@djr@union.place
@djr@union.place avatar

djr

@djr@union.place

Resident Putney - economist, trade unionist, internationalist/traveller. former activist

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ChrisMayLA6, to random
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

Andy Burnham (still Mayor of Manchester) on social housing:

'One of the main reasons why the country has not built enough social homes for decades is because of the right-to-buy policy. Councils do not have an incentive to fund the building of new homes if they can be sold off cheaply & quickly. In the face of a desperate housing crisis, the existence of right to buy means we are in effect trying to refill a bath without being allowed to put the plug back in'!

Yup, that's about it!

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 And over time 'right to buy' has spawned 'buy to let' and the expansion of the private rented sector! Even if it were to remain politically impossible to end 'right to buy' entirely in #England then the qualifying period could be lengthened and the discount reduced substantially - also there could be a power to suspend it entirely in local authority areas with a demonstrable shortage of housing - say for five years.

glynmoody, to london
@glynmoody@mastodon.social avatar

Tory staff running network of anti- Facebook groups riddled with racism and abuse - https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/27/tory-staff-running-network-of-anti-ulez-facebook-groups-riddled-with-racism-and-abuse lies and cheating is all that the tories have got. nobody should vote for them, neither in , or nationally...

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@glynmoody

Interesting to note that the most recent literature delivered to my door does not mention their candidate for . An oversight or some residual sense of shame ?

glynmoody, to Germany
@glynmoody@mastodon.social avatar

to resume working with after report found yet to supply evidence to back terror claims - https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/apr/24/middle-east-crisis-live-us-envoy-says-risk-of-famine-in-gaza-very-high-despite-israels-steps-to-allow-more-aid?page=with:block-6628ad5d8f08f2c421482f69#block-6628ad5d8f08f2c421482f69 everyone should do the same...

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@glynmoody

Time for the to follow suit.

ChrisMayLA6, to geopolitics
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

While Nesrine Malik makes a lot of good points here about Britain's diminishing influence in the world (due to the problems we confront at home) by citing nominal GDP figures to say we're the 6th largest economy in the world, she misses the key indicator of our real economic status.

By not using GDP per capita - where we are ranked in the mid-to-low 20s - she misses a much more convincing & consistent economic context for her argument!


https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/22/austerity-brexit-britain-foreign-office-politicians?CMP=fb_cif

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6

I would go for an alternative measure - GDP adjusted for purchasing power - which would relegate Britain down at least a couple of places. It is a measure which found to work very well in understanding the last century.

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6

There is the International Comparison programme providing benchmark estimates every few years - and I suspect that the 'PennWorld Tables' which fill in gaps by extrapolation and interpolation may still be being produced - though probably no longer at the University of Pennsylvania. I will check though and hope to get to you later today.

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6
I have found on google edition ten - PWT 10.01 Penn World Table - produced by the University of Groningen last year and have downloaded the excel version. Suspect that the data can be found there with time and patience. Hope this helpful.

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6

Will have a look at the most recent data - 2019 - on it and see what the ten largest economies were in terms of GDP purchasing power. Hopefully UK still among them though unlikely to be as high as number six. Will return to this later today.

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6

I have had a quick look at the 2019 data. Allowing for uncertainties - and the fact that the expenditure and output measures of GDP differ slightly - I can say that the and were very close to each other - and either could be the largest economy, was a clear third and a clear fourth. and were very close together at fifth or sixth as were the next four - , , and the . So the was between seventh and tenth!

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6

So the answer is somewhere between seventh and tenth largest economy at least in 2019 although I suspect the may have lost ground since then. Grateful to have been stimulated to do that particular piece of research. Always in need of stimulation at my advanced age

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6
The rest of the 'top twenty' include Australia, Canada, Italy, Korea (ROK), Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Turkey.

