State of the Market

[SchumiStars]

I have no idea how HS2 will help anyone unless it's cargo or someone very important, needing to travel.

It won't be cheap to use. Anyone thinking that travel will be faster, yes it will, if you are willing to pay the extortionate sums for it.

Considering companies are saving costs with offices, would they then want to pay for individuals to travel unless necessary and then would they want them to travel on a premium service to save 30mins?

Generally the companies I have worked for have usually insisted on economy flights and travel.

It's probably one of the reasons why it's projected to be operational by 2035, 10yrs away, if it's on-time, as the government have got one local builder it, sucking his teeth saying another £50k please.

I do marvel at the bullet train in Japan...my gosh...absolutely awesome. Even the trains in France are better and faster, I used the service to get Lille to euro Disney in 90mins IIRC.

[SussexSeagull]

I have no idea how HS2 will help anyone unless it's cargo or someone very important, needing to travel.

It won't be cheap to use. Anyone thinking that travel will be faster, yes it will, if you are willing to pay the extortionate sums for it.

Considering companies are saving costs with offices, would they then want to pay for individuals to travel unless necessary and then would they want them to travel on a premium service to save 30mins?

Generally the companies I have worked for have usually insisted on economy flights and travel.

It's probably one of the reasons why it's projected to be operational by 2035, 10yrs away, if it's on-time, as the government have got one local builder it, sucking his teeth saying another £50k please.

I do marvel at the bullet train in Japan...my gosh...absolutely awesome. Even the trains in France are better and faster, I used the service to get Lille to euro Disney in 90mins IIRC.

Had it been completed and reached the north it would have built capacity and connected major cities. However as it stands it is a very expensive way of getting between London and Birmingham.

[SchumiStars]

Ironically, however with the way things are currently, it probably would be more feasible to build the 3rd runway at LHR.

Upgrading the airport in the current foreseeable climate will provide the capacity in the future. Rather than wait until it gets to breaking point, again and then want to do something about it

[SchumiStars]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4807xjze9o

There does seem to be a push from the government now to get people back to the office. As I have always said, it promotes growth, cohesion and a bigger GDP.

[gables]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4807xjze9o

There does seem to be a push from the government now to get people back to the office. As I have always said, it promotes growth, cohesion and a bigger GDP.

He would say that.... from the article... "The businessman-turned-TV personality, who owns office space in central London, has launched into the debate over remote working, sparked by the shift in work patterns following the Covid pandemic."

[ensignia]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4807xjze9o

There does seem to be a push from the government now to get people back to the office. As I have always said, it promotes growth, cohesion and a bigger GDP.

What does that article you've posted have to do with the Government trying to get people back into the office?

It's about Alan Sugar, a crusty old billionaire with a vested interest in commercial property, rolling out the tired line of "wfh isn't real work".

[fulcon]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4807xjze9o

There does seem to be a push from the government now to get people back to the office. As I have always said, it promotes growth, cohesion and a bigger GDP.

That's promotional material for the new series of The Apprentice disguised as news. If Lord Sugar really believes you need to turn up to an office, perhaps he should take a look at his House of Lords attendance record.

[avonleigh]

People are not going to go back into the office. Remote working is here and is here to stay. That's not going to change.

[dsc]

People are not going to go back into the office. Remote working is here and is here to stay. That's not going to change.

Sorry to say that is simply not true, I'd say that a large majority of jobs ads I looked at in the last 6 months have all been hybrid with varying amount of days required in the office. There's still people with fully remote positions (me included) but those often started back in the Covid days when this was the norm, new positions seem to be moving away from that more and more.

[edison]

What I think is slightly academic. There is a perception with many that Reform will come in and either stop immigration entirely or bring it down to very low numbers and that is influencing the national conversation.

Plus, I think there is a consensus forming that we need to start training some of our own people rather than just importing them. Remains to be seen what this means in reality but I definitely think the mood music has changed amongst people who are fine with immigrants but are beginning to question the levels of immigration.

Over 50% of non-EU immigrants come over to do relatively low paid jobs in health and social care, retail, education, hospitality and transport. All sectors that already can't attract enough UK born workers.

Who exactly is going to train people? Most companies don't invest much in staff training and development of staff as they see it as a drain on the bottom line.

Many people slag off universities and suggest large proportions of students should do an apprenticeship instead. But who is going to create apprenticeships for say, 100,000 extra students a year? Many existing apprenticeship schemes are poor with high dropout rates.

I totally agree that we need to significantly improve the numbers and quality of UK born people in the sectors above as well as high growth/high paid jobs in STEM, but I doubt any UK government is going to be able to achieve this in the next 10-15 years.