What interests Politically Homeless
Articles, videos and more that I have consumed this week
11th November 2024
I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Here are some of the articles and videos I have been reading / watching this week.
Article: Matt Rigby for the Telegraph discusses the lack of productivity growth especially in the public sector
I found this article on point after reading the IFS report from last week. Matt hammers home the point on productivity growth which has been bad in the private sector but absolutely non existent in the public sector. He rightly asks how it is possible that with all the technological advances we have had in the last 30 years that the pubic sector has not managed to increase productivity. He rightly points out that they have no incentive to do so as closeted from market forces. Finally he absolutely nails the links between broader productivity growth and electricity prices as you are normally using machines which require energy to replace human labour.
Read it here: Rigby on public sector productivity
Article: Scientists have found an underground ocean which is bigger than all the surfaces one put together
I love stuff like this as it underlines how little we do understand even about our own planet. The news itself is especially important when you consider that climate change models include the hydro-cycle and ocean currents. If we don’t fully understand them then the chances can predict climate movements is risible - missing an entire ocean bigger than all the others seems like a pretty big miss. Either way an exciting new scientific finding which is fascinating and very very cool.
Read it here: Subterranean ocean bigger than the surface ones
Article: Former Labour MP Beth Winter has quit the party over its direction
Whether you like Ms Winter’s political views or not I find it reassuring that there are still people who put their morals before personal advancement or convenience. On a slightly higher level this another example of the difficulties that Labour and the Tories are having trying to sustain political coalitions which are no longer aligned in any meaningful way. Socialists and liberals can no more share a party than liberals and real Conservatives. Both parties will continue to decay until they bite the bullet and become one or other which will force through the political realignment that the country desperately needs.
Read it here: Former MP quits Labour
Article: Julius Krein for Unherd outlines the economic options ahead for the US
I nodded most of the way through in terms of the economic options that are available of the US. I would argue that only re-industrialisation is possible because neo-liberal austerity was tried across Europe and nearly destroyed our political systems and green led degrowth etc is rapidly becoming discredited as the nonsense it is.
"Americans will always do the right thing, only after they have tried everything else" Allegedly Winston Churchill
I expect the UK will follow course especially after the current shower have finished destroying any credibility over net zero and the green transition. It will be interesting to watch the right have to think about an industrial policy, higher taxes to help to pay for the infrastructure that we desperately need and the end of the “free trade” ideology.
Read it here: American industry must rise again
Article: Telegraph covers how Milliband’s drive for net zero will push the countryside to Reform
I love articles like this as it just underlines something that I keep saying on Twitter - Net zero is already imploding on impact with reality. Red Ed and his dogmatic drive for net zero will finish it once and for all. It is simply not possible to impose something with such high economic and social costs on a population which now has other options. The emergence of Reform has completely changed the game and made it impossible for the two major parties to hug each other tight and ignore the public. They will either swerve of they will get wiped out across much of the country.
Read it here: Ed Millivolts will drive the countryside to Reform
Article: The Daily Sceptic reports on how the Met office is fabricating data for made up weather stations
I mean I would love to say I am surprised but I am not. Sadly standards in science appear to be in even steeper decline than in politics. I suppose that makes sense as scientists are rarely held to account especially as peer review is clearly a broken system. Either way the Met Office has questions to answer on this scandal though I don’t expect any answers - especially from Peter Kyle who is another ideologue.
Read it here: Met Office fraud on the Daily Sceptic
Article: Robert Tombs in the Telegraph discusses his fears over the growth of the unelected state
Tombs rightly points out how little accountability the unelected state is held to when things go wrong. In other countries people are put in jail or are fired whereas in the UK they are moved sideways or in many cases even promoted. It is a sign of a malaise within the state which partly explains why the public are getting more and more angry. It underlines why I am so keen for the abolition of so many of the unelected QUANGOs and the return of power and responsibility to the political class - we can at least sack them.
Read it here: Tombs on the unelected state
Video: Patrick Boyle on Europe’s de-industrialisation
Duration: 28 minutes
Patrick calmly takes the viewer through the catastrophe which is the European energy market and how much of it is being driven by the green “revolution”. He is less than enthused by the solutions put forward by the “experts” especially the classic “Use energy when it is plentiful”. His channel is excellent and I recommend everyone subscribes as he covers a mixture of economic, financial and technological stories and issues.
Article: Spiked Online on the Trump win
Tom Slater takes a sledge hammer to the cultural and political establishments on both sides of the Atlantic who failed to grasp the oncoming popular hurricane because they are so stuck in the shrinking bubbles.
“You do not have to be a Trump supporter to have taken an outsized pleasure in watching the realisation dawn on the ‘centrist sensibles’ – the most uninsightful and insufferable people in public life – that Trump was once again going to upend their smug prognostications.”
Read it here: Deplorables no more
Video: Critical drinker takes an axe to celebrity political endorsements
Duration: 7 minutes
From Twitter: A great thread on why green energy is expensive energy
Andrew has really become an expert on this subject and he lays it out bit by bit in this really educational thread.
See it here: Why green energy is so expensive
Picture of the week: Enough said - great meme
That is everything for this week
Enjoy your week and stay safe - feel free to share on social media if you fancy helping me out!