My Thoughts On The Summer Budget
My thoughts on the summer budget
I read the full Budget speech that George Osborne gave today.
I think that from a public relations point of view it has been a good budget for the Chancellor. I found myself thinking, "I agree with that" when watching the news and hearing the headlines.
Now that I have read the budget I am less pleased.
I am disappointed in his Infrastructure plans to increase productivity.
He said -
“Four fifths of all journeys in this country are by road, yet we rank behind Puerto Rico and Namibia in the quality of our network. In the last 25 years, France has built more than two and a half thousand miles of motorway – and we’ve built just 300. In the last Parliament I increased road spending, even in difficult times, and set out a plan for £15bn of new roads for the rest of this decade.”
I was disappointed in this because it makes no mention of public transport, it makes no mention of improving streets and paths to allow and encourage people to walk and cycle. Roads and streets are important and are a good place for investment, but I am concerned that the Governments plans will see more roads built, which will then fill up with cars and lorries, leading to no net improvement in productivity or happieness.
At one point in his speech he said -
For Britain is home to 1% of the world’s population; generates 4% of the world’s income; and yet pays out 7% of the world’s welfare spending.
What a meaningless statement!!! It may be factually correct but it is not illuminating. We should really be proud that we spend 7% of the world's welfare spending because there are lots of places that spend zero.
I was disappointed that the budget didn't set out any proposals to increase the affordability of housing or energy by increasing supply. This is the other side of the tax cut coin, making peoples money go further.
A search through the budget statement shows that equality or inequality was only mentioned once. He stated that - "In the last fortnight we’ve seen independent statistics showing that since 2010, child poverty is down and so is inequality." I do not see this as a strong budget to reduce inequality.
I was pleased to see that non-dom status is to be phased out.
I see that corporation tax will be reduced to 18% by 2020. I would have liked to see that a reduced tax rate associated with less unequal pay structure within corporations. Rather than just taxing high earners companies should pay more tax if they have highly unequal wage structures. One way to assess wage structues within a company would be through the use of the Gini Coefficient.
I understand that there is going to be further tightening of the rules concerning taxation to close loopholes and I support this.
I find that the discussion of tax credit and minimum wage confusing. I see that Ian Duncan Smith was cheering the increase in the minimum wage and I am prepared to trust his judgement.
In conclusion, I see this as a budget that was well crafted from the political point of view for middle England. I think the Budget will not play so well in Scotland. I am disappointed because I do not see this budget as making Britain a happier place to live. The Chancellor and the Government don't seem to want to promote more equality, or if they do, they are limiting themselves to only a few tools. The Budget will not improve affordability which is the other side of the tax coin when it comes to improving peoples lives.
I hope you find these views interesting.
If you want to read the full budget statement for yourself the reference is:
Osborne, G. and HM Treasury, (2015). Chancellor George Osborne's Summer Budget 2015 speech - Speeches - GOV.UK. [online] Gov.uk. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chancellor-george-osbornes-summer-budget-2015-speech [Accessed 8 Jul. 2015].
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Open Water Swimming at RWSABC
I am the Open Water Swimming Convener at the Royal West of Scotland Amateur Swimming Club. The upcoming season will start soon. We have set out the programme for the upcoming year. The programme is shown below:
Social Swims for members of RWSABC
Thursday and Friday evenings every week with water entry around 6:30pm starts Thursday, 17th April ends Friday, 12th September
Swimming generally takes place along the Esplanade but sometimes in certain conditions swimming takes place in the direction of the Battery Park.
“Open” Social Swims for members of the public
Fridays - 23rd May, 6th June, 4th July and 1st August.
Moonlight Swim for members of RWSABC
Saturday, 12 July at 10:00pm - Dependent on weather and cloud conditions
The Cross Clyde Swim
From Kilcreggan to The Esplanade, Greenock the distance is about 3km
Saturday, 16 August - This swim is dependent on conditions and the event may be rerouted or cancelled in case of poor conditions. There are strict criteria for entering this event.
You can find more by contacting me at openwaterswimming@rwsabc.com
Happy swimming!
