There is one nationalised industry that most people support. They often do not see its failings. Indeed, most do not think of it as a nationalised industry. Most think it as a natural monopoly. Most protect it because it is provided “free” at the point of use. I am talking about roads.
The truth is like many nationalised industries state run roads let us down and cost us a fortune. The state provides too little capacity and makes using the roads difficult. It is run as a monopoly with rationing, and with an ever increasing array of rules enforced by fines and other penalties. Far from being free to users, drivers are fleeced in so many ways. Drivers are made to pay an annual fee for keeping a vehicle. They pay 55% of their fuel costs in tax, with VAT even charged on the fuel duty itself. They pay high VAT and tax on buying new vehicles. They have to pay heavy parking charges for parking in publicly owned car parks and on sections of the highway, tolls on some bridges, and congestion charges in some urban areas. Some have to pay high fees for residents parking.
This contrasts with nationalised rail where fares are VAT exempt, diesel for trains attracts a very low duty rate and there are no special charges for keeping or buying a train.
Worse still is the state of the roads. The main motorways and A roads, usually dualled, that take the bulk of the traffic are run by the national government through the Highways Agency. There has been no attempt to complete a proper network serving the main cities, ports, airports and train stations. There is still no south coast motorway. There is no fully dualled A 303 road to the south west. There is too little capacity across the Pennines, inadequate roads to Felixstowe and Dover, two of our busiest ports and no main highway between Oxford and Cambridge to top the golden triangle ear marked for more homes and business investment. There are many other regional gaps and uncompleted main routes. The state has usually adopted a string of beads approach, dualling individual by passes along a main highway but not dualling the whole. The Highways Agency seems to be run by people who want to ration our access to roadspace, rather than by a growth driven organisation that wishes to expand to meet the obvious existing and growing demand.
Road management often leaves much to be desired as well. Potholes and poor surfaces are becoming a problem even on these national highways. There is endless tinkering with them overnight with clumsy lane and whole road closures disrupting journeys and driving trucks onto smaller roads. The policy to convert some safety lanes into additional running lane capacity had its critics which led to expensive and complex initial works being followed by more cost and disruptive remedial works. The advent of so called smart motorways gives them powers to intervene over lanes closures and speeds which are not always judged well.
The state did build one of the most vital pieces of twentieth century infrastructure when it completed the M 25. Without this the UK economy would be throttled by having to route too many goods and people through London with its medieval street plan and hostile Councils. The road was so successful that soon its critics switched from claiming it was not needed to claiming it had become a large car park from congestion. Subsequent attempts to widen it were always too little too late. The expansion has also led to intrusive works delaying traffic over a period of many months. The failure to put in wide enough bridges initially left no room for expansion without expensive replacement of bridges.
A similar attempt to provide a ringway around Birmingham also produced a good road that was too small. There government allowed an experiment with the provision of additional private sector roadspace. The M6 toll road has provided much needed extra capacity at no cost to the taxpayer. Those who want the certainty of no congestion or no delays pay for the toll road, freeing more of the space on the nationalised alternative for those who do not want to pay or cannot afford to. It’s a win win for payers and users of the free system.
When I produced a report for the incoming Cameron government on economic policy with Simon Wolfson of Next we argued that we needed to go over to private capital for roads to tackle the scarcity and poor performance. We suggested selling long leases of the main roads for around £100 bn to companies that would improve and manage them and expand them, collecting toll revenues which would be subject to regulation. This money would be used to cut the state debt, cutting the interest bill by enough to abolish Vehicle Excise Duty. The tolls were to be set so that on average no-one was worse or better off from the tolls versus the cancelled VED. The scheme would have been mildly redistributional from richer to poorer as lower income people tend to drive fewer miles. Drivers could also always divert from the national highways to the free local roads if they wished. I understand why George Osborne rejected this as too difficult, as polling said people would oppose it , believing they would end up paying more. I did not pursue the idea further and am not recommending it today.
