Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[The Larch]

I love your continued claim that Manchester, Liverpool and I assume the rest of Lancashire isn't Northern

Map Men taught me that for Londoners the North begins at Watford. 

[Sheilbh]

I may be a Londoner now - but I am from Liverpool and grew up in the Highlands

The North is from Mersey to Humber

[Josquius]

it's been an active government decision to ...focus all investment around London

Do you mean public investment, private investment, or both?

Both

[Tamas]

I am from Liverpool

I am sorry

[The Larch]

Liverpool is actually a pretty cool city, I really liked it when I visited it before the pandemic.

[Sheilbh]

I've been reading about the proposed post-Brexit agriculture subsidies for a while and they have now been finalised.

They're very different from CAP. They're being welcomed by lots of groups and broadly seem like a good idea/approach to what a subsidy regime should be rewarding. It seems to me like a really clear example of what the UK should be trying to and can do after Brexit.

But it's really interesting that it's not being wildly celebrated by Brexiters. Possibly because it's now tied to environmental targets so, perhaps, suspiciously wake - but I think more because what the UK should do after Brexit is really boring. It takes five years of detailed review of regulations and engagement with stakeholders to build a new (and, in my view, better) regime. It doesn't have the thrill that I think a lot of Brexiters want/expected from leaving the EU like, for example, the idea of just abolishing loads all EU law (unclear how much EU law there actually is on the books - the civil service keeps finding new bits ).

Still credit where it's due to DEFRA just quietly getting on with this work for the last five years despite all the turbulence - and six Secretaries of State. Although that might possibly just reflect the fact that agriculture isn't that important/politically sensitive a sector in the UK, so they could just get on with this:

Post-Brexit farm subsidies in England revealed
Farmers will be eligible for funding for up to 280 actions that protect environment under new system
Fiona Harvey and Helena Horton
Thu 26 Jan 2023 00.14 GMT
First published on Thu 26 Jan 2023 00.01 GMT

Farmers in England will be able to receive government funding for up to 280 different actions that protect the environment, from conserving hedgerows to maintaining peatlands, under a comprehensive overhaul of farming subsidies.

The long-awaited announcement on Thursday shows farmers what will be expected of them if they apply for government incentives called environmental land management schemes (ELMs), worth £2.4bn a year for this parliament.

Farmers welcomed the announcement for providing clarity on the new payment plans, which have taken five years to draw up and are a post-Brexit replacement for the EU common agricultural policy (Cap).

Unlike the Cap, which provided farmers incentives based mainly on the acreage they farmed, the overhaul is meant to reward farmers for protecting nature and improving the environment. But critics warned that big arable farmers were still likely to reap the biggest rewards under the new plans, with meagre pickings for small farmers and those in difficult environments, such as upland and moorland regions.

Rates of payment for most of the 280 measures were set out in a 101-page document. The payments cover nearly every aspect of farming and are aimed at helping farmers to become more environmentally sustainable, use less insecticide and reduce pollution and other impacts on the natural world while producing more food.

Payments will vary widely depending on the actions farmers undertake. For instance, farmers will be paid as much as £537 a hectare for creating fenland out of lowland peat and £1,920 a hectare for maintaining land to produce fruit to organic standards, down to £22 a hectare for assessing soils and £10.38 for establishing a skylark plot.

Some are broad – £22 a hectare for adding organic matter to soil, or having green cover on at least 70% of land over winter – and some detailed, such as £120 to £150 for maintaining sphagnum moss to capture and store carbon.

The prospectus will be pored over by farmers, who will be able to "stack" different payments and incentives, drawing on as many as they can apply to their farm. The payments are meant to provide "public money for public goods", to replace the subsidies from the EU common agricultural policy, and have taken nearly five years to draw up after interim measures met with mixed success.

Thérèse Coffey, the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, said: "Farmers are at the heart of our economy – producing the food on our tables as well as being the custodians of the land it comes from. These two roles go hand-in-hand and we are speeding up the rollout of our farming schemes so that everyone can be financially supported as they protect the planet while producing food more sustainably."

Applications for some of the payments will open in February, with others to follow in March, and some will be rolled out later in the year and next year.

Officials said the application and payment systems had been streamlined, so that farmers should find it easy to apply, with forms that should take no longer than 45 minutes to fill, without requiring professional help.

