HS2

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

17 hours ago, NFN FC said:

It is

Really? Explain.

[ricardo 7,414]

1 hour ago, Yellow Fever said:

Yes. Shovels in ground before next election!

Truth is of course there is no new money or indeed 'new' schemes - all that has happened is a changing of priorities / timescales with HS2 dropping of the table.  Anything 'shovel ready' will likely get the immediate go ahead.

A17 Pullover roundabout too! About time!

Someone is bound to find a rare orchid and it will all be knocked on the head.

[king canary 7,681]

21 hours ago, Yellow Fever said:

All across the world, we see transformative, long-term infrastructure projects completed or underway. They show countries on the rise, building for future generations, thinking big and getting things done.

This is they key issue for me. HS2 is symbolic of our countrywide inability to get things done in terms of infrastructure. Too much NIMBYism, too much red tape and too many sacred cows that get in the way.

It is crazy to think that 25 odd years ago the Government began the building of the Millenium Dome (now the o2) and it was finished and opened by NYE 1999. It had its problems but can you imagine a public works project moving at that speed these days?

[NFN FC 1,123]

5 hours ago, keelansgrandad said:

Really? Explain.

Can't do job, get job you can do.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

30 minutes ago, NFN FC said:

Can't do job, get job you can do.

Astounding. You are Norman Tebbit and I claim my fiver.

[Yellow Fever 3,842]

5 hours ago, ricardo said:

Someone is bound to find a rare orchid and it will all be knocked on the head.

Rishi just planted some and nicked some more of my bats.......

[Yellow Fever 3,842]

Euston - Speech all falling to bits already.

[NFN FC 1,123]

29 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

Astounding. You are Norman Tebbit and I claim my fiver.

No idea who that is but I'll be whoever you want me to be baby 😘

[Rock The Boat 1,332]

HS2 was a very stupid idea from the beginning. We are a small island and our major cities are fairly close together. Shaving ten minutes off a journey is not a deal breaker. You have to travel around the country to realise how poor so much of the east-west transport links are. Finish dual-carriageing the A11 along the Newmarket road for goodness sake.

[Well b back 3,284]

3 hours ago, Rock The Boat said:

HS2 was a very stupid idea from the beginning. We are a small island and our major cities are fairly close together. Shaving ten minutes off a journey is not a deal breaker. You have to travel around the country to realise how poor so much of the east-west transport links are. Finish dual-carriageing the A11 along the Newmarket road for goodness sake.

No need it will be a 20 mph zone soon.

[Herman 9,838]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/05/sunaks-spiteful-sale-of-land-intended-for-hs2-dashes-hopes-of-revival

[duke63 545]

12 hours ago, NFN FC said:

Can't do job, get job you can do.

Wait til you reach 60+. 
You will then understand the nonsense of keep increasing the retirement age. 
If it was right to retire at 65 ten years ago then it’s right to retire at 65 now. 
Look at some 75 year olds and tell me what jobs you think they will be able to do?? Then come back to me. 
Politically we are the laughing stock of the world, scrambling around trying to make sure the richest don’t have to pay any tax. 

[duke63 545]

12 hours ago, Rock The Boat said:

HS2 was a very stupid idea from the beginning. We are a small island and our major cities are fairly close together. Shaving ten minutes off a journey is not a deal breaker. You have to travel around the country to realise how poor so much of the east-west transport links are. Finish dual-carriageing the A11 along the Newmarket road for goodness sake.

In 20 years time people won’t own a car anymore. Want to travel locally just ring a driverless Uber and it will do the job. 
Travel longer distance will be by train. 
We are decades behind the rest of Europe with travel policy. Business Will increasingly look at the UK and see it as a backwater not worth investing in unless we change our political thinking. We cannot continue to think we can just live in the past. 

