Could This Fix the UK Economy?

[@DamienTalksMoney]

Here is the paper: ukfoundations.co/ Here is a link to some pigeons for sale www.birdtrader.co.uk/uk/columbidae-for-sale/pigeons/

[@pglove]

You forgot the sauce for the dogging spots…

[@robertplant1981]

No discount code for the pigeons?

[@samhaynes2016]

@@robertplant1981 good to see an honest youtuber these days, no affiliate links just genuinely trying to push a good product, not even a TWEET about it ;)

[@JasperDaniels-w5f]

One big difference is that we now have to rely on the corporate major house-builders for our houses. Small town developments used to be built by small local building companies employing local people. It's now project managers managing sub-contractors, employing sub-contractors etc.. Each taking their own cut. Only the large companies can afford to deal with the bureaucracy and this is no coincidence.

[@JW20236]

Red tape and bureaucracy (read: corruption) are preventing many areas from flourishing.

[@m0o0n0i0r]

its all because the government has got too big.

[@station-7]

Privatisation.

[@stevo728822]

House building is highly regulated. Small house builders would struggle to deal with the regulation.

[@afrofy2431]

Lobbying Problem in whitehole🫵🏾

[@edc1569]

When I started in civil engineering in 2003 the engineers all talked about the projects in the 90s there they would get up in the morning and build another 50m of motorway that day, felt like real progress.

[@JagdgeschwaderX]

That's really something that was a hangover from the 70s and before when we'd nationalized everything.

[@vitaliistep]

In 2019 when I moved from Stockholm, where their ISP's were launching 10Gbit internet, to London, I thought it was some kind of English humour to call 67Mbit internet Superfast.

[@DamienTalksMoney]

I get 14dl 2ul…

[@sarangistudent8614]

I get better mobile coverage in remote villages in India than I do at my home address in the U.K., and I live near a major city. The local reform -voting, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals are convinced that the 5G masts give them covid 🤦🏽

[@maudcls5610]

​​​@@DamienTalksMoneygot 500MBp for 2gbp equivalent in Romania. Rents are 7x smaller. Salaries the closing in on being the same. Most prices the same but no infrastructure for being so far East and with limited investments. Changing though. New law is proposed to offer massive incentives to get Romanians to go back. Which one is the shhithole now? Lol

[@judykelly4200]

@@DamienTalksMoneyyou are doing well, I get up to 5dl and 0.7ul, I think it might have been part of the reason I was made redundant (wfh, 35yr with same company)

[@Jer_Ch]

Maybe I am lucky I got 1Gbps internet in my home in Eltham

[@UKGeezer]

The fact that it's cheaper to import goods rather than produce our own says a lot about this country, even from the other side of the world.

[@rusty911s2]

It might just say we have higher employment and environmental standards than others, not to mention some states (China) almost certainly subsidising their exported products.

[@stevo728822]

Dirty manufacturers abroad.

[@joannabaker6398]

@@rusty911s2 Everybody's trying to discredit China for lower environmental standards and political system. Just to make ourselves feel a bit better. China is such a polluter partly because it produces goods consumed in the (pretty much entire) West. Also, a lot of green technologies we use and are so proud of rely on rare earth metals mining of which is super toxic for the environment. Chinese factories are very high tech which is another reason, apart from cost, why western companies choose to manufacture there. As for employment standards when England was the world's first manufacturing power it was struggling almost for the entire XIX c to limit child's labour to 12 hrs a day (with a pay of 10-20% of an adult workers). Only in 1889 did it manage to make it illegal for children under 7 to be employed (for context 40 years after Cruelty to Animals act was passed).

[@ScottTancock]

Great video. The fact that you pointed out the paper's weaknesses w.r.t. private investment and put forward some other ideas made this genuinely informative and added a lot of value.

[@jdavies7472]

Spot on - the paper’s biggest weakness is its bizarre fetish for privatisation - using clumsy evidence like rail privatisation and dodgy stats.

[@Tom1k9]

These are the kind of videos that need to go viral

[@paulmessenger9836]

Why we all know it's just the media love to repeat it's self

[@jakkuwolfinsomnia8058]

Everything is outsourced in the UK, prisons rehabilitation is now being outsourced to private foreign companies too

[@eldrago19]

To add to your housing point, council housing used to be for young professionals, not just the very poor. My grandfather was a senior librarian and many of his jobs came with a council house as a perk.

[@TheMinecraftSandbox]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="398">6:38</a> The difference with Thames water was that it was public, but then privatised. It is also a monopoly within the local area, and SHOULD be run as a not for profit venture as it is water for crying out loud! Whereas, private investment into infrastructure projects that are not monopolies is a different thing all together

[@jackpowell9276]

Its been a while now, but the public thames water was also crumbling. Privatisation was a massive benefit initially, and its been left to slowly extract profits and leave the system to crumble. You need serious and extensive regulators with teeth to keep those private companies in line. Today, the global market of speculative investment has changed how private companies act. In the past, a private company grew by investment to expand its capacity or its reach to gain new customers or produce more. Now investors speculate on a companies potential or marketing, and exist once they've made a return, with little care of how the company does afterwards. Its basically buying a period of good marketing. This is why we can see companies with wild market caps and low revenues. Such as Tesla vs Toyota. For those older companies where a speculative magic silver bullet hype story isn't possible (like thames water) then the story becomes cut costs, rise prices to eek out a few more percent returns which ultimately has a disastrous end that a government HAS to solve, as you can't just shut down the water supply. So in todays world i think things like that go back to public ownership.

