back to article Osbo's booze, bingo, biz and big data Budget

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne presented what he described as a Budget for "the makers the doers and the savers" - and let's not forget the bingo players - in today's economy statement to Parliament. There was very little news for the tech world, with one notable exception: the announcement of the Alan Turing …

COMMENTS

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  1. Irongut

    "spending £200m to fix potholes around the country"

    You could spend £200m trying to fix the potholes in Glasgow and still not get all of them. Our roads look like a Swiss cheese.

    While he's at it he should tell local councils in the North West of England to stop trying to save money by turning off street lights and lights on road signs (or whoever pays for these things). I'm talking about you Lancashire, Merseyside and Liverpool!

    1. andreas koch
      Unhappy

      @ Irongut - £200m to fix potholes

      I agree, it's not going to help that much, especially when there's a lot more coming up after the flooding due to washed out foundations down here in the south.

      I also get the feeling that roadworks get exploited by the companies hired to do so, as there seems to be very little quality control by the council. On my way to work is a stretch of road that has about a dozen potholes that get filled in about every other month. 1 day to set up the health and safety perimeter with barriers, traffic lights and warning signs, 1 day to take the whole gubbins down again, and about 90 minutes in between that for stomping one bucket of grid into the hole*. I'm sure that it isn't checked for quality by anyone of the people responsible for the payment of the comany **. They just get complaints, sent someone with a goldfish memory to have a look ("Yup, a hole.") and trigger a repair order. It surely would be cheaper if it would be repaired properly once, than year-in-year-out (pat/bot)ched again and again.

      While it's nice to see people in employment, if other county councils also work like this, 200m won't go far.

      * "Oi, Kev, don't hammer it down that hard, it only needs to last for six weeks, and it's tea break anyway."

      **Probably his cousin, or golf mate or something.

      1. Goldmember
        Joke

        Re: @ Irongut - £200m to fix potholes

        "especially when there's a lot more coming up after the flooding due to washed out foundations down here in the south."

        Well, at least the recent floods have helped bridge the North/ South divide, bringing your smooth carriageways in line with our public rally tracks.

      2. monkeyfish

        Re: @ Irongut - £200m to fix potholes

        If they built them properly in the first place, I doubt it would happen at all. We had an entire road re-done last year, and low and behold, despite having no snow and no flooding in the area, the bloody thing is full of holes again. The Swedes don't have this trouble, and that's even when Sweden is covered in several feet of snow for 6 months every year (lovely roads, took a driving holiday there a couple of years ago).

    2. Goldmember

      "turning off street lights and lights on road signs"

      You're right about whole sections of motorway, and even whole motorways, being in the dark. The problem isn't that it's difficult to see, though. Xenon bulbs and cats' eyes provide plenty of illumination, especially on very wide and mostly straight roads. It's more that it encourages dickhead drivers to stick their high beams on and dazzle every bugger in front of them.

      Some motorways in the north west have every other light turned off. I think this is the solution. It saves half the lighting cost and still illuminates the road adequately.

      1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
        Boffin

        @Goldmember

        "You're right about whole sections of motorway, and even whole motorways, being in the dark. "

        So the HWA finally rolled out that Italian made "smart lighting" system.

        Impressive. *

        It needs dedicated wiring to carry the mains signalling free from being EMC filtered and uses a "Saturatable reactor," which is an old school power controller that fails on, rather than off.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Britain's Graphene success!

    Whilst wishing the UK all the best for monetising 'Lakeland Pencils' sorry - Graphene not Graphite,would it be amiss of me Nato to mention that although Graphene was discovered in Manchesterford, it was Putin's <spit> Russians wot done it! or got the Nobel anyway. Dr's Андрей Гейм и Константин Новоселов

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bingo duty will be halved by 10 per cent to support bingo clubs' contribution to British culture, apparently.

    FFS

    1. andreas koch
      Facepalm

      @ Chris Wareham -

      Now think how I feel about that, being an immigrant (albeit with multiple connections to the country) who didn't grow up with Bingo culture . . .

      But then, what do I know, if it's that important to the nation's identity, by all means, go ahead. Can we get a price cut on fish 'n' chips too, please?

    2. Salts

      10% of VAT for small pub operators would have done more for our British culture, I just want a decent pint of real ale not a Gordon Ramsay inspired restaurant in the few locals & village pubs that still exist.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Bingo duty will be halved by 10 per cent to support bingo clubs' contribution to British culture, apparently. FFS"

      "...beer and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult."

