Nope. But privately-funded transport projects are fine by me! 40% of £6bn is still quite some public money spent on tunnels...
However tunnels have never been cheap to construct, as the Victorians discovered when they started to build our railway network. The same could be said for under ground networks all over Europe and beyond. The only way to travel across London by train is under ground. I'm curious to know whether you have ever actually visited the capital.
Expensive tunnels that aren't necessary to offer similar improvements to transport usage elsewhere in the country!
So effectively what you are saying is that the current plans for the Northern Hub are sufficient to improve rail infrastructure in the North (or at least in the North West).
No, because there is none, and that's precisely the problem.
In that case why do you think that the companies that are investing money in the Crossrail project are not interested in rail infrastructure projects in the North? Perhaps it's because they are not in the slightest bit interested in relocating from the South East and the same goes for their employees.
Oh, the 'they will go abroad' argument, this is so misused. I didn't say it wouldn't be a challenge to structure our economy in a way that offers at least two or three pinnacles of business given the state it's in at the moment, but it should never have been allowed to develop in that way. If losing a little bit (and it is a little bit, because the firm either values the UK market or it doesn't) of that international repute to build a fairer and more stable economy in the long-term is the price we have to pay then...
We're talking about international conglomerates that have their European headquarters in London. The UK market is only a small part of the European market. Good luck in telling people that they've lost their jobs because you wish to wreck London's excellent reputation for business. Let's face it; what you are proposing is never going to happen.
I did just say I'm not qualified to fix our economy by myself, but I would suggest picking two other places apart from London and focussing on how to try to distribute certain industries centers in those. Polices on development and building, tax, research and development and transprot and infrastructure would all be instrumental in this.
So if you're not qualified, why are you entering into a discussion about it? Whilst I would agree that the North deserves better public transport infrastructure, tax breaks to try and encourage businesses to move to the North would never be sustainable and the Government would never entertain the idea. There are plenty of R & D facilities in and around Cambridge so why bother moving them and losing your talent pool? You can build all the business parks that you like but getting people to move to the North will be much, much harder.
What is there to be envious of? I've just told you London is heading for a long-term economic meltdown - and this time, it might affect more than just the financial industry.
London itself did not create the financial crisis of 2007, the banks did. That would have happened no matter where the UK's financial centre happened to be. You have no credible evidence to suggest that London is heading for what you describe as a long term economic meltdown.
This is also a dangerous economic phenomenon that backs up my point about overheating in the South East - it's called the Wage-Price Spiral. It ultimately leads to hyper-inflation.
I would agree that inflation is very dangerous to an economy. However you can be absolutely certain that the Bank of England would never allow hyper-inflation to develop. Hence the target inflation figures that the Government sets the bank.
I'm not really sure I understand this point. The South East is fuller and more expensive than the other English regions? The provision of utilities is different; they cost more as more people try to use them! I don't think anyone is suggesting that the whole of greater London has been concreted over, it is after all a very large area... but my reference was to Land Values, which represents an ever growing number of pounds chasing the same physical amount of space - which ultimately makes it more expensive.
The South East is fuller than other regions because that's where people want to live! If utilities were more expensive to deliver in the South East my water bill would be higher than my sisters who lives in Derbyshire. And guess what, it isn't! I concur that land isn't cheap in London, which is why many people choose to commute for an hour once they start to raise families etc. However they are all still happy to work in London.
Very true, demand this out of balance seems dangerous or unnatural doesn't it? And it has human consequences too where people can no longer afford to live there despite their family/friends/roots being there (see the BBC Panorama on Brent).
That could be said for other areas all over the country. I have relatives who live in Dentdale in North Yorkshire. Property in the Northern Dales has become very expensive which makes it much harder for young people, to stay in the Dales. Believe me the problems which you highlight are not exclusive to London.
But London's economy does damage the rest of it, that's precisely what we've all been trying to say :x
Who is "we" exactly?
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Please tell me that sentence is tongue in cheek.
No it's a statement of fact.