[Bones McCoy]

I'm always amazed by what technology can do. But I'm sceptical that automatic number plate readers can actually stop the rogue cars and make arrests. On balance, I think we'll need cops in cars for a while longer.

i'm sure Nigel's mates will supply an AI self driving car and a flamethrower.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Sarah Champion (unfortunately not the Time Out clubbing writer) has joined Dan Carden in calling for a national grooming gangs inquiry. She is the MP for Rotherham, but Rotherham had its own inquiry under Jay before she went on to do the national one. She's may be worried about Reform winning her seat but there are Lib Dems and Greens she should be able to squeeze if she's under pressure.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Clive Lewis is doing his best to boost the Lib Dems and Green Party, I see.

A growing suspicion looms that our government lacks a coherent governing philosophy or ideological compass beyond the vague pursuit of “growth”

Agree or disagree with it, it's not vague. The airport expansion you're against, isn't vague. Nor are making it easier to build houses and infrastructure. Business investment to increase growth. Proposals are specific. It's "growth" that makes stuff affordable. Without it, it doesn't matter who's in power, you just get a fight over resources which lots of the causes you support will lose very badly. Blair did some good work on social security, but that was easier because of growth.

Approving Heathrow expansion is an irreversible break with our pre-election pledges. In 2021, Reeves stood in front of the Labour party conference and declared that she would be the “first-ever green chancellor”.

Lots of expansion coming of green energy, and probably too of electric cars and heat pumps. You don't like the airport, but you're a Labour MP, you can be more balanced.

Now, Labour is accused of obstructing the climate and nature bill

Good. It makes it much harder to build large scale renewable energy projects, just because the person who wrote it has an unpopular proposed solar farm in her constituency. If it didn't have a cuddly name, it would have been booted out altogether rather than negotiated upon.

The changes are stacking up. BlackRock’s influence is growing. Austerity and deregulation are back in fashion. Zero tolerance for benefit fraud is in; stricter taxation on non-doms is out.

Just the two complete lies here- the budget was expansionary, and (much) stricter non-dom tax is in. Lightweight Clive just reads headlnes on stuff people share on Twitter. The "concession" was pretty minor, and in line with what was proposed before. Quite why Blackrock would want lower growth via austerity isnt explained.

[The Weeping Angel]

There is a growing tendancy amongst some on the left that sees growth as a bad thing. James Murray of Business Green has written about this in a more nuanced way.

https://www.businessgreen.com/blog-post ... chancellor

Which brings us to Heathrow and airport expansion. It is just about possible to make the case that by the time a third runway is built the aviation industry should have made huge advances towards its net zero targets. Indeed, if sustainable aviation fuels, carbon removal technologies, and zero emission aircraft are not widespread by 2040 then the UK's overarching net zero by 2050 goal will be at risk.

But the problem for the government is the current Climate Change Committee (CCC) modelling already assumes significant improvements in aircraft efficiency and green fuels will take place. The government would have to show it can go faster than expected in delivering low carbon aviation technologies, and do it at a time when the industry is arguably going slower than expected in deploying such breakthroughs.

Consequently, to try and build more runways without convincing evidence that these technologies are truly scalable would be an extremely risky venture. The UK's Carbon Budgets are legally binding and High Court judges - who, without a change in the law, will ultimately get to decide whether Heathrow expansion can proceed - are not known for a 'just give it a go and hope for the best' mentality.

[Tubby Isaacs]

As someone on the Guardian BTL said, we've had degrowth for 15 years. George Osborne and Boris Johnson got there ahead of the radical Greens. It's not been very popular. I don't think it gets much more popular because it's more environmentally friendly than Osborne.

I find the hub airport argument convincing, though a few people I respect (Philip Stephens, Nils Pratley) have said they are becoming less of a thing, so maybe not. I don't find expanding Gatwick and Luton particularly convincing, though Gatwick's expansion is apparently more a case of letting a runway with temporary permission to have permanent permission, so may not make much difference.

Someone posted this, apparently from the New Statesman. The old Non Dom rules were quite something. I hadn't seen it this way.

Your time is too precious to spend on the details of the Temporary Repatriation Facility or the mixed fund ordering rules, but one important thing to understand about the old non-dom tax regime was that it wasn’t just unfair (because it allowed rich people to pay less tax), it was stupid, because it only gave rich people a tax break if they didn't bring their money onshore. It gave the wealthy a tax break on overseas income, as long as they left their wealth somewhere else, which meant they refrained from spending it or investing it in the UK... it sounds very much as if that’s the point – to increase the amount of wealth that rich people will want to bring into the country.

For Clive Lewis to opine that "taxing non doms is out" is pretty poor for an MP. My positive impression of him, largely derived from the fact he's articulate and supports PR, is a thing of the past.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Clive Lewis is pretty poor for an MP.