      1984

  4. JimmyPage Silver badge
    Flame

    Potholes

    Here in Brum, the roads are worse than ones I drove on in Kenya. In 1993. They don't need to have a shovelful of asphalt rolled into the hole, which lasts an afternoon. They need to re-lay the roads from a depth of 2m.

    If the "potholes" in my street get any deeper, I shall apply for mineral rights.

  5. JimmyPage Silver badge

    Why have I suddenly remembered that R.E.M.

    started life as "Bingo Hand Job" ?

    Showing my age now ...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Why have I suddenly remembered that R.E.M.

      Can't be arsed to check Wiki, but wasn't that just the name they used for a secret gig in London around the time of the Automatic for the People album?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Savers"???

    It would be a good start to allow savers to get some interest on their money. Banks do - we individual citizens don't. They borrow your money without paying any significant interest, then make out like bandits by lending it on to third parties. (And if they misjudge their loans and lose a few hundred billion, the government just takes the necessary sum from us AGAIN and hands it to the banks to make good the shortfall).

    1. Gordon 10
      FAIL

      Re: "Savers"???

      Banking understanding fail.

      Interest is paid out because they find other uses for your money. No other uses equals no interest.

      You can quibble about the amount given back - but you cant quibble that it needs to be done.

    2. teebie

      Re: "Savers"???

      But...but...but now you can put more money in an account that gives a derISAry interest rate.

      The bank are giving savers so little interest because they don't need the money - they just get it from Funding For Lending, which is being extended, so the situation isn't likely to improve.

  7. TRT Silver badge

    What is the "horse territory" the pundits keep on about? Is that related to the Value Burger scandal? You know, where they tell you it's beef but it actually comes from an ass? I think it must be; that's why everything is frozen.

  8. JurassicPark

    New homes for the south

    I understand that house prices in the south are overheating and increasing the housing stock in the south might help dampen this down a little bit.

    However, shouldn't we be trying to bring a bit of balance back into blighty's economy by encouraging business to move north? I know for most southerners there is no life north of Watford Gap, but those of us living in the north would like to see some jobs being created here, rather than having to move south.

    I know we are encouraged to get on our bike and find work, but Leeds to London is a significant commute on a push-iron (northern term for bicycle in case you were wondering).

    Is there any other country that is so capital-city centric in terms of wealth creation?

    1. Justin Stringfellow

      Re: New homes for the south

      > Is there any other country that is so capital-city centric in terms of wealth creation?

      Luxembourg?

    2. James 51

      Re: New homes for the south

      Singapore.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Is there any other country that is so capital-city centric in terms of wealth creation?

      No.

      There was a recent suggestion that it's not so much London (pop c. 9,000,000) is too big, but that the next biggest (Brum or Manchester depending on your view at pop c. 1,500,000) are too small.

      Being an ex-Londoner (and damn proud of it too) myself, I always have a weird feeling when I hear about Scottish Independence.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Is there any other country that is so capital-city centric in terms of wealth creation?

        Yep, and all the accompanying evidence, comparison with other countries, etc showed that London is too big.

    4. hplasm
      Thumb Up

      Re: New homes for the south

      Is there any other country that is so capital-city centric in terms of wealth creation?

      Not off the Discworld, no.

  9. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    @ JurassicPark

    "I know for most southerners there is no life north of Watford Gap"

    This is incorrect. For me, Guildford is the North. Anything above this may as well be the icy wastes of the Arctic.

    1. Eradicate all BB entrants

      Re: @ JurassicPark

      Dear Southerners,

      Apologies for the floods, but us feral Northerners have just discovered flushing toilets.

      Regards

      The North

  10. MJI Silver badge

    Unfair to cider

    Why shoud cider drinkers pay more tax than beer drinkers?

    Westons, Healeys, Aspalls and co should complain

    1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
      Unhappy

      Re: Unfair to cider

      "Why shoud cider drinkers pay more tax than beer drinkers?

      Westons, Healeys, Aspalls and co should complain"

      Because for many years they have been paying a lot less for their alcohol.

      Check the price of cider versus any other form of alcohol at the same %/vol.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Unfair to cider

      in London, the benefit culture fund cider industry, look under any cemetary or park bench at the discarded empty cans and bottles of white lightning and diamond white

  11. Irony Deficient

    halved by 10 per cent

    Kelly, does that mean halved to 10% (i.e. from its original 20%), or is that some kind of circumlocution for decimated?

  12. Gio Ciampa

    Alan Turing Institute

    Would "make sure the UK leads the way in big data and algorithm research".

    a.k.a keeping tabs on the population in yet more devious ways...

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