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Post by mercian on May 19, 2023 15:17:51 GMT
In what sense was UKIP's success (I assume you mean Brexit) a revolution, 2a: a sudden, radical, or complete change Merriam-Webster dictionary |
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Mr Poppy
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Post by Mr Poppy on May 19, 2023 15:20:54 GMT
Building the ' wrong houses (expensive 3bed+ brick semis/detached) in the wrong place (green belt) lost CON a lot of councillors in recent LEs. We need more housing but it needs to be the right houses (genuinely affordable) in the right places (not green belt). There is also the NIMBY factor. Folks want housing but not near them - which becomes a problem if your HMG and Local Council (but not if you can blame one/both of the HMG/LA - as LAB/LDEM can.. for now). Polling - worth clicking on the link and checking the age x-breaks, which are a bit surprising for 'das yoof' I have to say (plurality of 18-24s are DK) We not only need 'starter homes' for first-time buyers but we also need smaller houses for the elderly to downsize into (as the idea of multiple generations of a family living in the same house seems to be unacceptable) and these need to be near where they lived before so they don't lose their social contacts. I'm not sure 'multiple generations of a family living in the same house' is "unacceptable" A/ 'Boomerang' (aka 'failed to launch') graduates who move home to save deposit for first house (and because rent is so so expensive) B/ 'Grandparent' child carers and/or older people taking a room in one of their children's homes rather than move to a retirement home It would be interesting to see some data on the above to spare us from 'anecdotes' or n=1 opinion. I'm just saying some people don't think don't think 'multi-generation' living is "unacceptable" Also, there are certainly some builders who already specialise in building 'downsize' retirement homes. EG www.mccarthyandstone.co.uk/retirement-properties-for-sale/highclere-house-hatfield/Quite expensive but if someone is 'downsizing' then they'd be selling a much larger/more expensive home. Of note a lot of the 'retirement homes' are built on 'brownfield' sites (cc jimjam ), close to town centres and amenities - likely maintaining social contacts (if they are moving from 'rural' to 'urban' then they might even improve their social network). Often good for local shops/restaurants as high density and non-commuter housing/people likely shop very local - in part for the social network element. Again, it would be interesting to see data. It might be that a lot of older people don't want to move to more suitable/smaller/urban housing rather than lack of suitable housing. It might also be that the "Elderly Did It" is a bit of a 'myth' and scapegoating (as colin was possibly suggesting earlier). NB The kind of properties the likes of McCarty and Stone build are 'high density' but also high profit margin (multiply up the number of units by the average price and see how little land they use!). If Starmer wanted to be more 'radical' then Land Value Uplift Tax when there is a highly profitable 'change of use' for urban land (eg from 'fringe' town centre shops, industrial use near tramlines, etc) could fund genuinely affordable housing (and/or social housing) for essential/young workers and 'save the greenbelt'. The 'right houses in the right places' means higher density housing in/near town/city centres - which in most cases means building upwards rather than outwards (and higher density housing is easier to insulate and can easily be made more climate friendly than detached properties). I'm not saying that it is the only answer as different solutions are needed in different locations for different types of people. |
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Post by mercian on May 19, 2023 15:33:02 GMT
Good to see that a once-sclerotic nationalised industry is moving with the times. i seem to recall from my youth watching open university programs, that the national phone company pre-privatisation (whatever it was called then) was actually a world leader in new telecommunication equipment design and installation. Oddly Thatcher didnt feature that in the justifications for selling it off so private owners would reap the profits. Its akin to how british rail used to have a train manufacture and design section. Wonder who ended up with that? It certainly wasn't a world leader in installing new lines quickly. |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2023 15:33:07 GMT
colin”I was more interested in the picture of the young demographic who are so vocal about the effect of climate change on " The Planet" , being relaxed about concreting more of it over.“ What would be your solution to scarcity of housing? FM
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Post by mercian on May 19, 2023 15:34:59 GMT
