Live data from Hacker News

Foundations: Why Britain Has Stagnated

ukfoundations.co

121–130 of 344 posts

Re: Foundations: Why Britain Has Stagnated

#121
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think "state funded" is the important part to take away from the piece, it's a shortage of infrastructure in general, both state and private, in part due to incredibly restrictive rules. These days you can easily trap a planned piece of infrastructure in court cases for years for largely spurious reasons.

> incredibly restrictive rules. Like what? Are you referring to the self-regulation at Grenfell Tower?

OP is more likely to be referring to e.g. Green Belt planning restrictions.

Re: Foundations: Why Britain Has Stagnated

#122

I’ll need to sit down and read this properly, but I would say there is a real stench of decline in England at the moment and pretty much everyone here would agree. It’s readily apparent the new government won’t save us already. Public services in particular: 2 weeks to see a Dr, a year for an operation, unlikely for the police to attend your call out, stagnant economy, high cost of living and low wages. And all whils…

It's hard to understand how people view the NHS. Some people claim it's the national treasure, but how does that work if service is as abysmal as what you describe ?

Re: Foundations: Why Britain Has Stagnated

#123
post #4

The UK was, and to some senses still is, a culture that strongly values who your parents are vs what you’ve personally accomplished. The head of state is the child of the previous head of state. The House of Lords is still a thing. Prestige based on family lineage is considered a big deal. In the US and other parts of Europe it’s very different. People value you a lot more because of what you’ve done vs who you are a…

Isn't socio-economic status more heritable in the US than the UK? In the UK, inheritance tax is 40% and there's probably more redistributive taxation in general.

Re: Foundations: Why Britain Has Stagnated

#124

Funny how everyone in the West was dependent on Russia si much. People weren't thinking at all?

They were thinking...about the backhanders. Look at Cyprus, gateway for dirty Russian money in to the EU, swimming in Russian money, all sanctioned by the government and EU thanks to all the bribes they receive

Re: Foundations: Why Britain Has Stagnated

#125
post #42
post #4

The UK was, and to some senses still is, a culture that strongly values who your parents are vs what you’ve personally accomplished. The head of state is the child of the previous head of state. The House of Lords is still a thing. Prestige based on family lineage is considered a big deal. In the US and other parts of Europe it’s very different. People value you a lot more because of what you’ve done vs who you are a…

I've been here for 5 years and am almost thirty years old. I still have people regularly asking me where I went to secondary school. They are obsessed with class.

[deleted]

Re: Foundations: Why Britain Has Stagnated

#126

This is pretty bleak reading for a resident of the UK! It's a good explanation for why there's stagnation (generally not allowed to build here). I'm a fan of their work (see the housing theory of everything [1] which is also good). I'd be interested to read what they think can be done about the planning issue. The new government hasn't really come through on their promise to address it. They ran out of low hanging fr…

The "new Government" has not yet been in power for 100 days. How exactly have they not "come through on their promise to address it"? Given the old government didn't come through on similar promises on planning for 14 years, I think we can give them another year or so to get policy and statutes in place, no?

Re: Foundations: Why Britain Has Stagnated

#127

I’ll need to sit down and read this properly, but I would say there is a real stench of decline in England at the moment and pretty much everyone here would agree. It’s readily apparent the new government won’t save us already. Public services in particular: 2 weeks to see a Dr, a year for an operation, unlikely for the police to attend your call out, stagnant economy, high cost of living and low wages. And all whils…

> 2 weeks to see a Dr, a year for an operation

Its the same in USA if you want to see a specialist. There is a worldwide shortage of qualified doctors.

I waited about 1.5yrs to get a routine endoscopy at northwestern hospital in chicago. We've gone to northwestern in downtown for decades and have never seen waits this bad.

Re: Foundations: Why Britain Has Stagnated

#128

I’ll need to sit down and read this properly, but I would say there is a real stench of decline in England at the moment and pretty much everyone here would agree. It’s readily apparent the new government won’t save us already. Public services in particular: 2 weeks to see a Dr, a year for an operation, unlikely for the police to attend your call out, stagnant economy, high cost of living and low wages. And all whils…

I don't agree, and your data points don't match my own. How is it readily apparent the new government won't "save us" when they haven't even got to 100 days in, yet?

Re: Foundations: Why Britain Has Stagnated

#129
post #52

I’ll need to sit down and read this properly, but I would say there is a real stench of decline in England at the moment and pretty much everyone here would agree. It’s readily apparent the new government won’t save us already. Public services in particular: 2 weeks to see a Dr, a year for an operation, unlikely for the police to attend your call out, stagnant economy, high cost of living and low wages. And all whils…

I've been to my GP half a dozen times in the last year, always same day. Last time I went I was sent for a chest x-ray, which wasn't done at the GP, I had to drive to the place and wait 40 minutes for that, bit of a pain. Main problem I see is housing. It drags the entire economy -- people are living in overcrowded, people in their 30s living with parents etc. Anyone living on their own sees all their income drained…

> GP half a dozen times in the last year,

you are going to GP every two months? Usually you get referred to a specialist if you are that sick.

Re: Foundations: Why Britain Has Stagnated

#130
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think "state funded" is the important part to take away from the piece, it's a shortage of infrastructure in general, both state and private, in part due to incredibly restrictive rules. These days you can easily trap a planned piece of infrastructure in court cases for years for largely spurious reasons.

> incredibly restrictive rules. Like what? Are you referring to the self-regulation at Grenfell Tower?

The thames tunnel costing as much in planning as Norway spent actually building the longest tunnel in the world. Construction projects are so fraught with regulatory burden that most of these costs are going to legal fees. It's not that they're not spending money. It's that public infrastructure is a money pit of legal fees
Post reply on HN