So it looks like we are a third world nation nowadays but can rejoice that our public affairs and public relations is second to none... time to leave and if they are still on, turn off the lights as you go ☹️
Our public affairs… .. you mean Mandelson? Corruption appears to be rife in this country… this government is trying to avoid publishing the Mandelson documents in full… then the grooming gangs and the politicians cover up… are you sure we can rejoice in our public affairs… as for Birmingham I have been asking for months why the last councils Registers of Interests and Registers of Gifts etc were in many cases pure fiction. And I got a reply from the law officer that they were self regulated and never checked! I wish I could self regulate my earnings…. Are you really sure that public affairs is so squeaky clean?
I have already explained why the giga factory won’t happen. David makes the case as I did about the cost of energy… then there is water… Giga factories need a lot of water as coolant. it rains a lot in Somerset whereas all Birmingham relies on the Welsh for its water supply. Then there is logistics. Somerset and Sunderland are both coastal places. It is easy to drop bulk precious metals off at a port and the finished product is easily transported by sea to wherever. Since most very heavy batteries will be for export that is a problem for a land locked place like Brum… as to the Birmingham City development… what’s the point of a new stadium for a lowly division club… who will probably never get into the Premier League… the present stadium is big enough for the Championship or Division 1… or is it a case of build and go bust, then ask the tax payer to fund the bill. Then the Digbeth development… first what do they mean by Digbeth… even Brummies get that wrong…. It is just the area to the east of the High Street running down to the river Rea. Most of it is a protected site, where development is restricted to no more than four stories and many of the buildings are listed (and thus development would not be economically viable… that is why it has not been developed already). As for the city centre project… what’s jobs??? Low skilled waiters and waitresses? Unemployment has risen every month under this government… and today the employment rate for young people has risen to the highest rate since the post 2008 recession. And another recession beckons. Best for the young to emigrate to a low taxation economy where there will be no recession such as Dubai or Singapore or even the USA where growth this year will be 3.5% something that this country can only look up in the history books. No they will build the houses but the office blocks will remain empty or turned into social housing or cheap hotels as on the Hagley Road by the Oratory…
There’ss some fair concern in what you say, particularly around energy costs and the wider pressures on UK industry. Those are real issues and can’t be ignored.
But I'm think it may be a little too pessimistic to conclude that nothing will work. Inland locations like Birmingham do face different challenges compared with coastal sites, but they also have strengths, particularly around central logistics and proximity to existing manufacturing.
On things like Digbeth and the city centre, development is always more complicated in established cities, especially with heritage buildings, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t happen, more that it will take time and evolve in stages..
Perhaps the more balanced view is that there are genuine risks, but also reasons why these projects are being pursued. It’s unlikely to be as straightforward as hoped, but equally not as bleak as suggested.
When is pessimism actually realism… companies look holistically… they take into account other matters I did not mention eg the poor state of state education in the West Midlands; the reputation of a place for its employees moving to the West Midlands; the narrow mindedness of the population; the lack of cohesiveness of the inhabitants… all these things influence where to build. When the whole world sees piles of rubbish in the streets… when the whole world sees men walking freely in the streets carrying machetes or women covered head to toe in black following submissively behind their husbands on the streets or others preventing football match supporters coming here… businesses…do you think they will want to invest here? And this is reality. All of the above have been on tv channels like ABC and France 24 in the last 18 months. Even the majority of Brummies according to opinion polls would wish to live elsewhere if they could. To say reality is too pessimistic is pure and simply complacency… it is to fail to ask the basic question of why is Birmingham considered, as a Brummie put it to me when I moved here 21 years ago, a “shit hole”? His words not mine!
You do not have to look far to understand why this mooted factory has not happened. First the price of electricity (in kWh equivalent): UK 30.45p. USA 12.86p, Netherlands 21.82p, France 23.73p and Germany 33.36p. Secondly, we have neither the generating capacity or the transmission capability to deliver electricity to new factories that guzzle power. Even housing developments have been halted by the inability to connect to the grid.
What does the WMCA offer instead today? 'The Birmingham East Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) aims to speed up projects like the Sports Quarter in Bordesley Green - where Birmingham City Football Club is building a new stadium - by allowing more direct control over planning and land acquisition.
The MDC is also due to assist projects in Digbeth, Smithfield and the city centre, with senior figures claiming it will help create 50,000 new homes and 20,000 jobs'.