[@Lilrom2003]

It’s all about how contracts are written, even nationalised it would be private companies doing all the work

[@riveness]

​​@jackpowell9276 agreed mostly though a small point: thames water was actually healthy and keeping water clean before privatisation. Efficient, no. Working yes.

[@Lilrom2003]

@@riveness to be fair many investments the water companies proposed ( sewage works reservoirs) got stuck in planning for decades while population and water usage increased. Also Ofwat controlled prices hence potential investment level

[@rob6293]

Outstanding video! Thanks for sharing such a nuanced and hopeful perspective, it’s refreshing.

[@DamienTalksMoney]

Thank you for the lovely feedback

[@iian050]

@@DamienTalksMoneyit’s fully deserved. Thanks to you, I’m saving efficiently and likely to retire many years sooner. If that doesn’t mean something, god knows what does. Seriously Damien, keep doing what you’re doing.

[@DamienTalksMoney]

@@iian050 This is amazing thank you so much for letting me know. Really does mean something that my work has gained you years of retirement.

[@SuperJinxter]

The UK isn’t labelled ‘Treasure Island’ by foreign companies, for nothing.

[@madma11]

who called this island treasure island. its a dirty rubbish poor island.

[@BarbaricBrit]

who the hell is calling the UK treasure island

[@SuperJinxter]

@@BarbaricBrit Wow! You have KZbin but not Google?

[@tyranneous]

The issue with private companies doing things is that it's cheaper for the private companies to buy a politician to make their existing investments more profitable than it is to make new investments or solving real problems. "Low corruption" for the UK is laughable.

[@whitecrowuk575]

Precisely - it’s lobbying of a massive caliber but all hush hush. MPs give millions in contracts or better yet in consultation fees just to have a favor returned down the line. You don’t end up with a falling apart country that is deemed rich without corruption on a big scale. But it was hardly a secret with Tories that were becoming more and more brazen and shameless year on year. UK has been ransacked and no one is talking about it. They should be prosecuted

[@pastashapes5921]

Agreed. There might not be much street level corruption but it’s rife in government

[@JW20236]

Yes, how people think it's not corrupt is just difficult to understand.

[@tomjohnson9833]

Low corruption compared to most countries - which is true. Have you ever worked in Italy, for example?

[@Kittel_]

It's a fantastic essay. I'm glad you're sharing

[@SmifiInvests]

Did I really just get Kate Nash 'Foundations' video recommended to me? LOL

[@DamienTalksMoney]

I might have stuck that there 🤣

[@Marenqo]

I really like this episode and I think you're absolutely hitting the nail

[@peterwstacey]

Really good video. A combination of NIMBYism, central government meddling, incredible levels of bureaucracy, and a lot of existing infrastructure already confusing things, makes it complex. I do think we need some rules though - Grenfell happened because everyone involved just ignored the rules.

[@gavinderbyshire5535]

You see this in almost every town and city outside London, little to no investment in infrastructure. You only have to visit almost any country in Europe to see the difference.

[@tomjohnson9833]

A lot of countries in Europe that have suprisingly good infrastructure - Spain, Portugal, Poland, Baltic countries - have funded it all from EU handouts, the cost of which was (until recently) mainly covered by Germany, the UK and France, in order of magnitude.

[@MHVids409]

@@tomjohnson9833 Sure, but you're cherry picking a bit here. Have you been to the Netherlands? They're a primary contributor to the EU and have great infrastructure. Why? Because they decided decades ago that infrastructure = economic growth.

[@bcvids999]

Nothing like picking yourself up a good meal deal before heading to your fave dogging spot. That’s the sort of gold we’ve come to love you for Damo

[@AxiosMassacre]

Used to work in commercial to residential development. You wouldn’t believe the road blocks and fees from councils on every level - that’s even without people contesting developments. We say low corruption but if government and councils require tens of thousands in fees for tick boxes it’s just another form of corruption but legalised

[@surfrico]

One of the issues I'd question is the "low levels of corruption" statement. This is patently untrue. essentially the UK is a very poor country run by some very rich people for the benefit of those rich people, and any attempt to change the status quo will be met with a tirade of propaganda to protect their positions of power and wealth. It's these people that are holding the microphones and they will scream at ear splitting volumes 24/7 if they feel threatened in any way.

[@JW20236]

This. We may have one day been less corrupt but I think that is no longer the case, in many cases it is quite blatant.

[@ShaSingh28]

Think Post Office scandal

[@MrEdrftgyuji]

Our legal system and courts are also corrupt and politicised.

