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How the U.K. broke its own economy

theatlantic.com

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Re: How the U.K. broke its own economy

#611

Post by DrScientist »

blibble wrote: post #228
ZeroGravitas wrote: post #80

The last government intentionally banned the cheapest source of energy, onshore wind, from being built in England, by making it so that a single complaint could stop a project. I cannot believe this article talks about planning constraints and energy prices and doesn't mention that.

wouldn't have mattered due to the screwed up energy pricing system, if there's a single watt of electricity in the grid produced by burning gas, we pay for the entire grid output as if it was gas

There are two things you are paying for when you buy electricity - the electricity itself and the guarantee that when you flip a switch you get power.

Different energy sources contribute unequally to that second important factor - the stability of the grid - and that has to be factored in somehow. Nuclear, gas, hydro-electric storage and buying from abroad provide that stability in the UK.

How it's done - I've no idea - but it's not just a question of units of electricity.

One way is to bring in more surge pricing however people like the predictability of stable prices.

Re: How the U.K. broke its own economy

#612

Post by throwawayffffas »

nickdothutton wrote: post #541
mc32 wrote: post #537

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A big part of the problem is the UK used to let in about 100 thou immigrants yearly, that figure is now over a million per year. That means putting up a new house every few minutes. Unless you let Lagos or Caracas-style slums flourish, that’s not going to happen.

One of the reasons the Grenfell Tower disaster was so bad, is you had about 130 apartments with about 650 people in them. Illegally sub-let by the official council tenant.

The Grenfell Tower disaster happened because they chose to clad the building in plastic. If the building had in-wall insulation and no cladding or non-flammable cladding like say steel the whole thing would be a minor fire in one apartment.

Re: How the U.K. broke its own economy

#614

Post by coopierez »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #311
PaulRobinson wrote: post #64

The core argument - that the state is getting in the way of the private sector fixing everything - is clearly false, at least in the case of the UK. If that were the case, public transport (which underwent radical privatisation and deregulation across the UK some 40+ years ago), would be the cheapest and most effective in Europe. In fact, it's the most expensive in Europe. It is all currently being wrestled back into…

> In fact, it's the most expensive in Europe. I just Googled and Gemini tells me: > According to most reports, public transport is most expensive in Switzerland across Europe, with cities like Zurich considered to have the highest individual ticket prices; the Netherlands also ranks very high in terms of expensive public transport costs. Also, Norway is super expensive to ride the train. So, yeah, I doubt that anyone…

Norway recently(ish) privatised its trains too.

Re: How the U.K. broke its own economy

#616

Post by sevensor »

From the US (where we have problems of our own, believe me), the UK, and especially England, look like a powerful case for federalism. As far as I can tell, the entire country is run by and for rich Londoners, with no countervailing local power having the opportunity to make sane government decisions.

Re: How the U.K. broke its own economy

#617

Post by sublimefire »

dmje wrote: post #319

Nastily anti-state bias that’ll get a heap of upvotes here no doubt. What the uk actually needs is less private companies leeching off the masses and more investment in state support.

To fund state support you need a healthy and prosperous environment for the business to collect taxes. Foreign investment is important, the ability to borrow is essential. Unfortunately there is still ample of red tape, e.g. try building a house for yourself, try opening a business and risk litigation from the customers.

Re: How the U.K. broke its own economy

#619

Post by guardian5x »

"More than a decade ago, Germany began to phase out nuclear power while failing to ramp up other energy production. The result has been catastrophic for citizens and for the ruling government. In the first half of 2024, Germans paid the highest electricity prices in the European Union."

That completely ignores that Germany made itself dependent on cheap Russian gas which is not delivered anymore. It's not like nuclear was ever very cheap.

Re: How the U.K. broke its own economy

#620

Post by lenerdenator »

throwawayffffas wrote: post #608
robertlagrant wrote: post #582

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't even need lobbies. Anyone who owns a house isn't bothered by this, unless they are particularly fair-minded. It only affects people who don't own their own home, which is a much smaller voting group.

Not only are they not bothered. If they are even slightly aware of the situation they know it's in their financial interest. And if they are not aware of the economics most still have a bias against new construction especially high density in their area, because of the "nuisance" that construction will cause.

Sounds like it's time to make them bothered.

It's the same problem as here in the US: a bunch of people who have gotten fat off of not providing an equal or better future for the next generation.

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