Notices by Emeritus Prof Christopher May (chrismayla6@zirk.us), page 3

The landscape of the high street continues to change as retailers withdraw, in some cases consolidating business in out-of-town sites, in others though a shift to more e-tailing.

The key Q. is how quickly (or at all) can other services fill the gaps in the urban landscape, or are some town centres doomed to eventual collapse altogether.

While the shift(s) may be too pronounced to reverse (and perhaps we shouldn't try), urban planning needs an urgent response!

#politics
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/sep/12/chemist-pub-and-bank-closures-lead-to-2300-more-empty-uk-stores-survey-finds

@h4890

Hmmm... I'm not sure this type of supply-side solution would work - after all, for businesses this is already a relatively low-tax market environment - the issue around business rates is a little different, but even then, what we are really seeing is the consolidation of oligopolies & that is very much driven by the market & a lack of effective anti-comepetiton regulation to enhance prospects for smaller businesses....

@h4890

Well, i think your point about existing businesses working with Govt. is key certainly - but markets cannot be unregulated (markets are essentially a legalised environment of exchange) and so oligopoly always has this ability....

@h4890 @amerika@annihilation.social

I'm not going to disagreee wth you about the death toll exacted by Govt.s which has been massive.... but, that's an argument for fixing the problems with international politics & governments, not an argument that anarchy (by which I mean an absence of legal rules, not chaos) is the answer - I have anarchist friends who think its possible to have a society without political authority, but we now just agree to differ....

The Darzi NHS report spells out how the NHS crisis was caused by austerity & the 2012 Health and Social Care Act, which calls a “calamity without international precedent”!

Identifying staffing problems of churn & disengagement due to stress & overwork, the report also suggests the balance needs to shift towards primary care; ''Too many people are ending up in hospital, because too little is spent in the community'!

Can Streeting deliver the reforms needed? Many think not!

#NHS #health
h/t FT

Just in case you'd forgotten how the Tories handed money to there chums during the pandemic, Transparency International reckons around a third (by value) of Covid contracts were likely to have been corruptly assigned.

Of course, in one sense we already knew this, but it is as well to be reminded exactly what we voted against in the recent election... which is to make no comment on the Govt. we now find ourselves with.

#Covid #corruption #politics

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/sep/09/tory-covid-contracts-worth-15bn-had-corruption-red-flags-study-finds

Interestingly, the private sector's wrestling with how to deal with working from home & its transition into hybrid working has hit upon the solution that exists across much of the university sector (during term time) - three days on the premises, two days working at home.

If anyone had asked university academics they could have suggested this was a workable compromise a long time ago..... but there we go.

#workers #HybridWorking #WfH

https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/sep/08/santander-to-insist-uk-workers-are-in-office-three-days-a-week

Keir Starmer says the Labour Govt. has to do 'difficult things now' knowing that its going to make them unpopular....

I have no problem with 'difficult decisions', but extending austerity or further impoverishing the poor, are not 'difficult decisions'.

Difficult decisions would be increasing taxes on the wealthy, reducing various forms of corporate welfare or tackling profiteering across the economy.

His decisions are targeting the weak, that's not difficult its business as usual.

#politics

Last year Shane Ewen drew a wider conclusion from the Grenfell Inquiry & other incidents:

'Contrary to the popular mantra that fire doesn’t discriminate, the poor & disadvantaged in UK & other societies are disproportionately affected by fire because they are forced to live in unsafe or overcrowded housing'!

As so often, the poor & vulnerable live in situations & experience life in ways that make their position worse.... and harder to escape.

#inequality #politics

https://theconversation.com/grenfell-should-have-been-a-wake-up-call-but-the-uk-still-doesnt-take-fire-safety-seriously-because-of-who-is-most-at-risk-219688

More evidence that the police have not been taking the far right seriously, and have focussed on environmental & Palestinian protesters instead....

I wonder why that would be?

Might it be that the far right are well known to the police, not in a professional capacity but because they're all mates?

Whatever drives this prejudice its hard to see has after the Farage Riots it can continue (although I'll likely be proved wrong!).

