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Tom Forth Profile picture
@thomasforth
Nov 18, 2021 • 6 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X
Scrolly
Let's say you wanted to compare spending over the past 12 years by region/nation of the UK on detailed things like "railway" and "local public transport". We built a tool @ODILeeds to let you do that. open-innovations.org/projects/jrf/u…
@ODILeeds All open source code for the analysis. All open data for the data. Lets you make graphs like this. Does all the "yes but per capita" and "yes but inflation" and "yes but what about current spending vs. capital spending" that people will demand that you do. open-innovations.org/projects/jrf/u…
@ODILeeds If you're happy with less detail, you can have twenty years of data. open-innovations.org/projects/jrf/u…
@ODILeeds Maybe you're the type of person that says "but Tom, that's not a fair comparison, you're comparing a city, London, with a region, Yorkshire"? Well I have great news for you, so many of you asked those questions that we built up special comparable regions! open-innovations.org/projects/jrf/u…
As I mention often, but still get screamed at and get accused of being virulently anti-London and divisive, The types of spending where more happens in the South East are very rare. Mostly, we spend the same per person everywhere. open-innovations.org/projects/jrf/u…
We spend loads more on health and on education than we do on infrastructure, R&D, and culture. And on those things we spend the same amount in the South East that we spend in the North.
open-innovations.org/projects/jrf/u…

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More from @thomasforth

Tom Forth Profile picture
Oct 15
"Why Microsoft Excel won’t die" > because it has long been, and remains, the best piece of software ever written. I am always deeply sceptical of Excel haterz. economist.com/business/2024/…
Today I used Excel, with a colleague, to collaborate in real time. We checked 400 company to domain name matches together. Perfect synchronisation. Then we calculated the data that went into these graphs. Then we made the graphs. It all worked perfectly. Best software ever. Image
Yesterday I finished analysing the results of our economists survey in Excel. I made these graphs and diagrams in Excel. Just fantastic. I use Excel almost every day. From millions of rows to just a handful. Pivot tables to quick calculations. Best software ever. Amazing. Image
Image
Read 9 tweets
Tom Forth Profile picture
Sep 12
During Covid we massively boosted NHS funding. It remains high as a percentage of our economy. By some measures (read the article before you rage at me) we've got about 20% more staff delivering no more output. ifs.org.uk/articles/there…

Image
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This isn't just an NHS thing. We've got similar stagnant productivity across much of the public and private sector. I focus in detail only on transport. Because no-one can focus on detail beyond a small sector. In transport we can see the inefficiency all around us if we look.
Just in Leeds, we've got,
* free roads that people pay for in time by sitting in traffic.
* short, diesel trains that run too frequently.
* buses that run off peak as frequently as in the peak.
* subsidies that push people off efficiency, big, fast trains onto slow buses.
* ,...
Read 15 tweets
Tom Forth Profile picture
Aug 8
As a Brit I accept that I don't have American style freedom of speech.
But I do have the freedom to hang my washing up outside, unlike most of you Americans with your HOA rules.
Gonna cross a road without mechanised permission later. Might even go wild and cross at the crossing while the man is red.
Some mocking replies suggesting my life is unliveable without air conditioning. "mostly cloudy, feels like 16ºC (61F)" is my midsummer life. The air requires no conditioning. My drink requires no ice. My eyes require no shade. Image
Read 9 tweets
Tom Forth Profile picture
May 22
I've written about the successes and failures of Scottish devolution and why it's so popular among Scots. tomforth.co.uk/unreasonablesu…
TLDR: it's the economy, stupid. Scotland has outperformed England's since devolution. The overperformance is particularly large in Scottish cities, which have broken out of the productivity trap English cities remain trapped in. Image
When devolution came into force, Scotland's economy was the same strength as the West Midlands. It has since grown twice as fast and overtaken East England. The underperformance of the West Midlands vs. Scotland is two to four Brexits in scale, but England doesn't seem to care. Image
Read 5 tweets
Tom Forth Profile picture
Apr 30
Lots of other good points. Wind farms, free tuition, democracy, etc... but I still think it's the economics that matters most. If Scotland's economy with devolution had performed as badly as Yorkshire's or the West Midlands I think there'd be calls to undo it.
Of course Scots don't track GDP numbers. But a society can feel it's prosperity. Scots have friends, family, and work in places like Newcastle, Sunderland, Leeds, Bradford, Birmingham, and Wolverhampton. They can feel their relative prosperity and success since devolution.
If Scotland's success is because of fiscal transfers then,... that's a reason to support a mechanism that retains those transfers.
.
But North England and the West Midlands are much bigger recipients of transfers within the UK. Image
Read 5 tweets
Tom Forth Profile picture
Mar 31
That Indian railway electrification number seems to check out. Coloured = electrified. Black = not electrified.
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Here's the part of Europe with similar population density to North England vs. North England.
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Denmark used to be the country that propped up the UK on rail electrification lists. Then they had a disastrous attempt to buy new diesel trains and realised that electrification was the sensible option. So they,... just did it. Two thirds done now. uk.bane.dk/en/Projects/El…
Read 5 tweets

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