Northerners advised to move south away from 'failing' cities (UK)

[Dover]

Source: Telgraph

13/08/2008

In a radical report the Policy Exchange said regeneration had failed in cities like Liverpool and Sunderland and all the Government’s three million new homes should be built in London, Oxford or Cambridge.

The authors said many northern towns had little prospect of offering residents a better standard of living and blamed the decline in shipping for the stagnation of coastal cities.

They claimed successful northern cities like Manchester and Newcastle could not be expected to raise the standards of neighbouring areas.

But the findings were roundly rejected by local authorities, the Government and the Conservative Party.

cont'd



Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2008/08/12/noindex/north.xml&CMP=EMC-expat2008

[AndyTiedye]

1. When I Saw the Headline, I Thought They Were Talking About Detroit and Cleveland

[dysfunctional press]

4. as climate change takes firmer hold, the northern states may make a resurgence...

especially those around the great lakes.

michigan may be poised for a comeback, yet.

[AndyTiedye]

7. Climate Change Won't Come Soon Enough to Save Them from $5 Heating Oil (Or Worse)

You think things can't get any worse for Detroit,
but they have not yet gone through a winter of $5 heating oil,
and how much higher would it go if the Mad Cowboys attack Iran?

[Kolesar]

17. Natural gas...eom

[AndyTiedye]

22. But How Many Can Afford a New Heating System?

[Kolesar]

25. We use natural gas in Detroit and Cleveland.

But even that product has had a price hike from $7 to $11 per million cubic feet since last year. I think it is an inflationary function of the decling $US.

[amandabeech]

26. The region that relies on heating oil the most is New England and

the Middle Atlantic states.

In rural areas in the Midwest, almost everyone has gone with propane, otherwise known as LPG and LNG.

[Delphinus]

32. I don't think we have an endless supply of

natural gas. Seems Prof. Albert Bartlett talked about a dwindling supply of this when he was talking about Peak Oil.

[amandabeech]

27. That's what I'm hoping.

The upper Midwest in general also still has quite a bit of rain-fed farmland that can grow corn, a thirst plant.

Once things dry out a little, they'll be able to move back to wheat and other small grains which require less moisture.

The plains states, which much wheat is now grown, may have more problems adjusting.

Also, I wonder if there will be a resurgence of local shipping on the Lakes. It's cheap and was used quite a bit until the end of WWII. That is, as long as the Lake levels don't drop so much that many harbors are lost. A lock and dam system upriver from Detroit would help with that, perhaps.

[Ken Burch]

13. Well, that was basically the Reagan/Bush the First economic idea

One that Lil' Dubbikins is still carrying out. The Northeast and the Upper Midwest are to be left to rot, and as many people as possible are mean. t to leave those places and keep roaming the country working for low-paid shitwork, remaining in constant transit so as to be unable to register to vote.

One reason the GOP hated the New Deal is that it STOPPED that from being forced on the country in the Thirties.

[Ian David]

2. I knew this would happen as soon as The Daleks destroyed Torchwood. n/t

[Ilsa]

20. Nooooooo!!!!! Say it isn't so! what episode?

Was it on Dr. Who or Torchwood?

[Ian David]

31. Cross-over episode. Dr. Who, Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures season finale. n/t

[WriteDown]

23. Laughed so hard...

I think I shed a tear. I still think the machine men could have taken them.

[musette_sf]

3. It's Grim Up North

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwtSdJaPCSI

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. Almost Sounds like a Science Fiction Novel

You would think that the Northern Climates
might start getting a warmer winter, more agriculture,
although the region is not the bread basket of England,
it could produce more vegetables. Solar, tidal, wave and wind
energies could be developed in that local.

I know
the economic implications of the loss of
areas that have been hit by 'so called free trade"
however other considerations must be brought
into the equation.

Why did they say this in the first place?
Is part of it, not a comprehensive plan,
that looks into all aspects of local, regional or national planning
with the variables of environmental, population migration, energy,
resources and the synopsis of these dependent and independent variables ?

I thought the story was odd.

[PassingFair]

8. Sounds like a Doris Lessing novel, doesn't it?

Creepy.



:scared:

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. 'Canopus in Argos'

also 'The Memoirs of a Survivor"

Yes, I was thinking of Lessing and others when I
read this story.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. I check up on the British press periodically, and this report drew a

"HUH?" from almost everyone.