Are journalists above the law of libel? The question is whether they should be because its an essential part of democracy. if there are no checks on politicians lies, obviously they will lie more and more. Its a lot cheaper than implementing actual policies. If a journalist exposes a lie, it's not libel. You do seem a bit 'challenged' at times. |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2023 15:45:47 GMT
The question is whether they should be because its an essential part of democracy. if there are no checks on politicians lies, obviously they will lie more and more. Its a lot cheaper than implementing actual policies. If a journalist exposes a lie, it's not libel. You do seem a bit 'challenged' at times. If it wasn’t for @danny you wouldn’t know where covid started. Show some respect. FM |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2023 15:46:41 GMT
colin ”I was more interested in the picture of the young demographic who are so vocal about the effect of climate change on " The Planet" , being relaxed about concreting more of it over.“ What would be your solution to scarcity of housing? FM 1. Brownfield site reinstatement funding and house building policy. 2. Less people. |
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Mr Poppy
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Post by Mr Poppy on May 19, 2023 16:03:24 GMT
colin ”I was more interested in the picture of the young demographic who are so vocal about the effect of climate change on " The Planet" , being relaxed about concreting more of it over.“ What would be your solution to scarcity of housing? FM 1. Brownfield site reinstatement funding and house building policy. 2. Less people. 1. Just FWIW then 'beta' test of a map of such sites in England. A lot of them are quite small which a/ doesn't suit big builders (who can make 'political donations' to push their preferred approach) but would suit a smaller/local builder b/ doesn't suit lazy planners who like to sign off on 'big projects' by big builders, often on greenbelt c/ would often need some 'change of use' which is often easy to block/delay putting off a lot of smaller/local builders to waste their time+£ pursuing. www.planning.data.gov.uk/map/?dataset=brownfield-land&dataset=brownfield-site#NB It's in 'beta' so no need for anyone to 'shoot the messenger' with an 'error', missing sites or the huge amount of land that could have a 'change of use'. However, what it shows (IMO) is that we have plenty of brownfield sites that could be developed - building the 'right houses in the right places'. However, the 'vested interests' prefer to build the wrong houses in the wrong places and sadly Starmer seems to want to return to the failed Tory approach that the big builder love 🤦♂️ |
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on May 19, 2023 16:21:24 GMT
Well it might wind up being both. Martin Sorrell was in the Times the other day saying how AI would replace people in call centres and going on to talk about the impact in advertising… “ AI will help advertising businesses with hyper-personalisation, Sorrell said, so marketers could target work more effectively: “We’re seeing it have an impact on media planning and buying in the digital area — those decisions can be reduced to algorithms. It is a super tool for our people who are starting to use it to improve their productivity. Finally, we’re seeing a significant impact on reducing the time to produce copy and visuals.”” The problem is that the AI bots just want to do interesting and well paid white-collar jobs rather than what would actually be useful to me - mundane stuff like cleaning the toilets, decorating, cutting the grass etc. I suspect the AI hype will go the same way as the 'robots will mean nobody needs to work' and 'robots will take over the world' hype. Ah well, that’s because there’s quite a bit of white collar work that’s designed to suit the essay writers, reports and stuff, where the reports might not be very good so it’s not necessarily that hard to replace with these large language models. It’s not like we’re letting the AI design fault-intolerant stuff like suspension bridges. Yet. (Though if you Google you can see they’re looking into it). However, they are experimenting with making the Ai “embodied”, putting it in robots, though it might not be ready for the next version (GPT 5). But it might be the one after that. Progress is happening swiftly. I recently posted about ChatGPT’s performance on some medical tests. The other day read about another rival AI to GPT - Google’s recently released MedPalm, which reputedly outperforms ChatGPT on the USMLE test, which has been passed before by GPT, but this time it was passed by MedPalm with an improvement of 18%, giving a score equivalent to that of an “expert” doctor. Not that I want to alarm pjw1961 in any way… |
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Post by johntel on May 19, 2023 16:26:19 GMT