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6

I have also looked tentatively at real GDP per capita in 2019 implied by the same source. Just two of the six economies definitely larger than the #uk in 2019 had higher GDP per capita - #germany and the #us. A further three in the 'top twenty' are in that category - #Australia , #Canada and #SaudiArabia . Among smaller economies I have found #Austria #Denmark #Ireland , #Kuwait , #luxembourg , #Netherlands , #norway , #Qatar , #Singapore , #Sweden , #Switzerland and #uae .

glynmoody, to random
@glynmoody@mastodon.social avatar

shifts poll tactics to target fearful Tory over-65s - https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/20/labour-target-tory-over-65s-poll-pension-cuts-jeremy-hunt-tax-blunder "Alarm grows over possible cuts as research suggests Jeremy Hunt tax cut announcement was ‘blunder’"

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@glynmoody

This is actually quite a clever ploy. Something similar - 'the Mcnicol letter' - almost succeeded in defeating the in by using
the confusion over funding of to target older voters. It was almost enough for to win despite many adverse factors.

JugglingWithEggs, to random
@JugglingWithEggs@mstdn.social avatar

That it took a former male Tory MP to point out the truly awful optics of smearing Angela Rayner…says something of the quality of politicians on both sides of the Commons right now…

“I suppose that her attackers cannot bear the idea that they are about to lose to a woman who pulled herself up by her bootstraps. And who is going to wipe the floor with them.”

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/former-tory-mp-slams-party-over-rayner-attacks-in-superb-letter-to-the-editor-372600/

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@JugglingWithEggs

Given some of the other dirt that has come up with in the past - such as the highly implausible story about the young and the pig's head - it is astonishing that anyone would take anything from that particular source seriously! There have been earlier sexist attacks on by - the worst being the suggestion that she distracted in a similar way to distracting in 'Fatal Attraction'

ChrisMayLA6, to politics
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

I don't know about where you live but here in NW Lancashire a very clear indication of the crisis in local authority spending has been the decline in road maintenance & the growth in potholes & badly damaged roads.

You'll be unsurprised that OECD data reveals that spending on road maintenance halved in the UK between 2006-2019.

Its an open goal for labour: as
Angela Rayner says, to most people, they 'are a symbol of decline'!

Could this be (prosaically) the 'pothole election'?

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6

Which is why plans to double expenditure on the roads and pavements - funding this through the community infrastructure levy on private developers.

ChrisMayLA6, to politics
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

If you are renting the Resolution Foundation expects rent rises in the next three years to outpace any rises in wages... in other words the squeeze on renters will continue to be a major aspect of the housing crisis.

Of course, we can expect little else from a political class that are either landlords themselves or count landlords among their close associates.

The only solution is to offer renters a way out of renting& that is more social housing!


https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/08/uk-rent-rises-forecast-to-outpace-wage-growth-for-three-years

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6

That is exactly what the new regime elected in two years ago has been doing - taking a pledge to build a thousand houses made by their predecessors and altering it make it social housing only - in addition purchasing properties from distressed 'Buy to Let' owners. All this is being funded by borrowing nearly £ 500 million over fifty years from the Public Works Loans Board against present and future rents. It makes getting in feel worthwhile!

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@junesim63 @ChrisMayLA6

It is true that only a minority of the thirty five councillors elected then were pale and male - ten at the time - although one more has been added since! However it would be stretching matters somewhat to convincingly portray Councillor Hogg the leader in as a particularly left wing figure!

QasimRashid, to random
@QasimRashid@mastodon.social avatar

Literally took one 20 min phone call in which Biden demanded immediate ceasefire & threatened to cut off aid, & magically a border opens providing critical humanitarian aid to Gaza.

USA always had this leverage. Meanwhile 32K Palestinians killed. smh

Now let's enforce this ceasefire and ensure unlimited aid reaches starving Gazans.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/05/israel-reopen-erez-crossing-gaza-biden-warning-war-netanyahu-palestine?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@QasimRashid

This is good news as far as it goes. However it remains to be seen how far will go to implement what has been agreed and how quickly. Will the customs authorities in - who report to - actually allow shipments through or will some way - no doubt entirely coincidental and inadvertent - be found to delay or even block them? Assuming that they do get through to the crossing points will they be able to enter or will demonstrators block them?

appassionato, to KindActions
@appassionato@mastodon.social avatar

World Central Kitchen founder's response

“The air strikes on our convoy were not just some unfortunate mistake in the fog of war. It was a direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known by the [Israeli military]. It was also the direct result of his [PM Netanyahu’s] government’s policy to squeeze humanitarian aid to desperate levels.”

