Hp123

[Hp123 @ProctorHam35976]

@MasterMainframe @escapefrommelos The two countries currently struggling to overcome smaller adversaries?

[Hp123 @ProctorHam35976]

@Gdubs12353911 @resfoundation it is not a full measure of disposable income after rent, mortgage repayments or all housing costs, afer adjusting for these it would certainly be different!

[Hp123 @ProctorHam35976]

@DannyABL @dc_lawrence State pensions are welfare are they not?

[Samuel Hughes @SCP_Hughes]

Hackney Council voted 5:2 last night against the planning dept's recommendation to reject the Shoreditch Works densification scheme. But in a rather baffling twist, the chair said they could not actually accept the scheme, so the decision has been deferred. Some thoughts:

1. Hackney has a lot of great councillors. The committee was extremely conscientious, battling through mountains of technical detail in a meeting that ran non-stop from 6:30pm to midnight. Crucially, they kept sight of the big picture – the fact that, whatever view one may take on certain fine details, this is basically a brilliant and even world-leading scheme.

2. The planning officers seemed like intelligent and decent people, but they had become very wound up over relatively minor details. Most of their attention was absorbed by a tortuous debate about the fact that the developer was only offering a discount to council-favoured businesses on 7 percent of the floorspace, rather than 10 percent as the council prefers. Whatever you may think about this question (and personally I am sceptical about the idea of 'affordable workspace' generally), it seemed like an insane reason to reject the whole development.

3. I was left with renewed unease about the Govt's plans to delegate more decisions to officers rather than councillors. Sometimes councillors have more perspective than officers, and can thus bring some common sense to decision-making. I know councillors can be a bit daft too, but the choice between the two doesn't seem straightforward to me.

4. Time is now very short. Hackney has elections in May and will enter purdah in March. Labour is likely to take heavy losses in the local elections and the council may fall to the Greens. I hope I am wrong, but I suspect the Greens will be hostile to the scheme. There is a pro-building majority on the planning committee at the moment, but they have only seven weeks to get this application back in front of them, and a chair who is determined to block it. The portcullis is falling. The silver lining, however, is that GLA may intervene to approve the scheme. The events of last night surely made that more likely.

5. Is it normal for the chair to be openly hostile to the applicant, and openly biased against them? I haven't seen it before, but maybe I have been lucky in my planning committees. I was very surprised when the chair refused to let the (pro-development) ward councillor for Shoreditch speak, despite its being reqested by another member of the committee. Surely it is natural for the elected representative of the affected area to have a voice?

6. The evening was interesting for those, like me, who are interested in the underlying political economy of land-use restrictions. In general, development control exists to prevent disruption to local people. But southern Shoreditch has hardly any local residents and the local office workers (such as me) are sympathetic or indifferent to the scheme. The council received only 3 letters of opposition, less than the average suburban conservatory extension! Pretty much nobody is opposed to this massive development on account of its having negative effects on them, because it doesn't have any negative effects on anyone.

What we see here, then, is an institutional infrastructure ultimately generated by NIMBYism, continuing to operate even when NIMBYism is absent. I suspect there are many such cases.

[Looking for Growth @lfg_uk]

Hammersmith Bridge has been SHUT for SEVEN years.

The result?

🚑 Ambulances taking LONGER
🚌 Buses CANCELLED
🚕 Taxis UNABLE to cross

People are FORCED to take longer routes for no reason.

Britain should CHOOSE to build.

[John Ralfe @JohnRalfe1]

#WASPI

[Gabrielius Landsbergis🇱🇹 @GLandsbergis]

There is a glaringly obvious message for Europe in the 28 point plan: This is the end of the end.

We have been told repeatedly and unambiguously that Ukraine’s security, and therefore Europe’s security, will be Europe’s responsibility. And now it is. Entirely.

If you are a European leader asking your team to book you on the next flight to Washington to go talk to Daddy, please don’t.

Not without a plan, not cap in hand, not humiliating us all in front of the cameras at the Oval office.

Europe is our continent, our future is decided here, not there. We aren’t poor, we have options, we can finally decide to assist Ukraine to the full extent of our very extensive capabilities, restore European dignity and defend Europe.

Or we can continue to wait for the miracle we now know is not coming.

[Politics UK @PolitlcsUK]

🚨🎥 WATCH: French police slash a small boat just before it leaves for the UK

[Sam Bowman @s8mb]

1) Americans need to get that if Putin wins in Ukraine with a peace deal that is good enough that it vindicates the invasion, World War 3 is far likelier.

2) Europeans need to get that the era of fantasy politics - being the “regulatory superpower”, giving up economic growth to “lead the world on Net Zero”, endlessly growing welfare states, elite consensus in favour of immigration policies that voters hate - is over.

We cannot rely on America anymore. Not in five years - now. Economic growth and self-defence override all other priorities.

[Sam Bowman @s8mb]

All of this is good, but this especially is fantastic news.

https://t.co/jpjux5fCdG

[Hp123 @ProctorHam35976]

@cb_doge Who is paying for all that expensive furniture?

[Dan Tomlinson MP @Dan4Barnet]

Why can’t Britain build anything anymore?

The news this week of the £100m ‘bat tunnel’ gave us some clues.

Here’s the story of this tunnel, which has been 12 years in the making, and some thoughts on what it tells us

[Hp123 @ProctorHam35976]

@BruceReuters Is this necessarily a bad thing? The richest countries globally are 'service superpowers' are they not. Is this a case of us doubling down on our strengths? Would that be a wise strategy ? Probably not for a economic security point of view..

[Jan Rosenow @janrosenow]

Solar farms can help INCREASE biodiversity.

Critics often claim that they are an environmental disaster leading to a loss in biodiversity.

But research shows: Solar farms tend to have more species of plant, insect & bird than equivalent farm fields.

https://t.co/ywf38uqXUm

[Hp123 @ProctorHam35976]

@Tom_Westgarth15 @ukonward The full report still contains some comments, very interesting though!

[Hp123 @ProctorHam35976]

@s8mb The 25% match is helpful for pension saving is it not?