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This article from The economist magazine talks about using Thorium as a Nuclear Fuel instead of Uranium. Thorium has several advantages over Uranium and in the view of the author of this article the most important is the relative resistance to proliferation compared to Uranium. I learned a few things from this article. The things I learned was that the US did build a few bombs out of U233 which is the fissile element formed from the fertile Thorium. I was always a bit unsure as to whether or not any bombs had been built. The article also confirms my prior understanding that U233 makes a poor nuclear bomb material because of the presence of small amounts of other radioactive isotopes that emit hard gamma radiation that messes up the other mechanisms required for a bomb.
Tonight was the first night of Open Water Swimming at RWSABC. A beautiful evening with sun, clear sky and no wind. We swam in the direction of the Battery Park. The tide was coming in so it was a hard swim out (35 min) but fast (15 min) coming back.😊
After this morning's open water swim the blood was rushing back towards the skin. I was on my own and swam 417m in 13:28. Highest tide coming in. Northerly wind onto the beach gentle breeze Force 3. Water temperature 8 degC #openwaterswimming #rwsabc #greenock (at The Royal West of Scotland Boat Club)
Today I had the privilege of organising the RWSABC Clyde Swim 2018. 31 swimmers who are pictured here completed the 3km swim from Kilcreggan to RWSABC. Thank you to the participants, the safety boat crews, the kayakers, those who did the barbeque and served hot drinks and scones and the committee of RWSABC. #rwsabc #inverclyde #openwaterswimming #kilcreggan #greenock #theclyde (at Royal West Of Scotland Amateur Boat Club)
Dome City Blog 4 - Welwyn Garden City and my proposals for a Dome City
I have looked at an old map of Welwyn Garden City and I estimate that this town is around 7.5 square kilometers. The population according to Wikipedia is 43,000. Welwyn Garden City is considered that classic example of a “Garden City”. Recent proposals are to build 5 new Garden Cities in Southern Britain to help reduce the current chronic housing shortage. The proposals that I have read suggest that each of these cities would house around 15,000 people.
Garden Cities are attractive to people and politicians because they are considered to be great communities and a very pleasant place to live. If we accept that new Garden Cities are a good place to live what would that suggest about my proposals for a Dome City?
In a previous blog I worked out that the Geodesic dome I am proposing would have a area are within it of 25.3 square kilometres. assuming 43,000 people per 7.5 square kilometers this would allow a population of 143,000 people. As I have stated previously my goal wold be to have 100,000 people living in the city so the effective density of this dome city would actually be less than Welwyn Garden City.
I have visited Welwyn Garden City once to have lunch at my Prefessor's house when I was doing my MSc. While this visit was a long time ago and I wasn't paying really close attention I do remember my Professor's house as being in a quiet cul-da-sac with lots of green space around.
Assuming when get get the lighting within the centre of the dome right this suggests to me that the dome city could provide a very comfortable environment for it's residents.
Reasons that I would like to live in a dome city are:
The ability to walk everywhere within the city. There would certainly need to be elevators when one is going up or down more than a few levels but once on any level you would never be further than 500m from your destination.
I live in Scotland where it rains alot. The dome city will provide a roof over my head at almost all times allow me to be outside of my house much more. I would hope that this would encourage more "outdoor" activities like sport, walking, cafes, open air concerts etc.
I feel that since people would walk around more that they would come into contact with their neighbours on a more regular basis. I would hope and expect that this would engender better feelings of community.
I wouldn't need to own a car for day to day living.
Given the high population density I would see that public services would be easier and less expensive to provide. Examples are:
With a electrical power plant located very close to the city combined heat and power is a real possibility. The energy provider would be able to supply district heating at relatively low cost.
I imagine that garbage collection could be made more efficient since people could carry their waste and recyclables to larger bins.
Schools could also share facilities much more easily. In addition, parents would have a greater choice of schools for their children since every school is accessible on foot by any child.
Waste could be disposed of in an incinerator located within the city providing additional district heating options and reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.
Sewers could be smaller since they would not have to deal with rainfall.
I am sure there are more examples that I haven't thought of yet but I hope these do show you how costs could be reduced and services improved.
I hope you have found this interesting.
There were dolphins or porpoises off The Esplanade in Greenock last night - or maybe Nessie on holiday 😊
Helen and I walked from Vikinggar in Largs to the pencil. It was a lovely day. This is a photo taken while we were at the pencil looking across the Clyde to Cumbrae and Arran. (at Largs Pencil Monument)
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This is a blog where I can write those things that interest me, including but not limited to, Nuclear Power, Climate Change, Engineering, Open Water Swimming and Economics.
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