The reporting of that Gove quote really winds me up - It's the modern day equivalent of the Mandelson "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich (as long as they pay their taxes)" line. What Gove said was "I think people have had enough of experts (telling them what to do all the time)". Which was arguably quite an astute observ…
The reporting of that Gove quote really winds me up - It's the modern day equivalent of the Mandelson "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich (as long as they pay their taxes)" line. What Gove said was "I think people have had enough of experts (telling them what to do all the time)". Which was arguably quite an astute observation.
Anyway, really interesting article. I think to some extent the clinching argument is the significant reduction in the resource cost of drivers if you can achieve a mostly autonomous system. However, given how little we spend on bus services (relative to other modes, car especially) we can overcome most of this problem by simply upping the state subsidy and/or nationalising services. Not quite as sexy or sellable to the tabloids admittedly.
Damnit, I should have been more careful with the Gove quote. That's the exact sort of incredibly specific spoilsporting that I like to do.
On the bigger subsidies/nationalisation point - I guess my argument would be "why not both?". That way we can have more mobility for everyone, even cheaper!
For absolute precision - and I think with quotes like that, which are almost apocryphal, it's *critical* to check them against source - what Gove said was: "I think the people in this country have had enough of experts from organisations with acronyms saying that they know what is best and getting it consistently wrong." Of course the second half of the quote gets chopped off all the time because it's a bit wordy, but it lends precision. (Gove is surprisingly precise in what he says, for an ex-journalist.) He was referring I think to the IMF in particular, which had been quoted at him in the question.
The reporting of that Gove quote really winds me up - It's the modern day equivalent of the Mandelson "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich (as long as they pay their taxes)" line. What Gove said was "I think people have had enough of experts (telling them what to do all the time)". Which was arguably quite an astute observation.
Anyway, really interesting article. I think to some extent the clinching argument is the significant reduction in the resource cost of drivers if you can achieve a mostly autonomous system. However, given how little we spend on bus services (relative to other modes, car especially) we can overcome most of this problem by simply upping the state subsidy and/or nationalising services. Not quite as sexy or sellable to the tabloids admittedly.
Damnit, I should have been more careful with the Gove quote. That's the exact sort of incredibly specific spoilsporting that I like to do.
On the bigger subsidies/nationalisation point - I guess my argument would be "why not both?". That way we can have more mobility for everyone, even cheaper!
For absolute precision - and I think with quotes like that, which are almost apocryphal, it's *critical* to check them against source - what Gove said was: "I think the people in this country have had enough of experts from organisations with acronyms saying that they know what is best and getting it consistently wrong." Of course the second half of the quote gets chopped off all the time because it's a bit wordy, but it lends precision. (Gove is surprisingly precise in what he says, for an ex-journalist.) He was referring I think to the IMF in particular, which had been quoted at him in the question.