That is indeed the problem. And that results from the tax pledges. Their plans on buses and trains will come back to bite them unless they provide more money for those as well. A slow motion car crash.

Unless it’s put in the context of an overall strategy for the tax system, it is a wheeze. And Labour’s experience with John Smith’s shadow budget in 1992 showed that even policies which can be shown not to affect most people still carry political penalties because people just hear “more tax”.

A common sight in Bolton into the 1960s and caused problems as car use increased.

The last Chancellor committed to tax simplification was Lawson. Brown, whatever his other virtues, started the current obsession with using detailed tax policy as a political tool. Osborne carried that to new heights and came unstuck. Reeves will do the same.

Absolutely. The reason the tax system is full of cliff edges and an exemplar of complexity is because Chancellors since Brown have favoured clever political wheezes. No sign of that ending (see the amount of pre briefing on “two up, two down).

Good job Starmer’s providing such strong leadership.

Isn’t this a government committed to slashing red tape and treading more lightly on people’s lives🤔

Oddly we used to spend a lot of time discussing river catchment areas in the context of strategic planning. Difficult enough dealing with English local authorities, and then you consider the River Severn 😉

Don’t worry, Nandy’s on the case.

A good example of how regulation can drive innovation. More background here www.merseybasin.org.uk/collections/...

So I’m given to understand 😂

Well, there's certainly that....

You certainly have. I've been thinking for some time "that lad's really gone a bit weird in recent years"

They've always been good live, as you'd expect with Fleetwood and McVie as the rhythm section.

My post was a bit of a sub post because there have been a few exchanges on here about this album. Like you I've owned it since it came out in 1977 although this is the Nautilus pressing from 1980.

I have no idea why a centre left government has a problem with this combination, but they appear to.

Two obvious issues are: planning reform isn’t necessarily about even more deregulation. Might involve more, rather than less, strategic planning and even zoning requires an awful lot of upfront investment; and the private sector will only build pro cyclically because it needs to make a profit.

The BBC has gone a long way to destroy its own reputation by dispensing with so many of its best journalists, dumbing down its output and eviscerating its local news service.