This leaves the Birmingham model as the obvious hybrid to adopt. Letting the private sector build new relief roads is a win win, freeing road space on so called free roads whilst offering those in a hurry or wanting a better service the option of paying for it. Every time I have used the M6 Toll it has been free flowing, with a good quality of service and easy payment technology. The services are also good and not under the same pressure as the often crowded and sparse service areas on the free network. The free network decided to strictly limit service areas giving them strong monopoly like positions.
The government could draw up a list of motorways and main A roads where a relief road or a new route is needed. The government would need to offer planning permission for the construction to companies bidding to be granted the rights. The government could offer a long lease with future reversion, or the freehold. They could set criteria and requirements on the private contractors bidding, and award to the one in each case that offered the best package.
This government is cutting back on the scarcely adequate new roads programme it inherited. The public and business votes with its vehicles, choosing 59% of all trips by car and just 2% by train. Rail freight’s market share has fallen a long way under BR and now Network Rail. Gone are the days of more sidings in industrial plants and branch lines into business estates. Today new business parks are located near motorways and trunk roads. The railway likes trainload quantities which few producers can now manage. To take a bigger share of freight as many would like it needs more active marketing of single wagon marshalling with new branch lines into leading business centres. In the meantime more truck fleets take to the roads, hammering the surfaces with their high axle weights.
If the government cannot bring itself to allow some private capital to top up and improve our road network it needs to find the borrowings to put in more highway. You cannot have a growing economy without more transport capacity. The government has put a target for growth of railfreight into its nationalisation plans, but so far has not produced any supporting material to show how it will identify new customers and pick up their loads, let alone deliver them to their end destination. The truth is roads go everywhere in the UK and rail only go to a limited number of places with stations. The marketing , service arrangements and pricing still favour the truck door to door over the train for part of the journey.
When it comes to passengers too few people live close to a rail station or wish to go to a destination close to a station. Most so called rail journeys include two car/taxi/bus journeys as well as a train ride. You do not go shopping by train for the weekly groceries. You cannot usually take the children to school by train outside London. Most households with two workers need two cars to get each to work, usually travelling in different directions. To get growth in business and to help people do their jobs we need better roads with more capacity. That starts with the national network. The debate should be about how to raise the money and how to pay for it.
July 29, 2026
Ironically it was a Judge who nationalised roads.
All property owners were originally responsible for maintaining the road adjacent to their property, but as the great highways developed, property owners on the Great North Road etc reached the point where they were unable to abide by that law.
One individual was taken to court for failing to maintain his section of the (A1). His defence was that it’s maintenance cost more than he earned and the time required was more than one man could work.
The Assizes Judge ruled that maintaining Highways must be a community undertaking. No law can be made that is impossible for the law abiding to live by, such is the humanity and grace of the English Common Law.
Now we have the situation that in spite of taxing Road users more than the maintenance of roads costs, the State refuses to abide by the law and maintain the highways.
I wish a sound Assizes Judge could Rule.
July 29, 2026
Indeed interesting .
All sound stuff from JR not only do they not provide sufficient road and parking spaces but they reduce road capacity with bus and bike lanes often giving half the road space to 5% of the traffic and forcing 95% to use the other half. Self driving cars and taxis which will be far cheaper as no driver will further increase traffic demand. Trains are already rather uncompetitive and will get even less so.
If more roads and less congestion people can spend less time in their cars not more. If any rationing is needed it should be done by price not congestion causing as now.
July 29, 2026
Well people will soon be priced out of car ownership. So traffic volume will be less of an issue.
In London it is now unpleasant to drive. Kingston to Leatherhead is gridlocked with long term roadworks to replace electricity cables. There is often no work being done. Nobody working around the clock to speed things up.
In London it is possible to shop using the bus or train, maybe walking too. The big weekly shop may be too much – but in earlier decades shopping was more frequent and more local. Everything was a stones throw of our house when I was a child. Baker, grocer, greengrocer, butcher, wet fish shop, post office, newsagent, toy shop, pub and off licence and the church. There were even public conveniences, remember them?
