High Speed Rail 2 is a massive white elephant, a £50bn boondoggle of a project as out of time as it is over priced. Yet, despite this I am a little sore that the bid Stoke-on-Trent put forward for a station got dismissed out of hand. Were it on the basis of a competition in […]
Posts under ‘Infrastructure’
We need more public ownership, but it must be democratic & decentralised
Oct 28th, 2014 by Michael Meacher.Almost every day brings fresh demands for public ownership, whether over energy infrastructure or transport (rail and water systems), banking, housing, pensions, let alone reversal of privatisation and outsourcing in health and education. That is certainly needed, but not a reversion to the Morrisonian brand of State corporatism. Instead it needs to be democratic and […]
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Save UK Rail
Oct 22nd, 2014 by Grahame Morris.The North East has a long and proud connection to the railways. In 1825, George Stephenson’s engine – locomotion, became the world’s first steam locomotive to carry passengers, and the public railway was born. In the years following thousands of miles of rail track were laid connecting every part of the UK, as the industrial […]
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Tenants excluded as social housing flogged off in billionaire investor bazaars
Oct 17th, 2014 by Michael Meacher.MIPIM is the name of the sales fair to flog off Britain. This is the latest extravaganza of market fundamentalism which is now sweeping Britain. It is being pitched at this moment is a huge hall in London which brings together property developers, billionaire investors from all over the world and, incongruously, local council officials […]
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There is a magic money tree. It’s called investment
Oct 8th, 2014 by Michael Burke.Supporters of austerity have long argued that there is no viable alternative because of persistent government deficits and rising debt. David Cameron put it starkly arguing that “there is no magic money tree“. However these assertions contain two important fallacies. Firstly, it is evident that, if government is increasingly indebted it must be the case […]
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Productive investment has not increased, so there is no sustainable recovery
Oct 4th, 2014 by Michael Burke.The latest GDP data showed that the British economy is a little stronger than previously thought. The economy is now 2.6% above its previous peak in the 1st quarter of 2008 and surpassed that peak in the 3rd quarter of 2013. However, the fundamental character of the current crisis is unaltered by the revised data. The […]
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The ‘Black’ Route: a black day for Wales
Sep 3rd, 2014 by Nick Davies.In July 2014, the Welsh Government, which claims that sustainability is the central organising principle of everything it does, decided to build a motorway relief-road across a wetland containing four Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Anyone who cares about sustainability, who regards it as more than a pious aspiration or just something one says – […]
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Out of thin air – the (alleged) economic case for a third Heathrow runway
Sep 3rd, 2014 by Jeremy Smith.When I last twice travelled directly to Guangzhou, by China Southern Airline out of Heathrow, the flight was nearly full. But not – by visual impression at least – full of thrusting British entrepreneurs keen to visit the most vibrant economic region of China, thanks to this direct link from Britain’s hub airport. More like […]
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Privatised railways: a right royal British rip-off
Aug 9th, 2014 by Mick Whelan.The inflation figure used to calculate increases in regulated rail fares, such as off-peak and anytime day tickets, will be announced on Tuesday 19 August. The new fares will come in at the start of January and we know that, even if they are capped at the level of inflation, they will still be running […]
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Rebalancing the economy will never happen without dedicated government input
Aug 5th, 2014 by Michael Meacher.All parties are in favour of rebalancing the deeply lop-sided and grossly imbalanced British economy, but it isn’t happening. It’s true that Jaguar Land Rover achieved a 14% year-on-year increase in sales in the first half of this year and that the company (owned by the Indian conglomerate Tata) is one of the UK’s largest […]