Mark Tufnell, the president of the Country Land and Business Association, which represents about 28,000 farmers, landowners and rural business owners, said: "This is crunch time for a sector that has stoically tolerated years of turbulence and uncertainty. These standards and payment rates are broadly in line with what was expected, and will encourage many arable farmers to take the leap into the new agricultural schemes. But there is little new in this for those on moorlands, or the hard-pressed hill farmer struggling to earn a living."

He added: "The move towards payment for environmental delivery is a welcome one – it will benefit the planet, the public and, in time, the farmer. It places England as a world leader in greener agriculture. But this major change in agricultural policy comes at a time of rampant inflation, poor labour supply and constant extreme weather events. The stakes for farmers could not be higher, and it is incumbent on the UK government to make these schemes accessible to all types of farms, thus giving the industry the confidence we need to make these schemes work."

Previous improvements to the payment regime, announced earlier this month, were widely criticised as too little, and farmers have been slow to take up the measures. The Guardian revealed that only 224 farmers had received payments last year.

Sustainable farming experts said the schemes did not go far enough to bring about the changes needed to rescue the UK's natural environment, which has been degraded after decades of intensive farming and a lack of focus on nature protection.

Last week, the regulatory watchdog, the Office for Environmental Protection, criticised the government for falling short on almost every environmental measure. Martin Lines, the chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, said Thursday's announcement was positive but did not go far enough. "Individual actions on their own won't achieve our climate and nature targets," he said. "There remains the need for join-up between actions to avoid a piecemeal approach."

Gareth Morgan, the head of farming policy at the Soil Association, added: "The government is failing to make clear how they will give farmers confidence to invest in the radical changes needed for a resilient and sustainable, agroecological farming sector. We are facing a climate emergency and ecological collapse – there are welcome elements in today's announcement but we must stop tinkering around the edges."

Jim McMahon MP, Labour's Shadow Environment Secretary, said: "[The government's] failed delivery continues to squeeze the farming community. Nothing about this announcement suggests anything other than a continuation of the last six years of Tory chaos on these issues - low take-up and botched trade deals that undercut our farmers and standards. Our farmers need a straightforward and simple ELMS scheme."

Obviously the big caveat is that this will need to be properly funded.

[Sheilbh]

Liverpool is actually a pretty cool city, I really liked it when I visited it before the pandemic.

It's a really great, very fun city.

And there's a lot of good stuff as a tourist.

[Josquius]

The accent tho....

[Tamas]

Liverpool is actually a pretty cool city, I really liked it when I visited it before the pandemic.

I am sure, its just that Liverpoolians (or to be way more accurate, FC Liverpool supporters) have been overrepresented in the number of obnoxious and insufferable people I have met. Most especially by some wide measure the worst neighbour I have ever had.

[garbon]

Liverpoolians?

[Tamas]

Liverpoolians?

Why not.

[The Larch]

Scousers is not acceptable?

[Richard Hakluyt]

Liverpudlians

[Josquius]

And the difference of male to female LGB+ mapped (you can see Hebden Bridge ):


See also the difference in local authorities - not surprised to see the numbers from political and Barbican gays:

🇺🇦 Owen Winter 🇺🇦
@OwenWntr
Looking at the LAs with the biggest imbalance in ratio:

More LGB+ women: West Lancs (72% more women), Mid Devon (68%), York (66%), Adur (65%)

More LGB+ men: Westminster and City of London  (124% !), Kensington and Chelsea (108%), Lambeth (85%), Hammersmith and Fulham (57%)

What an unusual map. It seems to have every part of the country covered yet leaves fictional gaps between them.
Curious anyway. Lots to think about. And really rings a lot of stereotypical bells- gay guys attracted to the bright lights of London whilst those practical lesbians keep driving their white vans around the rest of the land.

On maps. The Levelling up is a scam and the north is being fucked stuff....
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/uk-levelling-up/rishi-sunak-relaunch-government-funding-pledge-2023.html

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Not the story here but interesting to see the brexit bonus at work on the Irish border.

[garbon]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/26/battle-of-the-botanic-garden-the-horticulture-war-roiling-the-isle-of-wight

England vs an American: garden wars.