i seem to recall from my youth watching open university programs, that the national phone company pre-privatisation (whatever it was called then) was actually a world leader in new telecommunication equipment design and installation. Oddly Thatcher didnt feature that in the justifications for selling it off so private owners would reap the profits. Its akin to how british rail used to have a train manufacture and design section. Wonder who ended up with that? It certainly wasn't a world leader in installing new lines quickly. Yes, the UK was a world leader in digital telecommunications in the 70s and 80s, thanks to the pioneering R&D done by the Post Office, and the commercialisation of System X by three telecoms manufacturers - Plessey, GEC and STC. Unfortunately due to lack of government support and totaly incompetent management those companies screwed up completely and threw it all away. For example - around 1990 GPT (which had been formed by the GEC takeover of Plessey) had a strategic review to decide which aspects of telecommunications they should focus on. They concluded that mobile telephony was going to be a niche market and not worth investing in. Doh! Watching the demise of UK telecoms was doubly frustrating for me because exactly the same happened with the UK computer industry and ICL (International Computers Ltd) - my first employer. |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2023 16:34:21 GMT
colin ”I was more interested in the picture of the young demographic who are so vocal about the effect of climate change on " The Planet" , being relaxed about concreting more of it over.“ What would be your solution to scarcity of housing? FM 1. Brownfield site reinstatement funding and house building policy. 2. Less people. (1) would seem easily achievable with political will but how do you propose achieving (2)? Voluntary euthanasia for the elderly is probably a step too far and it’s not the fault of younger people that they were born and yet there are insufficient affordable flats or houses for them to live in when they get jobs and leave home. By the way, I don’t see how you can know that the latter category, in particular those who are vocal about the effect of climate change are genuinely “relaxed” about the detrimental effects of house building. What is you evidence for that assertion? Would they have to prove their sincerity to the cause by living rough for example? What would you suggest that is actually possible? FM |
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Post by mercian on May 19, 2023 16:34:53 GMT
We are giving Ukraine increasingly sophisticated and powerful weapons - short of what they want, but, incrementally powerful weapons all the same. I worry about the risk of that.....for instance, we have recently given missiles with a 150 mile range. Ukraine says it will only use them on Russians inside Ukraine, not on Russia itself... Good analysis. One major problem is that Russia considers the Crimea and other occupied areas as part of Russia, so attacks on them might be interpreted as an attack on Russia itself. No doubt state propaganda is already portraying them as such. |
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Post by mercian on May 19, 2023 16:39:20 GMT
I don't think modern "agricultural land" is "rich" natural habitat. Still doesn't mean we should concrete it all over though. We need to produce at least some of our own food. |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2023 16:41:05 GMT
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on May 19, 2023 16:45:48 GMT
Questions regarding the housing crisis.
1. If brownfield sites are to be preferred, how much brownfield is there/how many can it house?
2. If farming land affects biodiversity, how much can eventually be done away with using vertical farming etc., or lab meat etc., freeing up land. (for some crops like grains, they need rather more energy so energy prices need to fall. There are other technologies like Agrisolar, combining crops with solar panels, which can improve yields while also providing power, but construction costs need to fall)
3. How dense can we make the housing without adverse social or other effects? Perhaps using more sophisticated designs/layouts etc.
4. Can we do a lot more of the eco home thing where the houses are built more into the ground so you get more insulation while having more wildlife on top?
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Post by mercian on May 19, 2023 16:47:19 GMT
If a journalist exposes a lie, it's not libel. You do seem a bit 'challenged' at times. If it wasn’t for @danny you wouldn’t know where covid started. Show some respect. FM 👍🤣 |
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Post by alec on May 19, 2023 16:52:50 GMT
Danny - "If transmission falls 80%, then is entirely possible the outbreak will take x5 longer before it ends." Alternatively, with an R number wobbling around 1, cutting 80% of transmission in one of the main areas of infection would probably send the virus into remission.
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Post by jimjam on May 19, 2023 17:03:02 GMT
Trevor, also could add to your list:
Suits Council leaders as Council Tax now covers over 50% of income so the more homes the better.
Unintended consequence of the squeeze on LAs.