It makes no sense except as a joke. The London area (and Oxford and Cambridge, which are both only a short trip from London) is already overcrowded. The more sensible thing to do would be to encourage businesses and government research institutions and the like to move north.

[T_i_B]

15. The other thing to remember here....

...is that the North is where Labour has it's big strongholds. The Conservatives by contrast are dominant in the South-East.

I should also add that I'm someone who moved from a big Northern city "darn sarf". I don't see any point whatsoever in this sort of thing being encouraged by RW politicos who dislike places such as Sheffield and Liverpool due to the Tories continued unpopularity in those places. As you say, it might well be wiser for businesses to move North in search of cheaper rents.

[daleo]

9. A little about the think tank that made this proposal

Policy Exchange is an independent think tank whose mission is to develop and promote new policy ideas which will foster a free society based on strong communities, personal freedom, limited government, national self-confidence and an enterprise culture.

Some random information about their experts:
Jesse Norman
Jesse's most recent book is Compassionate Conservatism: What it is. Why we need it, co-authored with Janan Ganesh, and published by Policy Exchange.

Dr Oliver Marc Hartwich
He is the UK Representative for the German think tank the Institute for Free Enterprise.

Dean Godson
Dean Godson was Chief Leader Writer of the Daily Telegraph. Prior to that he was also a feature and profile writer for the Sunday Telegraph.

http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/Experts/expert-profile.aspx?id=42

Well, you get the idea.

[Ichingcarpenter]

11. Thanks.. that explains the lack of real comprehensive planning and vision

Extremely short sighted and myopic.

[DCKit]

12. That'll happen when you substitute projection for imagination.

The same crowd believes most children's movies and TV shows promote homosexuality and pedophilia. Hey, if you don't want to masturbate over Barney the Dinosaur or Tinky Winky, change the channel, dumbass!

You'd think they'd have gone into outrage overload by now and chilled a bit just for being worn out. Their capacity for hatred and delusion is superhuman. No wonder they age so quickly.

The fruits of "Just Say No" - frustrated, repressed, uptight assholes. With secret longings.

Save the Republicans - Legalize Marijuana.

[Pale Blue Dot]

21. Ah... British libertarianism. Now it makes sense. nt

[Ken Burch]

14. This idea is a Thatcherite wet dream.

It's driven by an obsession with depopulating the North of England and Wales(and completing the depopulation of Scotland that absentee Tory landlords began with the Highland Clearances)and forcing everyone down to the ultra-Tory Southeast of England, where they will be forced to take non-union jobs at crap wages and will have to move around from town to town being unable to vote(like in the Reaganite example I cite in another post in this thread)thus guaranteeing a permanent Tory government for the UK and the death of those pitiful remnants of the welfare state that neither Thatcher nor her "Labour" successor Tony Blair were able to finish off.

And lots of work will be created for the police to beat everyone into "knowing their place" like in the old days.

[provis99]

16. sounds exactly like the situation in America

People moving out of their homes in the rustbelt Midwest, and forced to take crap hourly wage jobs in some godforsaken culturally backwards part of the South. Areas like Atlanta and pretty much all of North Carolina are about as populated with Northerners these days as they are with native Southerners, thanks to Republicans dominating elections from their South stronghold. Going through cities in the midwest now is eerie; a lot of empty houses and business fronts.

[Mudoria]

19. Actually you don't run into that many

northerners outside of certain cities in NC. One thing to be grateful for at least..

[WriteDown]

24. Everyone knows what Cary stands for right?

I'm sure you do Mudoria :).

[Mudoria]

30. Indeed I do

Containment Area for Relocated Yankees :rofl:

[Delphinus]

34. Going through my own neighborhood

is sometimes eerie! The foreclosures - people just walking away - houses not selling - etc. I'm not talking McMansions; these are working people's homes. Unfortunately, there is no leadership or ideas on how to address these problems.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

18. It's a piece of sneering anti-northern chauvinism from a RW think tank

Even Tory leader Dave Cameron has distanced himself from this report.

[T_i_B]

29. Not suprising that the Tories are distancing themselves from this rubbish

They do still need Northerners to vote for them!

Although it might help if they stopped making snide comments about "the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire" for starters.

[Hannah Bell]

28. I'm beginning to think this is deliberate...

invest, grow economy & sell assets at high prices(profit), collapse asset values & depopulate, buy up assets at discount, reinvest...

[DU GrovelBot]

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