Another £15.6 billion up against the wall then

We might have noted this before but there’s really nothing, nothing at all, as conservative as a British progressive.

Rachel Reeves is set to announce £15.6 billion for transport projects outside London in an attempt to tackle a surge in support for Reform UK.

The money will be spent on tram, train and bus projects in Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Tyne and Wear.

We’re just on the cusp of a technological revolution in transport. We can see it arriving, right before our very eyes. Yes, yes, we can all make jokes about Waymos getting stuck and beeping in their own carpark. And yet the autonomous car really is just arriving. Why, full self-driving might arrive some day soon on Teslas even.

So, the conservatives in British society insist we must build out - to the tune of £15.6 billion even - 19th century technology just as the 21st one arrives. This is, of course, ridiculous.

Yes, yes, of course it’s not quite right yet, still some work to go. But 20 years back we could have said that fully autonomous cars would never arrive. Now it’s only a matter of when and for which use. Do note that the point to point ability (plus, perhaps, incar WiFi) here kills everything but the most long distance of choo choo rides as well - and, perhaps, some of the very crowded commuter routes.

And trams? Why do we want to ability to only move people on pre-ordained routes when we’re just on the cusp of being able to move anyone, anywhere, at lower cost?

We wouldn’t mind progressives so much if only they’d be, well, progressive. Greet that white hot technological dawn and all that rather than retreat back to Lowryesque fantasies of the flat capped takin’ ‘t’tram to factory.

Tim Worstall