[@stephendiggines9122]

That fact that everything takes forever to get done and costs crazy amounts would suggest corruption is rife

[@archvaldor]

I think that is fair to be honest even though I'm suspicious of the authors. You don't have to buy your degree or bribe a public official to hear your complaint or tip your doctor-these things are common in some countries. While there is corruption at the highest levels I can't convey you to you how lucky we are not to have to deal with that crap in our ordinary lives on a daily basis.

[@danohaffey4205]

18 and binge watching channels like this makes me feel like me and friends are already ahead of most of our generation (hopefully)

[@khiburgess5848]

Devolution hasn't worked in Wales all the money just gets sucked into Cardiff and Government buildings while high streets and industry rot.

[@kw8757]

And they waste money with their 20mph shite on roads where it isn't needed, just to punish the motorist. Cunts...all of them.

[@minimad8793]

same as cornwall

[@calebjones9116]

Unsure on specific issues relating to Wales but high streets are dying everywhere, more of an issue with the ease of online shopping and a break down in communities. It's why there's typically more busy high streets in towns with an older population - businesses can open mid week mid day and not lose money and its more ingrained in life for them. My friend moved close to Llandudno and seemed to think the main issue being rate cuts to charity shops (meaning they pay less to be there, and this in turn means there's little other variety) and holiday homes, effectively creating a seasonal cycle for entire places, driving up prices but then when winter hits they still have to make rent. I feel like government relies too much on mathematical models to find the "right" places to invest. In my previous job I was made aware that any investment into london is like to give 5+ x return on investment rather than anywhere else in the country. This seems obvious but I think its the continued level of investment that drives that, if we could create economic hubs all over the country we'd likely see less revenue now but more in the future. (easily applies to wales too)

[@bennybenoit754]

Cheers Damo. Keep up the good work. 🐦

[@DamienTalksMoney]

@@bennybenoit754 🕊️

[@daveg56]

Thanks Damian, what a great summary and presentation of that report, I'll definitely take a read and recommend it to others. I really appreciate your passion and skill in delivering us info like this, your candidness enthusiasm and humour is a great combination, keep it up. Looking forward to you becoming a special advisor to Rachael Reeves...

[@tristansayers6494]

I wheeled back in my chair, threw my head in the air and laughed out loud at 6 in the morning, when I realised that pop up for 'foundations' by Kate Nash was linked by you and not a suggested video from youtube. Hilarious.

[@horsk9704]

Just like the river seven tidal energy barrier. They said it would cost more than nuclear but it would have not only produced power but protected the area from flood surges and lasted 3 times longer than a nuclear power station. And they never even costed in the price of decommisoning a nuclear power station and its waste products which goes on for centuries. They want to build a raised road across the wash but you can bet you childrens organs on it being shelved. The UK loves enquiries and committees which last for years becourse it gives jobs to the spotty herberts who hold us back. Look and the Grenfell tower enquiry, it started three months after the fire in 2017 and is still not finished. we all know what went wrong, They put non fire resistant cladding on it because they were saving money and it was a quick solutiuon to tart up and ugly 60s tower block. How much money has that enquiry cost us in 7 years, when in reality i could sit down with you Damian at a greasy spoon cafe and write out the solution before we had finished our 2nd cuppa

[@jamebrow]

A303 road tunnel is another classic. Would they wait for 30 years like this in Spain?

[@Willhhoward]

Its similar to the comments by the resolution foundation. It comes back to easy of building and the money to do the building. The cost of building is so high due to complexity of the planning system. Its the single biggest thing holding back country

[@epicchess2021]

Such a good video. Eye opening😮 thanks

[@QuantumDelta]

Your last 30 seconds wrap on this video was god damn fire.

[@ThePhilreeduk]

Disagree with some of the parts of the paper you presented but mad props for linking to Foundations by Kate Nash at the end.

[@loc4725]

One issue I have here is this idea that national and regional monopolies work; they don't. There was a study a while back which looked at what happened when British rail franchies were temporarily re-nationalised. They found that although the provided service still wasn't great it was much better across a variety if metrics than when in private hands. It's a similar situation with sicial housing. Although problems exist in the public rented sector it was found that there were far, far fewer than where the private sector dominates, not to mention being significantly cheaper for councils.

[@evan]

Yet London’s got a fancy new tunnel (only for cars) east of Canary Wharf. Honestly would have binned that idea for more investment in something useful for the country like rail up north

[@robertplant1981]

This is a genius video. It's sad that this isnt so obvious to everyone. The goal seems to be that everyone has nothing.

[@Matt-iu1ie]

Hey Damien my names Matt I’m 23 and recently I’ve found myself managing to invest a large chunk of my paycheque and not just in random stocks that on first look great like Tesla but into a wide range of assets classes and I’m confident that I’ll be in a pretty good position later on in life. I’ve learnt all if not most of my now knowledge from your videos and podcasts wether that be you’ve directly given me answers or given me questions that I’ve answered elsewhere and so I just wanna say a massive thank you because I know I could be in a much worse position if it wasn’t for you keep it up loving what you’re doing !!!

