[Tubby Isaacs]

Sometimes I get the impression Monbiot wouldn't be happy unless we were a solely agrarian economy and lived a de-industrialised 17th century lifestyle.

WTF is "inclusive, low-impact travel" anyway? Accessible horse-drawn omnibuses?

It's a very odd phrase. You'd expect him to say public transport, but he may be anticipating a lot of people BTL pointing out that HS2 is public transport, and so are all the lines that full HS2 would relieve.

I think it would be a mistake to base climate change policy on not traveling. Any government trying to do that will get killed on "hypocrisy" grounds, fair or not.

[Yug]

WTF is "inclusive, low-impact travel" anyway? Accessible horse-drawn omnibuses?

Cycle rickshaws? Seventeenth Century Dutch-style horse-drawn barge buses? (We've got rivers and canals.)

I used to have a lot of respect for Monbiot, but lately he's been reinventing himself as a crank.

[Andy McDandy]

Stuff that he enjoys, is going where he wants to go, and isn't in his way.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I don't get how people strongly in favour of immigration, like Monbiot, can also adopt the position that we don't need to built a load more new stuff to meet the demand.

Even without the population boom, the idea that we've somehow got the right amount of roads already is a load of nonsense. There's not to my knowledge been a population boom in Merthyr, Neath and Blaenau Gwent. but the A465 upgrade is still an excellent project. People in South Wales travel long distances for work, and lots of them will now have to spend less time doing it and probably be safer too.

[Tubby Isaacs]

In today's entry where the Guardian resolves th housing crisis by sticking it to "neoliberalism", we're off to Portugal where housing affordability is terrible.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... rm-rentals

In other news that may not surprised you.

https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/20 ... pare/89489

According to a recent Financial Times article, Portugal has had the lowest number of new homes built per 1,000 inhabitants over the past decade compared to other developed countries. This lag in construction has been a significant factor contributing to the increasing property prices across the country.

[Tubby Isaacs]

In today's entry where the Guardian resolves th housing crisis by sticking it to "neoliberalism", we're off to Portugal where housing affordability is terrible.

We learn

All this contradicts the neoliberal supply and demand story as the escalation of property prices is not linked to an actual demand for homes to live in and the formation of new households. Instead, what we see is that Lisbon is now on the radar of investors who use housing as a financial asset

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... rm-rentals

People wanting to buy places for reasons you don't approve of are still demand, as is people who want to rent them. That's not any sort of challenge to supply and demand. That's exactly what supply and demand is. Some of these people, shock horror are professionals. How about we stop blaming people who want to do no more than live somewhere they like? That the left does this stuff beggars belief. You're opening the door for the rabid to Right to use your own logic against poor immigrants moving to cities.

In other news that may not surprised you.

https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/20 ... pare/89489

According to a recent Financial Times article, Portugal has had the lowest number of new homes built per 1,000 inhabitants over the past decade compared to other developed countries. This lag in construction has been a significant factor contributing to the increasing property prices across the country.

[The Weeping Angel]

Hey, you know those new weight loss drugs that help reduce weight loss and work well, they're bad because reasons.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... SApp_Other

[Boiler]

There is going to be some research into their effect upon the pancreas though:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4ged0r1n3wo

I'm on the tablet form of semaglutide at the maximum dose (14mg): it worked for a while (I lost ~15kg) but ultimately the real issue has shown up - I use food as a crutch when I'm in a bad place, like I have been for a few months now and I eat even when my brain is telling me I'm full up.

No-one seems willing to look into the psychological side of obesity.

[The Weeping Angel]

That's hundreds amidst the thousands, if not millions, of people who use it.

[Boiler]

Hundreds *who've reported effects*, yes.

[The Weeping Angel]

Out of thousands. It's a bit like saying hundreds of people have reported side effects of paracetamol; therefore, we should be careful with paracetamol.

[The Weeping Angel]