[NFN FC 1,123]

26 minutes ago, duke63 said:

Wait til you reach 60+. 
You will then understand the nonsense of keep increasing the retirement age. 
If it was right to retire at 65 ten years ago then it’s right to retire at 65 now. 
Look at some 75 year olds and tell me what jobs you think they will be able to do?? Then come back to me. 
Politically we are the laughing stock of the world, scrambling around trying to make sure the richest don’t have to pay any tax. 

So what happens when people start living to 120 years? It's not sustainable to support them.

I work with 2 people that are around 70 and they're doing their jobs perfectly. I am expecting to work until 80. 

Overall a 65 year old today is a lot healthier that 20 years ago. 

[A Load of Squit 5,224]

3 minutes ago, NFN FC said:

So what happens when people start living to 120 years? It's not sustainable to support them.

I work with 2 people that are around 70 and they're doing their jobs perfectly. I am expecting to work until 80. 

Overall a 65 year old today is a lot healthier that 20 years ago. 

It is if you don't give away billions to your mates in dodgy PPE contracts or waste money on an asylum system problem that you created.

Government spending is about priorities, this governments priority is about feathering their own nest and blaming everyone else for their problems.

[Well b back 3,284]

1 hour ago, Herman said:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/05/sunaks-spiteful-sale-of-land-intended-for-hs2-dashes-hopes-of-revival

Instead of being non commital Starmer and the Lib Dem’s ( and maybe others ) should make a cross party announcement as to what Sunak has done. This was mentioned on QT last night, but it’s only after reading that article I understood it.

Parts of working farms were bought, which are being offered back, but are now useless as they haven’t been worked on for 10 years. Going again by QT last night, if he thought this was going to save him, it has had the opposite effect as nobody believes him anymore.

[NFN FC 1,123]

57 minutes ago, A Load of Squit said:

It is if you don't give away billions to your mates in dodgy PPE contracts or waste money on an asylum system problem that you created.

Government spending is about priorities, this governments priority is about feathering their own nest and blaming everyone else for their problems.

While I agree with your sentiment, I still don't see it as sustainable. A working life of 47 years isn't enough to support 40 years of retirement.

[A Load of Squit 5,224]

12 minutes ago, NFN FC said:

While I agree with your sentiment, I still don't see it as sustainable. A working life of 47 years isn't enough to support 40 years of retirement.

That's a bit simplistic, how many people live for 40 years after retiring?

[NFN FC 1,123]

37 minutes ago, A Load of Squit said:

That's a bit simplistic, how many people live for 40 years after retiring?

More and more every year

[A Load of Squit 5,224]

27 minutes ago, NFN FC said:

More and more every year

Thanks for the comprehensive answer, you should become an MP.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

2 hours ago, NFN FC said:

So what happens when people start living to 120 years? It's not sustainable to support them.

I work with 2 people that are around 70 and they're doing their jobs perfectly. I am expecting to work until 80. 

Overall a 65 year old today is a lot healthier that 20 years ago. 

They are not really any healthier. They are living longer because they are lucky enough that science has developed medication and procedures that keep us alive. And despite the cries from many that life is so tough for them, many people were completely knackered when they retired because of their work and unavoidable lifestyle.

I try and look after myself in terms of exercise and diet but am on medication for three different problems that 50 years ago would have killed me perhaps.

Its a bit trite to say get another job. If a chap has been used to laying tarmac with a shovel all his life do you really think he will get a job in a call centre?

Of course it is a problem with us being artificially made to live longer. You cannot prevent science from doing this. But once again, all Governments have ignored this problem. Hence the need for workplace pensions in the last ten years. Low interest rates won't help. But we all want low interest rates. Until people realise that there has to be a decent amount of their pre tax income put aside for a pension and maybe not have that Dominos on Saturday night and maybe drink tap water instead of paying a pound for a bottle of it, they won't have enough.

[NFN FC 1,123]

23 minutes ago, A Load of Squit said:

Thanks for the comprehensive answer, you should become an MP.

No thanks! I'm not that much of a c*nt so wouldn't be very good at it.