FTFY

[Tubby Isaacs]

One thing you can say for Clive Lewis is that he's doing better than his (ex) Corbynite colleague, Dan Carden, who's gone full Blue Labour.

https://www.politicshome.com/news/artic ... gel-farage

Some new MPs are mentioned too, including one Jonathan Hinder who wants much lower immigration and implicitly much higher public spending. I don't see how anyone takes this "left on economics" stuff they do seriously. Glasman went to Trump's inauguration the other week, and has form for praising Bozo. If you sincerely mean it, you don't do this.

[Youngian]

They do know protectionist economics isn't the offer being made by Reform?

The stats for Pendle reveal slight depopulation would have taken place if a small amount of immigration hadn't happened. What's Carden and Glasman's views on depopulation, is it a good thing for a protectionist economy with no overseas markets?
Pendle's average salary and rent figure looks like it enjoys higher purchasing parity than London
https://www.varbes.com/population/pendle-population

[Tubby Isaacs]

The next step to the depopulation of Pendle is probably to tell women to have more kids.

It's not my manor, but Pendle has Nelson in it, a town that's famous for being the birthplace of Mike Phelan and having very cheap houses. I'm not quite sure why houses are so cheap. Doubtless not much work, but you'd struggle to get a place in an ex-mining village in South Wales for Nelson prices. Edit- actually, there's not much within reach of Nelson, now I look properly.

London slips rapidly down the list of affluence if you adjust for housing costs.

[Youngian]

A lot of Reform voters like the sound of depopulation and believe fellow right wingers Musk, Jordan Peters and Miriam Cates badgering women to have more kids have a screw loose.
It's becoming a reality anyway but no sign of Glasman or Goodwin doing some hard yards to explore how to embrace it. Maybe Farage and Dan Carden will get their thinking caps on.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Yep. It's very striking how backward looking this stuff is. Very masculine too.

It's like the (often very middle class) 1980s London left. "We need jobs for local people. All they're doing is building offices"

Anthony Painter
‪@anthonypainter.bsky.social‬
Fundamentally, flirtations with the right aside, the Dani Rodrik question "how do we create an inclusive service based economy?" is more productive/interesting than the Blue Labour q "how do we build postwar German industrial corporatism in England?"

[The Weeping Angel]

It's a sign he's learning apparently.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Dan's learned by chucking his lot in with a bunch of people who spend literally a thousandth of their time doing "left on the economy" as "right on culture"?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Again disappointing from an excellent MP. Unnecessarily rude in replies too.

Antonia Bance MP
‪@antoniabance.bsky.social‬
We said the assisted dying bill would be a slippery slope - that it wouldn’t stay at 6mo to live, and a terminal illness.

Now members of the bill committee are putting forward an amendment to make it 12mo to live where there is a neurodegenerative condition
February 6, 2025

Somebody's put down an amendment. That will need to be voted on. If the people who voted for the bill on the second reading don't like it, it won't pass.

If we're going to talk slippery slopes, allowing anyone to vote was a slippery slope. Men with property can vote? Who's to say it won't be babies voting in the future?

[Tubby Isaacs]

The MP who tabled the amendment (Tom Gordon, Lib Dem) explains the rationale.

The amendment would allow those with a neurodegenerative illness, such as Parkinson’s, to access an assisted death with 12 months to live – in addition to the bill’s current provision which is for those with a terminal illness with six months to live.

“For those with neurodegenerative conditions, in their last six months, it may be too late for them to engage in the bureaucracy of applying,” said Gordon.

I don't really get the reaction of Antonia and others to this. That's not a machine killing people because it's inconvenient. Allowing people to choose the time and manner of their death and avoiding unimaginable horror.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Lord Glasman has popped up with his reactionary bollocks. The Attorney General is a progressive fool, apparently,

[The Weeping Angel]

George Eaton's done a puff piece on him in the New Statesman.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Hadn't seen this. Actual Labour MP here (for Southport). 52 year sentence not enough.

https://bsky.app/profile/patrickhurley. ... gd6hhdke24

[Tubby Isaacs]

Clive Lewis again. The current Trump-inspired shitfest in world affairs is actually an opportunity.

This is almost as online Kemi Badenoch. The situation is shit.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ign-policy

[Andy McDandy]

We are living through a once-in-a-generation moment of geopolitical upheaval.

I've lived through the end of the Cold War, 9/11, the digital revolution, the 2008 crash, and this crap. Can these once in a lifetime events please stop?

Otherwise, word salad. Energy, homes, tax the rich, embrace new technology. They could have discovered Unicorns living up the Congo and he'd be arguing that this was the way to respond.