Alan Ritchie

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@CoopieBastards @pokedstudiouk @robprogressive Split CalMac and ScotRail up between the councils, or transfer them to London?

Devolve Scots law to councils, or return it to London?

Much better if everyone in England would live in a region with devolved powers over transport, health, education, tax, etc to match.

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@pokedstudiouk @robprogressive If the gov abolishes VAT, giving up £180bn in revenue, how much do you think it will save on purchases of VAT rated items?

Or were you trying to make a different point?

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@CoopieBastards @pokedstudiouk @robprogressive The largest part of the benefit bill is the state pension.

If you want to cut total spending by 10%, are you going to tell voters that the state pension will fall by 10%?

We should devolve more powers across the country Scottish GVA grows faster than the UK.

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@CoopieBastards @pokedstudiouk @robprogressive Pensions? Police? Schools?

Where do you think the council gets its money? Only around 20% from council tax. Most comes from central government.

But think of how much money we might get if we sold roads to foreign investors, like we did with the railways and power stations.

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@pokedstudiouk @robprogressive How much VAT do you think the Government pays, compared to what the private sector pays to the government?

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@CoopieBastards @pokedstudiouk @robprogressive Get rid of the armed forces and stop paying interest on the debt?

Privatise the motorways and A-roads?

14 years of Conservative government couldn't find these cuts.

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@pokedstudiouk @robprogressive Just print the extra £180bn, or would you bump income tax?

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@youlum @zatzi Price it all in £. Tax land owners based on the value of their land, and gently nudge them towards doing whatever gives them enough £ to pay their tax bill.

Onshore wind is cheaper than offshore. Fracked gas might be cheaper onshore too. How do we get both past local planners?

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@Hankeypie @BenZaranko Build a new super Heathrow in the midlands, move the government there, high speed train to connect to London and Paris? Leave the financial sector to either work from home or stay in London?

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@Hankeypie @BenZaranko Well yes, perhaps previously the grandparents would be living with their children.

If we have excess houses in some areas, how do we persuade people to live there? Ban internal migration? Subsidise people or companies to move? Focus government investment and recruitment there?

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@youlum @zatzi Exactly. As long as importing food is cheaper than importing energy, there will be pressure to use more land for energy, and less for food.

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@durial If the rate to replace council tax is 0.7% on average, it will be lower in areas with higher average prices, and higher with low average prices.

Most people pay a bit less, the largest houses would pay more?

Maybe a 0.3% national surcharge to replace stamp?

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@durial It should be split into two rates.

As a replacement for stamp duty, the people paying lots of stamp in the south will pay lots of LVT.

But as a replacement for council tax, every £ currently collected by councils in the north should still be collected by those councils.

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@tagz174 @kdog3108 @YNWA_Kaiser It works when traffic is moving, it continues to work as traffic slows down, and at the point that traffic stops both lanes are equally full and there can be no queue jumpers.

It is impossible to jump the queue when drivers obey the instructions to use both lanes

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@youlum @zatzi Yes, we import both cheap food and cheap energy, as recommended by Adam Smith. Both reduce prices for consumers.

As we have a limited amount of land, we should focus it on the most valuable uses, yes?

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@tagz174 @kdog3108 @YNWA_Kaiser Why would you want to wait in a queue to pass through roadworks, when you aren't going through the roadworks yourself?

You are stuck just because the people in front of you are ignoring the instructions to use both lanes.

Merge in turn works better and better as the queue slows

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@tagz174 @kdog3108 @YNWA_Kaiser Catastrophic if the stationary queue stretches past the previous junction, as now drivers wanting to exit before the road narrows are forced to wait in the queue too.

Using both lanes, per the highway code and the signs, prevents the tailback from blocking other traffic

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@youlum @zatzi And the choked food supply increases prices and profits for all the other farmers that don't sell for renewables?

Or do we simply import food, like we have for the last 300 years?

[Alan Ritchie @alansritchie]

@brumbitcoin What extra £ are put into circulation when the UK borrows £129bn from the private sector?

How much economic growth does the Elizabeth line, a new road or Hinkley Pt C need to generate to expand the economy enough per £ spent?