Re: If the problem is too many people, how many should we have?
"It is standard ranting to say "The UK has too many people, so we must do <horrible thing>", and a quick trip to a Godwin. "
The UK is one of the EU countries with the smallest population growth figures. Things are mostly crowded in the SE due to decades of economic policy which has resulted in a lot of intra-country migration - hence why there are areas in the north where you can't GIVE housing away because there are more houses than people.
There's a lot to be said in favour of encouraging economic growth elsewhere, but england's schitzophrenic political/planning structure precludes proper transport infrastructure being built and the existing stuff is all centred on London. Companies find they can do OK up to a certain size outside London and then they HAVE to move there or face rising costs.
(One way of encouraging growth would be to push ahead with HS2 as a Birmingham-centric process. Whilst all the planning isues are being nutted out down south the lines could easily be built northwards and economies of the areas would benefit once it's completed - even if never built down to London.)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
