Govt firesale

[Clippy]

Roll up, roll up. Come and get your bargains.

Everything must go, no offer refused.

[BrilloPad]

"the student loan book."

excellent. more securitization. should keep the city busy for years.

[MrMark]

There was some talk a few weeks back about selling off the motorway network to toll booth operators. I can see that bringing in a lot of money. Having said that, haven't road users already paid via fuel duty and road tax? Pay once, pay twice, keep paying...

[AtW]

Having said that, haven't road users already paid via fuel duty and road tax?

Yes paid loads, too much in fact.

Problem with that kind of payment is that it does not take into account TIME and PLACE of driving, thus do not help sort out congestion.

[Sockpuppet]

Yes paid loads, too much in fact.

Problem with that kind of payment is that it does not take into account TIME and PLACE of driving, thus do not help sort out congestion.

Flexible working made mandatory will sort out congestion. For example being allowed to start an hour either side of 9am by law (ovbiously as long as its consistent) would help.

I don't think many people choose to start at 9am.

[AtW]

Flexible working made mandatory will sort out congestion. For example being allowed to start an hour either side of 9am by law (ovbiously as long as its consistent) would help.

Yes I agree. If I go to work at 9:00 then I'll get there at 9:15am, and if I go at 8:30am I'd still be same arrival time only with more aggro.

[HairyArsedBloke]

Meanwhile, in a secret boardroom somewhere in the City of London ....

“Right then guys how do we fund this through bonds that we can flog back to the government? We’ve already got HAB on board to launder the cash offshore.”

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for things being in the private sector. It's the evil snot goblin's way of doing it that puts me off. The BoE's QE programme is just going straight back to the Treasury in the purchase of newly issued Gilts. It's like al Adin's "New Gilts for old".

[TykeMerc]

Flexible working made mandatory will sort out congestion. For example being allowed to start an hour either side of 9am by law (ovbiously as long as its consistent) would help.

I don't think many people choose to start at 9am.

Sensible, but I'm not convinced that would have the large effect I think you're hoping for. There are already a lot of people who start at 8am and the roads show that, since the rush "hour" tends to start at 6:30-7:00 am in many parts and carried on to 9:30.
At my last few client sites it's been common to see people in at 7:30-8:00 and leaving about 4:00, there are two in my current office who do just that.

The only things I can see helping congestion are

Make working from home a viable alternative for many, sadly that will take a sizable change in the mindset of many hundreds of thousands of managers in the country (incredibly unlikely).
Build decent, cheap, reliable, safe and clean public transport (incredibly unlikely and expensive)
Price people off the roads (incredibly unpopular and probably won't work)
Build a lot more roads (silly and they would wind up at roughly the same horribly congested city points)
Flying cars
Personal teleportation

[minestrone]

"the student loan book."

excellent. more securitization. should keep the city busy for years.

Student loans have always been the poorest payers for contract staff in Glasgow. 260 was their top level in the good times and they are trying to get that down to 180 just now.

You pay peanuts...

[AtW]

the rush "hour" tends to start at 6:30-7:00 am in many parts and carried on to 9:30. At my last few client sites it's been common to see people in at 7:30-8:00 and leaving about 4:00, there are two in my current office who do just that.

That's because these people travel too far to work and then drive long time back - home working is the answer.