Israel is sieging their side of the border, and Egypt said they wouldn't let foreign nationals out until Israel allows aid into Gaza, which hasn't happened.
Problem solved, right? What do you do with the millions of people that are stuck in Gaza. You would think that jewish people out of all people would understand that genocide is not acceptable.
Frankly, complaints about Israel on this exact front have been plentiful for decades. Their settlers, artillery, white phosphorous bombs and so forth, all have been targeting civilians for as long as I can remember, and are clearly documented at doing so in the last few days as well. It feels like everyone rushing to condemn only Hamas has just gotten their first dose of this conflict this week - there isn’t a “good guy” side here, period (besides of course, the actual innocent civilians being killed on both sides).
The biggest benefit is capacity, with the fast intercity trains running on a new line you have much more space to run more local and freight services on existing lines. Due to the current difference in speeds on the same lines, the capacity is limited even more because trains have to be spaced out more to stop them catching up with each other, so you get more than one extra trains capacity on the existing lines for each intercity train moved off.
With regards to WFH, it’s not as big of an impact as you might think, and even those working from home still travel. Rail usage is mostly back to how it was pre pandemic, but with some changes. There’s now more leisure traffic than there was before, and fewer commuters.
It’s really not a good idea to stop at this point. We’ve committed to the most expensive part which will be under-used without the rest. The tories have had more than a decade being in charge and they’ve done nothing to try to control the costs, while also trying to reduce risk which then increases costs. There’s also the myth that has become pervasive recently that government debt works like household debt, which isn’t true. Most government debt is owned by the Bank of England, which is controlled by the government. In harder economic times the government should be spending more to stimulate the economy, not continually imposing austerity.
So the compromise is diverting the money that was allocated to other travel infrastructure ventures up North. Just categorically shows the contractors were either incompetent with their forecasting, or negligent with their execution. No inquiry, just closed book, ‘Next’.
The “reallocation” is bullshit. If they’re spending money in Manchester in the next few years it isn’t the same money that would’ve been used for HS2 because that wasn’t due to be delivered until later. And the majority of the projects are just things they’ve already promised to do before and have already been neglecting. The tory manifesto of 2015 promised electrification of the midland main line to Sheffield, and notably the new list of promises won’t bring the massive increase in capacity that HS2 would have, and that we need. On top of that a quarter of this money is going to fixing potholes…
There’s many reasons why HS2’s costs have risen, but notably it was the tories who’ve been in power the whole time and have had the opportunity to look into it, but have decided it isn’t worth the effort apparently.
If not already clear, this comment was absolutely meant as a complement to you. I plan to teach this phrase to my continental coworkers when they visit us in the US next week. They're always seeking ways to expand their English language skills.
And since they continue to challenge me about the acceptability (in US english) over the phrase "Ulrike washes her coffee cup in the toilet every day," I think this is fair. We would accept: washroom, restroom, or bathroom without thinking twice. We might even pass over "in the shitter" and although it would be considered much less polite it would be excusable in a non-native speaker and probably not even noticeable in some of the more salty regions of the US.
I find it interesting how nationalistic machismo handicaps countries on the world stage. Refusing to negotiate and browbeating other countries might play well internally, but it wins you 0 friends to rely on later.
I not talking about boycotts. I’m talking about giving him attention and publicity that he wouldn’t otherwise get. Like live streaming his trial, for example.
They said they weren’t talking about boycotts - as in they are not shaming us for participating in the discussion of this.
They then say
Im talking about giving him attention and publicity that he wouldn’t otherwise get. Like live streaming his trial, for example.
As in that the live streaming of his trial is a bad thing.
They talked about the trial the whole time, you two just misunderstood each other, it’s what happens.
bbc.co.uk
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