So it looks like we are a third world nation nowadays but can rejoice that our public affairs and public relations is second to none... time to leave and if they are still on, turn off the lights as you go ☹️
Our public affairs… .. you mean Mandelson? Corruption appears to be rife in this country… this government is trying to avoid publishing the Mandelson documents in full… then the grooming gangs and the politicians cover up… are you sure we can rejoice in our public affairs… as for Birmingham I have been asking for months why the last councils Registers of Interests and Registers of Gifts etc were in many cases pure fiction. And I got a reply from the law officer that they were self regulated and never checked! I wish I could self regulate my earnings…. Are you really sure that public affairs is so squeaky clean?
Do we need Mandy's full dreary documents haven't we got the measure of him, but no I didn't mean Mandy I was being generally sarcastic 🙃
I have already explained why the giga factory won’t happen. David makes the case as I did about the cost of energy… then there is water… Giga factories need a lot of water as coolant. it rains a lot in Somerset whereas all Birmingham relies on the Welsh for its water supply. Then there is logistics. Somerset and Sunderland are both coastal places. It is easy to drop bulk precious metals off at a port and the finished product is easily transported by sea to wherever. Since most very heavy batteries will be for export that is a problem for a land locked place like Brum… as to the Birmingham City development… what’s the point of a new stadium for a lowly division club… who will probably never get into the Premier League… the present stadium is big enough for the Championship or Division 1… or is it a case of build and go bust, then ask the tax payer to fund the bill. Then the Digbeth development… first what do they mean by Digbeth… even Brummies get that wrong…. It is just the area to the east of the High Street running down to the river Rea. Most of it is a protected site, where development is restricted to no more than four stories and many of the buildings are listed (and thus development would not be economically viable… that is why it has not been developed already). As for the city centre project… what’s jobs??? Low skilled waiters and waitresses? Unemployment has risen every month under this government… and today the employment rate for young people has risen to the highest rate since the post 2008 recession. And another recession beckons. Best for the young to emigrate to a low taxation economy where there will be no recession such as Dubai or Singapore or even the USA where growth this year will be 3.5% something that this country can only look up in the history books. No they will build the houses but the office blocks will remain empty or turned into social housing or cheap hotels as on the Hagley Road by the Oratory…
There’ss some fair concern in what you say, particularly around energy costs and the wider pressures on UK industry. Those are real issues and can’t be ignored.
But I'm think it may be a little too pessimistic to conclude that nothing will work. Inland locations like Birmingham do face different challenges compared with coastal sites, but they also have strengths, particularly around central logistics and proximity to existing manufacturing.
On things like Digbeth and the city centre, development is always more complicated in established cities, especially with heritage buildings, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t happen, more that it will take time and evolve in stages..
Perhaps the more balanced view is that there are genuine risks, but also reasons why these projects are being pursued. It’s unlikely to be as straightforward as hoped, but equally not as bleak as suggested.
When is pessimism actually realism… companies look holistically… they take into account other matters I did not mention eg the poor state of state education in the West Midlands; the reputation of a place for its employees moving to the West Midlands; the narrow mindedness of the population; the lack of cohesiveness of the inhabitants… all these things influence where to build. When the whole world sees piles of rubbish in the streets… when the whole world sees men walking freely in the streets carrying machetes or women covered head to toe in black following submissively behind their husbands on the streets or others preventing football match supporters coming here… businesses…do you think they will want to invest here? And this is reality. All of the above have been on tv channels like ABC and France 24 in the last 18 months. Even the majority of Brummies according to opinion polls would wish to live elsewhere if they could. To say reality is too pessimistic is pure and simply complacency… it is to fail to ask the basic question of why is Birmingham considered, as a Brummie put it to me when I moved here 21 years ago, a “shit hole”? His words not mine!
You do not have to look far to understand why this mooted factory has not happened. First the price of electricity (in kWh equivalent): UK 30.45p. USA 12.86p, Netherlands 21.82p, France 23.73p and Germany 33.36p. Secondly, we have neither the generating capacity or the transmission capability to deliver electricity to new factories that guzzle power. Even housing developments have been halted by the inability to connect to the grid.
What does the WMCA offer instead today? 'The Birmingham East Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) aims to speed up projects like the Sports Quarter in Bordesley Green - where Birmingham City Football Club is building a new stadium - by allowing more direct control over planning and land acquisition.
The MDC is also due to assist projects in Digbeth, Smithfield and the city centre, with senior figures claiming it will help create 50,000 new homes and 20,000 jobs'.
From the PR release, sorry BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clypx4408e9o