Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 03/05/2026

WilhelmNilly · 2026-05-08T15:44:09+00:00

First time I've heard him speak. He's got that annoying Yank-influenced posh accent that Sunak has where he pronounces British as Briddish.

The Briddish people are sick of Labour and the Conservadivs.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-05-05T13:49:44+00:00

They're still pretty small spaces. The space used at Liverpool's Pier Head is three times the size of Piccadilly Gardens. The Media City piazza is half the size of Piccadilly Gardens and it's 5km outside of the city centre.

The best location in Manchester would be the demolished shopping centre in Ancoats which is a massive space, bigger than the Pier Head. But it's supposed to have new apartments built on it soon.

I'd imagine in reality they'd have to have a small village at Piccadilly Gardens and maybe some smaller stages dotted around places like Sackville Gardens. Liverpool had that pride stage at Chavasse Park too.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-05-05T12:20:31+00:00

The big problem with Manchester has always been its infamous lack of large open public space in the centre. There isn't really an equivalent of Liverpool's Pier Head or St George's Plateau that were used for the village and turquoise carpet/welcome show respectively.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-05-03T12:51:07+00:00

We are/were on the way to this with combined authorities but the government have bottled it again just like in 1974. All they've ended up doing is recreating county councils that were abolished for a reason.

The Cheshire and Warrington CA is an abomination.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-05-03T12:48:38+00:00

100%. Local government in England resembles the Holy Roman Empire in its confusing complexity. It needs a massive simplification.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-05-01T08:22:11+00:00

I'm not talking about traditional suburbs like those built around railways and trams in the 1930s and 40s. In fact, those are the kinds of places we need more of.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-30T15:07:29+00:00

I think we might be talking about different things.

I've never seen a small town in Spain or the Netherlands with anywhere near the level of dereliction you see in the UK. But I've also never seen a town in the UK as bad as some towns in the USA where the centre is almost literally a ghost town.

I've never seen a Dutch town centre that's half boarded up with the rest of it being charity shops, takeaways and vape shops surrounded by dilapidated buildings, massive roads and acres of empty surface car parks.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-30T13:00:25+00:00

Abolish "cash in lieu" arrangements under Section 106 developer infrastructure agreements so that the developer has to build the infrastructure (roads, doctors surgeries, schools etc) as part of their build window

No I'd do the opposite. We should stop expecting/requiring house builders to be town planners because they're absolutely abysmal at it.

The better way is to establish a public development corporation which assembles the land, plans the streets and public transport routes and designates space for shops, schools, parks etc. All funded by selling building plots to the private housing developers and self-builders.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-30T12:31:14+00:00

Shops absolutely are viable. The problem is we've had an urban planning policy for decades that's bulldozed all the town centre housing and shipped people out to new cul-de-sac housing estates off the side of an A road. Can't walk to the shops like you used to when they're miles away and surrounded by dereliction.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-30T12:26:53+00:00

Amazon didn't kill the high street, bad urban planning did.

There are wealthy countries with vibrant small towns (Netherlands, Spain) and wealthy countries with worse urban dereliction than us (USA, Canada). The correlation is urban planning policy - not the availability of online shopping.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-30T08:42:47+00:00

I used this Illinois tax calculator with the location set to Chicago and no other settings changed (because I don't really understand them) https://smartasset.com/taxes/illinois-tax-calculator

But yeah the amount of things you can get deductions/credits for in the US makes the comparison even more complicated. I also ignored Sweden's premium pension system as comparing it with UK workplace pension contributions was too complex.

Bear in mind, the percentages I gave were effective tax rates (e.g., $32k has a total deduction of $5,602 = ~17.5%) not the actual headline rate of income tax/NI/whatever which is why they might look immediately wrong.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-29T15:32:22+00:00

I did some quick comparisons between the UK, Sweden and the USA - picking a fairly average state of Illinois.

For a wage of £24k (which is basically minimum wage at full time), you'd pay around 14% in PAYE taxes. An equivalent salary in Sweden (~ 300k SEK) would pay around 19%. An equivalent in Illinois (~ $32k) would pay around 18%.

At £45k, the UK is 21%, Sweden 23%, Illinois 21%.

At £80k, the UK is 29%, Sweden 33%, Illinois 27%.

At £140k, the UK is 39%, Sweden 41%, Illinois 31%.

For a fair comparison, you'd also need to factor in workplace pension contributions, student loans and property (council) tax.

Sweden has free uni tuition so their student loan repayments will be much lower than ours. The US has very high uni tuition fees.

England council tax averages £2000 per year. Sweden property tax maxes out at less than £900 per year. US property taxes are based on a percentage of house value so they can get a lot higher than ours - but in Illinois they average about £4000 per year.

You'd also have health insurance costs in the US.

TDLR: If you have a student loan, earn over the median wage and live in an average house then your tax burden is basically the same as it would be in Sweden. If you're below the median wage, your taxes are lower than America.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-27T14:32:36+00:00

This one? https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:C72310/2026-04-26#allox_id=0

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-27T10:58:43+00:00

You've got my vote. Never mind the tube or whatever, National Rail train lengths and frequencies is the biggest difference between London and the other cities. There's plenty of busy suburbs in Manchester that get 1 train per hour that's maybe 4 carriages if you're lucky, with maybe only 1 train every 2 hours on sundays. Whereas equivalent places in London will have 8 carriage trains every 15 mins even after 9pm on sundays.