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Post by leftieliberal on May 19, 2023 17:03:09 GMT
I think that the brownfield sites shown on this map are seriously out of date. I checked for the Harrow area and quite a few have already been re-developed. If anyone is looking at this map and thinking there are many opportunities for redevelopment on brownfield sites they will be sadly disappointed. |
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on May 19, 2023 17:04:13 GMT
colin ”I was more interested in the picture of the young demographic who are so vocal about the effect of climate change on " The Planet" , being relaxed about concreting more of it over.“ What would be your solution to scarcity of housing? FM 1. Brownfield site reinstatement funding and house building policy. 2. Less people. Back on the old board, looked at the trends in population growth, saw that we were set to overtake Germany circa 2050, and wondered if that might not be part of the plan - to keep growing our population to gradually make us economically more powerful. (Some Brexiters might actually be quite keen on this, as it might mean we could be a bit more independent). Looking at how immigration seems to be rising, if it’s going to be close to a million a year then we might get past Germany a bit quicker! (Of course it’s not all about the population numbers but things like GDP-per-capita. Read the other day that Poland is set to overtake us in GDP-per-capita circa 2030?) |
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Post by leftieliberal on May 19, 2023 17:07:36 GMT
It certainly wasn't a world leader in installing new lines quickly. Watching the demise of UK telecoms was doubly frustrating for me because exactly the same happened with the UK computer industry and ICL (International Computers Ltd) - my first employer. It was my first employer too. I was at Kidsgrove. |
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Mr Poppy
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Post by Mr Poppy on May 19, 2023 17:13:59 GMT
I think that the brownfield sites shown on this map are seriously out of date. I checked for the Harrow area and quite a few have already been re-developed. If anyone is looking at this map and thinking there are many opportunities for redevelopment on brownfield sites they will be sadly disappointed. Good to know that some of the brownfield sites near you have already been redeveloped. I did say: www.planning.data.gov.uk/map/?dataset=brownfield-land&dataset=brownfield-site#NB It's in 'beta' so no need for anyone to 'shoot the messenger' with an 'error', missing sites or the huge amount of land that could have a 'change of use'. However, what it shows (IMO) is that we have plenty of brownfield sites that could be developed - building the 'right houses in the right places'. However, the 'vested interests' prefer to build the wrong houses in the wrong places and sadly Starmer seems to want to return to the failed Tory approach that the big builder love 🤦♂️ |
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Post by thylacine on May 19, 2023 17:13:59 GMT
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Post by neilj on May 19, 2023 17:29:43 GMT
Dan Hodges really doesn't like the National Conservatives, made me laugh
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Post by leftieliberal on May 19, 2023 17:31:19 GMT
I think that the brownfield sites shown on this map are seriously out of date. I checked for the Harrow area and quite a few have already been re-developed. If anyone is looking at this map and thinking there are many opportunities for redevelopment on brownfield sites they will be sadly disappointed. Good to know that some of the brownfield sites near you have already been redeveloped. I did say: www.planning.data.gov.uk/map/?dataset=brownfield-land&dataset=brownfield-site#NB It's in 'beta' so no need for anyone to 'shoot the messenger' with an 'error', missing sites or the huge amount of land that could have a 'change of use'. However, what it shows (IMO) is that we have plenty of brownfield sites that could be developed - building the 'right houses in the right places'. However, the 'vested interests' prefer to build the wrong houses in the wrong places and sadly Starmer seems to want to return to the failed Tory approach that the big builder love 🤦♂️ Not some of them, most of them and some of those that haven't been re-developed I would be surprised if they were. For example, around 30 years ago the old Wealdstone Football Ground was redeveloped and became a Tesco supermarket. That's shown as a brownfield site on the map, even though it is the biggest supermarket in the Borough and the main one serving central Harrow. I cannot see Tesco saying that they would sell it for housing; there just isn't anywhere else they could build a similar-sized supermarket near the centre of the Borough. |
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Post by thexterminatingdalek on May 19, 2023 17:31:37 GMT
