Starmer’s chronicles

Originally Posted by Carth

Just imagine if all the HS2 money & materials spent to shave 5 minutes off a train journey was instead ploughed into social housing, NHS, dentists (lol) . . in fact anything that would help (rather than decimate) communities

This is silly, though. Investment in infrastructure can help further growth, which in turn would help pay for more day-to-day spending. Housing would also be a good target for such spending. There is a difference between one-off large expenditures in things like HS2 and the yearly spending commitment you make when putting more money into the NHS.

Also, HS2 was about increasing capacity as well as speed. Taking pressure off regional services by having an additional direct intercity train line. It would have made journeys between cities shorter and increased local services and train capacity.

We should have funded such things when interest rates were at rock bottom. More jobs, more spending in the economy and eventually more modern infrastructure. Instead, we just cut everything and wonder why the country is slowly dying. We don't want infrastructure built, we want to make it more difficult to trade with other nations, we want to make it more difficult for even very qualified people to move here and work, and we also don't want to make it easy to start new businesses.

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by jfman

Is it?

How is it not an orchestrated coup?

[jfman]

Originally Posted by nomadking

How is it not an orchestrated coup?

Oh I’m with you on the orchestrated coup. It”s the belief his policies will be any different.

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Who needs a holiday in Europe these days? With temperatures in the 30s, a football team playing very well* and a new PM every two years, England is becoming more European than ever!

* second half v Croatia

Then perhaps we should keep things as they are (forgetting Starmer for a moment).

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

Then perhaps we should keep things as they are (forgetting Starmer for a moment).

We need to get back to more stable times, economic growth, higher productivity and a stronger Pound that deters UK companies from being snapped up at cheap prices.

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

We need to get back to more stable times, economic growth, higher productivity and a stronger Pound that deters UK companies from being snapped up at cheap prices.

It’s all double edged stuff. Stornger poiund puts our exports up; weaker poud attracts investors. Presumably they want to buy our companies to make money and again, presumably, through employment here.

The “presumablies” are the potential worry. For example if they are raiding intellectual property rights in order to take them away, then we’re stuffed.

So, on balance, I think you’re right about a strong pound.