[@Darr3nG]

RFC 2549: IP over Avian Carriers with Quality of Service

[@warfish0r]

If he really does have line of sight there are point to point Ethernet links that you can install (little satellite dishes that you install on each end and point at each other).

[@dananskidolf]

Haha nice. I love that a group actually did an IPoAC ping test.

[@heinkle1]

Great video - the UK is a perfect storm of structural economic issues that’s we’ve kicked down the road for years and now have to face up to - Brexit was a huge self-inflicted wound along the way.

[@JagdgeschwaderX]

Because Germany is doing so well isn't you 🤡🤡

[@baratoplata7050]

Yep, aging and sickening population is a huge one too. No one would expect a football team to keep performing with players reaching their 40s and a lack of new talent coming through, no matter how good the managers or coaches are. This is why the Tories presided over record immigration whilst bleating against it all the time, it was more palatable for them to get workers in and not have the economy crash further than to bring immigration down.

[@Petersworld77]

Completed agree. However you can see that as soon as these issues are addressed and there is a bit of pain the other political parties jump on it and cause an outrage. The British public are too dumb to allow these long term measures to be implemented. We only do short term these days.

[@wesleylang172]

Using Heathrow flight numbers as a static measure to indicate a problem is flawed. Heathrow is heavily regulated meaning they cannot go over a specific number of flights per year by law.

[@tomh2121]

Great video Damo

[@foxyfox5]

Great video Damien. Thanks for sharing this very positive message.

[@raljix1566]

The fact 10 million working age people receive benefits must contribute to this drop in productivity...

[@martin096]

Our company are hiring more and more people from abroad, especially from India because they simply don't want to pay out high salaries for skilled british workers. Why pay more when they can get cheap labour? The top dogs all receive a nice fat lump sum every year while they hire us at minimum wage to drive us out for cheaper workers. It's so wrong.

[@ice4142]

Why do you think this? Do you think people who receive benefits are intrinsically less productive? Are you saying something about these people or is it just that the work they do by it's very nature less productive as it is lower paid and probably more manual? We need to remember that most people who receive benefits also work. But wages in this country are not high enough. Or are you saying if we removed the benefits and forced these people to get second and third jobs out would be better for us all

[@DevineOne]

@@ice4142 taxes are too high in this country. Inflation means more and more people are paying more tax as the threshholds have not changed.

[@raljix1566]

@@ice4142 Out of that 10 million some will be economically inactive. They are the ones I am referring to.

[@sprPee]

@@ice4142 If you import mass cheap labour into a welfare state it's a recipe for disaster, with huge wage stagnation, why would people work if they can get the same money doing nothing?

[@davidmcculloch8490]

Depending on the private sector is wishful thinking. Since 1979 we have suffered from "small state" BS and the lie of trickle-down. We need government to lead investment and, I suspect, land ownership and land banking are part of the issue.

[@musa7606]

"lie of trickle-down" Or the lie of "the lie of trickle-down." The British economy has not grown. Grow the economy, grow the nation.

[@davidmcculloch8490]

@@musa7606 Trickle down when growth needs flow-down

[@musa7606]

@@davidmcculloch8490 So you know "trickle down economics" is a derogatory term for what is actually known as "supply side economics", which is basically another way of saying "free market economics", right?

[@RealLifeArchitecture]

Been a fan of the channel for a long while but had no idea about your internet upload issues. That is wild. I live in a village in Fife, have good broadband and am about to upgrade to fast fibre. My business couldn’t function without decent internet.

[@rufioh]

On the NHS bit, it’s not just a lack of CT/MRI scanners, there’s not enough of any consultants, because the government doesn’t want to increase the number of posts.

[@ac43942]

I am not sure anything with fix the u.k economy now

[@freeleestoilet9833]

Free association would fix things; ie self-sufficient ethno-towns that refuse to pay tax, employ each other, protect their group interests. Sort of like lots of little Oranias all over the country. I think that's the future for Europe generally, the state itself will obviously collapse you can't print money forever.

[@1292liam]

The UK LOSES £100 Billion a year, due to brexit (Bloomberg

[@chrisballUKtoNZ]

ended on a very unusually positive note this... someone must be excited for winter! hahaha

[@davideyres955]

If you have line of site then you can get a wireless Ethernet connection easily over that distance mate. Ubiquiti LBE-5AC-Gen2 LiteBeam can supposedly do 30 kilometers.

[@jabberwockytdi8901]

The whole infrastructure overspend thing is caused by the treasury that consistently delays and delays which causes high up front costs. Then the project and it's budget get cut to the bone to get the project started, then inevitably the project starts to creep back to what it should have been in the 1st place , but costs even more due to all the disruption of re aligning everything for the revised project scope. The treasury needs to be completely cut out of infrastructure spend decision making.

[@garynelson1039]

These guys seem to be conveniently forgetting Grenfell Tower: "Let's remove 'red tape and let private companies just get on with it". What could possibly go wrong?

[@TasmanianDevil22]

Low levels of corruption, really 😂

[@DarrenPeet]

And our politicians are beyond all reproach, and truly honest.