Jose Andres

@palestine
#Gaza
#aid
#WCK

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@appassionato @palestine

It would be unsafe for me to endorse this view. However I am happy enough to draw attention to it.

jdmccafferty, to spain
@jdmccafferty@mastodon.online avatar

1 Apr 1545: The foundation of Potosí (now in Bolivia) a city on a vast mountain of silver Source of much of ’s vast wealth for decades to come.

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@jdmccafferty

I visited it early in 1993. The mountain is now a museum. Visitors to it are offered both coca leaves and oxygen to reduce the risk of altitude sickness.

GottaLaff, to legal
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️A New York appeals court agreed to slash the amount of the bond Donald #Trump must post to cover a $454 million civil fraud verdict to just $175 million -Bloomberg #legal

granting him 10 days to pay a reduced bond

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@GottaLaff

It will be interesting to see if he can come up with the money by Thursday 4th April!

ChrisMayLA6, to random
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

I wouldn't normally turn to British Vogue for a strident defence of Diane Abbott, but...

''none of this parliamentary rhetoric about extremism & MP safety has been mobilised to protect Diane Abbott after the Conservative’s biggest donor said he wanted to shoot her. Quite the opposite; the system has moved to shield Frank Hester, a poor man who made a little mistake & needs to be given grace and compassion'!

A (rightly) angry piece

h/t @Karenawokekaren

https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/diane-abbott-racist-frank-hester-british-politics

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 @Karenawokekaren

Much of Diane Abbott's career can and should be seen as a British success story. She was able to go to from a background that was by any standards seriously underprivileged, accepted by the and served as a member of parliament for more than thirty years including a stint on the front bench. It is a matter of shame for that she has experienced not just overt racism and sexism but treatment as well!

Geri, to random
@Geri@mastodon.online avatar

Mark Francois talks about Neville Chamberlain "denuding the British forces of funding until it was too late."

This is wrong. Even while Chamberlain was signing the Munich Agreement in 1938, he was agreeing to a huge increase in spending to increase Britain’s armament in preparation for war.

Mark knows fuck'all

Know your History

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/chamberlain-and-hitler/

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@Geri

This is absolutely right. Furthermore in 1932 - even before came to power but after invaded - abandoned the 'ten year rule' - under which no major war was expected for ten years - shortly after becoming . A previous had brought in the rule in during the second government - a chap called !

glynmoody, to london
@glynmoody@mastodon.social avatar

hilarious: know they trashed their brand so badly that a leaflet came through my door for one of their candidates, and the word "conservative" only appears on the last line of the last page - in microscopic typesize.

also uses lots of green colour - despite tories being anti-environment in every respect

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@glynmoody

Standard practice I am afraid!

TCatInReality, to random
@TCatInReality@mastodon.social avatar

Someone needed to say it:

The vast majority of Muslims are NOT extremists.

Shame on and radical right talking heads for demonising Muslims and those who support their causes.

BBC News - Attack victims hit out at extremism in open letter
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68526577

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@TCatInReality

This is all about the in on 2nd May 2024. It is about the targeting now hat previous claims about have been disproved. A bit more subtle than and but still singing from the same hymn book !

fkamiah17, to UKpolitics
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

Probably the strongest words I've heard from a mainstream UK politician (I don't mean the ones who attend the protests or were suspended)

Guardian: "Former UK foreign secretary William Hague called for the removal of Benjamin Netanyahu. He said: 'The long shot of building trust and a two state solution has little chance without the removal of Netanyah'."

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@fkamiah17

Worth remembering that the imposed a ban on the export of weapons to in 1982 which lasted until 1994. Whatever else may have been she was no !

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