nostr:npub1etqyxmlm8agqa6029xyjg8p5znxp3xl0h6fdjp63rhnx2tvxtpmsru2htj
Fair comment - maybe we'll see the rise of the 15-minute city as people make that choice more radically (and prompt a bificuration of accommodation choice)?
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A lot of it is 'faith-based' policy... their faith in a specific model of the #economy, which while widely critiqued outside the mainstream, still holds sway in the policy elite(s)!
This week I've been mainly reading, no. 80.
Very different from Babel, Rebecca F.Kuang's new book Yellowface (2023) looks at the #publishing industry, #identity #politics & #plagiarism. The (unreliable?) narrator concocts a tale of self-justification for stealing her dead friend's book & making it her own. Exploring the role of #socialmedia, Kuang lands most of her critique pretty well & she assembles the quasi-thriller, social fable & rumination on friendship into a readable tale
nostr:npub1kt3hutklgrma64ykjwk4trxq9rtyfnxhkjz729g4pd9xl7hzhrjse75004
nostr:npub1g0tuf634rz4suczwj7kgnecr6cyt0eu9xmp3sp0fku68mqehq4msp3tvm4 you’re confusing running a business in a more cost effective way with having power over workers.
nostr:npub19wp8d0wrts9xcjp7czs0gk95x2dvs70uh7w2f6paaz8kjn6f9zjq5grre4
Ha ha, yes most managers are much more interested in the latter....
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Well, its not my position that somehow the UK must lead - man other countries are doing a better job than us; that's just a but of post-imperial hubris, but domestically he's right we need to do more & quickly!
A warning from Piers Forster, UK Climate Change Comm.:
'This is precisely the wrong time to lose the UK’s informed political consensus on tackling #climatechange.... rapidly moving to #renewableenergy, with action on #methane leaks from #fossilfuel production & farming, could immediately reduce warming rates. That should be a shared goal. By hitting our targets, we will provide a template for all developed economies. Escalating climate damage around the world need not become the new normal'!
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Well it will be interesting to see how (and if) it plays out like that.... much of the complexity is allowances & reliefs which for most part few in the lower & middle income segment actually can utilise.... so it may (may!) be less regressive than you suggest.
nostr:npub1egvvzrcg9myjkuyf6wwxhdh3pktqn3tg28dexmcua0ause9k94tqhfde7k
All good points with which I completely concur!
nostr:npub1gxtz8dz7ujqcy9hrnyhrykk6xujgpukgccvhpea7evhev7xzpsdqnej9na
I'm a lot more relaxed about the influence of the FT, which has (even when I disagree) well-argued positions, which are pretty consistent, the Torygraph, not so much
nostr:npub1egvvzrcg9myjkuyf6wwxhdh3pktqn3tg28dexmcua0ause9k94tqhfde7k
Interestingly, in other scenarios (such as strike votes) there is a qualified majority requirement - this should have also been the case for a referendum if it was going to be promoted from advisory (as originally proposed) to providing a mandate fro required action as the winners then interpreted it... that said, as a democrat I also accept the majority voted for that position.... whether the Uk is an 'enlightened country' is another discussion
nostr:npub1gxtz8dz7ujqcy9hrnyhrykk6xujgpukgccvhpea7evhev7xzpsdqnej9na
yes, I'm assuming the FT is offering a position in the home a Labour Govt. would see out as a useful way of signally their intent (?)
nostr:npub1egvvzrcg9myjkuyf6wwxhdh3pktqn3tg28dexmcua0ause9k94tqhfde7k
A majority of those voting in the referendum voted for #brexit, not the majority in the country, just to be accurate....but yes, I agree, overall a large minority in the country is enabling these positions to persist... aided & abetted by the right wing media
nostr:npub1hpcdfjpxrawnmu6ryh36ce7xu4qd54pu6xca394yhvmyzlery0tqvghjn3
Ha ha, as the economists would say the micro & the macro can be different...
nostr:npub1hpcdfjpxrawnmu6ryh36ce7xu4qd54pu6xca394yhvmyzlery0tqvghjn3
Things don't change, do they?
Nesrine Malik - right on the button:
'...the UK is not a rich country, but a poor society with some very rich people. It is now similarly true that the UK is not a regressive country, but increasingly a progressive society with some very regressive people holding most of the power. And our economic and political system... serves those two minorities. The rest of us slowly check out & are told the problem isn’t the diminishing vision of what is possible, but our apathy'
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Yes, I can feel your pain; the year the HMRC decided I no longer (after decades) needed to do a self-assessment form I was jubilant
The #privatisation of #migrants 'governance' continues as the Govt. triples the fines for landlords & employers who employ or house 'illegal migrants' in the UK.
With fines for first breach of the rule raised from £15k to £45k & repeat breaches at £60k, we can expect it will drive migrants further into the shadow economy, but also expand intrusive checks on people landlords or employers suspect to be so-called 'illegals'.
Its one further screw in the vice of the #Tories inhumanity!
In an interview with the FT, Thomas Buberl, Axa Insurance's CEO baldly notes that the #NHScrisis presents 'quite a few business opportunities' as he continues to expand Axa's private #healthcare business in the UK.
It'll be no surprise that he would see the travails of the #Tory engineered health care crisis this way, and merely confirms that the #privatesector completely understand what the #Tories' wrecking of the #NHS is intended to achieve.
#SaveOurNHS
#GTTO
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Agreed; I don't think the FT's campaign will necessarily yield any immediate results, but given the FT's position in the political economy of governance influence in the UK, its interesting that they're taking this line....
A key metric of the accelerating heating of the world's oceans is the seasonal decline in #seaice in #Antarctic;
the latest data points to a speedily worsening situation & as US #climate scientist Kate Marvel puts we can no longer be hopeful that a solution will present itself, we now need the optical courage to act.
That we have gone beyond hoping & require courage is likely to fill many people with despair when they look at our current political leaders & their record on the #ClimateCrisis