[@SuperJinxter]

If it’s ignored, there’s no record! 😈

[@thenoodlebuddy]

MPs have different rules for them so they can say it's technically not corruption, when it actually is...

[@01Laffey]

It's not corruption if it's called lobbying

[@tiborsipos1174]

Feel crap when it's home field, but just compare it to places like Brazil, Cuba, el salvador, Somalia or Hungary if you want a European country, the UKs corruption index is objectively low...

[@DomHogan]

Brilliant synopsis, I can’t wait for your analysis of what the Labour gov did to help solve these issues after their term and once you see the performance after they have been snacking, increasing all of our taxes.

[@ruaridhcameron3863]

Hi Damian, love the videos! Nuclear energy "works" in France because it is heavily subsidised by the French government. EDF Energy were in fact bailed out by the government in 2022 because so many of the plants were offline due to maintenance and repairs. We only need to look at the Hinkley Point C Extension to see why nuclear doesn't work in the UK - 20 billion over budget and over a decade late on latest estimates. Nuclear is declining as a share of the world's energy generation, particularly in the western world because of the soaring costs and timeframes. Reliable, affordable energy is not an easy problem to fix but I actually think the UK's focus on renewable sources such as offshore wind has been a success story as the country is genuinely world leading in this field.

[@Zx6rBlue]

Great video damo

[@DamienTalksMoney]

Thank you

[@DrBenVincent]

On the issue of where the money comes from, I think it would be awesome if you looked into MMT. There is a magic money tree, it’s the Bank of England! And no MMT doesn’t just say print infinite money - it changes the focus away from where the money comes from and instead asks where will the resources come from. As Keynes said, “anything we can do, we can afford”

[@rigel1632]

“And that ladies and gentlemen is my manifesto”.

[@Robert-vw3od]

Another factor in this problem is that British people want high house prices and the government want to keep this because it’s where a huge part of the countries wealth is, after the Second World War the country had no money but we built millions of homes. A prime example of the problem is The you probably went to university and have done this video. We don’t value people who did not go to university and in the 1980s Margaret Thatcher got rid of the technical colleges.

[@MrLaughinggrass]

On the reservoir issue. I think it's planning that's stopping it not the company.

[@thehalfmonth]

I think one thing you didn't really touch on with infrastructure is just how long it takes in this country, which obviously inflates the cost. There is a 1.5km section of road near me where they are installing separated cycle paths (great, a welcome addition) but the planning took years and the actual work has been going on for over a year now and still isn't finished. With all the disruption that comes with it. Other countries simply don't take so long to do get things done, it makes people who otherwise would have been happy to see new infrastructure built near them resistant to future projects, because they know they're going to have to live next to a building site for the next two+ years while the work crawls along at a snails pace.

[@jamebrow]

It's also very slow in Switzerland, but there is a constant stream of useful projects and the ratio of people doing the work to accountants/planners/managers seems to be about right.

[@VinceDonkovWorks]

If your editor wants to share his Internet you can use directional antennas and get on his Internet as long as there is actual a line of sight between

[@NigelDanson]

brilliant summary Damiem. Have you considered mailing the SD card - I did that with my editor 🤣

[@Àdhamh_Fife]

Thanks Damo, great video as always. I can relate to buying a pigeon 😂 We're falling behind in so many ways in GB compared to others. So much red tape and bureaucracy, lack of long-term vision, lack of entrepreneurialism, and a general aversion to risk 😢 Hopefully, will turn a corner soon 👍

[@nickgreek8046]

Bro ,keep going with the sterling work 😊

[@djkazc1818]

Nice cheery note heading into the weekend mate 😂 it will take a huge shift for the UK to turn things around, we're too far gone though unfortunately I feel personally....

[@gavinwhite9743]

Without addressing the underlying drivers of cost, it doesn’t matter if it’s public or private built, or local or centrally planned. Investment is desperately needed, and could easily be funded by borrowing.

[@goldengoose7492]

I am honestly so shocked about your internet. That’s crazy! I thought everyone shouldn’t have had high speeds by now in the uk.

[@bradleynorris503]

Interesting point that Internet speeds throughout the country are lacking. I live in the south and 2 years ago private companies started laying down full fibre infrastructure. I think if the entire country had this sort of access to actual high speed internet it could have a positive knock on effect of more people and businesses working from home with more choice of where to live/relocate - which IMO would increase productivity hugely. Not only that, emissions would reduce with less people commuting to work 5 days a week.

[@Marenqo]

The North: 5G in Tesco The North East: hold my 🍺

[@James-King]

If you can actually see your editors house from yours, and want to solve the issue. You could look at setting up your own network between each other with something like a Unifi Building Bridge and then either just use it to send them the files directly with a file share or something so they can edit, or they could even share some of their fast internet with you if they wanted too. Could even set up a separate line at their house and beam it over to you wirelessly from afar. Wireless tech has come a long way, especially if you've got line of sight as you said! Happy to give you some more details if you want, not something I've personally set up before because I've never needed to use it, but have some experience with some other areas and happy to help out where I can. Might then be able to avoid the trip to Tesco, unless you're just doing your weekly shop of course.