I do use the train to shop in Wimbledon and Clapham from time to time. Train station is not far and there is a 24 hour bus not far way on the main road. I used to drive and know rat runs, but I had a parking space at work. A while ago you could park on Waterloo Bridge for a night out. Now anywhere close to Wimbledon, Kingston or Sutton has no free parking. If I am not driving I don’t have the stress and I can stop in a pub for a break without it affecting my ability to drive home.
July 29, 2026
JR “Most so called rail journeys include two car/taxi/bus journeys as well as a train ride” Often four journeys in practice two at each end with say a wife car drop off or taxi pick up. Two legs with no passengers just the driver.
With faster trains they have fewer stops so these end connection become longer and door to door times often end up longer too.
July 29, 2026
So Burnham invites the Tories and Libdem to discussions about long term care (a new kind of politics he says). Yet the party that in polling is expected to get the highest share of the votes at a general election “Reform” is not even invited.
Libdems current share of the vote in polling is well below half that of Reform and slightly below the mad Gillotine Greens . Reform is still well ahead of Labour and the Conservative (in share of the vote – about 25% compared to about 20%).
Reply. He probably decided to invite 2 next biggest parties in Commons as they have the votes to help secure change. Opinion polls are very volatile. Most Elected MPs are around for a Parliament.
There is also the complication that the Reform leader is not an MP and is fighting a by election and therefore governed by electoral rules over publicity. Should the PM have invited the candidate in the Clacton by election who is currently ahead in polls? Or should he have asked Reform to nominate an MP as acting leader to attend?
July 29, 2026
Well whomever is the party nominate in the commons I suppose, but the Clacton by election is only two weeks tomorrow anyway.
Reply Yes but PM in a hurry to get views as he stumbles into the social care disaster
July 29, 2026
+1
July 29, 2026
Anyone who breaks the speed limit should have their car seized and auctioned to finance more road cops.
July 29, 2026
We need more public debate on speed limits. I expect the authorities to enable people to travel faster rather than continually lowering speed limits. No development without improving the road network to compensate for the risk of more junctions.
July 29, 2026
What even the absurd 20 mph limits where you even get overtaken by cyclists? These are clearly designed mainly to mazimise motorist muggings. Why not go for full capital punishment of drivers doing 23 mph?
July 29, 2026
Such a silly comment, not worth a thoughtful reply.
July 29, 2026
It would be interesting and instructive to compare UK’s case with how roads are financed and used in other countries. To deal with the substantial increase in traffic demand, Singapore has implemented various pricing policies with the aim of restraining car ownership and usage. These measures generate substantial revenue which helps finance transportation projects. Malaysia, on the other hand, has greatly expanded its road network, introduced road tolls and embarked on an aggressive privatisation programme to help finance its infrastructure projects and increase their cost efficiency.
As UK’s population rapidly increases parts of it need to adopt Singapore’s policies while other parts could learn from Malaysia. Either way the root cause of the problems in UK is mass immigration, of largely unproductive people, causing the population to increase while infrstructure and services struggle to meet demand. Curbing immigration and making it far more selective is at least a major part of the solution to most of UK’s problems.
Also of interest are Sweden and Finland. Sweden has an unusual system where roughly two-thirds of its total road network consists of private roads, owned and maintained by private landowners or local cooperatives. However, the Swedish government still owns and maintains the primary national highways and transit routes.
July 29, 2026
As you mention later on, the root cause of many of our ills is MASS IMMIGRATION, most of people who are not putting into the system or, taking more out than putting in. I highlight your above sentence because I think our so called betters see Singapore as a model for the UK. Problem is, they lack the ability to see that oranges and not the same as lemons, and you cannot treat one nation and its people the same as another.
