Comments for James Elles Blog

Comment on Digital Single Market 2015: Falling behind schedule? by A Digital Single Market by 2015 Copenhagen 27-28 February 2012

A Digital Single Market by 2015 Copenhagen 27-28 February 2012 — Tue, 01 May 2012 06:40:25 +0000

[...] http://blog.jameselles.com/2012/03/digital-single-market-2015-falling-behind-schedule/ [...]

Comment on European Democracy: Open up the closed-list system by jameselles

jameselles — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:38:34 +0000

Hi there, Sally. Many thanks for your support… Not sure if there is sufficient interest in changing the system this time around, but I am sure that it will be changed at some point because it is not acceptable.

Comment on Growth and Jobs: Enabling the Entrepreneur by Ralph Bagge

Ralph Bagge — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 22:25:09 +0000

I attended the Forum and can confirm that it was a stimulating meeting.

I feel that several additional themes were broached and there are implications for some of the ‘enablers’ listed above.

The thread which pervades each of my points is the absence of awareness of the power of ICT and any vision for its future importance amongst senior Conservatives. No doubt because our most influential politicians have built their careers without ever needing to master a computer keyboard. I’m sure that in their law firms, their secretaries would print off paper copies of their emails and then take dictation for the reply.

So the UK schools’ focus on ICT is about 20 years out of date. Teaching young people to use Excel and Powerpoint is no longer sufficient. They need to be exposed to Java, C++ and HTML because creating innovative new software is the future for our economy. At the forum, we heard that there is a shortage of 500,000 ICT professionals in Europe.

In the context of the Chilterns and Thames Valley, the £32 bn HS2 project was the elephant in the room. Investment in railways (and new roads) must be questioned in the context of declining oil reserves and rising demand. The economies that adapt best to the new world of commodity shortages will be those which harness technology to reduce their dependence on scarce resources.

The business case for HS2 is built on an outdated model which fails to take account of 3G and the iPad. There is no longer a net productivity gain to be realised from reducing a train journey by 20 minutes because mobile ICT enables the busy executive to be as productive on the train as in his/her office.

The opportunity cost of HS2 is an outdated broadband infrastructure which cannot even support a Skype video call in many parts of the UK. I predict that long before the maiden passenger journey of the HS2 service, it will be normal for meetings to take place by video conference, because the cost of domestic business travel will have become unsustainable.

If you ask ‘Why did US firms invent Facebook, eBay, iTunes, YouTube and Twitter?’, the answer is quite simple – their high speed broadband has been available for many years and the speed and ease of sharing large files - photos, videos and mp3s acted as a powerful stimulus, which has been denied to European innovators.

India has benefitted hugely from ‘offshoring’ of HR, payroll and accounting functions over the last decade. Its economy has thrived due to the availability of graduates – many global companies have significant IT development operations in India.

Europe is at the forefront of building sustainability into our economies - leading in areas like carbon trading, renewable energy and energy efficiency. There is much to be done in sharing best practice – for example 27% of all journeys made in the Netherlands are by bicycle - the most resource-efficient zero emissions vehicle. It is no coincidence that the countries with the lowest youth employment in Europe also lead the way in embracing the principles of sustainability.

Comment on European Democracy: Open up the closed-list system by Sally Roberts

Sally Roberts — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 07:54:06 +0000

I agree with you 100% on this, James! At present no-one knows who their MEPs are - and we have the Labour Party to thank for that….. Let’s get the Closed List opened up.

Comment on Democracy: Moving online by Maurizio Fantato

Maurizio Fantato — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:04:11 +0000

This is all very good and hardly anyone would dispute the power of online communication to bring people together and to make the democratic process a more rewarding experience. However, I recently came to the realisation that we are taking for granted that the online communication infrastructure is sufficiently resilient to enable the universal flow of information including democracy too.
Let me explain. I live in a rural area and rely heavily on broadband to carry out my business. Recently, my ISP cut me off for 5 days with no advance warning and no subsequent reason or information. When I lodged a complaint with OFCOM I learnt to my dismay that customers have no redress, as long as they are cut off for a reasonable time, deemed to be currently 10 working days! I will let you guess the consequences of such prolonged outages to businesses, aside from democracy.
So unless the EU takes a concerted action to ensure that there is a universally reliable, resilient, sustainable and fair communication infrastructure all the talks about new media, new democracy etc may not be so relevant.

Comment on Arab Spring: Power to the People by Mark Emanuelson

Mark Emanuelson — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:01:49 +0000

The Arab Spring presents a unique opportunity for the European Union to help these liberalising countries to establish good governance, functioning democracies, and positive economic and social progress. I hope that MEPs continue to prioritise this programme of support for our neighbours at this very unique time in our history. Investments of time and resources now will yield significant results in the future whilst fostering shared goals, trust, and greater faith in our future together.

Comment on HS2: Definitely on the wrong track by VAL INGRAM

VAL INGRAM — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:07:34 +0000

To argue that there is no case for this train and then say oh well why not stick it somewhere else instead is really bad. Not one minutes thought or consideration for those that already have to contend with the M40 that was foisted on them against their will and now we can have any old rubbish, HS2, wind farms because they can be sacrificed for the greater good. Hang your head in shame. It is obscene to be spending this amount of money to save a few people 20 mins of their time. move to where you work use skype and by the time this is built there will be more sophisticated ways of doing trade etc. Put more carraiges on trains, extend the platforms and run them more frequently. you can do it for the olympics, so why can’t youod it for the people that pay for a ticket but can’t find a seat bad planning

Comment on HS2: Definitely on the wrong track by Philip Wootton

Philip Wootton — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:11:21 +0000

What I have found missing from the international comparisons is any evidence of economic benefit at a macro level. Lots of pictures of sleek trains going fast and business people smiling and enjoying the experience, but no evidence. The most dynamic western economy is the USA. No HSR and a conventional train system which is markedly inferior to ours with much bigger distances between major cities. On the other hand Spain has the most miles of HSR in Europe and has an unemployment rate of 22%! France, Italy and Japan aren’t exactly a byword for economic success. Where IS the evidence?
UK has a habit of going for mega projects at the wrong time. All the existing HSR networks around the world were planned before the internet era. Surely we should be saying thank goodness we don’t have to build HSR. We will put our investment into fibre optic connections for all.

Comment on HS2: Definitely on the wrong track by chris howell

chris howell — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:42:12 +0000

By sticking to the proposed route this government have compounded the time bomb placed by the last fiscally imcompetent Labour Government who thought it funny to leave a Treasury welcoming note to the effect ’sorry, there is no money left - good luck’.
The lack of a joined up transport policy means that the South West and Wales is automatically excluded from any high speed rail ideas, as is a smooth link via Heathrow.
I think it is a little suspicious that George Osbourne is in China one week after the Greening announcement - perhaps one item on the list is how much of HS2 will be built by the Chinese? My radar say perhaps something is cooking here……..

Comment on HS2: Definitely on the wrong track by Caroline Strafford

Caroline Strafford — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:42:45 +0000

Excellent article. I wish more Westminster MPs were as convinced about stopping HS2. There definitely has not been a properly argued case supporting this extravagant proposal for which there is no demand. Trains can have more carriages added to increase the number of passengers wishing to travel to London. That would be the first proposal. The second is to travel by Chiltern Line in 90 minutes from Marylebone to Birmingham. Third idea is that our Government should remember this country has a severe financial problem and we have no spare cash for a monumental folly