russia bombs children’s hospital ...
at 03:10 10 Jul 2024
Reposted from other site:
A staggering statistic from Physicians for Human Rights shows that Russia has carried out a total of 1442 attacks on health care in Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. This has meant that one in 10 hospitals in the country have been directly damaged by Russian attacks.
Attacks on healthcare are not unique to hospitals; pharmacies, ambulances and healthcare workers have also been singled out by enemy fire.
https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/ukrainian-hospitals-have-been-repeatedl
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And yet some turn a blind eye to this. Travel to the RF is still possible for those who would fit in better there. |
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Reply | Ospreys choose St Helen's as new stadium home ...
at 23:18 9 Jul 2024
Best location because it is beside the sea? This got me thinking about what other UK stadia are near the ocean, Most that come to mind are football grounds in Scotland - Inverness, Dingwall, and Arbroath Not so sure about England. Fratton Park and Bloomfield Road are close but not in seafront locations. |
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Reply | Housing news from Labour. Great stuff
at 22:43 9 Jul 2024
Agree with most of this. My only caveat would be that there is a question mark against how far recent immigration to the UK has led to economic growth. In aggregate terms, yes to a rather weak degree, but immigration has had a negative effect on per capita productivity. Low productivity is why we are in such dire straits and it is no coincidence that this comes at the end of a period of record immigration. |
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Reply | Housing news from Labour. Great stuff
at 14:36 9 Jul 2024
We need more houses to accommodate our existing population. The problem is that our population is growing at such an alarming rate that I can't see how we can keep up. |
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Reply | Israel/Hamas ceasefire
at 03:53 8 Jul 2024
Depressing extract from a recent BBC report:
"A regular poll carried out by a West Bank-based think tank, the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research, claims that most people in Gaza still blame Israel and its allies for the war, rather than Hamas.
The latest survey in June said that almost two-thirds of Gazan respondents were satisfied with Hamas - a rise of 12 points from December - and suggested that just around half would still prefer Hamas to run Gaza after the war ends, over any other option."
I do think the degree of Hamas support and the genocidal objectives of the Hamas Covenant has been underestimated by the Western media. In my view the idea of an extremist hardcore coercing a largely innocent population is a fiction, children excepted.
It does seem that some who always opposed Hamas are now willing to speak more openly. I read a telling quote from one hospital doctor who suggested that Hamas support is strongest among those sitting safely outside Gaza. As we see, there are a couple on here. |
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Reply | Tata Steel
at 10:38 7 Jul 2024
I'd have said that the loss of confidence on the international markets was the last thing Truss was expecting. It was a case of rank incompetence rather than some Machiavellian plot to make a killing on currency speculation. In any case the sharp rise in public borrowing linked to COVID-19 spending started well before Sept 2022 when her 49 days in charge began. You would have to put the energy subsidies (which started in April 2023) down to Sunak and Hunt, and I don't think Truss's screw-up greatly affected those. The big losers from Truss's mistakes were people who came off fixed interest rate mortgages and needed to find a new deal. |
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Reply | Post election thoughts
at 05:51 6 Jul 2024
My mood lightened slightly when I saw that our new PM had passed over Emily Thornberry for the Attorney General role. But then I saw that the substitute chosen (and given a peerage to enable him to take the position) is Richard Hermer KC, a human rights lawyer from the infamous Matrix Chambers. Among his specialist areas of expertise is the application of international law in domestic UK courts. Another plus point for the cross channel trade. |
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Reply | Post election thoughts
at 13:12 5 Jul 2024
As far as I can see, England's COVID performance was not noticeably worse than that of Wales and Scotland, except perhaps in the area of PPE contracts. Scotland had some difficult moments because of its reluctance to use central UK support services. Wales was a little more nanny state than England with the mileage from home limit and those closed supermarket aisles containing "non-essential" goods. What was it about England's performance that was so bad compared with what happened in Wales? |
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Reply | Rwanda
at 01:25 5 Jul 2024
Some would say that every attempt to do something has been undermined, and in part by the people who will form the incoming government. I predict a record summer for small boat arrivals. |
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Reply | Nigel Farage
at 21:02 4 Jul 2024
The counterpoint to this will be obvious to radio-listening insomniacs. If you can't sleep one night tune in to the World Service. |
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Reply | Tata Steel
at 20:55 4 Jul 2024
Those are indeed big factors. The irony is that those who are now criticizing our present economic situation were the very ones saying the government was not doing enough to help people through the cost of living crisis. |
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Reply | Rwanda
at 01:17 3 Jul 2024
I see that the law firms who received legal aid to represent migrants detained pending deportation to Rwanda are saying they will seek substantial damages for unlawful detention (presumably with a further dollop of legal aid). The fortunate ones will then draw further from the public purse to return to their free hotels and gain further legal aid in order to pursue the standard asylum claims that the incoming Labour government will now permit for those the recent Act had disqualified. One imagines this will not go unnoticed in the camps across the channel, and will assist the Kurdish gangs in spicing up their marketing blurb. What a wonderful thing the magic money tree is! |
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Reply | Gautier Ott signing is ‘almost not recoverable’ after the deal collapses
at 01:38 1 Jul 2024
Sounds about right, Even given Keith's words about the impressive track record of the agents, I don't think the latter have done very well for Ott or themselves. They started with a client playing at a level below L1, and all that has changed regarding his marketability is that he will now be perceived as expensive. Unless Ott does something on the field to change that both agency and player are in a worse position. |
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Reply | Rhianon Passmore
at 03:14 30 Jun 2024
Those of us who once voted Labour regularly probably still feel some sympathy for "old Labour" values; it is the SJWs who have taken the party far away from its roots that are anathema. |
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Reply | Tata Steel
at 16:15 28 Jun 2024
Guess this is right overall. However, the caveat is that we do still have substantial iron ore reserves; it is just cheaper to import. It could argued that this makes a difference if we are talking about a strategic asset. |
| | AnotherJohn
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