July 29, 2026
Further to my preb=vious comment, Australia also has many toll roads and they don’t necessarily lead to congestion free travel.
July 29, 2026
We don’t need more road capacity; we need fewer people. This country continues to import too many people, and the infrastructure can no longer cope. It’s not just the roads, it’s everything – water, schools, NHS, energy, transport, finances, food, housing. In fact, everything that classifies a country as first world. To look at the symptoms and not the cause is the main failing of governments over the last few decades. Stop the majority of immigration, start deporting people, and the infrastructure will sort itself out. And while you are at it, stop rewarding the feckless and sort out the welfare state, which we can no longer afford. None of this is rocket science.
Reply I have explained many times the costs and difficulties caused by large scale inward migration.Our roads are far too congested at current population levels.
July 29, 2026
Christine
I certainly agree we have a population problem, which is now causing chaos for everything Nationwide.
Sadly our Politicians seem unwilling to control it in any way, so all services will get even worse.
July 29, 2026
But Burnham assures us his immigration strategy is working and Daren Jones assures us they are mainly women and children. Doubtless all are totally law abiding, doctors, top scientists or engineers too and have brought 500k with them to buy a house with. Surely these Labour politicians would not lie to us would they?
July 29, 2026
Good morning.
Bingo !!
As I have always been saying here and elsewhere, the plan for all these cameras, zones and pence per mile is to monetise the road network so they can sell it off.
Now do not get me wrong, I am all for private venture to build and charge for new infrastructure such as the M6 Toll, the QE2 Bridge and so on. What I am very much against is being asked to pay for that which we have already paid for, with no choice but to use it and be charge and extortionate amount for the privilege. We have been here before and we all know the price of the lack of choice. CHOICE being the cornerstone of modern Conservatism as opposed to crony capitalism, which we have now.
Finally the truth emerges.
Reply I am proposing new toll roads, not charging for the roads we already have.Try reading what I write before commenting.
July 29, 2026
This is all a little bit Nuts!
July 29, 2026
Great article. No chance Labour will do anything imaginative. All they’ll want to do is spend public money, most likely in a slow and wasteful way as with HS2. Dispiriting to hear that Cameron and Osborne blocked your and Simon Wolfson’s plan. Imagine where we’d be now if that had got going 15 years ago!
Can I suggest you send a 1 page summary to Kemi and see whether she will initiate a comprehensive policy review on this topic so the Conservatives have a well thought through policy to present come the election?
July 29, 2026
“All they want to do is spend public money,” preferably spend on themselves rather than providing anything of much value to tax payers!
July 29, 2026
We travel down to the South of France each year and choose to use the toll roads, cost is about £75.00 each way when all bits are added together, which is not cheap BUT:
The roads are excellent with little congestion, you can cruise easily at the maximum allowed speed between 70 – 80 mph (110 -130 KMH) for many hours, meaning you cover ground quickly and efficiently.
Yes they also have speed camera’s, usually well signed in advance, and people are fined for breaking the limit, but no points on your licence.
Yes we could avoid the Toll road and use the Routes National, but it would take considerably longer, with more congestion, stress, fewer miles per gallon, and probably the cost of an extra overnight stop.
Service areas are plentiful, and whilst crowded at peak meal times, are usually efficient.
You pays your money and takes your choice !
Interestingly a Crit Air certification for your car (equivalent to our ULEZ scheme) cost £4.00 for the lifetime of the car, usually anything under 3 will allow access for free in most Cities/Towns that adopt it, over 3 has some restrictions.
Road surfaces are absolutely superb on the toll roads, and put even our new road surfaces to shame.
However France has a much, much greater land mass than the UK with a similar population, so new roads do not have the Planning approval problems that we have here in the more densely populated (per square mile) UK.
With less congestion (vehicles per hour) on their roads, the surfaces last longer before they need repair, but they seem/appear to run a programmed resurfacing maintenance schedule, that avoids too much damage and emergency ad hoc repairs.