Edited October 6, 2023 by NFN FC

[NFN FC 1,123]

5 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

They are not really any healthier. They are living longer because they are lucky enough that science has developed medication and procedures that keep us alive. And despite the cries from many that life is so tough for them, many people were completely knackered when they retired because of their work and unavoidable lifestyle.

I try and look after myself in terms of exercise and diet but am on medication for three different problems that 50 years ago would have killed me perhaps.

Its a bit trite to say get another job. If a chap has been used to laying tarmac with a shovel all his life do you really think he will get a job in a call centre?

Of course it is a problem with us being artificially made to live longer. You cannot prevent science from doing this. But once again, all Governments have ignored this problem. Hence the need for workplace pensions in the last ten years. Low interest rates won't help. But we all want low interest rates. Until people realise that there has to be a decent amount of their pre tax income put aside for a pension and maybe not have that Dominos on Saturday night and maybe drink tap water instead of paying a pound for a bottle of it, they won't have enough.

I would argue that they are on average healthier.

No but he could work in the construction industry off the tools.

So people should not spend on luxuries to pay for everyone to retire at 65?

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

1 minute ago, NFN FC said:

I would argue that they are on average healthier.

No but he could work in the construction industry off the tools.

So people should not spend on luxuries to pay for everyone to retire at 65?

But they aren't luxuries are they? And I am saying however unfair it might seem to this and the next few generations that I am delighted that I have a state pension that I took at 65 and keeps me comfortable and might not be so readily available for them, the world has changed. And all those comfy jobs you talk about like working from home must be something that these generations look upon as something we might have been jealous of.

And how many people on the tools are going to get an office job in the same industry? This isn't top heavy like Government agencies.

[A Load of Squit 5,224]

14 minutes ago, NFN FC said:

No thanks! I'm not that much of a c*nt so wouldn't be very good at it.

Based on this post you're underselling yourself.

[NFN FC 1,123]

10 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

But they aren't luxuries are they? And I am saying however unfair it might seem to this and the next few generations that I am delighted that I have a state pension that I took at 65 and keeps me comfortable and might not be so readily available for them, the world has changed. And all those comfy jobs you talk about like working from home must be something that these generations look upon as something we might have been jealous of.

And how many people on the tools are going to get an office job in the same industry? This isn't top heavy like Government agencies.

Dominos is a luxury. (Though plenty of unemployed would see it at a god given right).

The world is changing. I am preparing to work to 80. There will be no retire at 65 when my time comes around and I am fully prepared for that. 

Well they'll have to sort something out. There's plenty of warning signs around. If they don't plan for it, that's on them. People should stop expecting the government to wipe their **** for them. 

[Well b back 3,284]

53 minutes ago, NFN FC said:

Dominos is a luxury. (Though plenty of unemployed would see it at a god given right).

The world is changing. I am preparing to work to 80. There will be no retire at 65 when my time comes around and I am fully prepared for that. 

Well they'll have to sort something out. There's plenty of warning signs around. If they don't plan for it, that's on them. People should stop expecting the government to wipe their **** for them. 

Let’s hope you are lucky enough for your health to hold out. In my job I see many 80 year olds, only a small minority would be capable of getting to work, let alone doing the work.

[Well b back 3,284]

2 hours ago, NFN FC said:

More and more every year

I have searched the internet and cannot see many instances of people living until they are 105 ie 65 + 40, let alone 106, 107, and 108

[NFN FC 1,123]

22 minutes ago, Well b back said:

I have searched the internet and cannot see many instances of people living until they are 105 ie 65 + 40, let alone 106, 107, and 108

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/ageing/bulletins/estimatesoftheveryoldincludingcentenarians/2002to2020

[NFN FC 1,123]

26 minutes ago, Well b back said:

Let’s hope you are lucky enough for your health to hold out. In my job I see many 80 year olds, only a small minority would be capable of getting to work, let alone doing the work.

Yes, today, but the retirement age is 65 today. I'm talking about in the future.