Lover of co-operatives. Co-founder @mutualnterest
Joined January 2014
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Iwan Doherty retweeted
Some really depressing facts in here - as a young man much of it rings true amongst my friends.
While housing isn't the only solution, a lot would be improved if young people had the same opportunities as older generations to live in a place of our own and be truly independent.
"Talents from Abroad: Foreign Managers and Productivity in the United Kingdom" showed how British firms who recruited foreign leadership became 23.3% more capital intensive resulting in 4.9% rise in productivity
It's quite funny that while the UK government does share a great deal of blame for our productivity crisis arguably our own business leadership is equally, if not more, at fault because of their anti-investment, short termist approach
There is a consistent pattern of the government drastically underestimating demand for rail travel.
We should seriously question why estimates are often out by a factor of 2 or more
Build it and they will come! More than double the predicted number of passengers used Beaulieu Park station in its first year
modernrailways.com/article/b… .
Someone needs to get top military bosses a copy
Army chief says politicians to start 'frank conversation' with public to prepare for war trib.al/tnbIX0Q
Just finished this, best book I've read all year. Fascinating history of British energy and beautifully written
If you wish to learn about how we can get out of the energy crisis we find ourselves in, go give it a read
Sounds like we need a new rail line between London and Manchester 🤔
Today we've rejected proposals for additional services on the West Coast Main Line after our assessment found they would likely increase delays and cancelled trains for passengers.
We've also approved one existing Avanti service to carry passengers.
➡️orr.gov.uk/search-news/orr-r…
ALT Stephanie Tobyn, ORR’s director of strategy, policy and reform: “New services, destinations and greater choice can bring real benefits for passengers and communities. But the West Coast Main Line is already under significant pressure, with performance reflecting limited resilience on a heavily used part of the rail network. “Our detailed analysis has shown that adding more trains to the current timetable would reduce the ability to recover when disruption occurs, increasing the risk of delays spreading and making reliability of the network worse for all passengers.”
Iwan Doherty retweeted
The worst line on this graph is that for children. The highest poverty rate and rising. Working families are struggling and wealthy pensioners with inflation beating pension increases for the last 15 years are still demanding more and more.
Iwan Doherty retweeted
One of the charts I discuss in the post. That's a hell of a change in a single generation.
New post:
Young people are increasingly unhappy. It's a real phenomenon + nothing to do with "snowflakes".
There are lots of standard culprits - social media, school, economy - but none explain the long-term trend.
So what is going on?
(£/free trial)
samf.substack.com/p/the-agen…
Iwan Doherty retweeted
A 128 page application from Hackney council to Hackney council for a space in a residential block to be returned to its original use as a 1 bed council flat. Councillors sent application back for more work.
A clue to both inadequate housing stock and feeble productivity.
NEW: This is a story about just how hard it is to build in Hackney
Hackney's councillors failed to approve the council’s own application to turn ‘community flat’ back into a one-bed council flat.
– The application ran to 128 pages
– "Community Involvement" started 2 years ago
– The replacement meeting room is a four-minute walk away
– Councillors still spent 90 mins debating it and then demanded the council come back with more evidence
samdumitriu.com/p/how-hard-i…
Iwan Doherty retweeted
Toulouse is building a new metro line.
Leeds is hoping to build a tram network.
Same cost, completely different funding mechanism. In Leeds, the UK Treasury decides because it pays. In Toulouse, the French Treasury is unimportant because it's barely involved. It's funded locally. – at Leeds, England
Type of easy policy win Starmer should have enacted early in his tenure if he was serious on housebuilding
Taken too long but glad it's enacted- Needs to have a density requirement but no brainer to build in these places that we are not using to their fullest potenial
Iwan Doherty retweeted
Whether devolution caused the economic overperformance is another, more interesting, question.
.
But I've been astonished at how many and how senior are the economists and policy people in Britain who don't know that the devolved parts of Britain have overperformed economically.
The retention of business rates & some income tax combined with the new Transport for City regions settlement could be a game changer for cities outside of London for finally building the transport networks they need
Especially if Transport and Works Act gets devolved
Andy Burnham to give regional mayors share of income tax bbc.in/4wvPUd8
Iwan Doherty retweeted
Council tax is a bad tax. But most proposals to replace it get the wrong end of the stick.
Rather than centralising council tax and handing out more grants, the solution is the opposite. If we devolve council tax we can cut bills for 2/3 of people across England.
Quick thread:
There's been lots of talk this week of replacing stamp duty and centralising council tax.
Stamp duty is a terrible tax that has few defenders.
But centralising council tax, says @AntBreach - is a bad idea.
Reform it ✔️
Centralise it ❌