July 29, 2026
We already pay a huge amounts as road users – VED, VAT on petrol, fuel duty.
This should just be hypothecated for use on roads.
I would not want to have to pay tolls in order to get from A to B (quicker or not) when I am already paying so much.
That said, I use toll roads in foreign countries to get from A to B quicker so I would be grudgingly nudged towards it if this method was used to build relief roads.
July 29, 2026
If you are going to take more freight by rail, the users need to be assured the service will be available. If rail workers go on strike and the service is lost, the users will have to divert back to road freight and will probably stay with it.
July 29, 2026
More freight by rail rarely works in the small UK as you usually need to use truck at each end so the loading and unloading 4 times rather than 2 rarely works. Might as well sent the truck all the way. Plus we have crime and the unions.
July 29, 2026
The yearly Fee used to be called a road fund tax for a reason. Likewise National Insurance and now Burnham wants a Social Care Fund.
There is a lack of honesty in the UK Parliament, they sell the well-meaning plausible ideas then renege and abuse trust by using the money stolen for their personal ego. All money taken goes into one pot, it is not ear marked for specifics other than personal ‘ego’
Basic tax 20% of earnings, NI 8%, private sector employment tax(what else can you call it) 15%, so already the UK Parliament takes a basic 43% of earnings away from the economy that is for the most part squandered on ego.
When Parliament calls for more money to be taken from the economy, they need to account for what is the real need they are spending the money on. Likewise Burnham’s concern that domestic rates in the south are less than in the North, rather than ask the question were is the money going, the train of thought is lets grab more from those that appear to be coping to subsidies those that are squandering. Manchester B-Line buses are funded by general taxation, that is everyone else’s tax – its an ‘ego’ thing, was Manchester’s need greater than East Anglia?
The UK Parliament its Government don’t do ‘budgeting’ in the same way as they expect every householder in the country to do it. Tailor spend to what is ‘earned’ is for the average person in the UK, if they want to ‘spend’ more then first they have to earn more. But not as it seems for the UK Politico’s, they don’t give a damn about earning to pay all they worry about, is their ego, their self-esteem, so seek to bribe people with their own money so as to get elected
July 29, 2026
The Social Welfare tax will be a “levy” it seems one they will doubtless “ask” us to pay.
July 29, 2026
“The Highways Agency seems to be run by people who want to ration our access to roadspace, rather than by a growth driven organisation that wishes to expand to meet the obvious existing and growing demand.”
Well they have your money already so the less road space they provide the more they have for salaries, expenses and pensions for themselves. Thus we get rationing.
Rather like the NHS which uses queues, rationing, delays and inconvenience in the same ways.
July 29, 2026
People don’t use the M6 toll because the free option usually works OK. The rest of the system is slow so why waste money saving 5 minutes.
The French do toll roads quite well. The secret is not the roads but the compensation paid to land and home owners – it is reasonably generous. Compare with the British who indulge in endless expensive inquiries and are then as tight-fisted as possible with compensation. Treasury rules etc etc. In the end we spend more on lawyers and expert reports than on concrete and tarmac.
Despite good toll roads the French national routes are heavily used and the French have a ‘death or glory’ attitude to overtaking. Reflected in their road death stats. Not a smart idea to bring that notion here.
Appropos Dover. The port is too small. Build new somewhere else or dynamite the White Cliffs to make room. Dover Castle would make good rubble and sea defence masonry.
July 29, 2026
Toll roads work well on the continent, so why not here? If you do not want to pay there is always a free alternative. One obvious difficulty is that, in this country anyway, a charge of this kind is always on top of, rather than instead of, existing extortionate taxes and charges. Some roads in the North of France now collect your number as you drive past, and you pay afterwards, as for ULEZ here, so the irritation of irregular toll stops will soon be a thing of the past.
Like all nationalised industries, road services are run by employees for their own benefit, and not for that of the users.
