Ultimate net zero lunacy?

The ultimate net zero lunacy is probably de-carbonising and trying to electrify the entire railway system. 

In the first place, the railways in total are not a major consumer of energy. Secondly, a huge amount of energy used by the railways is embodied in structures, rolling stock and electrification equipment. Thirdly, any measures that make the use of railways unnecessarily expensive encourage the use of less efficient alternatives. 

An immense amount of energy is used up in the manufacture of aluminium railway vehicles and the massive steel electrification gallows and goalposts used to hold up the copper wires, which also takes a lot of energy to mine and refine.

Oddly enough the railways of sixty years ago were probably more energy efficient. Locomotives and rolling stock were kept in use for nearly double as long as today, passenger trains ran at 75 mph and freight trundled along at 15 mph on its own lines, the aim being to keep the trains rolling as far as possible on as few lumps of coal. After 1960, rolling stock has been regularly scrapped prematurely, throwing away between a third to a half of its useful service; the trains themselves were designed so that the small parts that got worn could be replaced as required without scrapping the whole thing. 

A further issue with the railways is that the cost of higher speeds tends to get ignored. This does not affect only the energy consumption, but also wear and tear on trains and infrastructure, and the need to design to much higher specifications. The golden range of speeds for passenger trains is between 80 and 100 mph, and for freight, 25 to 50 mph. The lesson has been forgotten.

Brexits misslyckande

Brexits misslyckande ska inte vara en varning mot Swexit. Strax efter Brexit 2020 kom Corona-inlåsningen vilken visade sig senare onödig men ekonomin blev allvarligt skadade. Efter kom Sunaks helikopterpengar som är huvudorsaken till den nuvarande pågående prishöjningar. Vi också förstår att den brittiska regeringen och statsförvaltningen alltid var strängt emot Brexit. De ville inte ta fördelar av de möjligheter för verklig frihandel och skattereformer; man kan säger t o m sabotage.

Storbritannien kunde ha blivit av med den skadliga Eurotax - MOMS som vid 20 % krymper ekonomin ner åtminstone 5% BNP. Storbritannien liknar en fånge som stannar kvar i sin cell när han har släpptes. Förmodligen vill den Brittiska regelklassn inte göra ändringarna eftersom de hoppas att Storbritannien ska återgå EU. Swexit ska vara målet men efter bör vi dra nytta av alla möjligheter inkl skattereformer och verklig frihandel (vilket inte är samma sak som frihandelsavtal).

Västtrafiks virtue signalling for Pride month

Regnbåge flaggar på fordon. Behövs inte. De retar upp folk i onöd, särskilda muslimer för att det går emot sina tro. Det finns tillräckliga regnbåge och flaggor och varianter i stan under Pride månad. Det skulle bli bättre att lägga er uppenbarliga bristande resurser och pengar till rengöring av GS spårvagnars smutsiga ytor med hänsyn till de ljusmålade ytor övanpå fönster. Och att fixa nummerskyltar.

Svar från Västtrafik

Tack för att du hörde av dig till oss på Västtrafik! Att ställa sig bakom budskapet om allas lika värde är en självklarhet för oss. Alla ska känna sig välkomna i kollektivtrafiken. Genom att flagga tar vi ställning för det färgerna symboliserar – inkludering och mångfald. Västtrafik står bakom West Prides vision om en jämlik och inkluderande värld fri från fördomar och diskriminering. Om du har en specifik klagomål på nogon buss som inte funkar eller är trasig kan du såklart återkomma till oss med en specifik tur det gäller på och vi kollar närmare på det. Skulle du ha någon annan fundering så är du varmt välkommen att återkomma. Jag önskar dig en fin dag!

 Mitt Svar

Tack för svaret. Att ställa sig bakom rättvishet är en självklarhet för oss alla - som individer och genom den politiska processen. Västtrafiks uppgift är att driva stadens offentlig transport system i det effektivaste sätt och att lägga alla begränsade resurser till detta mål. Att blanda ihop de två retas upp folk och slösas resurser bort.

The real epidemic

There is some bad science driving the current policies of fresh lockdowns and vaccine passports. The initial virus was indeed dangerous because it had crossed from wild animals to humans. This happened probably due to research which nobody should be doing (as in The Plague Dogs published in 1977 and written by Richard Adams, author of the better known Watership Down).

My guess is that the vaccine was a wild one which had been brought in for study to the research laboratory. My further guess is that it escaped not because anyone caught it, but because the laboratory animals are routinely sold off to the local market traders instead of being incinerated, as a perk of the job for under-paid technicians. Although this seems to have been a laboratory-induced pandemic, poor agricultural and food handling practices are another important contributor to pandemics generally, including living too close to animals and crowding animals together unnaturally.

Once pathogens get into human populations, Darwinian natural selection applies. The most contagious ie the mildest version survives. It does not help the virus to spread if it kills, or sends to bed, whoever it infects. Although we will not know for another couple of weeks, the omicron mutation seems to be the end of the road for this virus. If the virus is no more dangerous than a common cold, as seems likely on the evidence so far, lockdowns, passports and booster vaccines are exactly what should not be applied; it seems as if we have a natural vaccine and it should be encouraged to spread as fast as possible.

The poor outcomes from the original version of Covid seem to have been due largely to the pre-existing epidemic of malnutrition, including overweight and vitamin deficiency. Nobody in authority seems to want to talk about these issues.

Throughout the course of the epidemic, Dr John Campbell has made video reports almost every day. He is worth following. Unfortunately, politicians and commentators seem mostly not to have taken on what he has been saying.

Covid is probably over but there will be other pandemics. Action needs to be taken to reduce the risk, and everyone needs to be better prepared. The root causes need to be tackled.

What is Land Value Tax? Part 4

Mutually self-punishing trade policy

The government of country X subsidises widget production by giving its taxpayers' money to Widgeprod Inc. Its taxpayers are the losers.

Widgeprod then sells its subsidised widgets in country Y, which makes them good value to those who can buy them. Widgeproduits SA is threatened with the loss of most of its business and persuades the its own government to put a tariff on everything from country X.

This keeps Widgeproduits AS in business but everyone else in country Y paying through the nose for all imports from country Y.

The alternatives would have been for Widgproduits AS to side-step the competition by making something else (these situations rarely develop overnight) or cease production. The money customers save on the cheaper Widgeprod goods is spent elsewhere into the economy of country Y, and the foreign exchange that flows into country X is ultimately spent in country Y.

The subsidy is a net economic loss to country X. The punitive tariffs are a loss to country Y. Why does this idea of mutual self-harm persist?

What is Land Value Tax? Part 3

Part 1s and 2 seem to have disappeared from the website of the Land Value Taxation Campaign but you can see them on YouTube. The website has been re-designed and much improved, but there are still a few issues to be resolved.