[@andyt2363]

Very good video, thanks

[@DavidMcCartney789]

Great video to have with my morning coffee. The size of the UK is a key factor for me, the population isnt getting smaller so lets use that to our advantage, get rid of red tape on mass and start building stuff like the ancient Egyptians.

[@imbarmstrong]

Sounds like a report worth diving into.

[@DamienTalksMoney]

I don’t agree with everything in it mate but it has blown up. Well worth a read

[@IAmebAdger]

Food for thought!

[@stuartogden1660]

Depends on the private companies paid to build things etc. Unfortunately a lot of them simply take money out of the system, paying ridiculous dividends and also huge salaries to the “top brass”

[@lesdickson9765]

One thing that people fail to point out which this article kinda does but not properly, is the 'Town and County Planning Act' has essentially made it illegal to invest in housing, transportation, and infrastructure. (More nuance is needed but that's the short version of it). Also, it is absolutely insane that Cambridge is a small town and not a [potential] mega city that rivals London in one way or another. There's so much wasted potential in biotech, life sciences and computer sceince with all the VC & tech sector activity they've got. Both Cambridge [and Oxford] have 2 of the top 5 largest and best unis in Europe, but we have to please the NIMBYs.

[@nathenleelewis]

Back during Lockdown I cant remember if it was Wales or the total of the UK. But around 70/75% of the population, workers worked in The Hospitality and Catering Industry. Im not sure if this was classed as majority of furloughed workers. But i thought to myself then. We dont build create anything, we are just a bunch of consumers as a country.

[@danbradbury4067]

fantastic video!

[@Pilps]

And the irony of it all? Most green energy production projects were cancelled and stopped by Green Party member mps because of “scenery”

[@FrozenDung]

Green party is infuriating, they're a bunch of NIMBYs who want unlimited free green power but aren't willing to make it happen

[@JW-se7br]

This is just factually incorrect. There’s only 4 Green MPs in the commons so not possible for them to block anything.

[@Pilps]

​@@JW-se7br Solar construction businesses have been waiting 15 years for permission to build solar farms, because one group in particular have been very vocal in their opposition to green energy. Have you guessed who it is yet? That's right, it's the... Green party. 2014, Surrey. Reigate Green party opposes a solar farm that could have provided green energy to over 3500 homes. 2018, Kent. The Green party opposes the installation of new solar farm in uninhabited marshland near Faversham. 2020, Hastings. The Green party opposes plans to build a two Megawatt solar farm. 2021, Derbyshire. The Green party opposes ANY and ALL solar farm projects in the county, with councillor Frank Adlington saying in his own words: "Solar Farms are NOT the future of Derbshire's energy sector." He goes on to say that "If the Green Party were in government, there would be greater investment in offshore wind power, hydropower, tidal, geothermal and other renewable technologies" instead. Yes, Derbyshire, which is landlocked and it's closest shoreline is 55 miles. Yes, Derbshire, the same county that it's fellow party members in the East Suffolk Council, which the Green Party CONTROLS have BLOCKED the expansion of more wind farms in the North Sea. Because they were 'alarmed' by the "current developer-led model." Just to name a few. So yes, it is in fact, in your own words factually correct.

[@JW-se7br]

@@Pilps Nope - still incorrect. The Green Party has no political power to decide the outcome of the above decisions. They may (or may not) have opposed them but ultimately had no decision making powers given their tiny political representation in parliament. So nice try, but no, you can’t blame the Green Party for the above.

[@Pilps]

@@JW-se7br Did you not read what i said? They literally voted against them happening either locally or within the house of commons, either hindering or halting them altogether. Stop denying outright facts.

[@GregoryKodolanyiRitter]

Low level of corruption... Hm

[@ajack3380]

Sadly yes. When we compare ourselves to e.g. parts of Africa and South America we have low(er) corruption.

[@warfish0r]

​​@@ajack3380I think the corruption is less visible to people in the UK. For example; You don't have to pay a bribe to the person at the post office when you apply for a new passport. BUT in terms of how much money is involved? And how much damage the corruption in the UK does... I think we could give any country in the world a run for their money!

[@Marenqo]

I don't think you ever travelled much in the world. Yes, Britain is relatively and comparatively low corruption

[@ahaberdi]

Live in Turkmenistan for one year if you want to know what a high level of corruption is like!

[@F_isfor_Fish]

It's apparently not corrupt when you can give it a project name like HS2 or hide it behind a pandemic 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@liamstubbins3000]

I think you touched on the extremely high costs of our infrastructure projects it would be interesting to learn if the country monatarily has invested the same as our peer countries over x years and whether that just means are planning laws etc is holding us back?

[@mark.k7206]

We were once a nation of Innovators inventors and builders. Then government grew , and grew & grew even more. Red tape, legislation, rules, regulations & bureaucracy led by a team of civil servants who have no idea about the real world devised a system to stifle anything & everything

[@freeleestoilet9833]

Yep. Massive bureaucratic state, with the NHS as the state-religion, overseeing an economic zone that used to be a united homogeneous nation but that is now a violent multicultural poor dystopia.

