@PositivFuturist I think if you weigh all the evidence, its was very probably zoological in origin
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Harry Bostock
893 posts
The Swiss grid is almost completely carbon free, yet it is largely illegal to install air conditioning in a house in Geneva, without a doctor's note and heat pumps have the a/c mode disabled and fines issued if used. A mean spirited degrowth mindset that transcends class and hides behind an environmental narrative even when it has nothing to do with the environment, like here. This is emblematic of a pathological hatred of the future and progress, that is a threat to Europe.
Atticus@redl3tters
One of my business school friends comes from a wealthy Swiss banking family and lives in the ritzy part of Geneva where the average house is in the tens-of-millions range. When I visit, I stay in his guest room and sweat profusely at night because, for all their wealth, these bozos can’t understand the unmatched pleasure that is a nice, cool room to sleep in at night. Bunch of uncultured rubes.
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Isn't it a sad indictment of this government's planning policy, that unless a landscape is protected, it risks being built on?
Nature Corner@CornerForNature
What's really upsetting about this amazing site, Temple Way /Rattlechain Pool, it that it's not protected and will certainly be built on in the next few years. Apart from the rare Small Blue butterfly, there are lots of other rare species here. And it's seething with bees
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@peterrhague open.spotify.com/episode/5qiibw…
This is a decent critique of Elons AI strategy. The TLDR is that the economic probably dont favour it in the near term (~10yrs) but will probably be the future after, but by then the AI race would already be won probably.
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It’s a problem I can’t seem to find reasonable critical views on SpaceX. Nobody reading the S-1 and saying “yes it’s a solid business with good growth potential but I think it’s overvalued for ”.
It’s all histrionic accusations of fraud, sneering at the very idea of space colonisation, uninformed AI doomerism.
Where are the measured takes? Guess they don’t get clicks.
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@markrwilliamson @CambsCC The southern route makes no sense, I'm from Northstowe, the northern route actually gets no where near Northstowe, and would make cambridge south redundant. Just build the damn thing.
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Former chair of @CambsCC Sebastian Kindersley on EW Rail: “It started as a high-speed link between the two cities but is now a commuter line that ignores commuters.”
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@SandyofSuffolk We need a lot more than that to solve the housing crisis, think 10x more
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Interesting fact.
There's enough brownfield sites in the UK to build 1.5 million homes according to the London Green Belt Council and the Campaign to Protect Rural England.
So leave our countryside alone!
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The land under these panels will never be farmed again.
Potato growing associations nationwide will not buy potatoes grown on ex-solar sites.
Why?
The panels leach heavy metals, as well as drop glass shards and microplastics onto the soil below them.
In a mass commercial arrangement, vegetation below the panels is soaked in herbicides.
The fertile farmland is gone forever.
Farmer Crafted@FarmerCrafted
Look at the mess grazing cows are making! Oh, wait.
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@RobKenyonReform Say yes to more houses, don't get in the way!
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They’re trying to build 400 houses on Winstanley’s green belt. That’s 1000 extra cars on the roads & 1000 more people using infrastructure that doesn’t exist.
As MP for Makerfield, I will fully support restoring Winstanley Hall, but strongly oppose the rest of this development.
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@DanicaPriest Well there goes 78 affordable homes and increased net biodiversity on site, well done.
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We did it!!!!! Brislington Meadows lives to see another day!!!!! Thank you to the amazing Cllrs that voted to refuse. 4/4 greens and 1/3 labour voted against officer recommendations Fabian abstained but then voted for Guy’s motion to refuse. 3 voted to approve Don Lib Dem and Con
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@CHinchliffMP Industries are allowed to petition for their own interests. Developers aren't evil they just want to build homes and be paid to do so, how is that unreasonable?
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Developers pour £££ into politics to keep the system working for their profits.
And while their money tries to silence local democracy, the housing crisis goes unsolved.
Sign my petition to kick developer cash out of politics. 👇
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@markrwilliamson Its very hard to get a visa to go to the US right now
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Might it also be something to do with wages? Eg compared say to the US.
BBC Newsnight@BBCNewsnight
"We're definitely losing bright, talented, young, early-stage researchers to other locations - because there's so many friction points before actually getting into the UK" Gillian Tett, Provost of King's College, Cambridge, responds to today's immigration figures. #Newsnight
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@BritainRemade @sjarichards @TomSwarbrick1 It is so disingenuous to try to blame wildlife protections - the real reasons for the outrageous costs of HS2 was that a lot of tunnels were built to go through the Shires North of London to preserve the landscape, bad planning & not allowing for inflationary costs.
