Thread by @RussInCheshire

A crisis - and boy oh boy, do we have a crisis - is the perfect time to change everything.

Obviously there's the urgent immediate issue to deal with, but unless you're very stupid (I'll come back to that) you'd take the opportunity to fix underlying problems too.

Our govt is very stupid.

Their solution is: more of the same. Tax cuts will fix it. The market will fix it. Deregulation will fix it. And centrally-directed plans are "interfering with the market" and cause chaos.

We've had 40 years of that. Look where we are.

George Osborne promised his corporate tax cuts and shrinking the state would revitalise the nation, create growth and raise wages. He did it every year from 2010 to 2016.

And every year from 2010 to 2016 he cut his growth forecasts, wages fell, and the nation slid into despond.

Stability, predictability and a strategic plan are FAR more important than tax cuts.

Nobody is going to commit to big spending if the country is shambolic, there's no viable plan (or even an unviable one), and the govt randomly rips up treaties it doesn't like.

We are facing multiple crises on every front, and almost all of them are because we've massively underinvested for years. Cancelling NHS training in 2011 saved a few pennies in 2011, but is WILDLY expensive and harmful now.

Same with cancelling "green crap". And rail investment

And school investment. Apprenticeships. Roads. Borders. Water infrastructure. Energy. Transport. Childcare. Social care.

Public investment in higher education was slashed, and now we are short of almost ONE MILLION science and engineering grads, without whom we can't function.

The crisis is coming to a head, and it's time to re-evaluate.

We need a proper strategy. This doesn't necessarily mean everything needs to be nationalised (nor does it mean it should remain private).

It just means govt needs to provide direction and reward those meeting it.

It feels to me like the most vital, urgent, necessary things all revolve around climate. This is existential. Nothing else matters if we don't solve that.

We need a strategy to create domestic renewable energy. Tidal. Wind. Solar. Battery. And a grid to support it.

The market can't do this alone. If it could, it would have by now. It's had 40 years, but all that's happened is "efficiency" drives (meaning pay cuts for you, dividends for shareholders, and minimal long-term investment).

That's not what the country/planet needs.

So: right now, immediately, start pouring money into STEM education.

Trade raw materials to build steelworks and industrial talent that lets us create tidal and wind power. Push this at a national, governmental level. Make this a focus.

Invest public money in semiconductor tech that allows us to build solar farms domestically. Place solar in every motorway central reservation. Place them over parts of canals and reservoirs, where they won't eat into valuable land, and will also reduce evaporation.

That's medium term. But we can also revitalised the economy now - immediately - by paying people a PROPER WAGE to carry out a centrally-directed programme of mass insulation of homes. And mass replacement of gas boilers with electric. Tens of thousands of jobs, right now.

We can also create a programme of re-wilding and tree planting. Every verge, every border, every field.

This will create thousands of jobs, and also begin to (slightly) mitigate climate change while we transform. Start this today. It would help pull us through the recession.

Meat is a major driver of climate change, and you might not like it, but we have to cut down.

I don't like the idea of heavily taxing it, cos this just means only the rich can ever get meat. Instead - you won't like this - ration it. If you have health needs, more rations.

This would also free up large areas of pasture for other food production, or housing.

Build massively. Swamp the market. Push down prices. We spend GIANT amounts on bricks and mortar, and spending less would mean we can invest more in humans - education, health, etc.

Once again, doing this would create tons of jobs. Training builders and trades, employing them, building homes, and all the associated industries - insulation, furniture, etc.

And people spending less on mortgages can spend more on other things, which also creates jobs.

Legislate to force water companies to repair leaks and build reservoirs.

They currently fix 0.05% of our pipes per annum - this means they expect our sewers to last 2000 years. WHAT?

Legislate: increase repairs to 1% a year, or you're not allowed to make dividend payments.

Invest immediately in healthcare, and not just physical stuff like hospitals: training too.

Pay health workers more, cos we're losing them to stress and poor pay at an ALARMING rate. Tory dreams of privatising NHS will come to nothing if there are no doctors to work in NHS PLC.

All of this will be expensive. I know it. So reform the tax system to fund it.

We currently have the longest tax code on earth, and that's cos it's riddled with exemptions and dodges. Simplify it (this doesn't mean a flat tax rate). And target unearned wealth.

Corporation tax can afford to go up 5%.

Yeah, moan all you like, but would you rather pay 5% tax on your profits, or have no profits at all cos your customers are all broke and the country's infrastructure can no longer deliver basic services, so your business has failed?

Tax financial transactions in the city (I did a thing about this a few days ago). This alone - even at a meagre 1% - would raise around £100 billion a year.

Tax unearned profits on rising house prices. It's insane: my house earns nearly half as much as I do.

Tax land-banking (the practice of housebuilders buying land then not building on it, which causes higher demand, pushes up prices, and inflates their profits when they eventually build).

This is major driver of housing shortages, and could easily be taxed away.

Major reform of offshore banking. This will be a generation-long battle, involving every nation on earth. Those holding the money will fight tooth-and-nail, but we must fight back.

Estimates say $32 TRILLION is hidden offshore, and that money could benefit the entire planet.

It's very hard to get a grasp on what $32 trillion means. But imagine $1 = 1second

1000 secs is 16 mins
1 m secs is 11 days
1 bn secs is 31 years
1 trillion secs is 31000 years

And there's 32x that much, hidden in offshore banks.

So don't tell me this plan for rebuilding the country - and helping to avert climate disaster - can't be afforded. And don't tell me it's not needed.

We just require the political will. And the political will can come from us all getting very, very angry in a crisis.

I just want to add: I don't have all the answers, and I'm absolutely sure every answer I've suggested can be improved upon.

Twitter is a place for criticism. It's easy. We all do it.

This time, if you have a better idea, write it down.

I won't be the tiniest bit sad to have my ideas beaten by better ones. I just want solutions that don't rely on continuing down our (until recently) comfortable path to destruction.

(This tendency to want ideas not ideology is why I'd make a shit politician).