to think the UK has become awful?

[ma1formed]

I can't pinpoint when, but it feels like everything that was once pretty good is now quite awful

So expensive
No doctors
Uni costs for kids insane
Terrible rent / can't buy a house
Everyone seems quite unpleasant or racist

Is it just me?

Quite clearly a rail line from the edge of one city to not quite the centre of another for passengers will take lots of lorries off the road.

Although it might have been cheaper just to rise Vehicle Excise Duty on lorries.

No thanks. They’re your words, I didn’t alter. Rewrite if not working for you

On 11 May 2023 HS2 announced that 10 million tonnes of material have been delivered to - and removed from - construction sites by rail, a major milestone in HS2’s plan to cut carbon emissions by removing lorries from roads. Businesses involved came together to celebrate at an event at Tarmac’s Tunstead Quarry, including HS2 Ltd, Network Rail, aggregate suppliers, transport solution companies, and four freight operators - along with a unique line-up of locomotives from each company.

When HS2 launched its ‘Materials by Rail’ programme in 2020, the target by 2030 was to haul 10 million tonnes of aggregate to and from sites, taking up to 1.5 million lorries off the roads using up to 15,000 freight trains.

Working strategically with joint venture partners, Network Rail, freight operators and building materials companies, HS2 has already moved over 10 million tonnes of materials by rail in just over two years. It is now expected that HS2 will move 20 million tonnes of aggregate across the Phase One programme, removing three million lorries from the strategic road network on 30,000 freight trains

Loads of stuff on lorries if pp use google. The cut time isn’t as key as capacity on rail, especially for green aims

They are some of my words and by the way you quoted it, you utterly changed the meaning as you well know.

Incredible "thinking" isn't it @jgw1 ... they are only moving millions of tonnes of material precisely because they are building HS2

HS2 is a passenger line and not a very long on either (costing 8 to 10x what the French can build HS for)

so much for transformational infrastructure...

The sourcing raw materials and who can actually produce fuel for nuclear power stations is often overlooked during these discussions too.

The uranium ore market is dominated by pro-russian Kazakhstan, while Russia itself accounts for something like 40% of the world's enrichment capacity / capability.

Yes, there are potentially friendly producers, such as the US or Australia for uranium and France has the ability to refine it into nuclear fuel (unsure of their capacity to increase production), but that still leaves you depending on foreign governments for energy security.

Not to mention that uranium, like other finite resources, has also seen a big increase in market value over the past few years and is unlikely to come down in price anytime soon (if ever).

I don’t think it’s awful but it’s not good & has the potential to become awful.

IMO, no government party can fix it & the good days are gone.

The resources for electricity are no different

Lithium and copper will be an issue

Better start diversifying, without hampering oil & gas as part of mix

‘The world could face a shortage for lithium as demand for the metal ramps up, with some analysts forecasting that it could come as soon as 2025. Others, however, see a longer time frame before that shortfall hits.

BMI, a Fitch Solutions research unit, was among those that predict a lithium supply deficit by 2025. In a recently published report, BMI largely attributed the deficit to China's lithium demand exceeding that of its supply.

"We expect an average of 20.4% year-on-year annual growth for China's lithium demand for EVs alone over 2023-2032," the report stated.

In contrast, China's lithium supply will only grow 6% over the same period, BMI said, adding that rate cannot satiate even one third of forecasted demand.
China is the world's third largest producer of lithium, which is an integral element in electric vehicle batteries.’

UK might have it's knockers but at least it's not riddled with bed bugs!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/29/bedbug-crisis-political-row-paris-insect-scourge-continues

@TorqueWrench

About here having less woke issues. This is because we have a conservative government. Once Labour gets in this would be equally as bad in than sense as the US.

@JaneyGee well maybe Sunak, Johnson and co should have thought of this before advocating Brexit- which means all those 3rd world country immigrants coming in now (700 k legally) in last year are coming in mainly as families (and will no doubt be staying) whereas those coming in the past from EU were often single young people having a couple of years here in shared houses.

I can't help but thinking that the money might have been more usefully spent linking the amazing freeports in Hull and Liverpool to the rail network more effectively.

Or even maybe improving the existing passenger train service in the North so that the last train of the day from some city centres on some routes is actually later than 7.20pm!! It's laughable - imagine any route in London not running after 7.20pm?? There'd be outrage, but in the North, we just have to put up with that kind of crap. Or, more likely, we'll just drive our cars instead!!