July 29, 2026
John, I am with you generally on this piece but would make an observation regarding the M6 toll road that bypasses Eastern West Midlands. The A5 used to be a perfect route doing exactly that duty and was built by the Romans so it has stood the test of time. Sadly in order to make the M6 toll the preferred option the A5 was de-trunked with islands and traffic lights at every opportunity. I use the M6 toll when heading towards the East Midlands and pay just over £9 each way for the privilege. The previous uncluttered A5 used to do the job without having to stop or pay an additional £18+.
We need less congested (by council interference measures) roads and we need more direct connecting roads.
An example of this lunacy of traffic planners is decades late construction of a direct connection from the M54 to the northern direction of the M6. the south link was in place from the moment the motorway was constructed some 43 years ago?
Go figure as they say in the USA.
July 29, 2026
It’s simple really. Succesive governments for decades have used motorists as cash cows. I see no possibility of any change.
July 29, 2026
Insightful.
Some interesting considerations.
We can blame the attitude of the Blair government for so much of the lack of decent roads – they stopped investment almost completely, and we’ve seen little improvement since.
My personal complaint is how councils do nothing to improve the capacity of country lanes. They simply cannot be bothered, stating that they have no money and await central government cash to do the most simple work which often doesn’t get done, while at the same time creating cycle paths at great expense which will be used by few people.
Country lanes extended to two lanes would be of great benefit especially on the over-used southern roads. When the M25 get congested or has some other problem it affects all main roads for miles round. Being able to use two lane country roads would at least be a good stop-gap measure to bring tired drivers some relief while we wait for necessity to break through the curtain of inactivity from HMG and councils.
Will Burnham’s devolvement include the power for councils to make decisions about roads in their area?
With congested roads comes bad behaviour – as the roads have become fuller so have the incidents of selfish driving including bad parking, speeding and dangerous driving. Like with so many other soft crimes the police are no longer interested in keeping our roads safe.
July 29, 2026
Using the private model becomes academic if the dead hand of the planning system gets in the way.
July 29, 2026
The greatest danger from roads is opposite-destined traffic colliding at their combined speeds.
Individual one-way roads are more efficient. Two-way roads pose extreme risk because on overtaking, every driver goes into the direct path of opposite-destined vehicles at combined speeds.
The main fault with existing Motorways is that they site opposite-destined traffic in adjacent lanes and need another lane of metal barriers to separate them at a great waste of space, materials, work, time and money. They also add congestion.
Imagine a 4-lane one-way road with a speed limit of 30mph in its first lane and 60mph in its other three. If two such roads needed to reach long distances in opposite directions, it would be sensible to join them, not at the outer 60mph lanes, but at the 30mph lanes. A single zero mph ‘hard shoulder’ could be added to separate them further.
That configuration would add 33% more usable road surface than ‘Motorways’ take.
It would reduce congestion massively and increase the safety cushion of space between each vehicle.
It would deliver more efficient use of fuel and reduce tyre / road wear from constant braking.
There are several other advantages which the government would realise if only it thought instead of wasted.
July 29, 2026
Before we introduce yet more rules and regulations plus signage and paint on our safest roads i.e. the motorways, let us do something about our most dangerous roads. Those roads are country lanes of inadequate width that are now being overgrown with hedges and wild verges making them even more narrowed and more dangerous as people now drive in the middle of the lane to avoid the overgrowth.
The time is approaching when we will need too carry a machete with us to clear a route through the countryside.
July 30, 2026
Perfection is a moving target and needs maintenance.
July 29, 2026
They should trial a maximum speed limit of 85mph on the M6 Toll; it would increase usage and fees and cut journey times. The bottleneck getting onto the M6/M42 could then be fixed.
July 29, 2026
Demonstrates the mess the country has got its self into, ego and vanity getting ahead need/practicalities/costs.
No one thinks through the consequences, they head for today’s headline so as to get elected tomorrow.
