I got to know the UK Chagossians some years ago. They (or their parents) had been appallingly treated but resettlement is now impractical. There is no infrastructure outside Diego Garcia, and rebuilding and subsequent supply chains would be very expensive - even if, as seems unlikely, they would want to swap life in the UK for a small island life.
I am not an expert on the strategic questions but agree that there is in practice no threat to the US/UK base. Would growing Chinese influence over Mauritius matter? Not sure.
I agree it seems very unlikely that many of those currently living in the UK would want to return after such a long period, but it nevertheless feels like saying they can, if they wish to, is something we should do - even if none take up the offer.
Sounds kind, and some of the older generation would love to return to see out their days in the sun. But the cost per person would be enormous. I can't see Rachel agreeing to it!
We seem to have forgotten UK is not an imperial world power any more. It's called a forward base, but "China may influence Mauritius" is a poor excuse. As Martin points out is may not matter. Why are we spending millions
Thank you for answering my question - I 'd say the policies you advocate for, whilst radical in scope and effect, are still fundmantally moderate because they require recognition of compromise. 3 of those policies you have suggested (planning, finding savings and raising tax) have not found favour with populist politics and likely never will because it involves actions which appear detrimental to the electorate in the short term, instead of pinning all problems on one specific group. My real worry is not so much that politics is going to lead us down the path of radical government, but more that it will lead us to more cakeist government, which is not a recipe for a successful country.
Cakeist government is a wonderful term. I'm not sure I could point to any party in the UK which isn't cakeist at the moment, but some of them are significantly more cakeist than others.
Board Game Geek rates Brass Birmingham as the best board game in existence, which really surprised me - most of their ratings I agree with, but Brass Birmingham I don't enjoy. The market mechanic is a thing of beauty, the game as a whole is too challenging to play for me. I do wonder if there's something of modern art here - the things that appeal to the real insiders are different to the things that appeal to the public?
That surprises me too! I think it is good, but not quite as good as all that.
I'm sure there is some level of BGGers going for more complex games. But you in general also like complex games (Dune, Beyond The Horizon), and I think there is something about BB that you find atypically counter-intuitive for some reason - a bit like me with Wingspan. Certainly David and I like it a lot more than you do.
I didn't know that! It's a pretty good game but the fiddliness doesn't pull its weight IMO. Like the way some resources can "teleport" anywhere, some have to be transported along connected networks, some can only be transported along your network... and I think there are further connectivity differences between canals and rail. I have similar criticisms of Terra Mystica, which is very good in general but has three or four subtly different meanings of "connected" that apply in different circumstances.
"One does not show one’s commitment to the ‘rule of law’ by observing rulings that one is not legally obliged to do" - very true, and I might add that obeying Supreme Court rulings (and implementing EHRC guidelines on these rulings) would be a better way of showing commitment..
"My central estimate for the next two years is that net migration will average 250k - 300k, in line with the 2000 - 2020 record, both because of the revealed preference of the governing ‘Anywhere’ classes, and due to economic pressures, enhanced by demographic challenges."
What economic pressures?
It seems that your view, and that of your commenters, is that AI capable of replacing human labour hasn't happened and won't happen.
Last year copyrighters and translators complained about losing their jobs to AI. I expect this year it will be call-centre workers, computer programmers, taxi drivers and song writers. AI's capabilities are advancing rapidly.
The only possible futures in which human labour has not become economically worthless by 2046 are ones in which progress in AI has been forcibly stopped, either by an international agreement, or by some catastrophe such as nuclear war.
Can I recommend you to read this (long) essay by Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic? Anthropic is the company that created possibly the world's most advanced publicly available AI, Claude Opus 4.5 (it's either Claude 4.5 or GPT 5.2). Actually, I think every politician, political advisor, and political pundit should read it and consider it.
For the colour brain scoring, is it meant to be players get a number of points equal to the number of players who got that question *wrong?
Yes!
I got to know the UK Chagossians some years ago. They (or their parents) had been appallingly treated but resettlement is now impractical. There is no infrastructure outside Diego Garcia, and rebuilding and subsequent supply chains would be very expensive - even if, as seems unlikely, they would want to swap life in the UK for a small island life.