#FarageRiots #FarRight #police

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/sep/01/uk-police-npcc-risk-assessment-far-right-threat-minimal

The move to allow UK staff to request a compressed week - five days work squeezed into four days, with no reduction in hours - completely misunderstands the notion of the four day week;

the idea is that by working more effectively, the same amount of work can be completed in less hours (more efficient, more productive) & pilots have shown this to me more than just theorising.

The compressed week is a typical toxic management response to the idea of 'flexibility'....

#workers #economics

This & similar cartoons often pop up on social media.... but that doesn't make them any less telling about our political leaders current & continuing attitudes to climate change.

So here it is again; our short-term thinking will be the end of us

#climate #environment #politics

No-one is going to be surprised that there is another group of people who feel let down by the police on a regular basis.... now research into the Police attitude to disabled people suggest they are often infantilised & treated as if they have little right to an independent existence like 'normal' adults (or children for that matter).

Of course, we might also conclude that the police attitude to the disabled reflects the continuing ableism within our society.

#disabled
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/27/disabled-victims-of-feel-infantilised-by-police-report-finds

There's little climate-justice to be found in the Pacific:

hardly producing any of the drivers of human-induced climate change, the Pacific islands are on the front-line dealing with sea-level rises....

As so often our actions (or inaction!) in the developed continents is having a massive impact on people we hardly see or think about.

Without global solidarity & empathy, we will likely continue to do nothing to materially help these island peoples.

#climate #politics
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3ej0xx2jpxo

@wood5y

Indeed, as the GDP-per-capita data always shows.... we're not the sixth biggest economy in the world.... we're ranked in the mid-twenties in GDP/per capita & should think about our priorities accordingly - how do we make things better for the population as a whole not just the globally exposed elite.... but this is also to do with the domination of London in the sights of the political class

Well, no-one is likely to be surprised, but (as rumours have suggested for a week or so) NASA are asking Space-X to recover the two astronauts stranded at International Space Station by their malfunctioning Boeing built space craft.

Of course this adds to Boeing's problems, and any thought that Musk will do this quietly or without a high-profile pop at Boeing seems miss-placed.

#boeing #space #spaceX #ElonMusk

The gig economy, the exploitation of migrant workers & the costs of convenience all in this one story about delivery riders living in a 'shanty town' in Bristol.

The gig economy, for all it parade of technology & contractor choice, is just a machine for robbing vulnerable workers of their livelihoods via exploitation (with the effective connivance of the state).

When Labour talks about improving workers rights, here's a group that needs that help!

#gigeconomy #workers

https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/aug/24/i-wouldnt-wish-this-on-anyone-the-food-delivery-riders-living-in-caravan-shantytowns-in-bristol

Things don't look to be getting any better at the Met (London's police force), if anything they look to be getting worse.

Having been branded institutionally racist, the Metropolitan Police don't seem to have got a real handle on how to change the character of the force.

If you're thinking 'its just these ten officers, perhaps they've just been unlucky', see it as part of a pattern of racism not a set of isolated incidents.... 'institutional' racism!

#racism #police

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crger07nx4lo

So in an article about 'breaking up with X', the FT's Katie Martin chooses Threads because she says she's lazy & easy to use.... unlike mastodon which is 'clunky'....

I'm not sure why she would find it clunky, but once again the mainstream media would rather go with (just) another Big Tech offering rather than actually explore a real alternative....

It really is like Pete Townsend says in Won't Get Fooled Again.

'Meet the new boss, same as the old boss'!

#Mastodon #mastodonmigration

Carole Cadwalladr offers the story of election violence foretold as she asks whether Elon Musk's role in the far right riots in England was a trial run for what he will do in the US presidential election?

My American friends: forewarned is forearmed - please, if you are not already thinking about this, take Cadwalladr's warning seriously (very seriously!).

With your levels of gun ownership Musk's influence will almost surely be fatal!

#ElonMusk #USPol

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/18/inciting-rioters-in-britain-was-a-test-run-for-elon-musk-just-see-what-he-plans-for-america