[Tubby Isaacs]

I don't think there's any argument that will more obviously bite the left on the arse. It's like they've seen the mileage the Republicans get out of "my taxes shouldn't fund Planned Parenthood" and thought "we should have a load of culture war situations like that over here".

[Tubby Isaacs]

Lead UK story: People who support a wealth tax call for a wealth tax,

Zack Polanski, presumably in the same phone call where he opined that the UK doesn't subsidize trains, is on hand, with her razor sharp policy eye. Where would all this extra rail capacity come from if fare prices were to be slashed to the cost of the equivalent car journey?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... le-economy

[Tubby Isaacs]

This "don't make ordinary people pay for Net Zero" lark is an incredibly stupid idea. Basically feeding lines to Farage and Badenoch.

[Killer Whale]

Yeah. It's all very well calling for the big oil companies to pay, but their ill-gotten gains have long been fenced away by now. It's not like they've got a massive pile of cash hidden away in the basement of BP's secret HQ deep in a hollowed-out extinct volcano or something.

[Boiler]

Lead UK story: People who support a wealth tax call for a wealth tax,

Zack Polanski, presumably in the same phone call where he opined that the UK doesn't subsidize trains, is on hand, with her razor sharp policy eye. Where would all this extra rail capacity come from if fare prices were to be slashed to the cost of the equivalent car journey?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... le-economy

The Greens really have no idea about railways - as usual, "we want them but not there. Or here. And HS2 is bad."

[Tubby Isaacs]

There's also this (Guardian narrative, not a quote from anyone)

At the same time most people are faced with stagnating wages

Real earnings have been growing continuously for 2 years. Some of that was making up for the post-Covid squeeze, but the recovery has been pretty decent. Why make it sound worse than it is? The only people who gain from this are people offering simple solutions.

This bit seems to be about income, not wealth at all.

The campaign aims to highlight the growth in extreme wealth held by individuals and corporations in the UK. It calls on the government to introduce a 2% tax on assets over £10m, shut down tax loopholes and increase the tax paid on property and shares so that capital gains tax is equal to income tax. It is also urging the government to stop using public money to bail out big polluters such as failing water companies and fossil fuel firms

Which tax loopholes do they mean? Nobody ever says, but some (particularly on inheritance) were closed in the Budget, for all the credit the Government get. "Tax loophole" often means someone not understanding that tax isn't paid on turnover.

What water companies and fossil fuel firms have been bailed out? Bulb was bailed out, if that's what they mean, but the Government made a profit on it.

Capital Gains Tax could only be equalized to income tax if it didn't have an inflation allowance, which would be incredibly harsh. CGT could go higher, but again, it did go up in the Budget. And everywhere has lower rates for CGT, it's not just a UK thing.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The Greens really have no idea about railways - as usual, "we want them but not there. Or here."

Railways is probably the worst area of all policy for ill-informed comment, with everybody who's been on a train, or even thinks they might use one, being an expert on it. So there's not really any incentive for the Greens to get any better, though to their credit they've stopped opposing HS2. Even so, I expect we'll still see a lot of "local campaigning" for no hope Beeching reopenings.

Talking of which, some of the reopenings here are mad.

https://bettertransport.org.uk/campaign ... ail-lines/

I'm from Cheltenham. I didn't even know there'd been a line to Banbury. No wonder I didn't because BR started cutting back services in 1951.

How many of the places on the route would anyone not local have even heard of? Chipping Norton is probably the only one. Oh yes, and Cheltenham-Charlton Kings is pretty much built over.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banbury_a ... ct_Railway

[Youngian]

I'm from Cheltenham. I didn't even know there'd been a line to Banbury. No wonder I didn't because BR started cutting back services in 1951.

How many of the places on the route would anyone not local have even heard of?

[Boiler]

Locally, one line was axed in 1929 - Stamford to Wansford.

A lot of people use "Beeching" as a shorthand for cuts, but plenty of lines were closed before he was in a position to do so and many more subsequently - to give two examples, again local:

1959 - almost the entire Midland and Great Northern network;
1982 - March to Spalding.

It's also worth remembering that Barbara Castle closed over 2000 route miles.

[Boiler]

Talking of which, some of the reopenings here are mad.

https://bettertransport.org.uk/campaign ... ail-lines/

I'll say - Rugby to Peterborough? That'd piss the Nene Valley Railway off...

It all looks like someone's looked at Rail Map Online and picked a line they like the look of - in which case, I'll nominate the Edenham to Little Bytham Railway.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Yeah, it's not a serious list. It's crayoning.

Cheltenham to Stratford is another. Apart from Honeybourne (which connects with the Cotswold Line), nowhere very substantial.

[Killer Whale]

Bangor-Afon Wen is on their list three times in different forms. Further, they seem to be a bit confused about Aberdare-Hirwaun improving connectivity to Swansea. An organisation slightly light on research, perhaps.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Hirwaun is on the A465 which feeds deftly into the road to Swansea at one of end it, that's the most sense I can make of it. I suppose they couldn't just put Hirwaun because it's not very big and not somewhere all that many people are keen to move to.

Neath-Glynneath is another cracker. Calling at Resolven, which makes Hirwaun look like Milton Keynes.

[Boiler]

Yeah, it's not a serious list. It's crayoning.

Cheltenham to Stratford is another. Apart from Honeybourne (which connects with the Cotswold Line), nowhere very substantial.

I used to pass through Honeybourne regularly in the mid-80s. It really had the air of a station that was once important - rather like March.

Wasn't Hirwaun where Hitachi used to make TV sets? (Edit - yes, and radio/TV sets by Sobell in the 1950s.)

[Tubby Isaacs]

My wife made TVs for Hitachi, if not at Hirwaun then very close to it.

[Killer Whale]

It's also close to the site of the old Tower colliery and, in the other direction, the distillery that makes the best whiskey in the world [ducks for cover].

[Tubby Isaacs]

Penderyn?

The antique furniture shop there in an old chapel is excellent.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Till 2004, Hirwaun had a 12 storey block of council flats. Surprising for such a small town.

[The Weeping Angel]

Dear God.

Surely someone would have looked at that and said Hey, hang on, this is anti-semitic and have the article either withdrawn or rewritten.

[Killer Whale]

Penderyn?

The Madeira Finish in particular.