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£102.7bn on HS2. The most expensive railway per mile in the world.
And we're building the most expensive nuclear power station in the world. This is no coincidence.
It will keep happening until we change the way we build infrastructure, @sjarichards tells @TomSwarbrick1.
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@redrumlisa Increasing overall supply of housing reduces cost of housing for everyone through supply and demand. The only way to bring down prices is to build more homes, if you block them then that means higher costs for everyone
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@HarryBostock1 Very small 2 bed terraces start at 250k a 3 bed is over 300k they are not affordable for the population
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I'm talking to the local councillor about this - this afternoon hundreds of unaffordable houses built by developers with no plan for infrastructure & building on green belt farmland. No buses, no schools, no roads, no Drs but hundreds of unaffordable houses starting at 250k in an area where the average wage is 27k - 31k
'Hundreds of homes are being dumped on our Nottinghamshire town - but we get none of the money' - Nottinghamshire Live nottinghampost.com/news/local-new…
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Harry Bostock retweetledi
If you earned £1,000,000 a day from when Napoleon was born, you would have less money than HS2's projected cost.
Stuff like this, alongside bat tunnels, is why.
LBC@LBC
'They lost it? How can they lose something so enormous?' James O'Brien reacts as caller Gareth reveals that he's supplied the 'exact same order' to the same HS2 site three times... and it's £25k a pop.
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Harry Bostock retweetledi
Steve Reed could overturn this TODAY and get spades in the ground TOMORROW.
How?
1. Pass an act TODAY that overrules the decision.
OR
2. Publish a statement committing to INSTANT approval upon resubmission.
They could just do it. Read our letter below. 👇
RT IF YOU AGREE!
Southwark Council@lb_southwark
📣 Southwark Council welcomes news that plans by Berkeley Homes for the Aylesham Centre have been rejected. Berkeley Homes proposed to build 867 homes, including 77 affordable homes, at the site in Peckham alongside retail, leisure and commercial space. Today a planning inspector has dismissed an appeal by Berkeley Homes, saying “benefits do not outweigh the harm to the relevant designated heritage assets important to the area”. Cllr Sarah King, Leader of Southwark Council, said: “This is a great day for Peckham and we welcome the planning inspector’s decision to dismiss Berkeley Homes’s appeal for the Aylesham Centre. “I’d like to personally thank the community who spoke loud and clearly about their concerns. “We shared those concerns and strongly argued at the public inquiry that the scheme was poorly designed and our position has been vindicated. “We will read the appeal in detail and carefully consider our next steps.”
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@BernoulliDefect How does construction in Dallas avoid this? How are they able to drive down costs while everyone else is drowning?
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An example of this:
Despite securing permission to mint the most valuable currency in the planet - 1,200 Manhattan apartments - the *publicly owned* mixed use WTC 5 project has recently been put on hold by the Port Authority as it doesn’t pencil out.
This might seem hard to believe: there was only a 30% affordable unit requirement, and the median new build apartment goes for $1.6m in financial district - couldn’t those rich people buying at eye watering prices subsidise the 30% (who would still pay pretty high rents of ~$2k/month)? Turns out the answer is no: construction costs have risen at breakneck speed with the Port Authority citing 50% increases and US-wide construction cost indexes going up 35% from 2021.
This price inflation is especially crazy in NYC, but it’s a worldwide phenomenon and governments need to get used to new housing not being a magic money machine.
bernoulli_defect@BernoulliDefect
@Sam_Dumitriu @tomhfh @MayorofLondon @SteveReedMP I don't think political institutions are ready for the effects of the last few years of construction cost inflation. Far less 'surplus' for projects like this
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realizing the cost of living only went up 106% from 2001 to today which means most of that damage happened in the last 5 years. what the f*ckdid they do to us lmao
Leading Report@LeadingReport
The cost of living has risen 106% since 2001, per FORTUNE.
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Bond markets don’t have political views. They think inflation is going up and the finances look dodgy, and they want a higher premium to lend to us as a result. It’s not a constraint of ‘democratic choice’ if the people you’re begging for money impose conditions on the lending.
Richard Murphy@RichardJMurphy
UK gilt yields have hit an 18-year high. That's not because the economy collapsed. It's because bond markets fear Labour might elect a slightly more left-wing leader. When financial markets seek to constrain democratic choice, that is not economic discipline. It is political power, exercised without a ballot. cnbc.com/2026/05/13/gil…
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