We seem to have gone backwards. Depends where you live I guesss but do many people I'll informed and racist and expect me to collude....I don't.
Undercurrent of rudeness and not caring about anybody but themselves.
Stress over poverty / housing/ SEND probably causing much of this...
Oh and the walls of cheap ultra processed food in the supermarkets here is shocking. Masses of blue drinks/ energy drinks and vapes in local corner shops...
Horrible but IMO it keeps the poor in their place, just what the tories intended...

Yes, all types of electricity generation require the use of finite raw materials in their infrastructure. Gas or nuclear generated electricity require copper for transmission and distribution, just the same as wind or solar. They also need the same rare earth materials in their generators (solar excluded).

The main difference for renewables is that the source is inexhaustible. We won't run out if wind or sun and if we did power generation would be the least of our worries.

I assume from your referencing of lithium you're concern lies with the battery energy storage systems, which will probably be needed to balance the availability of renewables with grid demand, unless other solutions are found.

A valid concern however, BESS technology is rapidly evolving and lithium-ion batteries are only one type of battery out of many others including graphene, sodium-ion, solid-state, and metal-air batteries.

Lithium dominates due to it's maturity but that's not guaranteed to remain the case, as manufacturers are aware of the drawbacks. So BESS is likely to look very differently in 10 years time, whereas nuclear will always need uranium and gas will always need gas and the price of both will always be at the mercy of the market.

I'm slightly alarmed that IDS was saying the same thing today. Not often have I agreed with him.

So its good to allow water companies to pay out 10s of billions to over seas shareholders/owners but then expect poorer households to make good the lack of investment to the tune of £1000s (over time) .... crazy economics.

Absolutely. Great building reservoirs and fixing pipes snd infrastructure, but how about doing it before paying dividends instead if asking for more money from people who have already paid for this?

Not sure it's that simple, as the recent Royal Society report shows.

This article was interesting today on the subject:

It’s a shit hole. It now has the majority of adults dependent on the state. No aspiration, no incentive to work hard and services to suit.

@Mimilamore that's what keeps me living somewhere relatively posh and expensive and not owning a house- because vast swathes of the Uk to be frank (the more affordable bits) are depressing as hell

If HS 2 was really about levelling up the North they would have started in the North, not on already plentiful routes to London. They then would have improved transport across the North. The costs spiralling has entirely been because of government mismanagement- stupid show off decisions to try and make the trains the 'fastest in Europe' when we are one of the smallest countries, and pandering to nimbies wanting tunnels and redirections. Its just another failure when compared to other countries in Europe who can manage to build a railway with exactly the same issues we have. We are a shambles of a country. India can send a rocket to the moon for a fraction of the cost of this and we can't even build a railway line?

Yes, I'm a pensioner and don't recognise this country at times. We've had recessions before, but everything seems to be collapsing.

GPs are virtually missing in action, hospitals not fit for use, dentists practically non existent, companies no longer offer a decent service, and people are just so stressed, angry and resentful.

Housing is a joke, and costs with everything is rocketing.

But, having said that, my son and family live in America - he tells me it's in shit order over there as well.

So, perhaps it's not just a UK thing.😗

Tbf we have imported a lot of Americas issues. I wonder if Canada, Australia or most of Continental Europe feel so bad? Its not really even the cost of living etc, it's the feeling of long term decline and lack of any idea or will to get out if it.

My elderly grandfather with advanced dementia recently had an in stay at an nhs hospital and had a catheter inserted. It was three days before anyone realised they were treating the wrong patient.

the last time I took my daughter to a uk hospital she was three years old. We waited for 12 hours, on the floor and she was diagnosed with gastroenteritis despite having only vomited once quite near to the end of the twelve hour wait. The GP later, correctly, diagnosed her with scarlet fever.

the major issue with the nhs is that it really depends on whereabouts you live as to what service you receive. Postcode lottery, as with most things in the UK. I emigrated when it came to school enrolment time as the available options to my daughter were abhorrent- and we were declined an out or area enrolment 2 miles away because our residential address was under a different education authority.

it was IMPOSSIBLE for me to get ahead in the Uk as a single parent, despite being highly educated and highly skilled, so I took my contributions to Australia where my skills are valued, and paid appropriately and the basics of enough money to eat, ability to own my home and provide my child with a decent education are easily within reach.

it seems like many, many young, educated, professional Brit’s are taking their skill sets overseas. Speaks volumes.

Why does the tap thing matter? Is having H and C on separate taps too complex?

Well, some much older houses have separate taps because well, we have very old houses here but most people I know have mixer and definitely don’t peel potatoes in to the sink! How bizarre, is this based off the one person you know in the U.K. 😂 I’m pretty positive you could find an Aussie who peels potatoes in the sink if you tried hard enough.