To think Andy Burnham is doing a decent job so far?

So he achieved a great deal in the first five months of 2024 which emboldened him to call an election six months before he needed to. OK, forgive me if I’m not convinced.

Oh yes wildfires can start themselves. Our small fire last night was way off the public path, in a field that was down to herbal whatever you call it, and hadn’t been entered since being cut for hay 2/3 weeks ago. My DH noticed the smoke whilst taking water to sheep, and used the water to dampen down the fire. He reckons it was a piece of flint plus sun as he could see nothing else.

It seems time runs differently when there's a Tory government compared to when there's a labour government. Things that take a long time under Tories must happen yesterday under labour.

I'm very sorry, but "Sunak achieved nothing" is not true, as you know, and as evidenced above.

I’m very sorry @Nuthatch26 but it is true. 2023 had the highest immigration figures on record and Sunak was PM for the entire year.

Thats not true. Sunak introduced policies that reduced immigration, and Labour stuck with them when they came into office. Mahmood wants to go even further.
He stopped students and care workers bringing dependants, and increased the salary threshold.

In Q3 2024, 2,423 Health and Care visas were issued to applicants in ‘caring professional services’, down by 93% from an all-time high 12 months earlier, when 33,122 visas were issued

https://www.workrightscentre.org/publications/2024/drop-in-visas-for-carers-indicates-tougher-home-office-action-on-sponsors-but-insufficient-protection-for-migrants-and-the-care-sector/

You’re the one complaining about the current government’s record. Make up your mind.

Yes but it takes months/years for the changes to take effect. Be sensible

That’s nonsense. Sunak achieved nothing. Immigration reached its height in 2023 when Sunak was PM.

Responding to the specifics, Transport for Greater Manchester told me the £226m figure was not a "deficit" but "the total public subsidy for buses in Greater Manchester, carefully managed against costs by Transport for Greater Manchester".

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/whos-really-paying-greater-manchesters-32009959

Labour benefitted from the Sunak changes -Shabama Mahmoud is making great strides BUT if the backbenchers refuse the plan to block automatic right to remain after 5 years Labour has failed

The bee network is great, but the deficit reached £227 million per year. Imagine that cost rolled out across the country.

But TfGM's stated strategy is to grow total bus patronage by 30% by 2030 - and they’ve already grown by 14%, which in principle proves flat, low fares do lead to more passengers. But rebuilding passenger habits obviously doesn’t happen overnight.

The Bee Network isn’t an immediate cash-flow business - it is a long-term investment. The idea isn’t just to get more revenue for fares, it is also to drive regional growth by connecting low paid commuters to jobs, to relieve pressure on the NHS through improved air quality etc. etc.

Reducing the cap from £3 to £2 means you need 50% more passengers to get the same income!

If a bus is already full, there is no room for more passengers so it's a straight 33% loss of revenue on that bus.

If the economic elasticity meant that the bus firm could carry & charge 50% more passengers, they'd have already reduced the fares as it's basic business economics. The govt's own figures show what they expect the cost to the government(public) will be, so there IS a cost to the taxpayer.

They could for a start get rid of the exceptions that allow golf courses and private schools to carry on watering their grounds. The (very expensive) golf course near us is verdant due to the pop-up sprinklers. The boarding school is running giant sprinklers to keep the sports pitches green, even though it is the holidays. Meanwhile the village rec where the children play is just dead grass and we have to water our gardens and allotments by hand.

It's not going to offset the drought and water shortages of course, but at the moment it very much looks like it is one rule for the rich and another for the hoi polloi.

According to that article it has happened - passenger numbers are up by 14%. Cambridge has increased bus use in the city by making the cost of parking usurious and providing six park and ride hubs around the city. Parking is so difficult at the hospital that most patients who are able use park and ride with a bus that drops them at the door. There’s more than one way of skinning a cat.

That hasn't happened in Greater Manchester though. The Bee Network operates with a significant annual deficit.
The Bee Network ‘cannot continue’ in its current form due to the expense of capping fares while passenger revenue remains below pre-pandemic levels
https://www.thetimes.com/article/563f73af-fe02-4d92-a695-9e84e9bc54b9?shareToken=e6a12c0527bc51aeec48a60bd3971508

Agree with this.
Truth is, unless you live in a town that houses a high number of these 'fighting age men' we hear about, the impact of 'the boats' is likely to be negligible on your day to day life.
There's a hotel in my town that houses migrants. I know about this only because the local SM are 'up in arms'. I can say with honesty that I have barely seen the residents, who keep very much away from the local population, likely feeling more intimidated than aggressors.
Far more pressing concern for me is the impact of poverty on my community. The generational worklessness that is the legacy of pit closures, and was never addressed. (Actually, that's unfair. When we were in the EU, there was some investment in coalfields regeneration. But obviously that's gone now.)
The young people who can't afford to house themselves.
The increase in CT from the Reform local authority who promised they wouldn't raise it, yet the potholes remain unfilled, graffiti is still not removed.
In fairness 80% of their budget goes on social care, so theres precious little left to improve lives, even if the administration werent incompetent.
Immigrants haven't caused any of these things, and stopping the boats won't resolve them.
Of course my 'lived experience' as a WC woman in a WC town will no doubt be ignored because its not convenient. But the rising popularity of Labour shows I'm not alone.

Common sense would indicate that the more fare paying passengers on a bus, the lower the subsidy would need to be. There is no lost income, simply more people using buses than they otherwise would. That leads to services being maintained and thus available for fare payers.

The provisional estimate of total long-term immigration for year ending (YE) June 2023 was 1.2 million

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/bulletins/longterminternationalmigrationprovisional/yearendingjune2023

There should be a ban on disposable bbqs or even matches for sale. I know it’s hard to enforce, but must be something someone can do as the wildfires are not starting themselves; find out the causes ( although I guess that’s already been done ) and a fireman last night was calling for more money too.

Most obviously, the use of fire breaks around settlement. And catchable/usable water supply. And maintain the retained firefighter service.

More than half of that is believed to be due to carelessness or error in record keeping.

We were hesitant about including wildfires (presently very relevant on surrounding farmland with, on our farm, last night one small fire on a field not entered for two plus weeks) as it’s a transient threat. Or is it - is drought the way for every summer now?

The biggest component of the official "tax gap" isn't big companies and the rich - it's the black economy, i.e. small business not declaring income, cash in hand workers, vat evasion, duty free and counterfeit goods, etc etc.