I think that the brownfield sites shown on this map are seriously out of date. I checked for the Harrow area and quite a few have already been re-developed. If anyone is looking at this map and thinking there are many opportunities for redevelopment on brownfield sites they will be sadly disappointed. Every local authority is obliged to submit an updated brownfield land register to whatever DCLG is called these days by the end of December annually, which is then aggregated. I don't have a link, but it shouldn't be hard to find. It comes with something of a health warning, as the authority where I have ears on the ground has been waiting two years for them to fix a broken link to upload theirs, although the latest one is on the council's own website. There are also no sanctions for failure to submit, so imagine more than a handful probably let it slide. The guidelines are somewhat opaque, but generally the criteria is any previously developed land over 0.25 hectares, or capable of holding five or more dwellings, so conversion of large houses into half a dozen flats should count, and these make up the bulk of the register I know about. The way some in government speak, you'd think there was an abundance of brownfield land ripe for development, but, in most places, the register is woefully short. One council I know of has five sites on its register, one of which is now fully developed and another well under construction. So, in short, all the talk of developing brownfield sites is nonsense. Whoever would have thought it? |
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Post by johntel on May 19, 2023 17:34:21 GMT
Watching the demise of UK telecoms was doubly frustrating for me because exactly the same happened with the UK computer industry and ICL (International Computers Ltd) - my first employer. It was my first employer too. I was at Kidsgrove. @leftie I was at Bracknell working on microcode for the ICL 2903 range, but I only stayed a year because I wanted to do a masters in computer science. Later I worked for Plessey in Poole - ICL and Plessey both had great technology but the management didn't have a clue. Partly because they both had a big home market and they weren't capable of learning how to sell overseas. |
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Post by neilj on May 19, 2023 17:35:52 GMT
Interesting poll
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Post by Mr Poppy on May 19, 2023 17:37:54 GMT
Questions regarding the housing crisis. 1. If brownfield sites are to be preferred, how much brownfield is there/how many can it house? 2. If farming land affects biodiversity, how much can eventually be done away with using vertical farming etc., or lab meat etc., freeing up land. (for some crops like grains, they need rather more energy so energy prices need to fall. There are other technologies like Agrisolar, combining crops with solar panels, which can improve yields while also providing power, but construction costs need to fall) 3. How dense can we make the housing without adverse social or other effects? Perhaps using more sophisticated designs/layouts etc. 4. Can we do a lot more of the eco home thing where the houses are built more into the ground so you get more insulation while having more wildlife on top? 1. See map link provided earlier (noting it is in 'beta' so see all the caveats mentioned). IMO proper redevelopment of 'brownfield' sites would solve most of the issue in/near towns/cities. 2. Less red meat would be the biggest benefit IMO as some forms of agriculture are not very environmentally friendly in the broadest sense of the term. I note mercian comment that we do need to grow more British food for British consumers and that links to 'less people' (as per colin ). However, 'tech' in the form of vertical farms (green leaf food) or even '3D printing' protein are areas we've covered before - both need cheap lecky but very little land. 3. Good question. There does seem to be some issue in English cities with 'high rise' that you don't see in rWorld (eg N.Amercia or Asian cities) although that might be changing a bit in London then recent 'near London' (Maidenhead) suggests there are still issues on height, possibly related to the Grenfell Tower or 'stigma' from some poorly designed high rise 'estates' in the past? www.bdonline.co.uk/news/studio-egret-wests-250m-maidenhead-scheme-approved/5096750.article4. Lots of folks, notably in London, have built down rather than up. Elsewhere then 'extending down' to avoid height limits is an option. Beyond that you'd get into 'Morlocks' issue as most people like to live above ground. However, see #2 and note there is already a large 'vertical farm' under Clapham: www.cam.ac.uk/stories/growingundergroundPerhaps for the JAMs of tomorrow:
"...
And the public gets what the public wants
But I want nothing this society's got
I'm growing underground (growing underground)
..."
PS and for the benefit of someone still shooting the messenger (ie leftieliberal and thexterminatingdalek ) then another way to better use space is to build garages and car parks under ground as they do in lots of places in rWorld. Single storey supermarkets with massive car parks is a disgraceful waste of land. Build up for 'living'/retail space + build down for stuff like car parks/vertical farms = #nobrainer |
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Post by joeboy on May 19, 2023 17:39:52 GMT
In what sense was UKIP's success (I assume you mean Brexit) a revolution, 2a: a sudden, radical, or complete change Merriam-Webster dictionary You withdrew from a voluntary trading arrangement! Ah well, maybe we have a different understanding of language. |
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