UK roads, transport, infrastructure mirror the UK’s tax system and get a pass on reality. Yes, tax is needed for some of the collective responsibility bits. But then tax is then used as an ideological sledge hammer, to manipulate, coheres, etc, not just for need. Then end result is a convoluted expensive to administer blunt instrument that then needs caveats, get outs, hand-backs, allowances, subsidies because political ego contains so many unintended consequences. The UK Parliament has no concept of reality it can’t comprehend what is also called the ‘butterfly effect’ all because they want their personal ego front and foremost before any other considerations.
Not at a tangent at-all, take defence, everyone talks of not what is needed but a spend as a percentage of the countries gross output. If the country doesn’t earn, there is no money for defence. Why is not the same principle imposed on all sectors Parliament/Government steals money for. What would be so wrong if infrastructure, education, health, the State and so on were all reliant on what is earned to pay their way – every household in the UK knows that, it’s called budgeting.
The mess we see everywhere, in every corner of society has as its root the UK Parliament/its Government being run as a personal ego trip. They will ‘fight’ their electorate before they try engaging and working with
It would be reasonable to suggest that if the UK Parliament/Government stopped their personal ideological ego getting in the way, were the only priority to get elected. If they just had an once of ‘Nounce’ of how to run a business they would know success is not about personal satisfaction but about customer satisfaction. That is also the way to win elections
July 29, 2026
Sorry, Sir John, but you are wrong! The amount of tax the motorist already pays is a disgrace, and the Government, of all colours, is too greedy. We don’t want toll roads, so we end up paying more to get from A to B.
First, stop all immigration for 3 to 5 years because the first thing most immigrants want is a car. Second, the Government should provide adequate roads and parking out of its current income from Motorists.
Your idea of tolls replacing VED sounds fine, but based on the last 30 years, the Government would soon shift the balance to leave us worse off.
July 29, 2026
A socialist Parliament will never replace one tax with another. So there will be VED, tolls and charging by the mile. The Net Zero Strategy forces a transition to public transport and active travel to benefit our health.
July 29, 2026
Dear John,
I have talked to you in the past about Hong Kong , having been again two months ago I am still amassed at the building of roads, bridges and tunnels that are still being built. Also whether we like it or not they still build high rise flats , my son lives on the 27th floor, we should do more here instead of building on farm land.
Hope to see you in August of the next lunch, unfortunately can’t make this Saturday at Pauline’s.
July 29, 2026
26 illegals crossed the channel yesterday …..all with international driving licences for their new jobs as takeaway delivery drivers
July 29, 2026
The land of milk & honey ….and benefits
July 29, 2026
“To get growth in business and to help people do their jobs we need better roads with more capacity.”
Firstly there is no intention for there to be business growth and hence prosperity because socialism depends upon making and keeping people poor. More specifically there is no intention to improve roads and expand capacity even though there is an intention to continue with mass, uncontrolled and non-homogeneous immigration. Their intention is to solve the road capacity problem simply by reducing private travel. This will be done by a combination of making private travel, evs, very expensive and employing renewables to generate electricity that is deliberately expensive, chaotically intermittent and scarce and consequently requiring rationing controlled through smart metering. The plans for 15 minute cities will assist their scheme to reduce private travel. It’s known as the Net Zero Strategy.
July 29, 2026
What annoys me are the signs on the M6 telling us “M6 Toll clear”, but not telling us if the old (free) M6 is clear or not.
The M6 Toll is terribly expensive if you are a regular commuter. You pay to use it but there is no guarantee it is without delays. On one occasion there was a 20mph speed limit for quite a substantial length before it joins the M42. But I could not claim my money back.
Also you have an increased length of the (congested) M42 to get through too.
Reply there are apps for your phone/ sat nav to show congestion.
July 29, 2026
The UK/EU reset looms large. The Media has been announced today the the Foreign Secretary Ed Milliband will be running the show for the UK.
We also see 500 new benefit claimants escaped from the EU attracted by Liebours attractive give a ways