I am not an expert on the strategic questions but agree that there is in practice no threat to the US/UK base. Would growing Chinese influence over Mauritius matter? Not sure.
I agree it seems very unlikely that many of those currently living in the UK would want to return after such a long period, but it nevertheless feels like saying they can, if they wish to, is something we should do - even if none take up the offer.
Sounds kind, and some of the older generation would love to return to see out their days in the sun. But the cost per person would be enormous. I can't see Rachel agreeing to it!
Fair point!
We seem to have forgotten UK is not an imperial world power any more. It's called a forward base, but "China may influence Mauritius" is a poor excuse. As Martin points out is may not matter. Why are we spending millions
Thank you for answering my question - I 'd say the policies you advocate for, whilst radical in scope and effect, are still fundmantally moderate because they require recognition of compromise. 3 of those policies you have suggested (planning, finding savings and raising tax) have not found favour with populist politics and likely never will because it involves actions which appear detrimental to the electorate in the short term, instead of pinning all problems on one specific group. My real worry is not so much that politics is going to lead us down the path of radical government, but more that it will lead us to more cakeist government, which is not a recipe for a successful country.
Cakeist government is a wonderful term. I'm not sure I could point to any party in the UK which isn't cakeist at the moment, but some of them are significantly more cakeist than others.
[t]hey will be fired
Not does it -> Nor
Board Game Geek rates Brass Birmingham as the best board game in existence, which really surprised me - most of their ratings I agree with, but Brass Birmingham I don't enjoy. The market mechanic is a thing of beauty, the game as a whole is too challenging to play for me. I do wonder if there's something of modern art here - the things that appeal to the real insiders are different to the things that appeal to the public?
That surprises me too! I think it is good, but not quite as good as all that.
I'm sure there is some level of BGGers going for more complex games. But you in general also like complex games (Dune, Beyond The Horizon), and I think there is something about BB that you find atypically counter-intuitive for some reason - a bit like me with Wingspan. Certainly David and I like it a lot more than you do.
I didn't know that! It's a pretty good game but the fiddliness doesn't pull its weight IMO. Like the way some resources can "teleport" anywhere, some have to be transported along connected networks, some can only be transported along your network... and I think there are further connectivity differences between canals and rail. I have similar criticisms of Terra Mystica, which is very good in general but has three or four subtly different meanings of "connected" that apply in different circumstances.
Yes - I agree that the different connectivity rules for coal, iron and beer is unnecessary complexity.
"One does not show one’s commitment to the ‘rule of law’ by observing rulings that one is not legally obliged to do" - very true, and I might add that obeying Supreme Court rulings (and implementing EHRC guidelines on these rulings) would be a better way of showing commitment..
Indeed - as I wrote about here!
https://www.edrith.co.uk/p/the-progressive-left-has-a-rule-of
Great answers, agree with lots. Also enjoy how you acknowledge all your subscribers, even the lurkers which I definitely am🙂
"My central estimate for the next two years is that net migration will average 250k - 300k, in line with the 2000 - 2020 record, both because of the revealed preference of the governing ‘Anywhere’ classes, and due to economic pressures, enhanced by demographic challenges."
What economic pressures?
It seems that your view, and that of your commenters, is that AI capable of replacing human labour hasn't happened and won't happen.
Last year copyrighters and translators complained about losing their jobs to AI. I expect this year it will be call-centre workers, computer programmers, taxi drivers and song writers. AI's capabilities are advancing rapidly.
The only possible futures in which human labour has not become economically worthless by 2046 are ones in which progress in AI has been forcibly stopped, either by an international agreement, or by some catastrophe such as nuclear war.
Can I recommend you to read this (long) essay by Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic? Anthropic is the company that created possibly the world's most advanced publicly available AI, Claude Opus 4.5 (it's either Claude 4.5 or GPT 5.2). Actually, I think every politician, political advisor, and political pundit should read it and consider it.
https://www.darioamodei.com/essay/the-adolescence-of-technology
I also recommend this article; most of it behind an £8 paywall though:
https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/ai-in-2026