[@Walt_G]

Civil servants only do what the Government of the day tells them to do, this idea that Civil Servants are somehow responsible for a lack of growth is ridiculous. You get what you vote for.

[@mark.k7206]

@@Walt_G you are either very naive or just stupid

[@johnmunro4952]

Exactly.

[@gdok6088]

@@Walt_G Actually I don't think the Civil servants do what the Government tells them to do, quite the opposite in fact. Senior Civil Service mandarins in Whitehall and their cabal of enablers stick to their 'Deep State' dogma and stifle new ideas and progress. The most senior civil servants are often very clever and run rings around the elected MPs, Ministers and even Cabinet members and the PM to preserve the status quo that works for them.

[@schumanhuman]

If we want lower house prices we need a land value tax along with liberalised planning or else most of the productivity gains will simply be taken by speculators. LVT would get the private sector building without government needing to step in.

[@emmafrost13333]

Also, everyone says Nuclear is the way. No one seems to understand how difficult, costly, and risky decommissioning the spent fuel is!

[@paulsondj]

Also how costly it is to build in the first place. It's already far more expensive than solar and wind. By the time a nuclear site is approved and completed Solar and batteries fall in price by another 50%.

[@WeLoveGameMusic]

Im quite sure that investment has increased since Thames Water was nationalised. The main issue is its not a true privitisaiton. It essentially runs as a contract for the government. They cant even rise prices to fund more investment without getting permission first

[@MisterM2402]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="90">1:30</a> - It's funny seeing that graph with Poland on course to overtake us. I work for a UK bank and we recently went through a round of redundancies, part of which was plans to shut down our entire operation in Poland. At the same time as we're getting rid of the Polish workers, my department is hiring a bunch of new people from India to replace them. Clearly Poland isn't the cheap outsourcing destination it once was, and I just wonder at what point they'll finally be prosperous enough to start outsourcing cheap labour to the UK.

[@gman6652]

A mile over water for your USB, use a GPS controlled drone/rc plane? Maybe a radio controlled speedboat? titan submarine? or a cheap boat? Swimming would be a good exercise, canoe, paddleboarding, row boat? I'm presuming taking a car or bike or ferry or boat rental or using a delivery service is out of the question? It is crazy internet and phone service isnt that good around all of the UK!

[@whyukraine]

just thought I should mention that I'm in the middle of Ukraine in the middle of a war. I have gigabit to my home for less than $2 per month. and 50 gigs of cellular data at 40 megabit speeds for less than $10 per month. Even when the power is out due to missile strikes.

[@whyukraine]

and I'm not in a big city or anything. just a small town in the middle of nowhere

[@whyukraine]

there are five internet service providers available on my street

[@DamienTalksMoney]

Wow thank you for sharing this. Just shows how poor the U.K. roll out has been. I hope you are your loved ones are safe and I am so sorry that you had this war forced upon you.

[@whyukraine]

@@DamienTalksMoney Thank you.

[@whyukraine]

@@DamienTalksMoney okay so now let me flip the script for you. I'm an American network engineer who worked at NASA in silicon valley before I came to Ukraine 5 years ago. I physically built the internet across a large part of the United States. at NASA in 2016 the top internet speed was 100 megabits, divided between 600 people. and for that we paid $3,000 per month. This was directly adjacent to Google. eventually I got gigabit pulled in but even that cost $4,000 per month. at my home in silicon valley the maximum speed I could get was 12 megabits, for $108 per month. So Don't think Great Britain has a Monopoly on crappy internet. it's just ironic that so many supposedly well developed Western countries - Germany is another example - Have such terrible internet infrastructure.

[@LockFarm]

The current preference for publicly run infrastructure in polls isn't so much because the public have any evidence that government run stuff is better, but more because the current privately run stuff has a reputation for being expensive and poorly managed. So the natural response is to think that if someone else (the government) were doing it, it would surely be better. The problem is that the reason those large infrastructure companies are expensive and poorly run isn't really much to do with the fact that they're privately owned, but that the wider business climate in the UK is (and has been for decades) pretty bad. The problems with planning affect everyone, and stuff like worker mobility, skills shortages, managerialism and poor relations between government and private enterprise apply regardless of who "owns" the infrastructure. So - we could swap stuff between public and private ownership as much as we want (and vice versa) and it won't change anything. It is the difficult stuff - like working out why a planning application can end up with a three hundred thousand page document, or committing to energy projects that will take over a decade to deliver that are needed. The solutions in the report do sound facile, but only if you don't start thinking about what it would take to deliver them. None of our current political parties have an answer for that, and all of them focus instead on the 'easy wins and soundbites' that sound like progress, but aren't.

[@jdavies7472]

I agree a lot with the paper but it’s fundamentally wrong on the privatisation of rail in the 1990s. It’s so badly wrong (trying to correlate an increase in rail journeys with privatisation when in fact it was an explosion in population growth) it does question some of the stats they used to across the whole paper but anyway it’s food for thought.

