The scope of the UK’s pothole problem is staggering, growing year after year with an accelerating pace that local authorities are ill-equipped to address. The financial strain on both local government and the public has become immense, creating a repair backlog that threatens the integrity of the entire road network.
This slow-motion fiscal cancer has metastasized across every critical function of the state. This is not a shortage of resources, but a shortage of foresight. The system privileges politicians seeking survival, budgets demanding cuts, and citizens paying the price. All so they can survive the next two-year budget cycle
The Northern Powerhouse was an idea; now we have the data to judge its implementation. It is time to learn from its shortcomings, to listen to the voices of Yorkshire, and to demand a new path forward.
The UK has historically been one of the most centralized countries in the Western world, with Westminster politics and Whitehall bureaucracy deeply ingrained in almost every aspect of public life. This centralized model of public service delivery has been “tested to destruction,” leading to a lack of excellence and proving both ineffective and expensive due to attempts to micromanage services from the centre