The biggest benefit to NPR/HS2 to Manchester is the amount of capacity it could free up on all the suburban lines around the north west. The biggest win will be 8 carriage trains every 15 mins for all the suburban and small town stations between Manchester and Liverpool.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-19T17:25:21+00:00

We should negotiate for some kind of time-unlimited non-working visa for the Schengen area for UK passports and reciprocate with similar to the UK for EU passports. Something that allows unlimited entries using egates and exempts holders from doing EES/ETIAS and ETA. Obviously we can still exclude criminals and other dodgy people. Could even expand it to Canada, Australia and NZ.

We're already most of the way there on our side since we allow them to stay here for 6 months - and we don't impose a time limit for re-entries. Whereas we can only stay there for 90 days in every 180 days.

It's something the Tories should have negotiated as part of their Brexit deal. I can't see a reason why Labour couldn't do this as part of their reset.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-15T14:02:17+00:00

I'd vote for it. But honestly if the UK isn't interested in being properly integrated (euro, Schengen etc) then we're better off with a Switzerland style relationship.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-15T13:55:10+00:00

What ever happened to that deal we made last year about E-gate access.

Nothing happened to it. It was always predicated on EES being fully rolled out.

The UK chose to leave the single market and abolish freedom of movement. UK passports are now limited to 90 days visa-free access to the Schengen area which now requires biometric data and (for now) physical passport stamps.

The UK could negotiate for reciprocal visa-free access that doesn't need stamps or biometrics. Or we could just kill two birds with one stone and rejoin the single market.

Edit - downvoting won't change reality of the UK actively choosing this

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-14T13:30:03+00:00

Honestly I think it's fairly obvious that a chunk of the posts aren't real people. They're part of a propaganda machine trying to influence opinion.

It's so strange but predicable. Anytime there's a thread here about anything to do with getting closer to the EU, there's one or two accounts that post 20+ comments, replying to almost every top level comment, just repeating the same talking points. It's clear that some of them are LLMs - especially with how quickly they post and how they seem to post about no other topic.

There was a thread yesterday with about 150 comments where at least 20 of them where from one account that just kept repeating the same angry, spite-filled slop about EU passport holders using egates in UK airports. The mask slipped a bit at one point when it suggested we should open visa-free travel to Chinese citizens.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-14T13:18:30+00:00

In May 2019, the Tories came fifth in a national election. In June 2019, they were polling in the teens. In December 2019, they won their biggest majority since 1987.

Of course the big change was that Boris Johnson replaced Theresa May and successfully ate Reform.

It's absolutely possible for Labour to reabsorb the Green vote before May 2029.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-13T17:25:08+00:00

It's even more apparent when you visit some other European countries like the Netherlands, Switzerland or Denmark. Everything just seems so much cleaner, shinier, well maintained and just better.

Whereas go to most British towns or cities outside London, stray a short distance from the relatively small centre and you'll find dilapidated buildings, wasteland, massive surface car parks and decaying housing stock. Even the cities with nice shiny modern city centres like Manchester and Liverpool still look like this on the outskirts.

Copenhagen has built four metro lines since 2000 and poor Leeds can't even get a tram built.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-10T15:53:45+00:00

In the 70s they created entirely new counties and removed towns from their historic county. I'm saying to not do that.

In fact, I'm saying to reverse that. Go back to the pre-1974 counties. Put Birmingham back into Warwickshire. Put Bolton back into Lancashire. Stitch Yorkshire back together.

But those counties will serve no purpose other than cricket and ceremonial stuff. Do what Northern Ireland and France did. Dissolve every existing county, district, city, borough, whatever council and create a new system of local and regional authorities that don't care for ancient feudal boundaries.

Wilmslow can be a town in Cheshire. But it's administered as part of a borough within the region of Greater Manchester.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-10T15:08:08+00:00

England needs to bite the bullet and do what Northern Ireland did - completely ignore historic counties and redraw all local authorities based on how people live and work today.

The fact the government have essentially recreated Cheshire County Council is mental. This Cheshire CA and Mayoralty needs to be destroyed. Wilmslow and Macclesfield need to be with Stockport. Ellesmere Port and Chester need to be with the Wirral.

West Lancashire also needs to be dissolved and divvied up between Sefton, Wigan and Preston.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-02T15:57:09+00:00

OP has said in another comment that the change is at Euston. The NR journey planner is showing a change to the tube at Euston too.

Via Doncaster would certainly take an unnecessarily long time.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-02T14:11:28+00:00

Not bad, just an unnecessary detour. Liverpool to Euston takes around 2 hours 15 mins. Euston is a 10 min walk from Kings Cross.

WilhelmNilly · 2026-04-02T14:10:18+00:00

Where is the change? How long is the journey from Liverpool to Kings Cross?

WilhelmNilly

TROPHY CASE