[@jacobprice2579]

I feel like this paper centralised and articulated basically every aspect of what we all know has been going wrong in this country for decades now. Facile idiots will blame this political party, or that political party, or Brexit, or globalisation, or the Russian invasion, or Covid. All those elements have had their part to play but the centralised rot at the heart of this nation has been there for a long time and it’s becoming more and more obvious. We now live in a country we’re arguably the last major infrastructure project we have undertaken was the building of the M1… and even that took over 40 years to get to where it is today. There are no quick and simple solutions to the mess we are in and there is no panacea that will make everything better over night. The reality is, we need to makes decisions NOW that won’t start paying off for 10-15 years at least. We need to make those decisions because we’ve been putting them off for decades already and it’s only made things worse.

[@gavinderbyshire5535]

I would love to see you do a breakdown of how the UK gov spends the £1Trillion they bring in every year. How do they spend so much but provide so little.

[@MarkP-1205]

Damo for PM, I say. A voice for plain speaking common sense backed up with research and facts. You’ve done a great job here of highlighting some deep foundational problems in UK (I’m sure there are others) that many of us have felt have been happening incrementally over many many years. Bureaucracy, NIMBY-ism, fiscal and economic challenges in an increasingly turbulent world - all tricky to navigate for sure. But here’s this real issue in my view - a lack of POLITICAL COURAGE. For this last quarter century UK political leadership have done a shocking job of publicly articulating (or maybe even understanding) what you have just summarised in a short video when it comes to how we as a country invest in ourselves, and invite inward investment. Maybe, just maybe the current leadership is trying to say this by pointing out the “difficult decisions’ they are having to make. Time will tell. Maybe they are trying to plant seeds that will mature in 10-20 or 50 years. And that’s the point - we (as a nation) need to move away from short-term-ism. That’s tricky in an increasingly fickle world. But it’s the only way (that’s how other countries have done it). Long term investment in our infrastructure takes years, even decades for benefits to materialise. Problem is, the people who make such decisions have since moved on (voted out) happily making a living from selling memoirs, doing corporate speeches, and collect a significant pension - so despite what I’m sure are good intentions, there’s no accountability. (BTW - I recognise this is true for other walks of life outside politicians and economists too). I’m not sure I have a solution - but removing roadblocks for development, technology and innovation, setting up simpler structures for investment (and I don’t mean via taxation or banks because we don’t always trust those systems), and huge long term increases in education - not just formal education, but educating us all to better analyse, scrutinise, and understand what is going on around us. We (UK population) cannot say “the country is in decline” or “we’ve lost our way” “we’re not as great as we once were” if we’re not prepared to make collective and personal sacrifices - and especially those who can afford to sacrifice more. If we stick with too much short-term individualism - then in decades we’re screwed. By which point I may have moved on to meet my maker and want see what happens - but I want better for my kids, your kids, everyone’s kids.

[@paulrounce8834]

Nice one 👍

[@Weakeyedominant]

Low levels of corruption gave me a chuckle.

[@therayli]

what is your view on the UK finance market - Bank, Insurance, Asset Management stocks?

[@user-vc5zt9ci12]

we need massive overcapacity in energy - having super cheap energy is a key to nearly everything else.

[@AzzieTheGamerr]

the government doesn't want us to have money, what was the saying "you will have nothing and be happy"

[@lightcatango8299]

I think you should have paid more attention to the first part of the graph where house building is highest and there was no government housing at all. But, of course, all housing has fallen since the town and country planning act and more regulation heaped on year on year.

[@Phobosandpanic]

Really interesting, and a great topic. I've been thinking about it, trying to think if I can come up with a better solution to what's been presented. I've got to say, I agree. Simple isn't always the easiest. My opinion on the matter is: you shouldn't use a pigeon. It'll just be too complicated and time consuming to train. The chances of him landing at the right location everytime reliably simply not high enough. Invest in a drone, yes the initial outlay will be a bit higher, but overall cost, reliability and time will be greatly improved. No Idea how to fix the country, mind. Think we're probably just screwed there

[@damian1690]

I would say no to privatisation. It looks good on paper, but for example we in Glasgow have several public transport private operator. In theory, they should compete with each other. However, they simply operate in different routes, and do not get into each others business. Effect? If you want to get from A to B by bus, you quite often need a multiple tickets. I’m from Poland where cities are responsible for public transport. It doesn’t generate any income, in fact the biggest cities needs to put extra money on top of ticket fares to keep it going. But there is simply no comparison. This in fact is the real reason for why Poland is growing faster then UK - competition. We have companies from France, Germany, Portugal, Poland etc competing with each other leading to lower prices and innovation, whereas here we have monopolies. Just think about it, when u want a tech, there is Curries and no other retailer, Morrisons Tesco etc were fined for setting the prices. With such approach it’s no wonder UK is behind… Same with broadband - up until recently only Virgin Media were offering a fibre broadband. No other company were really into it, meaning high prices and no real choice. In Poland we had fibre broadband long before so come to UK. And it cost pennies even when taking into account earning, when compared with UK 😢